Ancient beliefs about diamond

The word “diamond” comes from the Greek “adamao,” or “I subdue,” referring not to a chauvinist attitude towards marriage (we hope), but to the diamond’s hardness and its ability to scratch any surface without being scratched.

Diamonds are magic. They have become such powerful symbols of romance and prestige that no other gemstone sends quite the same message. Some ancient Greeks called diamonds splinters of stars; others referred to them as the tears of the Gods. Diamonds have been used to drive away evil spirits, to induce sexual prowess, and, of course, to declare undying devotion between lovers.

The ancient Indians revered diamonds as a gift and tool of the gods. Carrying a diamond was seen as a good luck charm and a protection from threats like poisonous snakes, fire, thieves, or evil spirits.

In the Indian ancient scriptures, diamonds were divided into the same four caste groups, according to the colour: “the diamond has four colours, according to its caste. The diamond that has the velvety lustre of the mother-of-pearl, the rock crystal, the moonstone is a Brahmin. The one that is slightly red, monkey brown, beautiful and pure is called Kshatriya. The Vaishya is a lustrous, pale yellow. The Shudra shines like a polished sword: the experts have classified it into the fourth caste on account of its shine.”
Ancient beliefs about diamond

Important role of diamond in ancient India

It is unclear when diamonds were first mine in India, although estimate to be in the ancient times. Diamonds were used to decorate religious objects, serve as a talisman against evil and a protector in battle.

The Ratnapariksa by Buddha Bhatta, from the fifth century CE, contains the diamonds’ myth of origin: According to this legend, the gods were unable to overcome the king Bala. To avert defeat they ask him to offer himself in sacrifice in a ritual to their honour.

Bala is too proud to refuse, and his boy is torn to pieces. Because of the valor and purity of his voluntary death, his remains turn into diamonds.

Gods, serpents and the minor divinities of Siddhas and Yakshas pick them up, and in flying over the land, let them fall to the earth and there create diamond deposits.

The Hindus classed diamonds according to the four categories. The Brahmin diamond (colorless) gave power, friends, riches and good luck; the Kshatriya (brown/champagne) prevented old age; Vaisya (the color of Kodali flower) brought success; and the Sudra (a diamond with the sheen of a polished blade-probably gray or black) brought all types of good fortune. If a diamond is worn by the member of a wrong caste, it brings bad luck and even death.

It is believed that Alexander the Great brought the first diamonds to Europe from India in 327 BC, instigating the expansion of trade routes between Europe and the East.
Important role of diamond in ancient India

Cotton in ancient time

Around 200 BC, official documents recorded the existence of cotton cloth in what is now Yunnan. Recent archaeological research on mummies found in the Tarim Basin has also uncovered cotton textiles, dating from the first millennium BCE, whose origin may be traced to India.

Excavations at Mohanjo-Daro (about 3000 BC ) have unearthed bits of cotton cloth and twine. From those ancient days India has been a manufacturing nation and exporter of fine cotton fabrics to all nations of civilized world.

In the 1st century AD, the Arabs and Greeks are reported to have transported raw cotton and cotton goods from Patiala, Ariaka, Barygaza (probably Bharuch in Gujarat), and Masalia (Masulipatnam in Andhra Pradesh) as well as Gangitiki muslin from Bengal.

Cotton trees of India excited the admiration of Greek historians. Herodotus writes, "There are trees which grow wild, the fruit of which is a wool exceeding in beauty and goodness that of sheep.The Indians make their clothes of this tree wool.”

The greatest demand for cotton cloth came from the Mongol armies stationed in the northern regions; they needed uniforms made of some kind of warm, light-weight and resilient material. In the course of their conquests and movements through Central, West, and South Asia, the Mongols must have perceived the value of cotton textiles: cotton cloth's strength, durability, and effectiveness as a padded fabric against winter chill, or as a light, absorbent textile againstsummer heat.
Cotton in ancient time

Sati (or suttee) in Indian culture

One of the oldest forms of femicide is suttee, or sati: the Indian practice of burning a woman alive on the pyre of her deceased husband.

Often defined as a form of suicide and glorified as the act of a woman who shows strength of character, it can be placed in the category of ritual femicide.

Sati came to connote the perfect or good wife’s ritual self-immolation either on her husband’s funeral pyre, sahagamana (going together with one’s husband), or by herself if he had already been cremated elsewhere, anugamana (following one’s husband).

The first textual description of suttee is by the Greek Diodorus, who describes how the Indian general Ceteus, fighting in Asia Minor in 316 BC, fell in battle and was cremated together with his two wives.

Suttee spread from some segments of the warrior caste in Bengal, and was abducted by interpretations of religious texts; but Mogul rulers such as Akbar and Aurungzeb, disapproved of it, and it was finally abolished by the British in 1829.

Since Indian independence, suttee has remained illegal, although it still occurs now and then. There is still however, a great amount of stigma attached to widowed women, who often remain single after becoming widowed and very rarely remarry.
Sati (or suttee) in Indian culture

Cattle in Hinduism

Common cattle were domesticated in southeastern Europe and the Near East by 6000 BC or before.

The first detailed picture of the role cattle played in Indian religion is in the Vedic Aryans accounts, which look back to 1500-500 BC. In those accounts bulls were identified with various male deities, cows with various female deities.

But despite this identification, cattle were scarified and eaten freely.

It was stated earlier that Hindus revere the dung and urine of cows as much as they do her milk.

Atharva Veda 10.10 is a poem in praise of the cow in which the cow is equated with the universe. Cattle were also a way in which the Aryans measured wealth, and many Vedic poems ask that the gods grant them numerous cattle.

Priest who performed Vedic sacrifices often received cattle as their fee. The Vedic religion was based on the principle that life is possible only through force against others, since everything is created only for sacrifice. An early part of the Mahabharata says: Animal and men, trees and foliage yearn for heaven and there is no heaven except through sacrifice.

As the Vedic sacrificial tradition came to be criticized by ascetic and non-Brahmanical movements such as Buddhism and Jainism, and the religions significance of the idea of nonviolence began to be recognized, the killing of a cow, even for sacrificial purposes, came to be questioned.

In popular Hinduism, the cow is the favored animal of Krishna, and much of the cow-oriented ritual seen in India today centers around worship of this celebrated deity at festivals such as Gopashtami and Govardhan Puja.
Cattle in Hinduism