Mirrors reflect pre-Maurya secrets

It's just a mirror that rattles when shaken. Carted from the sub-continent centuries ago, it made its way to the house of the Scythian royal...

It’s just a mirror that rattles when shaken. Carted from the sub-continent centuries ago, it made its way to the house of the Scythian royals in Kazakhstan. And now it’s been unearthed.

The significance lies in the fact that it’s the first time that an Indian find, dating back to the 4th or 5th century BC, has been unearthed on foreign soil. Dr R.K. Sharma, Joint Director-General, Archaeological Survey of India, calls it ‘‘a very interesting development’’.

The rattle-mirrors, five in all, were found during excavations undertaken in the royal Scythian burial mounds in Kazakhstan’s Altai mountains over the last few decades. But it was only recently that a Russian archaeologist established their Indian origin. Yaroslav Vassilkov of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russia, presented his findings at the World Sanskrit Congress held in Helsinki. Comparing the mirror’s engravings with motifs in Indian craft and folklore, Vassilkov established a new link.

Story continues below this ad

Of the four mirrors, one of them (found at the Rogozikha site in 1985) showed engravings of women in Indian attire touching a peculiar-shaped elephant with a bird on its back. The animal’s head had temporal bosses, its tusks covered with hair and spots on its trunk.

‘‘Indian elephants don’t show these traits. The argument against it was that the artist had never seen an elephant,’’ Vassilkov told The Indian Express in an e-mail.

But unexpected help came from the Kathasaritsagara. Vassilkov read a tale depicting the scene. More evidence was provided by analysing the metal. The high-tin bronze was similar to those of the mirrors from Taxila (now in Pakistan) and Adichanallur in South India, Vassilkov said.

‘‘This is tangible proof that trade links existed long before Alexander the Great (circa 324 BC) invaded. The finding is seminal. In the West, Indian antiquity before the Mauryan period (circa 350 BC) is either not accepted or regarded with scepticism,’’ said Dr V.V. Bedekar, Sanskrit scholar at the Institute of Oriental Studies, India.

Story continues below this ad

Vassilkov, who heads the Department of South and South-East Asian Studies, has been associated with Scythian studies for over a decade. The mirrors, which were found with mummified bodies, comprise two bronze discs fastened together with space between them for tiny objects.

‘‘For years, archaeologists argued that as no ‘rattle-mirror’ has ever been unearthed in India, this one was from another land,’’ said Vassilkov. Mirrors were found in Taxila, Adichanallur, Tripuri and Bhokardan in South India. ‘‘But not ones that rattle. Kazakhstan was a prominent destination on the Silk Route. Maybe these rattle-mirrors were exclusively made for the Scythian royals,’’ he added.

The mirrors, now the basis of further studies on ancient Indian civilisations, are in Kazakhstan.