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Book Reviews BOOK REVIEWS Indian Beads: A Cultural aud Technological Study. Shantaram Bha1chandra Deo. Pune: Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, 2000. 205 pp., 7 color, 37 b/w plates, 3 maps, 24 figures, bibliography, no index. Paper 600 rupees. No ISBN. Distinctive Beads in Ancient India. Maurya Jyotsna. BAR International Series 864. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2000. 122 pp., 1 map, 10 figures, 7 tables, bibliography, index. Paper cover. ISBN 1-84171-067-9. Amulets and Pendants in Ancient Maharashtra. Maurya Jyotsna. New Delhi: D. K. Printworld, 2000. 102 pp., 4 maps, 12 figures, 3 tables, bibliography, index. Cloth 220 rupees. ISBN 81-246-0158-5. Reviewed by PETER FRANCIS JR. (1945-2003), former Director of the Centerfor Bead Research, Lake Placid, New York India is one of the world's largest countries rate with him on a book. That project with one of its most ancient civilizations. never happened, as Dikshit passed away in Blessed with immense natural and human 19(}9, just before his own History (?f Indian resources. It is no surprise that it is a lead­ Class was published. ing source of beads in both ancient and Deo received a fellowship from the In­ modern times. Only China is larger and as dian Council of Historical Research to ancient, but the Chinese have never been study and prepare a manuscript on Indian as interested in beads as have the Indians. beads during the years 1985 to 1988. He The Indian subcontinent has been unparal­ worked on the project for many years, long leled in terms of bead making, bead trad­ after the period of the fellowship. Deo ing, and the use of beads since early in the passed away in 1999, and as a tribute to his third millennium B.C. many years devoted to the subject, a team Thus, it is something of an event that of Deccan College atIiliates, led by V. N. in the same year three books were pub­ Misra, edited and published the volume. lished on Indian beads. The first was M. )yotsna, the author of the other two released posthumously. S. 13. Deo, profes­ books reviewed here, was privileged that sor and director of Deccan College, Pune, Deo C11l1e out of retirement to act as her had written many "bead chapters" in the guide for her M. Phil. at Deccan College. excavation reports of the Deccan College Deo might be said to represent the "old archaeologicll teams. He was introduced to school" of Indian bead research. )yotsna the subject by M. G. Dikshit (19--1.t), 1952<1, is in the generation producing a "new 19521>, 19()9), then regarded as India's school," involving several young archae­ leading bead authority, and W;lS to collabo- ologists and doctOLll clndicbtes, notably BOOK REVIEWS Sunil Gupta (1995-1996, 1999, 2000), Chapter 1 deals with the "Cultural Sig­ Kishor Basa (1992a, 19921J; Basa et al. nificance of the Study of Indian Beads" and 1991), and Alok Kumar Kunungo (1996­ Chapter 2 with "Indian Beads: Antiquity, 1997). Techniques of Making and Materials In the interest of full disclosure, the Used." Both leave much to be desired for reader should know that I have been anyone who is trying to learn about the involved in the study of Indian beads for a social significance of beads (or even the quarter of a century (e.g., Francis 1981, study of beads) or their technical aspects. 1982a, 198211, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1990, For example, the second sentence ill 1991, 2001). A significant amount of my Chapter 1 reads, "Since the Old Stone Age, work was done at Deccan College, the in­ man has been in the habit of decorating stitute with which both Deo and Jyotsna himself either by the use of simple orna­ were associated. I know both of the authors ments or by cosmetics" (p. 1). This is a personally, and despite a few disagreements bold assertion. Is there any truth to it? with each of them, I think kindly of both There are no references given, nor are of them. Unfortunately, I cannot say the there any details. All we are told in the fol­ same for these three books under review. lowing sentences is, "It is well known that This conflict makes this the most difficult in ancient times a kind of red pigment was book review I have ever been asked to used for decorative patterns on the body. write. Along with the use of crude cosmetics var­ Deo's book, Indian Beads: A Cnltnral and ious types of ornamentation such as beads Tecl/llological Stndy, purports to be a cultural and bangles, formed part of decorations and technological study of beads. On the [sic]" (p. 1). Pieces of ocher, presumably whole, it is neither. Some useful features used as body paint, are known from the illuminate the use of beads from perspec­ Lower Paleolithic (Edwards 1978: 135), but tives that had not hitherto been adequately this is not true of beads or bangles. studied. One is an appendix to the first Deo returns to the theme at the begin­ chapter on Vedic amulets (pp. 39-42). It ning of the second chapter. "So far as ar­ discusses amulets prescribed in the Artll/!a chaeological data is concerned, it is well Veda and a gloss to that ancient book of known that no evidence of beads has so f:lr magic, the Kan§ilw St7ra. The list is instruc­ been reported fi'om any prehistoric sites in tive, although only about half of the 55 India save from the Mesolithic sites of magical objects listed were amulets (the Langhnaj in North Gujarat and the site others were made into ointments or used of Mahadaha in Uttar Pradesh " (p. 5). internally). The final paragraph informs us This is not "well known." In 1981, I that, "quite a good number of instances are published "Early Human Adornment in recorded in other branches of Vedic litera­ India: Part One, The Upper Paleolithic," ture which indicate the use of amulets...." and the next year "Early Human Adorn­ (p. 42). Unfortunately, none of these are ment in India: Part Two, The Mesolithic" elaborated upon. (Francis 1981, 1982r). The first discussed The most important contribution IS several beads (along with some grooved Chapter 5 "Be;lds in Indian Sculpture." human teeth) ti'om the sites of Patne, While other writers have commented on Maharashtra, ill central India and the Kur­ this theme, no one has covered it so thor­ nool Cave complex in the southern Indian oughly. This is done so historically and state of Andhra Pradesh. The second re­ presents important data on the subject. ported on beads li'om northern sites: Regrettably, as with most of the book, the Langhnaj, ornaments (they ;,re not beads) section can only be easily read by someone fi'om Mahadaha, beads fi'olll Bogor, Rajas­ who already knows quite a bit ;lbout th;lIl, and the evidence of contemporary ancient Indian history and ;lrchitecture. rock paintings. R;lrely are details, such ;lS datt's of v;lrious This inli.wllLltion would have greatly periods or loca tiolls of scul ptures, gi ven. expanded Deo's statement. Both papers 37° ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 42(2) . FALL 2003 were published in the BI/llelil/ of Ihe De{((l11 The rest of the description of stone College Rcsc(/rch II/slill/lc at the time Deo beadmaking is f.1irly accurate, but clearly was the director of Deccan College. I am based on reading other people's accounts. not so much miffed that he did not cite my Referring again to the antiquity of this work as appalled by the lack of scholarship industty, Deo tells us, "That Cambay was this shows. Deo's book is concerned mostly a great centre for this industry is further with stone beads, and by far the most im­ evidenced by the Peripll/s, which states that portant stone bead industlY in India (and carnelian also came to Cambay from P(/e­ perhaps even in the world) for millennia is Ih(///(/ (Paithan) and T(/g(/m (Ter) in the now concentrated at Cambay, Gujarat. The Deccan (Maharasthra)" (p. 33, insertions section on this industry begins: his). There is no citation for this informa­ tion. The industty flourished there [at What the anonymous Greek sailor wrote Cambay] from remote times and in the first-century Pcripills was, "There is continues now in a dwindling form. in this region [sc. of Barygaza] towards the The antiquity and the various mate­ east a city called Ozene, the former seat rials used in the industry will be dealt of the royal court, fi:om which everything with at a later stage. The raw material is mainly ex­ that contributes to the region's prosperity, ported to Cambay from the neigh­ including what contributes to trade with boring Baba Ghori mines at Ratan­ us, is brought down to Barygaza: onyx, pur 111 the erstwhile Rajpipla State. agate ..." (Casson 1989: 81, insertions his); The mines are dug deep into the and, "there is brought to Balygaza, by con­ natural soil to a depth of about 30­ veyance in wagons over very great roadless 35 feet till [sic] the carnelian or stretches, from Paithana large quantities agate seam is reached. The blocks of of onyx, and from Tagara large quantities stone weighing over 1 to 2 pounds of cloth of ordinary quality" (Casson are brought to the surface and are 1989: 83). chipped on the spot to select the promising stones. The Bhils in the There is no mention of Cambay in the neighboring area also collect agate for Peripills, as the city did not then exist.
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