Neeraj Goel

Asstt. Prof. History

Govt. Degree College,
Ater 477111 Distt. Bhind (M.P.)
SHODHAK
Vol 25, PL A
Sr. No. 73, 1996
Technique of WoodWork-Some References in Ancient
India
According to philological evidence many ancient nations had made a
great progress in carpentry. After the stone tools they used wood as a stick
and to build their houses. Later on, it was used to make temples, palaces,
Rath, houses, Plough:; and the articles of daily use. India was one of the
possessor of highly developed wood-work technology.
In the Vedic age, wood-work was so advanced that we find references
evincing the tendency specialization in this industry. This technique
was so much appreciated that the skill, required to compose hymns, was
compared to it. The carpenter was held in high esteem in society becuase of
his skill in manufacturing chariots, which were very essential for warfare in
those days. The fashioning of the wheels, the fitting on the tyres, the construction
of chariots of special shape and design like those with three wheels with
ornamental pillars and decorated awnings, strong frames and axles, were the
main parts of its technique. It is said that, not should the axle but also
the other parts of the chariot, should be strong and dependable.
1
Only then
he could make a good technician of wood-work.
The technique of wood-carving also finds in the ancient literary texts.
The wood-carver is seen plying his trade with the Batchet, the adze, the chisel
and the mallet and the measuring line,
2
which he draws out at length or winds
up sort or which he puts round a log of wood with black dust to guide his
saw. He bends a log of wood and describing soft parts of the wood takes the
hard parts as obviously in the case of ebony of which the outside is soft and
inside hard.
3
It is said that . a wood-worker made a mechanical elephant of
wood, under whose belly, sixty men could walk back and forth, and a large
of men worked on the machinery and frtted into the belly of the
elephant.
4
A similar attainment in wood-work's technique is referred- to at
another place where a highly gifted wood-worker invented a wooden Garuda,
fitted it with a machine, seated his family in it, and took off into the air. in
order to spare his life from a deceitful King.
5
Although these stories are
fanciful, for there is no evidence of the use of flying machines in Ancient
. India, but they do atest to the proficiency attained by carpenters and mechanics
i in their craft. The Tacha Sukara Jataka and the Vaddhaki Sukara Jataka
6
refer
j to carpenters going to the forest to bring wood and then using the hatchet
l and edge, chiesel and mallet and pulling along the measuring line.
4
SHODHAK
Thus, this craft had reached a high degree of techinical proficiency. He
also fashioned spokes, rims, naves and all other parts of wheel and carts. At
most of the houses, including the palace of Ajatasatru, in this period were
built of wood. As wood dominated the building scene the highest degree of
perfection achieved by carpenters in the Mauryan period was in the field of
architecture. The high degree of perfection, which the craft attained during
the period, is attested to by the large wooden platform that has been unearthed
at Kumrahar in the vicinity of Patna. 'The platform', reports Dr. Spooner,
who made the discovery, "was found to be merely a solid accumulation of
logs. But the and accuracy with which it has been put together, as
well as the preservation of the ancient wood, whose edges were so perfect
that the very lines of jointure were indistinguishable. evoked the admiration
of all who witnessed the experiment. The whole was built up with a precision
an<} a resoned care that could not possibily be excelled today'' _7 This reference
shows highly developed technique of that time.
Manu gives about eighteen references to wood and objects made of this
material which clearly show that wood craft, a flourishing trade during the
Mauryan period had made further progress in later times. Manu's provisions
show that large number of articles of daily use such as plough, sword, cart,
chariot, utensils, pestle, morter, bed, seat, carriage drawn by camel and asses,
etc., were made by the craftsmen engaged in the profession of wood-work.
8
An idea of the ancient method of wood-carving may also be had from
the oldest known remains of Indian wood works found in the framing at the
entrance to one of the big chaityas at Karli. The pillars obviously executed
by means of different types of chisels, are quite plain like those of the earliest
caves.
9
while the capitals brackets are shaped into pendent lotus and tasselled
forms, often massed one above the other, and some times provide with lateral
struts carved as figure of or elephant.
10
These references bear
testimony to the craftsmanship and skill of carpenters in the early centuries
of the Christian era.
Wood carving's technique was well developed in the Gupta period and
in the kamsutra wood carving is mentioned as one of the sixty-four arts.
11
Amarkosa refers to the carpenter's tools which were a chisel, saw and a work
bench.
12
These words shed some light on the work of the wood-worker. There
is a reference of highly developed technique of wood-work, there is a large
image of wood, on the western bank of the Indus, worshipped by the people
of Darel, this image of Buddha was eighty feet high, the folder legs of which
measured eight feet across.
13
This refernece shows a high technology of
wood-work in the ancient times because such a figure must have required
considerable skill in wood-craft, even allowing for probable exaggeration.
The ship-building was one of the most important technology of the
wood-work. The ship builders knew the properties of different types of wood
that were used in the construction of ships. According to the Virksha-Ayurveda
Technique of Wood-Work-Some Reference in Ancient 5
the first or the Brahman class of wood is light and soft, and can be easily
joined to any other class of wood; the Kashatriya class of wood is light and
hard, blit can not be joined to any other class of wood, the wood that is soft
and heavy belongs to vaishya class; while the Sudra class of wood is both
hard and heavy. Now i( is the ships made of the Kshatriya class of wood that
are to be used as the means of communication where the communication was
difficult because of water. ways.
14
This reference refers to four kinds of wood,
to know about their characteristic, is very necessary to the wood worker, to
build the ships and other things. Thire was a huge ship which was carrying
200 people from Ceylon to Java
15
indicates the high technique of wood-work.
The above references indicate that in olden days much of the carving
seemed to have been done by free hand assisted by rough outline drawn on
wood. Even a stencil would only give the outlines, while relief carving as well
as low and deep undercutting used to depend on the skill of the worker. Even
then there was a good tenchique of wood carving according to time and
demands of articles. It can not be denied that there was a well developed
technique about the various types of wood and its use in differnet kinds of
articles.
Notes and References
1. P.C. Jain - Labour in Ancient Jrdia, Delhi, 1971, p. 82-83.
2. Jataka Kalausuo, Vol. II, No. 405.
3. M.K Pal - Crafts and Craftsmen in Traditional India, New Delhi, 1978, p. 196.
4. P.C. Jain Op.CiL, p. 91.
5. Ibid., p. 91-92.
6. Vaddhaki Sukara Jataka, Vol. III, No. 283.
7. V.K. Thakur - Urbanisation in Ancient India, Delhi, 1981, p. 108-109.
8. Pt. Tusi Ram Swamy - Manu Smriti, Meerut, 1912, Ch. IV, 46, VII, 220.
9. M.K. Pal - Op.CiL, p. 196.
10. A.K. Coomaraswamy - The Arts and Crafts of ,India and Ceylon, Delhi 1971, pp. 163, 164.
11. Dev Dutt Sastri - Kamsutra, Varanasi, 1982
1
p. 83.
12. Pt. Har Govind Sastri - Amarkosa, Varanasi , 1970, p. 2n.
13. S.K. Maity - Economic life in Northern f ~ d i a Delhi 1978, p. 150.
14. M.A. Buch - Economic life in Ancient India, Allahabad, 1979, p. 139-40.
15. V.K. Thakur - Op.CiL, p. 110.