Faceters' Stone Chat" - Jan - March 2010
Dear All,
The above magazine which contains a wealth of information for Lapidarists is available for reference at the Export Promotion Division.
Best Regards,
Ajith Perera,
Actg. Deputy Director General,
National Gem and Jewellery Authority.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
JCK Las Vegas Show 2010
JCK Las Vegas Show 2010 is organized by Export Development Board
Dear All,
Sri Lanka’s participation at the JCK Las Vegas Show 2010 is organized by Export Development Board. If you wish to participate at the above Show please contact Export Development Board direct.
Please find attached a copy of the relevant paper advertisement.
Best Regards,
Ajith Perera,
Actg. Deputy Director General,
National Gem and Jewellery Authority.
Tianjin China World OriginalCommodity Trade Fair
Free booth for Sri lanka (Tianjin China World OriginalCommodity Trade Fair)
Dear Member,
For your Information.
Members who are interested in participating at this show Please contact Mr. Alexi Gunasekera direct.
Mr. Alexi Gunasekera
Commercial Counsellor
Embassy of Sri Lanka ,Beijing
No 3 Jian Hua Lu 100600 China
Tel 0086 10 65325372
008613552737633
Fax 0086 10 65325426 on 00
Thanks and kind regards,
Srikari
Coordinating Assistant.
Dear Member,
For your Information.
Members who are interested in participating at this show Please contact Mr. Alexi Gunasekera direct.
Mr. Alexi Gunasekera
Commercial Counsellor
Embassy of Sri Lanka ,Beijing
No 3 Jian Hua Lu 100600 China
Tel 0086 10 65325372
008613552737633
Fax 0086 10 65325426 on 00
Thanks and kind regards,
Srikari
Coordinating Assistant.
Monday, April 5, 2010
history of gemstones - 6
Pliny the Elder wrote that quartz was congealed ice. Sex hundred years later, Sir John Madeville stated that a diamond was formed when two large ones, a male and female came together in the hills where the gold lay, and that it grew larger in the dew of a may morning.
The ancient Hindus believed that diamonds owned their origin to bolts of lightning strikes rocks. Even in those times, there were those who thought beyond the supernatural and examined the gems themselves to realise that they were products of the earth just like silver, gold, copper, and metals. However Suramantri Agastya, a sage of Vedic times who wrote exhaustively on gemstones, said that they originated from the bones of Daitya Bala or Dadhichi, a demon endowed with freat strenght who went to heaven to conquer Indra, the king of gods. The gods then slaughtered him in a battle and so he attained salvation. According to this legend as quoted in Ratnapriksha, the classic text on gems.
"There was a powerful king of the Danavas named Bala, endowed with great strength and who proved his valor by conquering the three worlds.
In more than one battle, Divaspati was vanquished by him, and the wife of heros, sachi, was not able to raise her nead with pride. The gods could not defeat this indomitable warrior in open combat; sop they requested him, in the guise of a favor, to become the victim of their sacrifice.
The powerful Bala exceeded the highest serenity of great souls; in the pride of his courage he replied Yes to the gods. Firm in his resolve and asking for nothing in the face of the agony that extinguished his life giving breath, he was tied to a stake by thirteen strings, like an animal; be was bound by his own word.
His birth beign pure and so pure deed, that the remains after the flames, the bones of his body, became the seeds of gems and had the power of gods in them. Gods, Yakshas, Siddhas, Serpents, made a greate plundering of these seeds of precious stones. In heir hasty fight through the clear sky they dropped some peices and everywhere in the pieces fell.
In the sea, the rivers, the mountains, the forests, this seed by its inconcievable weight became the resting place. Diamonds are formed from his bones, pearls from his teeth, ruby from his blood emeralds from his bile, sapphire from his eyes, beryl from his fluids, chrysoberyl from his marrow, catseye from his fingernails, crystal from his fat, coral from his flesh, topaz from his skin and moonstones from his semen."
Buddhabatta, a buddhist monk of the late fifth century AD and author of the first complete text on gemology amended this story to write that it was Vela with his sapphire blue eyes and topaz like skin who led the gods sacrifice his body which became gemstones. The Devas, Yakshas, Siddhas and Nagas rushed to grab these gems and in the melee, some stones fell to earth. Ravana attaked the Sun as he aws running away with Vela's blood, and during the fight, a few drops fell in to the Ravanaganga, a river in Sri Lanka and became rubies. According to Pheru, a Swetambara Jain who was born around 1270 AD, the powerful demon Bala went to heaven to battle Indra, but there he was persuaded to become the beast in the Gods sacrifice. The slaughtered parts of his body became gemstones. Diamonds are formed from his bones, pearls from his teeth, ruby from his blood emeralds from his bile, sapphire from his eyes, beryl from his fluids, chrysoberyl from his marrow, catseye from his fingernails, crystal from his fat, coral from his flesh, topaz from his skin and moonstones from his semen. The nine planets seized these gems as they fell to earth. The sun took the ruby and the moon, the pearl. Mars got caral and Mercury emerald. Topaz was given to Jupiter, Venus took the diamond and Saturn got the sapphire while Rahu obtained zircon and Ketu got the beryl. Later these stones slipped from the hands of the planets and sank deep into the earth.
Ancient Sanskrit works such as the Mahabarata, Ramayana, Sukraniti, Suruta Ratnapariska, the Kamasutra of Vatsayana, Bribatsambita, Agnipurana, Garudapurana and the Yuktikalpataru discussed gemstones properties and usage in everyday life. According to them, good gems were flawless. pure and cause prosperity. Flawed stones destroyed money, sons and property and even one bad gem in a collection destroyed the luster and efficiency of the good ones.
The tests also refer to various sites where diamonds were found. The Arthabastra of Kautilya refer to Himalaya, Surat in Gujrat, Venwa in Maharashtra, Venaganga or Saubira in the Punjab, Kalinga in Orissa, Kosala in Ayodhya, Matanga in the Deccan and Paunda in Burdwan as areas where diamonds were found. According to him the best diamonds were available in south India, particularly at Kaveripattinam, a center foe the gemstones at the mouth of the river Cauvery. A book on travel and trade written by a Roman merchant of the first century AD, The Periplus, talks of buying diamonds from India. The second century AD Tamil classic Silapaddikaram describes the diamond market in Madurai where ruby and sapphire from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and south India, pearls from Mannar (Sri Lanka) and rubies from Burma were traded. Merchants from Rome, Egypt and Greece setup offices there as evidence by the finds of Roman coins in that area.
The ancient Hindus believed that diamonds owned their origin to bolts of lightning strikes rocks. Even in those times, there were those who thought beyond the supernatural and examined the gems themselves to realise that they were products of the earth just like silver, gold, copper, and metals. However Suramantri Agastya, a sage of Vedic times who wrote exhaustively on gemstones, said that they originated from the bones of Daitya Bala or Dadhichi, a demon endowed with freat strenght who went to heaven to conquer Indra, the king of gods. The gods then slaughtered him in a battle and so he attained salvation. According to this legend as quoted in Ratnapriksha, the classic text on gems.
"There was a powerful king of the Danavas named Bala, endowed with great strength and who proved his valor by conquering the three worlds.
In more than one battle, Divaspati was vanquished by him, and the wife of heros, sachi, was not able to raise her nead with pride. The gods could not defeat this indomitable warrior in open combat; sop they requested him, in the guise of a favor, to become the victim of their sacrifice.
The powerful Bala exceeded the highest serenity of great souls; in the pride of his courage he replied Yes to the gods. Firm in his resolve and asking for nothing in the face of the agony that extinguished his life giving breath, he was tied to a stake by thirteen strings, like an animal; be was bound by his own word.
His birth beign pure and so pure deed, that the remains after the flames, the bones of his body, became the seeds of gems and had the power of gods in them. Gods, Yakshas, Siddhas, Serpents, made a greate plundering of these seeds of precious stones. In heir hasty fight through the clear sky they dropped some peices and everywhere in the pieces fell.
In the sea, the rivers, the mountains, the forests, this seed by its inconcievable weight became the resting place. Diamonds are formed from his bones, pearls from his teeth, ruby from his blood emeralds from his bile, sapphire from his eyes, beryl from his fluids, chrysoberyl from his marrow, catseye from his fingernails, crystal from his fat, coral from his flesh, topaz from his skin and moonstones from his semen."
Buddhabatta, a buddhist monk of the late fifth century AD and author of the first complete text on gemology amended this story to write that it was Vela with his sapphire blue eyes and topaz like skin who led the gods sacrifice his body which became gemstones. The Devas, Yakshas, Siddhas and Nagas rushed to grab these gems and in the melee, some stones fell to earth. Ravana attaked the Sun as he aws running away with Vela's blood, and during the fight, a few drops fell in to the Ravanaganga, a river in Sri Lanka and became rubies. According to Pheru, a Swetambara Jain who was born around 1270 AD, the powerful demon Bala went to heaven to battle Indra, but there he was persuaded to become the beast in the Gods sacrifice. The slaughtered parts of his body became gemstones. Diamonds are formed from his bones, pearls from his teeth, ruby from his blood emeralds from his bile, sapphire from his eyes, beryl from his fluids, chrysoberyl from his marrow, catseye from his fingernails, crystal from his fat, coral from his flesh, topaz from his skin and moonstones from his semen. The nine planets seized these gems as they fell to earth. The sun took the ruby and the moon, the pearl. Mars got caral and Mercury emerald. Topaz was given to Jupiter, Venus took the diamond and Saturn got the sapphire while Rahu obtained zircon and Ketu got the beryl. Later these stones slipped from the hands of the planets and sank deep into the earth.
Ancient Sanskrit works such as the Mahabarata, Ramayana, Sukraniti, Suruta Ratnapariska, the Kamasutra of Vatsayana, Bribatsambita, Agnipurana, Garudapurana and the Yuktikalpataru discussed gemstones properties and usage in everyday life. According to them, good gems were flawless. pure and cause prosperity. Flawed stones destroyed money, sons and property and even one bad gem in a collection destroyed the luster and efficiency of the good ones.
The tests also refer to various sites where diamonds were found. The Arthabastra of Kautilya refer to Himalaya, Surat in Gujrat, Venwa in Maharashtra, Venaganga or Saubira in the Punjab, Kalinga in Orissa, Kosala in Ayodhya, Matanga in the Deccan and Paunda in Burdwan as areas where diamonds were found. According to him the best diamonds were available in south India, particularly at Kaveripattinam, a center foe the gemstones at the mouth of the river Cauvery. A book on travel and trade written by a Roman merchant of the first century AD, The Periplus, talks of buying diamonds from India. The second century AD Tamil classic Silapaddikaram describes the diamond market in Madurai where ruby and sapphire from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and south India, pearls from Mannar (Sri Lanka) and rubies from Burma were traded. Merchants from Rome, Egypt and Greece setup offices there as evidence by the finds of Roman coins in that area.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
history of gemstones - 5
Although in the late nineteenth century science began to explain many of the phenomena attributed to gems, superstitions prevail. Steeped in myth and legend, countless beliefs and fascinating tales are related about the mysterious powers of gems and precious stones. Even in the sceptically age of today, they are believed to affect the wearer, often to the good and sometimes with disastrous consequences. For instance, in 1995 a woman swallowed a large diamond and when surgeon and nurses in Kitwit, Zaire operating on her, removed and stole it, the stone apparently avenged itself by causing the Ebola virus that killed the hospital staff and the spread through Africa.
India was always a fabulous source of gems, perhaps the only country that produced and exported them to Babylon and Persia. The Milinda0Panha of the first century BC specified that a diamond had to be pure throughout its volume and that it should be mounted together with the most closely gems. Int he days of Ptolemy, in the third century BC, there was a thriving export trade from India and Sri Lanka for gemstones, particularly diamonds from India and other precious gemstones from Sri Lanka. Pliny in 23-79 AD said that India produced more gemstones that any other land. Manuscripts from the temple town of Madurai in India indicate that there has been a three thousand year long tradition of mining and trading in them.
From the third century BC to the present day, the cutting and polishing of gemstones was and is still an esoteric art in India.
Men have speculated on the origin of gemstones. Theophratus the Greek thought that stones were fluids solidified through heat and cold. He believed that amber was solidified urine of the lynx, the male producing amber was of a red tinge. Other experts of his time said it was the rays of the setting sun congealed in the sea and then cast upon the shore that was amber while Greek poets described the resin as the tears shed by the Heliades when they heard of the death of their brother Phaeton.
India was always a fabulous source of gems, perhaps the only country that produced and exported them to Babylon and Persia. The Milinda0Panha of the first century BC specified that a diamond had to be pure throughout its volume and that it should be mounted together with the most closely gems. Int he days of Ptolemy, in the third century BC, there was a thriving export trade from India and Sri Lanka for gemstones, particularly diamonds from India and other precious gemstones from Sri Lanka. Pliny in 23-79 AD said that India produced more gemstones that any other land. Manuscripts from the temple town of Madurai in India indicate that there has been a three thousand year long tradition of mining and trading in them.
From the third century BC to the present day, the cutting and polishing of gemstones was and is still an esoteric art in India.
Men have speculated on the origin of gemstones. Theophratus the Greek thought that stones were fluids solidified through heat and cold. He believed that amber was solidified urine of the lynx, the male producing amber was of a red tinge. Other experts of his time said it was the rays of the setting sun congealed in the sea and then cast upon the shore that was amber while Greek poets described the resin as the tears shed by the Heliades when they heard of the death of their brother Phaeton.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)