Rock engineering
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The document discusses the various uses of stones in ancient India for sculptures and construction, the different sources and classifications of building stones, and techniques used in ancient times for selecting, cutting, placing, and hardening stones as well as identifying defects. Ancient Indian texts provided classifications of stones by color, age, gender, and defects as well as methods for breaking stone blocks, tempering tools, and identifying microscopic defects in stones.
Rock engineering
- 1. A.S. Nene Professor of Civil Engineering (Retd) VNIT Nagpur
- 2. Uses of Stones Making sculptures Building blocks for construction.
- 3. Sources of building stones Ref. Kashyapashilpa From hills From underground mines Riverbanks and forests The stones obtained from barren land, graveyard or those embedded in ground are unsuitable. Stones obtained from sites unsuitable for habitation are also unsuitable.
- 4. Classification of stones By Color Milk, Jaya flower, Buffalo’s eye, Conch, White Moon, Pearl Crystal et Indragop (insect), Rabbit’s blood or Red Pomegranate Flower etc. Yellow Flowers like, Mallika or Korandi Kajal (eye ointment), Blue lotus, Wasp, Black Vest part of peacock, black gram etc Ref. Kashyapashilpa
- 5. By Age Child Sound produced as un-burnt bricks, long or flat in shape as a leaf Young Long ringing sound like bell, soft in touch, with good smell, without pores Old Non-ringing sound, highly porous, highly weathered Stones of first or third category are unsuitable Ref. Mayamat
- 6. By Gender Male Big, rounded, which produces sparks when hit with chisel- Suitable for columns Female Medium size, soft in touch, broad at base –Suitable for beams Neutral Small, broad at top, not sounding- Suitable as aggregates Ref. Vishnudharmottar Purana
- 7. Defects in building stones Lines • curvilinear (as thread), • straight (as sun rays) • parallel (as rains) Spots size. lemon fruit (15-20 mm), grape size (5-10 mm), less than 5 mm. Ref. Mayamat
- 8. Detection Of Defects In Rocks Microscopic defects in stones , which were invisible to eyes, were detected by applying some herbal paints so that the defects were clearly visible.
- 9. Stone softening Stone with 14 angles Stone wall at Cuzco (Peru) The Incas employed certain methods to make their stones fit perfectly. They knew a plant whose juices rendered the surface of a block so soft that the intricate fittings were accomplished.
- 10. Adamantine glues A bonding agent was very essential for fixing idols, In wall construction, when cement and other modern materials were unknown. Even now, these glues were known as Astabandha, are prepared in temple premises for fixing or re- fixing images of gods.
- 11. Breaking of stone blocks Heating: The stone block is heated by make a pyre of wooden logs of Palash or Tinduk trees. The heating is continued till the color of wooden logs becomes bright red or orange. Cooling: The fire is moved to adjacent area of rock surface. The preheated surface is cooled down quickly by pouring certain types of liquids listed below. •Solution of quick lime in cold water •Solution prepared by mixing buttermilk with rice paste, ripe berries. •Solution prepared by boiling Neem leaves and some tree barks. Ref. Brihat Samhita
- 12. Tempering or hardening of tools Ref. Brihat Samhita 1. heating the tool in fire until it becomes red hot. 2. application of paste of certain materials and / or dipping the red-hot tool in a specific solution. 4. sharpening the tools. The Paste / solution used in step 2 Paste made of • excreta of pigeon and rat, • powder of horns of a buffalo • milk extract of a plant (Mandar) Solution of buttermilk and ash of banana plant
- 13. Suranga –A water tunnel Suranga is a tunnels bored horizontally on the slopes of hills to get clean drinking quality water. Found in many parts of Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka and Kasaragod district of Kerala ‘Quanat’ is a similar structure used in Iran and Iraq Suranga Quanat
- 14. Building Stones The Indus valley civilization shows the use of • Tertiary limestone, •Sandstones •Mesozoic steatite. Marble cutting achieved a remarkable level of sophistication, with the intricate undercutting in the 11th and 12th century temples at Mt-Abu
- 15. Conclusions Different types of stones were used in different time spans Selection of the stones by texture and strength and absence of micro cracks,. Ancient knowledge is applicable even in modern times. More information on defects of rock was provided in ancient texts.
- 16. References 1. Kashyapashilpa 2. Mayamat 3. Shilpratna 4. Vishnu Purana 5. Shilparatnakar 6. Brihat Samhita