The "Ratnapariksa" of Buddha Bhatta is a 6th-century text on gems. The manuscript summarizes Indian knowledge about diamond, which it introduces through an origin myth -- a window into the culture's cosmology and values. Buddha Bhatta describes the hierarchy of diamonds, their powers and virtues, and their distribution among the castes.

The Virtues of Diamond: A diamond octahedron was highly valued: "He who, having pure body, always carries a diamond with sharp points, without blemish, free from all faults; that one, as long as he lives, knows each day will bear some things: happiness, prosperity, children, riches, grain, cows and meat. He who wears [such] a diamond will see dangers recede from him whether he be threatened by serpents, fire, poison, sickness, thieves, flood or evil spirits."

The Finest Diamond: A diamond that flashed rainbow colors was best: "Even if it has blunt points, if it has a speck, a crack, the diamond that has the reflection of the rainbow procures wealth, grain and sons. The king who carries, so it is said, a beautiful diamond with glittering flashes has a force that triumphs over all other powers and becomes master of all neighboring lands." Rainbow dispersive color from a diamond octahedron takes overall precedence and the finest colorless diamonds, transparent octahedra with rainbow reflections, are reserved for kings.

The Hardness of Diamond: Diamond's supreme hardness was recognized: "The gems and the metals that exist on earth are all scratched by the diamond: the diamond is not (scratched) by them. A noble substance scratches that which is noble and that which is not; the diamond scratches even the ruby. The diamond scratches all and is not scratched by any."

*From the Ratnapariksa (click on highlighted terms for more information.)

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 head with pride.

The gods could not defeat this indomitable warrior in open combat; so they requested him, in the guise of a favor, to become the victim of their sacrificial ritual (yagna).

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; he was bound by his own word.

His birth being pure and so pure his deed, that the remains after the flames, the bones of his body, became the seed of gems (and had the power of the Gods in them).

Gods, Yakshas, Siddhas, Serpents made a great plundering of these seeds of precious stones.

In their hasty flight through the clear sky, they dropped some pieces, and everywhere the pieces fell.

In the sea, the rivers, the mountains, the forests, this seed, by its inconceivable weight, became the resting place [the deposits].

*Translation from Sanskrit and by George E. Harlow from a French version by Louis Finot, 1896.
Manipariksa photo courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.