Agate— Archaeology and Folk-lore 
29 
It is curious that agate is not referred to in ancient 
Sanskrit literature, either in medical texts or in mine- 
ralogical treatises. On the other hand, great quanti- 
ties of agate objects have been discovered on very- 
ancient archaeological sites of southern India, not only 
in the shape of beads, but also in the form of cores, 
flakes, scrapers, and strike-a-lights ; numerous color 
varieties like white, gray, red and white, brown and 
gray, banded gray, deep red, dull red, orange-red, etc., 
are represented among these antiquities. It may hence 
be inferred that the ancient aboriginal inhabitants of 
India were well acquainted with the stone and utilized 
it for every-day implements in times anterior to the 
Aryan conquest and that the Aryan invaders learned 
its use and adopted it from the aborigines. 
Agate is appreciated by the Tibetans, and is used 
to some extent, though not so largely as turquois, coral, 
and amber, their favorite jewels. It is partially im- 
ported from India, partially from China, and some is 
found in the country itself. Large pieces of red agate 
attached to cloth are worn by the Panaka women in 
the Kukunor region in their hair which is plaited in 
numerous small braids falling over their shoulders. 
Agate is frequently used by the Tibetans in finger- 
rings (examples in Case 61, West Gallery). 
Ancient agate beads, rings, and seals were dis- 
covered by Sir Aurel Stein at Khotan and other locali- 
ties of Chinese Turkestan; also an intaglio of agate 
with the figure of a lion. 
The ancient Chinese herbalists and Taoist doctors, 
who were chiefly interested in the healing properties 
of organic and inorganic substances, classified agate as 
a species of its own. Under this term, which is ma-nao 
in their language, they included also carnelian. Their 
definition of ma-nao is formulated to the effect that it 
is neither a common stone nor jade, but that it holds 
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