$JES 921 Book of Compassion Reverence For All Life Reference Book

Author(s): Pramoda Chitrabhanu, Pravin K Shah
Publisher: JAINA Education Committee

Page 46

7.- VARAKH (SILVER FOIL)
10" wide. From this, strips of 9" long x 10" wide are cut to give approximately 60 pieces of ox-gut, which are then piled one onto another and bound to form a book of 171 leaves.
Next, small thin strips of silver are placed between the sheets and the book is slipped into a leather pouch (note that the use of leatheran animal product again). Artisans then hammer these bundles continuously for a day to produce extremely thin foils of silver of 3" x 5".
The leather and ox-gut, being supple, can withstand the intense manual hammering for up to 8 hours a day till such time as the silver is beaten to the desired thickness. When ready, the foil is carefully lifted from between the leaves of ox-gut and placed between sheets of paper to be sold to the sweet makers (mithäiwälläs). A booklet of 160 foils weighs approximately 10 grams and costs about Rs. 200 ($5.00).
To make a single booklet of 171 sheets, the guts of 3 cows are used. And the yield per book is generally 160 foils of silver, the rest of which may be damaged or unfit for use. Thus, one book used on an average of 300 days of the year yields approximately 48,000 foils of silver which means that each ox-gut yields an estimated 16,000 foils.
The leather used for the pouch to hold the book (made from ox-gut), is cowhide or calf leather, and uses about 232 sq. inches of material. Assuming the size of an average cowhide to be 18 sq. ft. or 2,600 sq. inches, the yield per hide will be approximately 10 leather pouches.
Usually 4 foils are used per kilograms (2.2 lbs.) of sweets and the ox-gut of one cow is used to produce foil for approximately 4,000 kilograms (9,000 lbs.) of sweets. It is estimated (by surveys) that the average consumption of sweets by a middle-class family of four in India is about 100 kilograms per year.
Thus, an average middle class Indian family of four consuming approximately 100 kg of sweets per year for forty years consumes silver foil produced with the gut of 3 cows and one-tenth of a cowhide!
India is not the only country where foil is made by such methods. In Germany, small-specialized enterprises produce gold leaf, which is beaten down to 1/10,000-millimeter thickness, for decorative and
THE BOOK OF COMPASSION
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