See: Interactions between Meluhha metalsmiths and Barbar temple artisans evidenced by high-tin bronze mirror handles https://tinyurl.com/y6weq27o This link provides evidence of a bronze mirror discovered in Barbar temple, concordant with Kulli culture.The Barbar Temple is an archaeological site located in the village of Barbar, Bahrain, and considered to be part of the Dilmun culture. The most recent of the three Barbar temples was rediscovered by a Danish archaeological team in 1954. A further two temples were discovered on the site with the oldest dating back to 3000 BCE.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbar_Temple

A tribute to the inventive genius of the Baluchistan metal-smiths of the period

 

I submit that the word आ- √ दृश् occurs in the Rgveda (RV X.111.7); the verbal form is related to the derived expression आ-दर्श a looking-glass in vedic texts. 

I suggest that Asko Parpola should reconsider his assertion that Vedic India was not aware of the mirror until 600 BCE. Archaeological evidence and the occurrence of आ- √ दृश् = आ-दर्श  'looking glass' metaphor in RV X.111.7 point to the reality of the knowledge of mirrors in early Vedic times and certainly in the mature phases of Sindhu-Sarasvati Civilization.

आ- √ दृश् A1. (3. sg. perf. Pass. -द्/अदृशे RV. x , 111 , 7) to appear , be seen: Caus. -दर्शयति , to show , exhibit. आ-दर्श a looking-glass , mirror S3Br. Br2A1rUp. MBh. R. &c (Monier-Williams)

Griffith: RV X.111.7 When the Dawns come attendant upon Surya their rays discover wealth of divers colours.
The Star of heaven is seen as it were approaching: none knoweth aught of it as it departeth.

Wilson: RV 10.111.07 When the  dawns are associated with the sun, his rays acquire wonderful beauty; but when the constellation of heaven is not seen, no one really knows (his rays) as he moves. 

आदर्श पु० आदृश्यतेऽत्र दृश--आधारे घञ् । १ दर्पणे, तत्र हि विम्बपदार्थस्य प्रतिविम्बपतनात्, तत्संयोगेन नयनरश्मीनां परावर्त्तने वा विम्बग्राहितया विम्बं दृश्यते इतितस्य तथात्वम् । “आदर्शविम्बस्तिमितायताक्षी” कुमा०

नेपथ्यदर्शिनश्छाया तस्यादर्शहिरण्मये” रघुः ।आदृश्यते सम्यग्रूपेण ज्ञायते ग्रन्थार्थोऽस्मिन् । टीकायां३ प्रतिरूपपुस्तकादौ यत्रत्यमक्षरसन्निवेश द्वष्ट्वा तदनुरूपमन्यल्लिख्यते तादृशे पुस्तके । “यथादर्शं तथा लिखितमिति भूरिप्रयोगः । आदर्शोगुणानाम् काद० । तत्रतदीयगुणान् द्वष्ट्वा परैस्तथागुणा आश्रीयन्त इति तस्यतथात्वम् ४ जनपदसोमाभेदे च । ततोभवादौ वुञ् ।आदर्शकः । जनपदावधिसूचकस्थानभवे त्रि० ।

https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/वाचस्पत्यम्

आदर्शः, पुं, (आङ् + दृश् + घञ् ।) दर्पणं । टीका ।प्रतिपुस्तकं । इति मेदिनी ॥ (यथा भगवद्गीतायां ।“धूमेनाव्रियते वह्निर्यथादर्शो मलेन च ।यथोल्वनेनावृतो गर्भस्तथा तेनेदमावृतं” ॥)आदानं, क्ली, (आङ्दा + ल्युट् ।) ग्रहणं । अश्वा-भरणं । इति मेदिनीहेमचन्द्रौ ॥ रोगलक्षणं ।इति राजनिर्घण्टः । (स्वीकारः प्रतिग्रहः ।यथा कुमारंसम्भवे ५ । ११ ॥“कुशाङ्कुरादानपरिक्षताङ्गुलिः” ॥ मनुः, ७ । २०४ ।“आदानमप्रियकरं दानञ्च प्रियकारकं ।अभीप्सितानामर्थानां काले युक्तं प्रशस्यते” ॥)

https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/शब्दकल्पद्रुमः

A Harappan copper mirror, Dholavira. Photo Courtesy ASI : http://akshardhoolstories.blogspot.com/p/amazing-world-of-dholavira.html

https://tinyurl.com/y4q4y9od

Prof Asko Parpola (Helsinki University) argues that the mirror was not known in Vedic India until it was introduced by the Persians in 600 BCE. offering a histo.basis to study the Vedic literature. Studia Orientalia Electronica vol. 7 (2019): 1-29.

https://journal.fi/store/issue/view/5490

This argument of Asko Parpola is countered in this monograph.

There are two Indo-European root words which link to the semantics of 'mirror': der(ep)- 'to see, mirror'; drych m. (*dr̥ksos) sight, mirror'. Cognate Meluhha pronunciation variants include: 

Set 1: Pa. dappana -- m. ʻ mirror ʼ, Pk. dappaṇa -- m.; A. dāpan ʻ mirror ʼ, dāpani ʻ a bellmetal utensil used by groom in marriage ceremony ʼ; Si. dapaṇa, däp˚ ʻmirrorʼ. Addenda: darpaṇa -- : A. also spel. dāpon ʻ mirror ʼ.

Set 2: Pa. ādāsa -- , ˚aka -- m., Pk. ādaṁsa -- , ˚aga -- , āyaṁsa -- , ˚aga -- , āyāsa -- ; -- MIA. *ādariśa -- : Pk. ādarisa -- , āya˚ m.; Paš. rešó, Shum. reṣe (ṣ!), S. āhirī f., L. ārhī, a˚ f., WPah. jaun. ārśī

Archaeological evidence attests the production of high-tin-bronze mirrors, using cire perdue (lost-wax casting) technique in many parts of Eurasia including Sarasvati Civiization, dated to ca. 4th millennium BCE.

It is extraordinary that Asko Parpola makes a fallacious statement that the mirror was not known in Vedic India until it was introduced by the Persians in 600 BCE. The existence of a bronze mirror is attested from Balochistan and from sites such as Rakhigarhi and Dholavira.

Bronze mirror. Rakhigarhi.

Bronze mirror. Dholavira. Courtesy: ASI

http://akshardhoolstories.blogspot.com/p/amazing-world-of-dholavira.html

Attested techniques of Aranmula high-tin-bronze mirror can certainly be traced to the Sarasvati Civilization tradition of creating metal alloys. In this context, I cite the work of Jainagesh Sekhar, et al, 2015, Ancient Metal Mirror Alloy Revisited: Quasicrystalline Nanoparticles Observed in JOM: the journal of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 67(12) · July 2015 DOI: 10.1007/s11837-015-1524-3 Ta. kaṇṇāṭi, kaṇṇaṭi mirror of metal or glass, glass things, spectacles (< kaṇ eye + āṭi mirror, crystal). Ma. kaṇṇāṭi mirror, glass; kaṇṇaṭa spectacles. To. koṇoḍy mirror, spectacles. Ka. kannaḍi, kanaḍi mirror, pane of glass, lens of spectacles, pair of spectacles; kanaḍaka pair of spectacles; kannaḍisu to mirror, appear. Koḍ. kannaḍi glass, mirror. Tu. kaṇṇaḍi, kannaḍi glass, mirror, pair of spectacles; kannaḍaka pair of spectacles, eye-glass. (DEDR 1182).

Piggott, 1961, Prehistoric India, Harmondsworth, p. 112. Female figure with breasts, with arms akimbo. Compares with the handle of bronze mirror found in Barbar temple whish shows a male figure with arms joined on the chest in a worshipful pose.

Nagaraja Rao notes that this handle resembles a mirror from the Kulli site of Mehi in Baluchistan.

(Stein, A., 1931, An archaeological tour in Gedrosia,Memoirs of ASI 43,: pi.32. Mehi II, 1.2.a; Possehl 1986: 48, Mehi II.1.2.a). These objects are similar to the head of the figure handle in the Mehi example is actually the face of the mirror itself. (Julian Reade, 2013, Indian Ocean in Antiquity, Routledge, p.26). These comments of Julian Reade have to be seen in the context of the artifacts with Indus Script hypertexts discovered in Kulli culture (Mehi). Kulli culture provides indication of working with magnetite, ferrite ore and with alloys of copper with high tin content resulting in the bronze mirrors. At Mehi were found several decorated chlorite vessels, imported from Tepe Yahya and attesting trade contacts with the Eastern Iran. Copper and bronze was known. These are indications that Kulli culture artisans were trade partners with Sarasvati Civilization.

 Santali dictionary.

अरसा arasā m ( H) A mirror or looking-glass. Ex. तव्याचा जातां बुरसा ॥ मग तोचि होय सहज अ0 ॥ अरशापुढें कोळसा Used where a thing remarkably foul, vile, base, or bad is compared with a thing remarkably bright, pure, fine, or good. अर- शा सारखा Bright and clear as a mirror;--used lit. fig. of houses, rooms, accounts, handwriting, business. अरशासारखें तोंड-मुख-चेहरा A clear complexion or beautiful countenance. (Marathi) आ-दर्श a looking-glass , mirror S3Br. Br2A1rUp. MBh. 

R. &c दर्पण m. (g. नन्द्य्-ादि) " causing vanity " , a mirror Hariv. 8317 R. ii S3ak. 

&c ifc. " Mirror " (in names of works) e.g. आतङ्क- , दान- , साहित्य- (Monier-Williams) dárpaṇa m. ʻ mirror ʼ Hariv. [√dr̥p?]Pa. dappana -- m. ʻ mirror ʼ, Pk. dappaṇa -- m.; A. dāpan ʻ mirror ʼ, dāpani ʻ a bellmetal utensil used by groom in marriage ceremony ʼ; Si. dapaṇa, däp˚ ʻmirrorʼ. Addenda: darpaṇa -- : A. also spel. dāpon ʻ mirror ʼ.(CDIAL 6201) آرسئِي ār-saʿī, s.f. (6th) (HI. ارسي) A mirror, a small mirror for the thumb worn by women. Sing. and Pl.; آهنه āhinaʿh, s.f. (3rd) A mirror, a looking- glass. Pl. يْ ey.See آهينه and آئينه (Pashto) aina ऐन

or öna आ॑न (=) आदर्शःm. a mirror, a looking-glass (Śiv. 500, 558, 1547). K.Pr. spells this word āīnah, transliterating the Pers. . -dör^ü -दा॑रू॒ । आदर्शकवाटः a door ornamented with mirrors. -gor^u -ग॑रु॒ । दर्पणसम्पादकः m. a mirror-maker; a seller of mirrors. -khünḍ^ü -ख॑ण्डू॒ । आदर्शखण्डः f. a piece of a mirror. -khạp^üṭ^ü -ख॑प॒॑टू॒ । सूक्ष्मतुच्छ आदर्शः f. a small mirror, of no value or use. -khôṭ^u -खोँटु॒ । आदर्शपिधानम् m. a mirror-cover, or mirror-case. -phuṭ^u -फुटू॒ । भग्नलघुदर्पणः f. a broken piece of looking-glass. -wöj^ü -वा॑जू॒ । सादर्शोर्मिका f. a kind of finger-ring, fitted with a tiny mirror. -zömpāna -ज़ा॑म्पान । आदर्शमयशिबिका m. a palanquin, the doors and other parts of which are made of mirrors of glass, crystal, or the like; hence, met., a very fragile conveyance.(Kashmiri)

Root / lemma: der(ep)-

English meaning: to see, *mirror

German meaning: `sehen'ö

Material: Old Indian dárpana- m. `mirror'; gr. δρωπάζειν, δρώπτειν `see' (with lengthened grade 2. syllableöö).

Note:

The Root / lemma: der(ep)- : `to see, *mirror' could have derived from Root / lemma: derbh- : `to wind, put together, *scratch, scrape, rub, polish'

References: WP. I 803; to forms -ep- compare Kuiper Nasalpras. 60 f.

See also: compare also δράω `sehe' and derk̂-`see'.

Page(s): 212

drych m. (*dr̥ksos) `sight, mirror' Page 213

https://indo-european.info/indoeuropean.html

ādarśá m. ʻ mirror ʼ ŚBr., ˚aka -- m. R. [√dr̥ś] Pa. ādāsa -- , ˚aka -- m., Pk. ādaṁsa -- , ˚aga -- , āyaṁsa -- , ˚aga -- , āyāsa -- ; -- MIA. *ādariśa -- : Pk. ādarisa -- , āya˚ m.; Paš. rešó, Shum. reṣe (ṣ!), S. āhirī f., L. ārhī, a˚ f., WPah. jaun. ārśī, Ku. N. ārsi; A. ārhi ʻ likeness ʼ; B. ārsi ʻ mirror ʼ (→ A. ārsi), Or. ārisi, ˚asi, Bhoj. Aw. lakh. ārasī, H. ārsī f.; OG. ārīsaü (< MIA. *āarissa-- ?), G. ārīsɔ, ar˚, ārsɔ m. ʻ large mirror ʼ, ārsī f. ʻ small do. ʼ, (→)P. ārsī f., S. ārisī, ārsī f.); M. ārsā, ar˚ m. ʻ small mirror ʼ, ārśī, ar˚ f. ʻ mirror ʼ.Addenda: ādarśá -- : S.kcch. ārīso m. ʻmirrorʼ, WPah.kṭg. (kc.) arśu m., J. ārśu.(CDIAL 1143) Ādāsa [Sk. ādarśa, ā + dṛś, P. dass, of dassati¹ 2] a mir- ror Vin ii.107; D i.7, 11 (˚pañha mirror -- questioning, cp. DA i.97: "ādāse devataŋ otaretvā pañha -- pucchanaŋ"), 80; ii.93 (dhamna^ɔ -- ādāsaŋ nāma dhamma -- pariyāyaŋ desessāmi); S v.357 (id.); A v.92, 97 sq., 103; J i.504; Dhs 617 (˚maṇḍala); Vism 591 (in simile); KhA 50 (˚daṇḍa) 237; DhA i.226.   -- tala the surface of the mirror, in similes at Vism 450, 456, 489(Pali)  Ta. attam mirror (< Te.). Te. addamu mirror, pane of lass. Ga. (S.3) addam mirror. Go. (Ko.) addam id (Voc. 49). Konḍa adam id. Kuwi(F.) ademi id. / Cf. Pkt. addāa- mirror. (DEDR 147)

INDUS CULTURE, c. 2000-1000 BC, bronze mirror, 104mm dia., round, slightly dished, loop rivetted on on one side, hole for another rivet on the other, bull's eyes border on convex side, from Baluchistan, 

 INDUS or later, c. 1800-500 BC, bronze mirror, 93mm diameter, from Mehargarh, Balochistan, thin, corroded, bent.

INDUS CULTURE, c. 2000-1000 BC, bronze spoon or mirror, 85mm dia., 22x13mm tab for handle pierced with 2 holes, slightly dished ~4mm deep, from Loralai, cracked, tiny hole.

http://www.anythinganywhere.com/commerce/relic/pak-indus-bead.html

British Museum. Bronze mirror. ca. 300 BCE.
https://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/arth-2300-study-guide-2014-15-smith/deck/14134529

Sources of tin from Ancient Far East, the largest tin belt of the globe created the Tin-Bronze revolution

Lloyd R. Weeks presents a detailed and cogently argued thesis that tin bronzes of the third and second millennia in the early metallurgy of Persian Gulf points to sources of tin from the East. He posits possible sources from north and east in Afghanistan or Central Asia. However, he fails to resolve the archaeological fact that not many tin-bronzes have been found in Central Asia where there is predominant presence of tin-bronzes in sites such as Tell Abraq (Persian Gulf). (Weeks, Lloyd R., 2003,Early metallurgy of the Persian Gulf, Boston, Brill Academic Publishers Embedded for ready reference.)

https://www.scribd.com/document/363093182/Early-Metallurgy-of-the-Persian-Gulf-Lloyd-R-Weeks-2003

I agree with the analysis of TE Potts (Potts, TF, 1994, Mesopotamia and the East. An archaeological and historical stuydy of foreign relations ca. 3400-2000 BCE, Oxford Committee for Archaeology Monograph 37, Oxford) that the tin for the tin-bronzes of ANE was sourced from the East. I further venture to posit that the tin came from the largest tin belt of the globe, through seafaring merchants of Ancient Far East (the Himalayan river basins of Mekong, Irrawaddy and Salween) mediated by Ancient India trade guilds of 4th to 2nd millennia BCE. See. Maritime Meluhha Tin Road links Far East and Near East -- from Hanoi to Haifa creating the Bronze Age revolution https://tinyurl.com/y9sfw4f8 This hypothesis is a work in process.

Here is a small argument about the high tin-bronze of mirrors found in Barbar temple and in Sarasvati civilization areas mediated by the brilliant metalwmithy work of artisans from Mehi of Kulli Culture.

A bronze mirror is among the aṣṭamangala-s अष्ट-मङ्गलम् [अष्ट- गुणितं मङ्गलं शा. क. त.] a collection of eight auspicious things; according to some they are:-- मृगराजो वृषो नागः कलशो व्यञ्जनं तथा । वैजयन्ती तथा भेरी दीप इत्यष्टमङ्गलम् ॥ according to others लोके$स्मिन्मङ्गलान्यष्टौ ब्राह्मणो गौर्हुताशनः । हिरण्यं सर्पि- रादित्य आपो राजा तथाष्टमः ॥ 

Aranmuḷa metalwork by artisans are exemplified in high tin-bronze mirrors produced by Vishwakarma

 വിശ്വകർമ്മജർ Using the cire perdue or lost-wax casting technique, a Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization tradition continues in a village of Kerala, Aranmula, by Visvakarma sthapatis who make high-tin bronze mirrors which are patented as Geographical Indicators and called āṟanmuḷakkaṇṇāṭi.

A tribute to the inventive genius of the Baluchistan metal-smiths of the period

Piggott, 1961, Prehistoric India, Harmondsworth, p. 112. Female figure with breasts, with arms akimbo. Compares with the handle of bronze mirror found in Barbar temple whish shows a male figure with arms joined on the chest in a worshipful pose.

Bronze mirror handle from Barbar Temple, Bahrain (After illustration by Glob, PV, 1954, Temples at Barbar, Kuml 4:142- 53, fig. 6) Another remarkable figure in bronze is a bird (After fig. 7 ibid.)

Source: https://tidsskrift.dk/kuml/article/download/97163/146495

https://www.scribd.com/document/363092681/Bronzehandtag-til-et-spejl-fra-barbartemlet-pa-Bahrain-MS-Nagaraja-Rao-Kuml-1969-1970-pp-218-220

Kuml: Journal of the Jutland Archaeological Society

Nagaraja Rao notes that this handle resembles a mirror from the Kulli site of Mehi in Baluchistan.

(Stein, A., 1931, An archaeological tour in Gedrosia,Memoirs of ASI 43,: pi.32. Mehi II, 1.2.a; Possehl 1986: 48, Mehi II.1.2.a). These objects are similar to the head of the figure handle in the Mehi example is actually the face of the mirror itself. (Julian Reade, 2013, Indian Ocean in Antiquity, Routledge, p.26). These comments of Julian Reade have to be seen in the context of the artifacts with Indus Script hypertexts discovered in Kulli culture (Mehi). Kulli culture provides indication of working with magnetite, ferrite ore and with alloys of copper with high tin content resulting in the bronze mirrors. At Mehi were found several decorated chlorite vessels, imported from Tepe Yahya and attesting trade contacts with the Eastern Iran.^[5]Copper and bronze was known. These are indications that Kulli culture artisans were trade partners with Sarasvati Civilization.

Source: 

Interactions between Meluhha metalsmiths and Barbar temple artisans evidenced by high-tin bronze mirror handles 

https://tinyurl.com/y6weq27o

http://tinyurl.com/y6blrmy9

I agree with the analysis of TE Potts (Potts, TF, 1994, Mesopotamia and the East. An archaeological and historical stuydy of foreign relations ca. 3400-2000 BCE, Oxford Committee for Archaeology Monograph 37, Oxford) that the tin for the tin-bronzes of ANE was sourced from the East. I further venture to posit that the tin came from the largest tin belt of the globe, through seafaring merchants of Ancient Far East (the Himalayan river basins of Mekong, Irrawaddy and Salween) mediated by Ancient India trade guilds of 4th to 2nd millennia BCE. See. Maritime Meluhha Tin Road links Far East and Near East -- from Hanoi to Haifa creating the Bronze Age revolution https://tinyurl.com/y9sfw4f8 This hypothesis is a work in process.

A remarkable feature of the high-tin bronze mirrors from 3rd millennium BCE is that they are made using cire-perdue (lost-wax) technique of moulding alloys. The same technique is used on the Indus Script Hypertexts on Dong Son/Karen Bronze drums of Ancient Far East.

A tribute to the inventive genius of the Baluchistan metal-smiths of the period

Piggott, 1961, Prehistoric India, Harmondsworth, p. 112. Female figure with breasts, with arms akimbo. Compares with the handle of bronze mirror found in Barbar temple whish shows a male figure with arms joined on the chest in a worshipful pose.

Bronze mirror handle from Barbar Temple, Bahrain (After illustration by Glob, PV, 1954, Temples at Barbar, Kuml 4:142- 53, fig. 6) Another remarkable figure in bronze is a bird (After fig. 7 ibid.)

Source: https://tidsskrift.dk/kuml/article/download/97163/146495

https://www.scribd.com/document/363092681/Bronzehandtag-til-et-spejl-fra-barbartemlet-pa-Bahrain-MS-Nagaraja-Rao-Kuml-1969-1970-pp-218-220

Kuml: Journal of the Jutland Archaeological Society

Nagaraja Rao notes that this handle resembles a mirror from the Kulli site of Mehi in Baluchistan.

(Stein, A., 1931, An archaeological tour in Gedrosia,Memoirs of ASI 43,: pi.32. Mehi II, 1.2.a; Possehl 1986: 48, Mehi II.1.2.a). These objects are similar to the head of the figure handle in the Mehi example is actually the face of the mirror itself. (Julian Reade, 2013, Indian Ocean in Antiquity, Routledge, p.26). These comments of Julian Reade have to be seen in the context of the artifacts with Indus Script hypertexts discovered in Kulli culture (Mehi). Kulli culture provides indication of working with magnetite, ferrite ore and with alloys of copper with high tin content resulting in the bronze mirrors. At Mehi were found several decorated chlorite vessels, imported from Tepe Yahya and attesting trade contacts with the Eastern Iran.Copper and bronze was known. These are indications that Kulli culture artisans were trade partners with Sarasvati Civilization.

Metallurgy of Zinc, High-tin Bronze and Gold in Indian Antiquity: Methodological Aspects (Sharada Srinivasan, 2016)
Indian Journal of History of Science, 51.1 (2016) 22-32
http://insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/IJHS/Vol51_2016_1_Art05.pdf

Abstract There are inherent challenges in attempting to explore the trajectory of knowledge production vis-a-vis the use of metals in antiquity. Metallurgical innovations, falling as they would have largely done in the domain of empirical knowledge and expertise, would not necessarily have left a systematic written record in the sense of knowledge production. This enquiry is perhaps even more convoluted in the Indian context where in the first place, there are not many detailed records that have readily come to light concerning mining and metallurgy and in the second place, not much systematic archaeometallurgical research has been undertaken. Nevertheless, this paper attempts to demonstrate the role of archaeometallurgical studies, coupled with ethnoarchaeological studies on continuing artisanal technologies, in such enquiries.The paper also seeks to explore the interplay between functional and cultural imperatives through which one may explain the preferential emergence of certain technologies with respect to debates on knowledge production. It restricts itself to selected case studies providing insights into the archaeometallurgy of high-tin bronzes especially from Iron Age Tamil Nadu, zinc smelting evidence at Zawar, Rajasthan, gold working with respect the Nilgiris, and the high-tin bronze mirror craft of Aranmula, Kerala.

Shoumita Chatterjee, Sabikun Naher and Pranab K. Chattopadhyay , 2015, Mirrors of Ancient India: From Harappa to Mahasthangarh, Published in Puratattva, Volume No 45 (2015) .

aṣṭamangalaka hāra

aṣṭamangalaka hāra  depicted on a pillar of a gateway(toran.a) at the stupa of Sanchi, Central India, 1st century BCE. [After VS Agrawala, 1969, Thedeeds of Harsha (being a cultural study of Bāṇa’s Harṣacarita, ed. By PK Agrawala, Varanasi:fig. 62] The hāra  or necklace shows a pair of fish signs together with a number of motifsindicating weapons (cakra,  paraśu,an:kuśa), including a device that parallels the standard device normally shown in many inscribed objects of SSVC in front of the one-horned bull. 

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(cf. Marshall, J. and Foucher,The Monuments of Sanchi, 3 vols., Callcutta, 1936, repr. 1982, pl. 27).The first necklace has eleven and the second one has thirteen pendants (cf. V.S. Agrawala,1977, Bhāratīya Kalā , Varanasi, p. 169); he notes the eleven pendants as:sun,śukra,  padmasara,an:kuśa, vaijayanti, pan:kaja,mīna-mithuna,śrīvatsa, paraśu,

darpaṇa and kamala. "The axe (paraśu) and an:kuśa pendants are common at sites of north India and some oftheir finest specimens from Kausambi are in the collection of Dr. MC Dikshit of Nagpur."(Dhavalikar, M.K., 1965, Sanchi: A cultural Study , Poona, p. 44; loc.cit. Dr.Mohini Verma,1989, Dress and Ornaments in Ancient India: The Maurya and S'un:ga Periods,Varanasi, Indological Book House, p. 125). 

Some undisclosed metals (as known to the seven artisan`A0families of Aranmula) are alloyed with copper and tin to cast the mirror in typical clay moulds. The method is the age-old lost-wax process in traditional style after melting the metals in a furnace fitted with a manual blower… Studies by Sharda Srinivasan, a researcher in Archaeometallurgy in the National Institute of Advanced Studies at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and her colleague, discovered the secret of the alloy that Aranmula mirrors were made of — a binary copper-tin alloy with 32-34 per cent tin…. She also noted that the skill of alloying was developed to such perfection by the Aranmula artisans that it matched the pure delta phase of bronze, offering the best possible uniformly-polished surface, and is long lasting."

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090517/spectrum/main2.htm

"Bronze mirrors preceded the glass mirrors of today. This type of mirror has been found by archaeologists among elite assemblages from various cultures, from Etruscan Italy to China...In the Indus valley civilization, manufacture of bronze mirrors goes back to the time between 2800 and 2500 BCE.(Richard Corson: Fashions in Makeup: From Ancient to Modern Times, 1972)." Sourced from World Heritage Encyclopedia. http://self.gutenberg.org/Article.aspx?Title=bronze_mirrors

"Polished bronze or copper mirrors were made by the Egyptians from 2900 BCE onwards." (Z. Y. Saad: The Excavations at Helwan. Art and Civilization in the First and Second Egyptian Dynasties, University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma 1969, p.54)

"A Story from Corea called ‘The Magic Mirror’ tells us that a young peasant went from his village to the capital in order to sell his products and to buy some commodities. Passing a shop-window he was struck by having seen somebody in the window who could not have been anybody else but his twin-brother. He was amazed at this because his brother was living in another town. He stood still and gazed, and now he was sure that it was his twin-brother, because when he smiled at him he smiled back. ‘I must have this magic’, he thought. So he entered the shop and asked whether he could buy this strange thing in which was to be seen his counterpart. The shopkeeper wrapped it up and remarked laughingly: ‘Be careful not to crack it, so that your brother will not get lost’. The peasant took it home, but before he could unpack it to show his family he was called away on urgent business." B. Schweig, 1941, Mirrors, in: Antiquity / Volume 15 / Issue 59 / September 1941, pp 257-268

Some claim that Aranmula Kannadi is made of  silver, bronze, copper and tin alloy. Is this comparable to 'speculum metal'?

"In China,bronze mirrors were manufactured from around 2000 BC, some of the earliest bronze and copper examples being produced by the Qijia culture. Mirrors made of other metal mixtures (alloys) such as copper and tin speculum metal may have also been produced in China and India." 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror

"Speculum metal is a mixture of around two-thirds copper and one-third tin making a white brittle alloy that can be polished to make a highly reflective surface. It is used primarily to make different kinds of mirrors including early reflecting telescope optical mirrors. Speculum metal can also be used as the metallic coating on glass mirrors (as opposed to silver or aluminium) giving a reflectivity of 68% at 6000 angstroms when evaporated onto the surface...Speculum metal mixtures usually contain two parts copper to one part tin along with a small amount of arsenic, although there are other mixtures containing silver, brass, lead, or zinc. The knowledge of making very hard white high luster metal out of bronze-type high-tin alloys may date back more than 2000 years in China ((Joseph Needham, 1974, Gwer-djen Lu, Science and civilization in China, Volume 5, Cambridge Univ. Press, page 236). although it could also be an invention of western civilizations (The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 64, p. 71)." 

The speculum metal mirror from William Herschel's 1.2-meter (49.5-inch) diameter "40-foot telescope", at the Science Museum in London

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculum_metal

“Mirrors had both aesthetic value and magico-religious significance in parts of Asia, as in China and India. Bronze mirrors with figurines on handles are known from ancient Egypt. Flat, circular tanged mirrors were found from Harappan contexts northwest of the Indian subcontinent at Quetta and Harappa in Pakistan (ca. 2000 BCE) and Dholavira in Gujarat, India. These would probably have been made of bronze of low tin content (i.e. < 10% tin)...A unique mirror-making tradition survives at the village of Aranmula, Kerala, southern India. Here, a cast high-tin bronze mirror of 33% tin with highly specular or reflective properties is made which is comparable to, if not better than, modern mercury glass-coated mirrors. The presence of the brittle silvery-white delta phase of bronze is optimized while avoiding the use of lead, which could have dulled the mirror effect... Two unleaded bronze samples of 22% and 26% tin were reported from the Indus Valley site of Mohenjodaro (ca. 2500 BCE), although they might be accidentally alloyed. Although flat bronze mirrors are found from Indus sites such as Quetta, these do not sem to have been analysed and are much more likely to have been of copper or low-tin bronze. However, from the Bhir mound in Taxila, Pakistan, a binary high-tin bronze mirror of 25% tin was uncovered. Thus it is probable that the Aranmula mirror-making process evolved out of longstanding metallurgical traditions prevalent in the Indian subcontinent for the use of bronzes of high-tin content."

http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Downloads/article_id_093_01_0035_0040_0.pdf

Darpana Sundari, 'mirror beauties' on sculptures

Parvati as Lalita carrying a bronze mirror, with her sons Ganesa and Skanda, Orissa. 11th cent. Now in British Museum. 1872.0701.54

Skilled mirror craft of intermetallic delta high-tin bronze (Cu31Sn8, 32.6% tin) from Aranmula, Kerala (Sha...

Metal casting Traditions South Asia PT Craddock 2014