metal, esp. copper, brass or bronze It is often used as a general term & the individual application is not always sharply defined. Its comprehensiveness is evident from the classification of loha at Vb-a.63, where it is said lohan ti jātilohaṃ, vijāti˚ kittima˚, pisāca˚; or natural metal, produced metal artificial (i.e. alloys), & metal from the Pisāca district Each is subdivided as follows: jāti˚; = ayo, sajjhaṃ suvaṇṇaṃ, tipu, sīsaṃ, tambalohaṃ, vekantakalohaṃ vijāti˚ = nāga-nāsika˚; kittima˚ = kaṃsalohaṃ, vaṭṭa˚ ārakūṭaṃ; pisāca˚ = morakkhakaṃ, puthukaṃ, malinakaṃ capalakaṃ, selakaṃ, āṭakaṃ, bhallakaṃ, dūsilohaṃ. The description ends “Tesu pañca jātilohāni pāḷiyaṃ visuṃ vuttān’ eva (i.e. the first category are severally spoken of in the Canon). Tambalohaṃ vekantakan ti imehi pana dvīhi jātilohehi saddhiṃ sesaṃ sabbam pi idha lohan ti veditabbaṃ.”
■ On loha in similes see J.P.T.S. 1907, 131. Cp. AN.iii.16 = SN.v.92 (five alloys of gold: ayo, loha, tipu, sīsaṃ, sajjhaṃ); Ja.v.45 (asi˚) Mil.161 (suvaṇṇam pi jātivantaṃ lohena bhijjati) Pv-a.44, Pv-a.95 (tamba˚ = loha), Pv-a.221 (tatta-loha-secanaṃ pouring out of boiling metal, one of the five ordeals in Niraya).

• -kaṭāha a copper (brass) receptacle Vin.ii.170.
• -kāra a metal worker, coppersmith, blacksmith Mil.331
• -kumbhī an iron cauldron Vin.ii.170. Also Name of a purgatory Ja.iii.22, Ja.iii.43; Ja.iv.493; Ja.v.268; Snp-a.59, Snp-a.480 Sdhp.195.
• -guḷa an iron (or metal) ball AN.iv.131; Dhp.371 (mā ˚ṃ gilī pamatto; cp. Dhp-a.iv.109).
• -jāla a copper (i.e. wire) netting Pv-a.153.
• -thālaka a copper bowl Mnd.226.
• -thāli a bronze kettle Dhp-a.i.126
• -pāsāda “copper terrace,” brazen palace, Name of a famous monastery at Anurādhapura in Ceylon Vism.97; DN-a.i.131; Mvu passim.
• -piṇḍa an iron ball Snp-a.225.
• -bhaṇḍa copper (brass) ware Vin.ii.135.
• -maya made of copper, brazen Snp.670; Pv.ii.6#4.
• -māsa a copper bean Mnd.448 (suvaṇṇa-channa).
• -māsaka a small copper coin Kp-a.37 (jatu-māsaka, dāru-māsaka +) Dhs-a.318.
• -rūpa a bronze statue Mhvs.36, Mhvs.31.
• -salākā a bronze gong-stick Vism.283.

Cp. Vedic loha, of Idg. *(e)reudh “red”; see also rohita & lohita