sanskrit

The Sanskrit Ratnapariksha tradition. This is a real, well-documented textual lineage, not folklore — it's referenced in Kautilya's Arthashastra (c. 323–299 BC) as a discipline used by the royal Treasury Superintendent (Kosadhyaksha) to regulate the pearl, diamond, and gem trade; Vātsyāyana references it in the Kama Sutra; the tradition is attributed to an author called Buddhabhatta and continues through later texts including the Agastimata (7th–10th century CE). The Brhat Samhita of Varāhamihira (c. 550 CE) is one of the earliest surviving texts that explicitly links gem quality (color, clarity, luster) to astrological effect — this is the documented root of what later becomes Jyotish/Vedic planetary gem tradition (ruby↔Sun, pearl↔Moon, red coral↔Mars, emerald↔Mercury, yellow sapphire↔Jupiter, diamond↔Venus, blue sapphire↔Saturn, hessonite↔Rahu, cat's eye↔Ketu — this nine-planet/nine-gem system, Navaratna, is genuinely ancient and textually attested, not modern invention). In Sanskrit, ruby is called ratnaraj ("king of gems") — this specific term appears independently across enough sources (including GIA's own gem-history page) that I'm treating it as reliably attested, though I have not yet read a primary Sanskrit passage directly containing it — flagged for follow-up: locate and read an actual translated passage of the Ratnapariksha or Brhat Samhita, not just secondary reference to it.