Metallurgy in India: A Survey

Technology is today defined as applied science, but early humans developed technologies
— such as stone-working, agriculture, animal husbandry, pottery, metallurgy, textile
manufacture, bead-making, wood-carving, cart-making, boat-making and sailing — with
hardly any science to back them up. If we define technology as a human way of altering
the surrounding world, we find that the first stone tools in the Indian subcontinent go
back more than two million years! Jumping across ages, the ‘neolithic revolution’ of
some 10,000 years ago saw the development in agriculture in parts of the Indus and the
Ganges valleys, which in turn triggered the need for pots, water management, metal
tools, transport, etc.

Agriculture apart, metallurgy brought about important changes in human society,

as it gave rise to a whole new range of weapons, tools and
implements. Some of these had been made in stone earlier, it is What changes did
agriculture bring to
true, but the result was coarser as well as heavier. Metal, early human societies?
precious or not, is also a prime material for ornaments, and
thus enriches cultural life.

Metallurgy may be defined as the extraction, purification, alloying and application

of metals. Today, some eighty-six metals are known, but
What properties made these most of them were discovered in the last two centuries. The
‘seven metals’ more popular
‘seven metals of antiquity’, as they are sometimes called,
than others in antiquity?
were, more or less in order of discovery: gold, copper,
silver, lead, tin, iron and mercury. For over 7,000 years, India has had a high tradition of
metallurgical skills; let us see some of its landmarks.

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Metallurgy before and during the Harappan Civilization

The first evidence of metal in the Indian subcontinent comes from Mehrgarh in
Baluchistan, where a small copper bead was dated to about 6000 BCE; it is however
thought to have been native copper, not the smelted metal extracted from ore. The
growth of copper metallurgy had to wait for another 1,500 years; that was the time when
village communities were developing trade networks and technologies which would
allow them, centuries later, to create the Harappan cities.

Archaeological excavations have shown that Harappan metal smiths obtained

copper ore (either directly or through local communities) from the Aravalli hills,
Baluchistan or beyond. They soon discovered that adding tin to copper produced bronze,
a metal harder than copper yet easier to cast, and also more resistant to corrosion.
Whether deliberately added or already present in the ore, various ‘impurities’ (such as
nickel, arsenic or lead) enabled the Harappans to harden bronze further, to the point
where bronze chisels could be used to dress stones! The alloying ranges have been found
to be 1%–12% in tin, 1%–7% in arsenic, 1%–9% in nickel and 1%–32% in lead. Shaping
copper or bronze involved techniques of fabrication such as forging, sinking, raising,
cold work, annealing, riveting, lapping and joining.

Among the metal artefacts produced by the Harappans, let us mention spearheads,
arrowheads, axes, chisels, sickles, blades (for knives as well as razors), needles, hooks,
and vessels such as jars, pots and pans, besides objects of
toiletry such as bronze mirrors; those were slightly oval, with Why is the true saw
an advance over the
their face raised, and one side was highly polished. The
earlier saws (with a
Harappan craftsmen also invented the true saw, with teeth and single row of teeth)?
the adjoining part of the blade set alternatively from side to
side, a type of saw unknown elsewhere until Roman times.

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 Besides, many bronze figurines or humans (the well-known ‘Dancing Girl’, for
instance) and animals (rams, deer, bulls...) have been unearthed from Harappan sites.
Those figurines were cast by the lost-wax process: the initial model was made of wax,
then thickly coated with clay; once fired (which caused the wax to melt away or be ‘lost’),
the clay hardened into a mould, into which molten bronze was later poured.

The ‘Dancing Girl’ (Mohenjo-daro), made by the lost-wax process; a bronze foot and anklet
from Mohenjo-daro; and a bronze figurine of a bull (Kalibangan). (Courtesy: ASI)

Harappans also used gold and silver (as well as their joint alloy, electrum) to
produce a wide variety of ornaments such as pendants, bangles, beads, rings or necklace
parts, which were usually found hidden away in hoards such as ceramic or bronze pots.
While gold was probably panned from the Indus waters, silver was perhaps extracted
from galena, or native lead sulphide.

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After the Harappans

During and after the Harappan civilization, a ‘Copper Hoard’ culture of still unclear
authorship produced massive quantities of copper tools in central and northern India.
Later, in the classical age, copper-bronze smiths supplied countless pieces of art. Let us
mention the huge bronze statue of the Buddha made between 500 and 700 CE in
Sultanganj (Bhagalpur district, Bihar, now at the Birmingham Museum); at 2.3 m high,
1 m wide, and weighing over 500 kg, it was made by the same lost-wax technique that
Harappans used three millenniums earlier.

So were thousands of statues made later

(and up to this day)
in Tamil Nadu, such Why was bronze
as the beautiful particularly suited to
the making of such
Nataraja statues of statues?
the Chola period,
among other famous bronzes. Of course, all
kinds of bronze objects of daily use have
continued to be produced; for instance, highly
polished bronze mirrors are still made in
Kerala today, just as they were in Harappan
times.

A colossal bronze statue of the Buddha,

Sultanganj. (Courtesy: Wikipedia)

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 Magnificent Chola bronze statues: Mahālakṣmī and Naṭarāja. (Courtesy: Michel Danino)

Iron Metallurgy

While the Indus civilization belonged to the Bronze Age, its successor, the Ganges
civilization, which emerged in the first millennium BCE, belonged to the Iron Age. But
recent excavations in central parts of the Ganges valley and in the eastern Vindhya hills
have shown that iron was produced there possibly as early as in 1800 BCE. Its use appears
to have become widespread from about 1000 BCE, and we find in
What advantages did late Vedic texts mentions of a ‘dark metal’ (krṣnāyas), while
people find in iron
earliest texts (such as the Rig-Veda) only spoke of ayas, which, it
over copper / bronze?
is now accepted, referred to copper or bronze.

Whether other parts of India learned iron technology from the Gangetic region or
came up with it independently is not easy to figure out. What seems clear, however, is

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that the beginnings of copper-bronze and iron technologies in India correspond broadly
with those in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and the Caucasus, but were an independent
development, not an import.

A typical iron-smelting furnace in the first millennium BCE.

(Courtesy: National Science Centre, New Delhi)

Wootz Steel

Instead, India was a major innovator in the field, producing two highly advanced types of
iron.

The first, wootz steel, produced in south India from about 300 BCE, was iron
carburized under controlled conditions. Exported from the Deccan all the way to Syria, it
was shaped there into ‘Damascus swords’ renowned for their sharpness and toughness.
But it is likely that the term ‘Damascus’ derived not from Syria’s capital city, but from
the ‘damask’ or wavy pattern characteristic of the surface of those swords. In any case,

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this Indian steel was called ‘the wonder material of the Orient’. A Roman historian,
Quintius Curtius, recorded that among the gifts which Alexander the Great received from
Porus of Taxila (in 326 BCE), there was some two-and-a-half tons of wootz steel — it was
evidently more highly prized than gold or jewels! Later, the Arabs fashioned it into
swords and other weapons, and during the Crusades, Europeans were overawed by the
superior Damascus swords. It remained a favoured metal for weapons through the Moghul
era, when wootz swords, knives and armours were artistically embellished with carvings
and inlays of brass, silver and gold. In the armouries of Golconda and Hyderabad’s Nizams,
Tipu Sultan, Ranjit Singh, the Rajputs and the Marathas, wootz weapons had pride of place.

Wootz steel is primarily iron containing a high proportion of carbon (1.0 – 1.9%).
Thus the term wootz (an English rendering of ‘ukku’, a Kannada word for steel) applies to
a high-carbon alloy produced by crucible process. The basic process consisted in first
preparing sponge (or porous) iron; it was then hammered while hot to expel slag, broken
up, then sealed with wood chips or charcoal in closed crucibles (clay containers) that
were heated, causing the iron to absorb appreciable amounts of carbon; the crucibles
were then cooled, with solidified ingot of wootz steel remaining.

A typical sword made of wootz steel (about 18th century); the hilt is of iron and coated with a
thick layer of gold. (Courtesy: R. Balasubramaniam)

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 Right from the 17th century, several European travellers documented India’s iron-
and steel-making furnaces (Francis Buchanan’s accounts of south India are an important
source of information as regards wootz). From the 18th century, savants in England
(Pearson, Stodart and Faraday), France and Italy tried to master the secrets of wootz; the
French Jean-Robert Bréant, conducting over 300 experiments by adding various metals
to steel, understood the role of the high carbon proportion in wootz, and was the first
European who successfully produced steel blades comparable to the Indian ones.
Together, such researches contributed to the understanding of the role of carbon in steel
and to new techniques in steel-making.

The Delhi Iron Pillar

The Delhi Iron Pillar, with a close-up of the inscription. (Courtesy: R. Balasubramaniam)

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The second advanced iron is the one used in the famous 1,600-year-old Delhi Iron Pillar,
which, at a height of 7.67 m, consists of about six tons of wrought iron. It was initially
erected ‘by Chandra as a standard of Vishnu at Vishnupadagiri’, according to a six-line
Sanskrit inscription on its surface. ‘Vishnupadagiri’ has been identified with modern
Udayagiri near Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, and ‘Chandra’ with the Gupta emperor,
Chandragupta II Vikramaditya (375–414 CE). In 1233, the pillar was brought to its current
location in the courtyard of the Quwwat-ul Islam mosque in New Delhi’s Qutub complex,
where millions continue to come and see this ‘rustless wonder’.

But why is it rustless, or, more precisely, rust-resistant? Here again, numerous
experts, both Indian and Western, tried to grasp the secret of the pillar’s manufacture.
Only recently have its rust-resistant properties been fully explained (notably by R.
Balasubramaniam). They are chiefly due to the presence of phosphorus in the iron: this
element, together with iron and oxygen from the air, contributes to the formation of a
thin protective passive coating on the surface, which gets reconstituted if damaged by
scratching. It goes to the credit of Indian blacksmiths that through patient trial and
error they were able to select the right type of iron ore and process it in the right way for
such monumental pillars.

Other Iron Pillars and Beams

There are a few more such pillars in India, for instance at Dhar (Madhya Pradesh) and
Kodachadri Hill (coastal Karnataka). Besides, the same technology was used to
manufacture huge iron beams used in some temples of Odisha, such as Jagannath of Puri
(12th century). The iron beams at Konarak’s famous sun temple are of even larger
dimensions. Chemical analysis of one of the beams confirmed that it was wrought iron of
a phosphoric nature (99.64% Fe, 0.15% P, traces of C, traces of S and no manganese).

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Zinc

Indian metallurgists were familiar several other metals, of which zinc deserves a special
mention because, having a low boiling point (907°C), it tends to vaporize while its ore is
smelted. Zinc, a silvery-white metal, is precious in combination with copper, resulting in
brass of superior quality. Sometimes part of copper ore, pure zinc could be produced
only after a sophisticated ‘downward’ distillation technique in which the vapour was
captured and condensed in a lower container. This technique, which was also applied to
mercury, is described in Sanskrit texts such as the 14th-century Rasaratnasamuccaya.

Zinc metallurgy at Zawar mines. (Courtesy: National Science Centre, New Delhi)

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 There is archaeological evidence of zinc production at Rajasthan’s mines at Zawar
from the 6th or 5th century BCE. The technique must have been refined further over the
centuries. India was, in any case, the first country to master zinc distillation, and it is
estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 tons of zinc was smelted at Zawar from the
13th to the 18th century CE! British chroniclers record continuing production there as late
as in 1760; indeed, there is documentary evidence to show that an Englishman learned
the technique of downward distillation there in the 17th century and took it to England —
a case of technology transfer which parallels that of wootz steel.

Social Context

We should finally note that most of India’s metal production was controlled by specific
social groups, including so-called tribes, most of them from the lower rungs of Indian
society.

An underground furnace at Ghatgaon (Madhya Pradesh), with a tribal smelting iron ore.
(Courtesy: A.V. Balasubramaniam)

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 For instance, the Agarias of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are reputed iron
smiths, and there are still such communities scattered across Jharkhand, Bihar, West-
Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Together, they contributed substantially to India’s wealth, since India was for a
long time a major exporter of iron. In the late 1600s, shipments of tens of thousands of
wootz ingots would leave the Coromandel Coast for Persia every year. India’s iron and
steel industry was intensive till the 18th century and declined only when the British
started selling their own products in India while imposing high duties on Indian
products. Industrially produced iron and steel unavoidably put a final stop to most of
India’s traditional production.

***

Match the following

Agarias lost-wax bronze casting

Dancing Girl iron beams
wootz steel phosphorus
Jagannath temple (Puri) iron smiths
rust-resistance pillars Zawar
zinc extraction sharp swords

Comprehension Questions

1. Could the Harappans have developed their urban civilization without copper /
bronze metallurgy? Justify your answer.

2. Spell out two chief qualities of bronze.

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3. What are the basic processes in the manufacture of wootz implements?
4. Why were most of India’s metallurgical practices the prerogative of lower
sections of the society, such as rural and tribal communities? Why does it make
more difficult to document their achievements?

Project ideas

¾ Compare and contrast the different methods used in ancient times and today to
extract gold and silver.
¾ Collect pictures and documents on bronze metallurgy in India. Explain the
technical, social and artistic impact of bronze in Indian history. Make a PowerPoint
presentation.
¾ Watch a few videos on lost-wax bronze casting (see Internet Resources below) and
make a PowerPoint presentation summarizing the process. Show the similarity
between the casting of the ‘Dancing Girl’ of Mohenjo-daro and recent bronzes of
south India.
¾ Document the rise of a few Iron Age cultures outside India, and the role played by
iron metallurgy. Include a timeline of such cultures and compare with the Indian
dates.
¾ Find out ten weapons used by warriors in ancient and medieval India. Collect the
specific qualities of such weapons.

Activities & exercises

¾ Make a timeline of the evolution of early technologies in India from about 10000 BCE
to and including the Ganges civilization.
¾ The inscription on the Delhi Iron Pillar says it was manufactured by one ‘Vishnu’.
With what emperor has he been identified? Re-create the historical context.

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 ¾ Collect information on three rust-resistant pillars (besides Delhi’s) which were
erected in India, including their historical background. If you live not too far from
one of these iron pillars, try to visit it, photograph it, and study its appearance.
¾ Spell out in detail the successive steps in the distillation of zinc.

Further Reading

1. D.P. Agrawal, Ancient Metal Technology and Archaeology of South Asia (A Pan-Asian Perspective),
Aryan Books International, New Delhi, 2000
2. T.R. Anantharaman, The Rustless Wonder: A Study of the Iron Pillar at Delhi, Vigyan Prasar, New
Delhi, 1996
3. R. Balasubramaniam, Delhi Iron Pillar: New Insights, Indian Institute of Advance Study, Shimla
& Aryan Books International, New Delhi 2002
4. R. Balasubramaniam, Marvels of Indian Iron through the Ages, Rupa & Infinity Foundation, New
Delhi, 2008
5. R. Balasubramaniam, The Saga of Indian Cannons, Aryan Books International, 2008
6. Arun Kumar Biswas, Minerals and Metals in Ancient India, D.K. Printworld, New Delhi, 1996
7. Rina Shrivastava, Mining and Metallurgy in Ancient India, Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi,
2006
8. Sharada Srinivasan & Srinivasa Ranganatha, India’s Legendary Wootz Steel: An Advanced
Material of the Ancient World, NIAS & IISc, Bangalore, 2004, available online at
http://met.iisc.ernet.in/~rangu/text.pdf
9. Vibha Tripathi, The Age of Iron in South Asia: Legacy and Tradition, Aryan Books International,
New Delhi, 2001
10. Vibha Tripathi, History of Iron Technology in India: From Beginning To Pre-Modern Times, Rupa &
Infinity Foundation, New Delhi, 2008

Internet Resources (all URLs accessed in May 2012)

¾ BBC TV series ‘What the Ancients Did for Us: India’ (especially for the section on lost-
wax bronze casting):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWRhsenRZUI
¾ Lost-wax bronze casting at Swamimalai, Tamil Nadu:

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 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrire4qPFpY
¾ An article on India’s metallurgical heritage:
www.tf.uni-
kiel.de/matwis/amat/def_en/articles/metallurg_heritage_india/metallurgical_heritage_ind
ia.html
¾ Text of a book on wootz steel:
http://met.iisc.ernet.in/~rangu/text.pdf
¾ An article on a cannon of Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu:
http://home.iitk.ac.in/~bala/journalpaper/journal/journalpaper_40.pdf
¾ A paper by Dr. Rakesh Tewari on recent findings on the origins of iron metallurgy in
the Ganges valley:
www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/tewari298/tewari.pdf
¾ A general introduction to ancient metallurgy (deficient as far as India is concerned):
http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/arch/metallurgy.html
¾ A short history of metals (deficient as far as India is concerned):
http://neon.mems.cmu.edu/cramb/Processing/history.html
¾ Metallurgy in ancient China:
www.joanpacos.com/asianart/articles/metalwork/art_li_mat.html,
www.csun.edu/~bavarian/ancient_chinese_metallurgy.htm
¾ Metallurgy in ancient Egypt:
www.aldokkan.com/science/metallurgy.htm
¾ Steel in Ancient Greece and Rome (note the part on wootz):
www.tf.uni-
kiel.de/matwis/amat/def_en/articles/steel_greece_rome/steel_in_ancient_greece_an.html

YZ

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 Primary Texts on Metallurgy in India: A Selection
Note: Many texts of chemistry refer to the working of metals, especially precious
ones (a few extracts are below), but it should be kept in mind that some of India’s
greatest metallurgical advances — such as wootz steel or rust-resistant iron — do not
figure in any known texts; they were the work of communities of craftsmen who
perfected such practices from generation to generation, but did not generally leave
written testimonies behind.

Rig-Veda (tr. adapted from R.T.H. Griffith)

[From a hymn in praise of the celestial horse:] His horns are made of gold, his
feet of bronze ... (1.163.9)

Brahmaṇaspati forged the gods with blast and smelting, like a metal-smith;
Existence, in an earlier age of Gods, from Non-existence sprang. (10.72.2)

Note: There are many more such references in the Vedas to metal and metal-working,
often used as a metaphor as in the above verse. The word for metal was ayas, which in
the Rig-Veda, refers to copper or bronze, not to iron. In later literature, terms like
kṛṣṇāyas, kālāyasa or śyāmāyas, i.e., ‘dark metal’, came into use, which clearly referred to
iron; loha (literally, ‘red’) or lohāyas initially referred to copper, but later became a
generic term for metal, and often came to mean iron.

***

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Early texts: various terms about metals

Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī: bellows (bhastra, 7.3.47), hammer (ayoghana, 3.3.82),

pincer (4.4.18), hook (kuṭilikā, 4.4.18)

Samyutta Nikaya (a Buddhist text): village of iron workers (lohar-gama)

Dighanikaya (a Buddhist text): iron smith (karmkara)

Amarakośa (a Sanskrit dictionary): sharp (tikṣṇa), shining (tejas)

***

Arthaśāstra (tr. R.P. Kangle)

Note: Kauṭilya’s famous treatise of governance and administration, the Arthaśāstra, dates
back to Mauryan times, a few centuries BCE. The following passage, from a long chapter
on the ‘department of mines’, reveals an intimate knowledge of the different types of
metal ores and the ways to test and purify different metals, or to create alloys.

The Director of Mines, being conversant with the sciences of [metal] veins in
the earth and metallurgy, the art of smelting and the art of colouring gems,
or having the assistance of experts in these, and fully equipped with
workmen skilled in the work and with implements, should inspect an old
mine by the marks of dross, crucibles, coal and ashes, or a new mine, where
there are ores in the earth, in rocks or in liquid form, with excessive colour
and heaviness and with a strong smell and taste. ...

Ores in earth or rocks, which are yellow or copper-coloured or reddish-

yellow, which, when broken, show blue lines or are the colour of the mudga or
māṣa bean or kṛsara, which are variegated with spots or lumps as of curds,
which are of the colour of turmeric or myrobalan or lotus-leaf or moss or

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liver or spleen or saffron, which, when broken, show lines, spots or svastikas
of fine sand, which are possessed of pebbles and are lustrous, which, when
heated, do not break and yield plenty of foam and smoke, are gold-ores, to be
used for insertion, as transmuters of copper and silver. ...

Ore from rocks or a region of the earth, which is heavy, unctuous and
soft [and which is] tawny, green, reddish or red is copper ore.

That which is crow-black or of the colour of the dove or yellow pigment

or studded with white lines [and] smelling like raw flesh, is lead-ore.

That which is grey like saline earth or of the colour of a baked lump of
earth is tin-ore.

That which is made up mostly of smooth stones, is whitish-red or of the

colour of sinduvāra-flower is iron-ore. (2.12.1–15)

Of the best [varieties of gold], the pale-yellow and the white are impure.
He [the Superintendent of Gold] should cause that because of which it is
impure to be removed by means of lead four times that quantity. If it becomes
brittle by the admixture of lead, he should cause it to be smelted with dried
lumps of cow-dung. If it is brittle because of [its own] roughness, he should
cause it to be infused in sesame oil and cow-dung. Gold produced from the
mines, becoming brittle by the admixture of lead, he should turn into leaves
by heating and cause them to be pounded on wooden anvils, or should cause
it to be infused in the pulp of the bulbous roots of the kadalī and the vajra
plants. (2.13.5-9)

Three parts of ornamental gold, strengthened with thirty-two parts of

white silver, it becomes white-red. It makes copper yellow. Making the
ornamental gold bright, he should give one-third part colouring; it becomes

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 yellowish red. [With] two parts of white silver, one part of ornamental gold
produces the colour of the mudga bean. When smeared with half a part of
black iron, it becomes black. Ornamental gold twice smeared with an
enveloping liquid gets the colour of the parrot’s feather. In undertaking these
works, he should take a test regarding the various colours. And he should be
conversant with the treatment of iron and copper. (2.13.51-58)

The Goldsmith should cause the gold and silver work of the citizens and
the country people to be carried out by workshop artisans. ... In the case of
gold and silver, a loss of one kākaṇī in a suvarṇa may be allowed [this is
equivalent to 1/64th of 1.5%] (2.14.1, 8)

***

Varāhamihira (b. ~ 485 CE), Khaḍgalakṣaṇam (tr. Vibha Tripathi)

Make a paste of gelatin from the sheep’s horn and pigeon and mouse meat
with the juice of the plant arka [Calotropis gigantea] and apply this to the steel
after rubbing it with sesame oil. Heat the sword in the fire and when it is red
hot sprinkle water on it or milk of mare (camel or goat) or ghee (clarified
butter) or blood or fat or bile. Then sharpen the edge on the lathe. ... Also
plunge the red hot steel into a solution of plantain ashes in whey kept
standing for twenty hours, then sharpen on the lathe. (29.23-26)

Note: Here, Varāhamihira explains the process of carburization and hardening of iron
swords. Carburization is the controlled addition of carbon to iron, so as to turn it into
steel; it is usually done by adding organic substances, whether vegetal or animal, in the
course of the smelting. (Carburization was essential in the preparation of wootz steel,
too.)

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Nāgārjuna (7th or 8th century CE), Rasendramaṅgalam (tr. H.S. Sharma)

It is not a matter of surprise that the copper becomes white like the moon or
conch shell. Melt copper with the help of commonly available alkali, i.e.,
borax and subject it into the milk of sheep and its ghee. On its melting add
sixteenth part of orpiment [arsenic trisulphide] in it. The copper will be
converted into whiteness.

Hence take the copper duly extracted from bronze or take as such and
melt it with the help of borax six times to it. Pour into juice of sinduvāra; for
fifty times repeat the process then melt in the same way, pour seven times
into juice of kūṣmāṇḍa [Benincasa cerifera]. There is no doubt that the
blackishness of copper vanishes on these [fifty-seven] immersions.

To purify silver, brass, copper and bronze, the alkali borax mixed with
five types of salts and rubbed with juice of lemon very well, then coated with
the paste of same drugs and subjected to fire in a pit of individual metal is the
process. Repeat the same for seven times. (1.56-61)

Note: The technical literature has several works authored by Nāgārjuna, but there were
probably several Nāgārjunas too, many of them chemists and physicians. Here, a process
for whitening copper is described. It would be interesting to try and put such recipes to
test so as to assess their value.

***

Vāgbhaṭa (13th century), Rasaratnasamuccaya (tr. INSA)

Note: The following is a systematic exposition of the principal metals in a well-known

text of alchemy. Each metal’s properties and medicinal uses are clearly brought out,
although, of course, within the alchemical framework of the times.

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 Classification of metals
In nature there are four śuddha lohas (native metals) viz., suvarṇa (gold), rajata
(silver), tāmra (copper) and loha (iron). In addition there are two pūtilohas —
nāga (lead) and vaṅga (tin) and three miśra loha (alloys) viz., pittala (brass),
kāṃsya (bell metal) and varta loha (an alloy made of five metals). The term loha
is derived from the root luh which means karṣaṇa (to be extracted).

™ Survarṇa (gold)
Varieties:

ƒ Prākṛta (native), sahaja (natural), vahni sambhūta (born out of fire /

produced by pyrometallurgy), khani sambhūta (obtained from a mine) and
rasendra vedha sañjāta (produced by transmutation through mercury) are
the five types of gold.

Description of different types of suvarṇa (gold):

ƒ Prākṛta suvarṇa: That which is produced by rajoguṇa and which pervades

the entire globe (world) is known as Prākṛta. It is claimed to be difficult to
obtain, even for the gods.

ƒ Sahaja suvarṇa: That (the gold) which enveloped Lord Brahmā in the form
of a jarāyu at the time of his birth and which was converted into a divine
mountain (meru parvata) in due course, is known as sahaja suvarṇa.

ƒ Vahni sambhūta suvarṇa: That which was obtained from the vomited
material of god Agni after he swallowed an unbearable essence (semen) of
Lord Śiva is vahni sambhūta suvarṇa.

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These three varieties of gold are claimed to be divine and are said to be
accomplished with all the sixteen colours. Mere wearing of these makes the
body free from senility and mortality.

ƒ Khanija suvarṇa: The gold obtained from the mines and / or available as
deposits on the mountains is khanija. It is said to be accomplished with
fourteen colours and its ingestion is claimed to cure all the diseases.

ƒ Rasendra vedhaja suvarṇa: The gold produced by the process of mercurial

transmutation is known as rasendra vedhaja. It is considered to be the best
rejuvenating agent (rasāyana) and sacred.

Pharmaco-therapeutic properties of gold:

ƒ Gold grants longevity, wealth, brightness, intelligence and memory.

ƒ It destroys all the diseases, proves virtuous, prevents invasion of bhūtas

(bacteria), imparts immense sexual vigour (pleasure), induces happiness
and strength.

ƒ Gold and silver both may cure diseases, prevent old age, destroy pramehas,
impart strength to debilitated persons, increase grasping power and
improve vigour and vitality.

ƒ Gold is further claimed to be unctuous (snigdha), and brain stimulant

(medhya).

ƒ It destroys toxins and the diseases, acts as nourishing (agent) bṛṃhaṇa), is

considered best aphrodisiac (agrya vṛṣya) and alleviates phthisis (yakṣmā),
insanity (unmāda) and other bodily diseases.

ƒ Gold also improves retention power of mind, intellect, memory and

happiness of a person, relieves diseases caused by all the three doṣas,

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 stimulates taste / desire to take food, improves digestion, alleviates pain /
unhappiness and proves sweet after digestion madhura vipāka. (1–10)

™ Rajata (silver)
Varieties:

ƒ Sahaja (natural), khani sañjāta (obtained from mine) and kṛtrima (artificial)
are the three varieties of silver. A preceding one is relatively better in
qualities than the succeeding one.

Description of each variety:

ƒ Sahaja rajata — Silver obtained from the Kailāśa group of mountains is

sahaja (native). Mere touch of this is considered sufficient to destroy the
diseases in human beings.

ƒ Khanija rajata — Silver obtained from the mines of the Himālaya group of
mountains is known as khanija. It is considered the best rejuvenating agent
(rasāyana).

ƒ Kṛtrima rajata — Tin applied to Śri Rāmapādukā and transformed into silver
is known as pādarūpya. It is kṛtrima (artificial) and is claimed to cure all the
diseases.

Qualities of superior silver:

ƒ The silver which is compact, heavy, clear, soft, śaṅkha-like in colour,

smooth, free from fissures, and white on cutting and heating is considered
to be of superior quality.

Qualities of inferior silver:

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 ƒ The silver exhibiting red, yellow or black colours on heating, rough, full of
fissure, light, thick, and hard to touch is said to be of inferior quality and is
not recommended for use.

Pharmaco-therapeutic properties of silver:

ƒ Silver is sweet (madhura) and astringent (kaṣāya) in taste (rasa), sweet

(madhura) in digestion (vipāka), cool (śīta) in potency (vīrya), unctuous (sara
and snigdha) in properties (guṇas) and very much anti-obese
(paramalekhana), strengthening (balya), checks ageing process (sthira
vayaskara), brain tonic (medhya) and stimulating digestive fire (jaṭharāgni
dīpana) in actions (karmas).

ƒ As regards its action on doṣas it destroys vāta kapha diseases (vāta kapha
hara).

ƒ Silver is further claimed to be cool in potency (śīta vīrya), sour and

astringent in taste (kaṣāyāmlarasa), light (laghu), unctuous (snigdha) and
remover of vāta (vātahara).

ƒ If used by the rasāyana method it destroys all the diseases. (22– 29)

™ Tāmra (copper)
Varieties:

ƒ Mleccha and nepālaka are the two varieties of tāmra, (copper), out of which
the nepālaka is considered the better. The copper obtained from the mines
other than those of Nepal is known as mleccha.

Qualities of mleccha tāmra:

ƒ The copper with white, black and red shades, very hard and remaining
black even after repeated washing is considered the mleccha tāmraka.

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Qualities of nepāla tāmra:

ƒ The copper which is very brilliant, soft, red, resistant to strong

hammering, heavy, not producing bad effects and possessing all the best
qualities / properties is considered the nepāla tāmra.

Qualities of inferior tāmra:

ƒ That which is pale and blackish red in colour, light, possesses rough
surface, fissures, and layers is inferior and is not considered suitable for
being used in rasa karmas.

Pharmaco-therapeutic properties of tāmra:

ƒ Copper (tāmra) is bitter (tikta) and astringent (kaṣāya) in taste (rasa), sweet
after digestion (madhura in vipāka) and hot in potency (uṣṇa in vīrya).

ƒ It is associated with sour taste (amla rasa) also. It destroys pitta and kapha
doṣas.

ƒ It is indicated in pain in abdomen (jaṭhara ruk), leprosy (kuṣṭha), symptoms

of indigestion (āma doṣa) and worms (kṛmiroga).

ƒ It causes vomiting and purging both and thus cleans the body from both
upper and lower passages.

ƒ It is further claimed to remove poisonous effect (viṣa), liver disorders

(yakṛt) and obesity (sthaulya).

ƒ It improves appetite and proves good for piles (arśas), wasting diseases
(kṣaya) and anaemia (pāṇḍu roga).

ƒ It is good for eyes (netra) and is claimed to be the best emaciating/anti-

obese agent (lekhana). (42–46)

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™ Loha (iron)
Varieties:

ƒ Muṇḍa, tīkṣṇa and kānta are the three main varieties of iron.

Sub-varieties:

ƒ Mṛdu, kuṇṭha and kaḍāra are the three sub-varieties of muṇḍa loha.

ƒ Khara, sāra, hṛnnāla, tārāvaṭṭa, vājira and kāla-loha are the six sub-varieties of
tīkṣṇa loha.

ƒ Bhrāmaka, cumbaka, karṣaka, drāvaka and romaka are the five sub-varieties
of kānta loha.

Varieties of muṇḍa loha:

ƒ Mṛdu muṇḍa loha: That which melts quickly, does not contain fissures and
has a smooth surface is considered as mṛdu muṇḍa loha. It is the best of all
the three varieties of muṇḍa.

ƒ Kuṇṭha muṇḍa loha: That which expands with great difficulty on hammering
is known as kuṇṭha muṇḍa loha. It is considered medium.

ƒ Kaḍāra muṇḍa loha: That which breaks on hammering and looks black is
kaḍāra muṇḍa loha.

Pharmaco-therapeutic properties of muṇḍa loha:

ƒ In comparison to other varieties mṛdu muṇḍa loha is soft.

ƒ It destroys kapha, vāta, śūla, mūla roga, āma doṣa, meha, kāmalā and pāṇḍu. It
also cures gulma, āmavāta, udaraśūla and śopha.

ƒ It is stomachic, increases rakta dhātu (blood) and cleans the koṣṭha /

mahāsrotas. (69-74)

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™ Vaṅga (tin)
Varieties:

ƒ Khuraka and miśraka are the two types of vaṅga. Of the two khuraka is better
in properties, while miśraka is considered inferior.

Physical properties:

ƒ Whiteness, softness, brilliancy, quick melting, heaviness and devoid of

cracking sound (tin-cry) are the qualities of khura vaṅga while miśraka is
claimed to be blackish white in colour.

Pharmaco-therapeutic properties of vaṅga:

ƒ Vaṅga is bitter (tikta) in taste (rasa), hot (uṣṇa) and rough (rūkṣa) in
properties (guṇa), causes slight vātakopana and destroys meha, śleṣma roga,
meda and kṛmirogas. (153–155)

™ Nāga / śīśa (lead)

Physical properties of lead:

ƒ The superior variety of lead should be heavy, externally black, produce

foul smell, melt quickly and on fracture should appear shining black. The
lead without these properties is impure and not recommended for use.

Pharmaco-therapeutic properties of lead:

ƒ Śiśaka is very hot (atiuṣṇa) in vīrya, onctuous (snigdha) in guṇa and bitter
(tikta) in rasa.

ƒ It is claimed to destroy vāta and kapha doṣas and to possess stomachic effect
(dīpana karma).

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 ƒ It is indicated for removing the toyadoṣa of prameha and also āmavāta. (170–
171)

™ Pittala (brass)
Varieties:

ƒ Pittala is of two types, rītikā and kākatuṇḍī. That which turns into copper-
like colour when heated and dipped in Kāñnjika is rītikā, while that which
turns black is known as kākatuṇḍī.

Physical properties of superior pittala:

ƒ Heaviness, softness, yellowness, strong, resistibility to hammering

(malleable) and brilliancy are the properties of superior rītī.

Physical properties of inferior pittala:

ƒ That which is pale yellow, hard, rough with spots, irresistible to

hammering (non-malleable), foul smelling and light in weight is inferior
rītī and is not considered good for internal use.

Pharmaco-therapeutic properties of pittala:

ƒ Rītī is tikta in rasa, rūkṣa in guṇa, destroys intestinal worms, raktapittta and
kuṣṭa rogas (skin diseases due to worms in infection). When used with other
drugs it becomes uṣṇa in vīrya otherwise it is śita in vīrya.

ƒ Kākatuṇḍī is tikta in rasa, uṣṇa and non-unctuous in guṇa, destroys kapha

and pitta doṣas, cures yakṛt and plīha roga and is said to be śitavīrya. (191–
196)

***

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 Comprehension

On the basis of your reading of the texts, complete the following table:

Astronomer Period Finding Relevance

Kauṭilya
Varāhamihira

1. Summarize the duties of the Director of Mines given by Kauṭilya, as well as the
expertise he is expected to have. Do you find this expertise adequate for his
responsibilities?

2. Note the properties attributed to various metals by Vāgbhaṭa; make an exhaustive

list of those properties.

3. What uses of metals is Vāgbhaṭa’s alchemical text concentrating on?

4. The above texts describe several processes by which a metal is treated with an
organic substance, such as a plant extract. Select one of those processes which, in
your opinion, would be easily testable in a modern laboratory.

YZ

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Copperr-smelting furrnace at Khetrri, Rajasthan
(from a geological reeport of the 199th century)

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