History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c34.s4.1

v1.c34.s4.1

The process of fashioning the jewellery in India involved various technique. The metal required for the fashioning of an ornament had to be first examined for the its purity through a special technique, called assaying. The familiar method for assaying was to rub the metal on the touch stone (*kasaūṭi*). The rubbing of the metal on the *kasaūṭi* left a mark of certain colour which used to suggest the purity of the metal or the amount of alloy of other metals contained in it. Similarly, the alloying was sometimes found necessary to give a certain hardness to the metal for working intricate patterns and design on its. The gold was alloyed with copper or silver and the silver was alloyed with copper or zinc. The soldering was done to join the different parts of the ornament together. The gold, silver and copper were mixed in soldering gold ornaments and silver and zinc in silver ones. The techniques is locally known as “*Taṅkā*”.