Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c22.s6.9

v1.c22.s6.9

Bronze containing 21-25 per cent tin, with little lead but some antimony, was in general use at Taxila for casting domestic utensils, bells, ornamental pieces (vide Table 14.5). This alloy is very hard and easy to cast on account of its low fusibility but has the disadvantage of being brittle. Nearchus, Alexander’s admiral, remarked that the Indians at that time employed only cast bronze, not hammered, so that ‘their vessels broke like earthenware if they fell’.