Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c25.s6.29

v1.c25.s6.29

The ancient India utilised not only some of the above-mentioned reserves but also the partially evaporated and fractionally crystallised residues of salt lake bitterns which contained, apart from the usual salt NaCl, considerable amounts sodium carbonate, bicarbonate and sulphate. Some typical data from Sambhar in Rajasthan and Lonar in Berar, compiled from Auden et al. (1942) and La Touche et al. (1912) are presented in Table 17. 8. The production of glasses in the chalcolithic sites near the lakes could have been made utilising the soda-rich bittern evaporites. The Lonar lake incrustation contains a substantial amount of K₂O of Potash. Caraka Saṃhitā and Suśruta Saṃhitā referred to sodium alkali as sarjikā kṣāra (sajji maṭṭi) and to potassium alkali as yavakṣāra (prepared from potash-rich plant ashes).