Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c26.s5.1

v1.c26.s5.1

The literary evidences on the above subject, discussed in several chapters of our monograph, may be briefly summarised at this point. We have mentioned earlier in this chapter the pseudo-Aristotelian work ‘On Marvellous Things Heard’ referring to ‘gold-like bronze’ or brass of the Indians during the reign of Darius. The Greek’s ‘oreichalcos’ was equivalent to Kauṭilya’s ārakūṭa. (Arthaśāstra, 2.12.23, 2.17.14, 4.1.35) Both Kauṭilya and the earliest Indian brass of Taxila belonged to fourth century BC, while the earliest C-14 dating of the Zawar Mine is 430 ± 100 BC.