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Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s10: Multi-metal Alloys in India

Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s10

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Multi-metal Alloys in India

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Conscious uses of two to four metallic elements at a time to produce alloys have been made in ancient India. Some of the bronzes contained sufficient proportions of four metals—copper, tin, zinc and lead. Several other metallic elements might have been simultaneously present as trace impurities, but conscious use of sufficient quantities of more than four metallic elements at a time is difficult to prove from archaeological evidences.

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Rasaratnasamuccaya, a fourteenth century AD text (vide chapter 9 of our Vol. II) referred to many alloys in ancient India including a five-metalled one:

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*pañcaloha* or *vartaloha* (RRS, 5. 212). This was supposed to contain copper, bronze, brass, lead and iron. Apparently the distinction between alloy and metallic element was not recognised, so the above list of five should re-read copper, tin, zinc, lead and iron. We may recall that the item No. 9 in Table 20.8 may be said to correspond to such a *pañcaloha*, but we have expressed our doubt whether iron was externally added as a separate molten phase for which special crucibles and refractories would have been necessary. In the South Indian tradition *pañcaloha* is supposed to contain copper, brass (which corresponds to zinc), tin, silver and gold. The analytical figures of the ancient South Indian icons as presented in Table 20.10 show only the first three elements and lead in some major proportions but not much of silver (exists only as a trace impurity) or gold. Microscopic amounts of silver and gold have been put into the melt before casting, to satisfy religious sentiments, but these operations have little metallurgical significance. Some of the Nepalese and Tibetan icons contained more than trace amounts of gold.

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Lo Bue (1981a: 33) and Khan (1986: 80-81) have briefly surveyed the fanciful claims made in the ancient world regarding multi-metallic alloys. Abul Fazl claimed incoherently that *haft-josh* consists of six-metals like *khar-chini*. The fact is that the latter is probably a Chinese cupro-arsenic alloy (*vide* items 4 and 5 in Table 20.9) occasionally containing nickel and/or antimony, whereas *haft-josh*, as the name suggests, was a seven-metal alloy with Persian legend consisting of copper, tin, zinc, lead, iron, gold and silver. In the Islam population of Persia and India, it was claimed that this alloy was used to make amulets of magical and religious value. Khan (1986: 90) quoted Partington’s analysis of such amulets made in Iran showing not seven but only three major elements: copper, tin and zinc.

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Abul Fazl mentioned in *Āin-i-Akbarī* (I, 40, N, Kishore edition) that the *aṣṭa-dhātu* of the Hindus contains ‘six of *haft-josh* plus *ruh-i-tutiya* (zinc) and *kāmsya* (bronze)’. Khan (1986: 80) stated that the Hindu *aṣṭa-dhātu* was supposed to contain copper, tin, zinc, lead, iron, gold, silver and mercury, “the last being considered most auspicious and probably added in the form of an amalgam with the gold”. We have already discussed in connection with the Tibetan icons the issues related to gilding. Thus Khan’s list has a touch of realism.

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Lo Bue (1981a: 33) quoting several authors (Spooner, 1915: 157; Saraswati, 1962: 28; Sahai, 1977: 233; Bhattacharyya, 1979: 146) provided the list of eight elements contained in the octo-alloy or *aṣṭa-dhātu* which tallied with Khan’s list as given above except that mercury was replaced by antimony. An analysis by Spooner (1915) of an image claimed as *aṣṭa-dhātu* showed copper, tin and zinc as the major elements with small amounts of lead, iron and antimony.

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The previous discussion seems to confirm our assertion that not more than four metallic elements were used in the ancient Indian icons in major and well-specified proportions. The references to specific alloys such as brass and bronze as ingredients indicate that the alloy scraps were being recycled into the composite melts before casting. Lo Bue (1981a: 33) submitted his considered opinion that the aṣṭa-dhātu represented “an imaginary formula for particularly auspicious combinations of metals based on numerical magic, this being not the only instance of the Indian alchemical fascination with magical numbers”. Majumdar (1926: 426) referred to the Indian traditions of not only aṣṭa-dhātu (eitght metals) but also pañcaloha (5), saptaloha (7) (imitation of the Persian haft-josh?) and navaloha (9).

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