Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s10.6

v1.c28.s10.6

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.