Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s4.2

v1.c28.s4.2

The *Rasaśāstra* texts recommended *vartalauha* or alloy of five metals: *kāmsya*, *ārakūṭa* or *riti*, copper, iron and lead. Although Madanapāla designated zinc metal as *yaśada* in AD 1374 (Ray, P.C., 1903, Vol. I: 156 ff), and Bhāvamiśra’s *Bhāvaprakāśa Pūrva Khaṇḍa* (Sastri, 1955), declaring brass as an alloy of copper and zinc, was written during Emperor Akbar’s time in the sixteenth century AD, the use of brass in India had started in the pre-Christian era and the knowledge of distilled zinc as a ‘metal like tin’ was almost that early.