Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s8.6

v1.c28.s8.6

In the earlier chapter 18 on zinc we have shown how we have gathered recent knowledge on the early emergence of zinc and brass in the pre-Christian era of ancient India. This knowledge was not available when Swarnakamal (1980) wrote his famous book on the metallic art of Gujarat. Thus, he wrote (1980: 145) what must now be contradicted: “The Nalanda copper and bronze technology developed so much so that it finally led to the discovery of a copper-zinc alloy, and towards the development of a brass technology”. The suggestions of Werner (1972), endorsed by Swarnakamal (1980: 145-46), that zinc-alloying of copper was not done in the earlier period of Indian history and that “it was possible to distinguish ancient from modern bronze, because the quantity of zinc increased in the composition with progress of time”, cannot be accepted in any unqualified sense. Although there was a spurt of zinc technology and use of brass in ancient India after the thirteenth century AD, there had been a similar spurt around sixth-seventh century AD before the tradition at Nalanda, and evidences from the Zawar mines and Taxila attest that there must have been mini-spurts in the pre-Christian era as well.