Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s8.t3.5

v1.c28.s8.t3.5

We should note the significance of Tārānātha’s reference to the earlier nāga (lead, zinc) or brass icon tradition of Nāgārjuna, which was now being supplemented by the Pāla artistes with tin-bronze casting. There must have been a renewed supply of tin from the Hazārībāgh mines or through the import of the material from Burma or the Malay Peninsula. The ninth century AD. text Sarveśvararasāyana refers to tin as vaṅga, the metal from Bengal, and describes the method for its purification. Table 20.8 shows that the Nālandā artistes used pure copper, brass as well as moderate and high-tin bronzes for casting images. Over 500 bronzes of Buddha and Buddhist divinities of Tantrayāna-Vajrayāna cult (a newly emerging Tāntric cult) and of Brāhmaṇical divinities have been recovered but only a few have been analysed for chemical content by Lal (1956: 55-56) who reports that “very little is known about their forging, casting, soldering, heat-treating etc.”