Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s8.t6.14

v1.c28.s8.t6.14

The Cola period bronze icons are now matters of Indian pride and constitute a significant part of our cultural heritage in every possible sense — artistic, philosophical or technological. Unfortunately the huge number of icons are yet to be chronologically catalogued and scientifically analysed. Reiderer (1984) has analysed 55 Indian bronze and brass statuettes by atomic absorption spectrometry, of which 44 are from South India. We are presenting analysis figures for 35 selected South Indian icons in Table 20.10. These icons can be divided in terms of their metallic composition into the following categories: