Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c40.4

v2.c40.4

The second urbanisation in India started around the early part of the first millennium BC. Settlements grew into small kingdoms or janapada about which an early reference is available in Chāndogya Upaniṣad (5.11.5). There must have been a boost to mining and metallurgy in the north-western part of India after the partly successful intrusion of the Persians into India during the later half of the sixth century BC. Pāṇini’s work reveals the contemporary awareness and activities in the fields of (a) mine and mineral engineering, (b) extractive metallurgy, (c) minerals and inorganic compounds, (d) metals, (e) coinage metals besides the development of several other technical and scientific concepts.