Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c40.s2.1

v2.c40.s2.1

An ore is defined as a metal-bearing rock from which metal may be extracted by process or extractive metallurgy. The art of making copper from its ore was known in the Pre-Harappan age, and iron-making was discovered around 1200 BC. The Vedic literatures contain references to blacksmiths or kārmāra blowing air (dhma) in a furnace. The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa mentions bhastrā merely as a leather bag. Pāṇini explains for the first time, the use of leather bellows in a furnace for blowing air into it. A furnace may have more than one bellow in which case it is called bahubhastrikā (7.3.47). Bellow pipe and pair of bellows with nozzles have been found in the Parthian stratum in Sirkap during the excavations at Taxila.