[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [Minerals and Metals in Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.biswas-1996) › v2.c41.3 # Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c41.3 Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c41.3 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c41.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.biswas-1996.v2.c41.3) We have the following strong arguments favouring the traditional view: (a) the traditional view has been endorsed by many subsequent authors of the ancient India such as Kāmandaka (author of Nitisāra), Daṇḍin (author of Daśakumāracarita), Bāṇa (author of Kādambari), etc.; (b) Arthaśāstra must have preceded two pre-Christian era texts, the Smṛti's of Manu and Yājñavalkya who reproduced extracts from the Arthaśāstra; (c) Ajivakas, mentioned in the Arthaśāstra (3.20.16), the Lokāyata philosophy (1.2.10) and several oligarchies (referred therein 11.1.4-5) disappeared from the Indian scene by the third century BC; (d) unlike the later-day Rasa-śāstra texts, the Arthaśāstra mentions ‘liquid ore’, vaikrantaka — a metal, and refers to tin as trapu and not vaṅga, and to brass as ārakūṭa and not pittala; (e) the tradition of punch-marked coin overseen by \*lakṣaṇādhyakṣa\* (2.12.24) was a pre-Greek tradition (the Greek tradition being engraving of ruler's effigy or the casting of coins in moulds); the counterfeiter used to strike his coins with the help of a hammer and a die bearing design after blanching the blanks in alkalis (4.4.20), since the cheaper process of casting was not yet (third century BC) in vougue. - [Previous: v2.c41.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.biswas-1996.v2.c41.2) - [Next: v2.c41.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.biswas-1996.v2.c41.4) - [Up: v2.c41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.biswas-1996.v2.c41) ## Cites (1) - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya.1.2.10) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.biswas-1996.v2.c41.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.biswas-1996.v2.c41.3) · Pramāṇa