Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c41.s10.1

v2.c41.s10.1

We have already discussed the unsolved puzzle regarding the identity of vaikṛntaka. All we know is that it was a metal or alloy prepared from its ore or dhātu (2.12.16) which, according to Roy (1946:113), could be magnetite. Vaikṛntaka has been referred some times (2.12.23; 4.1.35 etc.) with vṛtta, which is identified by many scholars including Kangle, as steel. In one place (2.17.14), vaikṛntaka and vṛtta have been mentioned with kālāyasa, which is evidently the Vedic name for pig or wrought iron; thus, the three (in 2.17.14) were presumably believed to be different from each other. On the top of it, tikṣṇa mentioned as iron, had its ore or dhātu (2.12.15), and the metal was used as an alloying component (2.12.24; 2.13.48 & 58).