Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c44.s1.17

v2.c44.s1.17

During the above period, considerable progress about the sciences of minerals, metals were made. Kauṭilya mentioned *rasapāka* which has been translated as ‘distillation and condensation of mercury’ by Shamashastri, and as ‘chemistry’ by Jolly and Schmidt. During Aśoka’s reign, techniques were developed for quarrying laterite and sandstone rocks, mining gold deposits at Kanakagiri or Subarṇagiri (near the present Haity gold mines and Raichur), rock-cutting and polishing granite-gneiss rock pillars, stone-railings and caves at Karmachampar, Barabar, Gaya etc. (Brown, 1956; Lahiri, 1971: 495; Roy, 1946: 117)