Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c44.s3.13

v2.c44.s3.13

The above passages from Nāgārjuna are the earliest literary references to the ancient art of making brass and zinc. The latter passage quoted (RR, 31-32) vividly recalls the distillation of zinc, ‘the falling of the tin-like metal’. The ore was named rasaka because it yielded a distillation product like rasa or mercury. Much later, the metal zinc was named yaśada, yaśadāyaka, yaśatva (later colloquially yastā or dastā), ‘that which gives fame’, a reference to the gold-like colour of its alloy.