Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c45.s4.11

v2.c45.s4.11

Navasāra, also known as cullikā lavaṇa was produced by burning shoots of bamboos, or pilu woods. Typified as a kṣāra or alkali (3.127-129) it was likely to contain potassium carbonate and potassium chloride; Ray (1956:176) claimed this to be sal-ammoniac or ammonium chloride but confessed that ‘sal-ammoniac, however, cannot be an alkali’.