Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c46.s5.2

v2.c46.s5.2

A variety of reasons, discussed in this chapter, inhibited the rate of scientific progress in this sub-continent, and India failed to match the spectacular intellectual renaissance in Europe. Nevertheless, when the British investigators of the nineteenth century surveyed our sub-continent, they obtained abundant evidences of ancient mines, working metallurgical outfits in the sectors of iron, copper, zinc, brass and gold, well-informed practices related to gems and non-gem minerals and, briefly stated, of the entire gamut of the ancient and medieval Indian traditions in minerals and metals.