Iron in Ancient India c7.s4.2

c7.s4.2

The Sanskrit work *Yuktikalpataru*, a manuscript of the eleventh century, which has not yet been published, describes the relative goodness of various qualities of iron thus: “*Crouncha* iron is twice better than *shāmānya* (ordinary) iron, *kālinga* (Orissan) iron eight times better than *crouncha* iron, *bhadra* iron one hundred times better than *kālinga* iron, *bajra* iron thousand times better than *bhadra*, *pāndi* iron again hundred times better than *bajra*, *niranga* ten times better than *pāndi* and *kāntha* iron million times better than *niranga* iron.”¹