Copper in Ancient India c9.s3: Manufacture of Bronze
Copper in Ancient India c9.s3
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Manufacture of Bronze
c9.s3.1
As regards the method of manufacture of bronze, its two constituents copper and tin were known in India from very remote times. Though neither is mentioned in the earliest of the Vedas, both are mentioned in the White Yajurveda and the Brāhmanas. As bronze came to be used by the third century B.C., it appears that the two metals, which were known from a much earlier period, were at that time molten together to form the alloy. Recipies as to the proportion of the two metals used are, however, not found in the earlier works. As has already been noted, we find that the author of the Rasaratna-samuchchaya of the 13th century mentions that bronze was made by melting together eight parts of copper and two parts of tin. The same proportion was observed in the manufacture of bronze in Emperor Akbar’s time as may be learnt from the Ayeen Abkari.¹
c9.s3.2
¹ A Greek manuscript of about the 11th century in the library of St. Marks, Venice, also gives the composition of bronze as made from 11b (16oz) of copper and 2oz. of tin, the proportion being the same as used in ancient India.
c9.s3.3
The famous bronze cannon “Maliki-i-Maidan” at Bijapur. (Photograph from the “Empress,” 1913, No 2, p. 12).
Linked texts (1)
- Rasaratnasamuccaya — Vāgbhaṭa (alchemist), Sanskrit