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In ancient times metals were classified according to their appearance. Iron, gold, silver, copper were known to be different metals, for their colours are distinct. 33 Caraka-samhita, a second century AD text, mentions six metals, viz. gold and panca-dhatu (five metals) which are silver, copper, tin, iron and lead. Vanga or nag, in Sanskrit, meant lead, tin or other metals which resembled tin in appearance. They were also called "Piccada" (meaning the metals which could be pressed into sheets) signifying their use in those times. Calamine which is zinc carbonate, the main ore of zinc, had names like Rasaka or kharpara. A process for purification of zinc is given in Tibetan texts which 34 were translated from Sanskrit in the eighth to ninth 35 century AD. Also Rasarnava, a text of the twelfth century, repeats a process of extraction of zinc from calamine, as given in Rasaratnakara of Nagarjuna. Although zinc was known to be a separate metal from Nagarjuna's time, it did not bear a separate name 33 Caraka-Samhita, see Primary Sources, p. 28. 34 * Ray, P., see Secondary Sources, p. 472. 35 Ray, P., see Secondary Sources, p. 138.

169 but was referred to as "a metal of the appearance of tin, i.e. "kutilasankasam". Later alchemical texts such as 36 Dhatu-manjari and Dhatukriya' which are the works of the thirteenth to fifteenth century AD, zinc bore a separate name. It was recognised as the metal which is responsible for making brass from copper and was given the names like Yasada or Yasadayaka (one which confers success in alchemical operations), Jasada or Jasta. 37 Zinc was exported to Europe from China since about 1605 AD. It was called "Tutenag". Its nature or process of extraction was not known to the Europeans at that time. It was also spelt in a number of curious ways as "tooth and egg" metal or "toothnage". The Portuguese name for zinc was "Tutenaque". Also a white alloy of copper, zinc, nickel and iron was called by the same name, when it was exported from China to Europe in the early nineteenth century. A seventeenth century Chinese author writes, 38 Ya qian 39 (poor lead or zinc) is also called Totamu, a word derived from a foreign language. We do not know what this metal is, but it belongs to the category of lead, whereupon it is called "inferior lead". 36. 37. Needham, Joseph (1), Vol. V., Pt. 2, p. 212. Ray, P., see Secondary Sources, p. 197. 38 ya qian 39 zhi duo #

170 Needham conjectures that the word "totamu" might have its origin in the Persian word tutiya for calamine. Here we give a more probable etymology for the word "tutenag" (also written by the seventeenth century Chinese author as "totamu"). "Tutenag" probably is the twisted form of the original word "tutthanag" for zinc in south Indian languages, e.g., Tamil. "Tutthanag" is formed with the combination of two words "tuttha" and "nag". "Tutthanag" thereby means it is a kind of lead (nag) derived from tuttha or calamine (zinc carbonate). 40 Earlier Sanskrit literature gives the meaning of "tuttha" as copper or ferrous sulphate. But in the later alchemical texts, viz. Rasendrasarasamgraha we find Tuttha is given as a synonym of Rasaka or kharpara, i.e., calamine. Further, to distinguish other kinds of Tutthas, the terms such as "Mayur greeva Tuttha" (meaning tuttha of the colour of peacock's neck) for copper sulphate and "Hara-Tuttha" (meaning green tuttha) for ferrous sulphate were used. The Sanskrit word "Tuttha" 40 See Caraka-samhita in Primary Sources, p. 79.

171 for calamine or copper sulphate is also the probable origin of Persian words "Tutia" for calamine and tutty for copper sulphate. In this way the etymology of the word "tutenag" for zinc (or Tutamu in Chinese), as it was known to the Europeans in the seventeenth century, is found in the word "Tutthanag". It is probable that zinc was introduced to China from India in the late medieval period along with its name "tutthanag" or tutenag. Later, zinc and its alloys were exported to Europe from China under the same name, after the Chinese learned the method of extraction of zinc from calamine from the Indians, who had the knowledge of it for more than four or five previous centuries since Indians knew this method from Nagarjuna's time.