Palaj, Gandhinagar: The next three lectures in third edition of the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) semester course at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) will focus on “Metallurgy in Ancient India”.
Dr J S Kharakwal will deliver a lecture on “Zinc Production in Ancient India” on April 10 from 4:30 to 6 pm. Dr Oishi Roy will talk about “Copper Technology in Ancient India” on April 11 from 4:30 to 6 pm, and Dr S P Mehrotra will give a lecture on “Iron and Steelmaking in Ancient India” on April 13 from 3:30 to 5 pm. All three lectures will take place in Academic Block 1/102 at IITGN.
(1) Dr J S Kharakwal is currently Professor and Head of Department of Archaeology, JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur. He directed excavations at Harappan and Iron Age sites. He has published six books and 50 papers and has participated in seminars in many countries in Asia and Europe. His lecture on “Zinc Production in Ancient India”, he will discuss the history of Zinc production by tracing back its ancient origins in India.
(2) Dr Oishi Roy works as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Archaeological Sciences Centre at IIT Gandhinagar and pursues her research on the remnants of ancient iron technology of Vidarbha, Maharashtra, and also the trade mechanisms that those societies employed. She has recently received the prestigious H D Sankalia Young Archaeologist Award for her research paper, “Evidence for Steel Making at Naikund and its Relationship with Mahurjhari, Borgaon and Khairwada”. Her talk attempts to trace the development of copper technology in the Indian subcontinent from its inception and its gradual conversion to bronze technology, taking the cue from archaeological finds, available metallographic analysis data, experimental studies and ethnographic studies.
(3) Prof S P Mehrotra, an expert in metallurgy and material science, headed the Metallurgical Engineering Department and Advanced Centre for Materials Science at IIT Kanpur. At present, he is a Visiting Professor at IIT Gandhinagar and also Co-coordinator of IIT Gandhinagar’s Archaeological Sciences Centre. His talk titled “Iron and Steelmaking in Ancient India” will discuss the timelines for the onset of the Iron Age in different parts of the world and in the Indian subcontinent. He will also discuss the difficulty in reproducing the steel with a similar microstructure and mechanical properties in spite of the advanced technologies of steelmaking available today.
