Publications

Archaeometallurgy pertains to the technological study of metallic archaeological artefacts and art objects to gain insights into the manufacturing techniques and history of technology. It can also help in the better classification of archaeological artefacts through studies on provenance and sources of metal.  Archaeometallurgy is increasingly becoming a widely inclusive discipline of archaeology that attempts to trace the history of ancient metal production, distribution and usage in antiquity and the related socio-cultural and economic ramifications. The early metals to be exploited were those that were found in the native state, followed by those that could be smelted or reduced easily from ores, while those that were more difficult to smelt were discovered later. The commonly used metals in antiquity included gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, zinc, and mercury. In the first lecture, Prof Sharada Srinivasan will explore the broader trajectory of the use of metals, and in Indian and particularly south Indian antiquity. The second two lectures point to some highlights of pre-industrial Indian contributions interspersed with insights from surviving craft traditions. These lectures draw on her archaeometallurgical studies on non-ferrous metallurgy in the skilled early use of high-tin bronzes and the making of statuary bronzes to the unique methods of extraction of metallic zinc, and in ferrous metallurgy in the use of wrought iron and high-carbon Steels and to later innovations such as the use of metal-cased rockets. Thus the lectures would point to the significance with respect to a broader global understanding of the history of science and technology.

Anthony Cerulli’s The Practice of Texts is a much needed book at a time when Ayurvedic education in India is receiving particular academic and policy scrutiny. In particular, it offers novel insight into the nature of modern Ayurvedic ‘gurukulas’ and the unique roles they serve, as fluid spaces within which ‘neo-traditions’ of Ayurveda evolve and are transmitted from practicing vaidya-gurus to students. It also masterfully reinterprets and transforms the very notion of the classical Ayurvedic text from a bounded, static re-telling of history, to a ‘fluid and conversational resource’ (pp. 40) that is a ‘field of knowing on which (the) vaidya-guru coordinates (her) interactions with patients (and students) (pp. 87)’. It is written with great nuance, both in terms of factual accuracy as well as anecdotal richness, and offers to the reader a rare and expansive presentation of the larger historical, political, and pedagogical frameworks within which the Ayurvedic gurukula exists and functions, in contemporary South India.