Ore hills forty kilometres south of the Girwa where lead and zinc have been dug and smelted since antiquity, on a scale that leaves hillsides of slag.
The retort distillation that makes Zawar the first place in the world to produce metallic zinc in quantity is a development of the following centuries; what a 1200 lord takes from here is lead, silver from the lead, and smelting dues. No document names the operator.
How things stand that morning
Ore hills forty kilometres south of the Girwa where lead and zinc have been dug and smelted since antiquity, on a scale that leaves hillsides of slag. The retort distillation that makes Zawar the first place in the world to produce metallic zinc in quantity is a development of the following centuries; what a 1200 lord takes from here is lead, silver from the lead, and smelting dues. No document names the operator.
Primary sources for Guhilas of Mewar
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Epigraphia Indica: inscriptions of the Chandelas, Paramaras, Gahadavalas, Chaulukyas, Senas and Eastern Gangas, Various (edited for the Archaeological Survey of India by J. Burgess, E. Hultzsch, F. Kielhorn, Sten Konow, F. W. Thomas and successors) (inscriptions of the 1180s to 1210s; the series ran from 1892). The main record series for the Hindu kingdoms of northern India around 1200. Read online
- Historical Inscriptions of Gujarat, Various (the Chaulukya and Vaghela chanceries), edited by G. V. Acharya (inscriptions of the 10th to 14th centuries; edited 1933 to 1942). The standard corpus of Gujarat's inscriptions. Read online
- The Wishing-Stone of Narratives, Merutunga (a Jain monk of the Nagendra gaccha) (1305 (Vikrama 1361) at Vadhvan in Gujarat). A Jain collection of historical anecdotes about the kings of Gujarat and Malwa, a century after 1200. Read online
Sources and studies
- OMNIA board notes for the place (a lead only; checked against the sources above)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.