Zinc was extracted in India as early as in the 4th to 3rd century BCE. Zinc production may have begun in India, and ancient northwestern India is the earliest known civilization that produced zinc on an industrial scale. The distillation technique was developed around 1200 CE at Zawar in Rajasthan.
In the 17th century, China exported Zinc to Europe under the name of totamu or tutenag. The term tutenag may derive from the South Indian term Tutthanagaa (zinc). In 1597, Libavius, a metallurgist in England received some quantity of Zinc metal and named it as Indian/Malabar lead. In 1738, William Champion is credited with patenting in Britain a process to extract zinc from calamine in a smelter, a technology that bore a strong resemblance to and was probably inspired by the process used in the Zawar zinc mines in Rajasthan. His first patent was rejected by the patent court on grounds of plagiarising the technology common in India. However, he was granted the patent on his second submission of patent approval. Postlewayts Universal Dictionary of 1751 still wasnt aware of how Zinc was produced.
The Arthashastra describes the production of zinc. The Rasaratnakara by Nagarjuna describes the production of brass and zinc. There are references of medicinal uses of zinc in the Charaka Samhita (300 BCE). The Rasaratna Samuchaya (800 CE) explains the existence of two types of ores for zinc metal, one of which is ideal for metal extraction while the other is used for medicinal purpose. It also describes two methods of zinc distillation.