The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.358

v1.c10.358

**Knowledge of iron :** The quotations given in the first chapter about iron-walled cities, clearly show that the hardness of iron was well known, but the epithet being in those cases metaphorically used, they do not suffice to prove that the metal was worked into shape. In the passages in which Indra is described as hurling his iron bolt upon the quick-moving Asuras,¹⁸⁸ or where his horse is described as having feet of iron, the same exception may be easily taken, though the last description may be accepted as an indication of the pratice of shoeing horses. But swords (II. 156), spears (IV. 25), javelins (II. 292), lances (I. 74), (IV. ii. 288), and hatchets (I. 120), are frequently mentioned, and these weapons are “bright as gold,” or golden (IV. 19) “shining bright” (I. 175) “blazing” (IV. 93), “sharp” (IV. 113), and “made of iron” (I. 226); they are “whetted on a grindstone” (II. 36) to improve their keenness (I. 150), and “polished to enhance their brightness” (II. 326). There are also allusions to razors, which would be utterly worthless unless made of iron; and it may be very fairly presumed that those who could and did forge razors of iron, could not forget the value of that metal as a material for pointed or edged weapons. It may be added that, according to Shaw, “the hardest tools in ancient Egypt, such as drills for working the granite obelisks, were made of Indian iron.” Pliny says: “Ex omnibus generibus palma Serico ferro est. Seres hoc cum vestibus suis pellibusque mittunt. Secunda Parthico, neque alia genera ferri ex mera acie temperantur, caeteris enim admiscetur”. (*Lib.* XXXIX. C. 14) According to al Edrissi, “in montibus Kabel inveniuntur ferri fodinae celeberrimae, et humanis usibus aptissimae, producunt enim ferrum acutum et venustum.” According to Nearchus, King Porus gave 30 lbs. of steel to Alexander as the most precious present he could offer; and to “give an Indian answer,” meaning “a cut with an Indian sword,” is a common Arabic proverb in Arabshah, (p. 364 *apud* Vincent’s *Periplus*). It would be inconsistent to suppose that the race which produced such iron and swords did not know how to use, or knowing, did not use them.