A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c12.s1.53

c12.s1.53

The existence of such a colossal statue, weighing nearly a ton, is good evidence of Indian proficiency in metallurgy at the beginning of the fifth century. Still stronger testimony to that skill is borne by the celebrated Iron Pillar of Delhi, set up about A. D. 415 by Kumāragupta I in honour of his father, Chandragupta II, Vikramāditya, which originally stood on an eminence elsewhere, probably at Mathurā (Chap. XII, *post*). The total length of the pillar from the top of the bell capital to the bottom of the base is 23 feet 8 inches, and the diameter diminishes from 16·4 inches below to 12·05 inches above. The material is pure malleable iron of 7·66 specific gravity welded together, and the weight is estimated to exceed six tons. 'It is not many years since the production of such a pillar would have been an impossibility in the largest foundries of the world, and even now there are comparatively few where a similar mass of metal could be turned out.' The statue originally surmounting the pillar having disappeared, the marvellous metallurgical triumph does not further concern a history of fine art.²