History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c13.s2.t4.159

v1.c13.s2.t4.159

Bronson (1986) in his review on this celebrated steel has questioned the origin of this Indian technology and tried to give credit to Iran or other Arabian countries who were in knowledge of the qualities of this steel and considered it worth while to journey to India to procure it, but after studying the classification of Iron-Carbon alloys (communicated to him by the author) he has agreed to the origin and the production of molten steel in India. This technology was most probably developed for the first time either in Gujarat or Hyderabad. The English word ‘Wootz’ is supposed to be abbreviation of either Gujarati word ‘Wuz’, or ‘Hooku’ or ‘Ukku’ in Telugu language, which means steel or ‘Pulat’ in Persian. The other regions mentioned in the literature are Tamilnadu and Mysore where this quality of steel was made by the crucible melting technique. In the northern Indian crucibles and furnaces similar to those used in South India have been found, at Rajghat (Varanasi) and ‘Khairadih’ where most probably ‘Wootz’ steel was being produced between 600 B.C. to 1000 A.D.