Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c20.s3.t9.7

v1.c20.s3.t9.7

The Ujjain tradition for iron-making continued in the area for centuries. An elliptical Vasudeva temple of c. fourth-third century BC at Besnagar (23°32'N; 77° 48'E), 3 km north-east of modern Vidisha, had pillars firmly set on thick stone basal slabs and fixed by steel wedges. At the same site, a piece of broken iron sword dated 125 BC contained 0.7 per cent carbon and showed elongated and irregularly disposed crystals of pearlite upon ferrite ground mass; 146 was the Brinell Hardness measured. 100 BC Kauśāmbi iron arrowhead assayed 0.74 per cent carbon and showed grains of pearlite throughout the section. (S. Prakash and R. Singh, 1968, Coinage in Ancient India, pp. 529-32) Ujjain technology might have been borrowed in Taxila which produced in AD 100, carpenter’s adze assaying 1.23 per cent carbon, a double-edged sword with 1.3-1.5 per cent carbon and 235 Brinell hardness. During third-second century BC, Rairh in district Jaipur was a major centre of ironsmithy showing huge quantities of slag, also swords, daggers etc.