A Concise History of Science in India c9.s2: The Vedic Age
A Concise History of Science in India c9.s2
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The Vedic Age
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In the next phase of the early Indian cultural history (*c.* 1500–600 B.C.) we have to consider the chemical knowledge and practices of a new set of people with a new social order, often referred to as the Indo-Aryans who are believed to have settled first in north-western India and gradually extended their settlements over the whole of north India. The probable date of this presumed Indo-Aryan cultural settlement has not been settled yet beyond doubt. Till recently, the chronological range of the Harappan culture was recognized to be *c.* 2500–1500 B.C., while the radiocarbon analysisb of the charcoal remains of this culture-area, points to a date range of *c.* 2300–1750 B.C.a Again the radiocarbon-dating methods have indicated that the distinctive type of pottery known as the Painted Grey ware, which is believed generally to have been used by the Indo-Aryans, might have been evolved by them around *c.* 1000–800 B.C. The old conception that the Aryans might have destroyed the Harappans is gradually losing ground as a result of recent studies; instead, the possibility of flood as also the shifting of courses of ancient rivers, annihilating the flourishing Harappan civilization is increasingly acquiring credence.
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a Majumdar (R. C.), I, p. 181.
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b Carbon-14 (C¹⁴) is a radioactive isotope of carbon (or radiocarbon) with an atomic weight of 14, the normal atomic weight of carbon being 12. The radiocarbon is being produced in nature as a result of the interaction of the fast-moving neutrons (which are themselves produced from primary cosmic rays on entering the earth’s atmosphere) on N¹⁴ atoms of the air. The radiocarbon combines with oxygen forming gaseous carbondioxide (C¹⁴O₂) and the latter gets into the vegetation as a result of plant metabolism and also into the animals which feed on vegetation. When carbon-14 disintegrates, nitrogen is formed and beta particle is emitted. In 5570 ± 40 years, known as the half-life period of carbon-14, half of a given number of atoms of the radiocarbon undergoes radioactive decay and, with the lapse of time, the radioactivity goes on decreasing. It has been calculated that in about 70,000 years, practically all its radioactivity will be lost. The quantity of radiocarbon in contemporary materials is too small and far below the sensitivity limit of an isotope-measurement device such as the mass spectrograph. However, its radioactivity can be measured and, by comparing the radioactivity of a particular carbon remnant (like plant remains, charcoal, marine shells and carbonate deposits) with that of carbon of the present time, the time elapsed in relation to the carbon remnant can be arrived at mathematically. It is generally assumed that all living organisms possess the same proportion of carbon-14/carbon-12 and that the radiocarbon disintegrates at the same rate after their death. These assumptions are not found to be strictly correct and hence a certain amount of error creeps in the reckoning of dates by the radiocarbon method. (For details *see* McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 1960, Vol. II, pp. 291–96).
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Whatever may be the Aryan problem in India—and a discussion on this is beyond the scope of the present account—it would seem that the Aryans, in course of time, might have mixed with the non-Aryans or the early inhabitants, assimilating or giving a new dimension to the cultural, conceptual as well as utilitarian practices of the latter. They followed the sacred hymns, rituals and thoughts which went under the names of the *Vedas*, the *Brāhmaṇas*, the *Āraṇyakas* and the *Upaniṣads*, some of which give a glimpse of a few chemical practices prevalent then.
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The *Ṛgveda Saṃhitā*, the earliest literary composition of this period, mentions the use of metals including gold.b Even though in this text there does not seem to be any plausible account of the metallurgical practices followed by the people of that time, possibly the ore was smelted in small furnaces. The general term used for the metal is *ayas* which might have meant copper, bronze or lead. There is no doubt that later the word *ayas* began to mean iron.c The Vedic people believed that gold possessed supernatural powers (a general belief common to all people of the ancient times). The *Atharvaveda* even speaks of gold as conferring long life on one who wears it.a The metal-workers of the Vedic period doubtless possessed the technical knowledge of using copper and bronze for the production of utilitarian appliances for domestic as well as ritual purposes.
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a The earliest levels of Mohenjo-daro and Lothal for which no carbon-14 dates are available are presumed to go back to 2500–2400 B.C. (Rao, S. R., in a personal communication).
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b *ṚV.*, I. 85.9, 88.5, 167.3; II. 33.9; V. 54.15, 57.1, 60.4; VIII. 7.27–32, etc. Generally gold and silver plates found use at sacrificial rites. Silver was also referred to as white gold.
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c On the basis of the available archaeological evidence a view is coming to the fore that iron was introduced into India by about 1000–800 B.C.
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The Vedic people were well aware of the fermented drinks and the methods of fermentation. *Soma* juice,b as the divine drink of immortality, finds an honoured place in the *Ṛgveda Saṃhitā*. It was obtained by pounding the shoots or stalk of the *soma* plant (*Sarcostema viminalis*) between stones (*adri*) to obtain the juice. The pressed juice was passed through a filter comprising sheep's wool to get a clear juice which was then blended with milk, sour milk or barley. The exhilarating powers of the *soma rasa*, as the juice was called, have been described elaborately in the *Ṛgveda*. It was even called *amṛta* (ambrosia) and, no wonder, the *soma* plant was extolled as being divine. There were also two other fermented liquors in use, viz. *madhu* (a kind of fermented liquor taken as drink during feasts) and *surā* (probably a type of beer brewed using barley grains).
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*Pottery*
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The Indo-Aryans, according to some scholars, seem to have developed and used a type of pottery now designated by the archaeologists as the Painted Grey ware (P.G. ware).c A fact that merits attention is that P.G. ware even at its earliest occurrence in India is of a fully developed type. As some similar ceramic ware has been found outside India in parts of Greece, Iran and Siestan probably dating back to second millennium B.C., it is possible that the settlers on the plains of the Ganga and the Yamuna had a knowledge of this type of ceramic and, utilizing the then existing local ceramic techniques, might have developed the appropriate baking conditions for the production of the P.G. ware. This ceramic, the approximate date range of which is *c.* 1000–400 B.C., is a thin grey *deluxe* ware and mostly wheel made, well burnt, glossy and copiously painted. The decorative motifs on this pottery include bands, criss-cross lines, dots and dashes, circles and swastikas. Generally, the pottery shapes comprise carinated bowls, cups and dishes.d The archaeological evidence indicates, by and large, an extensive western distribution of the P.G. ware (which was first noticed at Ahicchatra) in the valley of the Sarasvati or the modern Ghaggar and also the Gangetic plains. Apart from the Painted Grey ware some other types of pottery like Coarse-Red ware, Fire-Red ware, Plain-Grey ware were also in use then. Later came into use probably in [Figure: 1
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a *AV.*, XIX. 26.
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b See IX *maṇḍala* of *ṚV.*; also VIII. 48; I. 85.10; II. 12.14. The offering of *soma* (the Avestan *haoma*) was an important feature of the Indo-Iranian rites.
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c A pottery, which precedes the P.G. ware and which has been found at Hastinapur, Ahicchatra and Atranjikheda, is known as Ochre-Coloured ware.
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d Sankalia (4), pp. 182–86; Wheeler, pp. 98 ff.
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FIG. 5.4. Sketches of some pottery types: 1, Harappan pottery (Lothal);a 2, Black-and-Red ware (Ahar);b 3, Malwa ware (Navdatoli);c 4 and 7, Painted Grey ware: dish (Ahicchatra) and bowl (Panipat);d 5, Jorwe ware: white stipped pot with designs of elongated and hatched bodies of animals;e 6 and 8, Northern Black Polished ware: painted and incised (Kausambi);f 9 and 10, Black-and-Red megalithic pottery (Brahmagiri);g 11–12, Painted pottery (Rangpurh and Bahali respectively).
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a Sankalia (3), Pls. x (b), xv and xxiii.
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b Sankalia (3), Pls. x (b), xv and xxiii.
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c Sankalia (3), Pls. x (b), xv and xxiii.
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d Lal (B. B.) (2), Pl. LXXIII.
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e Sankalia (4), Pl. xxx.
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f Sharma (G. R.), Pl. 55.
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g Wheeler (2), Pl. CVI.
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h *IAR*, 1954–55, Pl. xii (b).
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i *IAR*, 1956–57, Pl. xx. *a*.
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the region of modern Bihar or eastern Uttar Pradesh, what is designated as the Northern Black Polished ware (N.B.P. ware) to which we shall return later.
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Of particular significance is the fact that a number of iron objects have been discovered in association with all the phases of the Painted Grey ware ceramic in several excavated sites. The occurrence of iron at the P.G. ware levels was first reported from Alamgirpur on the river Hindon in Meerut district. At Hastinapura (which probably affords the earliest evidence of the smelting as well as the use of iron) a couple of slags of iron have been found in the late levels of the Painted Grey ware horizon. Among the iron objects noticed at this place are a barbed and socketed arrow-head, a chisel and a bracelet with unconnected ends. Of the other important sites which have yielded iron objects,b mention may be made of Rupar (Panjab: nails, hooks, bars, spikes, knives, daggers, sickles and spearheads); Nasik (Maharashtra: leaf-shaped arrow-heads, caltrops, choppers, knife-blades, axes, drills, chisels, nails, ladles, etc.); Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh: spearheads, arrow-head, knives, crowbar types, spade, etc.); Nagda (Madhya Pradesh: knives, daggers, chisels, sickles, arrow-heads, hoes, bowls, nails, etc.); Sambhar (Rajasthan: double-edged daggers, sickles, crucibles, clasps, fish plates, braces, rings, pivots, bells, ladles, arrow-heads, spearheads, etc.); Rairh (Rajasthan: sword-blades, lances, spearheads, daggers, knives, sickles, adzes, door-fittings, etc.) and Taxila (bowl, spoons, saucepans, daggers of different types, an elephant goad, axe, adzes, chisel, tongs, anvils, nails, hoes, etc.). Further, Atranjikhera, Alamgirpur, Kausambi and Sravasti (Uttar Pradesh); Sisupalgarh and Jaugada (Orissa), Maheswar, Navdatoli and Tripuri (Madhya Pradesh); Prakash and Bahal (Maharashtra); Sonepur and Rajgir (Bihar); Bairat (Rajasthan); and Purana Quila (Delhi) are among the other sites where several iron objects have been unearthed. The date-range of most of these finds is 600–200 B.C., although the chronological pattern does not seem to be the same everywhere. It is generally believed that the iron objects discovered at Hastinapur, Atranjikhera, Alamgirpur, Kausambi and Ujjain might be earlier. A charcoal sample from an early level of Atranjikhera II gives a date of 1025 ± 110 B.C.c On the basis of stratigraphical evidence, it would appear that the iron objects which include small fragments and shapeless bits might have emerged on the site at Kausambi at a period earlier than that of the Painted Grey ware.d But it is recognized that the latter itself, with its simple painted designs, belongs to a later period at Kausambi. The foregoing illustrates how widespread was the use of iron even about two thousand and five hundred years back in northern as well as central India.
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a Lal, B. B. (2), pp. 97–99.
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b The following account is based mainly upon *Iron Age in India* by Banerji, N. R.
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c This level has yielded a large number of iron artifacts.
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d Sharma (G. R.), pp. 13–14.
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a Lal (B. B.) (2), pp. 98–100.
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b Marshall, III, Pl. 205; Ghosh (A.), Pl. 18.
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c *AI*, 5, p. 92.
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d *IAR*, 1956–57, Pl. 35.
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FIG. 5.5. Sketches of some ancient iron objects found at Hastinapura,[^a] Taxila,[^b] Sisupalgarh and Ujjain.[^c] 1, door ring; 2, fragment of a chain; 3, miniature bell (Hastinapur); 4, staple from a looped head; 5, ringed chain; 6, circular piece of iron with a nail rivetted into it; 7 slightly convex iron disc with perforation; 8, lower portion of an iron axe (Taxila);[^b] 9, spike of square section (Sisupalgarh);[^c] and 10, spearhead (Ujjain).[^d]
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In south India, a number of iron objects have been discovered in the megalithic burials, and the finds include flat axes, tanged daggers, wedgeshaped blades, spears, arrow-heads, horse-bits, sickles or bill-hooks, varieties of flanged spade, hoe and pick-axe, chisels, tripods, tridents, knives and saucer hook-lamps. The megalithic burials (which may also be called the Iron Age burials) are found distributed in most parts of peninsular India as well as in Khandesh and Nagpur. The probable date of the advent of iron in south India is supposed to be between 1050 and 950 B.C.a as indicated by the radiocarbon dating of the finds at Hallur in Dharwar district of Mysore State, i.e. nearly just at the same time in the north or perhaps a little earlier still, although the mode of introduction of iron into south India is yet to be established on sound evidence.b It is interesting to note that almost identical iron tool types have been found at various sites extending from Adichanallur in Thirunelveli district in the Madras State to Nagpur in the Maharashtra—places which are separated by a distance of almost 900 miles.
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A question that naturally arises is: from where was obtained the knowledge of iron-smelting by those who brought it to India? It would appear that the production of iron from the naturally occurring ores was known in the Near East, and the earliest smelting operations of iron can be dated as far back as the second millennium B.C. and in the region of Asia Minor or the Caucasus. It has been recognized that between 1800 and 1200 B.C. the Hittitics were well known for the smelting of iron. By about 1000 B.C. there was extensive use of iron in the Near East even though iron could not replace copper and bronze which had established themselves as metals in the service of man and which quantitatively were in greater use than iron.
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Presumably the Indian iron metal-workers might have become acquainted with the iron metallurgical practices of the Near East, and it might have taken some time for them to adapt those practices depending upon the availability as well as quality of the iron ore occurring in India. In course of time, however, they appear to have excelled themselves in the art of smelting and forging iron objects. It may therefore be surmized that by about 1000–800 B.C. the iron-smelting operations were in vogue in India and, in the next four to five centuries, the Indian iron and steel objects earned the admiration of the western world.
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Reference has already been made to the Ṛgvedic word *ayas* which gradually began to acquire the connotation of iron.c The process for extracting iron, as indicated in the *Ṛgveda*, has been construed to mean by some scholars in terms of ‘shining stones’ (ores), medicinal plants (carbonaceous material as fuel), 'fans of geese feather' (bellows).a It is reasonable to suppose that the small furnaces employed for the extraction of iron might have been of an open hearth type.
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a Allchin (B. and R.), pp. 227–230.
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b Wheeler (2), p. 146.
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c *ṚV.*, IV. 2.17; V. 30.15; VI. 62.7; VI. 3.5; VI. 47.10; VI. 75.15; X. 99.8, etc.
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Among the earliest foreign accounts of the use of iron in India is the one by the Greek historian, Herodotus (fifth century B.C.), who mentions that the Indians in the Persian army used cane arrows tipped with iron.b Ktesiasc speaks of two swords of Indian steel presented to him in the Persian Court. Later it has been recorded by Quintus Curtisd that in the gifts which Alexander the Great received from Porus of Taxila (326 B.C.) were 100 'talents' of steel. These facts illustrate beyond any doubt that by the fifth or fourth century B.C. the Indian metal-workers had attained a high degree of perfection in the techniques of producing iron and steel. Even in later times there is enough evidence to show that the Indian iron and steel had become famous, particularly in the early centuries of the Christian era. Pliny refers to swords of good quality made of Indian steel. The Romans were fascinated by the Indian steel which they imported to produce fancy cutleries and armours.e
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Yet there is practically no recorded information of value to the understanding as well as evaluation of the metallurgical practices of India in the ancient period. Obscurity hangs over the actual methods which were adopted by the ancient ironsmiths for winning the metal from its ores. The difficulty is minimized, if not completely overcome, by the reconstruction of the remote past on the basis of some primitive methods which are adopted by tribal ironsmiths even now in certain parts of the country. There is no doubt that some of the metallic objects which have been still in existence withstanding the ravages of clime bear eloquent testimony to the ancient metallurgical practices. These will be dealt with later.
Cites (3)
- Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
- Atharvavedasaṃhitā — Atharvan & Aṅgiras, Sanskrit
- Ancient India