Iron in Ancient India c10.5

c10.5

Cast iron rusts much more quickly than wrought iron and ancient specimens cannot well be looked for unless large blocks of such iron should remain buried. A remarkable block of such iron has a few years ago been unearthed by the Rungpur Shāhitya Parishad in the ruins of Bhabachandra-pāt, the old capital of king Bhabachandra, near Rungpur. The block with fragments weighed about one and a half maund (about 120 lbs). A sample was sent to the author for examination. Though its exterior was rusted, its interior when freshly broken was bright and crystalline. It broke at the first stroke of the hammer and when the bright powder was kept for several days only it was heavily rusted. When the metal was dissolved in dilute acid a quantity of black carbon remained behind and the issuing hydrogen had the foetid smell characteristic of cast iron. The result of analysis of a sample is given below :—