Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Iron in Ancient India c5: Chapter II. Iron in the Epic Age (circa 500 B.C.—200 B.C.)

Iron in Ancient India c5

Language
English

Chapter II. Iron in the Epic Age (circa 500 B.C.—200 B.C.)

c5.2

¹ Mr. R. C. Dutt takes the date of the Epic Age to be 1400—1000 B.C. We have adopted here the more moderate estimate.

c5.3

Coming to the Epic Age during which time the civilization of the Aryans had greatly advanced and become highly complex, we find the most extensive use of iron in the two celebrated Hindu epics, the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata (specially the latter), the greater portions of which are admitted to have been composed by the 4th century B.C. We find the most prolific mention of iron swords, spears, javelins, axes, arrows, maces and other numerous kinds of weapons of warfare, though the southern monkey hordes of Rāma fought in Ceylon with fragments of mountains and uprooted trees. The great iron 'gadā' or maces of Bhīma and Durjodhan as well as the story of the blind king Dhritarāstra's breaking to pieces in great agony the life-size iron statue of Bhīm, who had killed the hundred sons of the king in the great battle of Kurukhetra, are well known to every reader of the Mahābhārat. Mention may also be made here of the story in the Mushala Parva of the Mahābhārat, of the wicked descendants of the kings of the Yadu dynasty mocking the Rishis (sages) and of one of them giving birth to a big iron mace (mushal) through the curse of those Rishis, which, however, ultimately proved to be the engine of destruction of the entire family of the Yādavas. These stories naturally lead to the conclusion that the production of iron in India during the Epic Age was very considerable indeed or else the stories of the life-size iron statue of Bhīm or the iron mace would not have been possible.

c5.4

Turning to the Laws of Manu² we find that the great Hindu lawgiver mentions the use of household utensils made of copper, iron, bronze, brass, tin and lead and enjoins their purification with ashes, acid water and water.¹ He also prescribes that a thief who would steal precious stones and metals like copper, silver, iron and bronze, would, as a penalty, eat for twelve days small grains of rice.² Manu in the seventh canto of his Institutes gives elaborate descriptions how a king should construct several kinds of forts and equip them with iron swords, engines of warfare, arrows, and bows.

c5.5

² Manu's age does not seem to have been fixed definitely. Many authorities place Manu's Institutes before the Epics, but Macdonell says, "it (Manu's Institutes) is closely connected with the Mahābhārat of which three volumes alone (III, XII, XVI) contain as many as 260 of its 2684 slokas. It probably assumed

c5.6

¹ ताम्रायः कांस्यरैलानां नपुना चौसकस्य च । शौचं यथावत् कर्तव्यं चारास्त्रोदकवारिभिः । Manu, V, 114.

c5.7

² मणिसुक्ताप्रवालताम्रस्य रजतस्य च । अयः कांस्योपलानाञ्च द्वादशाहं कवाशना । Manu, XI, 168.

c5.8

As regards ancient medical literature we find in the great medical work of Sushruta, who should have flourished in the 3rd or 4th century B.C., as can be guessed from the Bower manuscripts edited by Hoernle, elaborate description of nearly one hundred kinds of surgical instruments by means of which many major operations such as opening of the abdomen, eye operations, dissection of the fœtus, were performed. A great many of them must have been prepared from the best steel, for which India was so justly famous from time immemorial, as we find that the dissecting instruments had an edge which would be less than ‘half of a piece of hair bisected longitudinally.’ The instruments were used to be whetted on a stone having the colour of ‘māskalāi’ (a kind of black pulse).

c5.9

Next coming to historical times we find Megasthenes, the celebrated Greek ambassador, who visited India in 302 B.C., bearing testimony to the fact that Indian soil had “underground numerous veins of all sorts of metals; for it contained much gold and silver and copper and iron in no small quantity, and even tin and other metals, which are employed in making articles of use and ornaments, as well as the implements and accoutrements of war.” During the invasion of Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C. the Indian King Porus, who was defeated, gave a present of 40 lbs. of steel to the Greek conqueror, showing in what high

c5.10

its present shape not much later than 200 A.D.,” “History of Sanskrit Literature,” p. 428.

c5.11

estimation was Indian steel held in Europe. Chānakya or Kautilya, the Indian Maichaveli and the well-known prime minister of Chandra Gupta, has in his well-known 'Treatise on Polity' (Artha-shāstra) left a magnificent account of the political, industrial, social and military organization of the fourth century B.C. In it we not only find the description of various implements of warfare such as iron swords, arrows, shatagni (killer of hundreds), axes, spades, etc., besides iron breast-plates and armour, but also the description of the functions of an important state functionary called 'ākarādhwakhya' or 'superintendent of mines.' I have not come across this word in any other old Sanskrit writing, and the duties of this official show that there was formerly a regular government department responsible for mining work. The superintendent of mines should make trial borings "with the help of trained men who are versed in the knowledge about metals and distillation of mercury. He should be an adept in the examination of precious metals. He should be provided with necessary apparatus and make borings in those places where the presence of slag, charcoal and ashes indicates previous smelting operations or in those places, either in the plains or at the foot of mountains, where the colour or smell of soil and ores would suggest the existence of metals."¹ Chānakya also gives descriptions of ores and mines of gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin and precious stones and mentions that the ores of iron should have a colour of the orange, faint red or red like vermillion.² The ores evidently refer to brown and red hæmatites (gairik) which are found abundantly in India.

c5.12

¹ आकराध्यक्षः शुल्वधातुशास्त्रपाकनविशारदः वा तज्ज्ञातकथं करोपकरण्य-सम्यक् किलामूपाङ्गरमखादिषु वा आकरं भूतपूर्वमभूतपूर्व वा भूमिप्रस्तररसधातुमयवर्च-सोरवम् उपलभ्यस परोचेत—कोटिल्यं अर्थशास्त्र Edited by R. Sham Sastri, p. 81.

c5.13

² कृष्मः पाण्डरो हिमस्निग्धवारुणप्रभवो वा तीक्ष्णधातु—p. 83.

c5.14

Abundant evidence has been quoted above to show that the use of iron was common in India from 2000 B.C. to the fourth century B.C. I shall purposely avoid referring to the later Purānas and Sanskrit literature as we find that from the first or second century after Christ not only iron was being used in the arts and industries but also in internal use as a medicine. The great religious reformer and alchemist Nāgārjuna who flourished in the middle o the second century A.D. discovered the process of "killing" iron and other metals and even introduced mercury preparations for internal use. Moreover in spite of the fact that iron rusts very easily, so many archæological specimens of iron of great antiquity are found throughout India that these specimens, alike remarkable for massiveness and age, show the use of iron in India on a very extensive scale and in all ages. We would now proceed to describe some of the important archæological specimens of iron found in different parts of India.

Linked texts (4)