Iron in Ancient India c5.3

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.