Iron in Ancient India c8.s1.10

c8.s1.10

Fortunately we have got accounts of the manufacture of iron in India left by Dr. Buchanan who visited India in 1800, and by Heyne whose "Tracts on India" was published in 1814 embodying the results of his observations from 1794. In the accounts of these travellers we find descriptions of the process of manufacturing iron as it existed more than a hundred years ago. The process described in these books as well as that which exists even now may be called the "direct process" of manufacturing wrought iron or malleable iron—a process which does not require the previous preparation of cast-iron. The modern European process of making wrought iron may be called the "indirect process" in which wrought iron is obtained by the almost total removal of carbon from cast iron which is first directly obtained from the ores. This direct process of manufacturing wrought iron, which has existed in India from very ancient times, is still carried on not only in India but also in "Borneo and Africa; nor indeed is it yet extinct in Europe: it is stated, moreover, to be still extensively employed in Vermont and New Jersy, U.S."[²] We may safely conclude that the iron of the Delhi and Dhar pillars and of the Orissan beams was prepared from iron ores by this direct process.