History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c15.s2.47

c15.s2.47

Steel has been prepared and used in India from remote ages. There is no dearth of evidences regarding the high quality of Indian iron and steel of ancient and medieval times. Thus Ktesias, who was at the Court of Persia in the 5th century B.C., mentions two remarkable swords of Indian steel presented to him by the king of Persia and his mother. The Periplus also mentions that in the 1st century A.D. Indian iron and steel were being exported from Africa to Abyssinia. Numerous stone inscriptions of Emperor Asoka, so nicely and precisely executed, suggest the use of fine steel implements in India in the fourth century B.C. A large number of surgical instruments described in the Ayurvedic treatise of Susruta also furnish indisputable evidence in support of this view. J. M. Heath, in an article (*Journal of Royal Asiatic Society*, 1839, Vol. V, 395) refers to the fact that according to Quintus Curtius a present of steel weighing about 30 lb. was made to Alexander the Great by the Indian Chief, Porus, whose country he had invaded. Obviously, steel must have been regarded as an article of great value in those days. It is believed that the Indian steel was exported to the Western Countries as early as about 2000 years ago. This was known in Europe by the name of *wootz* It appears that *wootz* has been prepared in India from ancient times in Hyderabad (Deccan), Mysore, Salem and other parts of the Madras Presidency. This was the metal from which the famous Damascus blades were prepared. The Indians of those days were noted for their skill in the tempering of steel, and it was from them that the secret of the operation was learnt by the Persians and, through them, by the Arabs.