The history of metallurgy in South Asia began prior to
the 3rd millennium BCE and continued well into the British Raj. Metals and
related concepts are mentioned in various early Vedic age texts. The Indian cultural and commercial
contacts with the Near East and the Greco-Roman world enabled an exchange of
metallurgic sciences. India's Mughal Empire
further improved the established tradition of metallurgy and metal
working in India.
However, the imperial policies of the British Raj led to
stagnation of metallurgy in India as the British regulated mining and
metallurgy.
The precise manner in which man discovered iron is
unknown. Probably its discovery was the result of an accident. It is more
likely that iron was first found in ashes of a fire set up by chance near the
outcrop of an iron rich mineral. A tribal folklore of central India states that their forefathers
first made iron accidentally in a hollow anthill. According to the Folklore,
the story is as follows: after cutting the branches and upper stem of sal tree,
stubs remain which white ants favoured as a site for an anthill. If the top of
an anthill is severed horizontally, it reveals a hollow interior. Once in order
to catch a rat which had entered such an opening, a hunter covered the opening
at the top with a red rock. He then bore a horizontal hole at the base, made
fire, lighted leaves and blew in the flame through the horizontal hole to force
out the rat. Next day he found that a streak of metal had come out of the bored
hole, which was more suitable for weapons than anything used before.
Early iron encountered by man was meteoritic iron, and it
has been used by the man over at least 5000 years. The history of iron making
by tribal artisans in various parts of India dates back to 1300 to 1200 BCE.
These tribal artisans such as Asur, Charas, Birziya, Agarias etc., earned their
livelihood by steel scrap fabrication in the village and town and catering to
local needs.
These very indigenous tribes of Asurs and Birjiyas are
exhibiting their ancient methods of iron making at the Jharkhand Pavilion at
the 31st Surajkund Mela.
Asur tribe is usually found in the state of Jharkhand in
the eastern part of the subcontinent of India. The tribe had been struggling
for a long time till 2014, when they finally got the ST (Scheduled Tribe)
status.
The modern Asur Tribe is divided into three sub tribal
divisons, namely Bir Asur, Birjia Asur, and Agaria Asur. Asurs are considered
to be one of the primitive tribal groups. They are found in the districts of Gumla,
Lohardaga, Palamu, and Latehar of the Jharkhand state.
The archaeological evidence has confirmed that iron
technology began only during the late second millennium BC and it has been
proved to be of indigenous origin. The
ancient Indian community associated with this craft, were these Agarias and
other tribes worshipping God `Asura'. They developed their own secret
technology of iron smelting to produce iron and steel of excellent quality.
Ramdhani Birjia along with Wifaiya Birjia of Kumbla district,
Jharkhand at Surajkund Mela says that there are mainly three kind of rocks from
which the iron ore is extracted, Gatta, Tumba (red coloured rock), Pote
(biscuit type rock). He says during Ashoka’s time, the Magadh’s army got iron
for the first time due to which they dominated the opponent.
Traditionally, the Asur have been the iron smelters and slash burn cultivators.
They used to prepare charcoal from green salwood on the bank of river tanks.
They used to smelt iron ore and supply iron to Lohara for the preparation of
iron tools. But forest acts and regulations have snatched away their
traditional rights over the forest. The modern cost effective technology for
making iron has also put an end to their practice of iron smelting and shifting
cultivation.
Naggan Birjiya, was rewarded by India’s former Prime
Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee for his work.
The art of making iron ore from the Gatta rock has been
exhibited in the Surajkund Mela.
The quality and chemical excellence of cast iron produced
in ancient India by these tribal iron craftsman can be judged by references
to its use during the Chandragupta times, when India was looked upon,
even by Imperial Rome, as the most skilled of the nations in such chemical industries as iron making, dyeing,
tanning, soap making, glass and
cement.
The tempering of steel was brought in ancient India to a
perfection unknown in Europe till our own times; King Porus is said to have
selected, as a specially valuable gift for Alexander, not gold or silver, but
thirty pounds of steel. The Moslems took much of this Hindu chemical science
and industry to the Near East and
Europe; the secret of manufacturing "Damascus" blades, for example,
was taken by the Arabs from the Persians, and by the Persians from India.
The Greek historian Herodotus observed that "Indian
and the Persian army used arrows tipped with iron."
Ancient Romans used armour and cutlery made of Indian
iron. Pliny the Elder also mentioned
Indian iron. Muhammad al-Idrisi wrote the Hindus excelled in the manufacture of
iron, and that it would be impossible to find anything to surpass the edge from
Hindwani steel.
Quintus Curtius wrote about an Indian present of steel to
Alexander. Ferrum indicum appeared in the list of articles subject to duty
under Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Indian Wootz steel was held in high regard
in Europe, and Indian iron was often considered to be the best.
One of the finest example of ancient Indian iron making
is the Iron Pillar located in Delhi,
India, a 7 m (23 ft) column in the Qutb Minar complex, notable for the
rust-resistant composition of the metals used in its construction.
The pillar has attracted the attention of archaeologists
and materials scientists because of its high resistance to corrosion, and has
been called a "testimony to the high level of skill achieved by the
ancient Indian iron smiths in the extraction and processing of iron." The
corrosion resistance results from an even layer of crystalline iron hydrogen
phosphate hydrate forming on the high phosphorus content iron, which serves to
protect it from the effects of the local Delhi climate.
The Dhar pillar is dated to 12th century A.D. It was
intact till 1304 A.D. and then broken into three pieces. Its height was more
than the double of Delhi pillar. The pillar at Mount Abu stands at the temple
of Achaleswar, which was built in 1412 A.D. It has a trident on its top. The
famous sun temple at Konark in Orissa has wrought iron beams. They are dated
13th century A.D. Several iron beams have been used in the ancient temple of
Konark in Orissa which was built in the 9th century. Even in the Jagannath
temple of Puri in Orissa, built in the 12th century A.D. 239 iron beams have
been used. The iron trident in Tanginath temple belongs to 12th century A.D.
The Agarias are one of the major tribes of India engaged
in the production of iron in Central India, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
Orissa. Their main deity is God Asura and there are many other Asur tribes
spread over other parts of the country. In the 19th c. AD Verrier Elwin
travelled throughout India and published a book about the Agarias and their
iron production technology. The Agarias worship Lohasur or Kalabhairao as their
tribal God and the whole family including women were engaged in this
traditional trade and the technology was maintained as a family trade secret.
In the early days due to some reason they were not permitted to settle near the
villages and moved from place to place and hence produced iron deep inside the
jungles.
The Asurs and Birjiyas of the Agaria tribes use 'bowl-furnace' made in one face of a pit
i.e., below the ground level. Before operating the furnace the front wall of
the furnace is prepared afresh each time.
At Jharkhand’s Bishunpur a training centre by the name of
Vikas Bharathi has been set up to train
the younger generation. During a study of the Bishunpur furnace, the operation
of many other furnaces by the Agarias in the Surguja and Mandla districts of
Madhya Pradesh came to light. It was a surprise to find that inside the deep
forests of these areas about 100 kg. of iron was being produced until about 20
years back, and that some ancient furnaces continued to be operated to meet the
local demand.
The Charcoal used in the furnaces is of indigenous nature
and choice of the particular tribe. For making charcoal, women and children go
to the forest to collect dry food and green branches of teak, sal and bamboo
etc., which are two to three years old. As per the traditional practice they
never cut the whole green tree. The wood charcoal is prepared near a river or
some water source either by firing the wood in an open heap and then water
quenching it at a suitable stage, or by burying the wood inside a pit and then
when the wood becomes charred, it is quenched and the pit is covered with green
leaves and sand to prevent the access of air. The charcoal is collected the
next day when the fire has extinguished. Charcoal pieces of 30 to 50 mm size
are used in the furnace and the smaller pieces are used to heat the forge
hearth used for secondary refining. Very fine coal dust is mixed with clay and
sand and used for preparing the furnace bottom and for closing the mouth in the
front wall of the furnace.
Most of these furnaces are constructed above the ground
level and they have either circular or rectangular cross-sections. The 100 to
150 mm thick furnace wall is constructed from locally available alumina-rich
clay and sometimes it is mixed with a small percentage of iron ore fines. The
taper of the furnace is supported by three to four sticks fixed along with the
wall. When the furnace wall is partially dry, a 300 mm high man hole is made at
the bottom of the furnace wall and the furnace wall is checked for cracks from
drying and other flaws and is given a final finish. The bottom of the furnace
is shaped like a bowl and a hole is made on one side for tapping out the slag.
Unlike the modern furnaces, since the reduced spongy iron bloom is in solid
form, the slag hole is made at the base of the furnace i.e., below the iron
bloom. At the mouth of the furnace generally a slanting platform of bamboo
sticks covered with clay is made to put the charge and slide it into the
furnace. The clay tuyere used for blowing air was prepared from the same clay.
Visitors at the Jharkhand Pavilion were seen visibly
amazed at such hidden scientific achievements of Indian civilization, which
effectively dissipate the perception of ancient India as a land only of snake
charmers.
