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Iron in early Indian literature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Dilip K. Chakrabarti
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Extract

In this paper it is proposed to evaluate the Indian literary data up to the early centuries A.D. as a source for a history of iron in India. The issues to be considered are: the beginning of the use of iron in agriculture, the terms used to denote iron, and the metallurgical details, if any.

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Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 111 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 22 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1979

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References

1 This is part of a study of iron in early India undertaken at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities of Edinburgh University between October 1974 and March 1975. I am indebted to the authorities of the Institute and to Professor Stuart Piggott, Dr. A. M. Snodgrass, and Dr. F. R. Allchin for their help and encouragement.

2 The texts and translations consulted are: Ṛgveda Saṃhitā, Tilak Maharashtra University, Poona, 1933 onwards;Google ScholarMüller, F. Max, Ṛgveda Saṃhitā, 2 vols., Varanasi, 1965 (reprint);Google ScholarWilson, H. H., Rigveda Sanhitā, 6 vols., London, 1850–1888;Google ScholarGriffith, R. T. H., The hymns of the Rigveda, 2 vols., Benares, 1896–1897.Google Scholar

3 Pleiner, R., “The problem of the beginning of the iron age in India”, Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica, II, 1971, 9.Google Scholar

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22 Shamasastry, R., op. cit., 109.Google Scholar It is interesting to note that at p. 86 he does not translate vṛtta but leaves it with an interrogation mark.

23 The evidence of the Buddhist canonical literature has been surveyed by Pleiner, op. cit., though he omits the Kasibhāradvājasutta reference. He hesitates to accept ayo as iron in some cases. A fresh survey of the entire evidence makes us believe that there is no need to treat ayo as anything but iron in these contexts. Apart from the evidence cited in the present paper the evidence of the Buddhist canonical literature on this point is of no historical value (the texts mention only iron spikes, balls, etc.) and has been omitted here.

24 Fausbøll, V. (ed.), The Jātakas, V, London, 1901, 53.Google Scholar

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27 Pleiner, , op.cit., 14 n. 66.Google Scholar

28 Mukherji, B., Rasajālanidhi, or Ocean of Indian chemistry and alchemy [compiled in Sanskrit with an English translation], Calcutta, 1926 (?), II, 237.Google Scholar

29 Punyavijayji, Muni Shri (ed.), Aṇgavijjā, Banaras, 1957, 233, for kālaloha.Google Scholar

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32 Pleiner, op. cit., for a survey of the classical evidence.

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35 The edition used in the present paper is Ray, P. (ed.), History of chemistry in ancient and mediaeval India, incorporating the History of Hindu chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, Calcutta, 1956, 180–2; the text of Rasaratnasamucchaya is incorporated in this volume, pp. 388–9.Google Scholar

35 For discussions on the medieval iron industry in India, Digby, S., Warhorse and elephant in the Delhi Sultanate: A study of military supplies, Oxford, 1971, 18–20Google Scholar (on medieval swords); Naqvi, H. K., Urban centres and industries in upper India 1556–1803, London, 1968, 229–33;Google ScholarMoreland, W. H., India at the time of Akbar: An economic study, London, 1920, 147–8.Google Scholar