R. Balasubramaniam - Marvels of Indian Iron Through the Ages

Marvels of Indian Iron Through The Ages

R. Balasubramaniam

Introduction by
M.G.K. Menon

R. Balasubramaniam 2020

Published in 2020 by

Infinity Foundation India,
3/56A, Dr. Ranga Road,
Alwarpet,
Chennai-600018

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To my dear Guruji, Professor Tanjore R. Anantharaman, on his eightieth birthday

sabbappassa akaranam kusalassa upasampad
sacittapariyodapanam etam budhna ssanam

The eschewing of all evil, the perfecting of good deeds, the purifying of ones mind, this is the teaching of the Buddhas (the awakened)

Buddha (Dhammapada 183)

IT SEEMS THAT HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA HAS SO FAR NOT been accorded the significance it deserves. Both laymen and students need to know and feel proud about the great achievements that were made in the past. This exercise should also help us to find out the causes which pushed us back and the West overtook us in its Industrial Revolution. In the western accounts of history of science and technology most of the important achievements are traced back to Greece thus giving these studies a Eurocentric bias.

In recent years several laudable efforts have been made in compiling the Indian History of Science and Technology. As is to be expected, these efforts had their own biases and perspectives. It was, however, felt that detailed accounts of individual technologies need to be reconstructed and not mere short descriptions. The History of Science and Technology Book Project was launched by Infinity Foundation keeping in view the need to correct the Eurocentric distortions as also to provide authentic and detailed summaries of the main technologies and how they evolved through history.

There is a vast amount of literature on these subjects but literary evidence is often prone to a variety of interpretations. It is therefore wise on the part of the organisers to place more reliance on material evidence available through archaeological excavations and museum exhibits. It was soon realised that the Indus civilisation, vast as it is in its expanse both in time and space, itself required a number of volumes to cover its achievements in the fields of metallurgy, architecture, hydraulics and a variety of other technologies. Under this series they have already commissioned a general book on Harappan Technology and its legacy to be written by Prof. D.P. Agrawal. Prof. J.P. Joshi has already completed a monograph on the Harappan architecture and engineering. Probably, a few more volumes covering Harappan metallurgy and hydraulics etc. will be useful. It seems that Infinity Foundation has already commissioned about a dozen volumes covering iron technology, Himalayan architecture, zinc technology, traditional hydraulics, chalcolithic technology, archaeometallurgy of eastern India, traditional hydraulics of Uttaranchal etc. The future volumes may cover history of agriculture and animal husbandry, glass technology, ceramic and textile technologies etc.

Iron Technology is in itself a vast theme covering more than 3000 years. Prof. Vibha Tripathi has prepared a volume covering in brief all the aspects of Iron Technology right from its beginnings to pre-modern period. Prof. R. Balasubramaniam has produced a volume on the much neglected class of iron objects including pillars, beams and cannons. Unlike China, Indians preferred wrought iron technology in India. During the medieval period India attained some of its peaks in wrought iron forging technology in the manufacture of forge welded cannons. The skill required to fabricate the barrels of cannons by the use of forge-welded iron rings is a technological feat because it required good understanding of properties of iron. The excellent skills of the medieval Indian smiths become evident when one considers the enormous number of rings used in the construction of each cannon.

The Harappans built massive cities over huge platforms defying the annual inundations of the mighty Indus. In Mohenjodaro they dug 700-odd wells with burnt bricks to get clean potable water. In towns like Dholavira in Kachchh, they built elaborate reservoirs covering almost ten percent of the town to store rain harvested water. In the Harappan towns we see for the first time a gridiron layout of the streets. At Dholavira they have drains for potable water, sullage as also for run-off of the storm water but they have been constructed in such a manner that no mixing of dirty water with potable water ever takes place. The Harappans used a binary system of weights with high accuracy. Their linear unit of 17 mm seems to have led to the angula width mentioned in the Arthasastra.

Indians mastered the technology of making extremely tough steel known as the Wootz. It was such a famous and a precious commodity that it was considered a fitting gift to be presented to an emperor like Alexander and also to the Persian kings in the fifth century BC.

Thus, a series of book series on History of Science and Technology of India as sponsored by the Infinity Foundation covers a very important but so far neglected area and we do hope soon we will have an authentic history of science and technology of India and its role in a global history.

M.G.K. Menon

Facilitating Research, Publishing and Education in: History of Indian Contributions to Science & Technology (HIST)

In 1750 China accounted for almost one-third, India for almost one-quarter and the West for less than a fifth of the worlds manufacturing output In the following decadesthe industrialization of the West led to the de-industrialization of the rest of the world".

Samuel Huntington, Clash of Civilizations, pp.86-87

It has become largely forgotten that India held its prominent economic position referenced above because of its accomplishments in science and technology. The commonly taught history of India emphasises mostly kings, invasions and conflicts. The history of Indian ideas, if taught at all, is limited to religion, philosophy and popular culture. What is being often ignored is the well-documented evidence of Indias significant contributions in metallurgy, civil engineering and architecture, water harvesting, shipping and ship building, textiles, medicinal plants, medicine, agriculture, forest management, management, astronomy and linguistics, among other disciplines.

By way of comparison, Joseph Needhams 30+ volumes on Chinese history of science and technology have made a monumental impact in the academic repositioning of China as having a rational and progressive civilisation. This work is a premier reference in China studies worldwide. But nothing equivalent exists for India, as explained below:

Fear of elitism did not, happily, deter Joseph Needham from writing his authoritative account of the history of science and technology in China, and to dismiss that work as elitist history would be a serious neglect of Chinas past"