Around 350 AD – Gupta Empire, Ancient India
An
iron pillar weighing over 6 tonnes, more than 7 metres tall is
constructed in a single forge and is erected on top of the Vishnupada
hill (somewhere in modern central India) with sanskrit inscriptions on
it in the brahmi script about the great gupta ruler Chandragupta
Vikramaditya.
Later the founder of delhi, Tomar king Anangapala brings it to delhi and installs it in its current place (See above pic)
The
mughal emperor Akbar makes every effort to have the inscriptions read,
but at that time nobody knows about the script in which the inscriptions
have been written, so the effort fails.
Much
later, in the modern days, historians discover Ashoka’s pillars (The
great Mauryan ruler of ancient India) and learn about the Brahmi script
in which Ashoka’s inscriptions have been written. The script on the
delhi’s iron pillar is then identified to be written in the same Brahmi
script.
What’s so wonderful about it? Well, one should ask what’s so mysterious about it?
More
than 1600 years back, to build an iron pillar of this huge size in a
single forge itself is an indication of the advanced metallurgy of the
ancient Indians. Even in today’s modern technological world it is a
great achievement to forge such a huge pillar in a single forge!!!
But
there’s more, this pillar which contains more than 98% of pure iron,
even after 1600 years has not caught rust!!! It is 100% corrosion
resistant inspite of the fact that it is 98% iron!! This indicates one
of the great technological achievements of the ancient Indians. Even
today it is next to impossible to construct such a huge corrossion
resistant iron pillar. Corrosion resistant technologists from all over
the world have studied this pillar.
Modern
day technology uses limestone in the blast furnaces which carries away
most of the phosphrous content in the ore in the form of slag. Ancient
Indians instead by solid state reduction (used charcoal as a reducing
agent) to extract pure iron with low carbon content from the ore.
One
of the research opinions about the iron pillar’s corrosion resistant
nature is that the high amount of phosphorous (which is 1% of the pillar
as opposed to modern day proportions which is 0.05%) has formed a thin
protective layer on the surface of the pillar thereby making it
corrosion proof. Since other ancient iron works of the same period do
not contain such a high quantity of phosphorous, it indicates that the
extra phosphorous was intentionally added to the iron pillar.
Another
theory suggests that the relative low humidity of Delhi ensures that
the Iron pillar does not corrode. But It was strongly disagreed with
this theory and want to stress on the fact that it is not the climate of
Delhi but the composition of the pillar which isresponsible for the
corrosion resistant nature of the pillar. This is because of a simple
reason that I observed a similar ancient corrosion resistant Iron pillar
when I had been on a trek to the Kodachadri hills in the west coast of
South India. Also I have heard about a similar corrosion resistant Iron
pillar in the konark temple of Orissa. Both the above mentioned places
have a highly humid climate throughout the year and yet the iron pillars
here are corrosion resistant! The spreadout of these pillars across the
geographical landscape of India indicates that the Iron pillar of delhi
was not a single isolated incident of an ancient genius but was a
common technical knowledge of the ancient civilization in this country.
The
inscriptions on the pillar identify the king as “Chandra” (which most
historians have related to the great Gupta ruler Chandragupta
Vikramaditya) reads as follows (Source Wikipedia)
He,
on whose arm fame was inscribed by the sword, when, in battle in the
Vanga countries, he kneaded (and turned) back with (his) breast the
enemies who, uniting together, came against (him);-he, by whom, having
crossed in warfare the seven mouths of the (river) Sindhu, the Vahlikas
were conquered;-he, by the breezes of whose prowess the southern ocean
is even still perfumed;-
(Line
3.)-He, the remnant of the great zeal of whose energy, which utterly
destroyed (his) enemies, like (the remnant of the great glowing heat) of
a burned-out fire in a great forest, even now leaves not the earth;
though he, the king, as if wearied, has quitted this earth, and has gone
to the other world, moving in (bodily) form to the land (of paradise)
won by (the merit of has) actions, (but) remaining on (this) earth by
(the memory of his) fame;-
(L.
5.)-By him, the king,-who attained sole supreme sovereignty in the
world, acquired by his own arm and (enjoyed) for a very long time; (and)
who, having the name of Chandra, carried a beauty of countenance like
(the beauty of) the full-moon,-having in faith fixed his mind upon (the
god) Vishnu, this lofty standard of the divine Vishnu was set up on the
hill (called) Vishnupada.
This
pillar was erected in the honour of the hindu god Vishnu who is one of
the trimurthi (Three gods who represent the life cycle of the Universe:
Brahma-The Creator, Vishnu-The Maintainer, Shiva-The Destroyer)
By
the way it is interesting to note that more than 2300 years back,
ancient Indians knew about the process of iron rusting! “Buddha” is
cited in the ancient buddhist book Dharmapada saying As rust, sprung
from iron, eats itself away when arisen, even so his own deeds lead the
transgressor to states of woe.
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