Forgetting History: Delhi’s “Iron Pillar”
I recently stumbled on this news-item about the development of a new type of corrosion-resistant iron by Prof Balasubramaniam and one of his colleagues at IIT, Kanpur (emphasis mine):
…Indian metallurgists have developed a type of corrosion-resistant iron that construction engineers would love. And vital clues for it came for Delhi’s famous Iron Pillar that has been standing tall for over 1,600 years.
Developed by Ramamurthy Balasubramaniam and his former student Gadadhar Sahoo of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur, the iron contains phosphorus and shows remarkable resistance to corrosion, especially in concrete.
…
Ironically, Bala’s material is not new. It was being made by Indian ironsmiths centuries ago. Bala says he got the clue for developing this material from the six-tonne seven-metre tall Delhi Iron Pillar – a major tourist attraction in the Qutb Minar complex — that has been standing for centuries in the harsh weather of the capital without any corrosion.
“As a metallurgist, I was intrigued,” Bala told IANS. And his passionate quest to unravel the mystery that began in 1990s has now culminated in phosphoric irons.
…(commendably) All the work, he said, was done with institute funds without any external support.
Most of you of course know about the Iron Pillar but I was not aware that it was originally located at Udayagiri (roughly translated as “sunrise peak”) near Vidisha where it was part of a complex of temples and buildings.
At the Udayagiri site, the pillar almost certainly served an important astronomical function. The Udaygiri complex itself offers clear evidence of advanced knowledge and understanding of astronomy in ancient India – a knowledge that survived at least until the early centuries of the millenium (~400 A.D.).
Incidentally, the pillar appears to be further proof of the distortion of history in the dash to appear “secular” or “modern”.
So even though it is widely acknowledged that the pillar was constructed and erected during the reign of Chandragupta II Vikramaditya (375-413), instead of being called the Chandragupta (or Vikramaditya) Pillar, it is commonly referred to as the “Iron Pillar” or the “Mehrauli Pillar”*.
Isn’t this exactly how an entire generation “forgets” its history? I wonder.
Related Posts:
Lies and half-truths in the name of national integration
Does no one remember the Indian contribution to Technology?
* As an interesting exercise, google for “Mehrauli Pillar”, “Iron Pillar” and “Chandragupta Pillar” – the results will speak for themselves.
Further Reading:
A review of “Delhi Iron Pillar: New Insights. Balasubramaniam, R. ”
On the astronomical significance of the Delhi iron pillar by R. Balasubramaniam and Meera I. Dass
Image courtesy: Wikipedia
Makes a sad reading indeed, that most of us Indians have lost a sense of history and pride in our rich culture. May be it is because we had been ruled by just every passer-by with our rajah’s busy fighting their fratricidal strifes, betraying each other!
S.K
S K: Thanks for your comment.
As you rightly say, most of us have little sense of history and hardly any pride left in our culture.
It is truly sad….but I hope this blog helps in some way – even though it is a very modest effort and I am no expert.
Great! Nice and useful links Shantanu. Keep it up.
PI
Great work.
Placing this here for the record: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=g-high-rec&v=E0ZkMq1klS4#watch_actions (on the Gupta Empire’s achievements including the iron pillar and in mathematics etc)
More on “The Iron Pillar”. Excerpts below:
..Standing at the center of the Quwwatul Mosque the Iron Pillar is one of Delhi’s most curious structures. Dating back to 4th century A.D., the pillar bears an inscription which states that it was erected as a flagstaff in honour of the Hindu god, Vishnu, and in the memory of the Gupta King Chandragupta II (375-413). How the pillar moved to its present location remains a mystery. The pillar also highlights ancient India’s achievements in metallurgy. The pillar is made of 98 per cent wrought iron and has stood 1,600 years without rusting or decomposing.
…
7.3 m tall, with one meter below the ground; the diameter is 48 centimeters at the foot, tapering to 29 cm at the top, just below the base of the wonderfully crafted capital; it weighs approximately 6.5 tones, and was manufactured by forged welding.
Enigma of the Iron Pillar by B.N. Goswamy:
…
Some physical facts about the pillar are reasonably well-established: it is 7.3 metres tall, with one metre below the ground; the diameter is 48 centimetres at the foot, tapering to 29 cm at the top, just below the base of the wonderfully crafted capital; it weighs approximately 6.5 tonnes, and was manufactured by forged welding. But, this said, nearly everything else about the pillar is surrounded by acute controversy: For whom was it made? Exactly when? Where did it originally stand before it was moved to Delhi? What is the true import of the long inscription in Brahmi characters engraved upon it? Who placed the later inscriptions on it, and when? Who had the pillar moved to its present location, and why? What exact processes were followed in forging it into shape at that early a point of time, the 4th/5th century AD? Above all, from the scientists’ point of view, what is the secret, the great mystery, behind the fact of its being virtually non-rusting? There seems to be no end to the questions.
Take the case of the Brahmi inscription alone. Readings of this six-line, three-stanza inscription in Sanskrit verse vary considerably, the one most often published being that by Fleet, who translated it in 1888. It speaks, in very poetic terms, of the powerful, all-conquering monarch who had the pillar made: “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 the breezes of whose prowess the southern ocean is even still perfumed.” But, this eloquent panegyric apart, when it comes to identifying the king with clarity, and giving further details about the erection of the pillar, the inscription suddenly leaves some questions unanswered: obviously, not for those who lived in those early times, but for later generations, for whom so much information was lost in the centuries that have gone by.
Thus, the verse concludes with the words: “He 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, (had) this lofty standard of the divine Vishnu set up on the hill (called) Vishnupada.” But who exactly was king Chandra remains a puzzle. On other grounds, historical or palaeographic, it can be concluded that the pillar belongs to the Gupta period, but, from among the imperial Guptas, who is it that is referred to here simply by the name of ‘Chandra’: Chandragupta I, Chandragupta II, also celebrated as Vikramaditya, or, as some firmly believe, Samudragupta? Again, the Guptas were known to have been devotees of Lord Vishnu, but where was this hill called ‘Vishnupada’ located?
Questions like these are, however, only a relatively simple sample of the issues that centre on the great pillar. There are others, very complex ones, that have engaged the minds of scholars. Prof Balasubramaniam addresses them in his inquiry without once losing sight of the sheer elegance of the pillar, especially of its exquisitely made capital atop which a figure of Garuda, the ‘ Sun-bird ‘, who is the vahana of Vishnu, or a chakra, the discus that is his emblem, might once have stood. There are long and detailed chapters on the structural features of the pillar, the methodology of its manufacture, a general inquiry into other large iron objects in ancient India, including the iron pillars in Dhar and Mandu in Madhya Pradesh, Mount Abu in Rajasthan, the Kodachadri Hill in Karnataka. But, understandably, the most densely argued chapter is on the corrosion-resistant nature of this iron pillar, the P-content and the S-content of the low carbon mild steel of which it is made, the process of rust protection, the colour of whatever rust there is, spectroscopic analyses, are all themes, something that has led to its being widely regarded as a ‘miracle’ of technology, given the times in which the pillar was forged and erected.
With all this, however, will the whole clutch of issues addressed in the book get finally settled, one might ask? I doubt it. But then this is the way it should be; this is how scholarship proceeds.
Corrosion, of a different kind
I was very taken up with a saying of the Buddha, cited from the Dhammapada, which serves as an epigraph at the beginning of the book. This is how it runs:
“As rust, sprung from iron, eats itself away when arisen, even so his own deeds lead the transgressor to states of woe….”
Also read Mystery of Delhi’s Iron Pillar unraveled
Delhi iron pillar
Iron Pillar
Review: Delhi Iron Pillar: New Insights
Delhi, India: An ancient pillar made of iron