Book Review: Story of the Delhi Iron Pillar

Enduring Mystery
Story of the Delhi Iron Pillar by R. Balasubramaniam; Foundation Books; Price: Rs.195; 140 pp.

Contrary to popular belief India was a major player in the global metallurgy industry long before the late J.N. Tata established the Tata Iron and Steel Co in Jamshedpur in 1907 and the London-based Laxmi Mittal started grabbing newspaper headlines around the world. It is arguable that Indian scientists and technologists were producing high-quality corrosion-resistant iron and steel as early as 400 AD. There is considerable evidence of the ingenuity of ancient India’s metallurgists in the form of permanent installations, museum exhibits and pillars installed in places of worship across the country. The most famous of these – one which has defied and confounded students and professors of metallurgy in India and abroad — is the 32 ft high pillar of rust-free iron sited contiguous to the 239 ft tall red sand stone — Qutb Minar — constructed by Qutb-ud-Din Aibak in 1199 AD to commemorate the victory of Mohammud Ghori over the Rajputs in 1192. And the wonder of this metallurgical marvel is that it has not rusted or succumbed to atmospheric corrosion despite being unprotected against the elements for over 1600 years. During the past two centuries since the existence of this wonder pillar was brought to public attention by British archaeologist James Prinsep in 1817, over 250 books have been written on this subject. The first systematic research was done by British metallurgist Sir Robert Hodfield in 1912, and since then several scientists from across the world have researched, presented papers and written books on the pillar.

The latest book on Delhi’s iron pillar is Prof. R. Balasubramaniam’s Story of the Delhi Iron Pillar — a simplified version of his earlier treatise on the subject titled Delhi Iron Pillar: New Insights which targeted metallurgy professionals, scholars and academics. Unlike the earlier book, this one is for lay readers, particularly higher secondary students. Its objective is to arouse student interest in history, metallurgy and archaeology and to encourage them to undertake fieldwork, self-study and research. “The iron pillar in Delhi fascinates scientists all over the world, due to its excellent resistance to atmospheric corrosion. This is an attempt to explain the story behind the pillar in a very simple manner, so that a lay reader can appreciate the history, science and technology of the iron pillar. In addition the artistic merit of the pillar is highlighted …It is sincerely hoped that the imagination, especially of the young readers, will be fired by the facts and ideas presented in this book,” writes Balasubramaniam.

The Story of the Delhi Iron Pillar traces the history of this metallurgical wonder and recounts that it was engineered in Udayagiri. The author reveals that the iron pillar was originally installed atop a hill near Udayagiri in the hinterland of Madhya Pradesh during the reign of Chandragupta II Vikramaditya (374-413 AD) of the Gupta dynasty. The original site of the pillar was the exact location where the imaginary line that is the tropic of cancer crosses India from where one can observe the sun rising in the east and setting in the west on spring and autumn equinox days. However in 1234 King Iltutmish (1210-36 AD) the third sultan of Delhi’s slave dynasty captured Udaygiri and transported the pillar to Delhi as part of his victory booty.

That the Delhi iron pillar is indeed an engineering marvel was conceded by the president of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, London who remarked in 1851: “While considering forging of large masses of iron and steel, it is not easy to forget the impression caused by first seeing the iron pillar at Delhi. This column of wrought iron… is finished perfectly round and smooth, with an ornamental top, and was made many centuries ago from iron produced direct from ore and built up piece by piece. Remembering the lack of facilities men had in those days for first forging and then welding together such an enormous mass, makes one wonder at the iron worker of those days who must have possessed engineering ability claiming the admiration of our times. It is questionable whether the whole of the iron works of Europe and America could have produced a similar column of wrought iron so short a time ago as the exhibition of 1851”. The incumbent professor of materials and metallurgical engineering at IIT-Kanpur, Balasubramaniam also unravels the mystery of the amazing durability of Delhi’s iron pillar. According to him unnamed engineers of that era used the film forming quality of phosphoric acid to create a thin protective layer of ‘misawite’, a compound of iron, oxygen and hydrogen to prevent rusting and corrosion. This protective film encapsulated the pillar within three years after its erection and has been growing imperceptibly since. Today 1,600 years later, the film is of a thickness of one-twentieth of a millimeter. Story of the Delhi Iron Pillar is well structured into five sections — Introduction, History of the Iron Pillar, Structural Features of the Pillar, Manufacturing Methodology and The Pillar’s Resistance Corrosion — each offering a different perspective of this engineering marvel. Written as a simple, easy-to-comprehend narrative, the book is useful for history and science teachers to plan supplemental lesson plans, as also for secondary school students interested in history/ metallurgy.

Quite obviously ancient India’s universities and institutes of learning had well-developed research and learning capabilities. But during the next millennium this research and scholastic tradition was lost. And in post-independence India when prime minister Nehru reserved the steel and metallurgy industries for the clerical cadres of the public sector, this capability was lost further. Fortunately this lost knowledge is being recovered slowly through the initiatives of entrepreneurs such as Laxmi Mittal and Anil Aggrawal (of Vedanta). Although they may not know it, they are heirs to a great tradition.