Book review: Dipsikha Acharya,Iron in India: History and Historiography

Acharya addresses the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial perceptions of the discovery, production and use of Indian iron in a chronologically ordered sequence. The role of iron in sociocultural and historical changes in India from pre-colonial to recent times remains a pertinent topic even after the works of many historians in India and abroad, such as D.D. Kosambi (1963), B.P. Sahu (2006), Dilik Kumar Chakrabarti (1992), Vibha Tripathi (2008) and others.

Acharya illustrates the value of taking new directions, as she is both a theoretical historian and a well-trained archaeologist. Her project generates enthusiasm for using different new sets of sources, including archival, literary and archaeological materials. This connects the history of iron in India from the precolonial to the colonial period to present a trans-disciplinary narrative of the history of Indian iron. Besides discussing the ‘superior quality of Indian iron and steel’ (p. 22), details on Indian iron as a part of systematic knowledge production during the colonial period and post- colonial interpretations are presented. Acharya also highlights the nature of settlement dynamics as related to the production and use of iron.

The introductory chapter highlights that the identification of naturally occurring iron as raw material and realising the significance of processed/smelted iron in human civilisation are two distinct and different issues. The long journey of man bridging these two issues is discussed upfront. Chapter 2, using a pre-colonial lens, discusses so-called romanticised perceptions of the superior quality of Indian iron and steel, which later came to be known as ‘wootz steel’ (p. 45). Its early prominence is evident from various sources of the seventeenth century and even before. References appear in the early travel accounts of Marco Polo, Al-Idrisi and others, depicting an enduring Indian Ocean trading network and recording the superior status of Indian iron. Acharya suggests further study of certain Sanskrit texts and also fragments of some Jewish merchants’ records (Genizah) to obtain a more detailed understanding of wootz steel, which originated in the mid-first millennium BC in South India (p. 57). This challenges Western theories of the origin of iron in India, referring to ancient Vedic texts, Upanishads and also archaeological evidence of the use of iron in megalithic Tamil Nadu in South India.

Chapter 3 focuses on the initial phases of the colonial era when the British started to measure the Indian subcontinent as part and parcel of their imperial policy, to establish their systematic knowledge structures. This approach provided the most objective data on the iron-working tradition of indigenous communities and remained the most authentic means for understanding the history of iron. Chapter 4, ‘Everything Comes from the West? On the Origin of Iron’, further discusses questions pertaining to the origin of iron in ancient India. The chapter also deals with what exactly the Vedic texts, as well as new data, tell us about various issues related to the origin of iron. Without going into detail, it confirms the emphasis in earlier studies on copper, rather than iron, an observation found also in a pioneering German study by Wilhelm Rau (1974) that is not mentioned by Acharya.

Chapter 5, ‘A Colloquy between Archaeological Findings and Historical Writings’, considers the potential for a meaningful scientific dialogue regarding archaeological discoveries and their historical interpretation in the post-independence era. Unfortunately, despite long-standing initiatives of various archaeologists and historians since the 1970s related to unveiling the antiquity of iron, it is yet to receive its deserving place in mainstream historical knowledge. Acharya highlights that a similar fate was also suffered, until recently, by research about the nature of weapons and strategies of warfare documented from medieval India. For historians, this raises the question whether praxis has lesser value than theories when reading Indian history.

Chapter 6, ‘Settlement Dynamics Based on the Use of Iron: A Case Study’, interprets the settlement dynamics of a region by considering its varied geophysical bearings. Comprising a major part of Acharya’s doctoral work, this endeavour emphasises the nature of the use of iron in a given landscape and its role in various settlement dynamics, classified into production zones, consumption zones and those in between. This most important part of the book contains illustrative descriptions of technologies of iron smelting and iron production used in several Indian workshop locations. Apart from indigenous productions, India has numerous famous examples of ancient iron pillars (pp. 127–36). Further, the iron beams of the Konark temple, dating back to the thirteenth century, confirm the superior quality of Indian iron products. Scientific analysis of ancient archaeological findings all over India shows evidence of cultural materials and links this with the nature of settlement dynamics concerning the production and use of iron to establish a meaningful synergy between archaeological findings and historical discourses. Chapter 7, ‘Epilogue’, discusses some further related issues to interpret the story of the relationship between iron and society.

Beyond understanding the tradable value of Indian iron, this study, too, confirms that the colonial rulers were mostly interested in exploiting indigenous resources. Particularly, the demand for a large quantity of iron for the project of constructing the Indian railway networks constituted a massive financial stake and the related trading benefits motivated scientific explorations (p. 72). The book represents for the first time how the colonial surveyors showed their interest in displaying the ancient indigenous iron artefacts in several museums (p. 109).

This study will remain an important landmark in the historiography of debates on the history of iron in India. A few critical remarks, however, can be made. For example, the author could have paid some attention to the aspects of iron in the history of social and agrarian changes, so that this study could have become a more complete project in the total history of iron in India.