Qutub Minar Complex Iron Pillar
Text of above Inscription:
“In the courtyard of the Quwwat-Ul-Islam mosque this famous iron pillar
is situated, which bears a Sanskrit inscription in Gupta Period Brahmi script,
palaeographically assignable to the Fourth Century, a date which is also
confirmed by the peculiar style of its Amalaka-capital.
The inscription records that the pillar was set up as a standard (dhwaja) of god Vishnu on the hill known as Vishnupada, in the memory of mighty king. Named Chandra, who is now regarded as identical with Chandraguptai (375-413) of the imperial Gupta dynasty. A deep hole on the top of the pillar indicates that an additional member, perhaps an image of Garuda, was fitted into it to answer to its description as a standard of Vishnu.
The pillar has been brought here evidently from somewhere
else, as no other relics of the fourth century are found at the site. There is
a strong bardic tradition that it was brought here wherefrom, nobody knowns by
Anangpal, the Tomar King who is credited with the founding of Delhi.
The base of pillar is knobby, with small pieces of iron tying
it to its foundations, and a lead sheet covers the portion concealed below the
present floor-level. The total length of this slightly tapering shaft is 7.20
m, of which 93cm is buried below the ground. the metal of the pillar has been
found to be almost pure malleable iron. Its portion below the ground shows some
signs of rusting, but at a very slow rate. The manufacture of such a massive
iron pillar, which has not deteriorated much during sixteen hundred years of
its existence, is a standing testimony to the metallurgical skill of ancient
Indians.”
What is special about this tall vertically tapering iron
pillar?
It was forged in the 4th century with neither special
protective paint over it nor any cover on it, but has not rusted in the last
1700 plus years. The crux of the question is how come it has withstood
continuously the vagaries of weather for such a long period with no semblance
of rusting so far?
The scientists are at their wit's end and at a loss to come up
with a possible explanation regarding its chemical combination that resists
rusting and corrosion.
The pillar with roughly 3 feet and 8 inches at the base of the
column is below the ground. To give extra stability to the heavy iron pillar,
the base is set on a grid of a series of iron bars soldered into the upper
layer of the stoned pavement. For centuries studied in depth by the experts in
metals, this iron pillar is "a testament to the skill of ancient Indian
blacksmiths" of by-gone era because of its high resistance to
corrosion. An even layer of crystalline
iron hydrogen phosphate forming on the high phosphorus content, serves to
protect it from the effects of the local Delhi climate - extremely hot in the
summer and very cold in the winter.
Such extreme climatic conditions do impact the stuff made of
iron and causes rusting. That it does not promote rusting over several
centuries is a matter of great surprise
and has been an unsolved riddle since 1900s.
The Iron Pillar, in the midst of Delhi’s most famous
monuments, the Qutb Minar, dates back to AD 402 and since the early part of the
20th century has got the attention of the metallurgists for its rust-proof
properties.
There is a sort of some
decorative feature at the top of the pillar, where a statue of Lord Garuda, or
the ‘Sun Bird’, might have been set. According to historians this kind of
feature was common to many such pillars of the time. The composition of the
iron pillar is a subject of discussion and debate among the scientists. Some
postulate the reason for the continuous resistance to corrosion is due to the
fact that the Iron Pillar has a high
content of phosphorus and total absence of Sulphur or magnesium.
This is the reason why the iron pillar has not rusted even
after 1700 years. Yet another positive aspect is this pillar was made to
resist humidity to a greater extend -
about 70 percent, which is appropriate as the climate in Delhi, despite
experiencing four seasons in a year.
The pillar which is made of – 98 percent wrought iron is listed under the Out-of-Place Artefacts
(OOPArts) – a term applied to prehistoric objects from around the world that
show technological advancement beyond the time when they were built. In 2003, experts at the Indian Institute of
Technology came up with an explanation to address the mystery of the pillar’s
resistance to rust. They attributed the pillar’s resistance to rust to a thin
layer of misawite, a compound of iron, oxygen and hydrogen.
R. Balasubramaniam of the IIT, Kanpur explains how the pillar's
resistance to corrosion is due to passive protective film at the iron-rust
interface. The presence of second-phase particles (slag and un-reduced iron
oxides) in the micro structure of iron, high amounts of phosphorus in the metal, and
the alternating wetting and drying cycles of
atmospheric conditions are the three main factors in the formation of that protective passive film
over the pillar.
The pillar was
installed in its current location by Vigraha Rāja, the ruling Tomar king. The
pillar is thought to have originally been erected in what is now Udayagiri by
one of the Gupta rulers. The suggested age of 402 CE is still a matter of serious discussion. This
rust free iron pillar at Mehrauli near Qtub complex continues to baffle the
scientific community and the common man.
It was only in the second half of the 19th century the iron
pillar drew the attention of the some inquisitive people. One British soldier Captain Archer talked about an inscription of
unknown antiquity on the pillar, which nobody could read. Later James Prinsep,
a British archaeologist studied the inscription in 1838 and translated it into
English in the journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. According to the
inscription a ruler named Chandra, had
conquered the Vangas and Vahlikas. Historians believe reference is made
Samudragupta, the real founder of the Gupta Empire in (375–414 AD).
According to the accepted theory, the Iron Pillar of King
Chandragupta II was originally installed in front of a Vishnu Temple complex at
the Udaigiri Hills, near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. It was during the period of
the Delhi Sultanate in 13th Century that the Turkish muslim invaders sacked
Vidisha and brought this Pillar to Delhi as a war trophy. It was then placed at
its current location inside the Qutub Complex in Mehrauli, Delhi, just next to
the Quwwat ul Islam mosque.
The inscription in iron pillar is undated, and contains a
eulogy of a king named Chandra. J. F. Fleet’s 1888 translation of the
inscription is as follows:
(Verse 1) He, on whose arm fame was inscribed by the sword,
when, in battle in the Vanga countries (Bengal), 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;
(Verse 2) 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 quit this earth, and has gone to the
other world, moving in (bodily) from to the land (of paradise) won by (the
merit of his) actions, (but) remaining on (this) earth by (the memory of his)
fame;
(Verse 3) By him, the king, 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.
Let us be proud of our Heritage.
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