The legend behind the legendary Damascus sword!
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analysis wing of the Economist Group, publishes an annual Global Liveability Ranking report, which ranks 140 cities globally for their quality of life, based on assessments of stability, healthcare, education and infrastructure. In 2018 and 2019, Vienna, the Austrian capital was ranked Number 1 on that list. From 2011 to 2017, it was Melbourne and before that, from 2001 till 2010, Vancouver in Canada was ranked as the most liveable city in the world.
For the past two years, Damascus, the capital of Syria, came last on the list. Not surprising when you consider that Syria is torne by civil war for most of the past decade.
And yet, Damascus has a 10,000 year old history. Like Varanasi, it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Parts of the city are so old that they are falling apart and so have been declared as UNESCO World heritage sites in 1979.
But over centuries, Damascus has been one of the most prominent cities and a pivotal trading center in West Asia. Apart from other things, it was renowned, throughout West Asia and Europe, for its bustling trade of weaponry, especially the legendary Damascus sword!
The Damascus swords were the most coveted brand of swords in Europe and West Asia in the medieval times. They were renowned for their strength, sharpness and toughness.
When the European crusaders invaded West Asia in the 12th-13th centuries, they were met with soldiers wielding an astonishing sword, that could cut a feather in mid-air, cut though an armour with the same ease, and retain its performance battle after battle after battle. They named this amazing sword after the place where they found it. That's how the name Damascus sword stuck.
The secret of the Damascus swords was, of course, its steel. Damascus steel, as the Europeans called it, looked ominous, yet elegant in its grey-black hue. It was characterised by a distinct visual pattern or design described as being similar to sand moving across the desert or even waves moving over the surface of the ocean. This distinct pattern is often called ‘watering’ due to the pattern’s resemblance to moving water.
Interestingly, while the entire world called it Damascus steel, the locals called it Seric steel or Teling steel or Wootz steel. Why? Therein lies a tale.
The word Seric is an adjective form of the word Seres, a Persian corruption of the word Chera, indicating that the steel ingots were procured from the 3rd century BCE Chera dynasty of South India.
The word Teling means that the steel ingots were imported from Telangana region of South India, specifically Golconda, Karimnagar, Adilabad, Nizamabad and Warangal districts.
The word Wootz refers to a generic type of steel produced in Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu in South India and Sri Lanka. Wootz appears to be a mis-translated corruption of the South Indian word Ukku, meaning steel. In some material that I read, Wootz has been mentioned as a corruption of the Sanskrit word Uchcha, meaning 'of superior quality'. That made more sense to me, but the prevalent view seems to be that Wootz has been derived from Ukku.
In any case, it so happens that India had an evolved steel manufacturing industry, beginning from the 3rd century BCE till the 19th century CE, and an established trading route from the Coromandel coast in East India to West Asia, facilitated by the Arabs. Every year, 10000 ingots of Wootz steel were exported to Persia and from there to the rest of world.
In other words, Wootz steel of very high quality was smelted in India, the Arabs took them to Damascus, where a weaponry manufacturing and trading industry had developed. While the Europeans were going gaga about this excellent steel from West Asia, West Asians were importing Indian steel.
The 12th century Arab geographer, Idrisi, wrote - nothing can surpass the edge of the Hindwani steel. The Indian steel sword was so popular that when the Arabs chopped off someone’s head with a sword, they would call it Jawabe Hind, meaning the answer from an Indian blade. Pretty dramatic stuff, eh?
Captain J. Campbell, an Englishman, made a sketch, in 1872, eulogizing the steel making prowess of India.
So, what is so special about Wootz steel?
Regular steel has 0.8% carbon content. Wootz steel has much higher - about 1.2 to 2%. That explains its elegant grey-black colour. It is also the reason why the steel is unbelievably resistant to damage and can be sharpened to a razor-wire edge.
It was made in small batches, in small crucibles. The smelting process was specialized and was guarded as a trade secret in the close community of metalsmiths in South India for generations. Outside of South India, Wootz steel was also made in centers like Lahore, Amritsar, Agra, Jaipur and Gwalior.
However, the technology died in the 19th century. Following the Revolt of 1857, many foundries and armouries were destroyed by the British. The coming of guns and gunpowder also changed the nature of warfare and reduced the demand for swords.
In 1774, a Swedish chemist named Tobern Bergman became the first European to realise that Steel is an alloy of Iron. Till then, Europe thought Iron and Steel were two elements of the ferrous family.
However, industrial scale production of good quality steel started in Europe only in 1821. But once Europe started producing steel, seeing the demand being generated by the Industrial Revolution, the British wanted to control its production and trade. Hence, they crushed the ecosystem of making and trading Wootz Steel.
Below is the authentic Wootz-steel-made Sword of Tipu Sultan, preserved in the National Museum, New Delhi.
What fascinated me most was that on the advent of the Industrial revolution, there was a frenzy in Europe to understand Wootz steel, its characteristics and methods to replicate its production. In many ways, this led to the development of studies in modern metallurgy and material science.
Michael Faraday, the inventor of electricity was also fascinated by Wootz steel and enthusiastically studied it. Though Faraday failed to replicate the Wootz steel, he discovered many other alloys and is hailed as the father of alloy steels.
One study researching the forging process of Wootz steel discovered that this steel contained something called carbon nanotubes, which led to studies on nanotechnology. The report said that Indian metalworkers were using nanotechnology at least 2,000 years before the West.
This picture belongs to Cyril Stanley Smith, a 20th century British metallurgist, science historian and a member of the famous Manhattan project in US. He supposedly said - The Wootz steel is one of the greatest metallurgical accomplishments of antiquity.
