Why did iron production in India stop?

[Jens Nordlunde]

It has earlier been discussed, on this and other forums, why iron/steel production in India stopped in the last half of 19th century. Most suggests it was be course the iron ores dried out, and I can’t deny that some may have dried out, but as one of the tribes, the Agaria’s, working almost solely with melting iron from the ores, moved around a lot from place to place, this can not be the reason. Further more, if this was the case, how can India have a steel industry to day?

In the book ‘The Agaria’ by Verrier Elwin, Oxford University Press, 1942, the author gives other reasons.

The author writes, that the iron industry collapsed in less than a century, beginning about 1850, and with the biggest number of furnaces closed in the start of the period.

The author mentions many places, but I will only mention a few here:

“In Mysore we are told ‘the output of iron has greatly diminished during the last few decades’ – and that was in 1898”.

“We return finally to the Central Provinces, where the industry has always flourished and where it has even now held out more manfully than elsewhere. Yet here is a tragic tale to tell. The number of furnaces working in the Province fell from 510 to 136 in thirty years (1909 to 1939)”.

In other places the iron industry had stopped completely, before we began writing 1900. The reasons, the author gives, for this drastic collapse, are mainly three.

The governments in the different districts put a tax on what was dug out from the ore, a tax on the charcoal and a tax on the furnace, and the tax was, in some places, so high that the workers could work hard and starve to death, if they went on melting iron.

In some places they were not allowed to fell trees for making charcoal, as the governments decided that too much wood was needed.

Massive export from Europe to India of cheap iron/steel.



Above was the sad part of the story; here comes a few other things from the book.

The Agaria’s also made Virgin Iron, which was very powerful when it came to nasty spirits or most illnesses. In the book, the author has mentioned different things they made spades, ploughshares and other stuff in that line – but there is no mention of weapons, other than some axes. It is also mentioned that building a house where a blacksmith has been working brings bad luck, and it is never done – remember it, and don’t ever make a mistake like that.

But back to the Virgin Iron. This is not easy to make, as it takes a new ore of good quality, a new furnace used for the first time, a virgin to dig out the ore and to work the bellows. Virgin Iron it mostly sold in small pieces, as each piece has great power.