Abandoned Furnaces in Villages


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Abandoned Furnaces in Villages

Abandoned furnaces in villages : Production of Wootz steel required a highly specialized technique of refining iron. But iron smelting in India was extremely common.  In Bihar and central India in particular, every district had smelters that used local deposits of ore to produce iron which was widely used for the manufacture of implements and tools of daily use. The furnaces were most often built of clay and sun-dried bricks. The smelting was done by men while women worked the bellows, pumping air that kept the charcoal burning.

 By the late nineteenth century, however, the craft of iron smelting was in decline:

  • One reason was the new forest laws. When the colonial government prevented people from entering the reserved forests, how could the iron smelters find wood for charcoal available.
  • In some areas the government did grant access to the forest. But the iron smelters had to pay a very high tax to the forest department for every furnace they used.
  • This reduced their income. Moreover, by the late nineteenth century iron and steel was being imported from Britain. Ironsmiths in India began using the imported iron to manufacture utensils and implements. This inevitably lowered the demand for iron produced by local smelters. all this problem got itensified by the early 20 century and posed new competition to the artisians.
  • A Villagers in central India where the Agarias - a community of iron smelters lived

     
     


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