The Iron Pillar of Delhi
While the Romans were busy carving square capitals into stone, Indians were carving Gupta script into rust-resistant iron
Tonight I am thinking of the history of writing, I am thinking about the invention of the alphabet, I am thinking of the earliest writing media. I am preparing to deliver one of my staple classes, ARTS 36: Ditto! The Technology of Print, tomorrow. Virtually. This class usually relies on a showcase of specimens from the holdings of SCU Archives & Special Collections to demonstrate the history of printing technology, and we usually outfit students with their very own microscopes to inspect the qualities of the print. This year I am communicating everything the students need to learn with a research guide and a playlist of videos. I would say, “Thanks COVID-19” sarcastically, except that I am exceedingly thankful I have been shaken out of overwhelming the students with a huge show-and-tell that eclipsed the following hands-on activity.
The Iron Pillar of Delhi
It is here I pause to give shape and form to the Iron Pillar of Delhi, an overlooked aspect of the technology of printing insofar as the history is represented in an archive of the western tradition like SCU’s. The iron pillar doesn’t use stone, clay, papyrus, parchment, or paper. It’s doesn’t use any of the usual scripts of Latin, Chinese, or Arabic. It’s a pillar that’s 99% iron but that doesn’t rust, and it’s inscribed with verses about a ruler named Candra written in Gupta script in the 5th century. As far as timelines go, that puts it smack dab in the middle of roman capitals chiseled in stone in what is now Italy, after papyrus use around the Mediterranean started waning with the split of the Roman Empire, but before parchment became the costly de facto writing support of Europe, while paper was still China’s well kept secret.
The Iron Pillar of Delhi is today’s “book.” If us book artists can rhetorically say, “is this a book?” and point to drawings in the dessert of Peru, then I can write this issue of the newsletter about an iron pillar. Specially, an iron pillar I witnessed with my own eyes on my trip to India this past winter. It stands proudly in the center of the Qutab Minar archeological site in Delhi, with transcriptions and translation on display nearby. Of course the British are involved in cracking the code as the translation is represented.
J. F. Fleet's 1888 translation 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.
Check out the Wikipedia entry for discussion of the transcription and translation of the original text. It is an (un)usually scholarly entry!
If you have a couple hours to spare…
Watch these two excellent episodes in the PBS Series on Nova so we can talk about it… These streaming videos will make you go “Wow!”
A to Z: The First Alphabet (Premiered Sept 23, 2020)
A to Z: How Writing Changed the World (Premiered Sept 30, 2020)
Apparently the Latin alphabet lent itself more naturally to the technology of movable type than any other writing tradition, enabling it to quickly spread throughout Europe, sparking the Renaissance, which sparked the industrial revolution, which sparked… Could Gutenberg’s invention (and large gamble) have been the thing that enabled colonialism? Did the spread of information made possible by the printing press also spread the knowledge needed to explore the globe and force one nation’s notions of superiority on another? The thought did occur to me this evening after watching the second episode of Nova’s A-Z.
What do you think? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!