Part 6 - Chemists of the Metallic School: Chandra Sena

The second name in the first list is that of Chandra Sena. He appears to be the chemist king who forged the famous iron pillar of Delhi, which, according to the short inscription embossed on it, was erected by king Chandra Sena on the mount of Visnupada (in Gaya). This king Chandra was the founder of the Chandra dynasty (wrongly translated as lunar dynasty). This Chandra is not to be confused, as is generally done, with Chandra, the moon. The founder of the Chandra dynasty was as human as we are. Chandra Sena, the forger of the wonderful iron pillar, which, though exposed to the inclemencies of a tropical climate for several centuries, has got no rust on it, must have been a great chemist, and can safely be identified with Chandra Sena, the chemist, referred to in the “Rasaratna-samuchchaya.”.

But the question which now arises is this: what are the grounds on which we can base our assumption that this Chandra Sena is no other than King Chandra, the founder of the Chandra dynasty? The line of argument which led us to arrive at this conclusion is this: Chandra Sena or King Chandra^[1] erected the iron pillar on a hill in Gaya as a monument of his success in conquest. The pillar was subsequently removed by some one to a place near Delhi. The removal of the pillar from such a long distance must have caused a good deal of trouble and expense. The motive underlying the removal was not an idea of vandalism, as no harm was done to the pillar. It was, on the other hand, re-erected very securely in its present position. This must have been done by some king of Delhi with a view to protecting the pillar. The Hindu kings of Delhi or Hastinapur (founded by Hastina, a descendant of king Chandra, the founder of the Chandra dynasty) mostly belonged to the Chandra dynasty. Some of these king must have taken the trouble of removing the pillar from Gaya to Hastinapur out of respect for the founder of their family. In the long list of kings ruling in Delhi the only person of the name of Chandra is Chandra, the founder of the dynasty. We are therefore forced to identify this Chandra Sena with king Chandra, father of Budha, and grandfather of Pururava, referred to in the Vedas.

Chandra was about 32 generations ahead of Yudhisthira, who flourished about 3139 B.C. The date of Chandra may, therefore, be approximately fixed to be not less than 5000 B.C. He was the author of a treatise named “Rasa-chandrodaya” from which the preparation of “Chandrodaya Makaradhvaja” has been obtained.