Wootz Steel

[N. Ganesan]

I am interested in references about Wootz steel.

K. Gopalachari, Early history of the Andhra country,
1941 refers to an inscription edited by H. Luders.
The inscription mentions a temple dedicated to
nODagirIzvarasvAmin by the Satavahana king,
Ehu Santamula. Gopalachari says the "ehu" is
the dravidian word for steel which is "eHku"
in sangam texts, where H is the special tamil
letter called aaytam.

This 2nd century inscription is important
in another aspect:
I propose that noDagiri is the sanskritization
of the Telugu word Nallamalai mountain range.
Is there a variant reading nADagiri too??
(Sanskrit letters, no and nA vary little.)
Dravidian naL-/nal- = "black". Note that the
river Krishna originates in the Nallamalai
mountains. In the archives, Sanskrit names
like nAlagiri/nADagiri (the elephant controlled
by the Buddha), nalayini, nArAyana containing
this naL-(meaning black) have been discussed.
Srivaishnava Alvars describe the Vishnu sleeping
on the ananta as black, Centuries earlier
sangam texts call Vishnu as "mAl"(="black").

Can an Indologist here help me with the text
of Ehu Santamula's inscription, given in H. Luders'
book?

Thanks a bunch,
N. Ganesan


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