Udaipur

The Metallurgists of Mewad

Er. Atul Chandra Datta a graduate chemical engineer from Jadavpur University started Lead/ Zinc ore processing plant of 100 Tons Per Day at Zawar mines , near Udaipur probably before independence of India and those operations came under the management of a company Metal Corporation of India to which Datta sahib was the Managing Director. M/s MCI also established a Zinc smelter at Udaipur, Rajasthan and a Lead smelter at Tundu, Bihar. M/s MCI was renamed M/s Hindusthan Zinc Ltd. after it was taken over by the Govt. of  India.

In an unexpected turn of events I joined the ore dressing [ same as mineral processing] department as probationer engineer at Zawar mines in the year 1979.

The old plant capacity which started as 100TPD was increased to 500TPD by MCI and they also established a new plant of 4000 TPD separately. All the ore dressing operations of M/s Hindusthan Zinc Ltd. were under the technical guidance of Er. BN Chatterjee a chemical engineer from Jadavpur University and his office was at Udaipur.Chaterjee Sb was my Guru Jee who was brought to Zawar by  none other than Datta Sb. Thus I joined the metallurgists working in the region of Mewad at that point of  time.

Surprisingly there are old workings at Zawar mines. In fact almost all the copper and lead/ zinc deposits being mined today in India were found tracing the old workings!

Zinc metal was being produced at Zawar mines during a period as back as 700 AD and it is suspected that metal production activities at Zawar may be more ancient than what is being estimated today. At some places in the under ground mines geologists used to find native silver nuggets some times.

Recently I visited Zawar mines again to take note of the old workings in view of my interest in Harappan Civilization and its destruction. The place has changed beyond recognition. There are many new roads connecting the villages. I had to seek the help of Sri Dhanjee Karadi a tea shop owner on the road side. A tea shop coming up in an area which otherwise was a road in the forest [as recently as during 1979] indicates the increased human activity / population in that area. Well Karadi Jee was also an old employee of M/s HZL and was in the mine. So he could under stand what I was looking for.



Sri Danji Karadi - A Jain Temple in the back ground.



Old Zinc Retorts and broken pieces of retorts




Jain Temples



Jain Temples



A burried Jain temple seen standing on the top.





Zawar Mata Temple.

Zawar mata temple is a recent one and has the same shape of a Jain temple. This temple was said to have been built by Sri Bamashaw a Jain trader who was famousely known to have financed Maharana Pratap Singh. The legend is that Sri Bamashaw saw a female deity in his dream because of which he changed his mind and made this a Mata Ji  Temple instead of a Jain temple.. 

Ancient Zinc Retort - A closer view.

A retort of this shape is made and is filled with zinc ore and fluxes. The retorts are burnt as bricks are burnt. The molten zinc comes out of the retort slowly drop by drop through the mouth[ which may be noticed in the picture] which is collected separately through a common channel..

Ancient Houses. The wall behind Sri Deenbandhu Parmar and Sri Karadi was built with used
Zinc retorts. The walls of the house on their right is of dry masonry.



An ancient fort of Zawar [ top middle of the pic.].

Sri Karadi surprised me by showing an ancient fort on the top of a mountain. He says that the fort was of
Hiranyakasyapa. Some how I missed this story while Iwas working at Zawar mines decades back [1979 - 80]
I will find out more details of this fort  in my next visit. But what was Hiranyakasyapa doing in the dense forests of Aravalli ? Was he extrating native silver? Smelting Zinc ? Was he a metallurgist? Does he knew mineral processing?