One of our most important findings from Buchanan’s Journey relate to iron and steel smelting in erstwhile Mysore. Very few people understand that the Maidan or the vast open stretches (Bayalu Seeme) of the Deccan Plateau was the hot-bead of industrial activity; smelting iron and steel for the large-scale manufacture of weapons. Although history speaks about the war in late medieval India, the economic and environmental facets of violent conflicts is often ignored by historians. Explorations into the work of Francis Buchanan as well as extensive discussions with people opened up a new perspective into Indian environment history; the large-scale destruction of forests in medieval India and the struggle for control over forests in the early colonial period.
