Question

Tippu Sultan’s sword was made from a variety of Steel with high carbon content, which is called as ………………………
 A.Carbon steel
 B.Stainless steel
 C.Alloy steel
 D.Wootz steel.

Answer 1

Hint:Tipu Sultan is famously known as the tiger of Mysore. He ruled the kingdom of Mysore, which was based in South India. The tenure of his role was from 1750 to 1799. He was considered a Pioneer in rocket science. Many rockets were deployed by him against the advanced technologies of British India and their allies during the wars of Anglo-Mysore.

Complete answer:
A great variety of tools like daggers, pistols, blunderbusses and swords were found in his Palace. Many of them were of very sophisticated and polished workmanship. They were often molded with the elements of gold or silver or ornaments
Wootz steel is meant by hardened steel. The swords made up of this are considered to be lightweight and have great strength. They still have a very high carbon content of one percent. Also, high grade ores were used for crafting such tools. The ores are believed to have mined from present day state Telangana. The squads were made mostly in Southern states of India
The quality of the steel contained in these wootz steel is very pure.It was the superior quality of the wood steel that impressed Tipu Sultan to use swords especially and widely in wars.
Tippu Sultan adopted a tiger as the symbol of his rule. In a war in Travancore, he lost his sword. And, presently it is displayed at the Wallace collection, number one, Manchester Square, London.
Carbon steel, stainless steel, alloy steel are other forms of steel and have much lower carbon content than Wootz steel.

Hence, the correct answer is option (D).

Note:In the 18th and 19th centuries, superior quality steel was used to make various kinds of tools like squads, daggers, etc. The technical competence of the Indian craftsmen were very superior ,especially in the task of metal making. After the arrival of the British in India this armor making industries suffered a lot and these objects were replaced by the British made exported goods. The indigenous technology almost disappeared in the subsequent years.