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Barood: Kimiya garon ki aag ki dawa

Atemad E-Magazine 20 October 2026 · 7 minute ka mutalia

Shadi ki raat aasman par rang birangi atish bazi ho ya kisi jashn ke patakhe, in sab ke peechhe ek siyah saffoof ki kahani hai jo taqriban barah sau saal pehle China mein daryaft hua. Dilchasp baat yeh hai ke ise dhoondne wale kisi hathiyar ki talash mein nahin the. Woh kimiya gar the jo dawaein aur lambi umar ka nuskha talash kar rahe the.

Aag ki dawa

America ki Emory University ke muarrikh Tonio Andrade (Tonio Andrade) ke mutabiq chini zaban mein barood ka naam "Huo Yao" hai, jis ka lafzi matlab hai "aag ki dawa". Isi naam ki wajah se bahut se muhaqqiqin samajhte hain ke yeh madda dawaon ki talash ke dauran wujood mein aaya. Andrade likhte hain ke satwin aur athwin sadi eesvi mein chini kimiya gar mukhtalif maddon ko un ke bunyadi ajza mein alag karne ke tajurbe kar rahe the, masalan gandhak ko saaf karna. Inhi tajurbon mein unhein ek nihayat bhadakne wala aamezah hath aaya.

Britain ki Royal Society of Chemistry ki shaya kardah kitab "Atish bazi ki kimiya" (The Chemistry of Fireworks) mein Michael Russell likhte hain ke taqriban athwin sadi tak chini kimiya gar "aab-e-hayat" ki talash mein masroof the. Shehad, gandhak aur shore ka ek aamezah garam karne par achanak bhadak utha. Baad mein is mein koela shamil hua aur woh mashhoor nuskha bana jise hum barood kehte hain: koela, gandhak aur shora.

America ke Smithsonian qaumi fazai o khalai ajaib ghar ke mutabiq British muhaqqiq Joseph Needham (Joseph Needham) aur un ke sathiyon ko purani chini tehriron mein kimiya garon ke jhulasne aur achanak aag lagne ke waqiat mile. Is se andaza hota hai ke yeh daryaft ittefaqiya thi.

Tareekh par ikhtilaf hai: Andrade satwin aur athwin sadi ki baat karte hain, Russell athwin sadi ki, aur Clemson University ki ek darsi kitab nawin sadi ke wasat ki. Russell ke mutabiq asal barood ki ijad ki theek jagah aur tareekh aaj bhi maloom nahin.

Pehla likha hua nuskha

Andrade ke mutabiq barood ka sab se purana maloom tehriri nuskha 1044 eesvi ki ek chini kitab "Wujing Zongyao" (Wujing Zongyao) mein milta hai. Russell ke mutabiq is nuskhe mein gandhak aur shore ke sath sankhiya aur seese ke namkiyat, tel aur mom bhi shamil the. Yani yeh aaj ke barood jaisa khalis murakkab nahin tha balke ek bhadakne wala aamezah tha.

Andrade likhte hain ke ibtidai nuskhon mein shore ki miqdar aaj ke muqable mein khasi kam hoti thi, kyunke yeh sab se mehnga juz tha, aur in mein tel, qeer aur raal jaisi izafi cheezein milayi jati thin.

Saffoof ki kimiya

Barood ko samajhne ke liye aag ko samajhna zaroori hai. Koi bhi cheez jalne ke liye hawa ki oxygen mangti hai. Lakdi ka dhair aahista jalta hai kyunke oxygen bahar se aahista aahista pahunchti hai.

Andrade ke mutabiq barood ka asal raaz shora, yani potassium nitrate, hai. Nitrate mein oxygen pehle se mojood hoti hai, is liye yeh murakkab bahar ki hawa ka intezar kiye baghair nihayat tezi se jalta hai. Russell bhi yehi batate hain ke koela aur gandhak endhan ka kaam karte hain aur shore se nikalne wali oxygen unhein jalati hai. Andrade ke mutabiq aaj ke siyah barood ka misali tanasub 75 feesad nitrate, 15 feesad koela aur 10 feesad gandhak hai.

Patakhe aur atish bazi

Andrade ke mutabiq yeh madda jald hi hathiyaron mein bhi istemal hone laga, magar is ka ek pur-aman rukh bhi shuru se mojood tha. Russell likhte hain ke barood ka ek ibtidai istemal patakhe the: charmi kaghaz (parchment) ki ek nalki jis mein dhila saffoof bhar kar donon sire mazbooti se bandh diye jate the. Russell unhein shayad pehli atish bazi qarar dete hain.

Smithsonian ajaib ghar ke mutabiq ibtidai atish bazi ki nalki ghaliban bans ki hoti thi, jis mein barood bhara hota aur ek chhota sa suraakh hota. Ajaib ghar 1264 eesvi ke ek chini bayan ka zikr karta hai jis mein zameen par har taraf daurne wali ek atish bazi ka haal hai jo atish bazi ke mazahiron mein chalayi jati thi. Ajaib ghar yeh khayal bhi pesh karta hai ke shayad pehle rocket jang ke liye nahin balke tafreeh ke liye bane the.

Maghrib tak ka safar

Russell ke mutabiq barood aur atish bazi ka ilm ghaliban arab duniya ke raste Europe pahuncha. England ke Roger Bacon (Roger Bacon), jo taqriban 1214 mein paida hue, shumali Europe mein siyah saffoof se waqif pehle aalim samjhe jate hain, aur Europe mein atish bazi ki sanat shuru karne ka sehra Italwiyon ke sar bandha jata hai.

Baad mein kimiya danon ne daryaft kiya ke mukhtalif dhaton ke namkiyat shoalon ko mukhtalif rang dete hain. Russell ke mutabiq shoalon ko rangeen banane ke liye dhaati namkiyat ka istemal baqayada likha jane laga, aur aaj ki atish bazi ke rang bhi isi usool par bante hain.

Ek sabaq

Barood ki kahani batati hai ke badi daryaftein aksar kisi aur cheez ki talash mein hath aati hain. Chini kimiya gar Sehat aur lambi umar ka nuskha dhoond rahe the, aur unhein aag ki ek aisi dawa mil gayi jis ne duniya badal di. Yeh kahani ehtiyat ka sabaq bhi hai: jin kimiya garon ne ise daryaft kiya, woh khud bhi is se jhulse. Aaj bhi patakhe aur atish bazi bachon ke hath mein dene se pehle yehi ehtiyat yaad rakhni chahiye.

Makhiz

Michael S. Russell, The Chemistry of Fireworks, 2nd edn, Royal Society of Chemistry (2008), ch. 1 "Historical Introduction". https://books.rsc.org/books/monograph/149/chapter/80602/Historical-Introduction — by about the 8th century Chinese alchemists sought the elixir of life; honey, sulphur and saltpetre heated reacted explosively; charcoal completed the recipe; place and date of the invention of true gunpowder still unknown; the 1044 Wu Ching Tsung Yao recipe (sulphur, saltpetre, arsenic salts, lead salts, oils, waxes); fuels oxidised by oxygen from potassium nitrate; firecrackers as loosely filled parchment tubes tied at both ends, 'the first fireworks?'; spread to Europe probably via the Arab world; Roger Bacon (born about 1214); Italians and the European firework industry; metal salts for coloured flames.
Tonio Andrade, "The origins of the gunpowder age", Medievalists.net (26 November 2022), adapted from his book The Gunpowder Age (Princeton University Press). https://www.medievalists.net/2022/11/origins-gunpowder-age/ — huo yao 'fire medicine'; developed in the search for drugs; 7th-8th-century alchemists purifying sulphur; nitrate provides its own oxygen; ideal 75% nitrate, 15% charcoal, 10% sulphur; early recipes lower in nitrate with oils, pitches and resins; earliest known written formula in the Wujing Zongyao of 1044; soon applied to warfare.
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, "The First Fireworks: Origins of the Rocket" (3 July 2013). https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/first-fireworks-origins-rocket — gunpowder discovered by Chinese alchemists seeking an elixir of longevity; Needham's accounts of accidental burns and fires; early firework tube probably of bamboo with a small orifice; a 1264 firework that shot about on the floor at firework displays; first rockets possibly for entertainment.
Jonathan Hayden, "Gunpowder in Medieval China", in Science, Technology and Society: A Student Led Exploration, Clemson University Open Textbooks. https://opentextbooks.clemson.edu/sciencetechnologyandsociety/chapter/gunpowder-in-medieval-china/ — cited only for the mid-9th-century dating of the alchemists' accidental discovery.

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