Nature of Gunpowder Artillery in India during the Sixteenth Century: A Reappraisal of the

Impact of European Gunnery

Author(s): Iqtidar Alam Khan
Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Apr., 1999), pp. 27-34
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great
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Nature of Gunpowder Artillery in India during the

? a
Reappraisal of the Impact of

Sixteenth Century

Gunnery

European

IQTIDAR ALAM KHAN

in A*ln-i Akbarx on "top" (gunpowder artillery)
lock (qufl-i shiqarf) for securing the august edifice of royalty
a
sara-i
and
key (kulxd-i dilkusha) to the door of conquest (darwaza-i
(iqbal
jahanbani)
Fazl's notice

The

opening line of Abu'l

describes it as "a wonderful
He

kishwarsitant)"
territories

then

(Rumistan),

no

as in the
Mughal

abundance
rhetoric.

the

On

to

with

perceived
to two

regard

of vast

territories.

Ottoman

He

that

Empire
While

Empire.

very

this

perhaps,

was

artillery

to

that

brushed

reflecting

Abu'l

in the

of

regions

indicate

that

(a)

namely,

the world

abundance

care

takes
not

simple

conquests leading to the annexation

in greater

Fazl

such

significance

matters,

important

as

aside
the

to mention

in

than

the Mughal

Rumistan
core

the Turkish

only

to

known

itwas only in the

naturally exclude Europe and China)

assertion

wished

asserts

accurately

gunpowder

making

as he,

Rum,

also

intimately (which would

be

as

in

available

artillery

cannot

strengthening of central authority and (b) rapidmilitary

him more

the Mediterranean/Ottoman

gunpowder

be

well

acquire

for

except

statements

These

may

they

that
was

place

Empire.1

come

had

claim

other

contrary,

artillery

gunpowder

to

proceeds
in

than

rather

of

the Ottoman

Empire comprising Anatolia and Thrace (Rum proper of the Persian and Arabic texts), but
in the
territories like Syria, Palestine, Egypt and theMaghrib, conquered by the Ottomans
sixteenth

early

were

century,

also

in

advanced

quite

Under

the first

important

three

Timurid

rulers

of war,

equipage

state

conquered

territories.

introduced

into India from the West

of which,

under

This

Akbar

paper

particularly

India,

contributing

centralized

adoption

structure

of

under

to
to

the

the

some

identify

certainly

the

of

new

appears

to have

emerged
of

of Mughal

of the sixteenth

rulers,

those of the

establishment

consolidation

at the beginning
the Timurid

had

artillery
to

significandy

and

attempts

gunpowder

this

Again

artillery over

also suggests implicitly the superiority of Mughal

Safavids of Iran and the Shaibanids of Central Asia.
as an

artillery.

gunpowder

statement

skills

of

highly
in

rule

the

gunnery

century, gradual
contributed

to

is also

of

the emergence of Akbar's artillery described by Abu'l Fazl inA'in-i Akbarx.

In the

ensuing

discussion,

apart

from

contemporary

Persian

texts,

notice

taken

the European accounts, especially that of Varthema which dates back to the period
(1503-8) when the flow of European skills in gunnery to India had just begun. To a
limited extent information on pre-modern artillery pieces surviving in South Asia has also
been used in this paper. This
1

A'in-i Akbar't, i (Lucknow,

information

is often recorded in a haphazard way, making

1893), p. 82.
JRAS, Series 3, 9, 1 (1999), pp. 27-34

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it

28 IqtidarAlam Khan

total

it in a

to put

difficult

number

of

cannons

pre-modern

in putting

engaged

more

frame;

meaningful

together

data

specific

to

be

lying

of the individual artillery pieces

the

data,

the

points
be

should

Such

century.
made

in this

treated

strictly

when

To

paper.

as tentative

the

currently

nature

designs,

of

part

I am

of metal

surviving in South Asia from

properly,

would

perhaps

suggestions

made

in

analysed
extent

that

small

unnoticed.

to measurements,

relating

and process of manufacture

sixteenth

a very

it covers

importantly

believed

of

many

modify

the

discussion

ensuing

propositions.

The presence of firearms of varying sizes and designs in India during the second half of
the fifteenth century and in Central Asia and Iran as early as Timur (d. 1405) is fairly well
on

established
travellers'

the

1443?4

Mir

to suggest
Asia

Central
then

that

that

imagine

the

during

century,

Gawan's

Riyazu'l

Insha\
the

by

was

also

of

In this
Indians

cannon

guns

pieces

technique

in

formed
India

century

comprised

wrought-iron

to have

deduced,

from

barrels

by

forging

by

or bronze.

some

for

century
or

of

traveller,

a similar

mixing

However,

or

copper

in 1818
"bars

this view
the

up

in

is

India

is

supposition

in

India

during

eldest

Shahjahan's

son,

guns captured by Akbar during

subcontinent.
brass.5

One

These

to him,

according

Significantly

were

Manucci

enough,

does

context.

in this

bars

wrought-iron

the

Such
was

who
under

in

written

bronze.

Shdhi and Mahmud

make.4

Manucci,

a stone

texts written

Persian

as a gunner

time

of

parts

in brass

in

specific case

cast
by

European

throwing

3 kg.).3 This

Ma'asir-i Mahmud

piece

Italian

that
iron

on

the basis

molten
two

the

hooped

earliest

hooped

down

"with

of

in their

of

"natives"

barrels

Indians in the beginning, which

brass

racd mentioned

of

capable

the fifteenth

of

piece

artillery

artillery

of forging

that Fitzclarence
used

an
the

remark

Fitzclarence's
the

used

basically

hardened

wrought-iron
light,

It seems

served

i.e.

"metal"

not mention

of

in various

campaigns

excellent

an

racd/kaman-i

also

texts

the Persian

as

racd at Samarqand

made

and

claims that he had seen pre-Mughal

Dara Shukoh. Manucci

his military

in bronze

as well

texts

Persian

(if one mann equalled

like Shihab Hakim's

testimony

had

and

1653?1708

from

trial of a newly

the

cast

racd of

was

fifteenth

supported

of

mortar

heavy

racd/kaman-i

and Khurasan

to

led

derived

notice

400 mann/1200kg.

projectile weighing
tends

evidence

Khwand's

its being

suggests

of

strength

accounts.2

together",

of his
to

the

brass

techniques

together

was

to

see

the mixed

is no

observation
of

beginning
cast

round

gun-making,

the

technique

cannons

longer

tenable.

that many

of

the

them".6

of

they later tried to combine with

it is permissible

to make

attempts

the

nineteenth
He

appears

that making
known

to

the

the casting of cannons in

structures

of

these

cannons

as

see my articles, "Early use of cannon and musket

in India: A.D.
For a detailed discussion of this evidence
Part II (1980), pp. 158-64 and "Firearms in
1442-1526", Journal of Economic and Social History of theOrient, XXIV,
Central Asia and Iran during the fifteenth century, and the origin and nature of firearms brought by Babur",
1995, pp. 435-8.
Proceedings of Indian History Congress, 56th session, Calcutta,
3
Rauzat al-safa, vi (Lucknow, 1891), p. 242.
4
For references to the use ofra'd/kaman-i
racd in the Persian texts written

in India during fifteenth century see,

Shihab Hakim, Ma'asir-i Mahmud Shahi, edited by Nurul Hasan Ansari (Delhi, 1968), pp. 38, 87 and Mahmud
edited by Shaikh Chand (Hyderabad,
Gawan, Riyazul-Insha*,
1948), p. 72. My comments on this evidence may be
seen in "Early use of Cannons and Musket
in India, A.D.
cited in n. 2, pp. 162-4.
1442-1526",
5
Nicolas Manucci,
Storia doMogor, tr.W.
Irvine, i (London,
pp. 150-1. For the use of the term
1907-08),
"metal" in the contemporary European
records to denote "hardened copper or brass" see T.F. Tout in English
Historical Review, XXVI
(1911), p. 682.
6
Irvine, The Army of the Indian Moghuls
Fitzclarence, Journal of a Route Across India, 1817-18, cited by William
(reprint, Delhi,

1962), p. 115.

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Gunpowder artillery in India during sixteenth-century 29

a contrary

to

belonging

Indians were
later

to combine

tried

of

sequence

It may

techniques.

be

that

argued

the

this with

of

technique

and that they

was

which

barrels,

wrought-iron

forging

the

originally

the skill of casting barrels in brass or bronze

familiar only with

possibly brought to India from Europe by the Portuguese in the beginning of the sixteenth
appear plausible in the light of our reading of the
century. Such a sequence would
to

references

firearms

texts

in Persian

racd)

(racd/kaman-i

written

during

the

fifteenth

for

muskets

century.
Fazl's

Abu'l

(banduq) and carbines

making
known

for

in India

during

of

technique
being

forging

iron

variants
barrels

the West,

when

questions

which

of

In

and

how

to the

these

1503,

of

last quarter

as

came

to

of

transfer

be

answered.

from

surviving

sixteenth

took

the new

artisans

at Calicut

Mecca

disguised

in

the
was

was

forging

are

place,

of

help

in its

wrought

and,

if it came

some

other

us

from

relevant

Varthema's

skills of gunnery

in

known

this technique

century9

1506, may

1589

suggest,

pieces

where

examination

in the public

1585 and

century,

the West

late fourteenth

closer

he dilates on
local

the

technology
A

question

the

of
also

as to whether

(1498). Whether

India

as the

early

this
to

need

deserters

Portuguese

or

practised

of passages where

especially
some

being

as

was

rings

lying

of

inscriptions

a moot

which,

of the Portuguese

locally

originated

was

the

during

the coming

bear

the technique
and

guns

wrought-iron

it remains

cannons

bars

wrought-iron

Two

Still,

supposition.8

barrels

wrought-iron

suggest that possibly

together

century.

wrought-iron

this region before

Indian

sixteenth

in Khandesh

practised

forging

(Madhya Pradesh) which

this

support

respectively

by

the

at Khandwa

gardens

of making

ways

(damanak)7 does, however,

cannons

barrels

two

of

description

account,

imparted by the
to find

answers

to

questions.
he was

when

visiting

as an

Egyptian

came

Varthema

pilgrim,

to know

through an Indian merchant that there was demand in India for skilful makers of
mortars.
The enthusiasm with which
this merchant
is reported to have helped
large
Varthema to separate himself from the caravan of Egyptian pilgrims and directed him to the
of Deccan"10

"king
was

not

to those

indicates

considered

that,
for

adequate

currently

at this

producing

mortars

of

the

century.

Most

of

the

were

(1375-1500)
preferred

fourteenth

over

those

and

century
heavy

wrought-iron
cast

in bronze

guns
not

made
only

in

and

popular

by

forging

because

there

bars

wrought-iron

to

down

in Europe

mortars,

India

strength

Empire.

type first appeared in Europe

remained
so-called

cannons,

available
in size

comparable

as the Ottoman

Itmay be recalled that large guns of bombard

quarter

in gun-making

expertise

heavy

as well

in the West

popular

time,

and

this

during
rings.
was

in the last

late

These

fifteenth
period
were

comparatively

A'in-i Akbarx, i, p. 83. For a more accurate translation of the relevant passage see Irfan Habib,
"Akbar and
in Akbar And His India, ed. Irfan Habib (Delhi, 1997), p. 142. Cf. Iqbal Ghani Khan, "Metallurgy
in
technology"
medieval
the case of the iron cannons", Proceedings of the Indian History Congress (45th Session at
India
In his view, one way of forging barrels described by Abu'l Fazl was
(Delhi, 1985), pp. 488-9.
Annamalainagar)
cannons.
also applicable to wrought-iron
8
Cf. Hira Lai, Descriptive List of Inscriptions in theCentral Provinces and Berar (Nagpur, 1916), p. 73.
9
Carlo M. Cipolla, Guns And Sails in the Early Phase of European Expansion,
1400-1700
(London,
1965), pp.
In the beginning,
iron guns in Europe were mainly made by smiths "from bars of wrought-iron
welded
23-4.
into crude tubes which were further strengthened by thick iron hoops shrunk over the tubes". See also T.F. Tout,
op. cit., p. 682.
10
The Travels ofLudovico di Varthema 1503-1508, tr. J.W.Jones
and G.P. Badger (London, 1863), pp. 50-1.

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3 o IqtidarA lamKhan
but

cheaper

also

reliable.11 By
to

spread

to

owing

the Ottoman

brass

bronze

crude

noticed,

to

expertise

that Babur's

into

the

fatal

The

1526.

"miscalculation"
a mortar

the

other

a bronze

or brass mortar
the

of

deficiency

during

is no

there

hand,

in

same
for

basis

an

and

at

person)

imagining

wrought-iron

making
of

the fifteenth
It

wrought-iron

favourably

with

mortars

mortars
some

Europe

time

already

same

the

learnt
before

was

technique

using

occasionally
is no

evidence

by

Indian

around

impressive

guns

for

rulers

their

use.

in

in

the

cAli Quli's
the

exploding

1527.14

But,

the Ottoman

on

Empire

of

the technique
the

towards

Europe

end

to the familiarity

making
It

of

of

the Ottoman

them
is also

any

time Varthema

the

possible

that

Asia.

Mortars

in all probability
of
type

the Mughal
before

sought

came

to Mecca
had

in recruiting
sometimes

already

with
It

reign.
the

(1503)
reached

the

going

of
ears

to

There
of

technique
under

is, however,

could

be

was

Babur
guns.

the

fame

who

gun-makers
persons

that

or brass

gun-makers

Akbar's

to

as late as 1526,

(kazans)

cast-bronze

in

adversaries

was

century,

of

technique

their

from

possibly

compared

the

in the Islamic world. Apparently,

artillery

interested

that

guess

in

succeeded

which

records)

may

fifteenth

the

in Central
were

campaigns

of

had

Ottomans

European
One

type.15

end

the

known

barrels

that

standable

well

pointing

wrought-iron

forging

very

not
in his

the

the Ottomans,

concealed by them from their neighbours

this

from

the

1516

by
of

(basilisks
of

guns

European

wrought-iron

forging

that

noteworthy

producing

Eastern

mortars

on

familiar with

there

brought
at Agra

to Ustad
notice

gun-makers

introduced

origin,

by

brass

in

this

century.

however,

is,

it was

before

already

apparently,

24 November

(not to speak of other regions of the Islamic world) were

mortars

or

by his

on

skills

in casting in

description)

reference

Agra

that

Iranian

bronze

also

of

reference,

of Babur's

in casting

1526

transfer

It was,

1444.13

out by Babur's

operation
the

by

Khwand's

possibly
(kazan

skill

available

is borne

casting

made

(possibly

cAli Quli,

Ustad

less

mortars.12

already proficient

in

Samarqand

the

by

wrought-iron

by Mir

is borne

racd at

large

till this time

Islamic world
of

gun-founder,
cast

he

when

play

of mortar

type
of

casting

as

far

appears to have

of mortars

accompanied

as well

in the Islamic world were

That by this time gun-makers

or

perhaps,

cast-bronze

were

mortars

cast-bronze

the popularity

century

It was,

for making

that

impression

general

Empire.

in Europe

developed

the

the end of the fifteenth

these
of

new

some

replicate

the Holy

Places

and
of

the

them
for

11

Cf. Carlo M. Cipolla, Guns and Sails, pp. 22-3 and T.F. Tout, op. cit., p. 682.
to Djurdjice Petrovic ("Firearms in the Balkans on the eve of and after the Ottoman
conquests of
According
in War Technology and Society in theMiddle East, ed. VJ. Parry and M.E.
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries"
1975, pp. 175-6), artillery in the Balkans during the fifteenth century consisted of cannons that
Yapp, London,
this tendency to make large cannons spread to
were larger than those of the preceding century. That subsequently
is indicated by the presence of mortars,
the Ottoman
ones, in the Ottoman
including wrought-iron
Empire
one such gun, a wrought-iron
muzzle
artillery during the first quarter of the sixteenth century. For references to
mortars present at
cannons including wrought-iron
loading cannon made in 1516 and to an inventory of Ottoman
Gunpowder And Galleys: Changing Technology And Mediterranean Warfare at Sea
Jedda in 1525, seeJ.F. Guilmartinjr.,
In The Sixteenth Century (London, 1974), p. 11, n. 5.
13
Rauzat al-safa, vi, p. 242.
14
The Babur-nama in
and A.S. Beveridge,
Cf. Babur-Nama,
(Kyoto, 1995), pp. 487-8,
(Vaqayi*), ed. Eiji Mano
12

1969), pp. 536, 588.

English (reprint, London,
1:5
account commenting
that Salman
See Guilmartin, Gunpowder and Galleys, p. 11 for reference to a Portuguese
mortars was of Ottoman
included wrought-iron
Reis's artillery in the Red Sea which
origin. His own assessment
is that from sixteenth century standards these were "first-class guns fired by first-class gunners".

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

were

pilgrimage
their

join
On

of

the

making

latest

that

conjecture

These

deficiency
molten

experts

Asian

and were

of

to

artillery

in

that

a number

of

deserters
tend

casting

big

owing

down

for

more

were

by

to

the

as

that

of

The

possible.

furnaces

the

attempt

on

this

these

one

from

the
not

thus

for

to
so

solve

that
to

(400
were

of
was

occasion

the

the
in

225

poor
1666

pieces
of

quality
testifies

that

to his time.21 One

this

were

500)

of

filled

as
cast
and

("large

the

reduce

the

with

"ordnance"
sizes

varying

for

problem

these

to

in

a medium-size

all

1571

writing

tried

number

that

the

and

of even

in

condemned

the moulds

large

statement

Varthema's

suggest

size

in

and India. The

resulted

mainly

that

deserters

Portuguese

reducing

furnaces
and

the

1506

cast

than

Empire)

diverse

Thevenot

recasting.20

latest

cannons

efficient

the mould

deficiency

the Ottomans

may

the

in these regions faced difficulty

to fill

enough
this

already

One

after

portable

techniques
from

had

of Babur.18

the Ottoman

the mould

art of

the

small".

designed

were

a process

the gun-makers
to

were

sizes

its ruler

for
in

they
and

large

(zarbozans)

(including

into

to Varthema,

These

through

world's

artisans

ordnance

and

field-guns

in bronze

making

local

training

according
of

deserters

in the casting of bronze cannons persisted in India down

of Calicut

gun-makers

also

artillery.17

furnace

from

melted

Portuguese

pieces

to the

released

apparently,

conjecture

small")

the West

1507,

as field

Islamic

in one

or brass

this deficiency

the

and

the Venetians

by

their metal

by

invite

calibres

liquidity. Obviously,

It was,

captured

cast

to be

having

bronze

smelting
cannon.19

In

different

similar

Indian

being of uniform

small

31

were

They

in the Islamic world

the

metal

may

sixteenth-century

found

hundred

use

for

possibly

till then practised

of

of

possibly,

were

guns

five

guns

meant

and were,

types.

guns.16
or

four

cannons

European

of

variety

these

Varthema

1506,

European

"between

produced

in

Calicut

pieces

bronze

to

rulers

during

service.

reaching

artillery

these

by

encouraged

in India

artillery

Gunpowder

size

of

the

cast with

the possible aim of improving the quality of casting within the

average pieces
constraints imposed by the use of inefficient bellows. One could, perhaps, link this attempt
at

innovation

Shah

Sur

weighing
Another

with

what

is reported
4 mann

i.e.

statement

happened
to have

cast

approximately
of Varthema

in North

India

in bronze

or

221.28
suggests

thirty-seven
brass

four

years
thousand

later.
light

In

1543,

cannons

Sher
each

lbs.22
that

towards

the

beginning

of

the

sixteenth

16
The Travels ofLudovico di Varthema, 1503-1508, p. 262.
17
to a contemporary
Italian text cited by the author,
Carlo M. Cipolla, Guns and Sails, p. 28. According
"were drawn by
already by 1494, French armies invading Italy were carrying light guns, all cast in bronze which
horses with such dexterity that they could keep up with the marching
speed of army". These guns were "shot at
very short intervals".
18
On zarbozans, compare Babur-nama in English, pp. 569, 656. A.S. Beveridge
has translated the term zarbozan
as "culverine".
ForWilliam
Irvine's brief notice, see The Army of the IndianMoghub, p. 113.
19
Irfan Habib, "The technology and economy of Mughal
India", The Indian Economic and Social History Review,
inmedieval
also Iqbal Ghani Khan, "Metallurgy
India" in The Technology inAncient
1, p. 19. Compare
XVII, No.
in addition to the primitive
andMedieval India, ed. Aniruddha Roy and S.K. Bagchi
(Delhi, 1986), p. 74 where,
nature of bellows, the inefficiency of "Indian furnaces" is also ascribed to the "refractory nature" of clay as well as
continued reliance on wood charcoal.
20
1988), p. 128.
Geoffrey Parker, The Military Revolution (Cambridge,
21
Travels ofThevenot and Careri, tr. and ed. S.N. Sinha (New Delhi,
1949), p. 62.
22
Sher Shah's requisitioning
'Abbas Khan Sarwani mentions
of all the copper available in the market as well as
cannons (deg-ha) during the siege of Raisen
in the households
of troopers in the form of utensils for making
in
India Office, Ethe 219, f. 95a). Again during the siege of Kalinjar in 1545, according
1543 (Tarikh-i Sher Shah'i MS.,
to 'Abdullah, Sher Shah made four thousand cannons (deg-ha-i atishbazi) each one of which weighed
four mann,
one Akbari mann being equal to 5.32 lbs. (Tarikh-i Dawudi, ed. by Shaikh cAbdur Rashid, Alilgarh,
1954, p. 158).

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32 IqtidarAlam Khan
century
heavy
And

or mortars

which

Indian
that

of

inability

they

the

very

service

local

story

to

gun-makers

then.

To

at Calicut

makers

the

that

by

the part

the fact

was

time,

that

not

moulds

some

of

anxiety

large mortars"

suitable

for

of

to

goes

the

suggest

mortars

casting

in

of heavy mortars of any kind in India

for

mortars

casting

known

became

efficient.

very

as

which,

technique

caused

the European

learnt

in other

to

compared

According

premature

of

blocking

Babur's

Another
India

Iranian

one

is the

Varthema

parts

gun

by

of

the

sub

to Babur,

"some

the flow

of molten

of Varthema

this

counted
the

helping

for mortars

learnt

by

the

upon

improvement

one

the

local

in

developed

miscalculation"
metal

into

the

It is also an indication
at Calicut

gun-makers

not

had

know-how,

gun-founder.

he mentions

where

apparendy

were

at all an

statement

significant

amould

of

design

if it was

the Portuguese,

who

using

of gun-founder

reached

yet

the

This clearly points to some fault in the design of the mould.24

mould.
from

Portuguese

was

gun-maker

Europe

of

deserters

to
of

a mould

of

design

of a

and form

to guess. The earliest description of the casting of a bronze or brass

in India is the one recorded by Babur in 1526. From that description it is obvious

mortar

on

from

new

this

the design

of metal.23

attesting

design

casting

is difficult

continent
that

extent

what

made

makers

bronze was yet another factor inhibiting the making

till

to a Pagan

gave

deserters)

"skillful

for

moulds

designing

It reads:

contra, and were

Varthema's

their

in

proficient
or brass.

(Portuguese
and five

with
in

recruit

not

i.e. bronze

hundred

combined
to

rulers
the

here,

one

weighed

statement

This

in metal

Iwas

the time

during

mortar,

were

at Calicut

gun-makers
cannons

"Jew"

to make

on

bearing

making

four

the

deserters

among

"Jew"

"pagans"

having

firearms

of

the history

mortars
from

European

seems to imply that till this time (1506) the art of making

of
the

in

of firearms
at Calicut.

iron

Portuguese

designs.

ships
statement

This

iron mortars was not known

at

Calicut.25
The

at Calicut

gun-makers

junks that, sailing from

fifteenth

century.

Vasco

years".26

bronze aswell

knows

ships

the
for

contemporaries,

Chinese
One

to

carrying

from

have

possibly

the South China

According

da Gama's

at Calicut,

might

Needham's

coast, visited

testimony
about

seen

of

eighty

"bombards"
researches

local

years

guns

recorded

informant

the arrival

preceding

visited
that

cast-iron

Chinese

Indian ports frequently

that
the

as cast-iron guns roughly from the beginning

port
Chinese

"every
were

of the fourteenth

carried

by

during

the

one

by

of

of Portuguese
two
making

or

three
cast

century. It is

23
The Travels ofLudovico di Varthema, 1503-1508, p. 262.
24
Babur-Nama (Vaqay'f), ed. Eiji Mano, p. 488; A.S. Beveridge, Babur-nama inEnglish, p. 536.
2:>
Compare Ahsan Jan Qaisar, The Indian Response to European Technology and Culture (A.D. 1498?1707) (New
this statement, Qaisar fails to grasp its real
Delhi,
1982), p. 47. While
passage containing
reproducing Varthema's
import.
26
An

account by "a Florentine nobleman"

of Vasco da Gama's landing at Calicut was printed by
anonymous
It speaks of an Indian pilot who accompanied Vasco da Gama to Lisbon
Giovanni Battista Ramusio
(1485-1557).
in 1499. This Indian pilot is reported to have told the author of the account that "foreign" ships had landed in
shorter than "the
Calicut eighty years before (i.e. in 1419). These ships carried "bombards" which were much
one". Twenty or twenty-five
of these ships returned every two or three years. Cf. Partington, History of
modern
in The Cambridge Economic
Greek Fire and Gunpowder (Cambridge,
Simon Digby
i960), pp. 222?5. Compare,
and Irfan Habib
1750, ed. Tapan Raychaudhuri
1982), p. 150: "In the
(Cambridge,
History of India, i, c. 1200-c.
of firearms was spreading around the Indian
decades immediately before the arrival of Vasco da Gama knowledge
Ocean

and in the isles of Indonesia".

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Gunpowder artillery in India during sixteenth-century 3 3

no

true

doubt

that

out the possibility

century

from

mainly,

never

could

the

other

Chinese

he

As

is well

1506

forging

century.

in Europe

as

from

use

the

of

iron made

of

As

barrels.

One

(1506)

furnaces

before

guns

was

listed

any

resulting

art

the

bellows,

scale

and

the presence

the

very

of

modern
not

iron

times.28
to

known

the
gun

wrought-iron

fifteenth

centuries.

of wrought-iron

of

the

Neither
and

guns

this method

did

may
when,

thus

venture

and

from

to

deserters
skill

of

involve

the

any

the

preferred
to

reasonable

bars
tool

concept,

latter

imagine

at Calicut

ships

wrought-iron

forging

in

produced

that for making

Portuguese

and

rings

or process

not

not have been too difficult for the local

statement

that Varthema's

suggest
the

from

not

itwould

where

century

It is, therefore,

the Jewish

were

documented

fifteenth

early

wrought-iron.29
by

cannons

iron

beginning,

It is also well

the European

represented

gun

to how,

the fourteenth

as by forging.

already a part of Indian smithery, copying

clue

not

has

recording

gun-makers

involved

essentially

gun-makers.

of

appreciable

gun

would

the cost of the guns by

to deficient

owing

wrought-iron

from

rule

the

that

time

this

considerably

Needham

in China
text

any

the

not

does

them.

European

for producing

of

around

ineffectiveness

on

India

technique

any Chinese

four mortars

the

the

this

assume

thus

may

India

evidently

from
in

by casting as well

which

method

But

iron.

for

table

But

guns.27

One
of

ports

in Needham's

listed

during the latter part of the fifteenth

as well.

of reducing

Habib,

surviving

known,

mortars,

heavy

to

sixteenth

of forging

both ways,

only

important

practised

the

the

reproduced

technique

that

be

cannons

the

Irfan

hand,

before

among

in

to

according

casting

has

or bronze

brass

5 cast-iron

guns

aware of the possibility

be vaguely
switching

as other

as well

cannons

junks visiting Calicut

cast-iron

carried

occasionally

Chinese
and

surviving

cast-bronze

that Chinese

at Calicut

makers

On

are

43

1288-1426,

period

48

among

skill

of

forging

some

provides

came

guns

wrought-iron

to

India.
the

Summarizing

central

important components
cannons

cast

mortars

cast

and

Apparently,

European
But

zarbozans

in bronze,

field-pieces

the

fascination
wider

obstructed

idea

reached

and

of

prompter

as well

cannons

light
India

India

after

European
first
slowly.

introduced
New

these were
design
by
design

of

so

the Portuguese
of bronze

effectively
mortars

bronze

as mortars

latest

made

the
of

that

three

the

(a) light

cannons

heavy

or
were

of wrought-iron,

this

in the

mortars,

the

coastal

however,

cast-bronze

through
of

part
idea

regions
appears

after

designed

with

the Portuguese.

local

rulers

seems

in the whole

of

the

to

have

subcontinent.

in the whole

increasingly popular

during

technique

and

contact

the

became

by Babur
and

of

1506

on

acceptance

used

the

(b)

made

around

Light artillery pieces made of bronze, however,

of

out

point

for the first time in the early years of the sixteenth

mortars

heavy

may

description;

cannons

(c) light

the

one

paper,

of Babur's

first
for

this

artillery at the end of sixteenth century, namely,

in India from the West

introduced
century.

in bronze,

of

argument

of Mughal

1526-30.
of making

spread
to have

met

guns

wrought-iron

to other

parts

with

of
early

India

rather

acceptance

27
Science and Civilization in China, Vol. V, Part 7 (Cambridge,
1986), pp. 290-2.
Joseph Needham,
28
Irfan Habib, "Technology
and barrier to technological
India", (presented at Symposium
change inMughal
on "Problems of Acclimatization
of Foreign Technology",
25-8 February 1980), Indian Historical Review,
Tokyo,
1-2, p. 166.
V, Numbers
29
Carlo M. Cipolla, Guns and Sails, p. 27: "By the middle of the fifteenth century the core of the European
artillery was represented by huge bombards of wrought-iron".

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34 IqtidarAlam Khan
in

the Deccan

and

also.

Gujarat

possibly

of

Experts

recruited

artillery

from

Ottoman

territories appear to have contributed significantly to this development,

of which "Malik
cast at Ahmadnagar in 1548 by Muhammad
Ibn Husain Ruml, represented the
Maidan\
water

high

mark.30

manner

The

in which

the

of

technique

forging

cannons

wrought-iron

this process

iron

guns

would

were

It may

unusually

also

be

but

for

India when
less expensive

to some

facilitated
local

chiefs

with

that wrought-iron

speculated

cannons.31

heavy

reliable

been

less expensive

artillery of North
with

have

The

limited
guns

Islam Shah (1545-53)

credit
light

for using

guns

on

extent

large

the fact

by

first

decided
scale

that

to

guess

small wrought

resources.

were

this new

slowly

to be studied. One may

different parts of India during the sixteenth century needs

that

spread

skill
should,

adopted

in

the

imperial

to acquire a large number of

to

equip
however,

the

imperial
go

artillery

to Akbar.

30
see Henry Cousins,
For a detailed notice on Malik Maidan,
Bijapur
Irvine, The Army of the IndianMoghuls,
1916), pp. 29?31. Compare William
31
ut Tawarikh, i, ed. by Ahmad Ali,
'Abdu'l Qadir Badauni, Muntakhab
so large that each one
Bib. Ind., p. 412. Some of Islam Shah's guns were
Khan entitled Fath Nama-i
thousand men. Cf. Akbar's letter to Mun'im

and Its Architectural Remains (Bombay,

p. 124.
Kabir al-din Ahmad and W.N.
Lees,
of them was dragged by one to two
Gujarat, MS., Maulana Azad Library,
AMU Aligarh, University
171, where Akbar mentions
Collection,
Persian, Akhbar, No.
fifty large Islam Shahi
see
cannons {top-i kalan-i Islam Shaht) still present at Agra around 1572. For an English translation of the document
1497-1575 (New Delhi,
my book, Political Biography of aMughal Noble: Murtim Khan Khan-i Khanan,
1973), pp.
125-30.

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