ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>BHA&#7748G&#298&#256&#7748 D&#298 TOP</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="BHADG*D,TOP"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279BHA&#7748G&#298&#256&#7748 D&#298 TOP, or the gun belonging to the Bh&#257ng&#299 <i>misl</i>, known as <i>Zamzam&#257</i>, is a massive, heavy-weight gun, 80-pounder, 14 ft. 41/2 inches in length, with bore aperture 91/2 inches, cast in Lahore in copper and brass by Sh&#257h Naz&#299r at the orders of Sh&#257h Wal&#299 <u>Kh</u>&#257n, the <i>waz&#299r</i> of Ahmad Sh&#257h Durr&#257n&#299. In English literature, it has been immortalized by Rudyard Kipling as Kim's gun. It is perhaps the largest specimen of Indian cannon-casting, and is celebrated in Sikh historical annals more as a marvel of ordnance than for its efficiency in the battlefield. Yet for its effectiveness it has been called "a fire raining dragon" and "a gun terrible as a dragon and huge as a mountain. "</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The casting of this gun cost the Durr&#257n&#299 invader almost nothing. A <i>jizyah</i> or capitation cess was imposed on the Hindu and Sikh families of Lahore in 1760 by Sh&#257h Wal&#299 <u>Kh</u>&#257n requiring them each to contribute a copper or brass vessel for the manufacture of a cannon. Af<u>gh</u>&#257n and Indian ordnance manufacturers set to work, under the supervision of Sh&#257h Naz&#299r, on casting the metal thus collected into a cannon, which according to the local chronicles of Lahore was completed before 1761. The gun was used in the third battle of P&#257n&#299pat in 1761. Being too cumbersome to move, Ahmad Sh&#257h left it with <u>Kh</u>w&#257j&#257 Ubaid, the governor of Lahore. In 1762, the Bha&#7749g&#299 chief, Har&#299 Si&#7749gh, attacked Lahore and took possession of the cannon. It then came to be known as Bha&#7749g&#299&#257&#7749 d&#299 Top. It remained in the possession of the Bha&#7749g&#299 Sard&#257rs, Lahi&#7751&#257 Si&#7749gh and Gujjar Si&#7749gh till 1764, when the Sukkarchakk&#299&#257 chief, Cha&#7771hat Si&#7749gh, who had assisted the Bha&#7749g&#299s in the capture of Lahore, claimed it as his share of the spoils. Cha&#7771hat Si&#7749gh had it carted to Gujr&#257&#7749w&#257l&#257 with the help of 2, 000 soldiers. Soon afterwards, the Cha&#7789&#7789h&#257s of Ahmadnagar wrested the cannon from the Sukkarchakk&#299&#257 Sard&#257r. A feud arose over its possession between the two Cha&#7789&#7789h&#257 brothers, Ahmad <u>Kh</u>&#257n and P&#299r Muhammad <u>Kh</u>&#257n. In the ensuing battle between the claimants two sons of Ahmad <u>Kh</u>&#257n and one son of P&#299r Muhammad <u>Kh</u>&#257n were killed. Gujjar Si&#7749gh Bh&#257&#7749g&#299, who had helped P&#299r Muhammad <u>Kh</u>&#257n against his brother, took the cannon to Gurjat. In 1772, the Cha&#7789&#7789h&#257s recovered it and removed it to Ras&#363lnagar. It was captured by Jha&#7751&#7693&#257 Si&#7749gh in 1773 and carried to Amritsar. In 1802, when Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh occupied Amritsar, the cannon fell into his hands.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Contemporary chroniclers of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh's reign, particularly Sohan L&#257l S&#363r&#299 and B&#363&#7789e Sh&#257h, record that the Bha&#7749g&#299s used the Zamzam&#257 in the battle of D&#299n&#257nagar which they fought against the joint forces of the Kanhaiy&#257s and the R&#257mga&#7771h&#299&#257s. Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh employed it in his campaigns of &#7692ask&#257, Kas&#363r, Suj&#257npur, Waz&#299r&#257b&#257d and Mult&#257n. To Mult&#257n it was transported in a specially built carriage during the siege of the citadel in 1810, but it failed to discharge. In April 1818, it was again taken to Mult&#257n with reinforcements under Jam&#257d&#257r <u>Kh</u>ush&#257l Si&#7749gh, but its shells proved ineffective against the thick walls of the fortress. In these operations, the cannon was severely damaged and it had to be brought back to Lahore, unfit for any further use. It was placed outside Delhi Gate, Lahore, where it remained until 1860. When in 1864, Maulaw&#299 N&#363r Ahmad Chisht&#299 compiled the <i>Tahq&#299q&#257t-i-Chisht&#299</i> he found it standing in the B&#257r&#257dar&#299 of the garden of Waz&#299r <u>Kh</u>&#257n, behind the Lahore Museum. During the years following the British occupation of the Punjab, many a legend grew around this massive relic of the Sikhs' victory over the Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns. In 1870, it found a new asylum at the entrance of the Lahore Museum, then located in the Tollinton Market. When the present building of the museum was constructed it was removed further west and placed opposite the University Hall. Repaired in 1977, the cannon now rests opposite the Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology of the Pa&#328j&#257b University at Lahore.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The cannon bears two Persian inscriptions. The front one reads : "By the order of the Emperor [Ahmad Sh&#257h], Dur-i-Durr&#257n, Sh&#257h Wal&#299 <u>Kh</u>&#257n waz&#299r made the gun named Zamzam&#257 or the Taker of Strongholds. " The longer versified inscription at the back eulogizes its bulk and invincibility. "A destroyer even of the strongholds of the heaven. " The following verses at the end of the inscription contain a chronogram :</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;From reason I enquire of the year of its manufacture;</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Struck with terror it replied,</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Wert thou be willing to surrender thine life,</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I wouldst unfold unto thee the secret. "</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I agreed, and it said, "What a cannon!</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Tis a mighty fire-dispensing dragon!"</blockquote></p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> S&#363r&#299, Sohan L&#257l, '<i>Umd&#257t-ut-Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u></i>. Lahore, 1885-89<BR> <li class="C1"> Hasrat, B J. , <i>Life and Times of Ranjit Singh</i>. Nabha, 1977<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>Ranjit Singh Maharajah of the Punjab</i>. Bombay, 1962<BR> <li class="C1"> Muhayy ud-d&#299n, <u>Gh</u>ul&#257m (alias B&#363&#7789e Sh&#257h), <i>Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u>-i-Pañj&#257b</i> (MS. in the Dr Gan&#7693a Si&#7749gh collection of the Punjabi University, Patiala).<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Sard&#257r Si&#7749gh Bh&#257&#7789&#299&#257<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>