The Death of the Great Agra Gun

A committed artilleryist Col (Retd) EAS BOKHARI traces the origin and history of the great gun at Agra cast either during AKBAR or SHAHJAHAN’S reign

There are many claimants of the invention of gun powder and the earlier cannons. Perhaps the Chinese seem to be the oldest who knew the use of gun powder - (Sulphur, Potassium and charcoal) and used it for festivity. Even a brave Chinese tried to become the first astronaut. He tied a number of crude rockets on a chair and then sat on it. He asked his friends to ignite the rockets. He died of burns. This was perhaps the first effort in conquering space by man.

The Muslim contribution to the development of artillery is significant. This has been partially covered in this very short presentation. The stress however in this short presentation is the behaviour of the British in India and their parochialism as regards the pieces which had been cast by the Muslims - and for which they had developed some sort of inborn antagonism. The magnificent Agra Gun could not have been destroyed and could have remained as an antique/relic rather than ‘killed’ and sold out as a scrap by the British. This behaviour is almost revolting if not altogether unchivalrious. The story of the Agra Gun is one such story - and may be there are more such pieces cast by the Muslims which had met the same ungraceful treatment at the hands of the British and others.

The study of the history of subcontinent reveals that the British had been very discreet in this matter of technology and in many cases the British took away items of interest - the example is the Congreve rocket which was based on a contraption (bamboo rocket) of Tipu Sultan. The Congreve rocket was an improved version and was used with impunity against Napolean.

Who invented the gun powder (black powder) is a moot point. Some specialists in explosives think that it was a Chinese invention and others attribute it to a German monk - and some are of the opinion that its real inventor was the famous English Philosopher Roger Bacon.

And who thought of propelling a ball through a metal tube by exploding gun powder is equally cryptic and shrouded in mystery. The German claim of the monk Berthold Schwartz has clearly been repudiated by experts - as was his claim of inventing the gun powder. It is quite clear that in antiquity the present day relationship between powder and guns did not exist. This in any case was not reciprocating at all, gun and powder being totally distinct items.

According to General JFC Fuller, a great historian of military science and technology apparently the earliest extant document mentioning cannon is one in Arabic; it is dated 1304. The earlier cannon was a cumbersome contraption - totally immobile and of immense size and proportion. The ammunition was rudimentary (not the guided one as of now) and its main contribution to the battlefield was perhaps awe and shattering effect rather than pinpoint accuracy in shooting. Yet the very possession of these monsters was very great military asset. Consequently, the Muslims became great gun casters and this tradition persisted even during the Mughal period in the sub-continent.

Although Galileo may be considered the first ballistician, who really understood the projectile motion in its various facets but the real effective employment of artillery as an arm should be attributed to the Muslims. Here again is a passage from Gen Fuller’s monumental book Armament & History . He writes .... It was, however, at the siege of Constantinople in 1453, that cannon proved itself to be the dominant arm. On April 5, Mohammad II, the first great gunner in history, at the head of an immense army appeared before the city and planted his cannon opposite its triple land wall. There, on the 12th amidst the beating of drums and the shouting of thousands of excited men, the first of the great historical bombardment and the effect which it produced has been shown graphically by Mijatovitch who writes .... Since the creation of the world, nothing like it had been heard on the shores of Bosphours. Yet these guns were terribly slow and it took some two hours to load them - and the great cannon could only discharge seven times a day.

Mohammed’s most formidable pieces were bombards cast for him by a Hungarian or Wallachian cannon founder named Urban. They threw stone shots thirty inches in diameter weighing from 1200 to 1500 pounds. These clumsy pieces required some sixty oxen to drag them, 200 men to march alongside and keep them in position and another 200 to level the ground on which these were to travese. It was a tremendous assemblage and Mohammad had fourteen batteries, consisting of thirteen great bombards and fifty six, smaller cannon of various kinds.

Their overall effect was, however, fulsome and in the words of Fuller again On Tuesday, May 29, after a breach had been made, Constantinople was carried by storm. Thus, ended the Eastern Roman Empire, and thus was finally established Turkey in Europe.

What happened to these great guns is not quite known. Some of these might have been melted or kept in museums - or even have suffered from metal fatigue. This short presentation deals with the fate of a great gun which is generally known as the ‘Agra gun’ and its last abode was the Jamana River bank at Agra. As will be seen the great piece met its fate by dismemberment and death at the hands of the East India Company who thought it worthless and sold its metal off for the fabrication of a makeshift bridge over the river Jamana.

Perhaps the best picture of this gun has been provided by one Seeta Ram (an artist from Morshidabad) who had been employed by one Captain Waugh of the East India Company to produce water colours for him. Seeta Ram’s works were first noticed in 1974, in the London Art market entitled ‘Views by Seeta Ram from Morshidabad to Patna’ Vol I, on paper watermarked John Dickson & Coy 1810.

The great gun has been shown by Seeta Ram as lying at the Beesaram Ghaut and the painting bears the caption Dhoon Hanee or Great Gun lying at Beesaram, Ghaut at Agra. JP Losty writes of this gun as A great gun, whose width at the bore is sufficient to allow people to crouch within, lies dismounted by the river amidst the remnants of Mughal buildings ...... In the distance, apparently across the river Jamana, the Taj Mahal shimmers in the heat haze, to its right is the great gateway of red sandstone, There are conflicting descriptions of this piece but we could possibly describe some of its characteristics and potentials based on the best evidence available. The name given to the gun i.e. ‘Dhoon Hanee corresponds to the Hindustani dhun dhani - a gun’s great roar. (This is corroborated by a number of accounts of British visitors to Agra in the early Nineteenth century). Also known as the Great Gun at Agra, it was decimated in 1833, before it could be really studied in detail. It was one of the largest pieces ever cast. Apparently there is no authentic record of its date of casting (Presumably it was casted during Akbar’s reign or perhaps during Shah Jahan’s reign). Nothing definite is known in this regard. In 1833, it weighed over thirty tonnes. It was fourteen feet two inches in length and four feet in diameter at breech and muzzle end. Its ball was twenty two inches. It was supposed to have shot such a ball from Agra to Fatehpur Sikri (Akbar’s ceremonial capital) and another town Karauli. The ordinance was made of gun metal i.e. copper and tin in the ratio of 9 to 1. On the British capture of Agra from Marhattas in 1803, it was regarded as one of the great prizes of the campaign. The Govt. apparently paid Rs. 70,000 to the captors of the gun. This amount then was equivalent to Pounds Sterling 7000.

The gun came in the documentation of Gen Lake and some of its details communicated to Lord Wellesley were .... the famous piece known by the name of the Great Gun at Agra. It is said to be composed of many metals including all the precious ones. Its ball measure 22 inches: such a one of cast iron weighs nearly 1500 pounds. The ball in fact actually fired was of stone-or even if of marble it would have weighed some 567 pounds and no more. The gun remained in the Beesaram Ghaut for twenty years after its capture.

Here is yet another somewhat authentic looking passage about the Agra Gun - by Lady Maria Nugent who was the wife of Commander in Chief of the Bengal Army and who visited the gun site and Agra garrison on in 1812. She writes in her journal ... One of the gateways (of the town of Karauli) has a large stone exhibited on the top of its arch, to show the size of the ball, said to have been fired out of the great gun at Agra, and lodged at this place, a distance of about sixteen miles! Ñ We saw the gun, lying near one of the gates of the fort at Agra, and carved all over with sentences from Koran. The natives hold it in great veneration, and make pilgrimages to worship it, firmly believing in the story of the ball reaching as a far as this place.

It was, however, the visit of Lord Moira (later Marquess of Hastings, Governor General 1813-23) which almost sealed the fate of the gun. His visit is chiefly memorable for his decision to dismantle the gun and also the half collapsed royal baths in the Fort. These baths were to be shipped to Calcutta. His thoughts on the gun are typical British. From the cantonments to the place where our boat waited for us, the route lay under the walls of the fort. Just at the Ghaut we saw the famous brass cannon. It is probably the largest, certainly the most useless, piece of ordinance ever cast. It lies, without a carriage, on blocks of timber near the ghaut. The transportation of it would not be difficult, but I am told that nothing would more painfully affect the feelings of inhabitants of Agra than the removal of this gun.

With this the fate of the Agra gun was sealed and the gun was eventually put for sale (after having been blown up) - and at the Agra Kotwalee on September 13, 1883, and the largest lot in the sale was bought by one Kunhaee Tuksaleea (Kanhaiya Takshaliya) at a price of twelve annas per seer. The final calculated weight of the gun was 67,618 pounds (30 tonnes 3 Cwt and two quarters eighteen pounds or 845.9 pounds.) That brings about the death of a great gun.

Lord Moira’s comments and the action which he took are anything but deplorable. Whereas if the piece would have been of British origin it would have been transported/exported to UK for some archives or museums but being a stray piece in India and not of a British origin, it met the fate which has been described above.

The technology of that time i.e. the time of the casting of Agra Gun was fairly primitive and the piece had to be large and heavy as there was no state of the art recoil absorbing mechanisms then and only the very heavy pieces could withstand the recoil energy.

It is indeed sad that the piece was salvaged and sold out. it could easily have been preserved.