Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c20.s3.188

v1.c20.s3.188

¹ We have, in the poems of Chand, frequent indistinct notices of firearms, especially the nal-gola or tube-ball; but whether discharged by percussion or the expansive force of gunpowder is dubious. The poet also repeatedly speaks of “the volcano of the field,” giving to understand great guns; but these may be interpolations, though I would not check a full investigation of so curious a subject by raising a doubt. Babur was the first who introduced field guns in the Muhammadan wars, and Bahadur’s invasion is the first notice of their application in sieges, for in Alau-d-din’s time, in the thirteenth century, he used the catapult or battering-ram, called manjanik. To these guns Babur was indebted for victory over the united cavalry of Rajasthan. They were served by Rumi Khan, probably a Roumeliot, or Syrian Christian. The Franks (Faringis), with Bahadur, must have been some of Vasco di Gama’s crew. [For the use of artillery in Mogul times see the full account by Irvine (Army of the Indian Moghuls, 113 ff.). Manjanik is the Greek μάγγανον. Rūmi Khān was an Ottoman Turk, called Khudā-wand Khān, who learned the science in Turkish service (Erskine, Hist. of India, ii. 49; Āīn, i. 441). Akbar is said to have used Chinese artillery, and to have employed English gunners from Surat (Manucci i. 139; Irvine, op. cit. 152).]