I have a few questions about the use of gunpowder/firearms in our country.
1. What is the first known instance of the use of gunpowder in India? 2. What is the first known instance of a gunpowder-based projectile (rocket-like) in India? 3. When was a cannon first used in India? I read that at the First battle of panipat, Babur had 20 cannons while Ibrahim Lodi had none. Does this mean that the cannon was introduced into India by the Mughals?
hai arun as far as i know babar brought it in. The oldest evidence for the use of cannon is a relief carved by Buddhist monks in China in 1128, where a cannon is portrayed among other weapons of war. In the West, the use of cannon was first recorded in the battles of the early 14th century, for instance in 1324, chinese used to fill bamboo holows with gunpowder. if one side was sealed it was a rocket. if both were sealed then it was a bomb.
though we have pictures of Mongols throwing bombs against a charging Japanese Samurai during the mongol invasion of 1281. however there is no record of them using such items during invasion of delhi in 1280 during allaudin khiljis time during the same time malik kafur used fire balls( made of camel hair charcoal powder and dung) which was thrown using catapults on the warrangal fort. warrangal fort of pratap rudra had two walls. the space between the two walls were filled with ponds and rice farms. so they could defend themselves from a siege almost indefinitely. malik used these fire balls to burn the paddy fields and then starved the inmates into submission( year approximately 1300)
interestingly, very recently those who made the trip to tanjore were able to see a cannon in a house whose inmates were kind enough to give us a tea. ( after seeing the cannon none of us even wasted a drop of the tea)
Yup, I know before Babar, most of the sources cite only China for gunpowder. I was just looking for sources that identify the use of gunpowder by Indians. didn't know Malik Kafur used fireballs. If so is that the first instance of their use? I am sure that isn't the case. So when was the first recorded use?:)
Thanks. But the question still remains, FIRST use of firearms/gunpowder in India? :) I checked on goole and there seems to be a book called History of firearms in india. Think I should get it!