The Thanjavur Cannon - Raghunatha Nayak (1600-1645 CE)

Sridhar

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Tanjavur Cannon

There is one object of heritage value in Tanjavur that not many visitors would have seen. It is the Tanjavur Cannon, a mighty Cannon of forge welded iron built during the reign of Raghunatha Nayak (1600-1645 CE). This 25 ft long Cannon weighs 22Tonnes. The outer diameter is 37 inches and the inner dia 25 inches can fire a cannon ball (iron) of 1000 Kg weight. No wonder it finds fourth place in the list of Largest Cannons fired in the World History.This Cannon was named "Rajagopala Beerangi (Cannon), but popularly known as "Daasimettu beerangi" is placed on an elevated (25'high) defense barricade at the eastern Rampart of the Tanjavur Fort. Surprisingly many people living in Tanjavur may not be aware of the existance of such a huge Cannon in Tanjavur. Since I stayed with my uncle on the same road on Rampart I saw this Cannon when I visited Tanjavur for the first time in 1946.

Interestingly though many locals may not be aware of such thing of heritage value is there in their Town, this Cannon finds a place in the list of Largest Cannons in World History.
Brahmanyan: Tanjavur Cannon
 

KS

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Looks great...but such a huge unwieldy piece..how it would be of any practical value ? I mean how they could move it around, raise/lower, swivel it quickly enough etc ?
 

Tolaha

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^^It did not have to swivel much I suppose. It was probably built hoping that the enemy would come only from the eastern gate! :heh:
 

Kunal Biswas

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Looking at its condition from beginning, I am assuming there are no records left ( Careless ) how its done..

Though during its time it must have same carriage as Danes had...



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There is almost no care given since colonial days..
 

Kunal Biswas

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Sridhar

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Let me quote it for you

On 21 October, Giedde received a letter from Raghunatha Nayak who
requested Giedde to come up to Tanjore to visit him. 'He sent horses down to me,
since he looked forward to talking to me'. Already the day after, Giedde arranged
catamarans to transport two cannons ashore as well as one hundred matching
canon balls as gifts for the Nayak as suggested by Crappe.

Page 30 & 31
13th (of December 1620) I bid the Naik's cannons specialist farewell after
having nicely presented him with gifts and a letter to the Naik telling how I
had with great difficulties let twelve of the fleet's biggest cannons be
transported ashore
, as I hoped that he would stick to his promise and lend
us 600 barrows of pepper.
Page 35
But then it is a asymmetric account

As such
Ove Giedde's report to the Danish king can be read as an asymmetrical account
depicting his vision of the world, his presentation of the specific contact and
events he found worthy of revealing to his lord. Unfortunately, we do not have
any Tamil accounts of this first Indo–Danish contact.Page 36
Ove Gjedde - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The ship names mentioned in the pdf and wiki match.

Denmark

The ships had displacement more than 1500 tonnes and many guns ( min being 10) . The cannon weighs 22 tonnes can be transported easily by them.
 

Kunal Biswas

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So, If we go through this account..

This is not a Made In India gun..


Though many other source argue that this is a Indian Made Cannon..
 

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