History

Zamzama cannon cast by an Armenian gunsmith, Armenians in India

Kim is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning English author Rudyard Kipling. The story unfolds against the backdrop of the Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia.

The gun in front of the Lahore Museum described in the first chapter is an existing piece called Zamzama, sometimes referred to as Kim’s gun.

According to Seth in his book, Armenians in India, 115-8, 128, the famous Zamzam gun featured in Kipling’s Kim was cast by an Armenian gun-maker Shah Nazar Khan in 1757 during the Durrani-era for Ahmad Shah Abdali.

Quote from the book, “He sat in defiance of municipal orders, astride the gun Zam-Zammeh, on her old platform, opposite the old Ajaibgher, the Wonder House, as the natives called the Lahore Museum.”

By Mano Chil

Related links: Замзама – Армянское чудо-орудие в пакистанском городе Лахор

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

Armenian Orphan Girls in New York (1917): A Forgotten Act of Witness and Relief

In 1917, at the height of global upheaval during World War I, a small but…

13 hours ago

The Armenian Genocide: State Crime, Mass Participation, and the Burden of Historical Responsibility

The Armenian Genocide (1915–1921 ...) was not an accident of war, nor a tragic byproduct…

5 days ago

The First Printed Armenian Bible (Amsterdam, 1666–1668)

Introduction The first printed edition of the Bible in the Armenian language stands as one…

1 week ago

Armenopolis (Gherla): An Armenian “Ideal City” in the Heart of Europe

Armenopolis (modern-day Gherla, Romania) is a remarkable example of how the Armenian diaspora not only…

2 weeks ago

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia

Regarding the Remarks of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group at the Permanent Council…

2 months ago

The Armenian Genetic Code: An 8,000-Year Unbroken Journey

While empires rose and fell and borders shifted across millennia, one remarkable constant has endured:…

3 months ago