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

The Land of Kajants: Language, Kings, and Gods

Reconsidering the Language and Sacred Heritage of Urartu in Armenian Historical Thought For more than…

7 days ago

Hayasa-Azzi: A Powerful Armenian Kingdom of the Armenian Highlands

Among the earliest known states of the Armenian Highlands, few are as historically important as…

3 weeks ago

The Frescoes of Dadivank Monastery and the Misinterpretation of Heritage

The medieval monastery of Dadivank is one of the most important spiritual and artistic centers…

3 weeks ago

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…

1 month 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…

1 month 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 month ago