340 . Mediaeval and Modern Ordnance. [July, 
this gun does not appear. Next in importance is the 
renowned great gun of Beejapore, Malik-i-Mydan, or Lord 
of the Plain, forty tons in weight, cast at Ahmednugger in 
the reign of Boorhan Nizan Shah I., a.H. 956 or a.D. 1548, 
under the superintendence of the General of Artillery, 
Muhammad Vin Hassan Roumi, that is, of Constantinople. 
Notwithstanding its great weight, Colonel Meadows Taylor 
considers that this gigantic cannon could be brought to 
Bombay, v4 Sholapore, whence it could easily be trans- 
ported to the Repository at Woolwich. General Lefroy 
says :— 
“The superstition of the Hindoos long ago converted this 
gigantic cannon into an object of worship, and they might 
be seen placing offerings of flowers and copper coins within 
the muzzle. It is believed to have been last fired on the 
occasion of a visit of the Rajah of Sattara to Beejapore in 
the last century, and the people gravely assert that it 
caused all the pregnant women within hearing to miscarry. 
The charge was 80 lbs. of powder. The shot, of which 
several remain, are made of fine hard basalt, and weigh 
about 1000 lbs. It is mentioned in the ‘‘ Journal of the 
Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal” (Vol. I), that an Italian 
who served in the Mogul armies under the title of Rumi 
Khan, had this gun in his park of artillery, and used it 
in several battles, occasionally firing sacks of copper coins 
Outiol it.’ 
The Dhool Dhanee, ‘The Disperser or Scatterer,” or 
great gun of Agra, cast in 1628, was broken up and the 
material sold for over £3000 in 1832; fortunately Major- 
General Boileau took careful measurements of it before its 
economical and ignoble destruction. That these huge 
pieces were by no means uncommon appears from the fact, 
that the Malik-i-Mydan was one of 7o1 cannon abandoned 
in the disastrous retreat from Kulliani, A.D. 1562. Many 
other fine specimens of Indian guns, such as the large 
Bhurtpoor cannon at Woolwich, cast as late as 1677, might 
be quoted to show the remarkable skill in metallurgical art 
possessed by the Asiatic races, in which the Chinese and 
Japanese were not behindhand. Perhaps the most remark- 
able gun, being the largest in calibre, viz. 36 inches, ever 
cast, is the work of the gunmaker Andrea Ichowhow, of 
Moscow, A.D. 1586, called the Tzar Pooshka, weight 38 
tons. The outline of this gun (Plate 1) is reduced from 
Plate 5, copied from a drawing obtained by General Lefroy 
from Major-General de Novitzky, Aide-de-camp to the 
Emperor of Russia. 
