6. ‘Inscribed Guns from Assam.’’ 
By Raxuat Das Banerst, M.A. 
In a previous paper I have dealt with two Inscribed Guns 
from Assam, which are now in the possession of Mr. W. 
Simson of London. Mr. Gait in his history has mentioned 
several guns, which the Ahom Kings captured from the 
Mughals of Gauhati and Ghoraghat.! Various other travellers 
have, from time to time, noticed the existence of inscribed 
guns in various parts of the now depopulated province of 
Assam. ‘The present paper deals with seven inscribed guns, 
of which four are, at present, in Assam, two in the house of a 
Zemindar in Bhagalpur, and one in the Industrial Section of 
the Indian Museum, 
In January last I paid a visit to Gauripur in the Goalpara 
district of Assam. In the courtyard of the palace of the 
Hon’ ble Raja Prabhat Chandra Barua I found six iron guns, four 
only of which were inscribed. The Raja is descended from a 
Bengali Kayastha, who was appointed Qanungo by the Mughal 
Emperor Jahangir. Most probably, he accompanied Islam 
Khan Fathpuri or Shaikh Qasim. According to the Padishah- 
nama, Sayyid ‘Abu Bakr, the governor of Hajo under Qasim, 
attacked the Ahom kingdom.” The Raja possesses numerous 
Persian documents among which are to be found a number 
of Sanads and Farmans issued in the name of the Mughal Em- 
perors from Jahangir downwards, conferring the Qanungoship 
of different villages on the family. 
The oldest gun hitherto discovered in the province of 
Assam is in the possession of the Raja of Gauripur. It is an 
exact replica of the gun described by Mr. Stapleton of the 
Indian Educational Service.* A monster field gun in the 
grounds of the Gauripur palace stands next in order. Next to 
it comes the gun in the grounds of the Jhawa Kothi, the pala- 
tial residence of Babu Saurendra Mohan Singha of Bhagalpur. 
The gun in the Industrial Section of the Indian Museum 
taken from the Mughals in the time of Gadadhara Sirhha of 
Assam. One of the guns, in the grounds of the Gauripur 
palace, bears a short Persian inscription, which cannot be 
wonteaad made out on account of the absence of all diacritical 
arks. s one and another gun in the grounds of Babu 
Sainte Mohan Singha come last of all. The gun in the 
1 Gait’s Leen of Assam, oe 534. 
2 Ibid., p.1 3 Ante, vol. Vv, Pp. 
