THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 221 
The inscriptions are as follows :— 
(1) There is no God but God, and none beside Him. 
(2) Abu 1 ghazi Nizam Shah-king, servant of the race of the Apostle and of 
the house of God, 956 (a.d. 1548). This is read as a distich by General 
Boileau. 
“The servant of the people is the Messenger of God.” 
“ The slave of the Conqueror is Nizam Shah.” 
(3) The work of Muhammad Ben Hassan Boumi. 
(4) Shah Alum Geer, the victorious king defender of the Faith. He who 
dispensed just judgment, and took the dominion of Kings, conquered Beejapore, and 
for the date of the Victory Fortune shewed her face and said, “ He hath taken 
possession of the [master of the] Field.” Executed in the thirtieth year of the 
reign of the exalted in dignity, corresponding to the one thousand and ninety 
seventh year of the Hegira (a.d. 1685). 
The date is made up by adding together the numerical value of 14 letters. 
Another translation arranges the clauses somewhat differently. Thus : — 
“ Fortune shewed her face and said, He hath taken the Lord of the Battle 
Field, that which he dispensed he dispensed justly, and subdued the country of 
the kings. Shah Alum Geer, the victorious king, defender of the Faith, achieved the 
.conquest of Beejapore, and as to the date of the Victory, in the thirtieth year of 
his exalted reign corresponding to the one thousandth and ninety-seventh year of the 
Hegira.” 
The gun was mounted on an immense iron crutch forming a species of 
swivel, with the breech resting on a block of wood supported by a thick 
wall, so that it could not recoil very much, as Muhammad's guns continued 
to be until von Molke mounted them. The bastion in which it lays bears 
a grandiloquent inscription. 
“ During the reign of the victorious king surnamed Ali Adel Shah, to whom 
by the favor of the Murtuza (Ali), God granted a distinguished victory, this 
bastion was, in the space of five months, made as firm as the strong mountain, 
through the fortunate endeavour of the mighty Shah, at which time an angel in 
delight gave the date of the year, saying, ‘ The Shirza bastion was without an 
equal,’” or Hegira 1079 (a.d. 1668). 
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 a 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 out of it. 
Numerous proposals have been made to transport it to England, and as it 
