Zam-Zammah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zam-Zammah is the name of a large cannon that stands on a plinth outside the Lahore Museum in Pakistan. In the novel Kim, by Rudyard Kipling, the "great green-bronze piece" is described as "that fire-breathing dragon" sitting "on her brick platform opposite the old Ajaib-Gher — the Wonder House, as the natives call the Lahore Museum". The present museum, having been opened only in 1894, is not the one described by Kipling: both the museum and the gun have moved several hundred yards from the original position that they occupy in the novel. In his book 'Quest for Kim' (1996), Peter Hopkirk says that Zam-Zammah was cast in Lahore in 1762 and was the largest gun made in India of its day (over 14 feet long and with a calibre of 10 inches). It was ordered by Ahmad-Shah-Durrani, an Afghan warrior king whose territories then extended to the Punjab. The last time the gun was used was in 1818 but was damaged, and since then has been on display. Hopkirk also says that the gun had a twin which was lost in a river crossing while being taken back to Kabul after a campaign.