Rajagopala Beerangi, Thanjavur fort

Cannons are deadly weapons yet they are fascinating objects. During my historical tours I made sure to check out the cannons in and around my routes. The largest ones I'd seen were in Bidar, Vijayapura (Bijapur) and Kalburgi (Gulbarga). I've collated the information in the post: Largest cannons of Karnataka. My curiosity about cannons isn't limited to just Karnataka. I've seen photos of Jaivana cannon at Jaigarh fort, Rajasthan. Apart from that I'd not come across any other large gun...

On Dec 28th while seeing Whatsapp status of my friend Pramod a set of pictures caught my attention. In those pictures was a massive cannon. The cannon was seriously huge, as large as Badi Tope at Bidar fort or even larger. Wondering how I missed this massive cannon. Now the question where is it situated? Since Pramod was touring Thanjavur the previous day, I guessed it must've been a cannon from Thanjavur fort and later confirmed it. Here's Pramod Potdar posing with Rajagopala Beerangi, the cannon of Thanjavur fort.

The cannon is situated on a turret on the eastern side of Thanjavur fort. It is said to be manufactured in 1620 CE by Tamil engineers during the rule of King Raghunatah Nayak. Presently the cannon is mounted on three stone-pedestals. The original mounting arrangement would have a swivel system to adjust its aim on to the target. Coming to it's name, Beerangi is the Tamil word for cannon, which is similar to it's Kannada counterpart Pirangi. This cannon is a fine example of forge-welding technology of the XVII Century. Unlike the commonly seen cast metal guns at some of the forts / museums, this is a forge-welded steel cannon. If you look at its surface, you see a series of rings welded together. Other examples of forge-welded cannons are: 1. 20' long cannon at Kalburgi fort and 2. Landa Kasab Tope on the southern ramparts of Bijapur fort.

Coming to its physical dimensions, it is approximately 7m (23') long with 1m (3.5') diameter barrel. The bore diameter is approximately 0.5 m (20"). Going by these dimensions, its weight is approximately 32 tons. And going by its estimated bore diameter, a 500 kg steel ball would be a projectile for this cannon. Imagine the scene of a 500 kg steel ball flying a few kilometers and the havoc when it bombards its target! In the picture below, the curved iron strips strengthen the mouth of the bore to withstand forced while loading the steel ball, and also when the ball is discharged.

Though this cannon is a protected artifact, there seems to be no information board at the site. ASI / Tourism department must post a short writeup for the benefit of tourists. Just like our ancient sculptures, temples, palaces, & forts, cannons are also engineering marvels. They need to be highlighted since they are potentially case studies for students of metallurgy.

Before closing this post I would like to thank Pramod for the photos. I would also like to mention that photos of Bonsai Baobab of Shukavana, Mysuru are his. Based out of Pune, Pramod is an avid traveler & trekker, traveling in every possible direction of our diverse country. He and his friends form a wonderful team, they've done some serious trekking in the Himalayas and Sahyadri Ghats.

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