Zamzama Gun at Lahore Museum

This massive gun was cast by Shah Nazir upon the instructions of Shah Wali Khan, who was the prime minister in the reign of the Afghan King Ahmed Shah Durrani. The gun has the date of manufacture, names of the monarch and the technician along with verses in Persian molded with floral patterns all over the barrel. At the time of its manufacturing, Zamzama Gun was the largest gun ever made in Indian Sub Continent. An appeal was made before the people for Lahore for the donations for the manufacturing of Zamzama Gun. The metal composition of Zamzama Gun consists of brass and copper. The people also donated many household items and some metal was acquired from these utensils. Zamzama Gun was firstly used by Ahmed Shah in 1761 in the battle of Panipat. In 1762 Zamzama Gun was seized by Bhangis in a battle and named it as Bhangianwala Toap. After some years it was become under the occupation of Charat Singh who snatched it from Bhangi Sardars.  From Charat Singh, Zamzama Gun was carried off by the Pashtuns of Chatha who took it to Ahmadnagar where it became an apple of discord between the Pathan brothers Ahmad Khan and Pir Muhammad.

A fantastic view of Zamzama Gun ( Image Courtesy : Panoramio by Farhan Raza )

With the passage of time, during to usage at different war occasions , Zamzama Gun was damaged badly. At last it was brought back to Lahore and it was placed outside Delhi Gate until 1860. Presently , Zamzama Gun or Zamzama Cannon at Lahore Museum is kept on the Mall which is also known as Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam with Department of Fine Arts, University of Punjab on one side, and National College of Arts (NCA) and Lahore Museum on the other.