MALIK -E-MAIDAN THE EXTRA-ORDINARY CANON AT THE BIJAPUR FORT

A canon of an extraordinary nature is today at display at the Bijapur fort. The modern day name of Bijapur is  Vijayapura.

Built in the mid 16th century with turkish designs it could weigh more than 50 tonnes ,today the Canon is at display without the barrel and only the ignition chamber.This canon was basically built by the sultan of Ahmednagar to act as a potent weapon against the Vijayanagar empire..which was used in the battle of Tallikota in 1565.

The English made some attempts to take this system to England after disconnecting the barrel and were only successful at moving it one floor downwards and decided to abandon their plans considering the difficulty involved and today it is a peice of display at the Bijapur fort. After the battle of Tallikota where this Cannon must have done extensive service it was gifted to the Sultan of Bijapur by the king of Ahmednagar.

The Canon must have had a very long range and many large guns that came thereafter were inspired by it like the Guns of Navronne used by the Germans in the second world war.

The key aspect of the canon is a large ignition chamber and when fired made very high decibel noise and a fifteen foot  well was created for the crew to hide as the gun fired at the Bijapur fort.

How this Canon was positioned by the Bijapur sultans on top of this fort is a mystery and an imposing task maybe carried out with many slaves and elephants and the machine was effectively used to ward of threats to the Bijapur fort for many years.

The stairs to the Fort as of now has no railings on the staircases which is dangerous. Railings must be constructed on the sides of the stairs to make it even safer.