Gunpowder and Firearms: Warfare in Medieval India

138 Pages·2004·11.19 MB·English

by  Iqtidar Alam Khan

Gunpowder: and .F. irearms
,• I
Warfare in M;~dieval India·
Aligarh Historians Society Series
General Editor: Irlan Habib
.
I
Iqtidar Alam Khari
r
OXFORD
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Acknowledgements
This book is the emf product of research begun in µi~ ~3;rlY.
seventies. The research Ire\ to the pl}blication, pf num!!rou's
to
p,apers during the la~t two. decades. I nave .s01,ight ex,plore
1
source material an.d tried to analyse' the _eviaence, in the lareer
contexts. The papers. an: listep in the B~biiography. For "tliis
book, however, I have gone over the ground again, ahcit he
read~r may see that I have cha~ged my views on·ce~~ai~ crucial
matters and given the reasons why.
A part of the source materi~l used in this book was c9llected
by me in the ,Br.itis_hL il;m;i.ry( Lonqon), the Bi9Iigth~que
Nationale (Paris) and the library ,of Maison des 'Sciences de
l.:Homme (Paris)T. hese visits, took place ,in 198'3, 'subsidized
under the Indo-~rench ~uftural ]j:xchange·Progr~ri:rr,.ea nd by
the Indian Council of Historical Research. But the bulk of hie
material leading to the completion. of this book was collected
~t the Research Librarr of the Centre of Advan~ed Stu~y 'in
History and Maulana Azai:ik ~ry, _,:_\l jgar~){uslim JJg iy~rsf.ty·
Some amount of field-work was also widertaken.
In transliteration of Persian words in this, book, I have
iti
largely followed the' sys~/:!~ adppted by Steingass. 'his
Persian-EnglishD ictionary, but without diacritical 'm;rks. Two
of the diacritical marks retained are the raised comma and
inverted comma representing alif-hamza and ain respectively.
In proper names and titles of Persian and Arabic texts the
transliteration is generally sought to be harmoniz<;;d with
viii Acknowledgements
those of Storey in his Persian Literature-A Bio-Bibliographical
Survey. But the names of authors or editors as given in
published books are not altered.
I owe much to advice from Professor lrfan Habib and Mr
Simon Digby. Professor lrfan Habib went throy&"P.t he draft Contents
of the book and proposed many changes most of which I was
happy to accept. Professor Baron De, Professor Aniruddha
Ray, Professor Mujeeb Rizvi, Professor Harbans Mukhia, Mr
Ishrat Alam, Mr N adeem Rezavi, Dr N ajaf Haider and Dr
Ramesh Rawat rendered me help in various ways. This list
would of course remain incomplete without the name of the
late Dr Iqbal Ghani Khan, a leading light of the Aligarh
Historians Society who recently met a tragic end at the hands
of unknown assassins. All these fr~ends went out of th~i.r way
Acknowledgements Vll
in, making availabl~ books and articles not easily accessible to
List of Illustrations Xl
me.J Spec•i •a l thanks are due to Pro\tf essor S.P. Verma fo1 r his
~/dance in selecting and procuring the illustrations hi. this
Introduction 1
volpme, an!1 for making some of the line-draw\figs. I am
be\iqlden to Profess~r Joseph Needham and Professor Denis 1. Appearance of Gunpowder and Early Firearms
Sinor 'for taRihg interest in my researches and oeing generoul in India during the Thirteenth Century 17
with i'nformation and re(~rences. Tlie, Aligarh Historians 2. Gunpowder Artillery in India during the
I
Society kindly agreed to sponsor. the publication of this book: Fifteenth Century 41
It~ te:x;t was proces~ed 'i!n oth ~ 01ffice' of tb,e society' by Mr 3. Indian· Response to European Gunnery:
1498-1556 59
¥,µneer Uddin ~an. the Secretary of the Society,
Professor Shireen. Moosvi, I <}ID deeply indebted for her 'kind 4. Artillery in Mughal India: 1556-1739 91
advi~e on the production of the book. ' 5. The Nature .of Handguns in Mughal India:
'
:sUf:oir qie su;iaineci"support of ~y 'family I wou'ld 'have Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 128
\
6. The Matchlock Musket as an Instrument of
fo~nq it difficult' to coinpl~fe 'tlii~ book. Despite her gfo~ip.$
illnesses, .Kanio saw to it that my attenti1on was not diverted Centralization 143
7. Muskets and Peasant Resistance 164
frpm ,tfie \vork. My son-iri-l~w Dr Abadan Khan Am1ta~a '.a~cl
daughter Seema have SUSt?ined me thr,ough the crucial last Conclusion 191
stage pf writinCTw ith all 'manner 'of help. 'My oth~r daughter
o;., f ... t
NeI elI ima an:<' d h~r hus9an'.d Dr S. Gourinath, checked certain Appendix A: Use of Firearms by the Mongols in
references for me in th'e United States. i ' the Islamic World during the Thirteenth
t' '
Century200
Iqtidar Alam Khan Appendix B: Muhammad Qasim Firishta on the
Introduction of Firearms in the Bahmani
Kingdom 205
x Contents
Appendix C: Toe Alleged Presence of Cannon in
the Delhi Sultanate during the
Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries:
Akram Makhdoomee's and Abu Zafar ,,
1 .
Nadvi's Theses ;2:JQ Illustrations
Appendix D: Re-examining the Origin and Group
Identity of the So-called Purbias,
1500-1800 218
Bibliography 227
Index 247
1. 'A rocketman of Tippu 'i~ action'
[An eight,eeQ.th-century w~tercolout, 'by James
Hunter preserved in Victorfa, Museum~ Kolka~a1 27
2. 'Brass model of an Inclian rdcketman \
(18th century)' • I I
•1
[Co1Jrtesy, Departmeht of Easteth Ar.t, Toe
Ash:qiolean Mus'eum, Oxforll] 28
3. 'The sie~e qfJ)vafaka' . 1
I.•• •
[De:eicted in an Aryanyaka Parvan Jll.alfuscript
pres~rvea' in the Asiatic ·s.o~i~t1 d( Murp.bai.
Cf. Karl J. Kh~nd,alvala and Mot1 C:qandra,
,f
An Illustrated Aryanyaka Parvan in the i~tic
Societyo f Bo1J1,Qapyp,. 36, 19,a nd 20] 43
a
' 4. 'Han9guns depicted in (tfte.erlth3cen'.,tury
•· Jain manuscript'
I ,.I
[Karl J. Kharidalvala ,and }{ofi C~ahdta,
New Documents of Iiulian' Painting, )?late 62] 43
5. 'Three :qiatchJocks ,depicted 1in ~ 'Ht.lm:t.a.:nama
1
illustration'.'
fZweiter B<!,nd,C odicesS e!e.ctlP hot~typiceI mpressi
Facsimile,V ol. LIi/ 1 and 2, _P~ate' (21] 65
6. 'Kazans being used in the B'attle of Panipat
(1526)'
[A section lifted from an illustration prepared at
Akbar's atelier f?o r a manuscript of B} abI uI r::nama
xii Illustrations I
Illustrations xiii
\'
J'
(Persian translation by 'Abd al-Rahim),
14. 'Malik Maidan: ·close;up:of·the muzzle'
presetved in National Museum, New Delhi.
[Photographed in 19631b y Simon Digby} 77
Cf. M.S. Randhawa, Paintings of the Babur-nama, 15. 'Gajnal of Akba1ls, time: ,a sketch'
()" '
p. 52 and Plate XVIII] 65 [Copied in S.P. Verma, ,;,!rt and Material Culture,
7. 'A kazan being used in the Battle of Kanwa, I in the -Paintingso f.A k.bp,r;C's quit,,: Plat~ LXIII,
(1527)' ' I' Fig. 6, from T.W. Arnotd and J ~V.:SW, ilkiqson,
I
[A section lifted from an illustration prepared ! The Librp,ry,o f Chester· Beatty:~ Cqtalogye,·of/Jr,e,
at Akbar's atelier for Babur-nama (Persian Indian Miniatur.es,V QL II, Plate qO] 99
I '
translation by 'Abd al-Rahim) around 1600. Cf. lj 16. 'Top,B ad{i prodqced fo11: i\kbar'.s Rajput tµoble ·
Hamid Suleiman, Miniatures of Babur-nama, Man Singh in 1599'
.,.q #
Plate 89] 66 [The military µ\µseqm of J aigarh (ort\ J aip~r.
8. 'Heavy mortars in action during the siege of Photogt;aph !~~en by .S im op. ,Di,gbYi.n 199~.J 99
1 •1
Chittor (1568)' 17. 'Top Banjq,ri proq-µcFd f.or t'vfan,~ ingh. .µi -~6 p9
I
[Section lifted frqm ..P late ~X~ of Akbar-nama, V.S,.ll6 0Q' 1 " 1 l, 1'
MS, Victoria and Albert Museum, India, [The military museum of J aigar~ forf, Ja ipl.lr.
J
Secti~~ '2, 1896,.',No. 117] 66 Photograph taken by Simon, Digby .iQ. Q99] , 100
9. ' Heavy; mi. o11r taJ r,s ,l i11~ ction during the siege of 18. 'Top Machhq,.y(J,npar9 _ruce9, fm; M<ln,S jp.gli ip1
Ranthambhor (1570)' 1662 fS./\606:., .
J
[Seci:iop lifted from Plate L~XII of Akbar-nama, [The military 'museum of) aigarh (ort, aiRl\1;
MS, Victoria anct' Albert Museum] 67 Photograph taken by Simon Digbl i~ ,199~] 100
10. 'Three zarb-zans in a!Jfl' ction, : l at ll Panipt at (1526)' 19. 'Four zarb;zans and three ·mortars m actio:t;1:
[Secti~n lAfted from Bq,bur-nama.,.M S pres~tved J dH'fll, at,Akb~;:s:atiiih c,tfou~d 1}500; ·•
in National Museum, New Delhi. Illu'stration [Section lifted'. from an illustration in tarik~-i.
a , , ,. . , "' ff, , khandan-i Timuriyah, M~t, ~ud~ Ba!<lisli.O r~ental
prepared at Af~ar!s ~telier ~ro},md,l 600. Cf.
M.S .. Rarn;lhawa, Paintings of Babu;-11;ama, Public Liprary,, ~Jna. 'Cf. Ti171:ur-n;qA,m[bau m~
Plate XVIII] 67 MA Library, J\MU; .Altgarh, P].ate 3 7] 101
two
i1. 20. 'Four zarb-zans and mortars in action:
'Seven qrass ~ns pjscoverf{ !n 1~ QO.q t •
1
1} drawn at Akbar's atelier (1600)'
Diwanbagh. near Dhal<.ka, one of ~hich carries
[Section lifted from Plate LXIX in Akbar-nama,
Sher Shah's inscription'
[Photo ,rep~opuceq' 1£rom p:p.S en, J>urva-Vangu MS, Victoria and Albert Museum] 102
Gitika, Vol. ~I• . Pari I1] 75 21. 'A gunner firing a light cannon res.ting on a
12. 'Sections of a gun 1discovered at Diwanba.s.f1 fork from the rampart of a fort (1600)'
that carries Sher Shah's inscriptio.µ' [Section lifted from Plate XIII in Akbar-nama,
0:0.
[Photo reproduc;ed from Seri, Purva-Vangu MS, Victoria and Albert Museum] 104
Gitika, yol., II,, Part II]' ' 75 22. 'The light cannons being fired from the top of
13. 'Malil<'.'Maidan1 a gateway (1600)'
[Pho.togr~phed in 19~3 ?Y Sill!on l)igby, [Section lifted from Plate LXIV in Akbar-nama,
Bon~guil, Rozel, J 'r.rsey, Channel' Islapds, UK] 76 MS, Victoria and Albert Museum] 105
I
I
xiv Illustrations
'
I
23. 'The line of gunners firing light ,cannons arid
heavy muskets from the rampart:
[Section lif~ed from. Rlare LXIV, "in Altbar-rw,ma,
MS, Victoria and Albert Museum] 106
24. ':As haturnal and' its' mount preserved in the Introductioµ
Red Fort Archaeological Museum' .I 1·
[Copied from Vankaj K. Datta, 'Cannon in
India during the Mughal Days', Bulletin of the
VictoriaM emorial, Vols. III-.:IY, 1'969:...70,p p. 35, ..
37, and Fig. l] ' 106
25. ':AH tass shdturnal·p res'ervect'in Alwar Mu'seutnl'
1
[Sketch copi~d from Panka,i K. Datta, 'Cannoh 1
in India 'lluring''the Mugllal Da.ys\•·Bulletinb f '
VictoriaM emorial,,V ols. UI-i'v, 1969-70, pp. 35', '
40,'al)cl"\.~:."'21 8] 108 Gunpowdctr and firearnis rtprese:r;it a tech:qolpgy which .from
l '· t· l'
26. ':AD h~n~k ~ith )i1~m t\Sket' '' '· "• hs inception and in :p.ractically ~11i ts ,forms i~ ~itficqlt to
,I restrict• to par~icular regiqns, and, .cultures, for ,.puwpses. of
[Sketcli:1re pt~dµced fi-om James S~nn,er,~ ! , :· .
study. I The impact,of,g'unpowder on state an~.so~it_t:ylia.sa ls_o
Tashriha l-aqw,qm,M. S, Br. Lib., Add. No. 27255,
f. 186bj,,f had' worldwide ramifications. In pre-mqdern Oro.es, t}us
'•I• , • I 169
techn'ology ,manifested. a tendency .to .spr,ead a,cros.s, t.lit
27. .':AB ~iragi carryiri~ a musket' · "' ,
[Sketch re1 pr~ qduced ;J l ft r~ o!Il ;J~' I mi es Skinner, ,. . continents at a pace tha,t, by c;ontempor~ry. ,Stand,arq.&w,,~ ~
exl'eptionally "'swift., Recipeg, for ptoducjng1 ·gi.mpo}Vder
Tashriha l-aqwd1;,MJ,,~, , )Ir. tibi,.,fdq. No. 27255,,
detonations, anc;l pyrotechn,ic, 'cleyices,o f IP.ilitarys ign\fic4nce
f. 101a] r 170
1 based on gunpowder, d~velop.es:Lin (:::hina in, the, fi,rst h<ll.(,Qf
28. ':AM ewa~i carrying'.,.a inusr-el!' • a,nq
I 1 I the thirte;nth ~entury, se~m.to .hav.e re~ch(:,c(t he,.Isla~~
[Sketch reproduceq from J pmes Skinner,
Tashriha l-a,'qwa~1/¥S1, Br.L ib., ~a<.;.J N o. 2.1255, world, .and.then Inctfa and.Eurpp~ befo!~ ilit;.e nd_o f tire SaJne
f. 70b] 11'1 century. 2 Skill 1n them~nufactui;e and.use of fireqrII).SP ;~per--:
cannon and "handgun-,--dev;eJpped .:in ,,Em;;ope durmg th~
,' I fourteenth, century, ,and then spread, tq the. different parts 9f
I • world with ;equal swiftness.3 ;Ib.i,s,second,.w a.ve of the sp;re~1
1
· of gunpo~de11 technology had fai::;r(!achitig SOi;,iQ:P.0Ji,tiq1l
. consequences on,r a ..g lqbal scale} B'y the b~gip.µil}g 9f ,t~f!
•. fifteenth .Ct!ntury,'.t echnological )Skills in gunppwd~i; u.~e,,} !1
• I . one o'r other form, had already reacJ;ted,d iff~rept p,a,rtso f Asi~
) )
r and AfricaJ,,From the.end.of tqat, century, fiJ;J!~,h,,t;l_ped
in securing European dominationJ qvet ~uch o~ ,tqe, worl.<!,
including th~ New World.6 Si11wltan,eously,1it, c;,OQ..Jr~~\lfedt
according to several historians, to the rise of ~ ...nu~
liighly centralizec;l empires in the Islamic world as well as other
/ L
2 Gunpowder and Firearms ·
•Introduction 3
parts of Asia and all of eastern Europe: thes.e polities have;
The Chinese ha'd been making use 'Of gunpowder for
indeed,· been characterized as 'gµp.powder empires:_,7
military purposes even pridt ,to 1230. The early. Chirrese
Given the nature of the spread of gunpowder technology, fir~arms were, basically emptors; usetl for throwing fire either,
I first take up the detail~ of its diffusion and improvement on
by igrtitirtg a charge inside a barrel ol"by packing it in a missile
the global scale down to the end of the sixteenth c;.entury.: rhis
thrown by ·a tnechartical·devite. The...use...oLthe_sg·eu npowder
should ho_peful!y set ~he background to a~y of the history based:.We.apo.!!§_walse arnt~by the Mongols from their~'Chin;
of gunpowder m Ind1~. The second part of the introduction Tatar, and Sung adversaries in China in the first "half of the
surveys the available source material on the basis of which the thirteenth century:.121 Towards the middle of tH'e thirteenth
. evolution and consequences of gunpowder technology in
ct!rttu~, the Mongols; i!!._!heir military c:anma.igns ,jn. .the
India can be explored.
Islamic world, reportedly used devices which co\lld be identified
as firearm~·~t Chinese ori~in: mrmely, huo pao (an incendiary
shell. c~rrymg 'gunp-owdet ch,;uge) and huo ch'iang (an emptor
cons1stmg of a Qamboo tube).13 Another pyrotechnic device
already recognized in China a'.sa :w eapon of war by 1•230w as
~e combustible nature of a mixture of t,Ulphur; -saltpetre,. and'
the,rotket worked with gunpowder th'at travelled to 'the Islamiu
'charcoal appears to have beeri first discovered in China. The
world, Ifldi.t; and Europe ~during the tliiiteeriih century--:14
earliest desqiption of' the making of an ·explosive powtler,
1n i:he development ·of firearms,, the introduction or the
·tesembling gunpowde"r in its tom.position, an9 properties~ is
cannon proved a cruci,i\l turning point. The cannon made its
given in a Chinese military handbook, issued in 1044. s By
appeatance alhlbst simultaneouslt in ·Europ~ .and China
'1230', according· to Needham,' the pottion bf nitl"ate in the
during ·t he first •hM ·bf the· fourteenth centurY. "!be earliest
gunpowder used in'China-was raised to·the point of making
representation of ·a Eurdp'ean 'cartnon in a!manuscript dates
explosions and detonations possible.~ In Europe, on the other
back t<>1' 326;15 the earliest dated Chihese.sp'ecimen·is from
hantl, the earliest mention of gunpowder r¢ipes occurs in the
1288.16 Within a·few,dedtde~ of the cannon's' first appearance
wqrks of two late-thirteehth-tentury experts of fireworks,
in the West, it· was introduce.cl into different regions of N ortli
namely, Mark 'th~ Greek' and Ro~er B'acoh. It is possible to
Africa a'.nd the ·Ottoman Empire', in the form in which -it had
trace 'the origin of. the recipes gi"9'eni n Mark: the Greek's Liber
developed in Europe. It reached Mamluk Egypt some time in
Ig:n,i~ to the work of a co.nternporary Arab writer, N ajm al-
the 1370s.17.B y i:h'ee nd bf rhe fourteenth centuf'}' the cannon
'Din Hasan al.:Rafumah, and rhtough him,, toithe early Chinese
was,already being used in Russia18 and the Balkan states, as
texts.10 ~ecip~~ ·given by Roger' Bacon seem to represent a
parallel traditioh' of pyroteclinics which possibly had an w~ll as,the 0t~omati Empire. 19·The same period 4lso possiply
witnessed the mtroduction of cannon-making in Central Asia,
·intlependent origin. But Bacon wrote his forrm.rlae in code,
Iran, and' India, As I fiave argued' elsewhere, -the whapon
which was not,tleciplietea tilt the bdginning of the twentieth
me"ntioned ih the Persian t(!Xtso' f tl;ie fifteenth century as ra 'd
century;· nor was the ratio of saltpetre ih liis •recipes sufficient
tb produce1 a pyrotechnic 'reaction. 11 The recipes of Chinese or kaman-i ra 'd, then known all over West Asia as well as India
had la ll the features of proper. cannon',pieces.20 -, '
Ci~igirgr iveh in 'Liber'1gnium,t heh, cbnstituted the only' know
viable frclnpowdet':t'.ethnoloITTa'v ailable to fcffirteenth-century The early,•ChineSe cttnnons, "aS' compared to those ,of
Europea~ manufacture, were ~rude artifacts for· throwing
Eµropeattpyrotechfiists who aimed to harness gunpowder for
pellets with tlte help of energy produced by the igr;iition of
militaty tise.
gunpowder charge packed inside a metallic tube. From the
4 Gunpowder and Firearms Introduction 5
very beginning the Chintse produced vase-shaped ,mortars achievement .of. industrial technology' of the period. 'While
cast in bronzt'l, and occasionally guns cast in iron. Qn th~ manufacture of cannon was the real "heavy,industrf!', on the
whole, these were inferior in performance and finish to th9&e handgun were lavished all the fruits of ihcreasing mechanical
made in, Europe. Them is-ino evide.nGe. gqggesting ~ny sophisticatidn attaine~ during that period.' 28 The development
significant advance made by the Chinese in the art of of the" art of 'manufac'turing tHe cannon from a technique
manufacture and handlingr .of guq.s .dur.ing the fifteenth based on the use of'wrought-iron fo one'Sased on casting in·
centuryP,A similar lack of development may,:b, e· seep in the bronze, 'and from that, to 'Casting 'in fron,;was·accompanied'
technique of' gun-making known in Central Asia, Iran,, aJld by a significant advance'in•metallurgy. 29 The success in iron ..
India during the same. century. 22 On comil)g 'into contact with casting achieved,ln Europe was at•least partly the result of the
the Chinese in the second decade of th~ ,sixteenth century, the constant searcq by tfie European experts foi-a more ecohomical
Portuguese were not impressed by their gut;1s2.3 Guns produced material than bronze . for the making of guns,..3~ and it
in China as well as elsewhere in Asia,before.1500 thu~, lackeq represented a· major techrtologicat ,advance;1aying the basis
the effectiveness and effiE:iency of.th~ ,European weapons Qf for the·development of mbdernt industry. The introquction of
that timt'l. This sh·ould partly ,explain.th~ abs,ence of .any larg~J the cannon also necessjtated sign1fi£ant changes in ~iege.J~raft:
import of ChineSe cannons into neighbouring GentraL ,Asip1 the~ lay.out of forts.3 \ and the· designs, of warships. 32
and also the Jack., of the effective use of cannons in the, military tThe im:reasin~ sophistication of the han,dguh in the ·west,
operations in ·inland Asian. ,warfare , during tQ.e fifteenth from the simple arquebus of tlie early periotl, "tot he'matchlocks;
centbryJ 4• • I wheel-locks, and flintlocksi 0£.llie sixteenth and seventeenth
1
The handgun;: seems, to have been mainly a E.wopefln centuries, meant a manifold, increase in the weapon's
invention. ,It apparently developed from, a" light, piece. of effectiveness·. This dev.elopm.ent w,asf acilitated by the invention
artillery that could be carried. An·,artillery ,piece ,SQ carried of different kihds ,oil precision device&r fop reguh\ting .. the
was. introduced in both Europe and China at.<\ very early ignition of the gunpowder cha:r;-geih side the ·barreL by the use
stage. A gun 0£ this genre is .depicted in a panel, of sculptured of a:· trigger, add also th'rough .itnprov'ements in ,the ,material
figures at the Buddhist cave-temples of Ta-tsu in Szechuan. 25 and· desighl o:f the,,,barrel. With ,these· improvizations;, the
The itarnal of,Akbat'&·arsenal 21Lperhaps-descended.fr9m the effectiveness' of medieval, cavalry 1agafust ,musket-wielding
same Chinese firearm: .But it :,Wams ainly in the West that, with infantrymen was'"consi'd.erably. reduced, thereby necessitating
the·passage pf time, a'number of mechanical·devices origjnally a thange in battle tactics.and army.oi:gahization. 33 It .could
developed·fdl" differeht types of'cross-bows. ;were transferred not but disturb the existing 'balanctt of power ainoh~1states!
to· this· weapon, .making. it a new, personal, weapoI\ of great The slowing down 'of the Ottoman expansion. in .El.Jrope
a
effectiveness, and, aco.iracy. 1ln:d ue course '·muskets, ,made of during the sixteenth century was perhaps due,.1i n, large
1
wrought-iron ·and fitted: ,with matchlocks (later, flintlqcks), measure, to die growing effectiveness ,of ,the handguns useo
came into vogue: these could be produced at a relativel)l low by -European infantrymen, As ea:dy as• the begi:q.nil}.go f the
cost.27 i seventeenth century, ,Ottoman military experts· had bec'ome
The improvements introduced in the cannon ap.d the conscious of this· weakness,.of their/ca~alry•wheni,faced• by
• I
handgun in Europe during •the• sixteenth and, seventeenth musketeers, and had begun to requesl! the,,Sultan •for .a larger
centuries were of far-reaching significance. Artillery dev~loped number ,of matchlockmen for campaigns on the •western
in Europe durin,9 the sixteenth· and seventeeyith centuries .is frontier. In 1602, a report submitted,by an Otfo.q:ian general
said -to have represented, in· many ways, 'the highest confessed:.
,
.
6 qunpowder and Firearms Introduction 7
... in the field or during a siege, we are in a distressed position, exclu_sione dict of 1636 whic;h suppressed foreign jnnovations,
because ~he greater part of the enemy [German] forces are infantry including, firearms,., Ulti~ately;. die ,San;i,urai,/the prof e~sional
armed with musket, while the majority oftmr forces are hqrs~men, mounted warrior, ,retained his: high status and ,the musket
and we have very few specialists skilled in the musket ..: so the wielding infantryman was. reduced ~o,a very insignificant and
tufang andaz [musk~t-armed]Janisseries, under their agha, ~ustjoin lowly position in the Japanese military· s.ystem.t0 r
the imperial army promptly.34
There is another important aspect.to· the spread of firearms.
,,,
·Such awareness of the inadequacy of the traditional cavalry , )"he increasing use o£fiu:.arms from thd middle of the fifteep.th
led . to ~ gre?ter ,emphasis on equipping the elite corps of ·century,onwards is often seen as a arqcial factor in toc_riseof
Jamssenes with muskets, which, as, David Ayalon,points .out, highly centralized monarchical states aJ.1,o,x er the world. 4n
enabled the Ottomans to hold on to their European provinces Europe it was a manifestation of1!~e pv~rall weakening 0£ the
for a Jong time. 35 position of the gehtry, as against;ithe king1 during. the fift~enth
In every society, except possiblY' the Chinese, the rise of .cen,tury.. This was ,a direct , consequence of the increasing
mili~ary pe~sonnel specializing,in firearms was marked by ~ yulnerability .ofsignioral castlesit o the field,artillery maintained
h?st~le response from professional cavalry, whose supremacy by ,~e king and of the greaten,eifectivehe~s: of, !he mysk~k
w1thm the.army was now endangered."· Feudal knights -a:µd:their ;wieljing .jnfant:ryme!1 _agains..t ,mount~. ~knig}i~ 41 This
retainers in Europe have been represented as despising .the ·phenomenon, •in an altered form, ·seems, tb have become
miiske't~ieldip.g infantrymen, down to the time'of:Cervantes prominent i~ the Islamio East with,the-rise of the 'gu!lpqwd~
..·.· II
(1547-d616).'36·Treattses in Arabic on the art 9frh~rsemariship, empires', :qamelyi he Ottoman.Empire! the Safavid Empite, the
the so-called furusiya texts,, reveal the strong antagonism, of Uzbek Khanate, ana,the,~ughal· F;ip.pire~ n·I?~~~-D. ,uting the
cavalrymen in Egypt. and Syria. to firearms· during the ea'fly si:».teenth century, .these highly centralized I states .together
phase of their introduction;in.fuese c01,mtries'.T his antagonism controlled the, whole of, West Asia,. Cen'trai Asia, and a major
~as not·niitigated- during tlre··petiod :0£M ,amluk :rule. Ayalon part of: South ·Asia.42. As Mars.hall· Ho~gson p9ints oµt, the
1s not far wrong when he attributes 'the Mamluks' iaversion to changes tprompted by the• inttoduction of firearms in these
the use of cannon.iwbattle lo this·antagonism. Tl}.e 'inferior states w~re not restricted ro army. organizatiphs. The firearms
status of the 11.tntlgun-wiel,ding infantrymen"in the .Matnluk also' gave an increased advantage 9ver l9cal miliGµ}'·g arrisons,
army may also be explained in 'the light of •the ·same to a w,ello rganised central po}Yerw hich could afford artillery'. 43
prejudice. 37 Shahrismail Safavi!s: failure· to use firearms at In the· Far East, as we hctve seen, a ~iIJ1il~rs itµatioh see~ to
Chaldiran (i514) is· again attributed to a• !similar prejudice have .developed j.p:]a part, with the introductio:t;t of, European
among' his Qizilbas,h, that is, Turkic followers. 38 fireqrms, especially, muskets,,•dtlring the second half of the
At the time of,,th(! introduction• .of European firearms in sixteenth.century. These became in the early, decades of their
Japan through contact by-the· Portuguese; t,he·'Samurai were introduction the .means of political ·unification,, leading. to the
a_ss· trongly prejudiced agairtst diem as the feudal. knighfs of emergence oflargen feudal units tl1an hadheen, fhe case so.far.4 4
sixteenth-century Eur~pe. But as.the fitearms were,helpful in The early handgun, .a comp<J:ratively- :,imple device, ..could
promoting political unification, which suited the larger interests be manufactured by the ordinary blacksmith with his primitive
of•the warrim class, :no move was mqde by them to·suppress tools. The cost of producing an arquebus was sometimes not
firearms down to Jq87/ 9 The first step in the direction of more than that of a middle ,quality bow.45 It is, therefore,
discouraging firearms .was·H idiyoshi's proclamation of 1587 l\ndersta~d.a~l~ ~hat withiq a. &ho,i;t~u p.j:i!t ,wo1:1lfcl ome wimin
asking the people to surrender all weapons. Then came the the reach.,o( people wbj~ct t.o,,~fa,te5thi at p.os~e~~e~f irearms.