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[[File:Ahom cannons.jpg|thumb|Ahom era cannons, preserved at [[Assam State Museum]]]]
'''Ahom artillery''' included many [[gunpowder]]-related armaments and was a very important dimension of the [[Ahom kingdom|Ahom]] military technology. It is believed that fire-arms were first introduced at the time of [[Afghans|Afghan]] invader Turbak Khan's invasion in 1532, but reference related to firearms is found much prior to that date, in 1523–24, Ahoms received 69 fire-arms after defeating the [[Chutia Kingdom|Chutiya]]s.<ref>"...the Ahoms got 69 fire-arms from the [[Chutia Kingdom|Chutiyas]] whom they defeated in 1523." {{harvcol|Baruah|1986|p=397}}</ref> More sources mention firearms being employed in the service of Ahoms, before the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] origins.<ref>{{harvcol|Sun|2000|p=45}}</ref> [[Jean-Baptiste Tavernier]] even believed in that "it was from Assam that the use of gunpowder had entered the kingdom of China."<ref>{{harvcol|Kakoty|2003|p=172}}</ref>

A Mughal account states in 1662: "They cast excellent matchlocks and ''bachadar'' artillery and show great skill in this craft. They make first-rate gunpowder..."<ref name=":0">{{harvcol|Sun|2000|p=45–46}}</ref>

[[Ram Singh I|Ram Singh]], who led the invasions of Assam in the 1660s–1670s, commented:<ref name=":0" />
<blockquote>Every Assamese soldier is expert in rowing boats, inshooting arrows, in digging trenches and in wielding guns and cannons. I have not seen such specimens of versatility in any other part of India</blockquote>The Ahoms excelled in making various kinds of guns, [[Matchlock|matchlocks]], [[artillery]], and [[Cannon|cannons]]. They also possessed a large number of them at their disposal and also had an elite regiment of musketeer princes (''Hiloidari Konwars''). The materials for making gunpowder were locally sourced and developed an indigenous method for producing it. For the manufacture of firearms, a department was created under the supervision of an officer called ''Kharghariya Baura''.<ref>{{harvcol|Kakoty|2003|p=173–178}}</ref><ref>{{harvcol|Baruah|1986|p=397}}</ref>

There were various types of cannons and guns, five types of cannons, and eleven types of guns.<ref>{{harvcol|Kakoty|2003|p=175}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Old ahom cannon.png|Big Ahom cannon near the dist. court, [[Sivasagar]], 1902
File:Bell metal musket of Phuleswari Devi (1726).jpg|Bell metal musket of Ahom era
File:Ahoms musket with inscription, manufactured in (1643).jpg|Ahom musket with inscription
File:A small hand musket (haat-hiloi).jpg|Haat noliya hiloi
File:Canons at Talatal Ghar Campus 2.jpg|Hatimuriya bortup
File:Cannon of Gadadhar Singha.jpg|[[Artillery battery]] of [[Gadadhar Singha]] with lion like shaped muzzle
File:Cannon of Gadadhar Singha 2.jpg|Cannon with inscription
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Ahom Dynasty]]
* [[Ahom–Mughal conflicts]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{commons category|Assam firearms}}
{{refbegin}}
*{{citation| first = S L| last = Baruah| title = A Comprehensive History of Assam| year = 1986|publisher = Munshiram Manoharlal}}
*{{citation |last1=Kakoty |first1=Sanjeeb |title=Technological changes and mode of production in the evolution of the Ahom state |date=2003 |publisher=Regency Publications |pages=172–178}}
*{{citation |last1=Sun |first1=Laichen |title=Ming-Southeast Asian Overland Interactions, 1368-1644 |date=2000 |publisher=University of Michigan}}
{{refend}}

[[Category:Ahom kingdom]]
[[Category:Artillery of India]]
[[Category:Warfare of the early modern period]]

Ahom artillery - Revision history

JohannaBuckley: made a info from scratch