Assam: Ahom era hand cannon recovered near Tiru Hills, to be displayed in Jorhat museum

The finding of a hand cannon which is suspected to be of the Ahom era, from the bank of a rivulet at the base of Tiru Hills under the Deberapar police outpost in Mariani has created ripples of excitement.

The inscription on the hand cannon that was found off Mariani, belongs to the Ahom king Swargadeo Gadadhar Singha's reign.

District museum officer Abantika Parashar, who brought the cannon from the Mariani police station said that the words inscribed on the hand cannon were Swargadeo Gadadhar written in Assamese. 

“The next word might be Singha which is not clearly visible,” she added.

Parashar said that the inscription pattern on the cannon is similar to the three belonging to the Ahom era, which is kept in Assam State Museum, Guwahati.

The place is about 35 km away from Jorhat town to the south.

Earlier, Abantika Parashar, district museum officer of Jorhat said that the acquisition could not take place on October 10 as it was a government holiday.

She said that from what she could make out after seeing the photographs she received, it most likely belonged to Gadadhar Singha’s reign in the 17th century.

“I have heard that there is an inscription on the hand cannon in Assamese. Unless I see it and the inscription is deciphered I cannot authenticate it but three such hand cannons preserved in Gauhati museum have been established that it belongs to the Ahom king Gadadhar Singha,” she said.

Deberapar police outpost in-charge, A Ghosh said that he went to the site after being informed about the find by people of the locality.

“The hand cannon had been found on an eroded slope of the rivulet bank by three persons who had come down from Tiru hills to fish in the rivulet. A bamboo clump had been uprooted at the place,” he said.

It may be mentioned that the artefacts were found by three persons on an eroded bank slope of a rivulet at the base of Tiru Hills on October 7, when the trio went for fishing.