What is Zam Zama?
'''Zam Zama''' or '''Zam-zammah''' also often called the 'terror of Northern [[India]]' is an old [[cannon]]. It is made of brass and was made in [[Lahore]] (now in [[Pakistan]]) in 1762, on the orders of the [[Afghan]] king. [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]].<ref>Mason's 'History of the Afghan Rule in Punjab', 1864, pp.17-21</ref> It was of great size back then, and had tremendous fire-power, and all armies opposing the Afghans were terrified of it in the region. [[File:JLKipling Kim Zam Zamah.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Kim atop Zam Zama, illustration for the 1901 novel]] The cannon was later damaged in a military campaign and sank to the bottom of the [[Chenab River]] from where it was recovered and captured by the victorious [[Sikh]] ''Khalsa'' forces of Maharaja [[Ranjit Singh]]. After that, the [[Punjab]] region fell under Sikh rule, giving birth to the superstition that 'whoever holds Zam Zama holds the Punjab'. The cannon was later taken to [[Delhi]] but brought back to Lahore in 1870 and installed outside the old [[Lahore Museum]] and then later on shifted outside the present museum building in the 1890s, opposite to the old campus of the [[University of the Punjab]]. It was later restored and cleaned up in the 1990s. During the period of [[British India]], Zam Zama achieved special fame when the writer [[Rudyard Kipling]] mentioned in the opening pages of ''[[Kim (book)]]'', published in [[1901]]. ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:18th century in India]] [[Category:Lahore]] [[Category:1760s works]] [[Category:Artillery]]