in Camera

Meet Rajagopala of Thanjavur, the largest forge welded cannon in India. He has been around since the 17th century and in workmanship ranked with the more famous Iron Pillar, near Delhi. He sits on a mound about 25 feet high known as `beerangi medu,' (cannon mound) at Keezhavasal (East Entrance) in Thanjavur. According to information available on the Internet the technique to make this quality of metal was available in South India then and was as good as the Damascus steel, to make which, ingots were exported from here. The cannon ball that would have gone into it would have weighed 300 kg if it had been made out of stone.