Page:The Musnud of Murshidabad (1704 - 1904).djvu/216

 rulers of Gour. It rested originally on the sand bank adjoining Ichhaganj, (how it came there is not known) protecting the city from attack from the north west. On the completion of the Imambarah, it was, at the suggestion of Mr. Henry Torrens, Agent to the Governor General at Murshidabad, removed to its present site by Sadeq Ali Khan, the architect of that sacred building.

It is said that the gun was once fired in Murshidabad and the sound produced caused many cases of abortion for miles round. Hence its name.

Mr. Syud Mahomed Hossein, the translator of Bernier's Travels, says that Mir Jumla brought from Assam 675 guns, one of which could take a ball weighing three maunds. Might it be this?

Parallel to the north facade of the Palace, stands the Nizamut Imambarah, built in 1847 at a cost of upwards of six lacs, after the celebrated Imambarah of Serajuddowla had been destroyed by fire. It is 680 feet long, with varying breadths, that of the central block, being 300 feet. It took only eleven months in construction, under the supervision and direction of Sadeq Ali Khan, who was not a professional engineer. The workmen received food in addition to their wages, so that they could work day and