Notes on the Geography of Peninsular India: Deogiri Fort: Photo 28

This is the so-called Durga cannon. Tavernier, in his Six Voyages (1676), says that he met the Dutch soldier responsible for hoisting it to the top. Tavernier doesn't say how it was done, but he says the soldier had been in the army of Aurangzeb, had been unable to secure leave, and so approached the Raja Jai Singh, one of Aurangzeb's lieutenants. The proposition was simple: in exchange for hoisting the cannon to the summit he would be released from service. Jai Singh, who at the time was facing dangerous Shivaji, agreed, the Dutchman got the cannon to the top, and Jai Singh granted him his release. Tavernier says he saw the soldier in 1667 at the port of Surat, where the soldier was embarking for Batavia.

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