What was a munjaniq in medieval period ?
- A.Cannon
- B.Catapult
- C.Gun carriage
- D.Portable armoury
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Catapult. The munjaniq, also written manjaniq, was a siege engine that hurled heavy stones at fort walls, that is, a catapult. The word comes through Arabic and Persian from the Greek mangonon, the root of the English word mangonel. Turkish armies brought such machines to India, and the chronicles of the Delhi Sultanate describe munjaniqs and the lighter arradas being set up to batter the walls of besieged forts such as Ranthambhor and Chittor under Alauddin Khalji. They worked by tension or by a counterweight and were the main siege weapons before gunpowder spread in the subcontinent. Option A is wrong because cannon came into wide use in India only later, most famously with Babur at Panipat in 1526, and were called top. Option C is wrong because a gun carriage is the wheeled frame that carries a cannon, a later invention. Option D is wrong because a portable armoury, a store of weapons on the move, was not what the term meant. Exam tip: munjaniq and arrada = catapults of the Sultanate sieges; Babur's artillery at Panipat marked the shift to gunpowder warfare.
Practice Questions
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