2025 · Q9
What is the military device referred to by the term manjaniq?
General KnowledgeHistory of India
- AA device for loading fieldguns with gunpowder
- BPreparing cavalry for rapid charge
- CA bolting device for strengthening the gates of forts
- DA device for throwing stones (mangonel)
Explanation
The manjaniq (Arabic manjaniq) was a stone-throwing siege engine — a traction or counterweight catapult of the mangonel/trebuchet family, used by the Delhi Sultans to batter fort walls in sieges. It was not a device for loading guns, a cavalry formation or a mechanism for bolting gates. Similar stone-throwing engines had been used earlier in Central Asia and West Asia before the technology reached India.