The Seri Rambai is a 17th-century Dutch cannon displayed at Fort Cornwallis in G

eorge Town, the capital city of the Malaysian state of Penang and a UNESCO World
Heritage Site. It is the largest bronze gun in Malaysia, largely seen as a fert
ility symbol and the subject of legends and prophecy.
The cannon's history in the Malacca Straits began in the early 1600s when Dutch
East India Company (VOC) officers gave it to the Sultan of Johor in return for t
rading concessions. Less than a decade later Johor was destroyed, the sultan cap
tured and the Seri Rambai taken to Aceh. Near the end of the eighteenth century
the cannon was sent to Selangor and mounted next to one of the town's hilltop fo
rts. In 1871 pirates seized a Penang junk, murdered its passengers and crew, and
took the stolen vessel to Selangor. The British colonial government responded b
y burning the town, destroying its forts and confiscating the Seri Rambai.
The gun was originally displayed at George Town's Esplanade; in the 1950s it was
moved a short distance away to the ramparts of Fort Cornwallis.
Southeast Asia abounds with tales of historic cannon: many are said to be imbued
with supernatural powers; some are revered for their cultural and spiritual sig
nificance; others are notable for having been present at defining moments in the
region's history.[1] Burma's Glass Palace Chronicle recounts a story about the
Burmese-Siamese war (1765 1767) that illustrates the divine properties ascribed to
certain cannon. After attempts to repel Burmese attacks on the Siamese capital
had proved unsuccessful, the King of Siam ordered that the city's guardian spiri
t, a great cannon called Dwarawadi, be used to halt the advance. The gun was cer
emoniously hoisted and aimed at the enemy's camp, but the powder failed to ignit
e. Fearing the guardian of the city had abandoned them, the king's officials imp
lored their sovereign to surrender.[2][a]
One of Jakarta's best known fertility symbols is the Si Jagur, a Portuguese cann
on exhibited next to the city's History Museum.[4] Aldous Huxley described the g
un as a "prostrate God" that women caressed, sat astride and prayed to for child
ren.[5] Near the entrance to Thailand's Ministry of Defence building in Bangkok
is a cannon known as the Phaya Tani, an enormous gun captured from the Sultanate
of Pattani in 1785.[6] The cannon is a symbol of cultural identity in Pattani a
nd the profound sense of loss caused by its seizure is still felt today: when Ba
ngkok refused to return the gun and in 2013 sent a replica instead, suspected in
surgents bombed it nine days later.[7]
The Seri Rambai[edit]