Rocket Man looks at the history of rockets (as artillery), and points out that rockets were fairly advanced in India in the last half of the 18th century:
The Muslim ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, had an established rocket corps in his army when it faced the British. His rockets were not just overgrown fireworks, but quite sophisticated for their day, with iron casings, well-packed black powder propellant and a range of almost a mile.Tipu Sultan’s rocket units even had a wheeled cart from which three or four rockets could be fired almost simultaneously, dramatically anticipating the multiple launchers used in World War II.
One British commander whose troops were put to flight by Tipu Sultan’s rockets in a chaotic night engagement was a certain Col. Arthur Wellesley, who would later become the Duke of Wellington and the victor over Napoleon at Waterloo.
Wellesley would later prevail, conquering Mysore, but he was shaken by the rockets’ effect on his troops. Some of these rockets were returned to England after the war and taken to the famed Royal Woolwich Arsenal for examination. It was William Congreve, son of the arsenal’s commandant, who led the meticulous study of the Indian weapons.