tipu sultan biography in english

• Humanities ›
• History & Culture ›
• Asian History ›
• Figures & Events ›

Biography of Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore

British Library/Robana/Getty Images

• Figures & Events
• Southeast Asia
• Middle East
• Central Asia
• Asian Wars and Battles
• American History
• African American History
• African History
• Ancient History and Culture
• European History
• Latin American History
• Medieval & Renaissance History
• Military History
• The 20th Century
• Women's History
• Ph.D., History, Boston University
• J.D., University of Washington School of Law
• B.A., History, Western Washington University

Tipu Sultan (November 20, 1750–May 4, 1799) is remembered by many in India and Pakistan as a heroic freedom fighter and warrior-king. He was the last ruler in India strong enough to dictate terms to the British East India Company . Known as the "Tiger of Mysore," he fought long and hard, although ultimately unsuccessfully, to preserve his country's independence.

Fast Facts: Tipu Sultan

• Known For : He is remembered in India and Pakistan as a warrior-king who fought brilliantly for his country's independence from Britain.
• Also Known As : Fath Ali, Tiger of Mysore
• Born : November 20, 1750 in Mysore, India
• Parents : Hyder Ali and Fatima Fakhr-un-Nisa
• Died : May 4, 1799 in Seringapatam, Mysore, India
• Education : Extensive tutoring
• Spouse(s) : Many wives, including Sindh Sahiba 
• Children : Unnamed sons, two of whom were held hostage by the British
• Notable Quote : "To live like a lion for a day is far better than to live for a hundred years like a jackal."

Tipu Sultan was born on November 20, 1750, to military officer Hyder Ali of the Kingdom of Mysore and his wife, Fatima Fakhr-un-Nisa. They named him Fath Ali but also called him Tipu Sultan after a local Muslim saint, Tipu Mastan Aulia.

His father Hyder Ali was an able soldier and won such a complete victory against an invading force of Marathas in 1758 that Mysore was able to absorb the Marathan homelands. As a result, Hyder Ali became the commander-in-chief of Mysore's army, later the Sultan , and by 1761 he was the outright ruler of the kingdom.

While his father rose to fame and prominence, young Tipu Sultan was receiving an education from the finest tutors available. He studied such subjects as riding, swordsmanship, shooting, Koranic studies, Islamic jurisprudence, and languages such as Urdu, Persian, and Arabic. Tipu Sultan also studied military strategy and tactics under French officers from an early age, since his father was allied with the French in southern India .

In 1766 when Tipu Sultan was just 15 years old, he got the chance to apply his military training in battle for the first time when he accompanied his father on an invasion of Malabar. The youngster took charge of a force of 2,000-3,000 and cleverly managed to capture the Malabar chief's family, which had taken refuge in a fort under heavy guard. Fearful for his family, the chief surrendered, and other local leaders soon followed his example.

Hyder Ali was so proud of his son that he gave him command of 500 cavalries and assigned him to rule five districts within Mysore. It was the start of an illustrious military career for the young man.

First Anglo-Mysore War

During the mid-18th century, the British East India Company sought to expand its control of southern India by playing local kingdoms and principalities off one another and off the French. In 1767, the British formed a coalition with the Nizam and the Marathas, and together they attacked Mysore. Hyder Ali managed to make a separate peace with the Marathas, and then in June he sent his 17-year-old son Tipu Sultan to negotiate with the Nizam. The young diplomat arrived in the Nizam camp with gifts that included cash, jewels, 10 horses, and five trained elephants. In just one week, Tipu charmed the ruler of the Nizam into switching sides and joining the Mysorean fight against the British.

Tipu Sultan then led a cavalry raid on Madras (now Chennai) itself, but his father suffered a defeat by the British at Tiruvannamalai and had to call his son back. Hyder Ali decided to take the unusual step of continuing to fight during the monsoon rains, and together with Tipu he captured two British forts. The Mysorean army was besieging a third fort when British reinforcements arrived. Tipu and his cavalry held off the British long enough to allow Hyder Ali's troops to retreat in good order.

Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan then went on a tear up the coast, capturing forts and British-held cities. The Mysoreans were threatening to dislodge the British from their key east coast port of Madras when the British sued for peace in March 1769.

After this humiliating defeat, the British had to sign a 1769 peace agreement with Hyder Ali called the Treaty of Madras. Both sides agreed to return to their pre-war boundaries and to come to each others' aid in case of attack by any other power. Under the circumstances, the British East India Company got off easy, but it still would not honor the treaty terms.

Interwar Period

In 1771, the Marathas attacked Mysore with an army perhaps as large as 30,000 men. Hyder Ali called upon the British to honor their duty of aid under the Treaty of Madras, but the British East India Company refused to send any troops to assist him. Tipu Sultan played a key role as Mysore fought off the Marathas, but the young commander and his father never trusted the British again.

Later that decade, Britain and France came to blows over the 1776 rebellion (the American Revolution) in Britain's North American colonies; France, of course, supported the rebels. In retaliation, and to draw off French support from America, Britain had decided to push the French entirely out of India. In 1778, it began to capture key French holdings in India such as Pondicherry, on the southeastern coast. The following year, the British grabbed the French-occupied port of Mahe on the Mysorean coast, prompting Hyder Ali to declare war.

Second Anglo-Mysore War

The Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–1784), began when Hyder Ali led an army of 90,000 in an attack on the Carnatic, which was allied with Britain. The British governor at Madras decided to send the bulk of his army under Sir Hector Munro against the Mysoreans, and also called for a second British force under Colonel William Baillie to leave Guntur and meet up with the main force. Hyder got word of this and sent Tipu Sultan with 10,000 troops to intercept Baillie.

In September 1780, Tipu and his 10,000 cavalry and infantry soldiers surrounded Baillie's combined British East India Company and Indian force and inflicted on them the worst defeat the British had suffered in India. Most of the 4,000 Anglo-Indian troops surrendered and were taken prisoner, while 336 were killed. Colonel Munro refused to march to Baillie's aid, for fear of losing the heavy guns and other material he had stored. By the time he finally set out, it was too late.

Hyder Ali did not realize just how disorganized the British force was. Had he attacked Madras itself at that time, he likely could have taken the British base. However, he only sent Tipu Sultan and some cavalry to harass Munro's retreating columns. The Mysoreans did capture all of the British stores and baggage and killed or wounded about 500 troops, but they did not attempt to seize Madras.

The Second Anglo-Mysore War settled down into a series of sieges. The next significant event was Tipu's February 18, 1782 defeat of East India Company troops under Colonel Braithwaite at Tanjore. Braithwaite was completely surprised by Tipu and his French ally General Lallée and after 26 hours of fighting, the British and their Indian sepoys surrendered. Later, British propaganda said Tipu would have had them all massacred if the French hadn't interceded, but that is almost certainly false—none of the company troops were harmed after they surrendered.

Tipu Takes the Throne

While the Second Anglo-Mysore War was still raging, the 60-year-old Hyder Ali developed a serious carbuncle. His condition deteriorated throughout the fall and early winter of 1782, and he died on December 7. Tipu Sultan assumed the title of Sultan and took his father's throne on December 29, 1782.

The British hoped that this transition of power would be less than peaceful so that they would have an advantage in the ongoing war. However, Tipu's smooth transition and immediate acceptance by the army thwarted them. In addition, British officers had failed to secure enough rice during the harvest, and some of their sepoys were literally starving to death. They were in no condition to launch an attack against the new sultan during the height of the monsoon season.

Settlement Terms

The Second Anglo-Mysore War went on until early 1784, but Tipu Sultan maintained the upper hand throughout most of that time. Finally, on March 11, 1784, the British East India Company formally capitulated with the signing of the Treaty of Mangalore.

Under the terms of the treaty, the two sides once again returned to the status quo in terms of territory. Tipu Sultan agreed to release all of the British and Indian prisoners of war he had captured.

Tipu Sultan the Ruler

Despite two victories over the British, Tipu Sultan realized that the British East India Company remained a serious threat to his independent kingdom. He funded continuous military advances, including further development of the famous Mysore rockets—iron tubes that could fire missiles up to two kilometers, terrifying British troops and their allies.

Tipu also built roads, created a new form of coinage, and encouraged silk production for international trade. He was particularly fascinated and delighted with new technologies and had always been an avid student of science and mathematics. A devout Muslim, Tipu was tolerant of his majority-Hindu subjects' faith. Framed as a warrior-king and dubbed the "Tiger of Mysore," Tipu Sultan proved an able ruler in times of relative peace as well.

Third Anglo-Mysore War

Tipu Sultan had to face the British for a third time between 1789 and 1792. This time, Mysore would receive no aid from its usual ally France, which was in the throes of the French Revolution . The British were led on this occasion by Lord Cornwallis , one of the major British commanders during the American Revolution .

Unfortunately for Tipu Sultan and his people, the British had more attention and resources to invest in southern India this time around. Although the war lasted for several years, unlike past engagements, the British gained more ground than they gave. At the end of the war, after the British besieged Tipu's capital city of Seringapatam, the Mysorean leader had to capitulate.

In the 1793 Treaty of Seringapatam, the British and their allies, the Maratha Empire, took half of the territory of Mysore. The British also demanded that Tipu turn over two of his sons, ages 7 and 11, as hostages to ensure that the Mysorean ruler would pay war indemnities. Cornwallis held the boys captive to ensure that their father would comply with the treaty terms. Tipu quickly paid the ransom and recovered his children. Nonetheless, it was a shocking reversal for the Tiger of Mysore.

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War

In 1798, a French general named Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt. Unbeknownst to his superiors in the Revolutionary government in Paris, Bonaparte planned to use Egypt as a stepping-stone from which to invade India by land (through the Middle East, Persia, and Afghanistan ), and wrest it from the British. With that in mind, the man who would be emperor sought an alliance with Tipu Sultan, Britain's staunchest foe in southern India.

This alliance was not to be, however, for several reasons. Napoleon's invasion of Egypt was a military disaster. Sadly, his would-be ally, Tipu Sultan, also suffered a terrible defeat.

By 1798, the British had had sufficient time to recover from the Third Anglo-Mysore War. They also had a new commander of British forces at Madras, Richard Wellesley, Earl of Mornington, who was committed to a policy of "aggression and aggrandizement." Although the British had taken half of his country and a large sum of money, Tipu Sultan meanwhile had rebuilt significantly and Mysore was once more a prosperous place. The British East India Company knew that Mysore was the only thing standing between it and total domination of India.

A British-led coalition of nearly 50,000 troops marched toward Tipu Sultan's capital city of Seringapatam in February 1799. This was no typical colonial army of a handful of European officers and a rabble of ill-trained local recruits; this army was made up of the best and brightest from all of the British East India Company's client states. Its single goal was the destruction of Mysore.

Although the British sought to enclose Mysore state in a giant pincher movement, Tipu Sultan was able to sally out and stage a surprise attack early in March that nearly destroyed one of the British contingents before reinforcements showed up. Throughout the spring, the British pressed closer and closer to the Mysorean capital. Tipu wrote to the British commander Wellesley, trying to arrange for a peace agreement, but Wellesley deliberately offered completely unacceptable terms. His mission was to destroy Tipu Sultan, not to negotiate with him.

At the beginning of May 1799, the British and their allies surrounded Seringapatam, the capital of Mysore. Tipu Sultan had just 30,000 defenders matched against 50,000 attackers. On May 4, the British broke through the city walls. Tipu Sultan rushed to the breach and was killed defending his city. After the battle, his body was discovered beneath a pile of defenders. Seringapatam was overrun.

With Tipu Sultan's death, Mysore became another princely state under the jurisdiction of the British Raj . His sons were sent into exile, and a different family became puppet rulers of Mysore under the British. In fact, Tipu Sultan's family was reduced to poverty as a deliberate policy and was only restored to princely status in 2009.

Tipu Sultan fought long and hard, although ultimately unsuccessfully, to preserve his country's independence. Today, Tipu is remembered by many in India and Pakistan as a brilliant freedom fighter and as an able peacetime ruler.

• "Britain's Greatest Foes: Tipu Sultan." National Army Museum , Feb. 2013.
• Carter, Mia & Barbara Harlow. " Archives of Empire: Volume I. From the East India Company to the Suez Canal." Duke University Press, 2003.
• "The First Anglo-Mysore War (1767-1769)," GKBasic , July 15, 2012.
• Hasan, Mohibbul. " History of Tipu Sultan." Aakar Books, 2005.
• Biography of Mahmud of Ghazni, First Sultan in History
• Biography of Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
• Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa
• Biography of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Founder of the Republic of Turkey
• Biography of Tamerlane, 14th Century Conqueror of Asia
• Biography of Babur, Founder of the Mughal Empire
• Profile of Saladin, Hero of Islam
• Biography of Genghis Khan, Founder of the Mongol Empire
• Biography of Akbar the Great, Emperor of Mughal India
• Biography of Ferdinand Marcos, Dictator of the Philippines
• Biography of Tenzing Norgay, First Man to Conquer Mt Everest
• Chiang Kai-shek: The Generalissimo
• Indira Gandhi Biography
• Cixi, Empress Dowager of Qing China
• Biography of King Abdullah, Ruler of Saudi Arabia
• Biography of Chandragupta Maurya, Founder of the Mauryan Empire

Tippu Sultan

Sultan Fateh Ali Tipu , also known as the Tiger of Mysore (November 20, 1750, Devanahalli – May 4, 1799, Srirangapattana), was the first son of Haidar Ali by his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-nissa. He was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore from the time of his father's death in 1782 until his own demise in 1799. He had a vision and a mission in life. The vision was to make his people enlightened and prosperous; his mission was to liberate his land from the yoke of the colonial power. His short but stormy rule is significant because of his view that the only life worth living was one of freedom, not only political freedom but also social freedom, economic freedom, cultural freedom, and freedom from want, hunger, apathy, ignorance and superstition.

• 1 Early life
• 3 Religious policy
• 4 Yaar Mohammad—Tippu's General
• 5 Description
• 6 Proclamations
• 7 Technology, Commerce, Industry & Education
• 8 Early Military Career
• 9 A Model Army
• 10 Second Mysore War
• 11 Battle of Pollilur
• 12 Fourth Mysore War
• 13 Rocket Artillery in War
• 14 Humane Treatment for Prisoners
• 15 Jacobin Club in Mysore
• 16 In fiction
• 17 Family and Descendants
• 18.1 Sword of Tippu Sultan
• 18.2 Hero of Colonial Resistance
• 18.3 Pioneer of Technology
• 20 References
• 21 External links

Tipu Sultan was a learned man and an able soldier. He was reputed to be a good poet. He was a devout Muslim, although his Hindu subjects (who were the majority) were staunchly loyal to him. At the request of the French , he built a church, the first in Mysore. In alliance with the French in their struggle with the British both Tippu Sultan and Haidar Ali did not hesitate to use their French trained army against the Maharattas, Sira, Malabar, Coorg and Bednur. He helped his father Haidar Ali defeat the British in the Second Mysore War, and negotiated the Treaty of Mangalore with them. However, he was defeated in the Third Anglo-Mysore War and in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War by the combined forces of the British East India Company , the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Mahratta Confederacy, and to a lesser extent, Travancore. Tipu Sultan died defending his capital Srirangapattana, on May 4, 1799. He is an iconic but also a controversial figure in post-colonial India. For many, he represents resistance against imperialism . He is remembered as a champion of liberty, of the people's welfare and of inter-community harmony and also as a pioneer of technology. Others challenge his reputation for tolerance and accuse him of anti-Hindu bigotry. [1] To some degree, Tippu's legacy has become a subject of polemics and a tool in the hands of opposing sides in debate about the historical nature of Hindu-Muslim relations in India. He was the only eighteenth-century ruler in India who did not side with the British against other Indians and it was only in alliance with other Indian rulers that the British were able to finally defeat him.

Tipu Sultan was born at Devanahalli, in present-day Bangalore District, some 45 miles east of Bangalore city. The exact date of his birth is not known; various sources claim various dates between 1749 and 1753. According to one widely accepted dating, he was born on Nov 10, 1750 (Friday, 10th Zil-Hijja, 1163 AH). His father, Haidar Ali , was the de-facto ruler of Mysore. His mother, Fakhr-un-nissa (also called Fatima), was a daughter of Shahal Tharique, governor of the fort of Cuddapah.

When his father died in 1782, he succeeded as de facto ruler of Mysore, adopting the title of Padishah (Emperor of Mysore) although he is more commonly referred to as "Sultan of Mysore." Only after his death were the Hindu Wadiyar rulers restored but as clients of the British.

During his rule, Tipu Sultan laid the foundation for a dam where the famous Krishna Raja Sagara Dam across the river Cauvery was later built. He also completed the project of Lal Bagh started by his father Haidar Ali , and built roads, public buildings, and ports along the Kerala shoreline. His trade extended to countries which included Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, France, Turkey, and Iran. Under his leadership, the Mysore army proved to be a school of military science to Indian princes. The serious blows that Tipu Sultan inflicted on the British in the First and Second Mysore Wars affected their reputation as an invincible power. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the former President of India, in his Tipu Sultan Shaheed Memorial Lecture in Bangalore (November 30, 1991), called Tipu Sultan the innovator of the world’s first war rocket. Two of these rockets, captured by the British at Srirangapatna, are displayed in the Woolwich Museum Artillery in London. Most of Tipu Sultan's campaigns resulted in remarkable successes. He managed to subdue all the petty kingdoms in the south. He defeated the Marathas and the Nizams several times and was also one of the few Indian rulers to have defeated British armies. Until his eventual defeat, Tippu was "demonized by the British as another Siraj ud-Daulah , an unhinged, bloodthirsty despot, and was habitually referred to as "the usurper" who had "supplanted the ancient Hindu constitution" although as thus writer comments, the British had little right to set themselves up as "judges of legitimacy." [2]

A competent administrator, he extended the tax base, linked revenue from specific parcels of land to fund institutions and employed former enemies in his service to gain their trust. [3]

Religious policy

Tipu Sultan was a secular ruler, in whose State there were generally very positive inter-community relations. The very fact that during his entire regime, despite the numerous wars, there was not a single uprising of the people, which shows the popularity of his rule. Such assessment of his character that he was intolerant was more a requirement as a necessary framework for colonial rule. The Indian people had never known any religious war, and Tipu would not think of any distinction of his subjects on the basis of caste, creed or class. He was quite conscious of the fact that when the overwhelming majority of his subjects were Hindus, he could hardly afford to be anything other than secular, humane and liberal. He would well remember the statement of his father, Haider Ali, who had snubbed a Muslim saint for complaining that some Hindus had committed excess on his followers, and that as the head of a Muslim Government, he should redress his grievances, by saying "Who told you that this was a Mussalman Government?" Tipu knew very well that he could not administer the state on principles unacceptable to his subjects.

There are numerous instances depicting the secular character of his rule. Once a faujdar reported to him that a Hindu had married a Muslim lady causing tension in the locality, and wanted to know what action to be taken. Tipu wrote back immediately admonishing the faujdar that it was none of his business to interfere in the personal affairs of the people, and that his duty was merely to safeguard the life and property of the people, and ensure peace.

As a Muslim ruler in a largely Hindu domain, Tipu Sultan never faced any problems in establishing the legitimacy of his rule, and in reconciling his desire to be seen as a devout Islamic ruler with the need to be pragmatic to avoid antagonizing the majority of his subjects. In 1782 C.E. following his father's death he declared himself to be the Padishah or Emperor of Mysore, and struck coinage in his own name without reference to the reigning Mughal Emperor , Shah Alam II. Instead, he obtained a decree of legitimacy from the Ottoman Caliph . [4]

While eminent scholars have denied that, in common with most rulers of his period, Tipu Sultan’s campaigns were often characterized by lesser brutality, as compared with the British who, looted, massacred, raped and pillaged Srirangapatan immediately after its fall. Some historians have said that the extent of force was not exclusively motivated by religion, and it did not amount to a anti-Kafir policy. Brittlebank, Hasan, Chetty, Habib and Saletare, amongst others, argue that stories of Tipu Sultan's religious persecution of Hindus and Christians are largely derived from the work of early British authors such as Kirkpatrick [5] and Wilks, [6] whom they do not consider to be entirely reliable. [7] A. S. Chetty argues that Wilks’ account in particular cannot be trusted, [8] Irfan Habib and Mohibbul Hasan argue that these early British authors had a strong vested interest in presenting Tipu Sultan as a tyrant from whom the British had "liberated" Mysore. [9] Mohibbul Hasan writes "The reasons why Tipu was reviled are not far to seek. Englishmen were prejudiced against him because they regarded him as their most formidable rival and an inveterate enemy, and because, unlike other Indian rulers, he refused to become a tributary of the English Company. Many of the atrocities of which he has been accused were allegedly fabricated either by persons embittered and angry on account of the defeats which they had sustained at his hands, or by the prisoners of war who had suffered punishments which they thought they did not deserve. He was also misrepresented by those who were anxious to justify the wars of aggression which the Company's Government had waged against him. Moreover, his achievements were belittled and his character blackened in order that the people of Mysore might forget him and rally round the Raja, thus helping in the consolidation of the new regime." [10] This assessment is echoed by Brittlebank in her recent work where she writes that Wilks and Kirkpatrick must be used with particular care as both authors had taken part in the wars against Tipu Sultan and were closely connected to the administrations of Lord Cornwallis and Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley. [11]

Mohibbul Hasan, Sheikh Ali and eminent historians cast great doubt on the scale of the deportations and forced conversions in Coorg in particular, and Hasan says that the English versions of what happened were intended to malign Tipu Sultan, and to be used as propaganda against him. He argues that little reliance can be placed in Muslim accounts such as Kirmani’s "Nishan-e Haidari"; in their anxiety to represent the Sultan as a champion of Islam, they had a tendency to exaggerate and distort the facts: Kirmani claims that 70,000 Coorgis were converted, when forty years later the entire population of Coorg was still less than that number. According to Ramchandra Rao "Punganuri" the true number of converts was about 500. [12] The portrayal of Tipu Sultan as a religious bigot is disputed, and some sources suggest that he in fact often embraced religious pluralism. Tipu Sultan's treasurer was Krishna Rao, Shamaiya Iyengar was his Minister of Post and Police, his brother Ranga Iyengar was also an officer and Purnaiya held the very important post of "Mir Asaf." Moolchand and Sujan Rai were his chief agents at the Mughal court, and his chief "Peshkar," Suba Rao, was also a Hindu. [13] There is such evidence as grant deeds, and correspondence between his court and temples, and his having donated jewelry and deeded land grants to several temples, which some claim he was compelled to do in order to make alliances with Hindu rulers. Between 1782 and 1799 Tipu Sultan issued 34 "Sanads" (deeds) of endowment to temples in his domain, while also presenting many of them with gifts of silver and gold plate. The Srikanteswara Temple in Nanjangud still possesses a jeweled cup presented by the Sultan. [14]

In 1791, some Maratha horsemen under Raghunath Rao Patwardhan raided the temple and monastery of Sringeri Shankaracharya, killing and wounding many, and plundering the monastery of all its valuable possessions. The incumbent Shankaracharya petitioned Tippu Sultan for help. A bunch of about 30 letters written in Kannada, which were exchanged between Tippu Sultan's court and the Sringeri Shankaracharya were discovered in 1916 by the Director of Archaeology in Mysore. Tippu Sultan expressed his indignation and grief at the news of the raid, and wrote:

"People who have sinned against such a holy place are sure to suffer the consequences of their misdeeds at no distant date in this Kali age in accordance with the verse: "Hasadbhih kriyate karma ruladbhir-anubhuyate" (People do [evil] deeds smilingly but suffer the consequences crying)." [15]

He immediately ordered his "Asaf" of Bednur to supply the Swami with 200 "rahatis" (fanams) in cash and other gifts and articles. Tippu Sultan's interest in the Sringeri temple continued for many years, and he was still writing to the Swami in the 1790s C.E. [16] In light of this and other events, B.A. Saletare has described Tippu Sultan as a defender of the Hindu Dharma, who also patronized other temples including one at Melkote, for which he issued a Kannada decree that the Shrivaishnava invocatory verses there should be recited in the traditional form. The temple at Melkote still has gold and silver vessels with inscriptions, indicating that they were presented by the Sultan. Tippu Sultan also presented four silver cups to the Lakshmikanta Temple at Kalale. [17] Tippu Sultan does seem to have repossessed unauthorized grants of land made to Brahmins and temples, but those which had proper "sanads" were not. It was a normal practice for any ruler, Muslim or Hindu, to do on his accession or on the conquest of new territory.

The Srikanteswara temple at Nanjungud was presented with a jeweled cup and some precious stones. To another temple, Nanjundeswara, in the same town of Nanjungud, he gave a greenish linga to Ranganatha temple at Srirangapatana he gifted seven silver cups and a silver camphor burner. This temple was hardly a stone's throw from his palace from where he would listen with equal respect the ringing of temple bells, and the Muezzin's call from the mosque.

Yaar Mohammad—Tippu's General

Yaar Mohammad, the right hand of Sultan Tipu, was born in eighteenth century, in a Muslim Rajput family to Shah Mohammad, a Sufi saint. He joined the Army of Mysore and soon became one of the favorite generals of Tippu Sultan. Seeing his patriotic and dauntless behavior, Tippu Sultan made him his Commander-in-Chief. He fought dauntlessly in the Battle of Seringapatam (1799), but after Tippu's death, and later the fall of Mysore, he had to run away. However, he managed to evade capture by the British. After the fall of Mysore, he was declared one of the most wanted Mysore officers. They tried their best to capture him, dead or alive, but couldn’t succeed. General Yaar Mohammad's family members and relatives were killed by the British, however, he, along with his father Shah Noor Mohammad and son Ilahi Baksh, escaped. They spent the rest of their lives as fugitives. General Yaar Mohammad died in early nineteenth century. His descendants still live in Punjab today.

Description

Alexander Beatson, considered to be a propagandist Author who, published a volume entitled "View of the Origin and Conduct of the War with the late Tippoo Sultaun" on the Fourth Mysore War, described Tippu Sultan as follows: "His stature was about five feet eight inches; he had a short neck, square shoulders, and was rather corpulent: his limbs were small, particularly his feet and hands; he had large full eyes, small arched eyebrows, and an aquiline nose; his complexion was fair, and the general expression of his countenance, not void of dignity". [18]

While Muslim Historians and the Indian diaspora defer stating that facts have been twisted by the British government's cruel policy of dumping the King's image. The Noble Sultan was of tall stature more than 6 ft in height, broad shoulders, explicit facial features, fair with a Roman nose, which gave him a dignified look nothing short of artistic beauty.

The current popular image of the great Sultan which portrays him as a bald, clean shaven, overweight person is deemed to be a propagandist depiction by the British East India company. A closer depiction of Tipu Sultan can be seen here which, was carved by a French artist visiting the Mysore Durbar.

He was called the Tiger of Mysore. It is said that Tippu Sultan was hunting in the forest with a French friend. He came face to face with a tiger. His gun did not work, and his dagger fell on the ground as the tiger jumped on him. He reached for the dagger, picked it up, and killed the tiger with it. That earned him the name "the Tiger of Mysore." He had the image of a tiger on his flag. Tippu Sultan was also very fond of innovations. Alexander Beatson has mentioned that Tippu Sultan was "passionately fond of new inventions. In his palace was found a great variety of curious swords, daggers, fusils, pistols, and blunderbusses; some were of exquisite workmanship, mounted with gold, or silver, and beautifully inlaid and ornamented with tigers' heads and stripes, or with Persian and Arabic verses." [18] Tipu's Tiger, an automaton representing a tiger attacking a European soldier, made for Tippu Sultan, is on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. [19] During Tippu Sultan's reign, a new calendar, new coinage, and seven new government departments, were introduced as well as innovations in the use of rocket artillery.

Proclamations

The following proclamations were issued by Tippu Sultan:

• "Agriculture is the life blood of the nation…" (1788 C.E. )
• "There can be no glory or achievement if the foundation of our palaces, roads and dams are mingled with the tears and blood of humanity…" (1789 C.E. ) [18]

He is quoted as having said: "It is far better to live like a Tiger for a day than to live like a jackal for a hundred years." [20]

Technology, Commerce, Industry & Education

Despite the hectic political and military involvement, Tipu never ignored the main task of improving the life and conditions of his people. His improvement of agriculture and industry, his promotion of trade and commerce, his novel system of the administration of justice, his building up of a navy, his opening of factories far and near, and his dispatch of embassies to different and distant lands, linked the small State of Mysore with the bigger world. He built an exceedingly efficient system of administration, which launched upon a series of innovative measures that would transform his State into a humming center of great industrial activity. He exerted his utmost to secure artisans and craftsmen from different countries to manufacture guns, muskets and a host of other commodities.

His reforming zeal touched almost every department of life including coinage and calendar, weights and measures, banking and finance, revenue and judiciary, army and navy, morals and manners, and social ethos and cultural affairs.

His creative vision envisaged the construction of a dam across the river Cauvery, the details of which still exist in an inscription installed at the gates of the present K.R.S. Dam. He was the one who developed the technology of rocket systems, and thought of establishing a university, which he named Dar-ul-Umur.

Early Military Career

Tippu Sultan was instructed in military tactics by French officers in the employment of his father, Haider Ali (also spelled as "Hayder Ali"). At age 15, he accompanied his father Haidar Ali against the British in the First Mysore War in 1766. He commanded a corps of cavalry in the invasion of Carnatic in 1767 at age 16. He also distinguished himself in the First Anglo-Maratha War of 1775–1779.

A Model Army

Under Tipu's leadership the Mysore army became a model and a school of military science to Indian powers. The dread of a European army had no longer any effect on them. A lad of 17 years, Tipu made such a surprising dash on Madras in 1767, that the entire English council, who were all members of the Madras Government, sought refuge in a ship. He fell with such fury on Colonel Bailey in 1782, that the entire English army was either cut or taken prisoners. Bailey himself languished for long in prisons of Srirangapatna.

The hero of Buxar, Sir Hector Munro, who had defeated three rulers at Buxar-Shah Alam, Shuja-ud-daula and Mir Qasim-and who had paved the way for the consolidation of British Power in India, was forced to throw off all his guns into the tank of Conjeevaram and run for life to Madras, when Tipu chased him. Similarly the entire detachment of Colonel Braithwaite was captured, and Braithwaite himself was kept for long captive in Srirangapatna. General Medows, and Lord Cornvallis were harassed for two long years in the third Mysore War. It was only an All India Confederacy of the Nizam, the Maratha and the English together with an Surreptitious entry into Srirangapatna in the dead of night that enabled the confederates to beat Tipu in 1792. Even Arthur Wellesley, the duke of Wellington, who later became the conqueror of Napoleon, was harassed greatly in 1799 and was forced to join the camp of General Harris.

Tippu continued his father's practice of employing French officers to train his troops. He "set in motion trends towards military centralization and administrative modernization that the British, and a restored Wadiyar dynasty, would continue." [21] .

Second Mysore War

Tippu Sultan led a large body of troops in the Second Mysore War, in February 1782, and defeated Braithwaite on the banks of the Kollidam. Although the British were defeated this time, Tippu Sultan realized that the British were a new kind of threat in India. Upon becoming the Sultan after his father's death later that year, he worked to check the advances of the British by making alliances with the Marathas and the Mughals.

Tippu Sultan had defeated Colonel Braithwaite at Annagudi near Tanjore on February 18, 1782. The British army, consisting of 100 Europeans, 300 cavalry, 1400 sepoys and ten field pieces, was the standard size of the colonial armies. Tippu Sultan had seized all the guns and taken the entire detachment prisoners. In December 1781 Tippu Sultan had successfully seized Chittur from the British. Tippu Sultan had thus gained sufficient military experience by the time Haidar Ali died in December 1782.

The Second Mysore War came to an end with the Treaty of Mangalore. It was the last occasion when an Indian king had dictated terms to the mighty British, and the treaty is a prestigious document in the history of India.

Battle of Pollilur

The Battle of Pollilur took place in 1780 at Pollilur near the city of Kanchipuram. It was a part of the second Anglo-Mysore war. Tippu Sultan was dispatched by Haidar Ali with 10,000 men and 18 guns to intercept Colonel Baillie who was on his way to join Sir Hector Munro. Out of 360 Europeans, about 200 were captured alive, and the sepoys, who were about 3,800 men, suffered very high casualties. Sir Hector Munro, the victor of the Battle of Buxar, who had earlier defeated three Indian rulers (the Mughal emperor Shah Alam, the Nawab of Oudh Shuja-ud-daula, and the Nawab of Bengal Mir Qasim) in a single battle, was forced to retreat to Madras, abandoning his artillery in the tank of Kanchipuram.

Fourth Mysore War

After Horatio Nelson had defeated Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile in Egypt in 1798 C.E. , three armies, one from Bombay , and two British (one of which included Arthur Wellesley, the future first Duke of Wellington ), marched into Mysore in 1799 and besieged the capital Srirangapatnam in the Fourth Mysore War. There were over 26,000 soldiers of the British East India Company comprising about 4,000 Europeans and the rest Indians. A column was supplied by the Nizam of Hyderabad consisting of ten battalions and over 16,000 cavalry, along with many soldiers sent by the Marathas. Thus the soldiers in the British force numbered over 50,000 soldiers whereas Tippu Sultan had only about 30,000 soldiers. The British broke through the city walls, and Tippu Sultan died defending his capital on May 4.

The Fourth Mysore war was a short affair. Keeping Tipu in false hopes, the British suddenly surprised him by unacceptable demands. When Tipu refused to accept them, the English breached the fort and in a bloody encounter, fighting against heavy odds he was killed on fourth May 1799. The battle, however, was far from one sided and it was only when the Nizam's troops advanced that the tide turned in favor of the British and their Indian allies.

In the resistance against British domination, this was the last stand before the uprising of 1857 . Tippu died a Soldier's death defending his values and his land against one of the great imperial powers.

Rocket Artillery in War

A military tactic developed by Tippu Sultan and his father, Haidar Ali was the use of mass attacks with rocket brigades on infantry formations. Tippu Sultan wrote a military manual called Fathul Mujahidin in which 200 rocket men were prescribed to each Mysorean "cushoon" (brigade). Mysore had 16 to 24 cushoons of infantry. The areas of town where rockets and fireworks were manufactured were known as Taramandal Pet ("Galaxy Market").

The rocket men were trained to launch their rockets at an angle calculated from the diameter of the cylinder and the distance of the target. In addition, wheeled rocket launchers capable of launching five to ten rockets almost simultaneously were used in war. Rockets could be of various sizes, but usually consisted of a tube of soft hammered iron about 8" long and 1_ - 3" diameter, closed at one end and strapped to a shaft of bamboo about 4 ft long. The iron tube acted as a combustion chamber and contained well packed black powder propellant. A rocket carrying about one pound of powder could travel almost 1,000 yards. In contrast, rockets in Europe not being iron cased, could not take large chamber pressures and as a consequence, were not capable of reaching distances anywhere near as great.

Haidar Ali's father, the Naik or chief constable at Budikote, commanded 50 rocketmen for the Nawab of Arcot. There was a regular Rocket Corps in the Mysore Army, beginning with about 1,200 men in Haidar Ali's time. At the Battle of Pollilur (1780), during the Second Anglo-Mysore War, Colonel William Braille's ammunition stores are thought to have been detonated by a hit from one of Haidar Ali 's Mysore rockets resulting in a humiliating British defeat.

In the Third Anglo-Mysore War of 1792, there is mention of two rocket units fielded by Tipu Sultan, 120 men and 131 men respectively. Lt. Col. Knox was attacked by rockets near Srirangapatna on the night of February 6, 1792, while advancing towards the Kaveri river from the north. The Rocket Corps ultimately reached a strength of about 5,000 in Tipu Sultan's army. Mysore rockets were also used for ceremonial purposes. When the Jacobin Club of Mysore sent a delegation to Tippu Sultan, 500 rockets were launched as part of the gun salute.

During the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, rockets were again used on several occasions. One of these involved Colonel Arthur Wellesley, later famous as the First Duke of Wellington and the hero of Waterloo. Arthur Wellesley was defeated by Tipu's Diwan, Purnaiya at the Battle of Sultanpet Tope, which took place April 22, 1799, 12 days before the main battle, rockets with a range of 1,000 feet were fired into the rear of the British camp to signal the start of an attack by some 6,000 of Tipu's troops with their French mercenaries. The rocket fire caused considerable damage to the British lines, and one commentator says that Tipu's soldiers were as well trained and as well disciplined as those of the British and that his weapons were as up to date, "based on the latest French designs." "In many respects," he writes, "the Mysore troops were more innovative and technologically advanced than the company armies: firing rockets from their camel cavalry to disperse hostile cavalry for example, long before William Congreve's rocket system was adopted by the British army." As the seige took hold in mid-April, "Tipu ... as one British observer wrote, "gave us gun for gun ... and night time skirmishes were made with desperate exertion ... Soon the scenes became tremendously grand: shells and rockets of uncommon weight were incessantly poured upon us from the SW side, and fourteen pounders and grape from the North face of the fort continued their havoc in the trenches; while the blaze of our batteries, which continuously caught fire ... was the signal for the Tiger sepoys [Tipu'd elite forces dressed in tiger-striped uniforms) to advance, and pour in galling vollies of musketry." [22]

During the conclusive British attack on Seringapatam on May 2, 1799, a British shot struck a magazine of rockets within the Tipu Sultan's fort causing it to explode and send a towering cloud of black smoke, with cascades of exploding white light, rising up from the battlements. On May 3, a breach was made in the wall. On the afternoon of May 4 when the final attack on the fort was led by David Baird (a former captive of Tipu's), he was again met by "furious musket and rocket fire," but this did not help much; in about an hour's time the Fort was taken; perhaps in another hour Tipu had been shot (the precise time of his death is not known), and the war was effectively over. It was Baird who discovered Tipu's body, "with three bayonet wounds and a shot through the head." [23] Tipu held Sir David Baird and James Dalrymple prisoner for 44 months following their capture at the Battle of Pollilur. This was described at the time as "the most grievous disaster which has yet befallen the British arms in India." [24]

After the fall of Seringapatam, 600 launchers, 700 serviceable rockets and 9,000 empty rockets were found. Some of the rockets had pierced cylinders, to allow them to act like incendiaries, while some had iron points or steel blades bound to the bamboo. By attaching these blades to rockets they became very unstable towards the end of their flight causing the blades to spin around like flying scythes, cutting down all in their path.

These experiences eventually led to the Royal Woolwich Arsenal's beginning a military rocket R&D program in 1801, their first demonstration of solid-fuel rockets in 1805 and publication of A Concise Account of the Origin and Progress of the Rocket System in 1807 by William Congreve [25] , son of the arsenal's commandant. Congreve rockets were soon systematically used by the British during the Napoleonic Wars and their confrontation with the United States during 1812-1814. These descendants of Mysore rockets find mention in the Star Spangled Banner. [26]

Humane Treatment for Prisoners

A clause in the proposed treaty of alliance with the French stated, " I demanded that male and female prisoners as well English and Portuguese, who shall be taken by the republican troops or by mine, shall be treated with humanity, and with regard to their persons that they shall be transported at our joint expense out of India to some place for distant from the territories of the allies." In short Tipu was an enlightened ruler, the sheet-anchor of whose state-policy was the well-being of all his subjects irrespective of caste, creed or class. He took his stand on the bedrock of humanity, regarding all his subjects as equal citizen to live in peace, harmony and concord.

Jacobin Club in Mysore

Tippu Sultan was a founder-member of the Jacobin Club . While accepting the membership, he said of France, "Behold my acknowledgement of the standard of your country, which is dear to me, and to which I am allied; it shall always be supported in my country, as it has been in the Republic, my sister!" He was named as "Citizen Tippu Sultan,"

• In Jules Verne 's The Mysterious Island , Captain Nemo is described as a nephew of Tippu Sultan. (NY: Signet Classics, 2004 ISBN 9780451529411 ).
• Tippu Sultan's life and adventures were the central theme of a short-running South Indian television series "The Adventures of Tipu Sultan," and of a more popular national television series "The Sword of Tipu Sultan."
• Naseem Hijazi's novels Muazam Ali (Lahore: Kaumi Kitab Khana, 1989), Aur Talwar Toot Gaye (Lahore: Kaumi Kitab Khana, 1991) describe Tippu Sultan's wars.
• Wilkie Collins novel The Moonstone contains an account of Tippu Sultan and the Fall of Seringapatam in the prologue. (Collins, Wilkie, and Steve Farmer. 1999. The moonstone . Peterborough, CA: Broadview Press. ISBN 9780585279572 )
• In The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolf Erich Raspe, Munchausen vanquishes Tippoo near the end of the novel. (2007. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Pub. ISBN 9781419184451 .)
• Sharpe's Tiger by Bernard Cornwell is a novel in which the fictional soldier Richard Sharpe fights at the Battle of Seringapatam, later killing the Tipu Sultan. (NY: Harper Perennial, 1999 ISBN 9780060932305 .)
• The only king who died on the battlefield is a historical novel (published in 2006) written by a United States-Pakistani resident and a young college student "Mohammed Faisal Iftikhar." The novel claims that in recent history, Tipu Sultan is the only king who died on the battlefield. (2006. Bloomington, IN: Author House. ISBN 9781425922320 )

Family and Descendants

Tippu Sultan had four wives, by whom he had 16 sons and at least 8 daughters, including:

1. Shahzada Hyder Ali Sultan Sahib (1771-30 July 1815), desc

2. Shahzada Abdul Khaliq Sultan Sahib (1782-12 September 1806, desc

3. Shahzada Muhi-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1782-30 September 1811), desc

4. Shahzada Muiz-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1783-30 March 1818), desc

5. Shahzada Miraj-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1784?-?)

6. Shahzada Muin-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1784?-?)

7. Shahzada Muhammad Yasin Sultan Sahib (1784-15 March 1849), desc

8. Shahzada Muhammad Subhan Sultan Sahib (1785-27 September 1845), desc

9. Shahzada Muhammad Shukru'llah Sultan Sahib (1785-25 September 1837), desc

10. Shahzada Sarwar-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1790-20 October 1833), desc

11. Shahzada Muhammad Nizam-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1791-20 October 1791)

12. Shahzada Muhammad Jamal-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1795-13 November 1842), desc

13. Shahzada Munir-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1795-1 December 1837), desc

14. His Highness Shahzada Sir Ghulam Muhammad Sultan Sahib, KCSI (March 1795-11 August 1872), desc

15. Shahzada Ghulam Ahmad Sultan Sahib (1796-11 April 1824)

16. Shahzada Sultan Sahib (1797-1797)

Tippu Sultan's family was sent to Calcutta by the British. Noor Inayat Khan, who was a major in the British Indian army, is said to be one of Tippu Sultan's descendants who died in France under German occupation.

Sir Walter Scott , commenting on the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814, wrote: "Although I never supposed that he [Napoleon] possessed, allowing for some difference of education, the liberality of conduct and political views which were sometimes exhibited by old Haidar Ally, yet I did think he [Napoleon] might have shown the same resolved and dogged spirit of resolution which induced Tippoo Saib to die manfully upon the breach of his capital city with his saber clenched in his hand." [18]

Sword of Tippu Sultan

Tippu Sultan lost his sword in a war with the Nairs of Travancore who had aligned with the British in which, he was defeated. Nairs under the leader ship of Raja Keshava pillai Diwanji (Raja Keshavadas) defeated the Mysoor army near Aluva. The Maharaja, Dharma Raja, gifted the famous sword to the Nawab of Arcot, from where the sword went to London . The sword was on display at the Wallace Collection, No. 1 Manchester Square, London. At an auction in London in 2004, the industrialist-politician Vijay Mallya purchased the sword of Tippu Sultan and some other historical artifacts, and brought them back to India for public display after nearly two centuries.

Hero of Colonial Resistance

The number of books published about Tippu Suktan in post-colonial India testifies to his iconic status as a hero of resistance to domination, imperialism and as a champion of freedom. His concern for harmony between different social and religious groups, his admiration of the French Republic and his concern for public welfare, have all served to enhance his reputation and to contrast his rule in Mysore with the British Raj in India which succeeded this, which is portrayed as authoritarian, freedom-denying and unconcerned with the rights or welfare of the many. Like Siraj ud-Daulah's defeat in Bengal, Tippu's defeat in Mysore was made possible by alliances between the British and Indians. His defeat did not involve the same element of betrayal that brought Siraj down, but without the help of rival Indian princes, the British might not have defeated him. One writer describes Tippu Sultan as "a hero of the Indo-Pakistani nationalist and fold traditions" who "died fighting the British East India Company." [27]

Pioneer of Technology

Writing in the Deccan Herald , Meera Iyer recalls that Tippu's use of rockets pioneered this technology, and that his legacy in this respect reminds Indians that, "the possibilities ...are limited only by our imagination". [28] Tipu Sultan's legacy also serves as an inspiration to Indians who want India to take a lead in technological innovation and invention.

• ↑ Binita Mehta, 2002, Widows, Pariahs and Bayadères: India as Spectacle . Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press. ISBN 0838754554 . Page 110 discusses revisionist writing about Tippu Sultan.
• ↑ Simon Schama, 2001, A History of Britain: Volume 11: the wars of the British, 1603-1776 . New York, NY: Hyperion/Miramax. ISBN 9780786867523 . 517.
• ↑ Ramusack 2004, 32.
• ↑ Ramusack 2004, 31.
• ↑ W. Kirkpatrick, 1811, Select Letters of Tippoo Sultan. Publisher: London, UK: Printed for Black, Parry and Kingsbury.
• ↑ M. Wilks, 1864, Report on the Interior Administration, Resources and Expenditure of the Government of Mysore under the System prescribed by the Order of the Governor-General in Council dated September 4, 1799. Bangalore, IN: Mysore Government Press and Historical Sketches of the South of India in an Attempt to Trace the History of Mysore with Hammick, Murray (1930 2 Vols) republished 1989. New Delhi, IN: Asian Educational Services.
• ↑ C. C. Davies, 1953, "Review of The History of Tipu Sultan by Mohibbul Hasan." The English Historical Review . 68(266):144-145.
• ↑ A. Chetty, Subbaraya, “Tipu’s endowments to Hindus and Hindu institutions” in Habib. 2002. 111.
• ↑ Habib 2001, 5.
• ↑ Hasan 1971, 368.
• ↑ Brittlebank 1997, 10-12. On page 2 she writes “it is perhaps ironic that the aggressive Hinduism of some members of the Indian Community in the 1990s should draw upon an image of Tipu which, as we shall see, was initially constructed by the Subcontinent’s colonizers.”
• ↑ Hasan 1971, 362-363.
• ↑ Hasan 1971, 357-358.
• ↑ A. S. Chetty, 2002, “Tipu’s endowments to Hindus” in Habib. 111-115.
• ↑ 1916. Annual Report of the Mysore Archaeological Department . 10-11, 73-76.
• ↑ Hasan 1971, 359.
• ↑ B. A. Saletare, “Tipu Sultan as Defender of the Hindu Dharma” in Habib. 2002. 116-118.
• ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 2000. Tipu Sultan, Ruler of Mysore . Tiger and Thistle. Retrieved February 5, 2009.
• ↑ Veronica Murphy, 1976, Tippoo's Tiger. London, UK: Victoria and Albert Museum.
• ↑ Tipu . Global Security. Retrieved February 5, 2009.
• ↑ Will Dalrymple, 2004, White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth Century India . New York, NY: Penguin. ISBN 0670031844 . 151-152.
• ↑ Dalrymple 2004, 152.
• ↑ Dalrymple 2004, 151.
• ↑ Stephen Leslie, 1887, "Congreve, Sir William," Dictionary of National Biography . New York, NY: Macmillan & Co. Vol.XII, 9.
• ↑ Alen W. McDonnell, The Rockets Red Glare. ctie.monash.edu.au. Retrieved February 5, 2009.
• ↑ Amyn B. Sajoo, 2004, Civil Society in the Muslim World: Contemporary Perspectives . London, UK: Institute for Ismaili Studies. ISBN 9781850435907 . 290.
• ↑ Meera Iyer, 2008, A forgotten slice of history. The Deccan Herald. Retrieved February 5, 2009.

References ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Agha, Shamsu. Tipu Sultan," "Mirza Ghalib in London";, "Flight Delayed" , (three plays) London, UK: Waltham Forest Race Relations Unit.
• Bowring, Lewin. 1997. Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan and the Struggle with the Musalman Powers of the South. New Delhi, IN: Asian Educational Services. ISBN 812061299X .
• Brittlebank, Kate. 1997. Tipu Sultan's Search for Legitimacy: Islam and Kingship in a Hindu Domain . Delhi, IN; New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195639773 .
• Habib, Irfan. 2001. State and Diplomacy Under Tipu Sultan: Documents and Essays . New Delhi, IN: Tulika. ISBN 9788185229508 .
• Habid, Irfan (ed). 2002. Confronting Colonialism: Resistance and Modernization Under Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan (Anthem South Asian Studies). London, UK: Anthem Press. ISBN 1843310244 .
• Hasan, Mohibbul. 1971. History of Tipu Sultan. Calcutta, IN: Aakar Books. ISBN 8187879572 .
• Hasan, Mohibbul. 2005. Tipu Sultan's Mission to Constantinople. Delhi, IN: Aakar Books. ISBN 8187879564 .
• Home, Robert. 2000. Select Views in Mysore: The Country of Tipu Sultan from Drawings Taken on the Spot by Mr. Home. New Delhi, IN: Asian Educational Services. ISBN 8120615123 .
• Moienuddin, Mohammad. 2000. Sunset at Srirangapatam: After the death of Tipu Sultan. Hyderabad, IN: Orient Longman. ISBN 8125019197 .
• Ramusack, Barbara N. 2004. The Indian princes and their states . The new Cambridge history of India, III, 6. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521267274 .
• Strandberg, Samuel. 1995. Tipu Sultan: The Tiger of Mysore: or, to fight against the odds. Stockholm, SE: AB Samuel Travel. ISBN 9163073331 .
• Taylor, George. 1989. Coins of Tipu Sultan . New Delhi, IN: Asian Educational Service. ISBN 8120605039 .
• Wigington, Robin. 1992. Firearms of Tipu Sultan, 1783-99 . Hatfield, UK: J. Taylor Book Ventures. ISBN 1871224136 .

External links

All links retrieved April 30, 2023.

• Biography .
• The Sword of Tippu Sultan .
• The Tiger of Mysore – Dramatized account of the British campaign against Tipu Sultan by G. A. Henty, from Project Gutenberg.

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards . This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Tippu Sultan   history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia :

• History of "Tippu Sultan"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

• Politicians and reformers
• Pages using ISBN magic links

Talk to our experts

1800-120-456-456

• Tipu Sultan Biography

Tipu Sultan - Introduction

Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, who was fondly referred to as Tipu Sultan, was the ruler of the Mysore kingdom in south India. Here we will discuss the different aspects of Tipu Sultan’s life including his birth, early life, being the ruler of Mysore, conflicts with the British, and his death. 

Birth and Early Days

Tipu Sultan’s birth date was 20th November in 1750. The birthplace of Tipu Sultan is Devanahalli in the rural district of Bengaluru which is located 33 km to the north of the city of Bengaluru. The real name of Tipu Sultan was Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab and he was named after the saint called Tipu Mastan Aulia in Arcot. Hyder Ali was the father of Tipu Sultan and he was the military officer who served the kingdom of Mysore and then became the de facto ruler of the province in 1761. 

Fatima Fakhr-un-Nisa was the mother of Tipu Sultan. Though Hyder Ali was illiterate, he made it a point to ensure that his eldest son got the prince’s education plus early exposure to the military as well as political affairs. Tipu Sultan got an early education in various subjects including Arabic, Urdu, Persian, and Kannada. Besides this, Tipu Sultan also learned Quran, Islamic Jurisprudence, shooting, fencing, and riding from capable teachers who were appointed by Hyder Ali. 

Tipu Sultan was handed over the command to important military and diplomatic missions when he was just 17 years of age. Tipu Sultan was the right-hand man of his father in the wars and this helped Hyder Ali capture the thrones of southern India.

Family of Tipu Sultan

Tipu Sultan had various wives including Khadija Zaman Begum, Ruqayya Banu, and Sindh Sahiba. Tipu Sultan had 16 sons including Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Hyder Ali Khan Sultan, Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Abdul Khaliq Khan Sultan, Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Muhi-ud-din Ali Khan Sultan, Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Mu’iz-ud-din Ali Khan Sultan, Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Muhammad Subhan Khan Sultan, and Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Muhammad Yasin Khan Sultan amongst others.

Death of Tipu Sultan

In 1799 there were three armies that marched into Mysore, two of those armies came from the United Kingdom and one came from Bombay. The forces belonging to Tipu Sultan were around 30,000 whereas the British East India Company had over 26,000 troops.

It was the betrayal from Tipu Sultan’s brother in law where he collaborated with the British and undermined the walls thereby making the British journey easier. Even though Tipu Sultan was advised by French military advisors to flee, he declined and was killed at Srirangapatna Fort. His body was buried at the Gumbaz, right next to the grave of his father.

More About Tipu Sultan

Tipu Sultan was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in South India. Tipu Sultan's full name was Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu.

In this Tipu Sultan biography, we will learn about Tipu Sultan birth, Who was the Tiger of Mysore, Tipu Sultan original name, Tipu Sultan History about his early life and has a ruler of Mysore, his conflicts with the British and surrounding kingdoms, and his death.

Early Days of Tipu Sultan Birth

Tipu Sultan was born on November 20, 1750.

Tipu Sultan birthplace is Devanahalli, Bengaluru Rural District, about 33 kilometres north of Bengaluru city.

Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu was Tipu Sultan's real name.

Tipu Sultan was named after the saint Tipu Mastan Aulia of Arcot.

Tipu Sultan’s father was Hyder Ali who was a military officer in service to the Kingdom of Mysore and became the de facto ruler of Mysore in 1761.

Tipu Sultan’s mother was Fatima Fakhr-un-Nisa who was the daughter of Mir Muin-ud-Din, the governor of the fort of Kadapa.

Hyder Ali, who was illiterate, made a point of providing his eldest son with a prince's education and early exposure to military and political affairs.

Tipu Sultan was given an early education in subjects such as Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Kannada, Quran, Islamic jurisprudence, riding, shooting, and fencing by able teachers who were appointed by Hyder Ali.

Tipu Sultan was granted independent command of important diplomatic and military missions when he was 17 years old.

Tipu Sultan served as his father's right hand in the wars that propelled Hyder Ali to the throne of southern India.

Tipu Sultan Family

Tipu Sultan had several wives. Ruqayya Banu, Khadija Zaman Begum, Sindh Sahiba were a few of the wives names recorded.

Tipu Sultan had 16 Sons 

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Hyder Ali Khan Sultan 

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Abdul Khaliq Khan Sultan 

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Muhi-ud-din Ali Khan Sultan

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Mu'izz-ud-din Ali Khan Sultan 

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Mi'raj-ud-din Ali Khan Sultan 

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Mu'in-ud-din Ali Khan Sultan

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Muhammad Yasin Khan Sultan 

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Muhammad Subhan Khan Sultan 

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Muhammad Shukrullah Khan Sultan 

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Sarwar-ud-din Khan Sultan 

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Muhammad Nizam-ud-din Khan Sultan 

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Muhammad Jamal-ud-din Khan Sultan 

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Munir-ud-din Khan Sultan 

Shahzada Sir Sayyid walShareef Ghulam Muhammad Sultan Sahib, KCSI

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Ghulam Ahmad Khan Sultan 

Shahzada Sayyid walShareef Hashmath Ali Khan Sultan

First Anglo-Mysore War

Tipu Sultan fought alongside his father against the British in the First Anglo-Mysore War in 1766 when he was 15 years old.

Tipu Sultan received military training from French officers who worked for his father.

At the age of 16, he led a cavalry corps in the conquest of Carnatic in 1767.

He also made a name for himself during the First Anglo-Maratha War, which lasted from 1775 to 1779.

Second Anglo-Mysore War

The British seized the French-controlled port of Mahe in 1779, which Tipu had protected by supplying troops for its defence.

Hyder Ali launched an invasion of the Carnatic in response, with the aim of driving the British out of Madras.

Hyder Ali sent Tipu Sultan with 10,000 men and 18 guns to intercept Colonel Baillie on his way to join Sir Hector Munro during this campaign in September 1780. Tipu decisively beat Baillie in the Battle of Pollilur.

On February 18, 1782, Tipu Sultan defeated Colonel Braithwaite at Annagudi, near Tanjore.

Tipu Sultan successfully reclaimed Chittur from the British in December 1781.

Tipu Sultan recognised the British as a new form of threat to India.

By the time Hyder Ali died on December 6, 1782, Tipu Sultan had acquired sufficient military experience.

The Treaty of Mangalore, signed in 1784, put an end to the Second Mysore War.

Ruler of Mysore Tipu Sultan

Following the death of Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan was crowned King of Mysore on Sunday, December 22, 1782, in a simple coronation ceremony.

He then worked to counter the British advance by forming alliances with the Marathas and Mughals. 

Disputes with the Maratha Confederacy

The Maratha Empire regained much of the Indian subcontinent under its new Peshwa Madhavrao I, twice defeating Tipu's father, who was forced to recognise the Maratha Empire as the supreme power in 1764 and 1767.

In 1767, the Maratha Peshwa Madhavrao defeated both Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan and marched into Mysore's capital, Srirangapatna.

Hyder Ali acknowledged Madhavrao's authority and was given the title of Nawab of Mysore.

However, the Ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan decided to get out of the Maratha’s treaty, so he attempted to seize some Maratha forts in Southern India that had been captured by the Marathas during the previous war.

This pitted Tipu Sultan against the Marathas, resulting in the Maratha–Mysore War, which lasted from 1785 to 1787.

In March 1787, the Treaty of Gajendragad was signed, in which Tipu returned all of the territories conquered by Hyder Ali to the Maratha Empire.

Tipu Sultan agreed to pay the Maratha Empire four years worth of tribute that his father, Hyder Ali, had agreed to pay.

Third Anglo-Mysore War

On 28th December 1789, Tipu Sultan gathered troops in Coimbatore and launched an assault on Travancore's lines, knowing that Travancore was a British East India Company ally (according to the Treaty of Mangalore).

Lord Cornwallis responded by mobilising company and British military powers, as well as forming alliances with the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad, in order to defeat Tipu.

The company forces advanced in 1790, capturing a large portion of the Coimbatore district. Tipu launched a counter-offensive, retaking most of the territory, though the British retained control of Coimbatore.

In 1791, his adversaries made gains on all fronts, with Cornwallis' main British force capturing Bengaluru and threatening Srirangapatna.

Tipu Sultan harassed British supply and communication lines and implemented a scorched earth strategy of refusing the invaders local resources.

Cornwallis was successful in this last attempt, as a shortage of provisions forced him to retreat to Bengaluru rather than attempt a siege of Srirangapatna.

Tipu sent forces to Coimbatore after the withdrawal, which they retook after a long siege.

Tipu began negotiations for surrender terms after about two weeks of siege.

He was forced to cede half of his territory to the allies and deliver two of his sons as hostages in the subsequent treaty before he paid the British the three crores and thirty lakhs rupees set aside as war indemnity for the campaign against him. He paid the money in two installments and returned to Madras with his sons.

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War and Death of Tipu Sultan

In 1799, three armies marched into Mysore: one from Bombay and two from the United Kingdom, one of which included Arthur Wellesley. During the Fourth Mysore War, they besieged Srirangapatna, the capital.

The British East India Company had over 26,000 troops, while Tipu Sultan's forces numbered 30,000.

Tipu Sultan's brother-in-law's betrayal in collaborating with the British and undermining the walls to make the British's journey easier.

When the British broke through the city walls, Tipu Sultan was advised to flee through hidden passages by French military advisors, but he declined.

Tipu Sultan was killed at the Srirangapatna Fort. He was buried at the Gumbaz, next to his father's grave.

Tipu Sultans Administration 

In this section let us look into some of the administrative reforms passed by Tipu Sultan for the betterment of the Mysore state.

Tipu was able to conquer all of the southern petty kingdoms. In addition, he was one of the few Indian rulers to beat British armies.

Mysore's use of rocketry had been expanded by Tipu Sultan's father, who had made important innovations in both the rockets themselves and the military logistics of their use. In his army, he deployed up to 1,200 specialised troops to control rocket launchers. During the third and fourth Anglo-Mysore Wars, these rockets were used.

The navy led by Tipu Sultan was made of 20 battleships of 72 cannons and 20 frigates of 62 cannons.

In the late 18th century, Tipu Sultan was at the pinnacle of Mysore's economic strength. He embarked on an ambitious economic development programme with his father, Hyder Ali, with the aim of increasing Mysore's wealth and revenue.

With highly productive agriculture and textile manufacturing, Mysore overtook Bengal Subah as India's dominant economic force during his reign. 

In the late 18th century, Mysore had some of the highest real incomes and living standards in the world, even higher than Britain, thanks to Tipu Sultan. At this time, Mysore's average income was five times that of the subsistence level.

On the Kaveri river, Tipu Sultan laid the base for the Kannambadi dam (Krishna Raja Sagara or KRS dam).

During Tipu Sultan's reign, a new land revenue system was developed which initiated the growth of the Mysore silk industry for the first time.

Tipu Sultan was a moral administrator. Liquor use and prostitution were strictly banned during his rule. Psychedelics, such as Cannabis, were also banned from use and cultivation.

Tippu Sultan introduced a new coinage system and calendar.

Religious Policies of Tipu Sultan

Tipu Sultan was a very controversial figure in Indian History because of his religious beliefs and policies. In this section let us look into some of the religious policies of Tipu Sultan.

Tipu Sultan was a devout Muslim who performed regular prayers and paid particular attention to mosques in the city. Some of his policies have sparked debate as a Muslim ruler in a predominantly Hindu country.

In India, his religious legacy has sparked heated debate, with some groups hailing him as a great warrior for the faith or Ghazi for both religious and political reasons.

Many sources cite Tipu's appointment of Hindu officers in his administration, as well as his land grants and endowments to Hindu temples, as proof of his religious tolerance.

Various accounts, on the other hand, depict Hindu and Christian massacres, incarceration, and forced conversion, the destruction of churches and temples, and the crackdown on Muslims, which are often cited as proof of his prejudice.

After Reading Tipu Sultans Biography We May Get a Question:

Who is the Tiger of Mysore and why was he called so?

Tipu Sultan, also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was a powerful ruler in Mysore. Tipu Sultan was a fearsome warrior king who moved so quickly that the enemy thought he was fighting on many fronts at the same time. Tiger was Tipu Sultan's state symbol, and he used tiger motifs on arms and uniforms, as well as decorating palaces with tiger emblems. 

Also, one incident with Tiger gave him this name. Tipu Sultan's gun jammed and his knife dropped to the ground when he attempted to kill the Tiger. When the Tiger jumped on him and was about to maul him, Tipu took out his knife and killed the tiger, earning him the moniker "Tiger of Mysore." 

In this Tipu Sultan biography, we have talked about the life history of tipu Sultan, his battles with the British empire, his rule of South India and we got to know Who is Tiger of Mysore.

During his lifetime, Tipu Sultan was a legend, and he is still known as an enlightened ruler in India. He was a fierce and successful opponent of British rule in southern India during the late eighteenth century, posing a serious threat to the East India Company. 

So it is important for students to study the Tipu Sultan history to understand his ideologies, administrative skills and never give up attitude on the battlefield.

FAQs on Tipu Sultan Biography

1. Why was Tipu Sultan considered the Mysore tiger?

Tipu Sultan was popularly known as the tiger of Mysore due to various reasons. Tiger was the state symbol of Tipu Sultan and he also used tiger motifs on the uniforms and arms. He also decorated palaces using tiger emblems and then there is a historical record where Tipu Sultan once killed a tiger using just a knife and bare hands and this eventually led to him being crowned as the tiger of Mysore.

2. What was the administration of Tipu Sultan like?

The administration of Tipu Sultan was very efficient and effective. During the late 18th century, Tipu Sultan spearheaded the economic revolution in Mysore. Through the ambitious economic development schemes and plans, Tipu Sultan along with his father developed various strategies for increasing the revenue of Mysore. In the late 18th century Mysore became one of the best economic provinces with high-income levels, even surpassing Britain and it became one of the most prosperous kingdoms in the country.

3. What were some of the achievements of Tipu Sultan?

Tipu Sultan introduced policies that boosted textile and agricultural manufacturing which helped Mysore overtake Bengal Subah as the dominant economic force in India during his reign. Tipu Sultan laid the foundation for the Kannambadi dam on the Kaveri river. Tipu Sultan introduced a new land revenue system that fast-tracked the growth of the Mysore silk industry for the very first time. Tipu Sultan introduced the new calendar and the coinage system during his reign. 

4. Which was the first war that Tipu Sultan fought?

The first Anglo-Mysore war was the first battle that Tipu Sultan fought. He fought alongside his father, against the British when he was just 15 years of age. The French officers provided military training to Tipu Sultan and at 16 years of age, Tipu Sultan led the cavalry corps in the conquest of the Camatic in the year 1767. Tipu Sultan carved a name for himself through the first Anglo-Maratha war between 1775 and 1779. 

5. How can I study from the Vedantu notes on “Tipu Sultan biography”?

The “Tipu Sultan biography” notes from Vedantu are available to download for free from the website and the app. These notes can be downloaded in PDF format and once you have downloaded the file on your device, you can refer to the motes even offline. You can download the Vedantu app for easy access to some of the most high-quality learning material on the web.

6. Who is Tipu Sultan?

Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu famously known as Tipu Sultan was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in South India.

7. Who Was the Tiger of Mysore?

Tipu Sultan was called “Tiger of Mysore” and Tiger was Tipu Sultan's state symbol, and he used tiger motifs on arms and uniforms, as well as decorating palaces with tiger emblems. Also, there is a historical record that says Tippu Sultan killed a Tiger using his Knife so the name Tiger of Mysore.

8. What is Tipu Sultan's Real Name?

Tipu Sultan's original name is Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu.

History of Islam

An encyclopedia of Islamic history

Tipu Sultan

Contributed by Prof. Dr. Nazeer Ahmed, PhD

The year 1799 marks a watershed on the Islamic calendar. It was the year that Napoleon landed his troops in Egypt. It was also the year that the British stormed the Fort of Srirangapatam, and the curtain fell on Islamic rule in India. The first event, the landing of French troops in Ottoman Egypt, confirmed the superiority of European arms and organization over the Ottomans. The second, the fall of Mysore, completed the political implosion of India and the consolidation of the British Empire. British arms did not conquer India. It fell apart through its own internal divisions and was handed over to the British by individual traitors.

Tippu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore in South India as a contemporary of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Voltaire, Louis XVI, George III and Napoleon Bonaparte. In more ways than one, the paths of these historical figures crossed those of Tippu. It is an irony of history that the triumph of George Washington and the independence of America had an impact on the military fortunes of Tippu Sultan in far-away Mysore. After the British General Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown (1781), he returned to England and was hired by the East India Company. It was Cornwallis who organized a sustained and determined political and military offensive against Tippu Sultan that finally contained the Sultan’s explosive energies.

Tippu’s life spanned a period when new ideas and new institutions transformed the landscape of Europe and North America, while Asia recoiled from within. It was the age of the Industrial Revolution. Starting with the invention of the steam engine in 1758, Europe forged ahead in consolidating its technological superiority over the rest of the world. It was the age of the American Revolution (1776) and the eloquent assertion of the rights of man by Thomas Jefferson. It was also the age of the French Revolution (1789) and the abolition of oppressive feudalism in continental Europe. Tippu’s existential vision reached out to the ideas in these momentous changes. But he lived in an environment that had lost its social, political and spiritual vitality, and he was done-in by his own people, while America and Europe moved forward to the modern age.

Tippu, son of Hyder Ali, was born in 1750 at Devanahalli and was named after Tippu Mastan Awliya of Arcot, to whose tomb his mother had made a pilgrimage. Tippu’s forefather Shaykh Wali Muhammed, a Sufi Shaykh of the Chishtiya order from the Punjab, was ordered south by his teacher to serve the area of Gulbarga near the modern city of Bangalore, where the tomb of Shaykh Gaysu Daraz (d. 1410) is located. Shaykh Wali’s grandson Fath Muhammed served, for a while, as a commander in the armies of the Nawab of Arcot during the reign of Aurangzeb (d. 1707). Fath Muhammed migrated further inland, and found himself in the service of the Nawab of Sira, where he married the daughter of the Shaykh of Tanjore. While living in the village of Devanahalli, a son was born to the couple, and he was named Muhammed Ali. This lad, growing up in a soldier’s family, showed his mettle early in his career, and soon found himself as a platoon commander in the service of the Raja of Mysore.

The political landscape of India changed while Fath Muhammed was in the service of the Nawab of Sira. Between 1680 and 1690, Moghul armies under Emperor Aurangzeb swept through southern India and extended their sway almost to the tip of the peninsula. Following the death of Aurangzeb (1707), there emerged no successor capable of holding the vast empire together. The provincial governors, while paying lip service to the lordship of the Emperor, asserted their independence. In 1722, Nizam ul Mulk, Asif Jah I, was sent to Golkunda (modern Hyderabad) as the governor of the southern provinces. The Nizam skillfully manipulated his affairs so that the governorship of the area became hereditary, and his descendants came to be known as the Nizams of Hyderabad. His official title was the subedar (provincial governor) of Deccan. This province was rich and vast, comprising an area larger than England, and included all territories contiguous to the modern metropolitan cities of Hyderabad, Bangalore and Madras. It had an income of over 200 million rupees, which was roughly a fifth of the entire income of the Moghul Empire.

For administrative purposes, the suba (province) of Hyderabad was divided into two sub-districts, each one governed by a nawab (the literal meaning of the word in Farsi is a “deputy”. The English corrupted it to nabob.). The first sub-district was Sira, located 60 miles west of modern Bangalore. Sira was the administrative capital of Mysore and the coastal areas of Malabar, including the rich trading centers of Cochin and Mangalore. The other sub-district was Arcot, located 200 miles southeast of Hyderabad, which administered the coastal areas on the east coast included in modern Telangana and Madras.

Meanwhile, a strong power had emerged in western India. The Marathas, arising out of the hills around Poona, were welded into an effective fighting force by Shivaji. By 1720, they were in effective control of west central India and were elbowing their way east into the Nizam’s territories, pushing their way north towards the heartland of the Moghul territories. Like the Nizams of Hyderabad, the Marathas too evolved a hereditary line of succession called the Peshwas.

The political disintegration of the Moghul Empire was an opportunity for the European powers. The British East India Company, set up in 1600 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, had established its “factories” in three areas: Madras (1640), Bombay (1649) and Calcutta (1670). The French, following on the heels of the English, had their own Compagnie des Indes Orientales , and set up their “factory” at Pondicherry on the Bay of Bengal, about 100 miles south of Madras. The global rivalry between the French and the British, which had intense moments in West Africa and North America, spilled over into the Indian Ocean and India.

The first opportunity for European intervention in Indian affairs came from Hyderabad. Following the death of Asif Jah I, disagreements arose among his descendants, and open warfare erupted. In 1749, it pitted Nasir Jung, second son of the Nizam, against Muzaffar Jung, a grandson. At about the same time, a struggle arose for the Nawabship of Arcot (modern Tamil Nadu) between Muhammed Ali and Chanda Saheb. These fateful struggles dragged in the French, the British and the Mysoreans. The British sided with Nasir Jung and Muhammad Ali, while the French championed Muzaffar Jung and Chanda Saheb. Since Mysore was a part of the suba of Hyderabad, Nasir Jung requisitioned a contingent of 15,000 troops from Mysore. Hyder Ali was a part of this contingent. He distinguished himself in combat, and upon his return, was made a regional commander by the Raja of Mysore.

The contests in Hyderabad and Arcot ended in favor of the British. The French Governor Dupleix was outwitted by the British Governor Robert Clive, and returned to France a disheartened man. A few years later, the British gained a decisive advantage in India as a result of their victory over the Nawab of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey (1757). The Anglo-French wars, fought on and off for twenty years on the global stage, came to an end with the Treaty of Paris (1763) by which the French washed their hands of India and essentially gave up their struggle in North America.

Meanwhile, the wheels of fortune turned. In 1761, the Afghan Emir, Ahmed Shah Abdali, at the Battle of Panipat, crushed the Maratha armies, which had penetrated as far north as Lahore in the Punjab. The Marathas, recoiling from the tremendous loss of manpower in the battle (some historians put this loss at over 150,000 men), recalled their armed forces dispersed over the subcontinent. Mysore, which had suffered periodic invasions from the Marathas, was a beneficiary. In 1762, the Mysore armies under Hyder Ali expelled the Marathas. By 1765, Hyder Ali had become the de-facto power in Mysore, while the Raja and his family receded into the background. The rising power of Mysore roiled the Nizam, the Marathas, and the British alike. In addition, the continuing contest for succession in Arcot provided plenty of opportunity for alliances and counter alliances. The result was a series of wars, with Mysore as the central player in the test of arms.

The first Mysore War was fought between August 1767 and March 1768, with the British championing the cause of the profligate Muhammed Ali, Nawab of Arcot, while Hyder Ali of Mysore championed the cause of Mahfuz Khan, elder brother of Muhammed Ali. The fickle Nizam at first supported Hyder but changed sides when he heard that the Marathas were planning an attack on him, and joined up with the British instead. It was in the First Mysore War that Tippu, at the age of seventeen, first showed his mettle. He was in charge of a regiment assigned to him by his father, Hyder Ali. Within a month of the start of hostilities, Tippu’s forces rode up to the very gates of Madras. On September 28, 1767, the British Governor Bourchier, the Board of Governors of the Company, as well as Muhammed Ali, the Nawab of Arcot, were in the Madras gardens when Tippu’s cavalry came charging up. Tippu would have arrested them all were it not for a small boat that happened to be in the waters off the gardens and provided them a narrow escape. The Mysore armies were victorious on all fronts, in the east near Madras, and in the west along the coast of Malabar. The war ended when Hyder Ali mounted a second assault on Madras in March 1768 and dictated peace terms to the Madras Governor. The Treaty of Madras (1769) called for a return of captured territories by both sides, and each side promised to help the other in the event of an attack from a third party.

The peace treaty was tested when the Marathas invaded Mysore the following year and the British, untrue to their covenant, refused to help Hyder Ali. The breach of faith left an enduring legacy of distrust of the British in the young Tippu. The Maratha armies raided all the way to Srirangapatam, but withdrew when the stout resistance of Tippu frustrated their assault. The next eight years were of intermittent warfare between Mysore with the Marathas and the Nizam. The victorious team of father and son (Hyder Ali and Tippu) extended the frontiers of Mysore to the shores of the Krishna River, pushing back both the Marathas and the Nizam. It was during this period, in 1773, that Tippu married Ruqayya Banu, daughter of an army general. Ruqayya Banu became the future queen of Mysore and was the mother of Tippu’s sons.

Global events overtook the military contests in India. In 1776, the American colonies declared their independence from England. War erupted, George Washington took command of the American troops and British resources were stretched to the limit. In one of these battles, a loyalist force under General Cornwallis surrendered to General Washington at Yorktown located on the Hudson River in modern New York state(1781). Cornwallis retired to England, where the East India Company hired him. It was Cornwallis who orchestrated a determined political and military campaign in the Third Mysore War (1789-1792) to contain Tippu Sultan. The French sided with the Americans in the War of Independence. In retaliation, England declared war on France, and seized the French colonies of Pondicherry (on the Bay of Bengal) and Mahe (on the Arabian Sea) in India. The seizure of Mahe on the Malabar Coast annoyed Hyder Ali since it was a primary conduit for the Mysore spice trade with West Asia and Europe.

At about the same time, the Marathas were upset with the British over their intervention in court affairs at Poona over succession issues. The Nizam, that perennial weathercock in Indian politics at that time, also viewed the British with disfavor because they had captured Guntur and given it to their satrap, Muhammed Ali of Arcot.

The confluence of these events resulted in an unusual alignment of Indian forces against the British. By now, the Indian potentates were alert to the machinations of the East India Company. They had seen how the British had brought the Bengal economy to its knees after the Battle of Plassey (1757), imposing unbearable taxes on local products while flooding the market with cheap British goods. They were alarmed at the British victory at Buxor (1764) over the combined forces of Bengal, Oudh and the Moghul Emperor, Shah Alam. They had also witnessed how the British had starved the Begums of Oudh to surrender their state jewels (1765). A blueprint for British domination over India was apparent. In 1780, an understanding was reached between Hyder Ali of Mysore, the Nizam of Hyderabad, and the Marathas, to “liberate” India from the British. The French, always on the lookout for another opportunity to get into Indian politics, warmly welcomed this treaty. The combined forces of Mysore and Hyderabad were to attack Madras while the Maratha forces would challenge the British in Bombay and Bengal.

The Mysore forces were the first in battle. The causes for war were provided by the refusal of the British to hand over border territories as agreed to in the Treaty of Madras and by their march over Mysore territories in their attack on French Mahe. In July 1780, Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan marched into Madras at the head of a host of 80,000 seasoned troops. Opposing them was General Munroe, who had earned his fame as the Commander of British forces that had defeated the combined armies of Bengal, Oudh and the Moghuls at the Battle of Buxor (1764). To support Munroe, a British brigade was marching up from the south under Colonel Bailey. Tippu caught up with Bailey in September 1780, and at the Battle of Pollilur, utterly demolished it. Colonel Bailey, along with 3,820 British officers and troops, was captured. It was the worst defeat the British suffered on Indian soil. And it was this engagement that made a legend out of Tippu Sultan. Meanwhile, the main Mysore army under Hyder Ali, bested General Munroe, forcing him to abandon his guns and beat a hasty retreat into Fort St. George in Madras.

The Battle of Pollilur demolished the reputation that the British in India were invincible, as was assumed since the Battle of Buxor. It showed that a disciplined Indian army was more than a match for the Europeans. It also demonstrated that the weapons of war of the Mysore Army were in no way inferior to those of the British. The Mysore Army, 88,000 strong, was organized into regular and irregular troops. A well-trained cavalry corps of 10,000 provided the mobile arm. There were 48,000 regular infantry and 30,000 irregular infantry troops. The regular army was organized into cushoons (divisions), risalas (regiments) and jukhs (companies). Each soldier was supplied with a scepter, a dagger, a musket, and rounds of ammunition. The field guns were of Indian design, cast in brass, and had a longer range than those of the British. This was made possible by the large foundries located near Srirangapatam, as well as precision boring of long barrels achieved with water operated boring mills. The decisive edge was provided by the rocket corps. The Mysore rockets had a deadly range of 1,000 yards, and carried a cartridge filled with gunpowder. It is commonly assumed that by 1799, when Napoleon invaded Egypt, European arms were far superior to those of the armies of Asia. While it is true that the momentum was in favor of Europe thanks to the Industrial Revolution, the technological superiority of Europe over Asia in armaments for land forces was not fully established until after the fall of Mysore.

This credible military force was supported by the financial stability and economic prosperity of the kingdom. Control of the western coastline provided Tippu Sultan with access to the commercial centers of the Indian Ocean and to India. Exports included spices, sandalwood, ivory, iron, cloth, silk, brassware, woodwork, and diamonds. Imports included muskets, guns, wool and saltpeter. The balance of trade was almost always in favor of Mysore, so that accounts were current despite the heavy expenditures of war. Food was plentiful. Srirangapatam, Channapatna, Bangalore, and Bidnur were major manufacturing centers while the ports of Mangalore and Cochin were among the busiest in the Indian Ocean.

The Treaty of 1780 between Mysore, Hyderabad and the Marathas, marked a high point in the cooperation between Indian states. It was the closest that the British came to losing their hold on India before the Great Sepoy Uprising of 1857. The Treaty fell apart because India was in an advanced stage of political and social disintegration. None of the princes, except Tippu, had a global vision. And none, except Tippu, could foresee that the British presence was the beginning of a global European thrust that would swallow up India and Asia. The princes were more concerned with petty issues relating to minor adjustments of their borders, or of succession and pensions, than with the fate of India. Self-interest and intrigue, opportunism and ambition, not ethics, had become the guiding principle of politics. Ethical and spiritual decay had penetrated so deep into Indian politics that princes and generals alike were willing to sell their country for a pittance.

The ancient civilization of India, Hindu and Muslim alike, which had witnessed cycles of glory and decay, was at a low ebb. Religious faith was no longer a sufficient binding force, and modern values such as nationalism were unknown. India was up against an expansionist Europe, whose social landscape was being transformed by nascent ideas, new technologies and efficient institutions. The British, with their global reach, had access to far greater resources than any Indian prince could muster. With their efficient intelligence apparatus, they were aware of the intrigues in the Indian courts, and took full advantage of it. The first to abandon the Treaty of 1780 was the Nizam. A mere promise from the British Governor General Warren Hastings that he would not swallow up the district of Guntur was sufficient to change the mind of the Nizam, and he switched sides. Not a single soldier left the city of Hyderabad to participate in the war. The Marathas were the next to quit the alliance when the British promised not to interfere in their internal affairs and to provide military assistance in recovering border territories from Mysore.

Undaunted, the Mysore armies fought, holding the British armies to a draw, in the eastern theater near Madras and in the western theater on the coast of Malabar. In the midst of the Second Mysore War, as the conflict of 1778-1782 is known, Hyder Ali died of cancer (December 1782), and Tippu succeeded him at the age of thirty two. Meanwhile, in far-away America, the War of Independence (1776-1783) ended with a triumph for the colonies. The French had joined the Americans (1778) against the British. In 1783, the French, with their support no longer needed by the Americans, concluded the Peace Treaty of Versailles with the British. Under the terms of this treaty, French and British forces were to disengage throughout the world. Accordingly, the French withdrew their support of Tippu Sultan. Tippu was at the time besieging the British at the port of Mangalore. With the Nizam and the Marathas in the British camp, and the fickle-minded French on the sidelines, Tippu saw that it was advantageous to conclude the war, even though the military advantage was with him. The Madras Treaty, negotiated through Tippu’s ambassadors Appaji Ram and Srinivasa Rao, was signed on March 11, 1784. It stipulated a mutual withdrawal of forces, and an understanding not to aid each other’s enemies. The British gained the evacuation of territories on the east coast, which were nominally under their satrap Nawab Muhammed Ali of Arcot, while Mysore gained by frustrating Maratha designs on its northern territories. More importantly, Tippu demonstrated that the British were vulnerable and their position in India was not as secure as had been assumed after the fall of Bengal (1757).

The intrigues of the Indian courts provided the British plenty of opportunity to further their designs on Mysore. Not only were the Indian states quarrelling with one another, the Marathas, the principal power in central India, were divided among themselves. The vast Maratha territories were divided up between competing chiefs, Sindhia in the north, Holkar in the south, Bhosle, Gaekwad and Nana Farnawis in central India. To unseat Tippu, the British started secret correspondence with the Rani of Mysore, who had never given up her claim to her husband’s throne. They also incited the Nayars of Travancore to rebel against Tippu’s authority.

On a broader front, Mysore relations with the Nizam and the Marathas were always tense because neither the Nizam nor the Marathas recognized the independence of Tippu Sultan, and both claimed the territory of Mysore as their tributary. Between 1784 and 1787, Tippu waged a series of defensive operations against both of these Indian powers, which resulted in the addition of all the territories up to the Krishna River to his dominion. To counter Mysore, the Nizam and the Marathas sought a mutual alliance. When that floundered over conflicting territorial claims, they turned to the European powers for help.

As early as 1785, the Maratha court in Poona made overtures to the Bombay government for a military alliance, but was rebuffed because the British were not ready to take on Tippu as yet. The Marathas then made overtures to the French and the Portuguese but this was of no consequence. The British, licking their wounds from the loss of the American colonies, were reluctant, at this time, to get involved in hostilities on behalf of the Indian princes. In addition, they were reluctant to break the Treaty of Versailles and provide a pretext for the French to get back into the Indian game.

The situation changed with the arrival of Cornwallis in 1785 as Governor General of the East India Company. The loss of the American colonies had freed British manpower and material resources. These resources were now focused on India and on the Indian Ocean. Cornwallis had made a name for himself in the war against the Americans in their War of Independence, although his surrender to George Washington on October 19, 1781 at Yorktown had tarnished that image. As soon as he arrived in India, Cornwallis started preparations for a final confrontation with Tippu Sultan. Methodically, he proceeded to build a military-political alliance to surround and destroy the Kingdom of Mysore.

It was during this period (1786-1787) that Tippu Sultan sent embassies to the Turkish Sultan in Istanbul, Louis XVI of France, the Shah of Persia, the Sultan of Oman, and Zaman Shah of Afghanistan. With a singular passion for expelling the British from India, he tried diplomacy and sought alliances throughout the Islamic world and the Indian subcontinent. Through his ambassador to France, Tippu sought a military alliance as well as help with artisans and military engineers. The reply of Louis XVI was polite but evasive. A similar overture to the Dutch for a defensive alliance in 1788 was rejected. In his representations to the Turkish Sultan, he pleaded for military help against the British and sought the title of Padashah. Muslims around the globe looked upon the Sultan as the Caliph of Islam and its guardian. Only he could bestow legitimacy on the sultans and emirs of Asia and Africa. Tippu was successful in earning the title of Padashah from Istanbul but there was no military help. The reasons for this lay in the European politics of the time. The French Revolution (1789) was soon to engulf France, challenging the authority of kings and despots and most of the European monarchs were about to lose their thrones. The Turkish Sultan, not unaware of these changes and as insurance for his own survival, was careful to cultivate the British as a bulwark against the French. In addition, the Russians were aggressive on the northern Ottoman borders, and the Porte in Istanbul was in no position to help an Indian Padashah in his struggle against the British in far-away India.

Tippu’s relations with Persia were cordial. In 1781, during the Second Mysore War, his father Hyder Ali had asked for help from the shah and had received a contingent of 1,000 troops. But post-Safavid Persia was a minor player on the world scene and was itself on the defensive against the Russians in Azerbaijan. Tippu scored some success with the Sultan of Oman who controlled the coastline of Arabia and East Africa with a credible navy. But after some initial success, British diplomacy successfully isolated Mysore, and concluded a Treaty of Friendship with the Sultan of Oman (1798).

The Nizam and the Marathas viewed the rising power of Mysore with jealousy and suspicion, and Cornwallis had little difficulty in forging a confederacy with them against Tippu. Hostilities began when the Raja of Travancore bought two small principalities from the Dutch. These principalities, Cranganore and Ayakotteh, had been held by another raja, the Raja of Cochin, before the arrival of the Europeans. The Portuguese occupied them in 1511, and lost them to the Dutch circa 1600. By 1780, the Dutch were a waning power in India and had their hands full at home with an incipient revolution. By the sale of these two towns, they wished to raise cash to defray the cost of fending off the French in India, but they desired to do so in such a manner that it would embroil Tippu and the British in conflict. The Raja of Cochin had become a tributary of Tippu, and Tippu desired to buy these towns for himself. When the Dutch sold them instead to the Raja of Travancore, friction increased between Mysore and Travancore. As a further provocation, the Raja built fortifications through territories nominally under the control of Mysore. Tippu moved against the Raja, who had an alliance with the British. This provided an excuse for Cornwallis to commence hostilities. Tippu Sultan’s overtures to the French and the Turks for military alliances were construed by the British to be directed against them. It is also possible that Cornwallis had a personal stake in the war, to retrieve his reputation after his losses to the Americans at the Battle of Saratoga and his surrender to George Washington at Yorktown. The British feared a repeat of their North American experience in India. In America, French assistance had helped the colonies win their War of Independence (1776-1783) under General Washington. Was it not possible that the Indians would prevail if they followed the example of Tippu Sultan?

Cornwallis went about his task methodically. In March 1790, he entered into a treaty with the Marathas to attack Mysore from three directions: the Bombay army from the sea, the Marathas from the north, and the Madras army from the east. Not all the Maratha chiefs were sanguine about British aims, but the hawks in Poona prevailed. In July of the same year, the Nizam entered into a similar treaty with the Company. His goal was to recover territories he had lost to Mysore in previous wars. To complete the encirclement of Tippu, the British incited the Nayars of Malabar, the Bibi of Cannanore and the Raja of Cochin.

Tippu initiated a diplomatic counter offensive of his own to the Marathas and the Nizam to support him against the British or at least to remain neutral in the clash of arms. To the Marathas he offered gifts. To the Nizam he appealed in the name of God and the Prophet. But the Marathas were embroiled in their own internal politics. Their internal politics delayed their entry into the war. Some Maratha chiefs, like Sindhia, considered a prolonged Anglo-Mysore conflict as a means to furthering their own ambitions to conquer Rajasthan and the Punjab. As for the Nizam, nothing mattered except his own immediate self-interest.  Similar overtures to the French bore no fruit because the French had their hands full with their Revolution (1789). They offered plenty of advice but no military help.

In the game of diplomacy, the British carried the day, and a four-pronged attack against Mysore began in 1789.

The British fielded more than 30,000 troops, including 600 British officers. The Nizam provided 20,000 troops, while the Maratha armies numbered about 30.000. A supply chain of over 42,000 bullocks and several hundred elephants backed these armies. Cornwallis moved to Madras from Calcutta and personally took command of the operations.

The Third Anglo-Mysore war lasted a full two years and it may be divided into two phases. In the first phase, during 1789-1790, Tippu Sultan’s Mysore armies attacked the British garrisons in Coimbatore and Tamil Nadu and forced them to retreat. Cornwallis was about to give up his quest to subdue Mysore when the Marathas entered the war in the summer of 1789 under Parashuram Bhau along with a large contingent of British troops from Bombay. Parashuram’s intial advance to the South was slow due the determined resistance of Tippu’s forces. The fort of Dharwad in Central Karnataka withstood a vicious siege by the combined Maratha and British armies for several months and fell only after food supplies ran out. From Dharwad, Parashuram advanced south towards Shivamogga and Tumkur laying waste the land and committing large scale atrocities against the native Kannada population, men and women. The low-caste Dalits were his special target. These atrocities are documented, along with historical references, elsewhere in these series in an article entitled “Maratha raids into Southern India, 1639-1791”

The entry of the Maratha Confederacy into the war tilted the balance of military power against Tippu Sultan. The Fort of Bangalore fell in 1791, after a desperate and prolonged resistance. From Bangalore, the confederate armies proceeded south, and overcoming stiff resistance from the defenders, lay siege to Srirangapatam. With his military options exhausted, Tippu sought terms of peace. The British, too, were exhausted and their treasury in India was empty. Besides, the British troops were needed at home to meet the growing challenge from revolutionary France. The parties signed the Treaty of Srirangapatam in 1792, by which Tippu Sultan was forced to give up half his kingdom and agreed to pay 30 million rupees to the confederates. Until the amount was paid, he was obliged to give two of his children, Abdul Khaliq and Moeezuddin, as hostages to the British. The taking of children as hostages by Cornwallis was an act of banditry, not of chivalry in war, and it was not known in India. But then, the East India Company was in India to extract money, not to practice a soldier’s code of ethics! The Marathas were in the fray for loot too. During the war, Maratha armies raided far and wide into Southern India and a large number of Hindu temples in Southern India were attacked. The well-known sacred Sringeri Shankaracharya Mutt in Tamil Nadu was sacked in 1791, the temple was looted of its gold and silver and many Brahmins killed.  These are the contrarian events which the modern-day majoritarian historical narratives in India must take note: a universalist, far-sighted and inclusive Muslim king from Mysore was defending Hindu temples and the Brahmins who were attacked by the raiding Hindu Marathas from a neighboring kingdom as late as 1791!

The Third War of Mysore contained the military power of Mysore. The British won this war through their superior intelligence apparatus and diplomacy. They were more successful than the Mysoreans in exploiting the internal politics of the Indian courts to their advantage. Cornwallis also proved to be a match for the Sultan in sheer tenacity, and refused to give up even when his army was almost crippled by disease, pestilence and the monsoons. After the war, Tippu reorganized his kingdom, introduced administrative and military reforms, paid back the hostage money within a year, and by 1795 the kingdom was well on its way to recovery.

But the British feared even a Tippu Sultan reduced in strength. Cornwallis tried to renew the confederacy of 1791 with the Nizam and the Marathas, but was unsuccessful because these two Indian states were at each other’s throats, fighting a bloody war over territory in Kardla (1795) in which the Marathas were victorious and the Nizam was thoroughly humiliated. Realizing his vulnerability to the Marathas on the western front, the Nizam threw himself back into the arms of the British.

The eruption of the French Revolution provided a fresh opportunity for Tippu Sultan and set the stage for a final showdown with the British. The American Revolution had provided a model for the overthrow of the monarchies in India. The powerful writings of French philosophers like Voltaire had paved the way for a changed intellectual paradigm. In July 1789, a French peasant mob stormed the Bastille, freeing the political prisoners. Their leaders declared the sanctity of the political rights of man and demanded the abolishment of oppressive feudalism. In October of the same year, a Paris mob took over the royal palace, and forced Louis XVI to adopt their revolutionary manifesto. Special privileges of the feudal lords were abolished, universal male suffrage introduced, representative government established, public education encouraged, and promotion by talent and merit instituted in place of influence and birth. The Revolution turned bloody when it sought to regulate the Church. In the ensuing turmoil, Louis XVI and the French nobility went to the guillotine. What had started as a revolution based on Voltaire’s rational thought had turned into a bloody dictatorship by 1792. As the Revolution spread across Europe, France was militarized with a million Frenchmen under arms. England declared war on France (1793), and a dashing artillery captain named Napoleon Bonaparte rose to become the commander of the revolutionary forces and, ultimately, the head of the French state.

Tippu Sultan was aware of these revolutionary changes sweeping Europe. The cry of “liberty, equality, fraternity” was in consonance with his own existential vision for India. Among all the rulers of 18 th century India, only Tippu could see the possibility of a free India, without the domination of Europe. And towards this possibility, he directed his energies, and in the final stage, gave his life for it. On a different plane, he saw the threat to Islamic civilization from European domination and sought to alert the Turks in Istanbul, the Arabs in Oman and the Afghans in Kabul to this danger. It was this vision, backed by a single-minded determination to achieve it, more than the inherent capability of a small state like Mysore that made the British fear him.

The French Revolution considered it a global mission to liberate the world from the oppression of despots. The monarchies of Western Europe fell one after the other, even as the consolidation of the revolution turned it into a dictatorship. In 1798, after overrunning all of Western Europe (except England), Napoleon landed in Egypt, and easily defeated the Turkish garrisons there. His global plan was to march from Egypt to Syria and from there to Iraq, sail from Basra to the west coast of India and evict the British from the Indian Ocean. Aware of these galactic changes, Tippu Sultan sent an ambassador to Napoleon in 1798, with a proposal for a joint attack on the British in India. The grand plan was for Napoleon to land on the Malabar coast, and after evicting the British from Madras, advance upon Bombay, and proceed from there to Bengal. Thus Tippu’s vision embraced not just Mysore, but the entire Indian subcontinent, and the Islamic world beyond.

Tippu also sent a similar proposal to the Ottomans in Istanbul and to Zaman Shah in Kabul. The Turkish sultan, himself under pressure from Napoleon’s armies, rejected Tippu’s request, and instead advised him to cooperate with the British against the French. Zaman Shah responded positively and moved with a large force from Kabul taking Lahore in 1798 on his way to Delhi. But British diplomacy fanned Shi’a-Sunni disturbances between Persia and Afghanistan, Persian forces moved towards Qandahar and Zaman Shah had to withdraw from Hindustan to tend to matters at home.

Napoleon, impressed with the reputation and determination of Tippu Sultan, wrote to him in 1799:

“From Bonaparte, Member of the National Convention, Commanding General, to the Most Magnificent Sultan, our greatest friend, Tippu Saheb: You have already been informed of my arrival on the Red Sea, with a large and invincible Army, full of a desire to deliver you from the yoke of England. . . . I request you to inform me by way of Muscat and Mocha as to your political situation . . . I would further wish you could send some intelligent person to Suez or Cairo, someone in your confidence, with whom I may confer . . . May the Almighty increase your power and destroy your enemies”.

The letter was to be delivered to Tippu through the Sheriff of Mecca, but was intercepted by agents of the British in Aden and never reached Mysore. Meanwhile, Napoleon was defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar (1799), and the Ottomans stopped the French in Syria. Napoleon withdrew to France. Mysore became a casualty of the Napoleonic Wars. Convinced that Tippu would never give up his dream to rid India of the British, they resolved to eliminate him. The aggressive new Governor General Wellesley needed no fresh provocation to renew hostilities. A new alliance was struck with the Nizam, who was always ready to grab at any straw thrown at him by the British. But the Marathas, alarmed at the growing power of the Company, refused to join this time. More importantly, the Company’s agents “bought off” most of the senior officers of Tippu Sultan. The finance minister Mir Saadiq was a principal turncoat. Others who were under varying degrees of British influence were the divan Poornayya and the army commanders Qamruddin and Sayyid.

The Third Mysore War had greatly reduced the boundaries of Mysore and provided more convenient jumping off points for an invasion. Treason at the highest level denied the Sultan accurate information about enemy troops. In March 1799, a force of 20,000 Company troops, and an equal number from the Nizam, backed by a host of support and supply troops invaded the land of Tippu Sultan and quickly overran the Fort of Bangalore. Resistance from the Mysore infantry was stiff, but by April 4, 1799, the invaders reached the capital of Srirangapatam and laid siege to it.

It was a hot summer day on May 4, 1799, a day of infamy in the history of India and of shame in the history of the Muslims. The sun beat down mercilessly on the Deccan Plateau. Heat waves rose from the baked soil, creating ghost like mirages in the air. There was an eerie silence in the Fort of Srirangapatam, the capital of Mysore. The birds had retired into their nests to escape the heat. Even the beasts in the surrounding forests had withdrawn from the mayhem of war. Tippu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, had just returned from inspecting his troops, and was sitting down to his midday meal with his infant son.

Suddenly, there was an uproar from the western side of the fort. Volleys of gunfire could be heard, mingled with shouts of a thousand men in mortal combat. A soldier rushed to the Sultan, offered a military salute, and informed him that the British forces had breached the western wall and had invaded the island capital. The Sultan rose up, put on his kamarband and regal turban, mounted his Arabian horse, and rode into battle with his bodyguard. Dust rose from the hooves of the horses as the soldiers disappeared into the far distance and joined the battle lines.

The Sultan mounted a rampart and surveyed the field. The waters of the Cauvery River, which flowed around Srirangapatam, creating a natural moat around the fort, were low from the summer heat. To the west were 6,000 British soldiers of the Madras Army under General Harris supported by an equal number of hired Indian Sepoys. To the north were an additional 2,000 British soldiers under General Stuart from the Bombay Army and hundreds of Indian support troops. Farther out were more than 20,000 troops from the Nizam of Hyderabad, who had joined the British, despite the call of patriotism and faith. Supporting these large armies were more than 40,000 bullocks, which served as beasts of burden, hauling supply carts for the invaders.

Harris had advanced upon Srirangapatam on April 4. The march was the opening act of an historical drama, which was to change the history of India and of the British Empire. Wellesley, Governor General of the British East India Company, had instructed Harris to accept nothing less than surrender from Tippu. On April 20, Harris submitted these terms to the Sultan:

• Surrender to the East India Company the entire Malabar Coast in western India.
• Surrender more than half of Mysore territories to the British.
• Pay 20 million rupees as war indemnity. (In 1799 a Mysore rupee had the purchasing power of more than 6,000 Indian rupees today).
• Expel all Frenchmen from the kingdom (The French had arrived to help Mysore against the British).
• Surrender four of Tippu’s sons as ransom until the indemnity was paid.
• Accept a British Resident in Srirangapatam. (The last stipulation, if accepted, would have made Tippu Sultan a satrap of the British Crown).

These humiliating terms were totally unacceptable to the Sultan who is often quoted as saying, “To live like a tiger for one day is preferable to living a hundred years as a jackal”. The terms were rejected and Tippu decided to defend the liberty of his people to his last breath.

A noble vision requires noble men to achieve it. This was not to be. The ethical rot that had consumed Bengal in 1757 was now gnawing at Mysore. Muslim civilization was in an advanced stage of decay. It now produced traitors and sycophants in abundance, and very few mujahids and ghazis . Neither was the rot confined to the Muslims. Indian society, always at the brink of fragmentation, had lost the cohesion to resist a foreign invader. Traitors, Muslims and Hindus alike, men who had sold themselves to the enemy for a petty jagir (land grant) or a paltry pension, surrounded Tippu. Critical information was withheld from the Sultan. The three principal Mysore commanders operating to the rear of the British forces, Qamruddin, Poornayya, and Sayyid, were all in collusion with the British. On April 6, Major General Floyd, second in command to General Harris of the Madras Army, had marched from the east, along the Cauvery River, to link up with the Bombay Army under General Stuart advancing from the west. Qamruddin, in command of the Mysore Calvary, had galloped on Floyd’s flank the entire distance but did nothing to impede the enemy. A second Mysore Army Corps under Poornayya was silent during the entire conflict. A third Corps under Sayyid was in open league with the British. Indeed, except for General Ghaffar, who commanded the southern ramparts within the Fort, all of the leading figures on the Mysore side were working with the British.

The principal figure in this infamous group was Mir Saadiq, finance minister at the Tippu court. As early as October 1798, he had written to the British agents in Madras that he was willing to place himself under their protection. During the fateful siege of 1799, he played a crucial role in the fall of Srirangapatam. By May 3, heavy and sustained bombardment from British guns had opened a breach in the western wall of the fort. That night, under pretext of inspecting the damaged fort, Mir Saadiq spent his time at the western ramparts. Curiously, at the same time, an English scout under Lt. Lalor, forded the CauveryRiver and examined the same ramparts. Historians of the Mysore conflict have inferred that the two met at this breach and agreed that the British should assault the Fort on the afternoon of May 4 th .

At 1 pm on May 4 th , Mir Saadiq, the finance minister, directed Mir Nadim, the Qiladar (captain of the fort), to arrange for salary payments to the troops defending the fort. The troops were withdrawn from the western sector. At 1:30 pm, Mir Saadiq ascended the ramparts near the breach and waved a white handkerchief, signaling the British that a general assault could begin. Mysore historians are unanimous that Mir Saadiq was a traitor to his sultan and played a crucial, perhaps a decisive, role in the fall of Srirangapatam.

The Sultan threw himself into the thick of battle, calling on the Mysore defenders to hold their ground. The Mysore flag with the blazing sun at its center, and tiger stripes radiating out, shone with added pride that summer afternoon. The British had already broken through the lightly defended outer ramparts, from where Mysore troops had been withdrawn at the instigation of Mir Saadiq. From there, in an enveloping movement, the British had advanced along the northern and southern rims of the fort. The appearance of the Sultan held the lines along the northern rim. In the fray, the Sultan himself received three bayonet wounds. But the enemy threw additional troops into the battle. Altogether, 4,376 British and several thousand Indian troops were involved in the assault. The southern battlements, commanded by Sayyid who was in league with the British, offered little resistance, and the southern assault succeeded in breaking through to the palace, located towards the center of the island. The Sultan was now hemmed in. Undaunted, he led his stead forward. Loyal troops charged, cutting down the invading forces. An enemy bullet pierced the Sultan’s stomach. He fought on, like a wounded tiger, surrounded by mortal enemies. Another round hit his shoulder, and the force of the round knocked him off his horse, and his turban fell. The wounded prince stood his ground on foot, his sword glistening in the afternoon sun, surrounded on all sides by red coats. The afternoon wore on, even as the lonely Sultan held off one charge after another. It is said among the Muslims of Mysore that the angels themselves stopped to marvel at this prince of valor. At last, the brave soldier fell, exhausted by thirst, enfeebled by blood loss from his wounds.

The sun was now about to set not just on the Fort of Srirangapatam but on India itself. As the Sultan lay semi-conscious, a British soldier reached for Tippu’s diamond-studded kamarband , hoping to claim it as his war booty. But the Tiger was only wounded; he was not dead. Out came the Sultan’s sword and in one swoop he inflicted a gashing wound on the intruder’s arm. Enraged, the soldier shot the Sultan in the temple and his soul departed to join up with those who had inherited the legacy of Hussain, grandson of the Prophet and the martyr of Karbala.

An epoch ended in the history of the Islamic people, and a new epoch began. The sun set on the age of soldier-kings. With him disappeared “the pride of India and the shield of the Caliphate”. Alone among the princes of India, Tippu had valiantly defended his independence against the encroachments of of a foriegn power. From a global Muslim perspective, he was the only soldier-king in modern times, who stood his ground and lay down his life defending his realm against an aggressive and expansionist Europe. The age of merchants was about to dawn, in which the trader-barons of England would be the kingmakers of Asia.

It was dark when a search party of the victorious British found the body of the Sultan. When General Harris heard of the death of Tippu, he is said to have exclaimed: “Today, India is ours!” When news spread that the Sultan had fallen, a loot of Srirangapatam began. The British fell upon the defenseless inhabitants of the capital. Throughout the night of May 5th, they indulged in an orgy of slaughter, looting and fire, which continued well into the following day. Every single house in the island city was plundered. Turbans, daggers, jewelry, furniture, anything of value-and sometimes of no value-was taken. The Sultan’s palace was ransacked, and everything in it was looted, down to the linen on Tippu’s bed. The throne of Mysore was broken up and melted down for its gold. The famous huma bird, studded with diamonds and rubies that had adorned the throne was claimed by one of the colonels. The total amount of loot that day exceeded 2 million English pounds, which was more than twice what was extracted by the British from the Begums of Oudh in 1764. This amount would be equal to 2 billion US dollars at today’s market prices. Untold amounts of jewels were stolen. The booty was divided up among the troops, with the British officers often shamelessly disagreeing among themselves about their portion of the loot. As time went on, the remnants of the Sultan’s treasures were dispersed. There is hardly an old army barrack in the British Isles today that does not boast a piece of booty from Tippu’s capital. Items that were unusual, or priceless (such as the diamond and ruby studded huma bird), made their way to the royal museums.

The Nizam, left out of the spoils of war, asked for his portion. The British denied the request saying that it was their soldiers who had conducted the final assault. On second thought, General Harris noticed that the tigers in Tippu’s zoo had not been fed for three days because of the pressures of war. They were restless and hungry. Harris offered the hungry tigers to the Nizam’s general, an offer that was politely declined.

It was not until the afternoon of the fifth of May 1799 that the looting stopped. The British Code of Arms called for a proper burial for a noble foe. The Sultan’s body was mounted on a carriage, drawn by sixteen horses, and was carried to the Gumbaz, where his father lay buried. Leading the procession were British troops from the same regiments that had stormed the Fort. Prayers were said, and British guns saluted the vanquished foe, as Tippu’s body was laid to rest. Alone among the many princes, padashas, nawabs, rajas and potentates that the British vanquished in their relentless expansion around the globe, Tippu Sultan had won their respect as a worthy foe. To this day, British historians refer to this prince of soldiers as “Tippu Saib”, honoring a Sultan who held the British Empire at bay for forty years.

Those who had betrayed the Sultan received their due reward from the Company. Qamruddin and Poornayya hurried back to the capital upon hearing the news of Tippu’s death. Qamruddin was given a jagir , and no doubt had plenty of time to ruminate on the aftermath of his betrayal. Poornayya became the divan (prime minister) for the infant Raja who was installed on the throne of Mysore by the British. Sayyid fell on the day of the battle in the mayhem of war. As for Mir Saadiq, he was dragged down from his horse as he rode away after tipping off the British and was slain by a Mysore soldier. For generations, the Muslims of Mysore have invoked the curse of God upon his grave.

Tippu had, with singular determination, resisted the advance of the British. His death, and the fall of Srirangapatam removed the last hurdle from British ambitions to control the vast subcontinent of India and Pakistan. With Tippu’s last breath, Muslim power in the subcontinent also breathed its last. The kingdom of Mysore was divided up. The rich spice-trading coastline of Malabar was absorbed into the Bombay dominions. The Nizam received the districts of Cuddapah and Kurnool. A truncated and landlocked Mysore was left for the Rajas, and a British Resident installed to oversee the affairs of the princely state. Tippu’s sons were expelled to Calcutta, where they received a pension for a while, but gradually melted into the poverty stricken milieu of Bengal. The only remaining armed power on Indian soil, the Marathas, could not withstand British pressure for long, and succumbed four year later in 1803. By 1806, the British Army was in Red Fort in Delhi. With the vast resources of the subcontinent at their command, the British embarked on building their empire, on which it was said at one time, the sun never set.

Share this:

6 thoughts on “tipu sultan”.

• Pingback: How Poverty was Created | RIBA-nomics
• Pingback: The told & untold history of Old Mysuru – When America celebrated a warrior from Mysore | Mpositive.in
• Pingback: How Haidar Ali And Tipu Sultan Led India's First United Front Against The East India Company
• Pingback: 239 Years Ago, On This Day, Ship Named After Haidar Ali Gave America Its Greatest Early Naval Victory
• Pingback: 239 Years Ago, On This Day, Ship Named After Haidar Ali Gave America Its Greatest Early Naval Victory – The Muslim Times
• Pingback: How America Celebrated Haidar Ali In 1781 | Mpositive.in

Comments are closed.