3. TIPU SULTAN was one of
India's greatest sons who
fought the British and died in
battle at Srirangapatna in
1799. Just two centuries after
his death, very little of his
physical legacy remains. His
capital was sacked and his
palace razed to the ground.
Tipu remains a controversial
figure in history, drawing
extreme reactions — he is
either reviled or adored.
Mention his name and there
are ambivalent feelings about
this son of a common soldier
who himself was no
4. Haidar Ali was not literate but took great care to educate his
son even as he ensured that his heir would be both a man of
letters and the sword. Tipu was fluent in Persian, Arabic,
Kannada, English, and French, and the royal library had
40,000 books. As a far-sighted visionary who could grasp the
implications of colonialism, Tipu was ahead of his times,
something his contemporaries, especially the Marathas and
the Nizam, weren't. The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah
Zafar, often lamented the burden Tipu carried on his
shoulders, without his neighbours' help. Even so, on hearing
of Tipu's death, his arch enemy Peshwa Baji Rao said: "I
have lost my right arm.
5. Tipu was groomed early by his father,
accompanying him to the battlefield by
the time he was 15. Both Haidar and
Tipu, who extended the boundaries of
Old Mysore, defeated the British at
Pollilur, Tanjore, and Bidnur. Much has
been written about Tipu's policies
towards Hindus. There are those who
tar him with the communal brush and
those like G.S. Sardesai, who, in
his New History of the
Marathas, writes: "He expended
large amounts of money to set up new
idols in Hindu shrines. Forty thousand
Brahmans received alms and rations.
Thus he announced to the world how,
though a Muslim, he served the
interests of the Hindus...
6. Tipu donated generously to the
Hindu shrines at Sringeri, Melkote,
Nanjangud, and Srirangapatna. A
linga donated by Tipu is worshipped
to this day at the Nanjangud temple.
Talking about his charisma, Dennys
Forrest says: "Looking back
over his story, I think, it can be seen
that he had a rare quality of singlemindedness. As in the style of his
letters, so in the shape of his life,
Tipu Sultan was recognisably
himself. That is why the English
feared him, even beyond reason.
And he was a brave man. He may
have fallen short in wisdom and
foresight, but never in aspiration,
never in his dream of a united, an
independent, a prosperous Mysore.
7. After death, Tipu enjoyed a brief spell of popularity in
England and France. Mr. Forrest narrates an incident
where Raja Ram Mohan Roy, in London in1830, was
accosted by boys shouting "Tipu! Tipu!!",
thanks to his turban that resembled the sultan's. Tipu
was a pioneer in modernising his army too. After the
Third Mysore War, as a war strategist, he engaged
French technicians to improve upon existing weaponry
and develop new ones. Although he was fundamentally
an infantry soldier, he knew the importance of artillery
over cavalry. He systematically used artillery to his
advantage in his wars against the Marathas and the
British. He also had an impressive stock of rockets. His
army was well trained in using them effectively. Some of
them had heavy stones embedded in them.
8. According to the History of the Regiment of Artillery '
(Indian Army), Tipu Sultan "divided his jaish
(infantry) into four cutchehries (brigades) and each of
the latter consisted of six cushoon (regiments). Each
cushoon had an establishment of rocketmen under a
subedar and some lascars for drawing the guns. In
addition, a number of guns were attached to each
cushoon depending upon the strength of the corps, and
the nature of service." In fact, Tipu's rockets were
superior to those used by the British. For transportation
of heavy weaponry, history records that he had
developed a "special breed of bullocks" that
could transport the guns fast. It is interesting to note that
Lord Wellesley recalled Tipu's bullocks at Waterloo while
carrying his guns there.
9.
10. After the fall of Tipu Sultan, his rockets were taken to
England. They were renamed Congreve (after William
Congreve who, as a subaltern, had fought Tipu in 1799)
rockets and introduced in the British service in 1806.
President Abdul Kalam in his autobiography, Wings of Fire
, says Tipu was revered in America too, and recalls his
own experience at NASA. He had been to the Wallops
Flight Facility at Wallops Island in East Coast, Virginia,
which was a base of NASA's sounding rocket programme,
and had seen a painting displayed prominently in the lobby
there. It depicted a battle scene with rockets flying in the
background. Later, he came to know it was Tipu Sultan's
army fighting the British. He writes: "The painting
depicted a fact forgotten in Tipu's own country but
commemorated here on the other side of the planet. I was
happy to see an Indian glorified by NASA as a hero of
11. Tipu wrote letters and sent ambassadors to France,
Afghanistan, and Turkey to enlist their support in
overthrowing the British from India. He made special
efforts to seek help from Napoleon. In a letter, the latter
addressed Tipu as "the most magnificent Sultan, our
greatest friend Tippoo Saib". After arriving on the
border of the Red Sea, Napoleon wrote that with his
"invincible" army, he would free him from the
"iron yoke of England". Unfortunately,
circumstances worked against Tipu and he failed to get
any real support from his foreign missions, especially from
France, which was engaged in a war against England. He
was not just a warmonger. His administration was tightly
knit. He abolished the zamindari system and farmers were
taxed according to their harvest, normally a quarter of their
produce.
12. Trade prospered and
sandalwood oil, silks, carpets,
and ivory articles were exported
through the land and sea
routes. Bhatkal, Mangalore, and
Honnavar were the major ports
during his reign. Haidar Ali and
Tipu both aesthetes who loved
greenery. Every Bangalorean
knows their contribution to the
Lal Bagh. Haidar imported
several plants from Delhi,
Lahore, and Multan, while Tipu
extended the plant collection
with specimens from France,
China, and Turkey. Three
mango trees planted by him in
Lal Bagh bear fruit even today.
