Tipu Sultan

Tippu Sultan


Tippu Sultan (full name Sultan Fateh Ali Tippu), also known as the Tiger of Mysore (November 20, 1750, Devanahalli – May 4, 1799, Srirangapatna), 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. Tippu Sultan was a learned man and an able soldier. He was reputed to be a good poet. He was a devout Muslim, but was also appreciative of other religions. At the request of the French, for instance, he built a church, the first in Mysore. He was proficient in the languages he spoke [1]. 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 Britain and of Travancore. Tippu Sultan died defending his capital Srirangapatnam (frequently anglicized to Seringapatam), on May 4, 1799.

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 sabre clenched in his hand."[citation needed]


* 1 Early life
* 2 His rule
* 3 Religious Policy
* 4 Description
* 5 Proclamations
* 6 Early Military Career
* 7 Second Mysore War
* 8 Battle of Pollilur
* 9 Fourth Mysore War
* 10 Rocket Artillery in War
* 11 Jacobin Club in Mysore
* 12 In fiction

Early life
Tippu Sultan's summer palace at Srirangapatna, Karnataka
Tippu Sultan's summer palace at Srirangapatna, Karnataka

Tippu Sultan was born at Devanahalli, in present-day Kolar District, some 45 miles east of Bangalore. 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 Muin-ud-din, governor of the fort of Cuddapah.

His rule

During his rule, Tippu Sultan laid the foundation for a dam where the famous Krishna Raja Sagara Dam across the river Cauvery was later built.[2][3] 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 Tippu Sultan inflicted on the British in the First and Second Mysore Wars affected their reputation as an invincible power. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the President of India, in his Tipu Sultan Shaheed Memorial Lecture in Bangalore (30 November 1991), called Tippu 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 Tippu 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.

Religious Policy

As a Muslim ruler in a largely Hindu domain, Tippu Sultan faced particular 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 antagonising the majority of his subjects.[4] His religious legacy has become a source of considerable controversy in the subcontinent, as in Pakistan some groups proclaim him a great warrior for the faith or Ghazi, whilst in India some Hindu groups revile him as a bigot who massacred Hindus.[5] In the first part of his reign in particular he appears to have been notably more aggressive and religiously doctrinaire than his father, Haidar Ali.[6] There are several historians[7] who claim that Tippu Sultan was a religious persecutor of Hindus and Christians. In 1780 CE 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. H. D. Sharma writes that in his correspondence with other Islamic rulers such as Shah Zaman of Afghanistan, Tippu Sultan used this title and declared that he intended to establish an Islamic Empire in the entire country, along the lines of the Mughal Empire which was at its nadir during the period in question.[8] His alliance with the French was supposedly aimed at achieving this goal by driving his main rivals, the British, out of the subcontinent.

Tippu Sultan was known as a great secular ruler. Whilst no eminent scholar has denied that, in common with most rulers of his period, Tippu Sultan’s campaigns were often characterized by great brutality, some historians have said that the brutality was not exclusively motivated by religion, and it did not amount to a consistent anti-Kafir policy. Brittlebank, Hasan, Chetty, Habib and Saletare, amongst others, argue that stories of Tippu Sultan's religious persecution of Hindus and Christians are largely derived from the work of early British authors such as Kirkpatrick[9] and Wilks,[10] whom they do not consider to be entirely reliable.[11] A. S. Chetty argues that Wilks’ account in particular cannot be trusted,[12] Irfan Habib and Mohibbul Hasan argues that these early British authors had a strong vested interest in presenting Tippu Sultan as a tyrant from whom the British had "liberated" Mysore.[13] 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 Tippu Sultan and were closely connected to the administrations of Lord Cornwallis and Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley.[14]

Mohibbul Hasan casts some doubt on the scale of the deportations and forced conversions in Coorg in particular, and says that the English versions of what happened were intended to malign Tippu 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.[15]

The portrayal of Tippu Sultan as a religious bigot is disputed, and some sources suggest that he in fact often embraced religious pluralism.[16] Tippu Sultan's treasurer was Krishna Rao, Shamaiya Iyengar was his Minister of Post and Police, 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.[17] 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 Tippu 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 jewelled cup presented by the Sultan.[18]

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. The Shankacharya had asked Tippu Sultan for help in consecrating a new idol of the deity Sharada to replace the idol which had been taken by the Marathas. Tippu Sultan replied expressing 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)."[19]

He immediately ordered his "Asaf" of Bednur to supply the Swami with 200 "rahatis" (fanams) in cash and other gifts and articles required for the consecration of the new idol of the deity. Tippu Sultan's interest in the temple continued for many years, and he was still writing to the Swami in the 1790s CE.[20] 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.[21] Tippu Sultan does seem to have repossessed unauthorised 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.

It is hard to reconcile these two very different profiles of Tippu Sultan, but the truth, it seems, lies somewhere between the two. It seems that when corresponding with other Islamic rulers such as the Amir of Afghanistan or the Ottoman Sultan, Tippu Sultan presented himself as an archetypal Islamic ruler, converting the infidel by the sword, and this was also the external image he presented to the British.[22] The late 18th century CE was a turbulent period in South India, and it seems that, in common with the Marathas, the Nizam, the British, and the French, Tippu Sultan also sometimes instructed his army to loot, pillage and kill civilians for real or suspected disloyalty.[23] He might have at times carried out forced conversions of Hindus and Christians.[24] Nonetheless, in his internal policies, he was conciliatory and tolerant, patronizing Hindu temples and relying heavily on Hindu subordinates. For his royal emblem he chose the tiger, which was religiously neutral and could appeal to both Hindus and Muslims.[25] Some historians including Surendranath Sen and H.H. Dodwell say that Tippu Sultan was neither a benevolent pioneer of religious tolerance nor a religious ideologue and Islamic fanatic, but a wily, ruthless, but above all, a pragmatic ruler operating in a time of great political instability and of constant threats to his rule coming from all sides.[26]

Description

Alexander Beatson, 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".
Daria Daulat Bagh
Daria Daulat Bagh

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". 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.[27] 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 CE)
* "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 CE)

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

Early Military Career

Tippu Sultan was instructed in military tactics by French officers in the employment of his father, Hyder Ali (also spelled as "Haidar 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.

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 18 February 1782. The British army, consisting of 100 Europeans, 300 cavalry, 1400 sepoys and 10 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. [[28]]

Battle of Pollilur
Mural of the Battle of Pollilur on the walls of Tippu's summer palace, painted to celebrate his triumph over the British.
Mural of the Battle of Pollilur on the walls of Tippu's summer palace, painted to celebrate his triumph over the British.

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 about 3800 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. [[29]]

Fourth Mysore War
The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultaun by Henry Singleton c 1800. According to the BBC, "This is a propagandist painting by a British artist."
The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultaun by Henry Singleton c 1800. According to the BBC, "This is a propagandist painting by a British artist."

After Horatio Nelson had defeated Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile in Egypt in 1798 CE, 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 4000 Europeans and the rest Indians. A column was supplied by the Nizam of Hyderabad consisting of ten battalions and over 16,000 cavalry, and many soldiers were 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, 1799 CE [[30]].

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 1½ - 3" diameter, closed at one end and strapped to a shaft of bamboo about 4ft. 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.

On 2 May 1799, during the siege of Srirangapatnam, a shot struck a magazine of rockets within the fort at Seringapatam causing it to explode and sent a towering cloud of black smoke, with cascades of exploding white light, rising up from the battlements. After the fall of Srirangapatnam, 600 launchers, 700 serviceable rockets and 9,000 empty rockets were found. Some of the rockets had iron points or steel blades bound to the bamboo, while some had pierced cylinders, to allow them to act like incendiaries. 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.

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.

Once the British saw salvos of upto 2,000 rockets of Tippu Sultan fired simultaneously against them at the Royal Woolwich Arsenal which led to the publication of A Concise Account of the Origin and Progress of the Rocket System in 1804 by William Congreve, son of the arsenal's commandant. Congreve rockets find mention in the Star Spangled Banner.

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",