Page 79 - All About History - Issue 52-17

Tiger

The

of

Mysore

Fearless British foe, restless moderniser and religious tyrant, discover the

dramatic life and afterlife of Tipu Sultan

Written by Janaki Nair
N o one in the 18th century 1799, he relentlessly opposed British expansionism Anglo-Mysore Wars, as well as myriad battles
with hostile neighbours on all sides, notably the
in India to first get hailed as a patriot, only to be
made the hearts of the English
later denounced as a tyrant. A master military
Marathas to the north west, and the kingdom of
‘lions’ quake with fear as much
as Tipu Sultan, known as the
Tiger of Mysore. So safe and strategist is eclipsed by the doubts cast on his Hyderabad to the north east. In 1792, at the end
of the Third War, Tipu was corralled into ceding
myriad economic and social experiments.
just was his reign, his court poets tell us: “the deer Ironically, there is plenty of archival materials nearly half of his territory to the British and its
of the forest make their pillow of the lion and tiger, on this historical figure, produced by enemies, Indian allies; was placed under a crippling debt;
and their mattress of the leopard and panther.” friends, victims, captives, perpetrators of conquest, and gave two sons as hostages to the British until
These words aren’t just platitudes heaped on the employees and hagiographers, topped off by the the debt was paid. He was defeated and killed only
Mysore ruler; they speak of a reign that forever copious writings by the sultan himself. Despite in the Siege of Seringapatam on 4 May 1799.
changed the fortunes of the Indian subcontinent. this, it seems early colonial accounts, produced by With their most formidable foe vanquished, the
There is no doubt that both Tipu Sultan and the British, are responsible for driving the popular British lion had regained its honour, which neither
his father, Haider Ali, “brought the [British] East image of Tipu Sultan as a tyrant. Demonised by the British people nor the Indians were allowed
Indian Company nearer to ruin than any other some, championed by others, Tipu Sultan remains
Indian foes had brought it.” a towering figure in Indian history. General Sir David Baird discovering the body of Tipu
For nearly 40 years, they halted the triumphant Sultan after storming the fortress at Seringapatam
march of the British through southern India, ‘Tiger, Tiger,
refusing to make their peace with these foreign
invaders, as most other powers did. This refusal to Burning Bright’
submit or compromise saw Tipu Sultan die on the Tipu Sultan was the son of a talented soldier,
battlefield in 1799, as he fought the British. Haider Ali Khan, who wrested control of Mysore
Even to this day, Tipu Sultan remains a from the Dalwais, or Commanders-in-Chief, who
controversial figure in Indian history. Clashing themselves had already usurped all effective
interpretations of contemporary accounts have power from the previous Wodeyar king, Chikka
produced a figure hailed as both a national Krishna Raj XI. Haider Ali subjugated the
hero and a brutal tyrant. He is seen as a restless petty local chieftains and grew Mysore into a
moderniser, someone who worked to bring powerhouse within the Indian peninsula. During
his kingdom into the future and resist foreign the First and Second Anglo-Mysore Wars, Haider
encroachment. In contrast, he has also been Ali had brought the British to their knees.
vilified for more than 200 years as a religious Tipu would come to inherit a formidable burden:
bigot who brutalised and forcibly converted his father died during the Second Mysore War
Hindus and Christians under his rule. Monarch of that he successfully concluded, but two more wars
the southern Indian state of Mysore from 1782 to with the British followed in the Third and Fourth

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