Page 83 - All About History - Issue 52-17

The Tiger of Mysore

support was becoming less and less reliable. The
The tiger’s stripe governor general at the time, Lord Cornwallis, had
the armies of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay at
his command, and recognised Tipu as a “prince
A unique curiosity that symbolises the sultan’s treasured of uncommon ability and of boundless ambition”
emblem and hatred of the British who threatened Company possessions in India;
he felt compelled to curb him. An initial – and
The famous ‘tiger organ’, which now amuses viewers at variety of ways, “painted, pen made, embroidered, ignominious – setback in 1791 at Seringapatam was
the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, was among carved, modeled, cast and inlaid.” The babri was memorialised in James Gillray’s cartoon.
the many fascinating objects found after the British emblazoned on an equally astonishing variety of objects,
defeated Tipu. It is “a most curious piece of mechanism, ranging from furnishings, wall decorations, soldier’s
as large as life,” which shows a full-grown tiger devouring uniforms, sword-hilts, carpets or paintings.
a British soldier, and operates in the “manner of a hand The tiger was a localised equivalent of the Persian
organ” letting out a loud wail as the hapless soldier’s symbol of the lion. Symbolising strength, watchfulness,
arm rises and falls. Tipu’s obsession with the tiger as the cunning and dominance of the habitat, the tiger was a
symbol of courage and valour had led him to incorporate metaphor for someone who lived fearlessly and strove
the animal or the babri (tiger stripe) in an astonishing for total domination of region.

Out with the old Semitonal tiger
The wooden instrument was given The 18-note organ is played when
a major refit by the British, who the handle is cranked, but its layout
gave it a few new coats of paint and would make it extremely difficult to
an improved organ mechanism. crank and play at the same time.
A gem-set gold finial from the
throne of Tipu Sultan at an
auction house in London, 2010

Cornwallis pressed a harsh treaty on Tipu
following the Third Anglo-Mysore War, but it
was his successor, Richard Wellesley, who was
determined to end the house of Mysore, and
isolated Tipu before organising his defeat.
The breach and storming of the island fort of
Seringapatam, which had long withstood enemy
attacks, was enabled in part by the treachery of
Tipu’s own men. Even at this penultimate hour,
the British underestimated the warrior who had
determined to die fighting. When the fort was
taken, troops combed the palace for the ‘Tiger’, and
found him under a heap of corpses, sword still in
his hand. The British domination of southern India
was now complete.
The tiger’s roar A helping hand In order to scrub the place of any trace of this
A set of bellows inside the tiger, Many historians think that French fallen hero, and to prevent discontents from
powered by the hand crank, engineers, being allied to Tipu grouping around the memory of a valiant Tipu, the
provides both the scream of the Sultan at the time, lent a hand in East Indian Company decided to revive a dynasty
victim and the growl of the tiger. building this incredible automaton.
that had long been forgotten, the Wodeyars, and
also shift the capital from Seringapatam to Mysore.
The island capital soon became a pilgrimage site
for British soldiers to relive their victory. Two of
his father was a ‘usurper’, and his own short, he was answerable to no one but
origins therefore less than regal, he God for his actions. Tipu’s palaces were then dismantled; only one
sought legitimacy in a number of However, Tipu understood summer palace and his mausoleum were allowed
ways, by having the Friday khutba that he was a Muslim king of a to remain.
Tipu Sultan Mohammad Iqbal, the noted Urdu
(sermon) read in his name, and predominantly Hindu domain,
poet, who meditated at Tipu Sultan’s tomb in 1929,
minting coins at his five royal and many of his more severe
later wrote:
mints that, by omission, rejected actions were tempered by his
even the nominal superiority of recognition of the need to retain
I have lighted a different fire in the heart.
the Mughal Emperor. Then, giving his legitimacy.
I have brought a tale from the Deccan...
up the name of Haideri Sarkar for his Tipu’s fortunes were waning by
government, Tipu adopted the title of In this commemorative medal the late 1780s as the forces of the There I heard from his holy grave;
of Tipu Sultan’s defeat, the If one cannot live a manly life in this world © Alamy, Getty Images
Badshah of the Sultanat I Khudadad British lion is seen mauling Marathas and the Nizam moved
(God-given government) in 1787. In the Mysore tiger, 4 May 1799 to the British camp, while French Then to sacrifice life, like a man, is life!

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