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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 English East India Company, the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Mahratta Confederacy, and to a lesser extent, Travancore . Tippu Sultan died defending his capital Srirangapattana , on May 4 , 1799 . Sir Walter Scott , commenting on the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814, wrote: "Although I never supposed that he 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." EARLY LIFE , 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 Shahal Tharique, governor of the fort of Cuddapah . HIS RULE RELIGIOUS POLICY While 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 KirkpatrickW. Kirkpatrick ''Select Letters of Tippoo Sultan'' (London) 1811 and Wilks,M. Wilks ''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 4 September 1799'' (Bangalore) 1864 & ''Historical Sketches of the South of India in an Attempt to Trace the History of Mysore'' Ed. M. Hammick (Mysore) 1930 2 Vols. whom they do not consider to be entirely reliable.C.C. Davies "Review of ''The History of Tipu Sultan'' by Mohibbul Hasan" in ''The English Historical Review'' Vol.68 №.266 (Jan, 1953) pp144-5 A. S. Chetty argues that Wilks’ account in particular cannot be trusted,A. Subbaraya Chetty “Tipu’s endowments to Hindus and Hindu institutions” in Habib (Ed.) ''Confronting Colonialism'' p111 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.Irfan Habib "War and Peace. Tippu Sultan's Account of the last Phase of the Second War with the English, 1783-4" ''State and Diplomacy Under Tipu Sultan'' (Delhi) 2001 p5; 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" ''The History of Tipu Sultan'' (Delhi) 1971 p368 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 . Brittlebank ''Tipu Sultan’s search for legitimacy'' p10-12. On p2 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 Tippu which, as we shall see, was initially constructed by the Subcontinent’s colonisers.” 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. Mohibbul Hasan ''The History of Tipu Sultan'' (Delhi) 1971 pp362-3 A Mogul general, known only by his initials, M.M.K.F.G., wrote an account of Tippoo Sultaun's life, which was corrected by one of Tippoo's sons, wherein he asserts that the Sultan, in his wars against the Maharaja of Travancore, had 10,000 Hindus and Christians killed and 7,000 transported back to Seringapatam, where they were circumcised, made to eat beef and forced to convert to Mohammedanism. A more solid proof may be had from the destruction meted out to numerous lesser temples, especially in the Sultan's southern domains, in the late 1780s. An outstanding example of this may be seen in the ruins of the temple in the hill-fort of Dindigul which has none of the presiding deities in the ''sancta sanctora'', besides having other reliefs disfigured. 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 {Link without Title} deeds smilingly but suffer the consequences crying)."''Annual Report of the Mysore Archaeological Department'' 1916 pp10-11, 73-6 He immediately ordered his "Asaf" of Bednur to supply the Swami with 200 "rahatis" ( Fanam s) 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 CE.Hasan ''Tipu Sultan'' p359 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.B.A. Saletare “Tipu Sultan as Defender of the Hindu Dharma” in Habib (Ed.) ''Confronting Colonialism'' pp116-8 Tippu Sultan does seem to have repossessed unauthorised grants of land made to Brahmin s 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 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.Surendranath Sen ''Studies in Indian History'' (Calcutta) 1930 pp166-7; H. Dodwell "Tipu Sultan" in L.F. Rushbrook Williams ''Great Men of India'' p217 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". PROCLAMATIONS The following proclamations were issued by Tippu Sultan:
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". 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 Sepoy s 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. {Link without Title} BATTLE OF POLLILUR 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 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 . {Link without Title} FOURTH MYSORE WAR , "This is a propagandist painting by a British artist."http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/tiger_of_mysore_gallery_11.shtml]] 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 . 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.Tipu, Biography, Mysore History {Link without Title} 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 1200 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 6 February 1792, while advancing towards the Kaveri river from the north. The Rocket Corps ultimately reached a strength of about 5000 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 . Quoting Forrest, "At this point (near the village of Sultanpet , Figure 5) there was a large tope, or grove, which gave shelter to Tipu's rocketmen and had obviously to be cleaned out before the siege could be pressed closer to Seringapatam island. The commander chosen for this operation was Col. Wellesley, but advancing towards the tope after dark on the 5 April 1799, he was set upon with rockets and musket-fires, lost his way and, as Beatson politely puts it, had to "postpone the attack" until a more favourable opportunity should offer. Wellesley's failure was glossed over by Beatson and other chroniclers, but the next morning he failed to report when a force was being paraded to renew the attack.Forrest D (1970) ''Tiger of Mysore'', Chatto & Windus, London "On 22 April {Link without Title} , twelve days before the main battle, rocketeers worked their way around to the rear of the British encampment, then 'threw a great number of rockets at the same instant' to signal the beginning of an assault by 6,000 Indian infantry and a corps of Frenchmen, all directed by Mir Golam Hussain and Mohomed Hulleen Mir Mirans. The rockets had a range of about 1,000 yards. Some burst in the air like shells. Others called ground rockets, on striking the ground, would rise again and bound along in a serpentine motion until their force was spent. According to one British observer, a young English officer named Bayly:
During the conclusive British attack on Seringapatam on 2 May 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 the afternoon of 4 May when the final attack on the fort was led by Baird, 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.Narasimha Roddam (2 April 1985) Rockets in Mysore and Britain, 1750-1850 A.D., National Aeronautical Laboratory and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560017 India, Project Document DU 8503, ir.nal.res.in/2382/01/tr_pd_du_8503_R66305.pdf 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 were soon systematically used by the British during the Napoleonic Wars and their confrontation with the US during 1812-14. These descendants of Mysore 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", IN FICTION
DESCENDANTS Tippu Sultan's family was sent to Calcutta by the British. Noor Inayat Khan is said to be one of Tippu Sultan's descendants who died in France under German occupation. Many of Tipu Sultan's descendants live in utter poverty today in the city of Bangalore, the family is living a hand-to-mouth existence, and was constantly denied any kind of pension of other privileges which many past Maharajas still enjoy. It is an irony that the descendants of one of India's greatest rulers are living a life of destitutes, when one of their forefathers was one of the greatest protector of India against the British SWORD OF TIPPU SULTAN Tippu Sultan had lost his sword in a war with the Nairs of Travancore in which he was defeated. The Maharaja, Dharma Raja , gave the 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. FURTHER READING
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