Tipu Sultan

Tipu Sultan, also known as the The Tiger of Mysore (December 10, 1750, Devanhalli – May 4, 1799, Srirangapatnam) was the second son of Haider Ali by his second wife, Fatima or Fakr-un-nissa. He ruled the Kingdom of Mysore from the time of his father's death in 1782 until his own demise in 1799. Tipu was a learned man and an able soldier. He was reputed to be a good poet. He was also a strongly religious man, and practised the Sunni branch of Islam. He was also a fanatic muslim and massacred thousands of Hindus, and considerable number of Christians in North Kerala, Coorg, Mangalore, and other parts of Karnataka. He destroyed about 8000 temples and churches in his invasion of Malabar and converted thousands of terrified villagers to Islam under the thread of death. His atrocities are the stuff of legend in North Kerala to this day. He continued the war against the British begun by his father. He helped ensure the defeat of the British in the Second Mysore War, and negotiated the Treaty of Mangalore with them. However, he was unsuccessful in preventing his neighbours allying themselves with the British, and was defeated in the Third and Fourth Mysore Wars by their combined forces. He died defending his capital Srirangapatnam, on May 4, 1799.

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 Tipu 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 brown, and the general expression of his countenance, not void of dignity.' Tipu used the tiger motif extensively and often likened himself to a tiger. Tipu was also very fond of innovation. Alexander Beatson mentioned, for instance, that Tipu 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.' During Tipu's reign, a new calendar, new coinage, and seven new government departments were introduced as well as innovations in the use of rocket artillery.

Related Topics:
Alexander Beatson - Fourth Mysore War - Tipu Sultan

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