Skip to main content

Tipu Sultan: Ruler of Mysore


A military leader in 18th century South India, Tipu Sultan (ruled from 1782-99) was the ruler of Mysore for a seventeen-year-period until his death in 1799. He succeeded to the throne when his father Hyder Ali died on December 7, 1782 during the course of Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-84). The Second Anglo-Mysore War came to an end by the Treaty of Mangalore (March 1784) on the basis of mutual restitution of conquests. 

Tipu Sultan was born in 1750 in Devanahalli (near Bangalore in Karnataka). 

Unlike his father who was a de facto ruler, Tipu assumed royal title of Sultan by dethroning the Hindu raja of Mysore in 1786.

The increasing power of Mysore made the Marathas and the Nizam enter into a coalition in 1786 against Tipu Sultan who became successful in defeating them by crossing the flooded Tungabhadra in rafts and basket boats in a brilliant military feat. The defeat brought the Marathas and the Nizam closer to the English who were eyeing opportunity to avenge the past defeat. The alliance among the English, the Marathas and the Nizam led to the Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790-92) in which Tipu Sultan was defeated. The Third Anglo-Mysore War came to an end by the Treaty of  Srirangapatnam. Under the terms of the treaty Tipu had to surrender of nearly half of Mysorean territory to the victorious allies. 

Tipu was killed in 1799 in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. The immediate cause of the war was, according to the English, Tipu’s intrigues with the Marathas and the Nizams. He also tried to enlist the support of Zaman Shah of Afghanistan and the French in the Isle of France (Mauritius) by sending embassies to Arabia and the Directory at Versailles for an alliance against the British in India. The fourth Anglo-Mysore War took place during the governor generalship of Lord Wellesley who jettisoned the non-intervention policy and annexed most of the territories of the Mysore state to the East India Company under the subsidiary Alliance system. A boy of the earlier Mysore Hindu royal family was placed on the throne. 

Tipu Sultan is revered by a section of the people as a patriot and a hero as he stood against the British. That even cost him his life. But there is another angle to view the truth. Tipu Sultan was in cahoots with the French. There is every possibility that had he succeeded in driving the British away with French help, Mysore would have fallen to the French instead. And there was no concept of nationalism in the age in which Tipu lived.

Key Takeaway

Tipu Sultan had planted the 'Tree of Liberty' at Srirangapatnam. 




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Muhammad Shah Rangila

Aurangzeb, the last great Mughal emperor, died in 1707. Muhammad Shah became Mughal emperor in 1719. During the interregnum, Bahadur Shah I , Jahandar Shah, Farrukhsiyar, Rafi-ud-Darajat and Rafi-ud-Daula ascended the Mughal throne. Jahandar Shah was murdered on the orders of Farrukhsiyar who had the support of the two powerful Mughal nobles Sayyid Abdullah and his brother Sayyid Husain Ali at that time. They are famous in history as Sayyid brothers, the King-makers. In 1719, Farrukhsiyar were murdered in utter disregard of a Mughal emperor by Sayyid brothers. Rafi-ud-Darajat died of consumption in a few months. Rafi-ud-Daula was addicted to opium and died in 4 months. Sayyid brothers now chose Raushan Akhtar, a son of Jahan Shah (the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I), to be the emperor. Raushan Akhtar ascended the throne under the title of Muhamamd Shah in September 1719. In the beginning Muhammad Shah was a puppet in the hands of Sayyid brothers who soon began to lose their gri...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sanskrit Books and Authors in Ancient India

  Books Authors Abhigyan Shakuntalam (Recognition of Shakuntala) Kalidasa Aihole Prasasti Ravikirti Amarakosha   Amarasimha   Arthashastra Kautilya Ashtadhyayi   Panini Bhattikavya Bhatti Brihat Samhita   Varahamihira Buddhacharita   Asvaghosa   Charaka Samhita ( Compendium of Charaka ) Charaka Devichandraguptam   Vishakhadatta Gita Govinda  ( Song of the Cowherd) Jayadeva Gatha Saptashati Hala Lilavati   Bhaskara II   Hammira Mahakavya   Nayachandra Suri Janakiharana   ( Janaki's abduction) Kumaradasa   Kama Sutra Vatsyayana ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Turkan-i-Chahalgani, the Group of Forty

Amir-i-Chahalgani, known variously as Turkan-i-Chahalgani and Chalisa (The Forty), was a group of 40 faithful slaves which came into existence with the task of protecting Shamsuddin Iltutmish , the third Slave Sultan of Delhi Sultanate. The idea to form the group was taken by him when he came to realize that Turkish nobles cannot be trusted and could be a threat to his rule. With the passage of time the group went on to become very influential and powerful. Though Iltutmish succeeded in keeping the group under control, after his rule they became notorious and intrigued against nearly all his successors.  The Forty acquired domination on the affairs of the state so much so that no ruler could defy them. Without their support it was utterly out of questions for the rulers to win the battle for succession. The members of this Turkish nobility used to appropriate all the offices of the state to themselves. Some of the rulers of the Slave dynasty after Iltutmish were murdered by these s...
Post a Comment
Read more