THE GREAT TIPU
| Tipu Sultan | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Badshah Nasib ad-Dawlah Sultan Fateh Ali Khan Bahadur Tipu | |||||
 | |||||
| Sultan of Mysore | |||||
| Reign | 29 December 1782 – 4 May 1799 | ||||
| Coronation | 29 December 1782 | ||||
| Predecessor | Hyder Ali | ||||
| Successor | Krishnaraja Wodeyar III | ||||
| Born | 10 November 1750[1] Devanahalli, present-day Bangalore, Karnataka | ||||
| Died | 4 May 1799 (aged 48) Srirangapatna, present-day Mandya,Karnataka | ||||
| Burial | Srirangapatna, present-day Mandya,Karnataka 12°24′36″N 76°42′50″ECoordinates: 12°24′36″N 76°42′50″E | ||||
| |||||
| House | Mysore | ||||
| Father | Hyder Ali | ||||
| Mother | Fatima Fakhr-un-Nisa | ||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||
Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu,[2] 20 November 1750 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore and Tipu Sahib,[3] was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the eldest son of Sultan Haidar Ali of Mysore.[4] Tipu introduced a number of administrative innovations during his rule, including his coinage, a new Mauludi lunisolar calendar,[5] and a new land revenue system which initiated the growth of the Mysore silk industry.[6] He expanded the iron-cased Mysorean rockets and commissioned the military manual Fathul Mujahidin, and is considered a pioneer in the use of rocket artillery.[7] He deployed the rockets against advances of British forces and their allies during the Anglo-Mysore Wars, including the Battle of Pollilur and Siege of Seringapatam. He also embarked on an ambitious economic development program that established Mysore as a major economic power, with some of the world's highest real wages and living standards in the late 18th century.[8]
Napoleon was the French commander-in-chief, and he sought an alliance with Tipu. Both Tipu and his father used their French-trained army[9] in alliance with the French in their struggle with the British, and in Mysore's struggles with other surrounding powers, against the Marathas, Sira, and rulers of Malabar, Kodagu, Bednore, Carnatic, and Travancore. Tipu's father rose to power in Mysore, and Tipu succeeded to a large kingdom upon his father's death in 1782, bordered by the Krishna River in the north, the Eastern Ghats in the east, and the Arabian Sea in the west.[10] He won important victories against the British in the Second Anglo-Mysore War and negotiated the 1784 Treaty of Mangalore with them after his father died from cancer in December 1782 during the Second Anglo-Mysore War.
Tipu became involved in conflicts with his neighbors, including the Maratha–Mysore War where he defeated the Maratha Empire.[11] The Marathas later sacked Hindu temples in his kingdom, such as Sringeri Sharada Peetham which Tipu rebuilt,[12][13] and the Marathas formed an alliance with the British.[14][13]
Tipu remained an implacable enemy of the British East India Company, renewing conflict with his attack on British-allied Travancore in 1789. In the Third Anglo-Mysore War, he was forced into the Treaty of Seringapatam, losing a number of previously conquered territories, including Malabar and Mangalore. He sent emissaries to foreign states, including the Ottoman Empire, Afghanistan, and France, in an attempt to rally opposition to the British. In the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, the forces of the British East India Company were supported by the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad; they defeated Tipu, and he was killed on 4 May 1799 while defending his fort of Srirangapatna.
Tipu Sultan's image in India is complex.[15] He was one of the few South Indian kings to provide stiff resistance to British imperialism, along with Hyder Ali and Kerala Varma Pazhassi. Raja historians of the Indian nationalist perspective have venerated him as a national hero, a ruler who fought against British colonialism;[16] and he has been praised for his technological and military innovations,[7] and economic reforms that substantially improved the incomes and living standards of Mysoreans.[8] But the rise of Hindu-Muslim tensionsin recent decades has led to an alternative Hindu nationalist view which sees him as a Muslim tyrant,[16] controversial for suppressing political dissent among Hindus, Christians, and Mappla Muslims.
Comments
Post a Comment