TIPPU SULTAN (திப்பு சுல்தான்)

Tippu Sultan:

Tipu was born in the Bamgalore area of Devanhalli to a military officer. Hyder Ali in the Kingdom of Mysore in the year 1750. Hyder Ali and his wife Fatima Fakhr Un Nisa named their baby as Fatha Ali but often called him as Tipu after the local saint Tipu Mastan Aulia. Tipu Sultan’s full name was Sultan Fateh Ali Khan Shahab. Soon, Hyder ali’s career progressed and in 1761 he became the ruler of mysore. Since, Hyder Ali had a political alliance with the French, Tipu studied military tactics and strategies from the French.

He had some of the best tutors to teach him various subjects like shooting, riding and swordsmanship. Perhaps that is why Tipu at a very young age of 15 with only two to three thousand force could capture the family of the Malabar chief. No wonder, the Malabar ruler surrendered to only Hyder Ali because of Tipu Sultan’s successful invasion of Malabar.

Early military service:

Tipu Sultan was instructed in ,ilitary tactics by French officers in the employment of his father. At age 15, he accompanied his father against the British in the First Mysore War in 1766. He commanded a corps of calvary in the invasion of Carnatic in 1767 at age 16. He also distinguished himself in the First Anglo-Maratha War of  1775-1779. Alexander Beatson, who published a volume on the Fourth Mysore Wae entitled View of the Prigin and Conduct of the War Tippoo Sultaun, 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 aomplexion was fair, and the general expression of his countenance, not void of dignity”.

Second Anglo-mysore War:

In 1779, the British captured the French- Controlled port of Mahe, which Tipu had placed under his protection, providing, some troops for its defence. In response, Hyder Launched an invasion of the Carnatoc, with the aim of driving the British out of Madras. During this campaign in September 1780, Tipu Sultan was dispatched by Hyder Ali with 10,000 men and 18guns to intercept Colonel Baillie whi was on his way to join Sir Hector Munro. In the Battle of Plllilur, Tipu decisively defeated Baillie. Out of 360 Europeans. about 200 wee captyred alive, and te sepoys, who were about 3800 men,suffered very high casualities, Munro was moving south woth a swperate force to join Baillie, but on hearing the news of the defeat he was forced to retreat to Madras, abandoning his artillery in a water tank at Kanchipuram.

Personal Life & Legacy:

Tipu Sultan had several wives and numerous children including Shahzada Hyder Ali Sultan, Shahzada Abdul Khaliq Sultan, Shahzada Muhi-ud-din Sultan, and Shahzada M”izz-ud-din Sultan. A brave warrior, he died on 4 May 1799 while fighting the British forces in the Fourth Amglo-Mysore war. As one of the forst Indian kings to have died on the battlefield while defending his kingdom against the colonial British, he was officially recognized by the Government of India as a freedom fighter.

            While he is revered as a hero of the Indian independence movement in several regions in India and Pakistan, he is also regarded as a tyrannical ruler in certain regions in India.

The British army’s National army Museum ranked Tipu Sultan among the greatest enemy commanders the British Army ever faced.

Death:

After Horatio Nelson had defeated Francosis-paul Brueys D’Aigalliers at the Battle of the Nile in Egypt in 1798, three armies, one from Bombay, and two British ( one of which included Arthur Wellesley), marched into Mysore in 1799 and besieged the capital Srirangapatna 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 ssolders were sent by the Marathas. Thus the soldiers in the British force numbered over 50,000 soldiers whereas Tipu Sultan had only about 30,000 soldiers. The British broke through the city walls, French Military advisers advised Tipu Sultan to escape from secret passages and live to fight another day but to their astonishment Tipu replied, “Better to live one day as a tiger than a thousand years as a sheep”. Tipu Sultanto escape from secret pass.

Srirangapatnam, the island fortress was the capital of Mysore duringthe 19^th century. It was so well organized with good trade routes that British feared terrible consequences. In addition, the ruler of Mysore, the third had dire consequences- Tipu’s two sons aged 8 and 10 were detained by the British forces. Finally, in the fourth, Tipu Sultan the ruler of Mysore breath had hos last in 1799 at Srirangapatnam.