Who was Tipu Sultan ?

Simultaneously, he continued his friendly overtures to the English. Isolated from his neighbors in India, he also sent embassies to France and to the Caliph at Constantinople to gain their support, but little real benefit came of it.

After the death of Tipu Sultan, the British forces took away the sword and ring of Tipu Sultan as war trophies.

Despite this reduction in his territory, Tipu recuperated with such rapidity that he was still considered a very dangerous rival by the English

His elite troops wore tiger badges, the hilt of his sword was in the form of a snarling tiger, and his favourite toy was a mechanical tiger straddling a British officer while the victim squealed in terror (it is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum).

He learned shooting, riding and swordsmanship at a very young age. It facilitated him to capture the family of the Malabar chief, at the age of 15, with a military force of merely two to three thousand people

Both were displayed in the British Museum till 2004 after which Vijay Mallya bought the sword of Tipu Sultan in an auction.

In 1799 the East India Company, again joined by the Marathas and the Nizam, attacked Tipu.

Tipu was determined to build a rich and powerful state and he was feared with reason by his subjects, his neighbours and other Indian princes, who joined forces with the British against him.

Tipu is credited as the pioneer of Rocket Technology in India

By 1790 the East India Company, much better organized than ever before and now directly supported by the British government, was dead set on subjugating Tipu.

Tipu sultan wanted to defeat the British with an intention to become a Badshah and rule India.

Pushed back to his capital and besieged, the brave sultan fell, fighting to the last; Mysore fell into English hands.

He tried to build up an alliance to drive the British – ‘those oppressors of the human race’ – out of India and intrigued with the French in Paris and Mauritius.

Tipu Sultan wrote a military manual called Fathul Mujahidin. The manual explains the operation of Mysore rockets

Tipu's power rested not only on his large, excellent army but on the great prosperity of the state he developed through humane and systematic agrarian and mercantilistic policies.

He played a major role in building a navy in Mysore consisting of 20 battleships of 72 cannons and 20 frigates of 62 cannons.

After the death of Tipu Sultan, the British forces took away his sword and ring as war trophies

In dealings with them Tipu improbably donned a cap of liberty and expressed his sympathy with French Revolutionary ideals.

Fearing God, exerting himself for his subjects, and indulgently forgiving transgressions, he firmly wiped out all stubborn disloyalty to the state without partiality to caste or creed.

Allying with the Marathas and the Nizam, it put all its might into an expedition against Mysore. Tipu lost half of his kingdom.

The British feared an invasion of India by Napoleon, and Lord Mornington, arriving in Calcutta as British Governor-General in 1798, decided to settle accounts with Citoyen Tipu.

Sultan used to hate the Hindu religion but the ring he owned had "Ram" engraved on it

Still useful is L. B. Bowring, Haidar Alí and Tipú Sultán (1893). Mohibbul Hasan Khan, History of Tipu Sultan (1951), is sympathetic and well balanced.

Despite this reduction in his territory, Tipu recuperated with such rapidity that he was still considered a very dangerous rival by the English. In 1799 the East India Company, again joined by the Marathas and the Nizam, attacked Tipu. Pushed back to his capital and besieged, the brave sultan fell, fighting to the last; Mysore fell into English hands.

The leftovers and belongings of Tipu Sultan had been put on display at the British Museum till the year 2004. Later on, Vijay Mallya bought the sword of Tipu Sultan in an auction