Tipu Sultan - The Legacy

4^th May is revered as the day Tipu Sultan sacrificed his life to protect his nation from foreign occupation. The British still despise him as their biggest foe in sub-continent. Tipu Sultan left us with an unforgettable legacy. Let us remember the great freedom fighter’s  famous quote: “One day of lion is better than hundred days of jackal”. On November 20, 1750, Commander Haider Ali of Kingdom of Mysore and his wife, Fatima Fakhr-un-Nisa, welcomed their first baby boy in Bangalore. They named him Fateh Ali Khan, and titled him Tipu Sultan after a local Muslim Saint, Tipu Mastan Aulia. Sultan Haider Ali, after defeating the invading force of Marathas in 1758, became the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. While his father rose to prominence, young Tipu Sultan was receiving special education from the finest tutors available. He studied Quran, Arabic, Persian, Urdu Poetry, History, Islamic Jurisprudence. Modenr Science, Swimming, and Horse riding.  He learned military strategy and warfare tactics under French commanders from an early age, since his father was allied with the French in Southern India. In 1766, when Tipu Sultan was only 15 years old, he got the chance to apply his military training in battle for the first time, when he accompanied his father on an invasion of Malabar. The youngster took charge of a force of three thousand soldiers and defeated the Malabar chief's army in a two-day battle. Sultan Haider Ali was so proud of his son he assigned him rule of five districts within Mysore. It was the start of an illustrious military career for the young Tipu. During the 1760’s, the British East India Company  expanded its control of Southern India by playing local states against each another. In 1767, the British formed a coalition with the Nizam and the Marathas, and together they attacked Mysore. Sultan Haider Ali managed to make a separate peace with the Marathas, and then sent his 17-year-old son Tipu Sultan to negotiate with the Nizam. Young Prince Tipu charmed the Nizam into switching sides, and joining the Mysorean fight against the British. Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan then went on capturing forts and British-held cities. The brave and aggressive father and son  Mysoreans were threatening to dislodge the British from  South India. After humiliating defeat, the British had to sign a 1769 peace agreement with Sultan Haider Ali called  - Treaty of Madras. Under the circumstances, the British East India Company got off easy, but still it would not honor the treaty terms. In 1771, the Marathas attacked Mysore with an army of 30,000 soldiers. Sultan Haider Ali called upon the British to honor their commitment under the Treaty of Madras, but the British East India Company refused to send any troops to assist him. Young Tipu played a key role as Mysore fought off the Marathas, The “Tiger of Mysore” and his father never trusted the British again. Later that decade, Britain and France came to blows over the 1776 rebellion in Britain's North American colonies. France, of course, supported the rebels. In retaliation, and to draw off French support from America, Britain decided to push the French entirely out of India. It began to capture key French holdings in India such as Pondicherry, South Eastern India, in 1778. The following year, the British grabbed the French-occupied port of Mahe on the Mysorean coast, and Haider Ali was compelled to declare war. The Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-1784), began when Sultan Haider Ali led an army of 90,000 in an attack on the Karnatak, which was allied with the British. In September 1780, Tipu Sultan with his 10,000 infantry inflicted the worst defeat the British had suffered in India. Most of the 4,000 Anglo-Indian troops were taken prisoner. While the Second Anglo-Mysore War was still raging, the 60-year old Haider Ali died. Tipu Sultan assumed the title of Sultan and took his father's throne on 29^th December 1782. The British connived against Tipu’s ascension to throne. However, Tipu's immediate acceptance by Mysorean public and his unyielding popularity across his army thwarted the British schemes. The Second Anglo-Mysore War went on until 1784 and Tipu Sultan maintained the upper hand over the British army. Finally, on March 11, 1784, the British East India Company had to formally surrender and sign the Treaty of Mangalore. Tipu Sultan agreed to release all of the British prisoners of war he had captured. Despite two victories over the British, Tipu Sultan realized that the British East India Company remained a serious threat to his independent kingdom. He funded continuous military advances, including further development of the famous Mysore rockets - iron tubes that could fire missiles up to two kilometers, terrifying British troops and their allies. The enterprising Tipu Sultan built roads and bridges, educational institutions, public welfare centres, created a new form of coinage, and encouraged silk production for international trade. He was particularly fascinated with modern technologies, and had always been an avid student of science and mathematics. A devout Muslim, Tipu Sultan was tolerant of his majority-Hindu subjects' faith. Famed as warrior-king, the "Tiger of Mysore," Tipu Sultan proved an able ruler in times of relative peace as well. Tipu Sultan had to face the British for a third time between 1789 and 1792. This time, Mysore would receive no aid from its usual ally, France, due to the French Revolution. The British were led on this occasion by Lord Cornwallis, also famed as one of the major British commanders during the American Revolution. Unfortunately for Tipu Sultan and his people, the British had more resources to invest in Southern India this time around. Although the war lasted for several years, unlike in the previous engagements, the British gained more ground than they gave. At the end of the third war war, after the British besieged Tipu's capital city of Sarangapatam, the Mysorean leader had to retreat. In the 1793 Treaty of Sarangapatam, the British and their local allies, the Maratha Empire, took half of the territory of Mysore. British Commander Lord Cornwallis held Tipu’s two sons captive and demanded a huge ransom. Tipu Sultan paid the sum and recovered his sons. It was a shocking lesson for the “Tiger of Mysore”. In 1798, a French general named Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt as a stepping-stone to invade India by land  and grab it from the British. With that in mind, Napolean sought an alliance with Tipu Sultan, Britain's staunchest foe in Southern India. By 1798, the British had had sufficient time to recover from the Third Anglo-Mysore War. They had a new commander Richard Wellesley, Earl of Mornington, who was committed to a policy of "aggression and aggrandizement." Although the British had taken half of Mysore and a large sum of money, Tipu Sultan resiliently rebuilt his nation and Mysore became once more a prosperous Kingdom. The British East India Company knew that Mysore was the only thing standing between it and total domination of India. In February 1799, a British-led coalition of 50,000 troops marched toward Tipu Sultan's capital city of Sarangapatam. This army was made up of the best from all of the British East India Company's client states. Its single goal was the destruction of Mysore. On 1st May 1799, the British and their allies surrounded Sarangapatam, the capital of Mysore. Tipu Sultan had just 30,000 defenders matched against 50,000 attackers. On May 4^th 1799, the British army broke through the city walls. Tipu Sultan bravely rushed to the defence and was martyred defending his nation. Mir Sadiq, a confidante minister of Tipu Sultan discreetly assisted  the British army and caused considerable damages. The traitor was killed immediately following Tipu Sultan’s martyrdom  during a party he arranged to  welcome the British at his own palace With Tipu Sultan's demise, Mysore became another princely state under the jurisdiction of British Raj. His sons were sent into exile, and a different family became puppet rulers of Mysore under the British. In fact, Tipu Sultan's family was reduced to poverty as a deliberate policy, and were only restored to princely status in 2009. Tipu Sultan fought all his life to preserve his country's independence. Today, Tipu is remembered as a heroic freedom fighter across the sub-continent.