Haidar Ali And Tipu Sultan Of Mysore

 

•    Mysore, after Hyderabad, was the most important power in south India under Haidar Ali. Since the end of the Vijayanagar Empire, the kingdom of Mysore had maintained its precarious independence and had only been a nominal part of the Mughal Empire. 

 

•    Nanjaraj (the Sarvadhikari) and Devraj (the Dulwai) had seized power in Mysore early in the eighteenth century, reducing King Chikka Krishna Raj to a puppet. Haidar Ali began his military career as a petty officer in the Mysore army, where he was born in 1721 to a poor family. 

 

•    He was a man of great energy, daring, and determination, despite his lack of formal education. He was also a shrewd diplomat and a brilliant commander.

 

•    Haidar Ali found his opportunity in the Mysore wars, which lasted more than two decades. He rose through the ranks of the Mysore army by deftly utilising the opportunities that came his way. He quickly recognised the benefits of Western military training and implemented it for his own troops. With the help of French experts, he built a modern arsenal in Dindigal in 1755. 

 

•    In 1761, he deposed Nanjaraj and established his rule over the state of Mysore. He conquered the territories of Bidnur, Sunda, Sera, Canara, and Malabar and established complete control over the rebellious poligars (warrior chieftains and zamindars). His desire to have access to the Indian Ocean was a major factor in his occupation of Malabar. Despite his illiteracy, he was a capable administrator. 

 

•    In his dominions, he was responsible for introducing the Mughal administrative and revenue system.

 

•    He took over Mysore when it was a weak and divided state and quickly transformed it into one of India's most powerful states. His first Dewan and many other officials were Hindus, and he practised religious tolerance.

 

•    He was involved in wars with the Maratha sardars, the Nizam, and the British almost from the beginning of his rise to power. In 1769, he defeated the British forces several times and reached the Madras walls. In the second Anglo-Mysore War, he died in 1782 and was succeeded by his son Tipu. 

 

•    Sultan Tipu, who ruled Mysore from 1799 until his death at the hands of the British, was a complex figure. For one thing, he was a trailblazer. His desire to keep up with the times manifested itself in the introduction of a new calendar, a new coinage system, and new weights and measures scales.

 

•    His personal library included books on religion, history, military science, medicine, and mathematics, among other topics. He was particularly interested in the French Revolution.

 

•    He joined the Jacobin Club and planted a "Tree of Liberty" in Srirangapatam. His organisational ability is demonstrated by the fact that, despite widespread indiscipline among Indian armies at the time, his troops remained disciplined and loyal to the end. He attempted to abolish the practise of giving jagirs in order to increase state revenue.

 

•    He also attempted to reduce the poligars' hereditary possessions and eliminate the middlemen between the state and the cultivator. His land revenue, on the other hand, was comparable to that of other rulers of the time, accounting for up to one-third of the gross produce. He did, however, keep an eye on the collection of illegal cesses and was generous with remissions.

 

•    His infantry were equipped with muskets and bayonets in the European style, but they were made in Mysore. After 1796, he also made an effort to build a modern navy. He established two dockyards for this purpose, with the Sultan himself supplying the ship models. He was free of vices and kept himself free of luxury in his personal life. He was recklessly brave and a brilliant commander.

 

•     “It's better to live a day as a lion than a lifetime as a sheep,” he used to say. 

 

•    In pursuit of this belief, he died fighting at the gates of Srirangapatam. He was, however, rash in his actions and temperamentally unstable.

 

•    He, more than any other eighteenth-century Indian ruler, understood the full extent of the threat that the English posed to South India and other Indian powers as a statesman. 

 

•    He positioned himself as the stalwart foe of the ascendant English power. In turn, the English saw him as their most dangerous adversary in India.

 

•    Despite its current economic backwardness, Mysore prospered economically under Haidar Ali and Tipu, particularly when compared to its immediate past or the rest of the country. 

 

•    After defeating and killing Tipu in 1799, the British were surprised to discover that the peasantry in Mysore was far more prosperous than the peasantry in British-occupied Madras. “The peasantry of his dominions are protected, and their labour encouraged and rewarded,” wrote Sir John Shore, Governor-General from 1793 to 1798.

 

•    Tipu's Mysore was described as "well cultivated, populous with industrious inhabitants, cities newly founded, and commerce extending" by another British observer. Tipu also appears to recognise the value of modern trade and industry. 

 

•    In fact, he was the only Indian ruler who recognised the value of economic strength as a foundation for military strength. He attempted to introduce modern industries to India by bringing in foreign experts as well as providing state support to a variety of industries. 

 

•    To promote foreign trade, he dispatched emissaries to France, Turkey, Iran, and Pegu, Myanmar. He also did business with China.

 

•    He even tried to set up a trading company based on the model of European companies, attempting to mimic their business practises. By establishing state trading institutions in port towns, he attempted to promote trade with Russia and Arabia. 

 

•    Tipu has been described as a religious fanatic by some British historians. However, facts contradict this. Though orthodox in his religious beliefs, he was tolerant and enlightened in his treatment of other religions. 

 

•    After the Shringeri Temple was looted by Maratha horsemen in 1791, he donated money to help build an image of goddess Sarda. He gave gifts to this temple, as well as a few others, on a regular basis. Sri Ranganath's famous temple was only a hundred yards away from his palace. 

 

•    However, while he was considerate and tolerant of the vast majority of his Hindu and Christian subjects, he was harsh on those Hindus and Christians who might directly or indirectly aid the British against Mysore.