The Tiger of Mysore

Image Source: Sotheby's

Image Source: Getty Images

Scenes of the battle are painted on murals in Tipu's palace in Mysore.

In late March, a painting of the Battle of Pollilur made headlines for being sold at Sotheby’s for 500,000 pounds. The painting was part of Sotheby’s ‘Arts of the Islamic World & India’ auction and depicts Haider Ali, the Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore and his son, Tipu Sultan, defeating Lt. Colonel William Baillie and his forces on the 10th of September 1780. The magnificent painting - which is nearly 32-feet long, stretching across 10 sheets of paper - shows Tipu Sultan on top of an elephant whilst overseeing his troops and the other end shows his cavalry attacking Company forces. The battle has been described as the most crushing defeat of the British East India Company, one which nearly ended British colonial rule in India and “demolished the reputation that the British in India were invincible, as was assumed since the Battle of Buxor”.

Described as “arguably the greatest Indian picture of the defeat of colonialism that survives”, the wall painting was first commissioned by Tipu who immortalised the victory by having scenes of the battle painted on the walls and frescoes of his palace, the Darya Daulat Bagh. While the origins of the second painting are unclear, it is believed to have been painted at some point between 1799 and 1820 and brought to England by a British officer. This visual record of the battle dispels the narrative of European military superiority in warfare during this period and is a reminder of Tipu Sultan and his legacy as the feared ‘Tiger of Mysore’.

The Battle of Pollilur 

Between the years of 1767 and 1799 there were four Anglo-Mysore wars which were fought between the Kingdom Mysore and the British East India Company. The second war, the Battle of Pollilur, was a monumental victory for Mysore where the British saw ‘their worst defeat in India’. 

The battle began when Colonel William Baillie, a Scottish soldier, and his troops attempted to meet his detached force about 35 miles south of Madras. Four thousand Indian sepoys and a few hundred Highland Scots were unexpectedly met with Tipu’s troops who had been waiting in ambush for hours in the small village of Pollilur. The painting captures the moment when the Company’s ammunition tumbril explodes while Tipu’s cavalry advance “like waves of an angry sea”.

Baillie’s troops suffered a “massacre” at the hands of the Mysore troops mainly due to their advanced artillery, guns and cavalry. The Company’s army was no match for Tipu’s exceptional strategy for the ambush which included the firing of rockets from their camel cavalry. The rockets fired were particularly significant in the context of military technology because Myseorean rockets were the first iron-cased rockets successfully used in warfare. Under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, the Mysorean army effectively used these rockets against the British East India Company during 1780s and 1790s. Unsurprisingly, the British replicated the designs and adopted the Congreve rocket in 1806 which were used in Europe during the Napoleonic wars.

“I would rather live a day as a tiger than a lifetime as a sheep.” - Tipu Sultan

Tipu’s Legacy 

When researching Tipu Sultan, I was quite amused to find out how deep his hatred for the British was. He had an instrument maker construct him a large model of a tiger crouched on top of a Redcoat on his back, sinking his teeth into his neck and eating him. When played, the mechanical organ makes a sound that resembles the cries of a dying man and the roar of a tiger. You can find the tiger, otherwise known as ‘Tippoo’s Tiger’ in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. 

“Know you not the custom of the English? Wherever they fix their talons they contrive little by little to work themselves into the whole management of affairs.” - - Letter from Tipu Sultan to Nizam of Hyderabad in 1796

Tipu and his father were determined to get rid of the East India Company, wary of the dangers of their arrogance and aggressiveness in the region. His reluctance to make peace with the Company and accept British expansionism in southern India meant that early colonial accounts (produced by the British) drove his image as a ruthless tyrant and a Muslim fanatic. Fortunately, work conducted by a succession of modern scholars shows that driving this one-sided propaganda from the Company was fear. What made him most frightening was his use of the West’s weapons against the West, beating them ‘at their own game’ by using the European 'weapons' of 'state monopoly and an aggressive ideology of expansion'. Coupled with his military acumen, Tipu Sultan is remembered as an anti-colonialist and a ‘modernising technocrat’ who fostered a culture of innovation in Mysore which can be felt today. 

Unfortunately, his legacy as a Muslim ruler in India is met with controversy with some labelling him a Muslim bigot and others hailing him an early patriot. State-wide celebrations commemorating Tipu Sultan on his birth anniversary began in 2015 but were opposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) whose members have labelled him a ‘bigot’ who allegedly forced ‘mass conversions’ to Islam. It is believed by members of the BJP and other Hindu nationalists that during Tipu’s attack on Kerala he forced thousands of Hindus to convert to Islam, explaining the high population of Muslims in Mallabar today. Historians like Mukul Kesavan disagree with this, arguing that while it is true he converted ‘20 or 30 people by force in an exemplary way’ it was not at all indicative of the Muslim population in Mallabar. Moreover, Samuel Strandberg wrote in his book ‘Tipu Sultan - the Tiger of Mysore’ that the Hindu temples were not only undisturbed ‘but were often granted generous gifts’. Strandberg went on to write that had Tipu been successful, his alliance with the French would have meant that ‘one colonial power would have been replaced by another’. 

“Then came Partition. God’s carotid burst open on the new border between India and Pakistan and a million people died of hatred.”

- Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

While this may be true, I believe his legacy stands as a strong reminder that the transformation of the East India Company into an aggressive colonial power was met with resistance. His stubborn defiance made him a foe of the British until he was eventually defeated in 1799, when he ‘died gallantly in battle’. As someone whose great grandparents lived through the Partition, it is also a reminder to hear untold stories from this period and re-tell this part of our shared history with a sense of empowerment.  

To read some of the life stories of individuals who lived through the 1947 Partition, check out the 1947 Partition Archives here and to read my great grandmother's story, search for the interviewee Tayeba Begum. 

Written by Lina Idrees