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Eternal India
encyclopedia
HYDER AND TIPPU
1722-1799 A.D.
LURE - THRU THE AGES
Foes
:
English, The Ma-
rathas, Nawab of Carnatic,
Rulers of Coorg and Cannan-
Overview
*
Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tippu Sul-
tan was a source of danger to the rising
British power in India during the second
half of the 18th C.
*
Though Hyder Ali was not educated he
became a great military leader.
*
His son, Tippu Sultan, called
"Tiger of
Mysore
" became the most powerful en-
emy of the English East India Company.
*
Tippu died fighting valiantly against the
British in the Fourth Mysore War.
Advent
•
Decline in the rule of the Mysore rulers.
*
Hyder Ali having displayed great ability
as a commander of horse, rose to the rank
of Faujdar, and in 1761 he usurped all
power in the state and seized the fortress
of Bednore with immense treasures.
Chronology
*
Hyder Ali (1722-1782)
*
Tippu Sultan (son of Hyder
Ali)
(1750-99)
Wars
1767-69 First Mysore War. Hyder Ali defeated
the English.
1769-72 The Maratha-Mysore War; Marathas
defeated Hyder Ali.
1780-84 Second Mysore War; Tippu Sultan
took over after the death of Hyder
Ali in 1782. Treaty of Mangalore in
1784 ends war.
1790-92 Third Mysore War. Tippu defeated;
Treaty of Seringapatam signed in
1792.
1799 Fourth Mysore War; Tippu was de-
feated and killed by English.
Tippu Sultan
1750-1799
Tippu was bom on November 10,1750 at
Devanahalli to Fatima and Hyder Ali. He
was affectionate in nature; possessed great
personal courage; calm and calculating he
did not possess an impetuous temper; very
ambitious. He had a cultured mind; he was
greatly interested in sufism, and under his pa-
tronage a number of books were written; he
was greatly interested in calligraphy; he wrote
a book on astrology named
Zabarjad
; he was
a patron of music and had great fondness for
architecture.
Friends
: French.
Administration
*
His government, though
strict and arbitrary, was
the despotism of a politic
and able sovereign.
*
He was the supreme
legislative, judicial and executive authority
in his kingdom; he was his own foreign
minister and commander-in-chief.
*
His government, called
Sarkar-i-Khuda-
dad
(Government given by God), was
highly, centralised with seven principal
cutchehries
(departments).
*
He abolished the custom of giving
jagirs
to his officers.
*
He was against the retention of
poligars..
He tried to trade with foreign countries by
establishing factories.
Strengths
*
He had a high sense of duty to his office;
he spared no pains to promote the welfare
of his people; his personal valour, fear-
lessness and perseverance inspired his
troops with confidence and enthusiasm.
Achievements
*
In 1797 he constructed a dam across the
Cauvery with an embankment seventy
feet high few miles west of Seringapatam.
Developed agriculture, promoted trade
and industry, built roads, confiscated un-
authorised grants and eliminated
poli-
gars..
He was the pioneer of road build-
ing in Malabar.
Weakness
*
Tippu's ideas were good but he could not
put all of them into practice.
*
He hated the English and could not came
to a compromise with them. He pinned all
his hopes on the French.
Decline
*
With the fall of Srirangapatam in the
Fourth Mysore War after the death of
Tippu, the kingdom was at the mercy of
the English. Though they had captured
only the capital and some other minor
forts, a large part of Mysore, including
important forts like Chitradurga and Sira
were still in the possession of the Mysore-
ans.
But after the death of the Sultan there was
no will to resistance left. The principal
officers formally surrendered to the Brit-
ish.
Tippu's second son Abdul Khaliq also
surrendered. Fath Haidar, Tippu's eldest
son, continued his struggle for a short du-
ration before he also surrendered to the
English.
After the surrender of Tippu's sons and
officers Wellesley could have annexed
the entire Kingdom of Mysore, but he left
the central part of the kingdom to the de-
scendants of the old ruling family of
Mysore.
The bulk of what was left was divided be-
tween the Company and the Nizam of
Hyderabad, and a small portion was of-