Tipu Sultan

by Vikram Sampath

on Dec 03, 2024

Even though Tipu Sultan died on May 4, 1799, more over 200 years ago, his contentious legacy still confuses India's politics today. A fascinating and mysterious figure in India's military history, he continues to be the greatest conundrum facing contemporary historians since, depending on how one chooses to interpret his life and its circumstances, he might signify various things to different people.

Tipu's rise to prominence was unintentional. Haidar Ali, his father, benefited from the kindness of the Maharaja of Mysore. However, the Machiavellian Haidar overthrew his own benefactor and usurped the Mysore kingdom from the Wodeyars in 1761 after a sequence of intriguing events in which he ran with the hare and hunted with the hounds.

Father and son led Mysore through four significant wars against the British, known as the Anglo-Mysore Wars, in a life marred by conflict. Haidar was in charge of the first two, which brought the English East India Company to its knees. Haidar forced the British to sign humiliating treaty terms that sent shockwaves back to London while pursuing the enemy all the way to the gates of Madras.