Wives of Tipu Sultan

All credits to Seringapatam Times

Captain Thomas Marriott, was placed in charge of the Zanana or ‘Women’s Quarters’ after Seringapatam fell. He recorded that he found there 333 of Tipu’s women, including servants and 268 of Haidar’s, as well as some eunuchs.The composition of Tipu’s Zanana reflected like in all other matters, his universal and varied tastes. The women came from near and far. There were daughters of local families,  as well as Turks, Georgians, Persians and women from places as Arcot, Tanjore, Hyderabad and Delhi. Among the high caste Hindu women of the Zanana listed by Marriott were 2 sisters of the Raja of Coorg, a niece of Purnaiya and 3 ladies related to the Wodeyars Rajas of Mysore.

George V. Valentia in “Voyages and Travels’, actually visited the Seringapatam palace following Tipu’s death and noted that each lady furnished her apartment ‘according to the fashion of her country’. Guarded by eunuchs they had entered the Zanana at a young age, all being muslim by birth or after being converted to Islam.

Thomas Marriott also writes ‘In the Sultan’s own dominions his confidential servant, Raja Khan, had free access to the private apartment of any of his subjects, and could carry away any of the women, without them daring to make any opposition’.  Tipu’s family was strongly opposed to the breakup of the Zanana after his death by the British with his son, Prince Fath Haidar making representations to Captain Marriott on the subject saying that it was ‘ a particular honour to the memory of the deceased that his widows should die where he did’. The enterprising Marriott ‘s solution to the problem was to quote Muslim scripture and law which did not support this.

What must be remembered here is that marriage alliances among ruling families was the order of those days.  Buckler in ‘The Human khillat’ identifies the practise of giving cast off wives or widows as gifts to subordinates. Pearson’s expands further on this concept and explains the perceived importance of women in relation to legitimacy and succession during the rise and height of Mughal power. The same concept may be related to in trying to explain the source and reason for Tipu’s large harem.

As well as the ruler’s cast off wives and concubines being used to bind subordinates to him, women were also given in return, often as nazr-such as a daughter given in marriage. Following Tipu’s death, a list in his handwriting was found containing the names of the daughters of all the principal families in his state with their ages annexed.

Also to be noted was that all the women in Tipu’s or Haidar’s harem were not necessarily his wives or concubines. A Zanana or Haram was also a  ‘safe place’ for women. In Haidar’s harem was found the wife of Abdul Karim, the daughter of the Nawab of Savanoor, whom Tipu had placed in Haidar’s zanana as a result of her husband’s cruel treatment of her. As for Tipu’s wives from his military conquests, such was the practise of those days and earlier where marriage with a  daughter or sometimes a son from the conquered state would ensure a transfer of bloodline from one ruling family to the now dominant one. Even Krishnadeva Raya of Vijaynagar took a daughter of the Gajapatis of Orissa into his harem after the conquest of that country.

Tipu always showed great respect and courtesy to women who had come worse off after some battle or military setback. Documents preserved to this day, especially of Tipu’s wars with the Marathas in Kirmani’s contemporary biography  ‘Tarikh-i-Tipu’,  show several instances of Maratha women, even wives of the prominent Maratha Sardars, being captured in battle and Tipu sending them safely back home to their husbands with proper escort and gifts. That being said, there are also documented records of princesses forcibly inducted into the Mysorean Zanana especially from the principality of Coorg and the Palegars of Chitradurga.

The question remains, how many legal wives did Tipu have? Islam permits a man to have 4 wives. Tipu was married the first time in 1774 when he was 24 and the last time probably in 1796 when he was 46.

Looking round for a worthy bride for his son Tipu, Haidar Ali fixed on a Navayat lady, daughter of the Imam Saheb Bakshi of Arcot. But because of unpleasant rumours about the bride’s family, noisy objections were raised by ‘the ladies of the curtain of chastity and purity’ – in other words, Haidar’s womenfolk. Eventually Tipu himself chose Ruqayya Banu, daughter of Lala Mian, a general who had died, fighting bravely, at Melkote, and sister of Burhanuddin, a commander destined for even greater fame. Haidar still insisted upon his choice and finally Tipu was married to both ladies the same evening.

It is generally accepted that the marriage to the Imam’s daughter was in name only, even though she was treated as the first among equals in the Harem and was called Padshah Begum, whereas Ruqayya Banu was the mother of one or more of Tipu’s numerous children. Ruqayya Banu was perhaps the only love of Tipu’s life, both having known each other since their childhoods and Tipu himself proposing her as his bride and probably, thus even earning his father’s displeasure. She, unfortunately passed away in 1792, during the course of Cornwallis’s siege of Seringapatam.

In 1795/1796 he once again married Khadija Zaman Begum, daughter of Saiyid Saheb who in addition to all his other services to Tipu, now became his father-in-law. That he was quite virile, as could be expected from a reigning monarch was that his wives continued to bear him children even till 1797, when his latest wife Khadija Zaman Begum died during childbirth. So, from contemporary sources as well as later British enquiries of the Harem, we know that Tipu Sultan had 3 wives.

An eye witness account of Tipu Sultan’s principal wife is given in ‘Authentic memoirs of Tipu Sultan’. The anonymous author writes- ‘This lady is delicately formed, and the lines of her face so regular and placid, that a physiognomist would have had little difficulty to pronounce her of a tranquil and amiable temper; her dress was generally a robe of white muslin, spotted with silver and round her neck rows of beautiful pearls, from which hung a pastagon, consisting of an emerald and a ruby of considerable size surrounded with a profusion of brilliants. She is about twenty years of age, and for a complete form, and captivating appearance, rivalled all Mysore.’ We do not know to which of the 3 wives this author is referring to. If this ‘principal wife’ was only twenty years of age, she would have to be Khadija Zaman Begum, because both of Tipu’s earlier wives were much older than twenty years when this memoir was written.

The same memoir also shows us a glimpse into the internal affairs of the Harem. It speaks of Tipu Sultan after the 3rd Mysore war of 1792, where Tipu was humbled by the British and his sons taken hostage- ‘Tippoo now passed the chief part of his time in the Zenanna, where he had a great many beautiful women; those by whom he had sons were always his favourites; these ladies take their precedence accordingly, but lose it on death of a child. Tippoo did not make his choice by throwing a handkerchief, as is said to be the custom at Constantinople, but communicated to his chief minister the preference he intended. And this minister officially made known his master’s choice to the lady.

There is great attention paid to the education of these females in respect to dancing, singing and music….These ladies change their dresses continually. Their whole time seems to be spent in adorning their persons, for the elegance of which, and accomplishment of manners they certainly rival all the other women of the place, their apartments and furniture are magnificent, and they have visits of ceremony with each other….The women are subject to severe punishment for infidelity or licentiousness, and endure much shame and contumely, if they have no children.’

Thus, as Kate Brittlebank so beautifully puts it in her analysis of Tipu’s life and the society he lived in – the women in his zanana reflected the universality of his kingship, as did the botanical gardens, the Lalbagh in Bangalore and Ganjam, of his realm.

References:
1. Kate Brittlebank, Tipu Sultan’s Search for Legitimacy
2. Kirmani, Tarikh-i-Tipu Sultan
3. An officer in the service of EIC, Authentic Memoirs of Tipu Sultan
4. Denys Forrest, Tiger of Mysore: The life and death of Tipu Sultan

The Mysore Dasara during the Haidar Ali – Tipu Sultan reign

The ascendancy of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan over the Mysorean stage did not in any way dampen the Dasara celebrations as is often misconstrued. The Islamic faith of Haidar and Tipu did not hold them from celebrating the 10 days of Dasara with as much, if not more pomp and show, as had been done for two centuries before them in Mysore.

First described as a royal ritual by visitors to Vijaynagara, Dasara takes place over a 10 day period during the period between September and October. Adopted widely by later South Indian rulers, it had and still has great importance in Mysore, where it was instituted in the year 1610 with the Wodeyars honouring their family deity, Chamundi. The 10th day of Dasara is commonly referred to as Vijayadashami. According to a legend, Vijayadashami denotes the victory of truth over evil and was the day when the Hindu Goddess Chamundeshwari killed the demon Mahishasura. Mahishasura is the demon from whose name, the name Mysore has been derived.

A splendid display of wealth and magnificence, the festival has been described as a combination of a great Darbar (royal gathering), Darshan (viewing) and Puja (worship). In addition, there were athletic contests, dancing, and singing processions, at the focus of which were the King’s women along with temple dancers from all corners of India. An important part of the festival was the darbar aspect, where homage was paid to the king, gifts were exchanged and the sacrificial reconsecration of the royal arms, soldiers, horses and elephants took place. As an essential element of the incorporative nature of the whole of the Dasara ritual, at this time all subordinate chiefs were required to be present.

Thus, the Dasara festival was when the ruler would assert his supremacy over his subjects and receive homage from them. He would also display to them the power and glamour of his Kingdom thus indicating to them that he was indeed capable of ruling over them and also of keeping his subjects safe. He represented the temporal power that would be worshipped along with the spiritual power represented by the temple deity through the 10 days of the festival. The performance of this public ritual beginning from 1610 by the successive Wodeyar Kings renewed and reinforced their right of kingship.

Kirmani, a contemporary of both Haidar and Tipu writes that during the Dasara, Haidar held ‘a banquet of 10 days and invited all the dignitaries of state including the sons of his old master Dalavai Nanjarajaiya, whose position he had usurped. On occasions of this kind, he also amused himself by witnessing fireworks, the fighting of stags, the fierce attack of buffalos and the charges of elephants, like mountains in size on each other, and the boxing and wrestling of strong prize fighters who belonged to the ‘Jetti’ caste. He even joined the show and took a personal pleasure in exhibiting in the true nature of a sportsman, his remarkable skill in marksmanship at one of the day’s performances. A circular enclosure called ‘Ghirbul’ was formed in front of the ‘Jetti Mahal’ as the wrestling arena was called, a chained tiger placed therein. Asses to which strong spirits were given instead of water were let loose on the tiger. On seeing the bounds and leaps of the tiger, and kicking and braying of the asses, Haidar joined in the general laughter, being himself evidently much amused. Abyssinians dressed in woollen armour and armed with staves, were set to fight with bears. Some of the bravest of Haidar’s servants, at their own request were also selected and placed in the circle against a lion or tiger. In the midst of this circle was fixed a plantain tree, and the man who was fighting with the tiger was ordered to attack it round or under the cover of the tree. If in the event, the brave man conquered and slew the lion or tiger, he, with presents of gold, dresses and increase of pay, was, we are told rendered independent of any worldly want, but on the contrary, if the tiger proved the conqueror and had cast the man on the ground, Haidar took up his matchlock, and fired with such unerring precision that the ball passed through the animal’s head and the man rose up uninjured.

James Scurry, British Seaman and Prisoner of War in Mysore from 1781-93 was a witness to two of Tipu’s Dasara celebrations, one before 1784 and another later. He records that these celebrations were held after the manner of the Pythian or Olympic games, and continued for 10 days without intermission. The games commenced with the rams(fighting sheep), perhaps thirty or forty each day who would fight each other ferociously and were seldom completely conquered. This being over the wrestlers would be sent for, who always approached with their masters at their head, and after prostration, and making the salaams, touching the ground each time, they would be paired, one wrestling school against another. They had on their right hands the ‘Vajramushti’, or four steel talons, which were fixed to each back joint of their fingers, and had a terrific appearance with fists closed. Their heads were close shaved, bodies oiled and they wore only a pair of short drawers. On being matched and the signal given from Tipu, they began the combat, always by throwing the flowers, which they wear around their necks, in each other’s faces. They were obliged to fight as long as Tipu pleased, unless crippled, and if they behaved well, they were generally rewarded with a turban and shawl, the quality being according to their merit.

Scurry mentions an interesting incident here. He recounts that during one Dasara fight, there were two men of prodigious size and strength. One of them was from Madagascar and was Tipu’s favourite wrestler. He challenged the other wrestler, named Venkatramana, from Tanjore, to a fight with punch daggers. This being made known to Tipu, he ordered Venkatramana into his presence and asked him if he would fight his wrestler with a dagger. Venkatramana immediately answered Yes and prostrated himself before Tipu. Asked to rise, he requested Tipu to take care of his family in the event of something happening to him. On Tipu assuring him of the welfare of his family, daggers were brought to both of the jetties and the match began watched by as Scurry says over twenty thousand spectators. They stood fronting each other for over 10 minutes. Tipu watched them narrowly, to ascertain if any symptoms of fear were shown, or if either of them would decline the combat; but finding them both staunch, he graciously ordered presents for both of them, and asked them to withdraw, and be friendly with each other.

Outside the arena, there would everyday appear a man on lofty stilts, with one of the East India Company’s uniforms on; at one time he would seem to take snuff, at another tobacco, then he would affect to be intoxicated; in short, it was intended as a burlesque on the English, and to make them appear as ridiculous as possible in the view of the numerous spectators. Tipu was always good at using the spectacle of drama as propaganda.

There would after this be matches between fierce tigers and even fiercer bulls. Then elephants would be brought in to trample upon any tiger lying injured in the arena to ensure that the fierce beasts were dead. And towards the close of the evening, there would be fireworks which Scurry says were ‘superlatively grand and curious, exciting at once our astonishment and admiration’.

But where was the real ruler all these days? Not to be forgotten is the fact that the titular head of Mysore was still the Wodeyar. Both Haidar and Tipu were akin to Commander-in-Chiefs alone notwithstanding the fact that the strings of state actually lay in their hands. The Dasara festival was the only occasion wherein Haidar and Tipu allowed the Wodeyar King to be seen by their subjects. For the rest of the year, he would be confined to his palace.

In ‘The journal of an Officer’ written by an army officer from Col. Baillie’s ill-fated detachment taken captive by Tipu at Kanchipuram, the officer writes – ‘September 27th – The annual Hindu feat commenced this evening, which was continued , according to custom, for nine days. The King of Mysore made his appearance in a veranda, in front of the palace, about seven o’clock. The young Prince in whose name the family of Hyder-Ally, who assume only the title of Regent, carry on the administration of government, is allowed, for himself and his family, an annual pension of one lakh of rupees.He is treated with all those marks of homage that are paid to crowned heads…..Yet such is the reverence that is paid by the people of Mysore to the blood of their ancient Kings….that it is thought expedient by the present government, not to cut off the hereditary prince of Mysore…but to adorn him with the pageantry of a crown…and at stated times to present him, a royal puppet, to the view and acclamations of his people. ‘ This tradition of the Wodeyar showing himself to his people continued till 1796 with the death of Khasa Chamaraja Wodeyar III after whom Tipu did not show any interest in crowning or nominating the next Wodeyar.

Two subtle but important messages were also being sent to the populace through the Dasara; one was the commitment of the Muslim usurpers to maintain Mysorean religious and cultural traditions just as they had been and the second was to show the Wodeyars and their subjects who the real rulers actually were. So we see Haidar Ali and Tipu continuing the traditions of Mysore inherited from the Vijaynagar court and also participating in the grandest spectacle that would enthral all of Southern India for 10 continuous days.

Tipu Sultan and Sericulture in Mysore

In the kingdom of Mysore on the Deccan plateau of South India it was the ruler, Tipu Sultan, who sponsored and organised sericultural development, possibly following initiatives of his father, Hyder Ali. On the eastern side of the peninsula, in Madras, the initiative came from an individual enthusiast, Dr James Anderson, in the English East India Company’s medical service. The Company’s Madras Government, its Board of Directors and officers in London were soon involved and intermittently supportive. The Mysore and Madras initiatives were separate and almost entirely independent. In the period from 1780 to the end of the century, four Anglo-Mysore wars continued a series of cruel hostilities which had started in the first half of the century, primarily between the French and the British, with their varying allies. With sericulture being attempted first on the Mysore side and then on the British, in Madras, there was perhaps rivalry but certainly no scope for co-operation in sericulture or anything else. The wars involved widespread destruction in both Mysore and Madras. There was an assault on Bangalore, its capture and year-long occupation by the British, and three attacks on Tipu's capital, Srirangapatna which was also the seat of his sericultural experimentation. The last assault, in 1799, ended in its and Tipu's destruction. The wars had resulted first in the ceding of half his kingdom to the British and their Indian allies, and finally to the effective elimination of Mysore as an independent power.

Well before this final defeat, some slight evidence for the progress of the Mysore sericultural project had begun to emerge in Madras from Anderson’s own project and the connections and enquiries it produced. After the fall of Srirangapatna, records of Tipu’s government fell into British hands and were sent to Calcutta (Wilks 1810: xvii), though this failed to save most for posterity, while his extensive libraries were from the beginning more widely scattered. The extent to which his sericulture project itself was officially documented at the time is unknown, but miscellaneous sources throw some limited light on it and its progress.    

A story of Tipu’s first involvement, with interesting pointers at least, comes from Abdul Quddus, a leading enthusiast of the early twentieth-century silk trade. His family’s history went back to the beginning of the 19th century and before. Their account of sericulture’s beginning starts with a Chinese ambassador at Tipu's court presenting him with a silk cloth. This was, it is claimed, quite new to Mysore[1] and to have had the result of resolving Tipu to introduce its production into his kingdom. He therefore sent off two deputations, one to Bengal, from which it returned four years later, the other to China which took twelve years to return. Both yielded cuttings of mulberry and these were sent to 'Dhungur', probably Dhanaguru, a village 12 kilometres east of Malavalli town, and to Kunigal, now in Tumkur District. Bengal also yielded silkworm eggs and the cocoons produced went to Srirangapatna, or more exactly perhaps to Tipu's nearby industrial village of Ganjam, for reeling and then for weaving (Quddus 1923: 6). He clearly had some success with such plans, though as evidence, this story with its absence of dating is inevitably open to doubts at several points.

It is filled out to some limited extent, however, by more definite evidence from fragments of Tipu’s own government records in the form of letters obtained by the British after the fall of Srirangapatna. Of these, about 35 boxes were carried away, amounting to some 2,000 items sent via Fort St. George in Madras to Calcutta. Amongst them, three relating to sericulture were identified and translated soon afterwards. The earliest, numbered CCLVIII was addressed “To Meer Kâzim, Dâroga at Muscat, 24th April1786.” This had instructions for several transactions, including to “Get the Dullâl [broker] to write to his agents in different places, to collect silkworms, and persons acquainted with the manner of rearing them, and [having procured them] let them be despatched to us.(5)”  The English footnote entered here states that“The instructions of the Sultan to the Meer-Asofs or revenue department (issued 1793) contain particular regulations respecting the culture of the silkworm.”

 It was followed up by a letter numbered CCLXXII [272], of 6 May following, repeating requests for the silkworms, amongst other things. The third and most substantial letter, numbered CCCLXXV [375], was addressed “To Syed Mahommed, Kileadâr[2] of Seringapatam”, and dated nearly five months later, 27 September 1786. It read:“Buhâûddeen and Kustoory Runga, who were sent [some time since] toBengal, for the purpose of procuring silkworms, are now on their return [to Seringapatam], by way of Sedhout. On their arrival, you must ascertain from them the proper situation in which to keep the aforesaid worms, and provide accordingly. You must, moreover, supply for their food [leaves of] the wood or wild mulberry trees, which were formerly ordered to be planted [for this purpose]. The number of silkworms brought from Bengal must likewise be distinctly reported to us. We desire, also, to know, in what kind of place it is recommended to keep them, and what means are to be pursued for multiplying them.” It continued:”There is a vacant spot of ground behind the old palace, lately used as a Tosheh-khâneh,or store-house, which was purchased some time ago with a view to building upon it. Prepare a place somewhere near that situation, for the [temporary] reception of the worms.”

                                                                                                                         (Kirkpatrick 1811: 418-19)   

These letters show therefore that in 1786, in a period when Tipu was at war with both his powerful northern neighbours, the Marathas and the Nizam’s Hyderabad, between the Second and Third Anglo-Mysore Wars, and when Anderson was starting his major campaign for the introduction of cochineal production in Madras, ahead of his silk project, Tipu was already seeking silkworms, mulberry and expertise from Muscat, the ancient port and link in the long-distance east-west trade on the Arabian coast of the Gulf of Oman, and also from Bengal. The September letter, with its directions to the Governor of the Fort at Srirangapatna for receiving the worms, suggests that this was still very near the beginning of his campaign to start sericulture there. Hardly any knowledge of silkworms or sericulture was yet available and few plans yet made. The precious footnote (5), its information drawn presumably from the end of the period of the letters, and  perhaps from letters which were not included in Kirkpatrick’s translated and published selection, then shows that, whatever the success or lack of it from the initiatives of the ‘80s, by 1793 a new initiative was under way. It shows also that it was the Revenue Department that was now in charge of it.

As was standard practice for Tipu’s government, detailed regulations for that essential department had been made and an elaborate set of those of 1793 were amongst the documents to which Kirkpatrick’s requested procedure of translation and publication was applied. TheMysorean Revenue Regulations of 1793[3] throw at least an indirect light on the context and methods of the government in relation to development at the time. The manuscript of these regulations was ‘procured’ in the course of the Coimbatore campaign by a Colonel in the British army, John Murray. It was in Persian and ‘under the seal of Tippoo Sultaun’. In June 1792 it was lent to the British authorities for translation into English and printing. A copy from this printing then ended up as a spectacular quarto volume in the library of King George III in London, beautifully bound in red leather with elaborate gold tooling.[4] What the document shows is, amongst other things, the vigorous policy for the development of the economy of his countryside and kingdom that Tipu was pursuing at the period. Tax concessions for the encouragement of planting and production of numerous crops were proclaimed: e.g. for sandalwood, tamarind andsikakaubee (mimosa asperata) used for washing the hair and body, for beetle leaf and ‘beetle nut tree plantations’ (Articles 24-26). For this last, no tax would be due for 5 years, to be followed by a half rate from the 6th year until they bore fruit. Then they would pay full rate or a share of the produce ‘whatever is the custom’.[5] The 29th Article concerns the conduct of a census detailing the houses and resources of the ‘ryuts throughout districts, and aggregated systematically’. Instructions for carrying it out follow: “To obviate the ill consequence of apprehension being excited in the minds of the Ryuts, it will be proper, when you commence the numeration of the houses and inhabitants, to give it out that the purpose for which you are come to their houses is to see whose expenses exceed their means, and to assist such persons with Tuccavie[6]: in this manner you are to get the numeration effected.”

There is no evidence here that by this date any such methods had been extended to mulberry planting or to sericulture itself, but in Bengal, the Company’s efforts to extend production with incentives have already been noted. There is no evidence that they were not used by Tipu also. Sericulture itself in its early stages is bound to have been highly localised and may well not have yet been tried in the district to which the surviving regulations belong. There is, however, as mentioned above, some passing evidence from the publications of the Scottish enthusiast in Madras, Dr James Anderson, which supports the achievement of sericulture at the earlier period. One Robert Andrews, the British officer in charge at Trichinopoly, reported meeting two men from 'Warriore' in Trichinopoly (Tiruchirappalli) in 1791, who told him that they had been sent to Mysore under Hyder Ali’s regime and had been employed there in silkworm rearing at Srirangapatna They apparently returned home after the 2nd Anglo-Mysore War ended in 1784 (Andrews [1791(c): 70 & foll.]). Since Hyder died in the December of 1783, this suggests that rearing at Srirangapatna must have begun before that date. Andrews seized the opportunity to set them to work at rearing and was impressed to find them constructing and using chandrikes. He reported: “Without any instruction from me, they have formed a frame for the worms to spin on, which answers perfectly well. It is made as follows: they prepare a split Bamboo Matt about five feet square upon which they place edgeways, a fillet of split Bamboo about four inches in width as thus [a small sketch apparently drawn in by hand]. This is of several yards long and is placed on the Matt thus [again drawn in]. The worms work in the open squares and form their cocoons in those spaces’ (Anderson [1791(a): 3]).[7]

Anderson commented that this was proof that Tipu had the Bengal 'Chunderkee', which was not surprising since his information was that he had had three hundred people there from Bengal 'seven years ago', i.e. in about 1784. It was Bengalis apparently who took care of the reeling at Srirangapatna. The Warriore men did not know about it since, they said, Tipu had brought people from Bengal to perform that part of the enterprise (Anderson [1791: 70; 1791(a): 5-6]). Later Andrews acquired a third worker who claimed he had himself been sent to Bengal by Tipu to perfect his knowledge of reeling. Progress is also suggested by the claim in the same year, 1791, that silk cloth, understood as being from Mysore raw silk, was being supplied from Srirangapatna.

The war of 1789-92, with heavy destruction along the route taken by the army to reach Srirangapatna, and Cornwallis' assaults on it, cannot have helped, but immediately after it, in 1793, we find provision for an expanded silk industry. Kirkpatrick (1811: 419) writes that it was: “a very favourite, though, I believe, an unsuccessful pursuit with the Sultan; who actually established, or proposed to establish, no less than twenty-one principal stations within his dominions, where the breeding of the silkworm was directed to be attended to with the utmost care and diligence. These stations were specified in one of the sections of the instructions issued to the Meer Asof, or revenue department, in the year 1794.”

From the sparse evidence so far assembled, it looks therefore as if there were two phases, separated by war. A first in the mid 1780s, was probably chiefly at Srirangapatna. This is not, climatically, amongst the areas of Mysore which would subsequently be found so suitable for silkworm rearing. It depended largely on Bengalis and, occasionally perhaps, people sent for training to Bengal, as well as a few others with experience of silk like the weavers brought in from Wariur. The second phase, in the 1790s, and probably aware of Anderson’s initiative in Madras and lessons being learnt there, made an attempt to expand across a range of localities with government silk farms.

The main basis of the silkworm ultimately established in Mysore is likely to have been a yellow bivoltine race, of Chinese origin but obtained from Bengal. Losing its hibernating character in south Indian climatic conditions, and perhaps by some happy genetic mixing over this difficult initial period, it diverged from races known elsewhere. Adapting and breeding true, it became, through various vicissitudes which will be investigated at later stages of the story, the 'Pure Mysore Race' of the twentieth century. It is perhaps significant that Kunigal and surrounding areas, said in Quddus’ origin story above, to have been one of Tipu's first two centres, subsequently became known as the prime source of reliable stock for breeding silkworms as well as production of cocoons. The worms may well have survived in Mysore, that is to say, in the short run and in occasional fortunate and climatically favourable places.

Despite the Third and Fourth Anglo-Mysore Wars which came, with considerable destruction, to sieges of Srirangapatna itself, plans for more organised and widely distributed centres for government-regulated silkworm breeding and rearing were clearly attempted. It is only too likely that imported worms would rarely have survived breeding through any considerable number of generations. As can be seen from experience in Madras at much the same time, and from generations of effort for sericultural development in southern India, and in Bengal, loss of worms and uprooting of mulberry from time to time have been only too common. What was doubtless a catastrophe for sericulture as for so much else in Mysore in 1799, did not mean the total loss everywhere of mulberry and silkworms, and rudiments of experience that had been acquired. From them in the early nineteenth century a more than viable industry would again struggle forward.

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[1] Though this seems unlikely, his father’s regime was not given to luxury and as a pious Muslim, Tipu himself may have followed the religious tradition treating the use of silk and gold for clothing haram for men, exceptions  being possible for medical reasons. Worn by men, silk could be regarded as improperly luxurious display, but it was not prohibited to women. See numerous online discussions and sources, e.g. (accessed 30.7.2012)  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090703064133AAf6pIB

[2] See Glossary: Killadar: the commandant or governor of a fort or castle (OED)

[3] This was for a particular district or region: ‘to be observed by the present and future Aumils and Serishtadars of the Second District of Aumloor, dependent on the Cutchery of Awulputum’. A note for Article 22, p. 63, identifies ‘Akraunputtun’ as ‘Agran Puttum’, meaning the ‘Magazines of Seringapatam which is frequently called Puttun by the natives’.

[4]  Today to be found in the King’s Library within the British Library in London.

[5] The regulations need serious analysis, at least to establish the articles that were relevant to concessions for development. As it is, it looks as if it is not securing development but revenue which is predominant. The other kinds of regulation need to be looked at too: it was the inhumane ones which undoubtedly made the document’s appeal for propaganda purposes. Here the purpose for which its evidence is being used is quite different.

[6] See Glossary: taccavi. It may look as if it must have been some kind of official support for the impoverished, but more likely an ‘advance or loan for agricultural production’ (Parthasarathi  2001).

ALL CREDITS TO SIMON CHARSLEY

Uncomfortable truths about Tipu Sultan

All credits to Sourish Bhattacharya 

For anyone, who has any knowledge of the Brotherhood of Gau Bhakts, the echoes of imperialist historiography in the Hindutva parivar's demonisation of Tipu Sultan, especially their cover-up of the protection he extended to the hallowed Shringeri Math destroyed by Maratha brigands, doesn't come as a big surprise.

From the time Veer Savarkar, the ideological parent of Hindutva, wrote his ignominious clemency petition that assured his freedom from the Cellular Jail in the Andamans in return of his assurance to serve the then government "in any capacity" to the time when he urged Hindu youth to join the British Indian Army in opposition to the Quit India Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi, the Brotherhood have found themselves on the same side as the British Raj and its apologists. And the general view of imperialist historians of India's Muslim rulers, especially the ones they dislodged, as being a bunch of religious bigots, is tailor-made for the contemporary flag-bearers of Hindutva.

The demonisation of Tipu Sultan dates back to the works of two contemporary chroniclers of the history of Mysore - Colonel Mark Wilks and Lt-Colonel William Kirkpatrick - who were themselves engaged in the eventual defeat of the Tiger of Mysore by Richard Wellesley, the first Earl of Mornington, in the Fourth Anglo Mysore War in 1799. Tipu had got the East India Company's goat by aligning with the French and not following in the footsteps of the subservient Nizam of Hyderabad, who got rid of his French troops as soon as Lord Mornington ordered him to do so.

The line sold by the imperialist historians found a ready buyer in Rao Bahadur Conjeevaram Hayavadana Rao, who, to please his employers, the Wodeyars, re-wrote the original Mysore Gazetteer, which had recorded Tipu's many acts of generosity towards temples, and made the Tiger of Mysore out to be an anti-Hindu monster. Tipu, and before him, his father Haider Ali, who had ousted his employer, Krishnaraja Wodeyar II, to become the ruler of Mysore, not only expanded the state's territorial boundaries, but also fought four wars against the East India Company. Naturally, they were not very popular with imperialist historians.

Unsurprisingly, Tipu's pseudo-Hindu crucifiers have conveniently ignored the fact that when in 1791 Maratha hordes led by Parshuram Bhave ransacked the Shringeri Math, one of the four centres of Hinduism established by the Adi Shankaracharya, and damaged the idol of the ishta devi, Sri Sarada Amba (even the plunderer Malik Kafur had spared Shringeri), the then Jagatguru, Sacchidananda Bharati III, turned to Tipu for help.

As recounted in the well-researched blog dedicated to the monarch (The Seringapatam Times), Tipu was then embroiled in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, yet he found the time to order the release of gold and paddy for the re-consecration of the temple and the repair of the idol, and he made a personal gift of a gold sari and blouse for Sri Sarada Amba. In the letter to the Jagatguru recording these remedial actions (this was among the 30 missives exchanged between the two, which were discovered in 1916), Tipu revealed his progressive side by noting: "Those who have committed such atrocities will suffer the consequences as stated in a particular shloka: ‘People do evil smiling but will suffer the penalty in torments of agony (hasadhvi kriyathe karma raudhrir anubhuyathe)’. Treachery to gurus will lead to all-round ruin, destruction of all wealth and the ruin of the family."

In the face of the violence his memory has engendered, these words of Tipu have a poignant ring about them. It was Tipu who, in 1785, freed Shringeri from the obligation to pay taxes and gave the Math complete control over the land and villages it owned. And the Math was not alone as a recipient of Tipu's munificence. The Mysore Gazettes have listed 156 temples that received annual grants, including land and jewellery, from Tipu. During his reign (1782 to 1799), Tipu also issued 34 sanads (deeds of endowment) to temples in his domain.

It's not without a good reason that till this day, priests at the Sri Mookambika Temple at Kollur in the foothills of the Western Ghats perform a "salaam mangalarathi" at 7:30 every evening in honour of Tipu, who's said to have visited it and present a ceremonial bell to the neighbouring Shankaranaryan temple. At the famous Srikanteswara Temple in Nanjangud, a Shaivite pilgrim centre, the emerald lingapresented by Tipu continues to be worshipped. To the Vaishnava Lakshmikanta Temple at Kalale, Tipu donation four cups, a plate and a spittoon, all made in silver. Nearer home, he donated seven silver cups and a silver camphor burner to the Ranganatha temple at Srirangapatna, which was within shouting distance from his palace.

Left with no fig leaf, the pseudo-Hindus point to the atrocities allegedly committed by Tipu on the Kodavas of Coorg, with whom he was waging an expansionist war (notice the silence of the same Hindutva hardliners on similar atrocities that Tipu committed on Mangalorean Christians, whom he suspected of aiding and abetting the East India Company). And if he was equally intolerant of the Nairs of Malabar, it was because they were actively backing the British forces. Those were days when wars were governed not by the Geneva Convention, but by principle of "victor takes all". Tipu was fighting his wars according to the practices of his times, so he can't be judged by contemporary standards. If each nation and community now decides to settle historical scores, or get instigated by historical narratives constructed by imperialist officers at war with the subjects they were writing about, there'll be no end to war and bloodshed in the world.

Tipu Sultan was a nationalist monarch who let Hindu temples, starting with the most famous among them, the Shringeri Math, thrive in peace. He may have been a monarch trying to protect his kingdom from annexation, but so was the Rani of Jhansi. He may have rushed to another colonial power, France, for military help, but so did Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Do we consider the Rani and Netaji to be semi-nationalists? Should we then single out the Tiger of Mysore and blur the fact that he took on the might of the East India Company at a time when other rulers were capitulating without raising an arm?

Economy under Tipu Sultan

All Credits to The Seringapatam Times

Read more about Tipu Sultan in "In the Land of Tipu"  - Available on Amazon and Flipkart

Technology Transfer and a Cashless Economy: Tipu Sultan’s efforts to imbibe European Science and keep Indian Gold in India

by Olikara

Tipu Sultan’s interest in imbibing new technology was evident from the beginning of his reign. His embassy to France’s Louis XVI which left Indian shores in July, 1787 carried requests to France to dispatch to Mysore ‘seeds of flowers and plants of various kinds, and for technicians, workers and doctors.’ This request was made by Tipu’s ambassador to France, Darwesh Khan who ‘delivered his address to the King in low tones’. The King informed the ambassador that such craftsmen and technicians, who could improve the manufacture of arms and introduce new industries in his kingdom could be arranged for.

The transcript of Tipu’s letter to the French King received from the reports of British Intelligence at the French court to London is preserved in the India Office library records makes for interesting reading. The letter requests for 10 masters for casting cannon; 10 gunsmiths; 10 foremen for casting incendiary bombs; 10 workers of Sevres porcelain; 10 glass workers; 10 wool-carders; 10 watch-makers; 10 textile-makers; 10 printers of  Oriental languages; 10 weavers; one skillful doctor and one surgeon; one Engineer; one caster of bullets; clove plants; camphor trees; fruit trees of Europe; seeds of flowers of various kinds; seeds of linseed and 10 workers necessary for their cultivation.

We also know how many French artisans agreed to enter Tipu’s service: 10 casters of cannon; 10 gunsmiths; 10 casters of bullets; 10 porcelain workers; 10 glass makers; 10 weavers of cloth; 10 tapestry makers; 10 watch makers; 10 farmers and workers of hemp;2 printers of Oriental languages; 1 physician; 1 surgeon; 2 engineers and  2 gardeners.  This list makes interesting reading because it is a comprehensive list of all what Europe at that time had to offer. While there were other rulers in India, contemporaries of Tipu who would spend vast sums of money buying and using European arms, watches, cloth and books; here was a ruler who aspired to learn these trades from the Europeans and manufacture these very items in his country.

The Iron and Steel industry in Mysore had already reached a high level of scientific proficiency and output by the end of the 18th C. These forges in Tipu’s time were optimized for labor efficiency and the wages earned by the labor force were on par or better than contemporary workmen in neighboring states controlled by the British.

Similarly ambassadors whom he sent to Constantinople in 1785 were instructed to seek besides military assistance, technicians who would be able to make muskets, guns, glass, chinaware and other things. However there is no record of Tipu having received any help from the Ottoman Caliph primarily because of British subversive activity in Constantinople and the Sublime Porte’s displeasure at Tipu’s camaraderie with France which had by then with Napoleon Bonaparte’s sword arm started to nip into the Turkish Empire in the Middle East.

Another aspect of Tipu’s economic prudence can be seen in how Tipu offered to pay for armaments procured from France and Turkey.  Early in October 1788, the French sent proposals to Tipu for a commercial treaty proposing that Tipu allow the French company to purchase the annual produce of pepper in Mysore along with sandalwood, cardamom, cotton yarn, wool, gum, ivory and other goods. These imports would be paid for in cannon, muskets, ammunition, men-of-war, silk, woolen goods or other articles from Europe, as demanded by Tipu. Only, in case there was a balance, it would be paid for in bullion or silver. As for the military assistance in the form of technicians requested from the Ottoman Caliph, Tipu offered to send such workmen as were available in Mysore and required by the Caliph, This cashless trade served two purposes.  The first was to provide a market abroad for Mysorean goods and workmen, but the most important of them was to stop the drain of bullion out of Mysore.

Mr. Montgomery Martin who in 1835, did a survey of records in India House from 1807-1814 of the condition of provinces in Bengal and Bihar for  his book,  ‘Eastern India’ writes  “It is impossible to avoid remarking two facts as peculiarly striking – first the richness of the country surveyed and second, the poverty of  it’s inhabitants…..The annual drain of British Pounds (BP) 3, 000,000 on British India has amounted in thirty years, at 12 percent compound interest to the enormous sum of  BP 723,900,000 sterling….So constant and accumulating a drain, even in England, would soon impoverish her. How severe then must be its effects on India when the wage of a labourer is from two pence to three pence a day.’

Sir John Shore says in his minute of 1787 – “The export of specie from the country for the last twenty-five years have been great and particularly during the last ten of that period…..Upon the whole, I have no hesitation in concluding that since the company’s acquisition of the Dewany (of Bengal), the current specie of the country has been greatly diminished….; and that the necessity of supplying China, Madras and Bombay with money, as well as the exportation of it by Europeans to England, will continue still further to exhaust the country of it’s silver….”

Dadabhai Naoroji in his bold for that time book ‘Poverty and Un-British rule’ makes the point that the export of Indian Bullion by the British to China to finance the Opium trade and to England, remittances of English surplus in revenue from Indian trade as well as savings and bribes earned by company servants in Gold and Silver exhausted India of its bullion forcing an import of the precious metal into India. Dadabhai calculates from the returns of 1801 to 1869, only a paltry amount of 34 shillings per capita remained for all possible wants, commercial, social, religious, revenue, railways and other public works. And having no precious metal left to pay for the heavy English drain,   India began to pay in goods which now began to affect supply of raw material for our own trade and Industry. By 1869, the debt that India owed to England had climbed to an astounding 82,000,000 British Pounds !

Tipu even thought of establishing depots in foreign territories for the purpose of commerce. These centers were to buy rare goods and send them to Mysore for sale, and also sell rarities of Mysore in the foreign markets. Including the two existing depots at Cutch and Muscat they were to be 17 in number. The Sultans purpose in establishing these trade depots can best be expressed in his own words:-  “Sending in charge of your deputies or agents to other countries, the  produce  of our dominions, and disposing of the same there; the produce of those countries must be bought hither in return; and sold at such prices as will afford profit.”

The Revenue regulations of Mysore drafted under Tipu’s supervision himself is a very important source which helps us understand the importance Tipu gave to Mysore’s Iron and Steel Works. This book of regulations was to be compulsorily retained , read and followed by all Government functionaries throughout the extant of Mysore’s possessions from Malabar to  Dharwar.

Instruction no. 68 in the booklet read thus:- If the Reyuts (Farmers) in discharge of their rents, shall offer Gold, Silver, Copper or Brass, these articles are not to be disposed of to traders, but are to be purchased for government; according to the current price of the Bazaar(Market), and to be entered in the accounts of the office, and to be forwarded with the account of them to the Cutchery, at the same time with the supplies of stores. If in breach of these rules, you shall allow these articles to be disposed of to merchants, and receive the purchase money on account of government, you shall incur the displeasure of Government.

This showed Tipu’s adamancy that even payment of taxes in bullion kind should not be disposed off to merchants but be sent to the seat of Government at Seringapatam for deposit in the treasury. It was this surplus of precious metal in the treasury that helped Mysore to pay off the 33 Million Rupee indemnity imposed upon it by the British and their allies after the 1792 Mysore war in 16.5 million Rupees cash and bullion and the remaining within a year!

Tipu’s preferred policy of commerce in kind and not cash helped Mysore to stay bullion rich and thus prosperous during Tipu’s reign. “Tippoo   prohibited” writes a later contemporary of his “the importation of any foreign commodities so that the Canara merchants carried specie always out and thus the country so far as Arcot was drained of its gold.”  Though this was a misrepresentation of Tipu’s policy, as Tipu only prohibited trade with hostile countries and paid in cash when payment in goods was declined, the statement by the British observer shows how Tipu had managed to keep the flow of precious metals reverse of what it would be just seven decades from then in an India that had by then fallen under British dominion.

The Throne of Tipu Sultan

ALL CREDITS TO The Seringapatam Times

The magnificent throne of Tipu Sultan was in the form of a life size Tiger, clothed in shimmering gold metal sheets and studded with dazzling precious stones. An aesthete’s delight, the marvelous piece of art, crafted in wood and gold, was broken into pieces, by the Prize Agents of the East India Company after the sack of Seringapatam. After the throne was dismantled, what remained was a massive Tiger head, two small tiger headsand the gorgeous bird of Paradise (Huma) that perched over the ornamental canopy of the royal seat. The bas-reliefs of the throne, with silver steps to ascend, were decorated with tiger heads, worked in sheets of gold and adorned with precious stones.

Shortly after Tipu’s attack on the Travancore Lines and the return of his Embassy to the Turkish Sultan at Constantinople in May 1790, with letters patent from the Sublime Porte allowing the Sultan to assume the title of an independent King, the right to strike coins as well as to have the ‘Khutba’ read in his name, he directed the formation of a throne of Gold, ornamented with jewels of great value. By about 1792, work on the throne was completed.  Preparations were underway for Tipu to ascend throne on the ordained day. One branch of the national festivity was to have been the solemnization of 12000 marriages on one and the same day. A separate code was prepared about this same period for regulating domestic manners and morals. A draft of one of these in the Sultan’s own handwriting was to the following effect: ‘The faithful shall dine on animal food on Thursday evening, and on no other day of the week‘. He was obviously trying to emulate the Great Moghal Akbar’s instructions to the followers of the Din-E-Ilahi movement he initiated.

Another of Akbar the Great’s custom that Tipu wanted to emulate on ascending the throne is mentioned by Kirmani is his contemporary account of the event. He says:’As according to the customs of the Kings of Delhi, first introduced by Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar – for they previously demanded the daughters of the family of Juswant (i.e. daughters of the Rajput princes of Hindustan)-previous to the Sultan’s ascension, a certain ceremony remained unperformed‘, the Sultan having dispatched hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Raja of Kutch, for realizing the object. Kirmani writes – ‘By his presents and favors, Tipu made the Raja willing and agreeable in this matter. At this period however, fortune being employed in endeavors to ruin those professing the true religion, and the defender of God’s people, this happy result was not attained.‘ Tipu like Akbar, may have been seeking a princess from a Royal line.

But the turbulent events that Tipu faced from 1790 on wards did not give him time and opportunity to do so. From 1792 on wards  he was engaged in a series of wars against the marauding British forces and their Indian allies. He was never destined to sit upon the magnificent throne.

Only one sketch by an artist who actually saw the throne exists today. This is titled the ‘Front view of the throne of the late Tippo Sultaun’, and drawn by Thomas Marriot, ADC to the Commander-in-Chief, Madras dated 6 August 1799. Thomas Marriott preceded provided one of the few eyewitness accounts and pictorial representations of Tipu’s throne before it was broken up on the orders of the Prize Committee.

Front View of Tipu Sultan’s Throne

Tipu Sultan’s Throne – Top View

This sketch is the only known record of the throne viewed from above. It shows two additional smaller tiger-head finials at the rear of the throne not visible in any other depiction of the throne and in all likelihood explaining the origin of the finial from the Wigington collection (sold at Sotheby’s London, 25 May 2005, lot 7).

There is another painting of the throne of Tipu, encased in a gilded frame (38.5*53.2 cm.), portraying the sultan seated on the royal chair painted in water colour on paper. It was drawn by Anna Tonelli (July 1800), a year after Tipu died in the battle of Seringapatam. This painting of the fabulous throne is the only one of its kind as its shows Tipu sitting on the throne; no other similar painting has been found so far. However Anna Tonelli did not actually see the throne or Tipu but only made a sketch after hearing descriptions of it from first hand witnesses. The sketch is also factually wrong as it is well documented that Tipu never sat upon this throne.

Tipu Sultan Seated on Throne, Anna Tonelli

The throne was in Tipu’s palace the Lal Mahal in Seringapatam. Sadly, this palace was dismantled in the years between 1807 and 1809 on the orders of Colonel Wellesley.

Ruins of Lal Mahal – The throne of Tipu Sultan sat here

The grandeur of the throne was viewed from different angles and perspectives by those who had the opportunity to see it. ‘This throne was considerable beauty and magnificence. The support was a wooden tiger as life, covered with gold, in the attitude of standing; his head[and] fore legs appeared I the front and under the throne, which was placed across his back. It was composed of an octagonal frame, eight feet by five, surrounded by a low railing on which were ten small tiger heads made of gold, beautifully inlaid with precious stones; the ascent to the throne was by small silver steps on each side. From the centre of the back part, opposite the large tiger’s head, a gilded iron pillar rose, seven feet high, surrounded by a canopy superbly decorated with a fringe of pearls. The whole was made of wood, and covered with thin sheet of the purest gold, richly illuminated with [a] tiger stripes and Arabic verses. The huma was placed on the top of the canopy, and fluttered over the Sultan’s head.‘-Asiatic Annual Register, 1800.

Mir Husain Ali Kirmani, a noted historian during the reign of Tipu, gives a vivid description of the throne -‘The seat of the throne was supported on the back of a tiger, the solid parts being made of heavy blackwood entirely covered with a coat of the purest sheet of gold, about as thick as a guinea, fastened on with silver nails and wrought in tiger stripes, curiously intended and most beautifully and highly polished. The floor of the throne about 8 feet in length,5 feet in width was raised 11 feet on the ground. The ascent to it on each side was a ladder of solid silver gilt; intermixed with the ornamentation of the howdah were hundreds of Arabic sentences, chiefly from the Koran, superbly stamped. The canopy was formed of a lighter wood entirely cased with sheet of gold with a thick fringe all around it, composed of fine pearls strung to threads of gold. The central part of the canopy was surmounted by a most curious and celestial figure of the Hummaha, formed of solid gold, nearly the size of a pigeon and covered over with the most fabulous jewelry, its back being one large and beautiful carbuncle, the tail resembling that of a peacock studded with jewels. The whole tail was so arranged as to imitate the most dazzling plumage and so closely set that the gold was scarcely visible. The throne legs with tiger stripes and in tiger claw feet.‘

But, Major David Price, one of the prize agents, saw it differently – ‘As far as I can now describe, it was a clumsy wooden platform, of six or eight sides, entirely overlaid with gold, of the thickness, I should conceive, of a sheet of lead; sculptured all over with the tiger streak device. It was to be supported on four tigers of wood, also covered with gold; and on an iron stay, curving over from the hinder part of the platform, was to be fixed, the Huma or phoenix ; also covered with gold and set with jewels ….. the sheet of gold was of the highest touch, and almost touch, and almost flexible to the hand.‘

On May 4, 1799 Seringapatam fell to the British and Tipu Sultan was slain fighting. The palace of Tipu, the Lal Mahal where the throne sat, his treasury and the city were plundered for 2 days. A prize committee was set up by Maj Gen. Harris, under the chairmanship of Gen. Floyd to determine the quantum of prize money to be distributed among thee rank and file of the army and others. One of the terms for distributing the looted wealth of Seringapatam was that each soldier would receive his share based on his rank. The coins and other articles seized from Tipu’s bed chamber were allotted to the army; the store and ordinance to the East India Company. For the purpose of distribution, the prize agents broke up Tipu Sultan’s magnificent throne. This annoyed even Arthur Wellesley (Later Duke of Wellington). Commenting on their behavior, in a letter to his brother, Lord Mornington on 19 August 1799, he said, ‘You may conceive what sharks they are. This day I have been obliged to send an order to prevent them from selling the doors in the palace.‘

Major Pultney Mein, a surgeon in the British Army, also participated in the siege of Seringapatam. In 1842, in response to a report on the siege in a journal, he observed the features of the throne and the details of its destruction –

Sir,

In your paper of February 9th , you give an account of the celebrated tiger’s head so frequently employed to ornament the Royal sideboard. As you seem to have been misinformed on the particulars of its history, I take the liberty of sending you a true account of it. In the first place it was not taken by Earl Cornwallis but by Lord Harris; it formed no part of a footstool but was the head of a large tiger which supported the platform and the throne above.

This tiger was made of wood covered with gold and was in a standing posture. The head was sold by auction on the behoof [sic] of the army and was purchased by me for something less than 500 pounds. It was afterwards purchased by the Marquis Wellesley to be sent to the court of Directors. The platform itself was surrounded by a gold railing ornamented with ten smaller heads set with rubies, emeralds and diamonds, one of which I posses and is, I believe the only one not in public collection. The bird which you call a Peacock and which overhung the canopy was intended to represent a fabulous bird called the huma and which I suppose was in the Hindoo mythology analogous to the classic Phoenix. The canopy itself was ornamented with a fringe of pearls, ten inches deep. This bird, now as you say, so highly valued. I may add that this gorgeous throne was barbarously knocked to pieces with a sledge hammer.

Tippoo’s pistols, too. Were very handsome, the barrels being inlaid with gold, representing a tiger hunt and having an inscription in Persian of which I send you the following translation.

The matchless pistols of Hindoostan’s King
Outvie the lightening on its fiery wings,
Courting destruction should a foe oppose
His mangled forehead would their force disclose.

I remain,
sir,
Yours very obedient servent,
An Eye Witness.

The Jaganmohan Palace Museum at Mysore boasts of a Howdah, which is a wooden chair made for travelling on an elephant, that belonged to Tipu Sultan in it’s collection. This in my opinion is the only surviving chair of Tipu Sultan that is closest to resembling Tipu’s throne or at least gives us a fair idea of it’s shape and design.

Bubri Howdah of Tipu Sultan

A closer view of the Bubri Howdah – Tiger Stripe Designs and Tiger Finials

The Howdah is made of wood and is a stately piece. It is octagonal in shape and has embroidered cloth trappings on all sides. The embroidery seen are the typical Tipu Tiger Stripes – Bubris across the 8 sides of the howdah. The Brass Tiger head finials are also placed at the 8 corners of the chair. Tipu’s throne was similar with gold sheets placed on the wood and bubris carved across the sheets. The tiger head finials were not of brass but made of lac and covered with gold and set with precious stones. And to complete it, it had a golden canopy with the gem set Golden Huma suspended to it.

Today one may look at this wooden Howdah and only imagine the grandeur of Tipu Sultan’s throne in Seringapatam. Coveted for nearly half a a century by the British, the throne had come to symbolize the wealth and magnificence of the state of Mysore – that he called ‘Khudadad Sarkar’ or ‘God Given Government’, which was plundered and divided just like the throne into several parts among the victorious allies – the British, Marathas and the Nizam that day.

Tipu’s throne is also a reminder of something more striking – His personal character. History is replete with examples of thrones many among them more ornate and valuable than Tipu Sultan’s. But it was only Tipu who refused to ascend the throne he had built until he felt himself to be worthy of it. For 7 long years, from 1792 till his death in 1799, Mysore was in a state of war with half of it’s territories surrendered to the British and Tipu’s sons taken hostage after the third Mysore war. He considered it an act of dishonor to himself and to his people if he ascended this throne without getting Mysore it’s due and rightful share in the game of thrones that came to symbolize the turbulent history of late 18th Century India.

This sentiment was unlike the sentiments of most rulers of then and even today. He perhaps would have agreed with his friend and ally, Napoleon Bonaparte who said – ‘A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.‘