Mysore King Tipu Sultan

In News

• Mysore King Tipu Sultan is at the centre of a recent controversy in Mumbai.

Why Controversy?

• Mumbai Minister is planning to name a playground in the Muslim dominated Malwani locality after the 17th century ruler, Tipu Sultan.
• The rift between right winged – BJP – and the other party is that of ideology. Former don’t want the ground to be named after a man who is responsible for the deaths of a large number of Hindus.

Tipu Sultan

• Birth:
  • At Devanahalli, Karnataka in 1750.
  • A memorial with a small plaque stands 150 m south-west outside of the Devanahalli fort and the area around the enclosure is known as Khas Bagh. 
  • The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has declared both the fort and the birthplace of Tipu as protected monuments (National Heritage).
• Tipu was an able general and administrator and though a Muslim, he retained the loyalty of his Hindu subjects.
• He was the ruler of Mysore, which had grown in strength under the leadership of powerful rulers like his father Haidar Ali, who ruled from 1761 to 1782 and himself, who ruled from 1782 to 1799.
  • Hyder Ali was already a Commander-in-Chief when he made himself ruler of the state of Mysore in 1761.
  • Tipu succeeded his father in December 1782 and in 1784 concluded peace with the British and assumed the title of Sultan of Mysore.
  • Mysore controlled the profitable trade of the Malabar coast where the Company purchased pepper and cardamom.
• Major Contributions:
  • Economic:
    • He established banking networks and cooperatives, where capital was raised from the public (similar to banks inviting deposits), the principal held on an annual basis and returned with interest (or `nafa‘).
    • He established trading houses for Mysore products worldwide, including places like Puducherry , Kutch, Karachi, Oman, Baghdad and Constantinople.
    • He preferred to do cashless, barter transactions for two reasons, one was to create a market for Mysorean goods and workmen abroad and the other, more important reason, was to curtail the drain of wealth out of India, which the Europeans, especially the British, were notorious for.
    • He realised that trading in currency would sap Mysore’s purchasing power at some point.
    • In 1785, he stopped the export of sandalwood, pepper and cardamom through the ports of his kingdom and disallowed local merchants from trading with the Company.
    • He eliminated middlemen in the collection of land revenue.
  • Political:
    • Long before the Nehruvian fillip to public sector undertakings (PSU), he ruled that certain key industries would be monopolised by the State. This included sugar, salt, iron, tobacco, sandalwood and mining of silver, gold and precious stones.
    • His association with the French to counter the British led him to be fascinated by the Jacobin Club (popular political group of the French Revolution that identified with egalitarianism and violence).
    • He wanted to create a Republic in Srirangapatna on similar lines.
  • Art, Culture and Literature:
    • His library was apparently filled with translations of world literature and he used to make handwritten observations of foreign countries.
    • He encouraged the Persians to come down to India to teach the artisans the art of making wooden toys (now famous as Channapatna toys).
    • He also got experts from across the world to further the silk cottage industry that Mysore became famous for.
  • Technological:
    • Ships arriving at his port in Mangalore would bring various gadgets like telescopes and barometers.
    • He was perhaps the first ruler to understand that there was a marked difference between Europe of the 1700s and 1790s, thanks to scientific innovations.
    • He realised the power of technology , combined with discipline, and set up four innovation hubs (like modern-day tech parks) in Bengaluru, Chitradurga, Srirangapatna and Bidanur and called them Taramandalpets.
  • Strategic:
    • He also established a close relationship with the French in India, and modernised his army with their help.
    • His hubs took advantage of India’s long tradition of producing and handling ferrous metals like iron and steel to create the predecessor of the modern rocket that was more effective than the “firecracker-like missiles” used by the Chinese.
    • He created iron tubes filled with gunpowder, hoisted them on flags or bamboo poles and mounted them on ramps for better accuracy and range.
  • Infrastructure and Development:
    • He laid the foundations for the construction of the Krishnaraja Sagar dam in Mandya.
    • Tipu’s industrial belt spread across the Mysore State, from Bengaluru to Srirangapatna, so that locals everywhere found employment, and if the British attacked one centre, he still had control over the others.
• Death: 
  • He died on 4^th May 1799, defending his capital Seringapatam in the fourth Anglo-Mysore War.
  • Mysore was placed under the former ruling dynasty of the Wodeyars and a subsidiary alliance was imposed on the state.

Source: IE