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A tribute to Tipu Sultan – The First Freedom Fighter of INDIA & The Tiger of Mysore

Tipu says “Geedarh ki sau saala zindagi sey sher ki aik din ki zindagi behtar hei.
A coward dies hundred times a day, the brave meets death but once!

Tipu sultan The First Freedom Fighter of INDIA & The Tiger of Mysore

Inspiration

This is how historians might remember this valiant, brave king who offered his blood to write the

history of free India. But I better remember him as ‘Hero’ of the famous television series ‘Sword

of Tipu Sultan’. The first larger than life character brought to our television screens post

Ramayana & Mahabharata. He left an indelible impression on my mind & it was my first brush

with heroics of our ancestors. His story planted the seeds for my eternal love for our dear nation.

And rest I say is history

Birth & Childhood

Tipu Sultan, the eldest son of Haider Ali, was born on December 10, 1750 at Devanhalli. Tipu’s

training in the art of war started as early as 1763, when he was hardly 13 years old, in Haider’s

attack on Malabar where Tipu displayed great dash and courage. That was his first experience of

war. Right from his early years he was trained in the art of warfare and at the age of 15 he used

to accompany his father Haider Ali, the ruler of Mysore, to different military campaigns. In

Addition, he also learnt different languages, mathematics and science. Tipu Sultan had a

fascination for learning. His personal library consisted of more than 2,000 books in different

languages.

Vision

Tipu Sultan was a fascinating figure of 18th century; He had a vision and a mission in life. The vision was to make his people enlightened and prosperous, and mission was to liberate his land from the yoke of the colonials. His short but stormy rule is significant because of his view that only that life was worth living which would unfold the drama of human freedom, not only political freedom, but also social freedom, economic freedom, cultural freedom, and freedom from want, hunger, apathy, ignorance and superstition. His definition of State itself was organized energy for freedom.

Impact

Having learnt the western techniques of warfare, Tipu was not slow in making use of it. He was himself bold, dashing, and a person of undaunted adventurous spirit. Under his leadership Mysore army “proved a school of military science” to Indian princes. The dread of a European army no longer wrought any magic on him. Tipu’s infliction of serious blows on the English in the First and Second Mysore wars damaged their reputation as an invincible power.

Contribution

Long before the events of 1857, when a spirited reprising attempted to throw of the English, and before the formation of the Indian National Congress which set the pace for National Movement, Tipu struggled hard to rouse a consciousness of his neighbors to the impending danger to Indian Independence from the English.

He took over the kingdom of Mysore after the death of his father in 1782, who died of a carbuncle in the midst of a campaign against the British. The French in India had disappointed Tipu in his expectation of close co-operation to fight the British Empire. However he embarced the French ideals to a certain extent that he had planted a “Republican” tree out side his palace. In history it is not always a success that deserves notice, but the presence of a new idea, which has the potentiality of far-reaching results. His dream of a “Republic” came through about 150 years later when India ushered into a new era on 26th January 1950.

The Death of Tipu Sultan – Battle of Srirangapatnam

The second half of the eighteen century was a period of great confusion in Indian history which witnessed the rise of the Colonial power. The only State which offered stiff resistance to their expansion was Mysore, which fought not one but four wars. Tipu participated in all those four Mysore wars, in two of which he inflicted serious blows on the English. In fact Tipu’s rule starts in the midst of a war against the English and ends in the midst of a war against them.

The Fourth Mysore war was a short affair. Keeping Tipu in false hopes, the Nizam joined hands with the English & suddenly surprised him by unacceptable demands. When Tipu refused to accept them, the English breached the fort and in a bloody encounter, fighting against heavy odds he was killed on fourth May 1799. The last hope for the freedom of the land was thus extinguished.

Srirangapatnam was besieged by the British forces on 5 April, 1799.The column that rounded the North-West corner of the outer wall was immediately involved in a serious fight with a group of Mysorean warriors under a short fat officer, which defended every traverse. The officer was observed to be discharging loaded hunting weapons, passed to him by servants in his service, at the British. After the fall of Srirangapatnam, in the gathering dusk, some of the British officers went to look for the body of Tipu Sultan. He was identified as the fat officer who had fired hunting weapons at the offenders, and his body was found in a choked tunnel-like passage near the Water Gate.

He died a Soldier’s death for the defense of the cherished values of land under spontaneous combustion of hostile forces.

s?re jah?ñ se acch? hindost?ñ ham?r?
ham bulbuleñ haiñ us k? vuh gulsit?ñ^[5] ham?r?

?hurbat meñ hoñ agar ham, raht? hai dil vat?an meñ
samjho vuh?ñ hameñ bh? dil ho jah?ñ ham?r?

parbat vuh sab se ?ñch?, hams?yah ?sm?ñ k?
vuh santar? ham?r?, vuh p?sb?ñ ham?r?

god? meñ khelt? haiñ us k? haz?roñ nadiy?ñ
gulshan hai jin ke dam se rashk-e jan?ñ ham?r?

ay ?b-r?d-e gang?! vuh din haiñ y?d tujh ko?
utar? tire^[6] kin?re jab k?rav?ñ ham?r?

ma?hab nah?ñ sikh?t? ?pas meñ bair rakhn?
hind? haiñ ham, vat?an hai hindost?ñ ham?r?

y?n?n-o-mi?r-o-rum?^[7] sab mi? ga?e jah?ñ se
ab tak magar hai b?q? n?m-o-nish?ñ ham?r?

kuchh b?t hai kih hast? mi?t? nah?ñ ham?r?
sadiyoñ rah? hai dushman daur-e zam?ñ ham?r?

iqb?l! ko?? ma?ram apn? nah?ñ jah?ñ meñ
ma?l?m ky? kis? ko dard-e nih?ñ ham?r?!

Better than the entire world, is our Hindustan,
We are its nightingales, and it (is) our garden abode 

If we are in an alien place, the heart remains in the homeland,
Know us to be only there where our heart is.

That tallest mountain, that shade-sharer of the sky,
It (is) our sentry, it (is) our watchman

In its lap frolic those thousands of rivers,
Whose vitality makes our garden the envy of Paradise.

O the flowing waters of the Ganges, do you remember that day
When our caravan first disembarked on your waterfront?

Religion does not teach us to bear ill-will among ourselves
We are of Hind, our homeland is Hindustan.

In a world in which ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome have all vanished without trace
Our own attributes (name and sign) live on today.

Such is our existence that it cannot be erased
Even though, for centuries, the cycle of time has been our enemy.

Iqbal! We have no confidant in this world
What does any one know of our hidden pain?