Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 20 November 1750 – 4 May 1799), also known as Tipu Sahab or the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India and a pioneer of rocket artillery. He introduced a number of administrative innovations during his rule, including a new coinage system and calendar, and a new land revenue system which initiated the growth of the Mysore silk industry. He expanded the iron-cased Mysorean rockets and commissioned the military manual Fathul Mujahidin. He deployed the rockets against advances of British forces and their allies during the Anglo-Mysore Wars, including the Battle of Pollilur and Siege of Seringapatam.
Napoleon Bonaparte, the French commander-in-chief, sought an alliance with Tipu Sultan. Both Tipu Sultan and his father used their French-trained army in alliance with the French in their struggle with the British, and in Mysore’s struggles with other surrounding powers, against the Marathas, Sira, and rulers of Malabar, Kodagu, Bednore, Carnatic, and Travancore. Tipu’s father, Hyder Ali, rose to power and Tipu succeeded him as the ruler of Mysore upon his father’s death in 1782. He won important victories against the British in the Second Anglo-Mysore War and negotiated the 1784 Treaty of Mangalore with them after his father died from cancer in December 1782 during the Second Anglo-Mysore War.
Tipu’s conflicts with his neighbours included the Maratha–Mysore War which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Gajendragad. The treaty required that Tipu Sultan pay 4.8 million rupees as a one-time war cost to the Marathas, and an annual tribute of 1.2 million rupees in addition to returning all the territory captured by Hyder Ali.
Tipu remained an implacable enemy of the British East India Company, sparking conflict with his attack on British-allied Travancore in 1789. In the Third Anglo-Mysore War, he was forced into the Treaty of Seringapatam, losing a number of previously conquered territories, including Malabar and Mangalore. He sent emissaries to foreign states, including the Ottoman Empire, Afghanistan, and France, in an attempt to rally opposition to the British.
In the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, Combined force of British East India Company supported by the Marathas & Nizam of Hyderabad . They defeated Tipu, and he was killed on 4 May 1799 while defending his fort of Seringapatam.
In post-colonial Indian subcontinent, he is applauded as a secular ruler who fought against British colonialism, but has also been criticized for his repression of Hindus of Malabar and Christians of Mangalore for both religious and political reasons
The original copy of the Constitution of India bears a painting of Tipu Sultan.
The 14th and current Indian president Ram Nath Kovind hailed Tipu Sultan in his address to the Karnataka Assembly on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the state secretariat Vidhana Soudha saying “Tipu Sultan died a heroic death fighting the British. He was also a pioneer in the development and use of Mysore rockets in warfare. This technology was later adopted by the Europeans.“
Tipu Sultan is also admired as a hero in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that he admires Tipu Sultan as a freedom fighter.
Michael Ruark 