This book consists of a collection of papers relating to the rule of Haider Ali and Tippu Sultan brought out by the Indian History Congress in 1999 on the occasion of the 200th year of the martyrdom of Tippu Sultan and the colonization of Mysore by the British colonialists. The collection has been edited by the historian Irfan Habib. The papers in these collections have been written by various historians, based in large part on contemporary records of those times.
During the Great Ghadar of 1857, many patriots took inspiration from the life and work of Tippu Sultan and his heroic struggle against advancing colonial rule. The conquest of Bengal by the colonialists a century back in 1757 in the Battle of Palassey, and the final conquest of South India in 1799 after the death of Tippu, deeply affected the minds of all Indian revolutionaries in 1857. The papers in this collection on the activities of Haider and Tippu in different fields in their short reigns throw light on why this was the case.
This book consists of a collection of papers relating to the rule of Haider Ali and Tippu Sultan brought out by the Indian History Congress in 1999 on the occasion of the 200th year of the martyrdom of Tippu Sultan and the colonization of Mysore by the British colonialists. The collection has been edited by the historian Irfan Habib. The papers in these collections have been written by various historians, based in large part on contemporary records of those times.
During the Great Ghadar of 1857, many patriots took inspiration from the life and work of Tippu Sultan and his heroic struggle against advancing colonial rule. The conquest of Bengal by the colonialists a century back in 1757 in the Battle of Palassey, and the final conquest of South India in 1799 after the death of Tippu, deeply affected the minds of all Indian revolutionaries in 1857. The papers in this collection on the activities of Haider and Tippu in different fields in their short reigns throw light on why this was the case.
During the times of Haider and Tippu, the Mughal Empire was in decay, and the Emperor in Delhi was unwilling to fight the British colonialists anywhere. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb had been the last Emperor who had fought with determination to defend and expand his empire. Aurangzeb knew how to keep the British under check, and he successfully did so with military expeditions (as when he subjugated the British post in Bombay), whenever they dared to question his authority or violated trade agreements.
In the period of the decline of the Mughal Empire, there were three major power centers developing in India in contest with each other, and with the foreign British colonialists. The three Indian centers were the Peshwa-Maratha Kingdoms, Ranjit Singh’s Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Mysore. These three were growing powers. They were all forward looking in terms of representing the hitherto working masses, as well as influenced by the Sufi and Bhakti movements.
The book under review suffers from not bringing out the influence of Bhakti Sufi philosophy on Haider Ali and Tippu Sultan, and instead goes into the British colonialist imposed discourse of debating whether some ruler was “secular” or “communal”. To judge our historical figures from this colonialist perspective does great damage.
Of the three Indian forces mentioned above; it was only the Mysoreans under the rule of Haider and Tippu who were consistent fighters against the colonialists with an Indian vision! Why is it that the Maratha Peshwas, the followers of the great fighter Shivaji, and the Sikhs, the followers of the Ten Gurus, did not emulate this, but instead stuck to narrow visions, and compromised with the British at various times, contributing to the complete colonization of our motherland? These questions were of course outside of the purview of this Book under review.
The book brings out the internationalist and pan Indian vision of Tippu Sultan. He recognized like his father, that the main threat to India was British colonialism. He fought like a tiger, inspiring his people. He tried his utmost, like his father, to mobilize the Marathas and the Nizam of Haiderabad, the two great power centers in the Deccan, to join hands to fight the British. He failed on this front, as Marathas proved to be extremely narrow minded and short sighted, and the Nizam decided to remain in the British camp and accepted its humiliating terms at every stage.
It brings out the efforts of Tippu to become a sovereign power center, stretching across both the West and East of Southern India, independent of the Mughals, once he realized that they were not going to fight the British. His efforts to build relationships with Turkey, Afghanistan, France etc are significant politically and diplomatically, if not militarily. Turkey was a declining power, and France was in the throes of revolution. These factors ensured that the international alliance he was trying to build to fight the British did not work.
The Book attempts to bring out Tippu Sultan’s efforts on the front of advancing manufacture, as well as his attention to take care of interests of the farmers. Of particular note to this reviewer was a paper by one of the contributors describing how, when a dam on Cauvery near Srirangapatnam, Tippu’s capital, was being built in the early 20th century, a foundation stone was found showing that Tippu too was planning to build a dam in the same place! This showed, as the author of the paper said, that the engineering acumen developed in Tippu’s time was very advanced, as proved nearly 130 years later.
The book would have been more complete, according to this reviewer, if there was a paper in it that placed the life and struggle of Haider and Tippu in the context of the other developments in Southern India. Just like the 1857 Ghadar was inspired by the heroism of Haider, Tippu and other freedom fighters, so too were Haider and Tippu part of a larger South Indian war against colonialism, which raged in the period since 1757 (Battle of Palassey in Bengal) till the death of Tippu (1799). One cannot forget the deeds of heroes like Veera Pandiaya Kattabomman, in Tirunelveli.
There was one integral struggle going on in our country —forward looking forces were fighting against the threat of colonial rule, as well as actual colonial rule, while the backward forces were uniting with the colonialists against their own motherland for selfish and short term goals. Most standard history unfortunately has portrayed the fighters against colonialism as backward, and the collaborators as “modernizer”. This is because standard history has been written by the victors—the colonialists, as well as those influenced by them.
Historians should also bring out the real meaning of events, and what they point to the future. The book under review is tantalizing on this question. It does arouse an appetite. Perhaps that is what its aim was. But it does not satisfy. This is perhaps for the better, as it puts the challenge before future historiographers.
By Prakash Rao