Muhammad bin Qasim

Muhammad Bin Qasim leading his troops in battle
Born 31 December 695
Ta’if
Died 18 July 715
Allegiance Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, Governor to the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I
Rank Emir click by
Battles/wars Conquest of Sindh and West Punjab for the Umayyads.

Muhammad bin Qasim Al-Thaqafi (Arabic: محمد بن قاسم‎) (c. 31 December 695–18 July 715) was a Umayyad general who, at the age of 17, began the conquest of the Sindh and Punjab regions along the Indus River (now a part of Pakistan) for the Umayyad Caliphate. He was born in the city of Taif (in modern day Saudi Arabia). Qasim's conquest of Sindh and Punjab laid the foundations of Islamic rule in the Indian subcontinent.

A member of the Thaqeef tribe, which is still settled in and around the city of Taif, Muhammad bin Qasim's father was Qasim bin Yusuf[citation needed] who died when Muhammad bin Qasim was young, leaving his mother in charge of his education. Umayyad governor Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf Al-Thaqafi, Muhammad bin Qasim's paternal uncle, was instrumental in teaching Muhammad bin Qasim about warfare and governance. Muhammad bin Qasim married his cousin Zubaidah, Hajjaj's daughter, shortly before going to Sindh. Another paternal uncle of Muhammad bin Qasim was Muhammad bin Yusuf, governor of Yemen.[citation needed] Under Hajjaj's patronage, Muhammad bin Qasim was made governor of Persia, where he succeeded in putting down a rebellion.[citation needed]
Umayyad interest in Sindh
Caliphate under Banu Ummayad ruleAccording to Berzin, Umayyad interest in the region because of attack of Sindh Raja Dahir on ships of Muslims and imprisoning the muslim men and womens ref name="berzin">Alexander Berzin, "Part I: The Umayyad Caliphate (661 - 750 CE), The First Muslim Incursion into the Indian Subcontinent", The Historical Interaction between the Buddhist and Islamic Cultures before the Mongol Empire Last accessed September 11, 2007</ref> They had earlier unsuccessfully sought to gain control of the route, via the Khyber Pass, from the Turki-Shahis of Gandhara.[1] But by taking Sindh, Gandhara's southern neighbor, they were able to open a second front against Gandhara; a feat they had, on occasion, attempted before.[1]

According to Wink, Umayyad interest in the region was galvanized by the operation of the Mids and others.[2] Mids(a tribe of Scythians living in Sindh) had preyed upon Sassanid shipping in the past, from the mouth of the Tigris to the Sri Lankan coast, in their bawarij and now were able to prey on Arab shipping from their bases at Kutch, Debal and Kathiawar.[2] At the time, Sindh was the wild frontier region of al-Hind, inhabited mostly by semi-nomadic tribes whose activities disturbed much of the Western Indian Ocean.[2] Muslim sources insist that it was these persistent activities along increasingly important Indian trade routes by Debal pirates and others which forced the Arabs to subjugate the area, in order to control the seaports and maritime routes of which Sindh was the nucleus, as well as, the overland passage.[3] During Hajjaj's governorship, the Mids of Debal in one of their raids had kidnapped Muslim women travelling from Sri Lanka to Arabia, thus providing a casus belli to the rising power of the Umayyad Caliphate that enabled them to gain a foothold in the Makran, Balochistan and Sindh regions.[2][4]

Also cited as a reason for this campaign was the policy of providing refuge to Sassanids fleeing the Arab advance and to Arab rebels from the Umayyad consolidation of their rule.

All the above reason have their own importance for attack on sindh. But Immediate causes of the conquest of the Sindh was the plunder of the gifts of Ceylon’s ruler to Hijjaj and attack on ships of Arab that were carring the orphans and widows of Muslim soldiers who died in Jihaad against Africa. These arab were imprisoned later on by the Governor Deebal Partaab Raye. A letter written by the an escaped girl from the arab that are put in the prison of the Partab Raye. She asked Hajjab Bin Yousaf for help. When Hijjaj asked Dahir for release of prisoners and compensation, the later refused on the ground that he had no control over those. Hajjaj sent Muhammad Bin Qasim for this great exepidation in 711 A.D. It was during this time when Spain and many parts of Africa and Central Asia were brought under the Muslim rule and war was continue and muslims were not in position to start a new expidation. The only reason of this conquest was to rescue pilgrims that were taken captive by Hindu governor.

The mawali; new non-Arab converts; who were usually allied with Hajjaj's political opponents and thus were frequently forced to participate in the Jihads on the frontier - such as Kabul, Sindh and Transoxania.[5] Through conquest, the Umayyads intended to protect its maritime interest, while also cutting off refuge for fleeing rebel chieftains as well as Sindhi military support to the Sassanid rump state; akin to those received at several prior major battles during the their conquest of Persia - such as those at Salasal and Qādisiyyah and the finally at the Battle of Rasil. An actual push into the region had been out of favor as an Arab policy since the time of the Rashidun Caliph Umar bin Khattab, who upon receipt of reports of it being an inhostipable and poor land had stopped further expeditionary ventures into the region.

[edit] The campaign
Extent and expansion of Umayyad rule under Muhammad bin Qasim in medieval India (modern state boundaries shown in red).
Ruler of Sindh Raja Dahir who is defeated by Muhammad bin QasimMuhammad bin Qasim's expedition was actually the third attempt, the first having failed due to stiffer-than-expected opposition as well as heat, exhaustion.[citation needed]

Hajjaj had put more care and planning into this campaign than the first campaign [5] under Badil bin Tuhfa.[citation needed] Hajjaj superintended this campaign from Kufa by maintaining close contact with Muhammad bin Qasim in the form of regular reports and then regularly issuing orders.[5] The army which departed from Shiraz in 710 CE under Muhammad bin Qasim was 6,000 Syrian cavalry and detachments of mawali from Iraq.[5] At the borders of Sindh he was joined by an advance guard and six thousand camel riders and later reinforcements from the governor of Makran transferred directly to Debal by sea along with five catapults.[5] The army that eventually captured Sindh would later be swelled by the Jats and Mids as well as other irregulars that heard of successes in Sindh.[5] When Muhammad bin Qasim passed through Makran while raising forces, he had to re-subdue the restive Umayyad towns of Fannazbur and Arman Belah (Lasbela)[6] The first town assaulted was Debal and upon the orders of Al-Hajjaj, he exacted a bloody retribution on Debal by giving no quarter to its residents or priests and destroying its great temple.[5]

From Debal the Arab army then marched north taking towns such as Nerun and Sadusan (Sehwan) peacefully.[5] Again the main temples were razed and masjid were built to replace them, often using their components; additionally one-fifth of the booty including slaves were dispatched to Hajjaj and the Caliph.[5] The conquest of these towns was accomplished easily; however, Raja Dahir's armies being prepared on the other side of the Indus[7] were yet to be fought.[5] In preparation to meet them, Muhammad bin Qasim moved back to Nerun to resupply and receive reinforcements sent by Hajjaj.[5] Camped on the east bank of the Indus, Qasim sent emissaries and bargained with the river Jats and boatmen.[5] Upon securing the aid of Mokah Basayah, "the King of the island of Bet", Muhammad bin Qasim crossed over the river where he was joined by the forces of the Thakore of Bhatta and the western Jats.[5]

At Ar-rur (Rohri) he was met by Dahir's forces and the eastern Jats in battle.[5] Dahir died in the battle, his forces were defeated and a triumphant Muhammad bin Qasim took control of Sind.[5] In the wake of the battle enemy soldiers were put to death - but not artisans, merchants or farmers - and Dahir and his chiefs, the "daughters of princes" and the usual fifth of the booty and slaves was sent on to Hajjaj.[5] Soon the capitals of the other provinces, Brahmanabad, Alor (Aror) and Multan, were captured alongside other in-between towns with only light Muslim casualties.[5] Usually after a siege of a few weeks or months the Arabs gained a city through the intervention of heads of mercantile houses with whom subsequent treaties and agreements would be settled.[5] After battles all fighting men were executed and their wives and children enslaved in considerable numbers and the usual fifth of the booty and slaves were sent to Hajjaj.[5] The general populace was encouraged to carry on with their trades and taxes and tributes settled.[5]

With Sindh secured Qasim sent expeditions to Surashtra, where his generals made peaceful treaty settlements with the Rashtrakuta.[1] Muhammad bin Qasim wrote out letters to "kings of Hind" to surrender and accept Islam, and subsequently 10,000 cavalry were sent to Kannauj asking them to submit and pay tribute before his recall ended the campaign.[5]

[edit] Defeat by Nagabhata and Bappa RawalAfter conquest of Sindh Bin-Qasim and his successors turn towards India to make further conquests. Here Bappa Rawal who was a Moriya rajpoot and Nagabhata who was the ruler of the Pratihara Dynasty defeated the Arabs in the Battle of Rajasthan. This Moriya rajpoot tribe was the same tribe who once made one of the world most powerful empires under Chandragupta Maurya known as Mauryan Empire.[8]

They led the Hindu forces which was composed of many smaller armies and they led the Hindus to a complete victory in the early 8th century against Arabs in the Battle of Rajasthan .[9][10][11] The mutual agreement between Hindus and Arabs were finally decided in which Arabs evacuated Sindh area and further a marriage treaty took place in which Bappa Rawal Married the Daughter of one of the Arab General Salim.[12] The descendant of the Same Bappa Rawal were sisodiya. After this defeat for hundreds of years no islamic attack took place on India.[13]

[edit] Military and political strategyThe military strategy had been outlined by Hajjaj in a letter sent to Muhammad bin Qasim:[14]

“ "My ruling is given: Kill anyone belonging to the combatants (ahl-i-harb); arrest their sons and daughters for hostages and imprison them. Whoever does not fight against us..grant them aman (safety) and settle their tribute (amwal) as dhimmah (protected person)..." ”

The Arabs' first concern was to facilitate the conquest of Sindh with the fewest casualties while also trying to preserve the economic infrastructure.[14] Towns were given two options: submit to Islamic authority peacefully or be attacked by force (anwattan), with the choice governing their treatment upon capture.[14] The capture of towns was usually accomplished by means of a treaty with a party from among the enemy, who were then extended special privileges and material rewards.[15] There were two types of such treaties, "Sulh" or "ahd-e-wasiq (capitulation)" and "aman (surrender/ peace)".[15] Among towns and fortresses that were captured through force of arms, Muhammad bin Qasim performed executions as part of his military strategy, but they were limited to the ahl-i-harb (fighting men), whose surviving dependents were also enslaved.[15]

Where resistance was strong, prolonged and intensive, often resulting in considerable Arab casualties, Muhammad bin Qasim's response was dramatic, inflicting 6,000 deaths at Rawar, between 6,000 and 26,000 at Brahmanabad, 4,000 at Iskalandah and 6,000 at Multan.[16] Conversely, in areas taken by sulh, such as Armabil, Nirun, and Aror, resistance was light and few casualties occurred.[16] Sulh appeared to be Muhammad bin Qasim's preferred mode of conquest, the method used for more than 60% of the towns and tribes recorded by Baladhuri or the Chachnama.[16] At one point, he was actually berated by Hajjaj for being too lenient.[16] Meanwhile, the common folk were often pardoned and encouraged to continue working;[15] Hajajj ordered that this option not be granted to any inhabitant of Daybul, yet Qasim still bestowed it upon certain groups and individuals.[16]

After each major phase of his conquest, Muhammad bin Qasim attempted to establish law and order in the newly-conquered territory by showing religious tolerance and incorporating the ruling class – the Brahmins and Shramanas – into his administration.[15]

[edit] Reasons for successMuhammad bin Qasim's success has been partly ascribed to Dahir being an unpopular Hindu king ruling over a Buddhist majority who saw Chach of Alor and his kin as usurpers of the Rai Dynasty.[4] This is attributed to having resulted in support being provided by Buddhists and inclusion of rebel soldiers serving as valuable infantry in his cavalry-heavy force from the Jat and Meds.[17] Brahman, Buddhist, Greek, and Arab testimony however can be found that attests towards amicable relations between the adherents of the two religions up to the 7th century.[18]

Along with this were:

1.Superior military equipment; such as siege engines and the Mongol bow.[4]
2.Troop discipline and leadership.[4]
3.The concept of Jihad as a morale booster.[4]
4.Religion; the widespread belief in the prophecy of Muslim success.[4][18]
5.The Samanis being persuaded to submit and not take up arms because the majority of the population was Buddhist who were dissatisfied with their rulers, who were Hindu.[18]
6.The laboring under disabilities of the Lohana Jats.[18]
7.Defections from among Dahirs chiefs and nobles.[18]
[edit] Administration by Muhammad bin QasimAfter the conquest, Muhammad bin Qasim's task was to set up an administrative structure for a stable Muslim state that incorporated a newly conquered alien land, inhabited by non-Muslims.[19] He adopted a conciliatory policy, asking for acceptance of Muslim rule by the natives in return for non-interference in their religious practice,[19] so long as the natives paid their taxes and tribute.[4] He established Islamic Sharia law over the people of the region; however, Hindus were allowed to rule their villages and settle their disputes according to their own laws,[4] and traditional hierarchical institutions, including the Village Headmen (Rais) and Chieftains (dihqans) were maintained.[19] A Muslim officer called an amil was stationed with a troop of cavalry to manage each town on a hereditary basis [19]

Everywhere taxes (mal) and tribute (kharaj) were settled and hostages taken - occasionally this also meant the custodians of temples.[15] Non-Muslim natives were excused from military service and from payment of the religiously mandated tax system levied upon Muslims called Zakat,[19] the tax system levied upon them instead was the jizya - a progressive tax, being heavier on the upper classes and light for the poor.[19] In addition, three percent of government revenue was allocated to the Brahmins.[4]

[edit] Incorporation of ruling elite into administrationDuring his administration, Hindus and Buddhists were inducted into the administration as trusted advisors and governors.[4] A Hindu, Kaksa, was at one point the second most important member of his administration.[20] Dahir's prime minister and various chieftains were also incorporated into the administration.[21]

[edit] Jat clashes with Muhammad bin Qasim This section requires expansion.

Significant medieval Muslim chronicles such as the Chachnama, Zainul-Akhbar and Tarikh-I-Baihaqi have recorded battles between the Jats and forces of Muhammad bin Qasim .[22]

Passage from the Chachnama

“ (After capturing Debal and Nerun, Muhammad Bin Qasim then) proceeded to the fort of Ishbahar. It was in the month of Muharram year 93AH, that (he) arrived in the vicinity of that fort. He witnessed the fort (which ) was strong and impregnable. The inhabitants of the fort (hisariyan) were making preparations for the battle and had made a deep moat (khandiqi zart) around the fort. The Jats and the rustics (rustayan) that were living in the western sid (shelter) in the fort fought against Muhammad-i-Qasim for one week displaying the mastery (ustadaqi) of their warfare by demonstrating (their tactic of) seize and hold (dar-u-gir). After that they petitioned Bin Qasim, asking for safety (aman).[23] ”

[edit] Treatment of JatsThe narrative in the Chach Nama conveys that Chach humiliated the sdJats and Lohanas. Denzil Ibbetson records that "Muhammad bin Qasim maintained these regulations, declaring that the jats resembled the savages of Persia "[24] According to Wink "While the Jats were also granted (aman) a considerable number of Jats were also captured as prisoners of war and deported to Iraq and elsewhere as slaves.[5]

[edit] Persecution of Hindus & BuddhistsRecords from the campaign recorded in the Chach Nama record temple demolitions, and mass executions of resisting Sindhi forces and the enslavement of their dependents. This action was particularly extensive in Debal, of which Qasim is reported to have been under orders to make an example of while freeing both the captured women and the prisoners of a previous failed expedition. Bin Qasim then enlisted the support of the local Jat, Meds and Bhutto tribes and began the process of subduing and conquering the countryside. The capture of towns was also usually accomplished by means of a treaty with a party from among his "enemy", who were then extended special privileges and material rewards.[25] However, his superior Hajjaj reportedly objected to his method by saying that it would make him look weak and advocated a more hardline military strategy :

“ It appears from your letter that all the rules made by you for the comfort and convenience of your men are strictly in accordance with religious law. But the way of granting pardon prescribed by the law is different from the one adopted by you, for you go on giving pardon to everybody, high or low, without any discretion between a friend and a foe. The great God says in the Koran [47.4]: "0 True believers, when you encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads." The above command of the Great God is a great command and must be respected and followed. You should not be so fond of showing mercy, as to nullify the virtue of the act. Henceforth grant pardon to no one of the enemy and spare none of them, or else all will consider you a weak-minded man.[26] ”

In a subsequent communication, Hajjaj reiterated that all able-bodied men were to be killed, and that their underage sons and daughters were to be imprisoned and retained as hostages. Qasim obeyed, and on his arrival at the town of Brahminabad massacred between 6,000 and 16,000 of the defending forces.[27] The historian, Upendra Thakur records the persecution of Hindus and Buddhists:

“ When Muhammad Qasim invaded Sind in 711 AD, Buddhism had no resistance to offer to their fire and steel. The rosary could not be a match for the sword and the terms Love and Peace had no meaning to them. They carried fire and sword wherever they went and obliterated all that came their way. Muhammad triumphantly marched into the country, conquering Debal, Sehwan, Nerun, Brahmanadabad, Alor and Multan one after the other in quick succession, and in less than a year and a half, the far-flung Hindu kingdom was crushed, the great civilization fell back and Sind entered the darkest period of its history. There was a fearful outbreak of religious bigotry in several places and temples were wantonly desecrated. At Debal, the Nairun and Aror temples were demolished and converted into mosques. Resistors were put to death and women made captives. The Jizya was exacted with special care. Hindus were required to feed Muslim travellers for three days and three nights.[28] ”

Alberuni in his India[29] writes about the famous temple of Multan:

A famous idol of theirs was that of Multan, dedicated to the sun, .. When Muhammad Ibn Alkasim Ibn Almunabbih, conquered Multan, he inquired how the town had become so very flourishing and so many treasures had there been accumulated, and then he found out that this idol was the cause, for there came pilgrims from all sides to visit it. Therefore he thought to build a mosque at the same place where the temple once stood. When then the Karmatians occupied Multan, Jalam Ibn Shaiban, the usurper, broke the idol into pieces and killed its priests. .. When afterwards the blessed Prince Mahmud swept away their rule from those countries, he made again the old mosque the place of the Friday-worship.

[edit] DeathMuhammad bin Qasim had begun preparations for further expansions when Hajjaj died, as did Caliph Al-Walid I, who was succeeded by Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, who then took revenge against all who had been close to Hajjaj. Sulayman owed political support to opponents of Hajjaj and so recalled both of Hajjaj's successful generals Qutaibah bin Muslim and Qasim. He also appointed Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, once tortured by Hajjaj and a son of Al Muhallab ibn Abi Suffrah, as the governor of Fars, Kirman, Makran, and Sindh; he immediately placed Qasim in chains.[30]

There are two different accounts regarding the details of Qasim's fate:

1.The account from the Chachnama narrates a tale in which Qasims demise is attributed to the daughters of King DahirKhalifa for his harem. The account relates that they then tricked the Khalifa into believing that Muhammad bin Qasim had violated them before sending them on and as a result of this subterfuge, Muhammad bin Qasim was wrapped in oxen hides,[31] and returned to Syria, which resulted in his death en route from suffocation. This narrative attributes their motive for this subterfuge to securing vengeance for their father's death. Upon discovering this subterfuge, the Khalifa is recorded to have been filled with remorse and ordered the sisters buried alive in a wall.[32][33]
2.The Persian historian Baladhuri, however, states that the new Khalifa was a political enemy of Umayyad ex-governor Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, Muhammad bin Qasim’s paternal uncle and thus persecuted all those who were considered close to Hajjaj. Muhammad bin Qasim was therefore recalled in the midst of a campaign of capturing more territory up north. Upon arrival, he was howevere promptly imprisoned in Mosul, (in modern day Iraq) and subjected to torture, resulting in his death.[4][33]
Whichever account is true, is unknown. What is known however is that he was 20 years old when he was killed by his own Caliph. None have read the tombstone marking his grave for none know where he lies.

Muhammad bin Qasim had a son named Umro bin Muhammad who later became governor of Sindh.[citation needed]

[edit] ControversyThere is controversy regarding the conquest and subsequent conversion of Sindh. This is usually voiced in two antagonistic perspectives viewing Qasim's actions:[16]

His conquest, as described by Stanley Lane-Poole, in Medieval India (Published in 1970 by Haskell House Publishers Ltd), was "liberal". He imposed the customary poll tax, took hostages for good conduct and spared peoples' lives and lands. He even left their shrines undesecrated: 'The temples;, he proclaimed, 'shall be inviolate, like the churches of the Christians, the synagogues of the Jews and altars of the Magians'.[34] In the same text, however, it is mentioned that "Occasional desecration of Hindu fanes took place...but such demonstrations were probably rare sops to the official conscience..".

1.Coercive conversion has been attributed to early historians such as Elliot, Cousens, Majumdar and Vaidya.[16] They hold the view that the conversion of Sindh was necessitated. Qasim's numerical inferiority is said to explain any instances of apparent religious toleration, with the destruction of temples seen as a reflection of the more basic, religiously motivated intolerance.[16]
2.Voluntary conversion has been attributed to Thomas W. Arnold and modern Muslim historians such as Habib and Qureishi. They believe that the conquest was largely peaceful, and the conversion entirely so, and that the Arab forces enacted liberal, generous and tolerant policies.[16] These historians mention the "praiseworthy conduct of Arab Muslims" and attribute their actions to a "superior civilizational complex".[35]
Various polemical perceptions of Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are also reflected in this debate.[35] Elliot perceived Islam as a religion of "terror, devastation, murder and rapine" where the conquering Arabs were characterized as "ruthless bigots" and "furious zealots" motivated by "plunder and proselytism".[16] The period of Qasim's rule has been called by U.T. Thakkur "the darkest period in Sind history", with the records speaking of massive forced conversions, temple destruction, slaughters and genocides; the people of Sindh, described as inherently pacifist due to their Hindu/Buddhist religious inclinations, had to adjust to the conditions of "barbarian inroad".[28] On one extreme, the Arab Muslims are seen as being compelled by religious stricture to conquer and forcibly convert Sindh, but on the other hand, they can be seen as being respectful and tolerant of non-Muslims as part of their religious duty, with conversion being facilitated by the vitality, equality and morals of the Islamic religion.[35] Citations of towns taken either violently or bloodlessly, reading back into Arab Sindh information belonging to a later date and dubious accounts such as those of the forcible circumcision of Brahmins at Deybul or Qasims consideration of Hindu sentiment in forbidding the slaughter of cows are used as examples for one particular view or the other.[35]

Some historians strike a middle ground, saying that Qasim was torn between the political expediency of making peace with the Hindus and Buddhists; having to call upon non-Muslims to serve under him as part of his mandate to administer newly conquered land; and orthodoxy by refraining from seeking the co-operation of "infidels". It is contended that Qasim may have struck a middle ground, conferring the status of Dhimmi upon the native Sindhis and permitting them to participate in his administration, but treating them as "noncitizens" (i.e. in the Khilafat, but not of it).[19]

[edit] LegacyQasim's presence and rule was very brief. His conquest for the Umayyads brought Sindh into the orbit of the Muslim world.[36]
The next Arab governor died on arrival. Dahir's son Jaisiah recaptured Brahmanabad and c. 720, he was granted pardon and included in the administration in return for converting to Islam. Soon, however, he recanted and split off when the Umayyads were embroiled in a succession crisis. Later, Junaid Ibn Abdur Rahman al-Marri killed Jaisiah and recaptured the territory before his successors once again struggled to hold and keep it. During the Abassid period, c. 870, the local emirs shook off all allegiance to the caliphs and by the 10th century the region was split into two weak states, Mansurah on the lower Indus and Multan on the upper Indus, which were soon captured by Ismailis who set up an independent Fatimid state.[4][37] These successor states did not achieve much and shrank in size. The Arab conquest remained checked in what is now the south of Pakistan for three centuries by powerful Hindu monarchs to the north and east until the arrival of Mahmud of Ghazni.[38]
Coastal trade and a Muslim colony in Sindh allowed for cultural exchanges and the arrival of Sufi missionaries to expand Muslim influence.[39] From Debal, which remained an important port until the 12th century, commercial links with the Persian Gulf and the Middle East intensified as Sindh became the "hinge of the Indian Ocean Trade and overland passway."[36]
Port Qasim, Pakistan's second major port is named in honor of Muhammad bin Qasim.[40]
Yom-e-Babul Islam is observed in Pakistan, in honor of Muhammad bin Qasim.[41]
[edit] See alsoJat people in Islamic history
Battle of Rajasthan
Qutaibah bin Muslim
Muslim conquests
Abdullah Shah Ghazi
Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf Al-Thaqafi
[edit] Footnotes1.^ a b c Alexander Berzin, "Part I: The Umayyad Caliphate (661 - 750 CE), The First Muslim Incursion into the Indian Subcontinent", The Historical Interaction between the Buddhist and Islamic Cultures before the Mongol Empire Last accessed September 11, 2007
2.^ a b c d Wink (2002), pg.164
3.^ Wink (2002), 51-52
4.^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Nicholas F. Gier, FROM MONGOLS TO MUGHALS: RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN INDIA 9TH-18TH CENTURIES, Presented at the Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting American Academy of Religion, Gonzaga University, May, 2006 [1]
5.^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Wink (2004) pg 201-205
6.^ Wink (2004) pg 131
7.^ The Indus River during this time flowed to the east of Nerun, but a 10th century earthquake caused the river to change to its course.
8.^ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=XNxiN5tzKOgC&pg=PA299&dq=bappa+rawal+vs+arabs&hl=en&ei=ihsoTqCLHY3XiAKDh62OBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA
9.^ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=kZWgj-YMdVEC&pg=PA48&dq=bappa+rawal+vs+arabs&hl=en&ei=ihsoTqCLHY3XiAKDh62OBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false
10.^ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=sxhAtCflwOMC&pg=PA46&dq=bappa+rawal+vs+arabs&hl=en&ei=ihsoTqCLHY3XiAKDh62OBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
11.^ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=n9wMAAAAIAAJ&q=bappa+rawal+defeated+arabs&dq=bappa+rawal+defeated+arabs&hl=en&ei=NzAoTvSJLofsrQfEvZTrAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBw
12.^ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=bf9tAAAAMAAJ&q=bappa+rawal+marriage+with+salim+daughter&dq=bappa+rawal+marriage+with+salim+daughter&hl=en&ei=gB4oTqKWOabmiAKR2N2jBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA
13.^ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=XNxiN5tzKOgC&pg=PA299&dq=bappa+rawal+and+arabs&hl=en&ei=RFUoTv6BM4HqrQfbtq3rAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=bappa%20rawal%20and%20arabs&f=false
14.^ a b c Derryl pg. 37-39
15.^ a b c d e f Wink (2002) pg. 204-206
16.^ a b c d e f g h i j Derryl pg.22-29
17.^ "The fall of Multan laid the Indus valley at the feet of the conqueror. The tribes came in, 'ringing bells and beating drums and dancing,' in token of welcome. The Hindu rulers had oppressed them heavily, and the Jats and Meds and other tribes were on the side of the invaders. The work of conquest, as often happened in India, was thus aided by the disunion of the inhabitants, and jealousies of race and creed conspired to help the Muslims. To such suppliants Mohammad Kasim gave the liberal terms that the Arabs usually offered to all but inveterate foes. He imposed the customary poll-tax, took hostages for good conduct, and spared the people's lands and lives. He even left their shrines undesecrated: 'The temples,' he proclaimed, 'shall be inviolate, like the churches of the Christians, the synagogues of the Jews, and the altars of the Magians.'" Stanley Lane-Poole, Medieval India under Mohammedan Rule, 712-1764, G.P. Putnam's Sons. New York, 1970. p. 9-10
18.^ a b c d e The Chach-Nama. English translation by Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg. Delhi Reprint, 1979 Online version, last accessed 30 September 2006
19.^ a b c d e f g Appleby. pg. 291-292
20.^ H. M. Elliot and John Dowson, The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, (London, 1867-1877), vol. 1, p. 203. "Kaksa took precedence in the army before all the nobles and commanders. He collected the revenue of the country and the treasury was placed under his seal. He assisted Muhammad ibn Qasim in all of his undertakings..."
21.^ The Chach-Nama. English translation by Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg. Delhi Reprint, 1979. Online version, last accessed 3 October 2006
22.^ Chapter by S Jabir Raza Titled -Passages in the Chachnama,Zainul-Akhbar And Tarikh-i-Baihaqi-Text and Translation ,from the book THE Jats ,Their Role and contribution to the socio-Economic Life and Polity of North and North -West India Volume 2 Pages 43 to 52
23.^ Chapter by S Jabir Raza Titled -Passages in the Chachnama,Zainul-Akhbar And Tarikh-i-Baihaqi-Text and Translation, from the book of The Jats, Their Role and contribution to the socio-Economic Life and Polity of North and North -West India, Volume 2, Pages 46 to 47
24.^ page 358 Volume 11 A Glossary of the Tribes and castes of the Punjab and North -West Frontier Province compiled by H. A. Rose and based on the Census Report for the Punjab 1883, by Sir Denzil Ibbetson and the census report for the Punjab 1892 by Sir Edward Maclagan. Published By the Asian Educational Services
25.^ Wink, Andre, "Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World", Brill Academic Publishers, August 1, 2002, ISBN 0-391-04173-8 pg. 204
26.^ Trifkovic, Serge (September 11, 2002). The Sword of the Prophet: History, Theology, Impact on the World. Regina Orthodox Press. ISBN 1928653111.
27.^ Trifkovic, Serge. "Islam’s Other Victims: India". FrontPageMagazine.com. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=4649. Retrieved 2006-08-26.
28.^ a b Sindhi Culture by U.T. Thakkur, Univ. of Bombay Publications, 1959
29.^ Alberuni's India, Edward C. Sachau, (Translator and Editor)
30.^ Wink (2002) pg. 53
31.^ Pakistan, the cultural heritage by Aḥmad Shujāʻ Pāshā Sang-e-Meel Publications, 1998 , Page 43
32.^ The Chach-Nama. English translation by Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg. Delhi Reprint, 1979. Online version, last accessed 15 May 2007
33.^ a b Keay, pg. 185
34.^ Medieval India by Stanley Lane-Poole, Published by Haskell House Publishers Ltd. NY 1970. Page 10
35.^ a b c d Derryl pg.31-33
36.^ a b Markovits, Claude The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750-1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama, Cambridge University Press, June 22, 2000, ISBN 0-521-62285-9, pg. 34.
37.^ Keay, pg 186-187
38.^ Akbar, M.J, The Shade of Swords, Routledge (UK), December 1, 2003, ISBN 0-415-32814-4 pg.102.
39.^ Federal Research Division. "Pakistan a Country Study", Kessinger Publishing, June 1, 2004, ISBN 1-4191-3994-0 pg.45.
40.^ Cheesman, David Landlord Power and Rural Indebtedness in Colonial Sind, Routledge (UK), February 1, 1997, ISBN 0-7007-0470-1
41.^ "KARACHI: Babul Islam day observed". Dawn. http://www.dawn.com/2006/10/05/local15.htm.
[edit] ReferencesAlexander Berzin, "Part I: The Umayyad Caliphate (661 - 750 CE), The First Muslim Incursion into the Indian Subcontinent", The Historical Interaction between the Buddhist and Islamic Cultures before the Mongol Empire
The Chach-Nama. English translation by Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg. Delhi Reprint, 1979.
Nicholas F. Gier, FROM MONGOLS TO MUGHALS: RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN INDIA 9TH-18TH CENTURIES, Presented at the Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting American Academy of Religion, Gonzaga University, May, 2006 [2]
Stanley Lane-Poole, Medieval India under Mohammedan Rule, 712-1764, G.P. Putnam's Sons. New York, 1970
Schimmel, Annemarie Schimmel, Religionen - Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, Brill Academic Publishers, Jan 1, 1980, ISBN 90-04-06117-7
Appleby, R Scott & Martin E Marty, Fundamentalisms Comprehended, University of Chicago Press, May 1, 2004, ISBN 0-226-50888-9
Wink, Andre, Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Brill Academic Publishers, August 1, 2002, ISBN 0-391-04173-8
Wink, Andre, Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Brill Academic Publishers, 2004, ISBN 90-04-09249-8
Keay, John, India: A History, Grove Press, May 1, 2001, ISBN 0-8021-3797-0
Maclean, Derryl N. Religion and Society in Arab Sind, Brill Academic Publishers, 1989 ISBN 90-04-08551-3

Historical Heros

• Tipu Sultan

Ruler of Mysore

 

Reign 1782–1799

Born 20 November 1750

Birthplace Devanahalli

Died 4 May 1799(1799-05-04) (aged 48)

Place of death Seringapatam

Buried Seringapatam

Predecessor Hyder Ali

Successor Krishnaraja Wodeyar II

Royal House  Sultanate of Mysore

Father Hyder Ali

Mother Fakhr-un-nissa

Religious beliefs Islam

Tipu Sultan (Kannada: ಟಿಪ್ಪು ಸುಲ್ತಾನ್, Urdu: سلطان فتح علی خان ٹیپو) (November 1750, Devanahalli – 4 May 1799, Seringapatam), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-nissa. He was given a number of honorific titles, and was referred to as Sultan Fateh Ali Khan Shahab, Tipu Saheb, Bahadur Khan Tipu Sultan or Fatih Ali Khan Tipu Sultan Bahadur.
During Tipu's childhood, his father rose to take power in Mysore, and Tipu took over rule of the kingdom upon his father's death. In addition to his role as ruler, he was a scholar, soldier, and poet. He was a devout Muslim but the majority of his subjects were Hindus. At the request of the French, he built a church, the first in Mysore. He was proficient in many languages.[1] In alliance with the French in their struggle with the British, and in Mysore's struggles with other surrounding powers, both Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali used their French trained army against the Marathas, Sira, rulers of Malabar, Coorg, Bednur, Carnatic, and Travancore. 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 the previous year.
He engaged in expansionist attacks against his neighbors, and harshly put down rebellions within his territories, deporting whole populations into confinement in Seringapatam. He remained an implacable enemy of the British, bringing them into renewed conflict with an attack on British-allied Travancore in 1789. In the Third Anglo-Mysore War Tipu was forced into a humiliating peace, losing a number of previously conquered territories, such as Malabar and Mangalore. He sent embassies to foreign states, including the Ottoman Empire and France, in an attempt to rally opposition to the British. In the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War the combined forces of the British East India Company and the Nizam of Hyderabad defeated Tipu and he was killed on 4 May 1799, defending the fort of Seringapatam.
Tipu's treatment of conquered subjects, non-Muslims, and prisoners of war, were controversial, and continue to be a subject of debate today. He introduced a number of administrative and military innovations to Mysore (including the expansion of rocket technology), and introduced and promoted a more widespread use of Persian and Urdu languages in southern India.
9 External links
 
[edit] Early years[edit] Childhood
Memorial at the birth placeTipu Sultan was born at Devanahalli, in present-day Bangalore District, some 33 km (21 mi) North of Bangalore city. The exact date of his birth is not known; various sources claim different dates between 1749 and 1753. According to one widely accepted dating, he was born on 20 November 1750 (Friday, 10th Dhu al-Hijjah, 1163 AH). His father, Hyder Ali, was a military officer in service to the Kingdom of Mysore; he rapidly rose in power, and became the de facto ruler of Mysore in 1761. His mother Fatima or Fakhr-un-nissa was the daughter of the governor of the fort of Kadapa.
[edit] Early military service
A flintlock blunderbuss, built for Tipu Sultan in Seringapatam, 1793-94. Tipu Sultan used many Western craftsmen, and this gun reflects the most up-to-date technologies of the time.[2]Tipu Sultan was instructed in military tactics by French officers in the employment of his father, Hyder Ali (also spelled "Haidar Ali"). At age 15, he accompanied his father against the British in the First Mysore War in 1766. He commanded a corps of cavalry in the invasion of Carnatic in 1767 at age 16. He also distinguished himself in the First Anglo-Maratha War of 1775–1779.[citation needed]
Alexander Beatson, who published a volume on the Fourth Mysore War entitled View of the Origin and Conduct of the War with Tippoo Sultaun, described Tipu Sultan as follows: "His stature was about five feet eight inches; he had a short neck, square shoulders, and was rather corpulent: his limbs were small, particularly his feet and hands; he had large full eyes, small arched eyebrows, and an aquiline nose; his complexion was fair, and the general expression of his countenance, not void of dignity".[3]
[edit] Second Mysore WarMain article: Second Anglo-Mysore War
In 1779, the British captured the French-controlled port of Mahé, which Tipu had placed under his protection,providing some troops for its defence. In response, Hyder launched an invasion of the Carnatic, with the aim of driving the British out of Madras.[4] During this campaign in September 1780, Tipu Sultan was dispatched by Hyder Ali with 10,000 men and 18 guns to intercept Colonel Baillie who was on his way to join Sir Hector Munro. In the Battle of Pollilur, Tipu decisively defeated Baillie. Out of 360 Europeans, about 200 were captured alive, and the sepoys, who were about 3800 men, suffered very high casualties. Munro was moving south with a separate force to join Baillie, but on hearing the news of the defeat he was forced to retreat to Madras, abandoning his artillery in a water tank at Kanchipuram.[5]

Mural of the Battle of Pollilur on the walls of Tipu's summer palace, painted to celebrate his triumph over the British.Tipu Sultan defeated Colonel Braithwaite at Annagudi near Tanjore on 18 February 1782. Braithwaite's forces, consisting of 100 Europeans, 300 cavalry, 1400 sepoys and 10 field pieces, was the standard size of the colonial armies. Tipu Sultan seized all the guns and took the entire detachment prisoner. In December 1781 Tipu Sultan successfully seized Chittur from the British. Tipu Sultan had thus gained sufficient military experience by the time Hyder Ali died on Friday, 6 December 1782 - some historians put it at 2 or 3 days later or before, (Hijri date being 1 Muharram, 1197 as per some records in Persian - there may be a difference of 1 to 3 days due to the Lunar Calendar). Tipu Sultan realized that the British were a new kind of threat in India. He became the ruler of Mysore on Sunday, 22 December 1782 ( The inscriptions in some of Tipu Regalia showing it as 20 Muharram, 1197 Hijri - Sunday ), in a simple coronation ceremony. He then worked to check the advances of the British by making alliances with the Marathas and the Mughals.
The Second Mysore War came to an end with the 1784 Treaty of Mangalore. It was the last occasion when an Indian king dictated terms to the British, and the treaty is a prestigious document in the history of India.[6] The war is also remembered for alleged excesses committed by Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan in Tanjore.[7] During the period of occupation which lasted six months, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan are believed to have impoverished the country, destroying crops and cattle.[7] As late as 1785, the Dutch missionary Christian Friedrich Schwarz describes Tipu's alleged abduction of 12,000 children from the region.[7] The economic output of Tanjore is estimated to have fallen by 90% between 1780 and 1782.[8] The ravages of Hyder and Tipu were followed by alleged expeditions of plunder launched by the Kallars. The economic devastation wrought by these attacks was so severe that Tanjore's economy did not recover until the start of the 19th century; the era is referred to in local folklore as the Hyderakalam.[7]
[edit] Rule of Mysore
Tipu Sultan's summer palace at Srirangapatna, KarnatakaWhile leading a predominantly Hindu country, Tipu remained strong in his Muslim faith, going daily to say his prayers and paying special attention to mosques in the area.[9] He built a church, the first in Mysore, on French request.
During his rule, Tipu Sultan laid the foundation for a dam where the famous Krishna Raja Sagara Dam across the river Cauvery was later built.[10][11] He also completed the project of Lal Bagh started by his father Hyder Ali, and built roads, public buildings, and ports along the Kerala shoreline. His dominion extended throughout North Bangalore including the Nandi Hills, Kanivenarayanapura, and Chickballapur. His trade extended to countries which included Sri Lanka,Oman,Afghanistan, France, Turkey, and Iran. Under his leadership, the Mysore army proved to be a school of military science to Indian princes. The serious blows that Tipu Sultan inflicted on the British in the First and Second Mysore Wars affected their reputation as an invincible power. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the former President of India, in his Tipu Sultan Shaheed Memorial Lecture in Bangalore (30 November 1991), called Tipu Sultan the innovator of the world's first war rocket. Two of these rockets, captured by the British at Seringapatam, are displayed in the Royal Artillery Museum in London. He managed to subdue all the petty kingdoms in the south. He defeated the Marathas and the Nizams and was also one of the few Indian rulers to have defeated British armies. He is said to have started new coinage, calendar, and a new system of weights and measures mainly based on the methods introduced by French technicians. He was well versed in Urdu, Kannada, Persian, and Arabic. Tipu was supposed to become a Sufi, but his father Hyder Ali insisted he become a capable soldier and a great leader.
Tipu Sultan is also infamous for the inhuman atrocities committed during his invasion of South Kanara, Kodagu and Malabar. The revolt against Tipu's rule in Malabar was crushed. The Sirian Christians and Hindus were persecuted in these regions with plunder, destruction places of worship, and mass conversions. The main deity at the famous Guruvayur Temple had to be shifted to Ambalapuzha due to the imminent attack from Tipu's forces. The King of Kozhikode (Samudiri/Zamorin) committed suicide in his palace to avoid capture by Tipu. Members of the royal family of Chirakkal were deported to Mysore. There were large scale migration of people to the kingdom of Travancore, fearing persecution. In fact, historically the region south of the Tungabhadra river was relatively immune to the great ravages and plunder from attacking armies unlike those in the Northern parts of India. The only two exception to the aforementioned were the acts of Hyder Ali/ Tipu Sultan in Malabar- Kodagu- South Kanara regions and the sacking and destruction of Vijayanagara.
[edit] Third Mysore War
Political cartoon by James Gillray, making fun of Lord Cornwallis after his 1791 retreat from Seringapatam
General Lord Cornwallis, receiving two of Tipu Sultan's sons as hostages in the year 1793.Main article: Third Anglo-Mysore War
In 1789, Tipu Sultan disputed the acquisition by Dharma Raja of Travancore of two Dutch-held fortresses in Cochin, which was a Mysorean tributary. In December 1789 he massed troops at Coimbatore, and on 28 December made an attack on the lines of Travancore, knowing that Travancore was (according to the Treaty of Mangalore) an ally of the British East India Company. On account of the staunch resistance by the Travancore army, Tipu was unable to break through the Tranvancore lines and the Maharajah of Travancore appealed to the East India Company for help. In response, Lord Cornwallis mobilized company and British military forces, and formed alliances with the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad to oppose Tipu. In 1790 the company forces advanced, taking control of much of the Coimbatore district. Tipu counterattacked, regaining much of the territory, although the British continued to hold Coimbatore itself. He then descended into the Carnatic, eventually reaching Pondicherry, where he attempted without success to draw the French into the conflict.
In 1791 his opponents advanced on all fronts, with the main British force under Cornwallis taking Bangalore and threatening Seringapatam. Tipu harassed his enemy's supply and communication and embarked on a "scorched earth" policy of denying local resources to the invaders. In this last effort he was successful, as the lack of provisions forced Cornwallis to withdraw to Bangalore rather than attempt a siege of Seringapatam. Following the withdrawal, Tipu sent forces to Coimbatore, which they retook after a lengthy siege.
The 1792 campaign was a failure for Tipu. The allied army was well-supplied, and Tipu was unable to prevent the junction of forces from Bangalore and Bombay before Seringapatam. After about two weeks of siege, Tipu opened negotiations for terms of surrender. In the ensuing treaty, he was forced to cede one half of Mysore's territory to the allies, and deliver two of his sons as hostages,till he paid in full,the sum of Rupees Three crores and Thirty lakhs fixed as the expenses of the British campaign against him. He paid the amount shortly and got back his sons from Madras.
[edit] Napoleon's attempt at a junction
Louis XVI receives the ambassadors of Tipu Sultan in 1788. Tipu Sultan is known to have sent many diplomatic missions to France, the Ottoman Empire, Sultanate of Oman, Zand Dynasty and Durrani Empire.[12]Main article: Franco-Indian alliances
One of the motivations of Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt was to establish a junction with India against the British. Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East, with the ultimate dream of linking with Tippoo Sahib.[13] Napoleon assured to the French Directory that "as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions."[14] According to a 13 February 1798 report by Talleyrand: "Having occupied and fortified Egypt, we shall send a force of 15,000 men from Suez to India, to join the forces of Tipu-Sahib and drive away the English."[14] Napoleon was unsuccessful in this strategy, losing the Siege of Acre in 1799, and at the Battle of Abukir in 1801.[15]
[edit] Fourth Mysore War
The Last Effort and Fall of Tipu Sultan by Henry Singleton, c. 1800Main article: Fourth Anglo-Mysore War
After Horatio Nelson had defeated François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers at the Battle of the Nile in Egypt in 1798, three armies, one from Bombay, and two British (one of which included Arthur Wellesley, the future first Duke of Wellington), marched into Mysore in 1799 and besieged the capital Seringapatam in the Fourth Mysore War.

Tipu's body was found here.There were over 26,000 soldiers of the British East India Company comprising about 4000 Europeans and the rest Indians. A column was supplied by the Nizam of Hyderabad consisting of ten battalions and over 16,000 cavalry, and many soldiers were sent by the Marathas. Thus the soldiers in the British force numbered over 50,000 soldiers whereas Tipu Sultan had only about 30,000 soldiers. The British broke through the city walls, and Tipu Sultan died defending his capital on May 4. When the fallen Tipu was identified, Wellesley felt his pulse and confirmed that he was dead. Next to him, underneath his palankeen, was one of his most confidential servants, Rajah Cawn. Rajah was able to identify Tipu for the soldiers. Tipu Sultan was killed at the Hoally (Diddy) Gateway, which was located 300 yards (270 m) from the N.E. Angle of the Seringapatam Fort. The Fort Gateway had been built only 5 years prior to Tipu's death.[16] Tipu was buried the next afternoon, near the remains of his father. In the midst of his burial, a great storm struck, with massive winds and rains. As Lieutenant Richard Bayly of the British 12th regiment wrote, "I have experienced hurricanes, typhoons, and gales of wind at sea, but never in the whole course of my existence had I seen anything comparable to this desolating visitation".[17]
Immediately after the death of Tipu Sultan many members of the British East India Company believed that Umdat Ul-Umra the Nawab of Carnatic secretly provided assistance to Tipu Sultan during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War and immediately sought his deposition after the year 1799.
[edit] Leadership, policy, and innovationsTipu introduced a new calendar, new coinage, and seven new government departments, during his reign, and made military innovations in the use of rocketry.
[edit] Military use of rocketsMain article: Mysorean rockets

Tipu Sultan organized his Rocket artillery brigades known as Cushoon's, Tipu Sultan expanded the number of servicemen in the various Cushoon's from 1500 to almost 6000. The Mysorean rockets utilized by Tipu Sultan, were later updated by the British and successively employed during the Napoleonic Wars.Tipu Sultan's father had expanded on Mysore's use of rocketry, making critical innovations in the rockets themselves and the military logistics of their use. He deployed as many as 1,200 specialized troops in his army to operate rocket launchers. These men were skilled in operating the weapons and were trained to launch their rockets at an angle calculated from the diameter of the cylinder and the distance to the target. The rockets had blades mounted on them, and could wreak significant damage when fired en masse against a large army. Tipu greatly expanded the use of rockets after Hyder's death, deploying as many as 5,000 rocketeers at a time. The rockets deployed by Tipu during the Battle of Pollilur were much more advanced than the British East India Company had previously seen, chiefly because of the use of iron tubes for holding the propellant; this enabled higher thrust and longer range for the missile (up to 2 km range).[18]
British accounts describe the use of the rockets during the third and fourth wars. During the climactic battle at Seringapatam in 1799, British shells struck a magazine containing rockets, causing it to explode and send a towering cloud of black smoke with cascades of exploding white light rising up from the battlements.
After Tipu's defeat in the fourth war the British captured a number of the Mysorean rockets. These became influential in British rocket development, inspiring the Congreve rocket, which was soon put into use in the Napoleonic Wars.[18]
[edit] Religious policy[edit] Attitude towards HindusMain articles: Captivity of Coorgis at Seringapatam and Captivity of Nairs at Seringapatam
As a Muslim ruler in a largely Hindu domain, Tipu Sultan faced problems in establishing the legitimacy of his rule, and in reconciling his desire to be seen as a devout Islamic ruler with the need to be pragmatic to avoid antagonising the majority of his subjects. His religious legacy has become a source of considerable controversy in the subcontinent. Some groups proclaim him a great warrior for the faith or Ghazi, while others revile him as a bigot who massacred Hindus.[19][20][21]
[edit] Ambitions of Tipu SultanDuring the early period of Tipu Sultan's reign in particular,he appears as strict as his father Hyder Ali to any Non-Muslim accused of collaboration with the British East India Company or the Maratha. Both Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan were independent rulers of the Sultanate of Mysore, with some degree of loyalty to the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II.Both of them are known to have maintained correspondence with the Mughal Emperor. Furthermore unlike the Nawab of Carnatic, neither owed any allegiance to the Nizam of Hyderabad and often instead chose direct contact and relations with the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II.[22]
Some historians claim that Tipu Sultan was a religious persecutor of Hindus.[21] In 1780 CE,he declared himself to be the Badshah or Emperor of Mysore, and struck coinage in his own name without reference to the reigning Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. H. D. Sharma writes that,in his correspondence with other Islamic rulers such as Zaman Shah of Afghanistan, Tipu Sultan used this title and declared that he intended to establish an Islamic empire in the entire country, along the lines of the Mughal Empire which was at its decline during the period in question. He even invited him to invade India to help achieve this mission.[23] His alliance with the French was supposedly aimed at achieving this goal by driving his main rivals, the British, out of the subcontinent.
During the early years of his rule Tipu Sultan sent an embassy to the Ottoman capital of Istanbul, to Sultan Abdul Hamid I requesting urgent assistance against the British East India Company and had proposed an offensive and defensive consortium. However,the Ottomans were at crisis and still recuperating from the devastating Austro-Ottoman War and the Russo-Turkish Wars. Due to the Ottoman-inability to organize a fleet in the Indian Ocean, Tipu Sultan's ambassadors returned home only with gifts from Abdul Hamid I and later Selim III.[12]
Like his father Hyder Ali before him,Tipu Sultan maintained many embassies and made several contacts with Mohammad Ali Khan ruler of the Zand Dynasty in Persia. Tipu Sultan also maintained correspondence with Hamad bin Said,the ruler of the Sultanate of Oman.
It is believed that Tipu ordered Shamaiya Iyengar to be blinded. However, Tipu himself forgave Shamaiya when Shamaiya's son bravely defended against the British during the last Anglo-Mysore War, dying due to a gunshot in the chest.
[edit] Criticism of British accountsBrittlebank, Hasan, Chetty, Habib and Saletare, amongst others, argue that stories of Tipu Sultan's religious persecution of Hindus and Christians are largely derived from the work of early British authors such as Kirkpatrick[24] and Wilks,[25] whom they do not consider to be entirely reliable.[26] A. S. Chetty argues that Wilks’ account in particular cannot be trusted,[27] Irfan Habib and Mohibbul Hasan argues that these early British authors had a strong vested interest in presenting Tipu Sultan as a tyrant from whom the British had "liberated" Mysore.[28] This assessment is echoed by Brittlebank in her recent work where she writes that Wilks and Kirkpatrick must be used with particular care as both authors had taken part in the wars against Tipu Sultan and were closely connected to the administrations of Lord Cornwallis and Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley.[29]
[edit] Conversions to IslamTipu sent a letter on 19 January 1790 to Budruz Zuman Khan. It says:
"Don't you know I have achieved a great victory recently in Malabar and over four lakh Hindus were converted to Islam? I am determined to march against that cursed Raman Nair very soon. Since I am overjoyed at the prospect of converting him and his subjects to Islam, I have happily abandoned the idea of going back to Srirangapatanam now."[30]
On the handle of the sword presented by Tipu to Marquess Wellesley was the following inscription:[31]
"My victorious sabre is lightning for the destruction of the unbelievers. Haider, the Lord of Faith, is victorious for my advantage. And moreover, he destroyed the wicked race who were unbelievers. Praise be to him, who is the Lord of the Worlds! Thou art our Lord, support us against the people who are unbelievers. He to whom the Lord giveth victory prevails over all (mankind). Oh Lord, make him victorious, who promoteth the faith of Muhammad. Confound him, who refuseth the faith of Muhammad; and withhold us from those who are so inclined. The Lord is predominant over his own works. Victory and conquest are from the Almighty. Bring happy tidings, Oh Muhammad, to the faithful; for God is the kind protector and is the most merciful of the merciful. If God assists thee, thou will prosper. May the Lord God assist thee, Oh Muhammad, with mighty victory."
During a search of his palace in 1795, some gold medals were found in the palace, on which the following was inscribed on one side in Persian: "Of God the bestower of blessings and the other, victory and conquest are from the Almighty". These were carved in commemoration of a victory after the war of 1780.[32] The following is a translation of an inscription on the stone found at Seringapatam, which was situated in a conspicuous place in the fort:[31]
"Oh Almighty God! dispose the whole body of infidels! Scatter their tribe, cause their feet to stagger! Overthrow their councils, change their state, destroy their very root! Cause death to be near them, cut off from them the means of sustenance! Shorten their days! Be their bodies the constant object of their cares (i.e. infest them with diseases), deprive their eyes of sight, make black their faces (i.e. bring shame)."
Mohibbul Hasan, Prof. Sheikh Ali, and other historians cast great doubt on the scale of the deportations and forced conversions in Coorg in particular, and Hasan says that the British versions of what happened were intended to malign Tipu Sultan, and to be used as propaganda against him.[33] He argues that little reliance can be placed in Muslim accounts such as Kirmani's Nishan-e Haidari; in their anxiety to represent the Sultan as a champion of Islam, they had a tendency to exaggerate and distort the facts: Kirmani claims that 70,000 Coorgis were converted, when forty years later the entire population of Coorg was still less than that number. According to Ramchandra Rao "Punganuri" the true number of converts was about 500.[34] The portrayal of Tipu Sultan as a religious bigot is disputed, and some sources suggest that he in fact often embraced religious pluralism.[35]
[edit] Attempts at replacing Kannada terms and place names
Among his many innovations, Tipu introduced new coin denominations and new coin types, including this handsome copper double paisa weighing over 23 gm. The coin on the left also contains the emblem of the Sultanate of Mysore.Tipu strengthened and instituted education in Persian and Urdu among Muslims in the Mysore region. To this day, unlike Muslims in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Muslims in southern Karnataka use Urdu.
Furthermore, he brought into place the use of Islamic terms, such as khata, sanad, the use of 'bin' to denote 'son of' into administration; and these terms have been in use ever since. Tipu is also known to have attempted to assign Islamic names to several places - for example, Yousufabad for Devanahalli, Nasarabad for Mysore, Farukhyab Hisar for Chitradurga, Faiz Hisar for Gutti and so on.
[edit] Employment of HindusTipu Sultan's treasurer was Krishna Rao, Shamaiya Iyengar was his Minister of Post and Police, his brother Ranga Iyengar was also an officer, and Purnaiya held the very important post of "Mir Asaf". Moolchand and Sujan Rai were his chief agents at the Mughal court, and his chief "Peshkar", Suba Rao, was also a Hindu.[36]
[edit] Tipu's gifts to Hindu institutions
Rajah Cawn and David Baird, discovering the fallen body of Tipu Sultan after the Seige of Seringapatam in the year 1799. Engraving after a painting by David Wilkie.In 1791, some Maratha horsemen under Raghunath Rao Patwardhan raided the temple and monastery of Sringeri Shankaracharya, killing and wounding many, and plundering the monastery of all its valuable possessions. The incumbent Shankaracharya petitioned Tipu Sultan for help. A bunch of about 30 letters written in Kannada, which were exchanged between Tipu Sultan's court and the Sringeri Shankaracharya were discovered in 1916 by the Director of Archaeology in Mysore. Tipu Sultan expressed his indignation and grief at the news of the raid, and wrote:
People who have sinned against such a holy place are sure to suffer the consequences of their misdeeds at no distant date in this Kali age in accordance with the verse: "Hasadbhih kriyate karma ruladbhir-anubhuyate" (People do [evil] deeds smilingly but suffer the consequences crying).[37]
He immediately ordered the Asaf of Bednur to supply the Swami with 200 rahatis (fanams) in cash and other gifts and articles. Tipu Sultan's interest in the Sringeri temple continued for many years, and he was still writing to the Swami in the 1790s CE.[38]
It should be noted, however, that these letters were written in the context of his precarious situation after the battles of the Third Mysore War, during which he suffered many setbacks, including having to deliver his two sons as captives to the British. It is possible that his letters to the Shankaracharya were therefore a result of his desire to gain support of his Hindu subjects.
In light of this and other events, B.A. Saletare has described Tipu Sultan as a defender of the Hindu dharma, who also patronized other temples including one at Melkote, for which he issued a Kannada decree that the Shrivaishnava invocatory verses there should be recited in the traditional form. The temple at Melkote still has gold and silver vessels with inscriptions indicating that they were presented by the Sultan. Tipu Sultan also presented four silver cups to the Lakshmikanta Temple at Kalale.[39] Tipu Sultan does seem to have repossessed unauthorised grants of land made to Brahmins and temples, but those which had proper sanads were not. It was a normal practice for any ruler, Muslim or Hindu, on his accession or on the conquest of new territory.
There is such evidence as grant deeds, and correspondence between his court and temples, and his having donated jewellery and deeded land grants to several temples, which some claim he was compelled to do in order to make alliances with Hindu rulers. Between 1782 and 1799 Tipu Sultan issued 34 sanads (deeds) of endowment to temples in his domain, while also presenting many of them with gifts of silver and gold plate. The Srikanteswara Temple in Nanjangud still possesses a jewelled cup presented by the Sultan.[40]
To another temple, Nanjundeswara, in the same town of Nanjungud, he gave a greenish linga; to Ranganatha temple at Seringapatam he gifted seven silver cups and a silver camphor burner. This temple was hardly a stone's throw from his palace from where he would listen with equal respect to the ringing of temple bells and the muezzin's call from the mosque.[41]
[edit] Attitude towards ChristiansMain article: Captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam

The Jamalabad fort route. Mangalorean Catholics had traveled through this route on their way to SeringapatamTipu is regarded to be anti-Christian by some historians.[42][43][44] The captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam, which began on 24 February 1784 and ended on 4 May 1799, remains the most disconsolate memory in their history.[45]
The Bakur Manuscript reports him as having said: "All Musalmans should unite together, and considering the annihilation of infidels as a sacred duty, labor to the utmost of their power, to accomplish that subject."[46] Soon after the Treaty of Mangalore in 1784, Tipu gained control of Canara.[47] He issued orders to seize the Christians in Canara, confiscate their estates,[48] and deport them to Seringapatam, the capital of his empire, through the Jamalabad fort route.[49] However, there were no priests among the captives. Together with Father Miranda, all the 21 arrested priests were issued orders of expulsion to Goa, fined Rupees 2 lakhs, and threatened death by hanging if they ever returned.[46]
Tipu ordered the destruction of 27 Catholic churches, all beautifully carved with statues depicting various saints. Among them included the Church of Nossa Senhora de Rosario Milagres at Mangalore, Fr Miranda's Seminary at Monte Mariano, Church of Jesu Marie Jose at Omzoor, Chapel at Bolar, Church of Merces at Ullal, Imaculata Conceiciao at Mulki, San Jose at Perar, Nossa Senhora dos Remedios at Kirem, Sao Lawrence at Karkal, Rosario at Barkur, Immaculata Conceciao at Baidnur.[46] All were razed to the ground, with the exception of The Church of Holy Cross at Hospet, owing to the friendly offices of the Chauta Raja of Moodbidri.[50]
According to Thomas Munro, a Scottish soldier and the first collector of Canara, around 60,000 people,[51] nearly 92 percent of the entire Mangalorean Catholic community, were captured; only 7,000 escaped. Francis Buchanan gives the numbers as 70,000 captured, from a population of 80,000, with 10,000 escaping. They were forced to climb nearly 4,000 feet (1,200 m) through the jungles of the Western Ghat mountain ranges. It was 210 miles (340 km) from Mangalore to Seringapatam, and the journey took six weeks. According to British Government records, 20,000 of them died on the march to Seringapatam. According to James Scurry, a British officer, who was held captive along with Mangalorean Catholics, 30,000 of them were forcibly converted to Islam. The young women and girls were forcibly made wives of the Muslims living there.[52] The young men who offered resistance were disfigured by cutting their noses, upper lips, and ears.[53] According to Mr. Silva of Gangolim, a survivor of the captivity, if a person who had escaped from Seringapatam was found, the punishment under the orders of Tipu was the cutting off of the ears, nose, the feet and one hand.[54]
The Archbishop of Goa wrote in 1800, "It is notoriously known in all Asia and all other parts of the globe of the oppression and sufferings experienced by the Christians in the Dominion of the King of Kanara, during the usurpation of that country by Tipu Sultan from an implacable hatred he had against them who professed Christianity."[46]

The British officer James Scurry, who was detained a prisoner for 10 years by Tipu Sultan along with the Mangalorean CatholicsTipu Sultan's rule of the Malabar Coast had an adverse impact on the Syrian Malabar Nasrani community. Many churches in Malabar and Cochin were damaged. The old Syrian Nasrani seminary at Angamaly which had been the centre of Catholic religious education for several centuries was razed to the ground by Tipu's soldiers. A lot of centuries old religious manuscripts were lost forever.[55] The church was later relocated to Kottayam where it still exists. The Mor Sabor church at Akaparambu and the Martha Mariam Church attached to the seminary were destroyed as well. Tipu's army set fire to the church at Palayoor and attacked the Ollur Church in 1790. Furthernmore, the Arthat church and the Ambazhakkad seminary was also destroyed. Over the course of this invasion, many Syrian Malabar Nasrani were killed or forcibly converted to Islam. Most of the coconut, arecanut, pepper and cashew plantations held by the Syrian Malabar farmers were also indiscriminately destroyed by the invading army. As a result, when Tipu's army invaded Guruvayur and adjacent areas, the Syrian Christian community fled Calicut and small towns like Arthat to new centres like Kunnamkulam, Chalakudi, Ennakadu, Cheppadu, Kannankode, Mavelikkara, etc. where there were already Christians. They were given refuge by Sakthan Tamburan, the ruler of Cochin and Karthika Thirunal, the ruler of Travancore, who gave them lands, plantations and encouraged their businesses. Colonel Macqulay, the British resident of Travancore also helped them.[55]
Tipu's persecution of Christians even extended to captured British soldiers. For instance, there were a significant number of forced conversions of British captives between 1780 and 1784. Following their disastrous defeat at the 1780 Battle of Pollilur, 7,000 British men along with an unknown number of women were held captive by Tipu in the fortress of Seringapatnam. Of these, over 300 were circumcised and given Muslim names and clothes and several British regimental drummer boys were made to wear ghagra cholis and entertain the court as nautch girls or dancing girls. After the 10 year long captivity ended, James Scurry, one of those prisoners, recounted that he had forgotten how to sit in a chair and use a knife and fork. His English was broken and stilted, having lost all his vernacular idiom. His skin had darkened to the swarthy complexion of negroes, and moreover, he had developed an aversion to wearing European clothes.[56]
During the surrender of the Mangalore fort which was delivered in an armistice by the British and their subsequent withdrawal, all the Mestizos and remaining non-British foreigners were killed, together with 5,600 Mangalorean Catholics. Those condemned by Tipu Sultan for treachery were hanged instantly, the gibbets being weighed down by the number of bodies they carried. The Netravati River was so putrid with the stench of dying bodies, that the local residents were forced to leave their riverside homes.[46]
[edit] Treatment of prisonersAccording to historian Professor Sheikh Ali, the Tipu "took his stand on the bedrock of humanity, regarding all his subjects as equal citizen to live in peace, harmony and concord."[41] However, during the storming of Seringapatam by the British in 1799, thirteen murdered British prisoners were discovered, killed by either having their necks broken or nails driven into their skulls.[57]
[edit] Legacy[edit] Family
The mausoleum housing Tipu's tomb is another example of Islamic architecture. Tipu's flag is in the foreground.
The tomb of Tipu Sultan at Srirangapatna. Tipu's tomb is in the middle between his mother and father's graves.Tipu Sultan had four wives, by whom he had 16 sons named below and at least 8 daughters. The fate of his 8 daughters is unknown.
1.Shahzada Hyder Ali Sultan Sahib (1771-30 July 1815)
2.Shahzada Abdul Khaliq Sultan Sahib (1782-12 September 1806
3.Shahzada Muhi-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1782-30 September 1811)
4.Shahzada Mu'izz-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1783-30 March 1818)
5.Shahzada Mi'raj-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1784?-?)
6.Shahzada Mu'in-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1784?-?)
7.Shahzada Muhammad Yasin Sultan Sahib (1784-15 March 1849)
8.Shahzada Muhammad Subhan Sultan Sahib (1785-27 September 1845)
9.Shahzada Muhammad Shukrullah Sultan Sahib (1785-25 September 1837)
10.Shahzada Sarwar-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1790-20 October 1833)
11.Shahzada Muhammad Nizam-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1791-20 October 1791)
12.Shahzada Muhammad Jamal-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1795-13 November 1842)
13.Shahzada Munir-ud-din Sultan Sahib (1795-1 December 1837)
14.His Highness Shahzada Sir Ghulam Muhammad Sultan Sahib, KCSI (March 1795-11 August 1872)
15.Shahzada Ghulam Ahmad Sultan Sahib (1796-11 April 1824)
16.Shahzada ............. Sultan Sahib (1797–1797)
Tipu Sultan's family was sent to Calcutta by the British. A descendent of one of Tipu Sultan's uncles Noor Inayat Khan was a British Special Operations Executive agent during the Second World War, murdered in the German Dachau concentration camp in 1944.
There is also a recent finding that the popular legendary woman warrior Unniyarcha was a contemporary of Tipu Sultan and in fact Tipu had captured her in war and taken her to Mysore in 1790 May and forced her to be one of his wives. The finding was made by writer Manantheri Bhaskaran who claims to be Unniyarcha's relative (4th generation grandson of Unniyarcha's brother).[58][verification needed]
[edit] Sword and tiger
Tipu Sultan's Tiger. Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonTipu Sultan had lost his sword in a war with the Nairs of Travancore during the Battle of the Nedumkotta, in which he was defeated.[59] The Nair army under the leadership of Raja Kesavadas again defeated the Mysore army near Aluva. The Maharaja, Dharma Raja, gifted the famous sword to the Nawab of Arcot, from where the sword went to London. The sword was on display at the Wallace Collection, No. 1 Manchester Square, London. At an auction in London in 2004, the industrialist-politician Vijay Mallya purchased the sword of Tipu Sultan and some other historical artifacts, and brought them back to India for public display after nearly two centuries.[60]
Tipu was commonly known as the Tiger of Mysore and adopted this animal as the symbol of his rule.[61] It is said that Tipu Sultan was hunting in the forest with a French friend. He came face to face with a tiger. His gun did not work, and his dagger fell on the ground as the tiger jumped on him. He reached for the dagger, picked it up, and killed the tiger with it. That earned him the name "the Tiger of Mysore".Template:NCERT Our Pasts III Part-1 He even had French engineers build a mechanical tiger for his palace.[62] The device, known as Tipu's Tiger, is on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.[63] Not only did Tipu place relics of tigers around his palace and domain, he also had the emblem of a tiger on his banners and even on some arms and weapons. Sometimes this tiger was very ornate and had inscriptions within the drawing, alluding to Tipu's faith.[64] Historian Alexander Beatson reported that "in his palace was found a great variety of curious swords, daggers, fusils, pistols, and blunderbusses; some were of exquisite workmanship, mounted with gold, or silver, and beautifully inlaid and ornamented with tigers' heads and stripes, or with Persian and Arabic verses".[3]
[edit] In fictionIn Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, Captain Nemo is described as a nephew of Tipu Sultan.
Tipu Sultan's life and adventures were the central theme of a short-running South Indian television series "The Adventures of Tipu Sultan", and of a more popular national television series "The Sword of Tipu Sultan".
Naseem Hijazi's novels Muazam Ali and Aur Talvar Ṭūṭ Gaye (And The Sword Broke) describe Tipu Sultan's wars.
Wilkie Collins's novel The Moonstone contains an account of Tipu Sultan and the Fall of Srirangapattana in the prologue.
In The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolf Erich Raspe, Munchausen vanquishes Tippoo near the end of the novel.
Sharpe's Tiger is a novel in which Napoleonic soldier Richard Sharpe fights at the Battle of Srirangapattana, later killing Tipu Sultan.
The Only King Who Died on the Battlefield: An Historical Novel Based on Truth (published in 2006), was written by a US-Pakistani resident and a young college student Mohammed Faisal Iftikhar. The novel claims that in recent history, Tipu Sultan is the only king who died on the battlefield.
Tipu Sultan appears as a "Great Person" in the video game, Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution.
In his historical novels on the Seringapatam captivity of Konkani Catholics by the Konkani littérateur V.J.P. Saldanha, Belthangaddicho Balthazar (Balthazar of Belthangady), Devache Krupen (By the Grace of God), Sardarachi Sinol (The sign of the Knights) and Infernachi Daram (The gates of Hell), Tipu is portrayed as cunning, haughty, hard-hearted, revengeful, yet full of self control.[65]
[edit] See alsoMysore invasion of Kerala
The Dreams of Tipu Sultan by Girish Karnad
Muslim warriors
Mughal weapons
[edit] Notes1.^ Brittlebank, p. 184
2.^ Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
3.^ a b Beatson, Alexander (1800). "Appendix No. XXXIII". A View of the Origin and Conduct of the War with Tippoo Sultaun. London: G. & W. Nichol. pp. ci-civ.. http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/digital/seringapatam/other/tipu.html.
4.^ Fortescue, John William (1902). A history of the British army, Volume 3. Macmillan. pp. 431–432. http://books.google.com/books?id=1GlKAAAAYAAJ&dq=cornwallis%20medows%20mysore&pg=PA546#v=onepage&q=cornwallis%20medows%20mysore&f=false.
5.^ National Galleries of Scotland
6.^ Tipu Sultan - Wars & Peace
7.^ a b c d Subramanian, K. R. (1928). The Maratha Rajas of Tanjore. pp. 64.
8.^ Subramanian, p. 65
9.^ Economic and Political Weekly, Tipu Sultan: Giving the Devil His Due, p. 2837
10.^ Prof. Sheik Ali. "Tipu Sultan - Step towards Economic development". Cal-Info. http://www.tipusultan.org/biog4c.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-17.
11.^ "Persian script of Tipu Sultan on the gateway to Krishnaraja Sagar Dam (KRS)". Cal-Info. http://www.tipusultan.org/script1.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-17.
12.^ a b http://www.islamicvoice.com/august.99/tippu.htm
13.^ Tricolor and crescent William E. Watson pp.13-14
14.^ a b Napoleon and Persia by Iradj Amini, p.12
15.^ Karsh, p.11
16.^ "View of the Hoally Gateway, where Tipu Sultan was killed, Seringapatam (Mysore)". British Library Online Gallery. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/other/019wdz000000138u00000000.html. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
17.^ "Description of the Burial of Tipu during a Severe Thunderstorm". Macquarie University Library. http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/digital/seringapatam/other/bayly2.html. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
18.^ a b Roddam Narasimha (1985). Rockets in Mysore and Britain, 1750-1850 A.D. National Aeronautical Laboratory and Indian Institute of Science.
19.^ Brittlebank, pp. 1-3
20.^ Phillip B. Wagoner "Tipu Sultan's Search for Legitimacy: Islam and Kingship in a Hindu Domain by Kate Brittlebank (Review)" The Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 58, No. 2 (May, 1999) pp. 541–543
21.^ a b Valath, V. V. K. (1981) (in Malayalam). Keralathile Sthacharithrangal - Thrissur Jilla. Kerala Sahithya Academy. pp. 74–79.
22.^ Brittlebank
23.^ Sharma, H.D. (January 16, 1991). The Real Tipu. Rishi Publications, Varanasi.
24.^ W. Kirkpatrick Select Letters of Tipu Sultan, London 1811
25.^ M. Wilks Report on the Interior Administration, Resources and Expenditure of the Government of Mysore under the System prescribed by the Order of the Governor-General in Council dated 4 September 1799, Bangalore 1864, and Historical Sketches of the South of India in an Attempt to Trace the History of Mysore, 2 vols, ed. M. Hammick, Mysore 1930.
26.^ C.C. Davies "Review of The History of Tipu Sultan by Mohibbul Hasan" in The English Historical Review Vol.68 No.266 (Jan, 1953) pp144-5
27.^ A. Subbaraya Chetty "Tipu's endowments to Hindus and Hindu institutions" in Habib (Ed.) Confronting Colonialism p111
28.^ Irfan Habib "War and Peace. Tipu Sultan's Account of the last Phase of the Second War with the English, 1783-4" State and Diplomacy Under Tipu Sultan (Delhi) 2001 p5; Mohibbul Hasan writes "The reasons why Tipu was reviled are not far to seek. Englishmen were prejudiced against him because they regarded him as their most formidable rival and an inveterate enemy, and because, unlike other Indian rulers, he refused to become a tributary of the English Company. Many of the atrocities of which he has been accused were allegedly fabricated either by persons embittered and angry on account of the defeats which they had sustained at his hands, or by the prisoners of war who had suffered punishments which they thought they did not deserve. He was also misrepresented by those who were anxious to justify the wars of aggression which the Company's Government had waged against him. Moreover, his achievements were belittled and his character blackened in order that the people of Mysore might forget him and rally round the Raja, thus helping in the consolidation of the new regime" The History of Tipu Sultan (Delhi) 1971 p368
29.^ Brittlebank, pp. 10-12. On page 2 she writes "it is perhaps ironic that the aggressive Hinduism of some members of the Indian Community in the 1990s should draw upon an image of Tipu which, as we shall see, was initially constructed by the Subcontinent's colonisers."
30.^ K.M. Panicker, Bhasha Poshini, August, 1923
31.^ a b Mysore gazetteer, Volume 2, Issue 4, Conjeeveram Hayavadana Rao (rao sahib), Benjamin Lewis Rice, Government Press, 1930, p. 2697
32.^ Mysore gazetteer, Volume 2, Issue 4, Conjeeveram Hayavadana Rao (rao sahib), Benjamin Lewis Rice, Government Press, 1930, p. 2698
33.^ Ali, Sheikh (2008-08-17). "Tipu had in him Italian Renaissance, German Reformation, French Revolution". TwoCircles.net. http://www.twocircles.net/2008aug17/tipu_had_him_italian_renaissance_german_reformation_french_revolution_dr_b_shaikh_ali.html. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
34.^ Hasan, The History of Tipu Sultan, pp. 362-3
35.^ Sampath, Vikram (2006-10-04). "He stuck to his dream of a united Mysore". Panorama (Deccan Herald). http://archive.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/oct42006/panorama152482006103.asp. Retrieved 2006-10-17.
36.^ Hasan, History of Tipu Sultan, pp. 357-8
37.^ Annual Report of the Mysore Archaeological Department 1916 pp10-11, 73-6
38.^ Hasan, History of Tipu Sultan, p. 359
39.^ B.A. Saletare "Tipu Sultan as Defender of the Hindu Dharma" in Habib (Ed.) Confronting Colonialism, pp. 116–8
40.^ A. Subbaraya Chetty, "Tipu's endowments to Hindus", pp. 111–115.
41.^ a b Ali, Sheikh. "Persian script of Tipu Sultan on the gateway to Krishnaraja Sagar Dam (KRS)". Biography of Tipu Sultan. Cal-Info. http://www.tipusultan.org/script1.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-17.
42.^ Stephen Conway, The British Isles and the War of American Independence, Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN 0198206593, M1 Google Print, p. 342.
43.^ N. Shyam Bhat, South Kanara, 1799–1860: a study in colonial administration and regional response, Mittal Publications, 1998, ISBN 8170995868, M1 Google Print, p. 2.
44.^ J. B. Prashant More, Religion and society in South India: Hindus, Muslims, and Christians, Institute for Research in Social Sciences and Humanities of MESHAR, 2006, ISBN 8188432121, M1 Google Print, p. 117.
45.^ "Deportation & The Konkani Christian Captivity at Srirangapatna (1784 Feb. 24th Ash Wednesday)". Daijiworld Media Pvt Ltd Mangalore. http://www.daijiworld.com/chan/achievers_view.asp?a_id=28. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
46.^ a b c d e Sarasvati's Children, Joe Lobo
47.^ Forrest 1887, pp. 314–316
48.^ The Gentleman's Magazine 1833, p. 388
49.^ "Christianity in Mangalore". Diocese of Mangalore. Archived from the original on 2008-06-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20080622155343/http://www.dioceseofmangalore.org/history.asp. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
50.^ John B. Monteiro. "Monti Fest Originated at Farangipet - 240 Years Ago!". Daijiworld Media Pvt Ltd Mangalore. http://www.daijiworld.com/chan/exclusive_arch.asp?ex_id=129. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
51.^ Bowring, p. 126
52.^ Scurry & Whiteway 1824, p. 103
53.^ Scurry & Whiteway 1824, p. 104
54.^ Account of a Surviving Captive, A Mr. Silva of Gangolim (Letter of a Mr. L.R. Silva to his sister, a copy of which was given by an advocate, M.M. Shanbhag, to the author, Severino da Silva, and reproduced as Appendix No. 74: History of Christianity in Canara (1965))
55.^ a b K.L. Bernard, Kerala History , pp.78-79
56.^ William Dalrymple White Mughals (2006) p.28
57.^ Holmes, Richard (2003). Wellington: The Iron Duke. Harper Collins. pp. 60. ISBN 0-00-713750-8.
58.^ Balakrishnan, Bijeesh (2011-04-17) (in Malayalam). ടിപ്പുവിന്റെ ആർച്ച. Malayala Manorama. pp. 1, 2.
59.^ http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/03/stories/2011050362330300.htm
60.^ Habib Beary, "Tipu's sword back in Indian hands", BBC News, April 7, 2004.
61.^ Brittlebank, K. (1995). "Sakti and Barakat: The Power of Tipu's Tiger. An Examination of the Tiger Emblem of Tipu Sultan of Mysore". Modern Asian Studies 29 (2): 257–269. doi:10.2307/312813.  edit
62.^ James, Lawrence. Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India. MacMillan. ISBN 9780312263829. http://books.google.com/books?id=xygrApPFw_4C&pg=PA67&dq=tipu+sultan+france&cd=20#v=onepage&q=tipu%20sultan%20france&f=false. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
63.^ "Tippoo's Tiger". Victoria & Albert Museum. 2004-04-11. http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/asia/object_stories/Tippoo's_tiger/index.html. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
64.^ "Tiger Motif". Macquarie University Library. https://www.library.mq.edu.au/digital/seringapatam/images/tiger/. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
65.^ Modern Indian literature, an anthology, Volume 2, Sahitya Akademy, p. 217
[edit] ReferencesBowring, Lewin (1899). Haidar Alí and Tipú Sultán, and the Struggle with the Musalmán Powers of the South. Oxford: Clarendon Press. OCLC 11827326. http://books.google.com/books?id=v80NAAAAIAAJ.
Brittlebank, Kate (1999). Tipu Sultan's Search for Legitimacy. Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195639773. OCLC 246448596.
Hasan, Mohibbul. History of Tipu Sultan. Aakar Books. ISBN 8187879572.
Subramanian, K. R (1928). The Maratha Rajas of Tanjore. Mylapore, Madras: self-published. OCLC 249773661.
[edit] Further reading Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tipu Sultan
Agrawal, Lion M. G. Freedom fighters of India. V3. 2008. This book contains a printing of an earlier version of this Wikipedia article.
Agha, Shamsu. Tipu Sultan", "Mirza Ghalib in London";, "Flight Delayed", Paperback, ISBN 0901974420
Ali, B Sheik. Tipu Sultan, Nyasanal Buk Trast
Amjad, Sayyid. ‘Ali Ashahri, Savanih Tipu Sultan, Himaliyah Buk Ha®us
Banglori, Mahmud Khan Mahmud. Sahifah-yi Tipu Sultan, Himālayah Pablishing Hā’ūs,
Bhagwan, Gidwami S (1976). The Sword of Tipu Sultan: a historical novel about the life and legend of Tipu Sultan of India. Allied Publishers. OCLC 173807200.  A fictionalized account of Tipu's life.
Buddle, Anne. Tigers Round the Throne, Zamana Gallery, ISBN 1869933028
Campbell, Richard Hamilton. Tippoo Sultan: The fall of Srirangapattana and the restoration of the Hindu raj, Govt. Press
Chinnian, P. Tipu Sultan the Great, Siva Publications
Habib, Irfan. State and Diplomacy Under Tipu Sultan: Documents and Essays, Manohar Publishers and Distributors, ISBN 818522952X
Hashimi, Sajjad. Tipu Sultan, Maktabah-yi Urdu Da®ijast
Home, Robert. Select Views in Mysore: The Country of Tipu Sultan from Drawings Taken on the Spot by Mr. Home, Asian Educational Services, India, ISBN 8120615123
Mohibbul Hasan. Tipu Sultan's Mission to Constantinople, Aakar Books, ISBN 8187879564
Moienuddin, Mohammad. Sunset at Srirangapatam: After the death of Tipu Sultan, Orient Longman, ISBN 8125019197
Pande, B. N. Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan: Evaluation of their religious policies (IOS series), Institute of Objective Studies
Siddiqi, Faiz Alam. Sultan Tipu Shahid, Buk Karnar
Strandberg, Samuel. Tipu Sultan: The Tiger of Mysore: or, to fight against the odds, AB Samuel Travel, ISBN 9163073331
Taylor, George. Coins of Tipu Sultan, Asian Educational Services, India, ISBN 8120605039
Wigington, Robin. Firearms of Tipu Sultan, 1783-99, J. Taylor Book Ventures, ISBN 1871224136
Confronting Colonialism: Resistance and Modernization Under Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan (Anthem South Asian Studies), Anthem Press, ISBN 1843310244
[edit] External linksTipu Sultan remembered on his 212th martyrdom anniversary - TCN News
Tipu Sultan: Villain or Hero?
Biography at StoryofPakistan.com
The Tiger of Mysore – Dramatised account of the British campaign against Tipu Sultan by G. A. Henty, from Project Gutenberg
Biography by Dr. K. L. Kamat
Coins of Tipu Sultan
Persondata
Name Sultan, Tipu
Alternative names 
Short description Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore
Date of birth 20 November 1750
Place of birth Devanahalli
Date of death 4 May 1799

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