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حيدر علي وتيبو سلطان: حكام ميسور في القرن الثامن عشر في مرحلة انتقالية
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Haidar ‘Ali and Tipu Sultan: Mysore's Eighteenth century Rulers in Transition
Kaveh Yazdani
Itinerario / Volume 38 / Issue 02 / August 2014, pp 101 120
With the exception of certain groups (e.g., uncompromising poligars100 and wealthy merchants, children of prostitutes, prisoners of war and forced labourers) and religious minorities (local Christians), Tipu acted toward his subjects like a benevolent autocrat. The fact that Tipu appears to have attached importance to the adequate attendance to wounded soldiers by paying them a fixed compensation, support Moor and Dirom’s assumptions about Tipu.101 In 1798, according to Colonel Wilks, Tipu recorded that, “To the widow and children of every man who shall fall in the battle, a maintenance equal to a fourth of the share so accruing, and a pay of the deceased martyr” had to be paid. In addition to this payment, “the widows and children of men who merely die on service, one quarter of gold fanam daily (about two and a half Rupees a month)” was due.102 Tipu was also concerned about the benevolent treatment of peasants.103 Tipu additionally proved his concern for disabled subjects in his Regulations of 1786: He intended to employ the blind and lame “for blowing the Bellows of Iron Works” and the ‘amil or ‘amildar was ordered to give them “something for their travelling charges.” Tipu took rudimen tary steps towards the abolition of slavery when he prohibited the sale of abandoned girls, eunuchs, orphans, and sex slaves. The ‘amil had to endow those categories of people and former prostitutes (who were made to quit their occupation) with daily portions of money and rice.104 In the face of such benevolence, the violence of Tipu’s despotism cannot be ignored. He committed war crimes against rebellious Muslim and Hindu subjects and massacred local Christians. He abused his prison ers of war and foreign artisans, tortured or assassinated undesirable persons and marginalised a number of other subjects.105
Despite Tipu’s expansion of Mysore by adding the territories of Adoni, Sanore, Koorke, Anagundi, Karpah, Kurnul, and Imtiazgur to it, his loss in the Third Anglo– Mysore War was a great watershed for him. The EIC pressed him into the Treaty of Seringapatam in 1792. Under the treaty, Tipu ceded half his territory (including the fertile lands of the Raichur Doab, spice-rich Malabar and the ports of Calicut and Cannanore) and paid an enormous amount in reparations. The burden of the British was very heavy from 1792 on. Tipu’s leadership became more and more repressive in order to raise the necessary taxes to pay off the EIC and prepare for future war. Tipu’s dreams dealt with his wars against the EIC and their allies.106 Tipu shared his father’s animosity towards the EIC and he wrote to the Compagnie des Indes that, “Our enemies (the English) are enemies of all the people of this coun try: there would be no regard for rights or justice: and if given the chance, they will seize everything, followed with a steadfast focus on their same intent to promise the same system of usurpation and aggrandizement.”107
French sources state that Tipu desired maintaining his father’s alliance with France until the British were forced out of India.108 While the rulers of other provinces were caught up in short-term considerations, Haidar and Tipu antici pated and realised the long-term dangers that emanated from the EIC. Tipu’s dreams bear witness to this danger and reveal that times of peace were the excep tion rather than the rule. A nearly continuous state of war accompanied him until British soldiers under the command of General George Harris on 4 May 1799 killed him while defending the fort of his capital.109
In the face of so much uninterrupted warfare, it is legitimate to ask how Haidar and Tipu managed to sustain power for nearly 40 years? The power basis on which Haidar and Tipu both stood was the military. Their deposing of the Wodeyar Dynasty, weakening the rural potentates, monopolising important trade commodi ties and debilitating powerful local merchants, along with a careful policy towards the Hindu majority, ensured that Haidar and, especially, Tipu upheld power.110 The military also helped being the backbone of Haidar’s and Tipu’s rule. This is appar ent from a letter the former prepared for the latter before he died: “My son…I leave you an Empire which I have not received from my ancestors. A sceptre acquired by violence is always fragile; meanwhile you will not find any obstacles in your family; you have no rivals among the Chiefs of the army. I do not leave you any enemies among my subjects. You have nothing to fear as regards the internal affairs of your state. But it is necessary to carry your vision very far.”111 Despite often chaotic polit ical circumstances, Tipu carried this vision far by improving agriculture, administra tion, foreign relations, the military establishment, infrastructure, commerce and manufacture in Mysore. Along with this vision, Tipu Sultan had a determination to maintain independence at any cost: “In this world I would rather live two days like a tiger, than two hundred years like a sheep.”112
Conclusion
Tipu had clear pre-modern characteristics. He was a patriarch who possessed a harem with servants, eunuchs, and 333 women.113 He showed prejudice against the children of prostitutes and ran an Islamic theocracy that discriminated against non Muslims in the administration, army, and taxation. He prohibited drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco or cannabis.114 Tipu neglected to modernise Mysore’s tradi tional education system. He established no universities, military and engineering schools during his reign. He was neither interested nor capable of modernising the political and judicial system according to principles such as equality before the law, the rule of law, principles of democracy and citizens’ rights. At the same time, he was very aware of the need to modernise the military, economic and technological structure of the country. He successfully continued his father’s proto-modernisation of the military establishment along European lines.115 He realised the importance of mechanical engineering and introduced boring machines.116 Tipu even appears to have built a condensing engine himself.117 He ordered the purchase of barometers, thermometers, spectacles, clocks, and a printer of books (chhapasaz) as well as printers who could print Arabic letters.118 Tipu thought that he could obtain miner al coal in the Ottoman domain and instructed officials to bring large quantities of “stone coal” (sang-i angisht) and ordered his embassies in Turkey and France to engage four experts who were willing to come to Mysore in order to explore the presence of coal ores.119 Watches seem to have played a practical purpose for time management of government officials.120 Tipu engaged 30 or 32 French experts in order to foster mechanical knowledge and as already mentioned, he demanded help in compiling and translating 45 new books from his British prisoners.121 All this suggests that Tipu Sultan was neither pre-modern nor modern, but a person who, like his father Haidar, reflected the contradictions of a society in transition.
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Notes
* Kaveh Yazdani received his PhD degree in social sciences (Sozialwissenschaften) at the University of Osnabrück in 2014. His scholar ly interests include the “Great Divergence” debate and the history of South and West Asia between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.
1 Sinha, Haidar Ali, 233.
2 M.M.D.L.T., The History of Hyder Shah, 37–8; Shama Rao, Modern Mysore, vol. 1, 26; Guha, Pre-British State System, 35, 61–2; Habib, “Introduction,” xix, xx, xxii.
3 Habib, “Introduction,” xxii.
4 Hasan, History of Tipu, 362, 357; Sen, “Pre British Economic Formation,” 48.
5 Ali, Tipu Sultan, 68, 71.
6 Brittlebank, Tipu Sultan’s Search, 125. 7 Habib, “Introduction,” xxxiv–xxxv.
8 It has been claimed that Haidar descended from the Quraish of Mecca, the same tribe as Prophet Mohammed, but this could have well been a fabricated pedigree to strengthen his legitimacy. According to Bowring, Haidar’s father, Fath Mohammad, married two sisters after his first marriage. The younger sister was supposed to have been Haidar’s mother, but no mention is made of her name. It is only indicated that the father of the sisters was a Navayat of the race of Hashim (great grandfather of the Prophet Mohammed). M.M.D.L.T, The History of Hyder Shah, 33–4; Kirmani, The History of Hydur Naik, 1–11; Bowring, Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan, and the Struggle with the Musalman Powers of the South, 12–3; Hasan, History of Tipu Sultan (1951), 3. For biographical facts on Haidar ‘Ali, see also Sinha, Haidar Ali; Ali, English Relations with Haidar Ali. For a summary, see Habib, “Introduction.”
9 For the “Sufi plebeian” social origin, see Barun De, “The Ideological and Social Background of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan,” 3. Concerning the plebeian origin, De writes, “it is certain that his more proximate forefa thers were dargah [shrine at a Sufi master’s tomb] servitors, then land managers, then petty warriors…This was a social position far below the elite compradores of colonialism in the eighteenth-century Indian ruling class in Hyderabad, the Maratha Confederacy, Awadh or Bengal. Indeed this ancestry was not even that of “service gentry,” that is “petty rural, madad-i-maash grantees, prebendaries, or the now semi-permanent taluqdars [land
owner] or jagirdars.” With regard to his Sufi origin, De, for example, mentions that one of Haidar’s forefathers was a wandering dervish or that, when his wife was pregnant, they vis ited the tomb of the Sufi master, Tipu Mastan Aulia, in Arcot, in order to pray for a safe
birthing and the delivery of a son (4–5). 10 Hasan, History (1951), 4; Kirmani, The History of Hydur Naik, 10.
11 Hasan, History (1951), 5; Chhabra, Advance Study in the History of Modern India, 271. However, Hasan does not indicate how the boys were tortured.
12 Hasan, History, 3–4.
13 Sinha, Haidar Ali, 17; Hasan, History (1951), 5–7; Kirmani, The History of Hydur Naik, 11–7, 20–1; Wilks, Historical Sketches, 167, 173.
14 M.M.D.L.T., The History of Hyder Shah, 34–5, 38–9.
15 Wilks, Historical Sketches, vol. 1, 220–1, 229; Hasan, History (1951), 7.
16 Shortly after the reconciliation, Devraj died in mid-1757.Wilks, Historical Sketches, vol. 1, 225–7. According to Wilks (227), Haidar was able to pay the troops because he “seized on all the accountants, and by threats and tor ture compelled them to produce the true accounts. By these means he was enabled in the course of a few days to discharge four thousand horse, and a large amount of other rabble.” Furthermore, “he caused all but the most extravagant and indigent [chiefs] to be seized after their departure as the ringleaders of the late mutiny, and plundered of all their property as a forfeiture to the State.”
17 Wilks, Historical Sketches, vol. 1, 228–32; Hasan, History (1951), 7–8.
18 Designation used for a variety of different types of landlords or petty chiefs, independ ent of the imperial power or provincial gov ernment. Zamindars had a right to the share of peasant produce and to collect revenues from the tenants and cultivators, while they also paid a negotiated sum of land revenue to the government.
19 Qureshi, Tipu Sultan’s Embassy to Constantinople, 73; Habib, “Introduction,” xx, xxi. For the conditions that enabled Haidar’s military success and territorial expansion, see Sen, The French in India, 20.
20 M.M.D.L.T., The History of Hyder Shah, 17. 21 Rao, History of Mysore, vol. 3, 395. 22 FSH: AFSt/M 2 E 17: 13: Reisetagebuch von
Christian Friedrich Schwartz, Tiruchirapalli 1779,. 96–7; AN: C/2/304: Reponse, 32 ; C/2/162: Portrait du Prince heider-ali-kan, 34;
Wilks, Historical Sketches, vol. 1, 526. 23 M.M.D.L.T., The History of Hyder Shah, 17. 24 Ibid., 19–21; FSH: AFSt/M 2 E 17: 13:
Reisetagebuch von Christian Friedrich Schwartz, Tiruchirapalli 1779, 96–7; Wilks, Historical Sketches, vol. 1, 525.
25 Schubert, Christian Friedrich Schwartz, der Sendbote des Evangeliums in Indien, 65; Wilks, Historical Sketches, vol. 1, 525.
26 It has not been indicated who the orphans were. FSH: AFSt/M 1 B 74: 31: Reisebericht von Christian Friedrich Schwartz an [Unbekannt], Tanjore 1779; AFSt/M 2 E 17: 13: Reisetagebuch von Christian Friedrich Schwartz, Tiruchirapalli 1779, 96–7; Schubert, Christian Friedrich Schwartz, 67, 69; According to Wilks’ translation, the 300 rupees were paid to cover his travel expenses. Wilks, Historical Sketches, vol. 1, 527. Furthermore, Wilks argued that “This strange misapprehension is a singular example of the good father’s credulity. The persons, whose situation excited this eulogium on Hyder’s humanity were the chelas, captive slaves…converts, in imitation of the Turkish Janissaries (new soldiers), which, under the name of the chela battalions arrived at matu rity, and were so much augmented during the government of his successor” (527, 407). Interestingly, when Haidar’s war captive James Bristow was captured in early 1781, he wrote that “I was put to exercise a number of Slave boys with Sticks made in the form of wooden firelocks, on our refusing to do this at first our Subsistance was stopped for three days and we were threatened to be starved to Death if we refused.” FSH: AFSt/M 2 A 2: 18: “Escape from Captivity. Narrative given by Bristow, whose escape from Tippoos, Dominions, was mentioned in a former Calcutta Paper and who is now there,” Calcutta Gazette 30.6.1791. See also Bristow, A Narrative of the Sufferings of James Bristow, 41.
27 FSH: AFSt/M 2 E 17: 13: Reisetagebuch von Christian Friedrich Schwartz, Tiruchirapalli 1779, 96–7; Wilks, Historical Sketches, vol. 1, 526. See also Schubert, Christian Friedrich Schwartz, 67.
28 FSH: AFSt/M 2 E 17: 13: Reisetagebuch von Christian Friedrich Schwartz, Tiruchirapalli 1779, 96–7; Schubert, Christian Friedrich Schwartz, 65; Wilks, Historical Sketches, vol. 1, 525.
29 Sprengel, Leben Hyder Allys, v.
30 ADAE: Asie; Mémoire et Document; Indes Orientales et Colonies Françaises (1738–84),
Vol. 7: Réflexions sur les Evénements qui arrive[ent] dans l’Inde. Un seul homme est en état d’en tirer les plus grand avantages, 29.5.1781, 338.
31 As Bowring pointed out, “the Madras Government consented to a stipulation that in case either of the contracting parties should be attacked by other powers, mutual assistance should be rendered to drive the enemy out.” Bowring, Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan, 58.
32 IOR: H/170: Translation of a Conversation between the Nabob Hyder ally Cawn and Shinas Row a person sent to him by Sir Eyre Coote at his reputed request held near Dubey Gur on the 14. and 15.7.1782, 596–7.
33 FSH: AFSt/M 1 B 71: 31: Brief von Christian Friedrich Schwartz an Johann Friedrich Sorge, Tanjore, 09.10.1780. See also Schubert, Christian Friedrich Schwartz, 66, 75. As Sinha affirmed, Haidar “solicited the assistance of the Company again and again.” After almost two years of war between Mysore and the Marathas, “the Madras Government at last asked him what money and provisions he could provide if they were to assist him.” Sinha, “Mysore: Haidar ‘Ali and Tipu Sultan,” 458.
34 Quoted in Qureshi, “Tipu Sultan’s Embassy to Constantinople,” 70.
35 Buchanan, A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar, 300.
36 FSH: AFSt/M 1 B 71: 30: Brief von Christian Friedrich Schwartz an Johann Friedrich Sorge, Tanjore, 1780; AFSt/M 1 B 71: 33: Brief von Christian Friedrich Schwartz an Friedrich Wilhelm Pasche, Tanjore, 10.10.1780.
37 Innes Munro, A Narrative of the Military Operations of the Coromandel Coast: Against the combined Forces of the French, Dutch, and Hyder Ally Cawn, From the year 1780 to the Peace in 1784, 119.
38 Irshad Husain Baqai, “The Death of Haidar Ali,” 13.
39 I have encountered the earliest version of this letter in Michaud, History of Mysore Under Hyder Ali and Tippoo Sultan, 47–8. However, it cannot be excluded that the letter is a fabrication.
40 Stewart, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Oriental Library of the late Tippoo Sultan of Mysore, 43.
41 Stewart, A Descriptive Catalogue, 44. 42 Ibid.; Hasan, History (1951), 10–1. 43 James was the brother of William Kirkpatrick and at the age of 29 had already spent four teen years in the Company’s Madras army. He was fluent in Persian, Hindustani, Tamil and Telugu. Dalrymple, White Mughals, 77–8. Quoted in Ibid., 77–8. A similar statement has been made by a French official who wrote that “Tipou-Sultan, né au milieu des armes, qui depuis sa plus tendre enfance n’a cessé de faire la guerre.” ADAE: Asie; Mémoire et Document; Indes Orientales et Colonies Francaises (1687–1810), vol. 4, 403.
44 Rao, Memoirs of Hyder and Tippoo, Rulers of Seringapatam, Written in the Mahratta Language, 33.
45 Stewart, A Descriptive Catalogue, 43. According to Rao, Tipu’s “education had been perverted and did not include, as Haidar intended, the science of politics or the art of conquering countries and making mutually advantageous treaties with neighbours and enemies…he was educated under a Maulvi [Islamic scholar] who instilled more religion than culture into him.” Rao, History of Mysore, vol. 3, 1054.
46 Stewart, A Descriptive Catalogue, 43; Khan, “State Intervention in the Economy: Tipu’s Orders to Revenue Collectors, 1792–97: A Calendar,” 68.
47 It was reported that the French general Lescallier told Tipu about the events of the French Revolution: “Le Cit. Lescallier…est parvenu à lui donner des idées saines de la révolution francaise.” AN: C/2/304: Exposé de nos liason avec Tipou-Sultan, 1795, 23. According to Hasan, the Civil Commissioner of Pondicherry, Lescallier, “deputed two agents who explained to him the significance of the French Revolution.” Hasan, History, 283. This ritual was basically strategic so as to be assisted by revolutionary France against the EIC. It is interesting to mention that on the arrival of Ripaud and other Frenchmen to Srirangaptna, Tipu ordered a salute to be fired and told Ripaud that “By this public acknowledgement of your national standard, I give you a proof of my affection for it. I declare myself its Ally, and promise you that it shall be as firmly supported throughout my dominions as it has ever been in those of the Republic, my Sister.” What is more, Ripaud proposed the following oath, which was taken by the attenders: “Citizens, do you swear hatred to all Kings, except Tippoo Sultaun the Victorious, the Ally of the French Republic, War against Tyrants; and Love to our Country, and the citizen Tippoo.” Official documents, relative to the negotiations carried on by
Tippoo Sultaun...to which is added, Proceedings of a Jacobin Club, formed at Seringapatam by the French Soldiers in the Corps commanded by M. Dompart, 187–8, 190–1. For a critique of the use of the term “Jacobin Club,” see Boutier, “Les lettres de créances du corsair Ripaud.” A number of late eighteenth-century Indian members of the intelligentsia were informed about the French Revolution. Abu Taleb, for instance, the scholar from Lucknow, gave a concise description of the Revolution and according to Khan sympathised with the revolutionaries. Stewart, Travels, vol. 2, 178–81; Khan, Indian Muslim Perceptions, 47.
48 IOR: 19016; MSS Eur B 276: Anonymous let ter, “Camp at Gariahguanelly,” 2nd June 1799. However, it has to be pointed out that, in the 1780s, the library in Lucknow had 300,000 volumes. Khan, “Technology and the Question of Elite Intervention,” 265. According to the eighteenth-century contem porary ‘Abd al-Latif, the library of Lucknow even contained 600,000 volumes. Khan, Indian Muslim Perception, 22.
49 Stewart, A Descriptive Catalogue, v. 50 Among these hukm namahs, there was a treatise dealing with the codes and regula tions for spies and the Intelligence Department (Hukm Namah-i Jasusan), a treatise on Tipu’s orders to physicians work ing in hospitals and a treatise on Tipu’s orders to the officials in charge of Karkhanas (workshops). Hosain, “The Library of Tipu Sultan,” 154 and 156.
51 Husain (tr.), The Dreams of Tipu Sultan. 52 Hosain, “The Library of Tipu Sultan,” 152, 160.
53 Khan, “The Awadh Scientific Renaissance,” 279.
54 It was under the reign of Tipu that Persian was introduced as the language of the court and government. Brittlebank, Tipu Sultan’s Search, 121.
55 For an analysis of this work, see Alam and Subrahmanyam, Indo-Persian Travels, 314ff. 56 Stewart, A Descriptive Catalogue, 142, 144, 146-7, 149, 151-2.
57 Ibid., 379.
58 IOR: MSS Eur E 196 (Neg 7622): Kirkpatrick to the Earl of Mornington, Fort St. George, 8th Aug. 1799; Stewart, A Descriptive Catalogue, v, 100.
59 Stewart, A Descriptive Catalogue, 113. 60 Ibid., 97, 113.
61 Anonymous, Official Documents, Relative to the Negotiations Carried on by Tippoo Sultaun, 13.
62 Kausar, Secret Correspondence of Tipu Sultan, 306.
63 Hasan, History, 379; Michaud, History of Mysore, 48.
64 Kirkpatrick, Select Letters, 454–5 ; Hasan, History, 123–4 note 7; Ali, Tipu, 137; Habib, “Introduction;” Habib, State and Diplomacy under Tipu Sultan. Documents and Essays.
65 Basalla, The Evolution of Technology, 131. 66 IOR: MSS Eur C 10: Tippoo’s Court. According to Qasim, Tipu wore a fob watch. Brittlebank, Tipu Sultan’s Search, 117. 67 M.M.D.L.T., The History of Hyder Shah, 199, 202–3.
68 Anonymous, Narratives Sketches of the Conquest of the Mysore, 98.
69 Dirom, A Narrative of the Campaign in India which Terminated the War with Tipoo Sultan in 1792, 153.
70 Buchanan, A Journey, 70.
71 Habib, “Introduction,” xliv.
72 Buchanan, A Journey, 70.
73 After Tipu lost the Third Anglo–Mysore War and signed the Treaty of Seringapatam (1792), he had to give away two of his legiti mate sons (aged five and eight) as hostages until he paid the reparations of three crores and three lakhs.
74 Bell, The Madras School, or, Elements of Tuition, 167, 241. Smith writes that he “taught the arz-begs every experiment that the apparatus can admit of being performed” (236).
75 Ibid., 234–5.
76 Ibid., 235–6.
77 Buchanan, A Journey, vol. 1–3; “Regulations”; Chicherov, India; Sen, “A Pre British Economic Formation.”
78 AN: C/2/187: Ruffin à Monseigneur, Brest 15.11.1788, 18. The French officer, Mr. Ruffin, explained the failure of sending the child to France with the following argument: Tipu’s emissary, Osman Khan, may have “controuvé, éxagéré, ou simplement mani festé sans y avoir été autorisé, le propos qu’il nous a dit avoir entendu de la bouche de son maitre?” At the same time, Ruffin wrote that he did not have any difficulty in convincing Osman of the indecency, the countless dan gers and the impossibility of financing this enterprise. Indeed, Osman “a toujours évité de prononcer qu’il faudroit le [Tipu’s son] pousser jusques là. C’est un point à obtenir ici, du jeune Prince lui-même et par grada tion.” For a translation of Ruffin’s and other letters, see Venkatesh, The Correspondence
of the French during the Reign of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, 1788 to 1789, vol. 3, 200–6. According to Hasan, the French approved of the idea, but expected that Tipu’s son would learn how to read and write French and also learn some calculus and arithmetic before his arrival. Relating to the failure of sending the boy to France, Hasan has argued that the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Mysore War and the Treaty of Seringapatam, includ ing the hostage-taking of two of his sons, pre vented its realisation. Hasan, History, 377–8. Interestingly, according to Sridharan, Tipu expected a French boy to come to study in Mysore in return. M.P. Sridharan, “Tipu’s Drive towards Modernization: French Evidence from the 1780s,” 144.
79 Hasan, History (1951), 27.
80 Brittlebank, Tipu Sultan’s Search, 61. 81 It is a robe of honour, indicating social and political acknowledgement and increased reputation. See Gordon, Robes of Honour: Khil’at in Pre-Colonial and Colonial India. 82 Brittlebank, Tipu Sultan’s Search, 121; “The Mysorean Revenue Regulations,” 45–7 (§ 74–76). These regulations were dedicated to the ‘amils and serishtadars of Wamlur, dependent on the cutchehry of Awulpatam and contained 127 clauses. Henceforth: “Regulations” (Wamlur); IOR: H/251: Translation of Regulations of Tippoo Sultaun for the Management of his Country: directed to the Aumils and Serishtadars now in office as well as those who may hereafter be employed in the District of Raicottah subordi nate to the cutcherry of Bangalore (by Francis Gladwin), dated the first of the month Ahmedy of the year Delow, in the hand writ ing of Hassan Moonshy, writer to Lallah Gobindroy, employed by the Dewan of the royal Cutcherry. These regulations contained 125 clauses. Henceforth: “Regulations” (Raicottah). These regulations are very impor tant, but should not be overvalued since, as John Malcolm observed, Tippoo has varied in many points at different periods from the mode of management which was prescribed” in the Mysorean Revenue Regulations. Martin, The Despatches, Minutes, and Corres pondance, of the Marquess Wellesley, vol. 1, 655. For Tipu’s new calendar, see Kirkpatrick, Select Letters of Tippoo Sultan to Various Public Functionaries, appendix, xxvi–xxxvii. According to Hasan, “he abolished the Muslim calendar with its lunar years, because it was administratively inconvenient, and introduced instead, a calendar based on luni-solar years.” Hasan, History, 377.
83 Yazdani, Modernity, ch. 2.9.
84 Qureshi, “Tipu Sultan’s Embassy to Constantinople,” 73–5; Habib, “Intro duction,” xxiv. For Mysore’s relationship with Afghanistan and Iran, see Yazdani, Modernity, ch. 2.8.3.
85 Monneron did not specify what he meant by “practice of Islam,” but we know that Tipu regularly performed his prayers and read books on religion and history before going to sleep. Hasan, History, 370-–1.
86 Hasan, History, 370–1.
87 ADAE: Asie; Mémoire et Document; Indes Orientales et Chine, Cochinchine (1784–86), Vol. 18: Copie de la Lettre de M. P. Monneron à M. de Cossigny en date de Pondichery le 14.7.1786, 294–5 ; AN: C/2/191: Mr. De Fresne, à Pondichery, 4.11.1789, 105; Hasan, History, 370.
88 Hasan, History, 373, 375.
89 Ibid., 330.
90 IOR: H/436: Captain Taylor, On the state of affairs in India, 1791, 142–3.
91 Kirkpatrick, Select Letters, Appendix, 12. 92 IOR: H/685: George Forster, Account of the principle Country Powers in Hindustan, Charlotte Street, Portland Place 10.5.1785, 30.
93 AN: C/2/172: Cossigny: A Pondichery le 5.7.1786, 46.
94 Hasan, History (1951), 27; Hasan, History, 374; Qureshi, “Tipu Sultan’s Embassy to Constantinople,” 71. Dirom, A Narrative of the Campaign in India, 249–50.
95 Quoted in Teltscher, India Inscribed: European and British Writing on India 1600–1800, 231.
96 For the orientalist approach of British accounts vis-à-vis Tipu Sultan, see Teltscher, India Inscribed, ch. 7. See also Stig Förster, “4. Mai 1799: Der Kampf um Srirangapatna und der Tod des Tipu Sultan,” 115–32, 121–3.
97 Founded in 1600.
98 Moor, A Narrative of the Operations… against the Nawab Tippoo Sultan Bahadur, 193.
99 Dirom, A Narrative, 250.
100 A sort of zamindar with the hereditary right to collect revenues.
101 Kirkpatrick, Select Letters, Appendix, 133, 150, 156, 298. According to Kirkpatrick, the zakhm-putty, or compensation to the wounded soldiers, “is a custom pretty gen eral in the native armies of India” (151). Hasan has confirmed that he granted
in’ams to the relatives of those soldiers who died in battle. Hasan, History, 374.
102 Wilks, Historical Sketches, vol. 3, 306. Rs 2 ½ were about 5 shillings. I have used the Marteau Early 18th-Century Currency Converter: http://www.pierre-marteau.com/ currency/converter/mog-eng.html
103 Yazdani, Modernity, ch. 2.3.2.
104 ‘Amil or ‘Amildar: Finance administrator of a pargana (smallest administrative subdivi sion or a district). In Tipu Sultan’s Mysore, he was the head of a district in charge of justice, revenue collection, the well-being of peasants and the supply of provisions and military stores to the commandants of the forts. “Regulations” (Raicottah), 234–5, 252–3; “Regulations” (Wamlur), 52 (§ 85), 67 (§ 102); Moienuddin, Sunset at Sriran gapatam: After the Death of Tipu Sultan, 10.
105 Yazdani, Modernity, chs. 2.8, 2.9. 106 Husain, The Dreams of Tipu Sultan. See especially dream nos. I, III, VII, XI, XIV, XX, XXI, XXIV, XXV, XXVIII, XXIX, XXXII, XXXVI. Needless to say, Tipu’s dreams merely rep resented a selection of his overall dreams. He penned 37 of them, which were written in Persian.
107 ADAE: Asie; Mémoire et Document; Indes Orientales et Chine, Cochinchine (1792–1814), vol. 20: Lescallier (signé): Indes affaires Politiques et Sècrettes, 153.
108 ADAE: Asie; Mémoire et Document; Indes Orientales et Possessions Francaises (1785–1826), vol. 11: Proposition qu’on dit faites par Tipou-Sultan, à la République Francaise, 5eme Jour de la Lune de Chaban, l’an 1201 de l’Hégire: par hesnaly Khan, Envoyé de Tipou-Sultan, 167.
109 It has been argued that, in 1797/8, the EIC switched to preventive imperialism. However, neither Tipu’s increased anti British activities nor the French invasion of Egypt posed an immediate threat to the British possessions in India. They were rather used as pretexts to attack the king dom of Mysore. Förster, Die mächtigen Diener, 31–2, 384–6; Ingram, Commit ment to Empire: Prophecies of the Great Game in Asia, 1797–1800. Officially, Tipu was survived by twelve sons and maybe up to eight daughters. Hasan, History (2005), 372; SA: Book Nr. 1717 (335/18205/1717): “Assi Seyed Hossein Afa’eneh (also known as Seyed Hossein Monshi), Zafar Namah Haidari, 08.03.1900, 145–6. However Martin wrote that Tipu left three legitimate and seventeen “illegitimate” children, while 24 died before him. Martin, The British Colonies, 383.
110 Yazdani, Modernity, chs. 2.3, and 2.4. 111 Quoted in Michaud, History of Mysore, 47. 112 Beatson, A View of the Origin, 153–4.
There is also a slightly different version of this dictum that reads as follows: “One day’s life of a lion is preferable to hundred years’ existence of a jackal.” For this ver sion, see Ahmad, Hundred Great Muslims, 593; Ali, Tipu Sultan: A Study in Diplomacy and Confrontation, 5.
113 Brittlebank, Tipu Sultan’s Search, 24. 114 “Regulations” (Raicottah), 267–8, 181, 233. 115 Hasan, History; Guha, Pre-British State
System; Habib, “Introduction”; Barua, The State of War; Roy, War, Culture, Society. 116 Moor, A Narrative, 479.
117 Bell, The Madras School, or, Elements of Tuition, 234–5.
118 AN: C/2/174: Traduction de l’Office présen té au Roi pour les ambassadeurs de Tippo Sultan, 30.7.1788, 255; AN: C/2/236:
Cossigny: Pondichery le 4.5.1786 , 53; Traduction d’une Lettre du Nabob Tipou Sultan à Mr. De Cossigny, Gouverneur de Pondichery, en date du 21.10.1786, 267; Venkatesh, Correspondence of the French, 210–1, 278–81; Habib, State and Diplomacy under Tipu Sultan. Documents and Essays, xix; Sridharan, “Tipu’s Drive towards Modernization: French Evidence from the 1780s,” 145; Husain, “The Diplomatic Vision of Tipu Sultan,” 57 (61a); Lafont, Indika, 168.
119 Husain, “The Diplomatic Vision of Tipu Sultan,” 26, 32–3, 36–7, 42, 53 (3b, 16b, 6b, 7a–b, 52b, 10b, 11b, 61b); Ali, Tipu, 137.
120 “Regulations” (Raicottah), 253.
121 FSH: AFSt/M 2 A 2: 18: “Escape from Captivity. Narrative given by Bristow, whose escape from Tippoos, Dominions, was mentioned in a former Calcutta Paper and who is now there,” Calcutta Gazette 30.6.1791; Bristow, A Narrative, 104.
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