#tipusultan #hyder #hyderali #mysore #eastindiacompany – Rana Safvi https://ranasafvi.com A blog exploring India's Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb or its rich multi plural multi cultural heritage via its adab, tehzeeb & tareekh Wed, 26 Apr 2023 04:42:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 https://ranasafvi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/image-7-75x75.jpg #tipusultan #hyder #hyderali #mysore #eastindiacompany – Rana Safvi https://ranasafvi.com 32 32 179612229 The battle of Pollilur: between Tipu Sultan and the British https://ranasafvi.com/the-battle-of-pollilur-between-tipu-sultan-and-the-british/ https://ranasafvi.com/the-battle-of-pollilur-between-tipu-sultan-and-the-british/#respond Wed, 26 Apr 2023 04:42:37 +0000 https://ranasafvi.com/?p=38302 last year, the painting of this battle made news as it was sold in a London auction house.
I was slated to travel to Seringapatnam and so followed the events closely. That painting was probably a preparatory painting for the huge mural on the wall of Tipu Sultan ‘s summer palace called Daria Daulat bagh in Seringapatnam / Srirangapatna.
But first a background of that battle.
Tipu Sultan was the first Hindustani ruler to recognise the threat that the British East India company posed to Hindustan. Calling him a nationalist etc would not be correct as the Hindustan of those days wasn’t the nation that India is today.

Since Hyder Ali & Tipu both understood the importance of technology in their army if they were to oppose the British, they recruited French in the army. With French help he introduced European economic, industrial and farming methods to Seringapatam, built a network of new roads, formed a State Trading Company with ships and factories located across the Middle East and established sericulture. Mysore silk is famous even today.
Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan fought four wars against the British East India company called Anglo-Mysore wars.
The Mysore faction was helped by the Martha’s and the Nizam of Hyderabad in the first two wars and the results were decisively in favour of the father-son duo.
The Battle of Pollilur was part of the second Anglo-Mysore war and the most comprehensive defeat inflicted on the British in India.
The famous battle of Pollilur took place in 1780 near Kanjipuram between Tipu Sultan and Lt Col Baillie of British EIC. Baillie and many of his officers were captured and taken to the Mysore capital at Seringapatam.
The use of superior tactics and rockets by Tipu sealed the fate of the EIC. The rockets used used by the British.by Tipu Sultan were the first rockets of metallic origin to be used in warfare and superior to the one used by the British. The use of iron tubes for holding the propellant enabled higher thrust and longer range for the missile (up to 2 km range).
The British later studied the Mysorean rockets and developed the Congreve rockets.
Tipu Sultan even wrote a military manual called Fathul Mujahidin where he describes that each Mysorean brigade was assigned 200 rocket men and there were16 to 24 brigades of infantry.
Former President of India Abdul Kalam called Tipu the “a hero of warfare rocketry” an was fascinated to see that a painting glorified him in NASA while have forgotten him.
This mural on walls of Daria Daulat bagh palace depict the battle.
The mural showed Tipu Sultan ‘s pride in his victory and was meant for public viewing as it was on an outer wall. It was a visual symbol of his imperial position

]]> https://ranasafvi.com/the-battle-of-pollilur-between-tipu-sultan-and-the-british/feed/ 0 38302 “Dervish Leading a Bear”, by Govardhan Folio from the Shah Jahan Album,recto: ca. 1630–40; verso: ca. 1530–40_ Met Museum https://ranasafvi.com/dervish-leading-a-bear-by-govardhan-folio-from-the-shah-jahan-albumrecto-ca-1630-40-verso-ca-1530-40_-met-museum/ Tue, 26 Mar 2019 01:04:12 +0000 https://ranasafvi.com/dervish-leading-a-bear-by-govardhan-folio-from-the-shah-jahan-albumrecto-ca-1630-40-verso-ca-1530-40_-met-museum/

Gallery Text :

This painting of a dervish reflects the Mughal interest in holy men. Prince Dara-Shikoh, Shah Jahan’s eldest son, became a serious student of these spiritual beliefs and this painting was most likely executed under his patronage. 
A dervish wearing a brown animal fur covering, earrings, bangles, an anklet leads a dark brown bear by a leash. The red earing and iron bangles are customary accessories worn by dervishes of the Qalandar and Haydari orders. His forearms and chest are dotted with markings, caused by self-inflicted burns. These marks, known as dagh (hot) in Persian, demonstrate faithfulness and love for God. 
The scene suggests an allegory familiar to Sufis in which the higher self (here perhaps symbolized by the dervish) struggles to overcome his baser instincts (the bear). His burns, ragged garb, fasting, and wandering give him strength in this struggle. 
The Shah Jahan Album, also known as the Emperor’s Album, features fifty illustrated and calligraphic folios, forty-one of which belong to the Metropolitan Museum, and nine of which reside in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art. 
In lower part of second border around the portrait, Shah Jahan’s handwriting identifies this as “Work of Govardhan.”

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/451258

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