November 9, 2021 • 21 mins
At the end of the 1700s, Tipu Sultan was the leader of the Kingdom of Mysore, facing off against the encroaching invasion of the British East India Trading Company. Today, Tipu's legacy is complicated and still confused with propaganda and mythology. Was he a crusading hero, or a religious bigot?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener discretion is advised.
Let's imagine for a moment that you're spending an afternoon
in London, and why not let's make it one of
(00:20):
those perfect days at the beginning of winter, right when
it starts to snow, but the snow is still new
and white and hasn't gone muddy brown in the streets yet.
You look at your watch or i suppose your phone,
and do you see that you have a few hours
before you're scheduled to meet a friend in a pub
where you'll sit by a fireplace drinking mold wine, and
(00:44):
so to kill the time before your perfect English evening,
and to lessen the chill just starting in your toes,
you dip through the beautiful ornate stone entrance way to
the Victoria and Albert Museum on Cromwell Road. The Vienna
Museum has an eclectic but gorgeous permanent collection, showcasing objects
(01:06):
from across centuries. One exhibit has theatrical costumes from decades
of shows. There are robes in McLellan ware performing Shakespeare.
An original puppet from the London production of war Horse.
One room is dedicated exclusively to cartoons or designs for
tapestries from the Renaissance master Raphael, but a slightly less
(01:30):
showy room. If you turned left walking through the main
hallway would bring you to room forty one, in which
the museum houses its artifacts from South Asia, and in
which you'd see what is, in my estimation, one of
the most interesting single objects on display in the entire museum.
(01:53):
In the center of room forty one, behind a protective
glass wall, stands in artifa act called Tippoo's Tiger. It's
a carved wooden tiger from the seventeen hundreds, almost life sized,
nearly six ft long. The tiger is beautifully painted with
(02:14):
patterned stripes in black and gold that look almost like Paisley.
A hidden compartment on the side of the tiger reveals
a small organ that's still playable with keys. Beneath the
tiger is a second wooden figure. It's a man being
mauled to death by the tiger. If you turn a
(02:35):
crank on the figure, the man's arms move and he
makes dying moans. He's identified by the museum as a European,
but the intent was almost certainly that he was British.
The automatone tiger was one of the prized possessions of
the Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysor at the end
(02:56):
of the eighteenth century. Tippoo Sultan, who fought against the
encroaching power of the British East India Company during a
series of Anglo Mysore Wars. Tippoo was one of the
few Indian leaders to achieve decisive victories in battles against
the British, and he became known as the Tiger of Mysore.
(03:19):
His emblems were all tiger themed and stripes decorated many
of his weapons and banners. That the wooden tiger, formerly
belonging to the Tiger of Mysoor, now sits behind glass
in a British museum, feet away from where they sell
tea and SCons for a genteel picnic in the museum's
courtyard seems to me something a little beyond irony, a
(03:44):
metaphor for the impact of imperialism disguised behind civility and
well maintained museum facilities. But before you begin raising the
banner for Tippoo Sultan, he was also a complicated figure
whose own legacy is currently be debated. In the present
day Indian state of Carnatica. It would be easy to
(04:05):
saunter through the Victoria and Albert Museum, note the interesting
centuries old autonomouton, and continue walking along without fully understanding
who the man was who had had the strange mechanical
animal built. Neither fully hero nor fully villain. Tippoo Sultan
is one of history's most enigmatic military leaders, the prince
(04:29):
of a dying nation who roared before his ultimate defeat.
I'm Dana Schwartz and this is noble blood. Tippoo Sultan
was born on the first of December in seventeen fifty one,
(04:50):
just six years before the East India Company would begin
its company rule in India on behalf of the British Empire.
He was born in Devon Holly, which is located to
the north of present day Bangalore. He was the eldest
son and ostensible heir to a man named hyder Ali.
Though hyder Ali was a Muslim in a predominantly Hindu population,
(05:13):
he rose to his position as the de facto ruler
of the Kingdom of Mysor through his incredible tactical victories,
ultimately through his military prowess, he overthrew the kingdom's Hindu
leadership and became the sultan himself. Hyder was illiterate, and
so it was important to him that his son and
(05:33):
heir be given a princely education, first so that Tippoo
would be able to eventually lead the Kingdom of Mysore confidently,
but also so that he would be able to communicate
effectively with the European allies, whose help he would need
to push back the encroaching British powers. So from a
young age, Tippoo was taught not just how to read,
(05:55):
but also everything there was to know about military history
and political strategy. By the time Tippoo was seventeen, his
father trusted him with actual power. Tippoo became his father's
right hand man, learning on the job about ruling and
expanding kingdom and about fighting enemies domestic and foreign. Tippoo
(06:19):
led forces into battle against the British during the conflict
that's now known as the Second Anglo Mysore War, which
began in seventeen eighty. It was during that conflict, when
Tippoo was thirty one years old, that his father died,
and so Tippoo became the Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore.
(06:41):
There would ultimately be four Anglo Miso Wars within a
period of a few decades. At the end of the
seventeen hundreds. The second would be Tippoo's most resounding victory.
Aided by French allies, Tippoo successfully invaded and raided a
camp held by British powers, ultimately ending the conflict with
(07:02):
a treaty that seated no land to the British. During
the Battle of paul Lore in seventy Tippoo shocked the
East India Company by using rockets against them that were
more advanced than the British had ever seen. Now, I
am quite literally not a rocket scientist, but my understanding
(07:23):
is that in Layman's terms, these new rockets, rather than
use paper tubing to hold the propellant, used iron casings,
which made them able to fly further and higher and
fly with more force. These rockets, which were all tipped
with a spear, were slightly less accurate than earlier, more
rudimentary rockets, but fired in a large group, they completely
(07:47):
overwhelmed the British. Using his rockets, Tippoo won the battle
and helped end the second Anglo Mysore War. In France,
Louis the sixteen recognized Tippoo as an important ally, and
the two were in frequent communication, with Tippoo sending representatives
(08:08):
and dignitaries to French court at Versailles. It was also
during this period that the legend of Tippoo as the
Tiger of Mysor began to take hold. According to the
story that was frequently told, retold, and perhaps ultimately fictionalized,
Tippoo was hunting in a forest with a French friend
(08:30):
of his when they came upon a tiger stand very still.
Tippoo warned his friend, and for a few moments, both
he and the frenchman stood in terrified silence, waiting to
see if the tiger would lose interest and stroll away.
It didn't. The tiger pounced on the frenchman, killing him instantly.
(08:53):
Tippoo reached for his gun, which found that it was
jammed and wouldn't fire, which put Tippoo in a very
vulnerable bull position. When the tiger turned its attention toward him,
the tiger lunged tip who was able to fight the
animal off and pull a dagger from somewhere on his belt,
which he used to stab and kill the tiger. From
(09:17):
that time on, Tippoo used the motif of the tiger
in almost all of his personal regalia. He was truly
the Tiger of Mysore, not just because of his military prowess,
but because of the way he shaped and modernized the kingdom.
During his reign, Tippoo introduced new coinage, a new calendar,
(09:38):
and seven new government departments. He continued to advance and
develop rocket technology, and he worked closely with French engineers
to build one of his most unique possessions, the wooden
automaton tiger pouncing on a European soldier. This symbolism doesn't
require much of an explanation, but Europeans weren't Tippoo's only enemies. Mysore,
(10:05):
in the south of India, was a comparatively smaller power
on the Indian subcontinent, and one of their largest threats
was from the Maratha Empire. One of Tippoo's most important
military victories was the defeat of the Marathas in seventeen
eighty seven, but they would continue to be formidable rivals,
(10:26):
especially during what would be known as the Third Anglo
Mysore War beginning in seventeen eighty nine. Now, if you're
a long time listener of this podcast, you might be
aware of something that was happening in France in seventeen
eighty nine, a little revolution that might have slightly distracted
(10:47):
the political powers that be from honoring alliances with foreign allies.
The New French Republic actually debated how they would tell
Tippoo that his friend Louis the sixteenth wouldn't actually be
answering his letters anymore. And so for the Third Anglo
Mysore War, Tippoo went without French help. The British allied
(11:09):
with the Marath Empire and roundly defeated Mysore in swallowing
up half of Tippoo's kingdom in a single gulp. But
things were about to get much much worse. To get
into what happened during the Fourth Anglo Mysore War, first
(11:30):
we have to discuss a bit of propaganda that still
persists today, a story that's still fully in place in
multiple Wikipedia articles and has been echoed across the Internet
without any independent verification. This is how the story goes.
After the fall of the monarchy in France, the New
(11:52):
French Republic decided that they would spread the good word
of the doctrine of Republicanism to their ally, the Kingdom
of Izor in Southern Asia, and so in sevente an
emissary from France named Francois Rapot arrived and with Tippoo,
Sultan and the French soldiers who are already stationed in
(12:13):
Mysor collectively began the Jacobin Club of Mysoor. During the
first ceremony, Tippoo announced that he would henceforth be known
as Citizen Tippoo, and the crowd joyfully proclaimed that they
hated all kings except him, even more sinister than Jacobins
in India. For the British, Napoleon had just invaded Egypt.
(12:38):
Clearly he was gearing up for a full scale invasion
to push Britain out of Asia. The British decided that
their only logical move would be a preemptive attack, so
they launched a full invasion on all four sides of Mysore.
With more than doubled the soldiers that Tippoo had at
his command, the British invaded the capital city of Sarangapatam,
(13:02):
killing Tippoo in the conflict. They would continue to annex
most of the MisOr Kingdom, leaving just the pocket core
of the kingdom to be ruled in name at least
by the Hindu dynasty that had been overthrown by Tippoo's father.
But here's the slightly sticky part. There's no evidence of
(13:23):
Tippoo Sultan ever joining, let alone founding, a Jacobin Club.
And yet the threat of the Jacobin Club a revolutionary
cell within Asia was a central element of the East
India Company's propaganda that permitted them to make a preemptive invasion.
Francois Rapad, that's so called agent of the French Republic.
(13:46):
He had absolutely no connection to the French government whatsoever.
According to actual sources, he was a pirate whose ship
ran aground, and then he claimed to be the emissary
of the French so that he would be welcomed by
Tippoo Sultan. The documents that the East India Company circulated
before their invasion as their so called smoking gun of
(14:09):
republicanism may very well have been forged. But even if
they weren't, the actual documents themselves, detailing repelled speeches to
local French soldiers, make no mention of the word Jacobin
at all. The only time Jacobin appears is on the
East India company's title page, which they added. Throughout this period,
(14:33):
in England and the entire British Empire, Tippoo was vilified
as a tyrant and a religious extremist in plays and cartoons.
It's actually become a little complicated, at least in terms
of my research trying to tease out exactly how religiously
tolerant tip Who actually was. He was a Muslim leader
(14:55):
in a predominantly Hindu territory. Some sources claim that he
was a large secular ruler and they celebrate him, especially
in the context of his anti imperialist victories, but other
sources claim that he forced the local population to convert
to Islam and imprisoned those who didn't, and that he
destroyed local temples. There's currently a debate and controversy in
(15:20):
the modern day Indian state of Karnatica as to how
Tippoo Sultan should be taught in schools. I think, as
with almost all historical figures, it's worth taking a nuanced
approach to Tippoo Sultan and his accomplishments, such as they were.
He built up local infrastructure and mysore, building roads, developing
(15:42):
the silk industry, formalizing the government's departments and introducing a
coinage system. He valiantly fought off British imperialism for decades.
But also he was almost certainly cruel and or bigoted
in the places that many of the effective rulers in
the eighteenth century were when it came to religion. I
(16:05):
don't think he was a saint or a monster. I
think the adage that history is told by the victors
is certainly true, and in this case the victors were
the British and the formerly ruling Hindu dynasty, and so
a lot of contemporary writing about Tippoo Sultan needs to
be taken with a grain of salt. On May fourth
(16:29):
sev during the fourth and final Anglo mice Or War,
Tippoo Sultan was killed by an unknown British soldier while
he was defending the capital city of Sri Ranabatana from
the British troops who had breached the walls. Tippoo's French
advisers had urged him to leave the city, to escape
(16:50):
through secret passageways, and to live to fight another day
defending other forts, but Tippoo Sultan would not abandon his capital.
When the raid was over and the smoke lifted, the
British found Tippoo's body among his soldiers. The British raided
the fort, pillaging Tippoo's palace and taking his treasures for themselves.
(17:13):
General Cornwallis himself claimed a ring and a dagger, among
other effects that eventually made their way to the British
Museum in London. The British would meant a coin celebrating
their victory, a lion pouncing on a tiger meant to
represent their empire defeating the mighty Tippoo Sultan hero to
(17:36):
some enemy, to others, tiger to all. That's the story
of Tippoo, Sultan and Mysor. But keep listening after a
brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about
(17:56):
what happened to his personal effects. It's a present day
question as to whether or not the British Museum should
be able to house the artifacts that were, in effect
trophies that they claimed from their imperialistic invasions all over
(18:19):
the world. Some people argue that treasures like the Parthenon
marbles that were removed by the Earl of Elgin should
actually be displayed in the country in which they were discovered.
When it came to those particular sculptures, known colloquially as
the Elgin Marbles. UNESCO actually offered to help mediate the
(18:40):
dispute between Greece and the British Museum, although the British
Museum actually declined, arguing that UNESCO is meant to only
mediate between countries. Their perspective, I'm sure, is that they've
been dutiful custodians and that the display of artifacts from
all all over the world, visible together in one central hub,
(19:04):
is an important and powerful educational tool. But Tippoo Sultan's
artifacts would eventually return to their homeland. In two thousand four,
the Indian billionaire VJ. Malia purchased the sword Tippoo used
in his final battle and Tippoo's personal ring from the
British Museum and brought them back to India, he believed
(19:27):
their rightful home. One quick note before we leave, and
as I'm sure you're tired of me talking about, I
wrote a book. It's called Anatomy, a Love Story, and
it's a novel that comes out January. If you wanted
to pre order a copy, that would mean the world
to me. If you're a fan of spooky, slightly macabre stories,
(19:48):
you're absolutely going to love it. I put everything that
I love in a Noble Blood story and everything I've
learned researching that period of history into this book. If
you want a signed copy, they're doing them through book Soup,
and I'll also be sending signed book plates and pins
through the website, where I also sell Noble Blood merch.
(20:10):
Df t b A dot Com. D f t b
a dot Com is where there's a variety of Noble
Blood merch for you to enjoy, and eventually, I hope
books of Anatomy a Love Story. And finally, we have
just begun a series on the Patreon called Rain on Me,
where I'm joined by one of my closest friends, Karamadanqua,
(20:32):
and we go through the beautiful disaster that is the
c W show Rain about Mary, Queen of scott So
if you're interested in watching along with us and hearing
our takes on that truly disastrous, but beautiful and sort
of amazing show, subscribe on the Patreon now. As always,
thank you so much for listening and the best support
(20:52):
anyone could give this show is just continuing to listen
and be with me as we you know, keep learning
and growing. Noble Blood is a production of I Heart
Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. The show
is written and hosted by Dana Schwartz. Executive producers include
(21:15):
Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The show is
produced by rema Ill Kali and Trevor Young. Noble Blood
is on social media at Noble Blood Tales, and you
can learn more about the show over at Noble blood
Tales dot com. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
(21:35):
you listen to your favorite shows. M
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener discretion is advised.
Let's imagine for a moment that you're spending an afternoon
in London, and why not let's make it one of
(00:20):
those perfect days at the beginning of winter, right when
it starts to snow, but the snow is still new
and white and hasn't gone muddy brown in the streets yet.
You look at your watch or i suppose your phone,
and do you see that you have a few hours
before you're scheduled to meet a friend in a pub
where you'll sit by a fireplace drinking mold wine, and
(00:44):
so to kill the time before your perfect English evening,
and to lessen the chill just starting in your toes,
you dip through the beautiful ornate stone entrance way to
the Victoria and Albert Museum on Cromwell Road. The Vienna
Museum has an eclectic but gorgeous permanent collection, showcasing objects
(01:06):
from across centuries. One exhibit has theatrical costumes from decades
of shows. There are robes in McLellan ware performing Shakespeare.
An original puppet from the London production of war Horse.
One room is dedicated exclusively to cartoons or designs for
tapestries from the Renaissance master Raphael, but a slightly less
(01:30):
showy room. If you turned left walking through the main
hallway would bring you to room forty one, in which
the museum houses its artifacts from South Asia, and in
which you'd see what is, in my estimation, one of
the most interesting single objects on display in the entire museum.
(01:53):
In the center of room forty one, behind a protective
glass wall, stands in artifa act called Tippoo's Tiger. It's
a carved wooden tiger from the seventeen hundreds, almost life sized,
nearly six ft long. The tiger is beautifully painted with
(02:14):
patterned stripes in black and gold that look almost like Paisley.
A hidden compartment on the side of the tiger reveals
a small organ that's still playable with keys. Beneath the
tiger is a second wooden figure. It's a man being
mauled to death by the tiger. If you turn a
(02:35):
crank on the figure, the man's arms move and he
makes dying moans. He's identified by the museum as a European,
but the intent was almost certainly that he was British.
The automatone tiger was one of the prized possessions of
the Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysor at the end
(02:56):
of the eighteenth century. Tippoo Sultan, who fought against the
encroaching power of the British East India Company during a
series of Anglo Mysore Wars. Tippoo was one of the
few Indian leaders to achieve decisive victories in battles against
the British, and he became known as the Tiger of Mysore.
(03:19):
His emblems were all tiger themed and stripes decorated many
of his weapons and banners. That the wooden tiger, formerly
belonging to the Tiger of Mysoor, now sits behind glass
in a British museum, feet away from where they sell
tea and SCons for a genteel picnic in the museum's
courtyard seems to me something a little beyond irony, a
(03:44):
metaphor for the impact of imperialism disguised behind civility and
well maintained museum facilities. But before you begin raising the
banner for Tippoo Sultan, he was also a complicated figure
whose own legacy is currently be debated. In the present
day Indian state of Carnatica. It would be easy to
(04:05):
saunter through the Victoria and Albert Museum, note the interesting
centuries old autonomouton, and continue walking along without fully understanding
who the man was who had had the strange mechanical
animal built. Neither fully hero nor fully villain. Tippoo Sultan
is one of history's most enigmatic military leaders, the prince
(04:29):
of a dying nation who roared before his ultimate defeat.
I'm Dana Schwartz and this is noble blood. Tippoo Sultan
was born on the first of December in seventeen fifty one,
(04:50):
just six years before the East India Company would begin
its company rule in India on behalf of the British Empire.
He was born in Devon Holly, which is located to
the north of present day Bangalore. He was the eldest
son and ostensible heir to a man named hyder Ali.
Though hyder Ali was a Muslim in a predominantly Hindu population,
(05:13):
he rose to his position as the de facto ruler
of the Kingdom of Mysor through his incredible tactical victories,
ultimately through his military prowess, he overthrew the kingdom's Hindu
leadership and became the sultan himself. Hyder was illiterate, and
so it was important to him that his son and
(05:33):
heir be given a princely education, first so that Tippoo
would be able to eventually lead the Kingdom of Mysore confidently,
but also so that he would be able to communicate
effectively with the European allies, whose help he would need
to push back the encroaching British powers. So from a
young age, Tippoo was taught not just how to read,
(05:55):
but also everything there was to know about military history
and political strategy. By the time Tippoo was seventeen, his
father trusted him with actual power. Tippoo became his father's
right hand man, learning on the job about ruling and
expanding kingdom and about fighting enemies domestic and foreign. Tippoo
(06:19):
led forces into battle against the British during the conflict
that's now known as the Second Anglo Mysore War, which
began in seventeen eighty. It was during that conflict, when
Tippoo was thirty one years old, that his father died,
and so Tippoo became the Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore.
(06:41):
There would ultimately be four Anglo Miso Wars within a
period of a few decades. At the end of the
seventeen hundreds. The second would be Tippoo's most resounding victory.
Aided by French allies, Tippoo successfully invaded and raided a
camp held by British powers, ultimately ending the conflict with
(07:02):
a treaty that seated no land to the British. During
the Battle of paul Lore in seventy Tippoo shocked the
East India Company by using rockets against them that were
more advanced than the British had ever seen. Now, I
am quite literally not a rocket scientist, but my understanding
(07:23):
is that in Layman's terms, these new rockets, rather than
use paper tubing to hold the propellant, used iron casings,
which made them able to fly further and higher and
fly with more force. These rockets, which were all tipped
with a spear, were slightly less accurate than earlier, more
rudimentary rockets, but fired in a large group, they completely
(07:47):
overwhelmed the British. Using his rockets, Tippoo won the battle
and helped end the second Anglo Mysore War. In France,
Louis the sixteen recognized Tippoo as an important ally, and
the two were in frequent communication, with Tippoo sending representatives
(08:08):
and dignitaries to French court at Versailles. It was also
during this period that the legend of Tippoo as the
Tiger of Mysor began to take hold. According to the
story that was frequently told, retold, and perhaps ultimately fictionalized,
Tippoo was hunting in a forest with a French friend
(08:30):
of his when they came upon a tiger stand very still.
Tippoo warned his friend, and for a few moments, both
he and the frenchman stood in terrified silence, waiting to
see if the tiger would lose interest and stroll away.
It didn't. The tiger pounced on the frenchman, killing him instantly.
(08:53):
Tippoo reached for his gun, which found that it was
jammed and wouldn't fire, which put Tippoo in a very
vulnerable bull position. When the tiger turned its attention toward him,
the tiger lunged tip who was able to fight the
animal off and pull a dagger from somewhere on his belt,
which he used to stab and kill the tiger. From
(09:17):
that time on, Tippoo used the motif of the tiger
in almost all of his personal regalia. He was truly
the Tiger of Mysore, not just because of his military prowess,
but because of the way he shaped and modernized the kingdom.
During his reign, Tippoo introduced new coinage, a new calendar,
(09:38):
and seven new government departments. He continued to advance and
develop rocket technology, and he worked closely with French engineers
to build one of his most unique possessions, the wooden
automaton tiger pouncing on a European soldier. This symbolism doesn't
require much of an explanation, but Europeans weren't Tippoo's only enemies. Mysore,
(10:05):
in the south of India, was a comparatively smaller power
on the Indian subcontinent, and one of their largest threats
was from the Maratha Empire. One of Tippoo's most important
military victories was the defeat of the Marathas in seventeen
eighty seven, but they would continue to be formidable rivals,
(10:26):
especially during what would be known as the Third Anglo
Mysore War beginning in seventeen eighty nine. Now, if you're
a long time listener of this podcast, you might be
aware of something that was happening in France in seventeen
eighty nine, a little revolution that might have slightly distracted
(10:47):
the political powers that be from honoring alliances with foreign allies.
The New French Republic actually debated how they would tell
Tippoo that his friend Louis the sixteenth wouldn't actually be
answering his letters anymore. And so for the Third Anglo
Mysore War, Tippoo went without French help. The British allied
(11:09):
with the Marath Empire and roundly defeated Mysore in swallowing
up half of Tippoo's kingdom in a single gulp. But
things were about to get much much worse. To get
into what happened during the Fourth Anglo Mysore War, first
(11:30):
we have to discuss a bit of propaganda that still
persists today, a story that's still fully in place in
multiple Wikipedia articles and has been echoed across the Internet
without any independent verification. This is how the story goes.
After the fall of the monarchy in France, the New
(11:52):
French Republic decided that they would spread the good word
of the doctrine of Republicanism to their ally, the Kingdom
of Izor in Southern Asia, and so in sevente an
emissary from France named Francois Rapot arrived and with Tippoo,
Sultan and the French soldiers who are already stationed in
(12:13):
Mysor collectively began the Jacobin Club of Mysoor. During the
first ceremony, Tippoo announced that he would henceforth be known
as Citizen Tippoo, and the crowd joyfully proclaimed that they
hated all kings except him, even more sinister than Jacobins
in India. For the British, Napoleon had just invaded Egypt.
(12:38):
Clearly he was gearing up for a full scale invasion
to push Britain out of Asia. The British decided that
their only logical move would be a preemptive attack, so
they launched a full invasion on all four sides of Mysore.
With more than doubled the soldiers that Tippoo had at
his command, the British invaded the capital city of Sarangapatam,
(13:02):
killing Tippoo in the conflict. They would continue to annex
most of the MisOr Kingdom, leaving just the pocket core
of the kingdom to be ruled in name at least
by the Hindu dynasty that had been overthrown by Tippoo's father.
But here's the slightly sticky part. There's no evidence of
(13:23):
Tippoo Sultan ever joining, let alone founding, a Jacobin Club.
And yet the threat of the Jacobin Club a revolutionary
cell within Asia was a central element of the East
India Company's propaganda that permitted them to make a preemptive invasion.
Francois Rapad, that's so called agent of the French Republic.
(13:46):
He had absolutely no connection to the French government whatsoever.
According to actual sources, he was a pirate whose ship
ran aground, and then he claimed to be the emissary
of the French so that he would be welcomed by
Tippoo Sultan. The documents that the East India Company circulated
before their invasion as their so called smoking gun of
(14:09):
republicanism may very well have been forged. But even if
they weren't, the actual documents themselves, detailing repelled speeches to
local French soldiers, make no mention of the word Jacobin
at all. The only time Jacobin appears is on the
East India company's title page, which they added. Throughout this period,
(14:33):
in England and the entire British Empire, Tippoo was vilified
as a tyrant and a religious extremist in plays and cartoons.
It's actually become a little complicated, at least in terms
of my research trying to tease out exactly how religiously
tolerant tip Who actually was. He was a Muslim leader
(14:55):
in a predominantly Hindu territory. Some sources claim that he
was a large secular ruler and they celebrate him, especially
in the context of his anti imperialist victories, but other
sources claim that he forced the local population to convert
to Islam and imprisoned those who didn't, and that he
destroyed local temples. There's currently a debate and controversy in
(15:20):
the modern day Indian state of Karnatica as to how
Tippoo Sultan should be taught in schools. I think, as
with almost all historical figures, it's worth taking a nuanced
approach to Tippoo Sultan and his accomplishments, such as they were.
He built up local infrastructure and mysore, building roads, developing
(15:42):
the silk industry, formalizing the government's departments and introducing a
coinage system. He valiantly fought off British imperialism for decades.
But also he was almost certainly cruel and or bigoted
in the places that many of the effective rulers in
the eighteenth century were when it came to religion. I
(16:05):
don't think he was a saint or a monster. I
think the adage that history is told by the victors
is certainly true, and in this case the victors were
the British and the formerly ruling Hindu dynasty, and so
a lot of contemporary writing about Tippoo Sultan needs to
be taken with a grain of salt. On May fourth
(16:29):
sev during the fourth and final Anglo mice Or War,
Tippoo Sultan was killed by an unknown British soldier while
he was defending the capital city of Sri Ranabatana from
the British troops who had breached the walls. Tippoo's French
advisers had urged him to leave the city, to escape
(16:50):
through secret passageways, and to live to fight another day
defending other forts, but Tippoo Sultan would not abandon his capital.
When the raid was over and the smoke lifted, the
British found Tippoo's body among his soldiers. The British raided
the fort, pillaging Tippoo's palace and taking his treasures for themselves.
(17:13):
General Cornwallis himself claimed a ring and a dagger, among
other effects that eventually made their way to the British
Museum in London. The British would meant a coin celebrating
their victory, a lion pouncing on a tiger meant to
represent their empire defeating the mighty Tippoo Sultan hero to
(17:36):
some enemy, to others, tiger to all. That's the story
of Tippoo, Sultan and Mysor. But keep listening after a
brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about
(17:56):
what happened to his personal effects. It's a present day
question as to whether or not the British Museum should
be able to house the artifacts that were, in effect
trophies that they claimed from their imperialistic invasions all over
(18:19):
the world. Some people argue that treasures like the Parthenon
marbles that were removed by the Earl of Elgin should
actually be displayed in the country in which they were discovered.
When it came to those particular sculptures, known colloquially as
the Elgin Marbles. UNESCO actually offered to help mediate the
(18:40):
dispute between Greece and the British Museum, although the British
Museum actually declined, arguing that UNESCO is meant to only
mediate between countries. Their perspective, I'm sure, is that they've
been dutiful custodians and that the display of artifacts from
all all over the world, visible together in one central hub,
(19:04):
is an important and powerful educational tool. But Tippoo Sultan's
artifacts would eventually return to their homeland. In two thousand four,
the Indian billionaire VJ. Malia purchased the sword Tippoo used
in his final battle and Tippoo's personal ring from the
British Museum and brought them back to India, he believed
(19:27):
their rightful home. One quick note before we leave, and
as I'm sure you're tired of me talking about, I
wrote a book. It's called Anatomy, a Love Story, and
it's a novel that comes out January. If you wanted
to pre order a copy, that would mean the world
to me. If you're a fan of spooky, slightly macabre stories,
(19:48):
you're absolutely going to love it. I put everything that
I love in a Noble Blood story and everything I've
learned researching that period of history into this book. If
you want a signed copy, they're doing them through book Soup,
and I'll also be sending signed book plates and pins
through the website, where I also sell Noble Blood merch.
(20:10):
Df t b A dot Com. D f t b
a dot Com is where there's a variety of Noble
Blood merch for you to enjoy, and eventually, I hope
books of Anatomy a Love Story. And finally, we have
just begun a series on the Patreon called Rain on Me,
where I'm joined by one of my closest friends, Karamadanqua,
(20:32):
and we go through the beautiful disaster that is the
c W show Rain about Mary, Queen of scott So
if you're interested in watching along with us and hearing
our takes on that truly disastrous, but beautiful and sort
of amazing show, subscribe on the Patreon now. As always,
thank you so much for listening and the best support
(20:52):
anyone could give this show is just continuing to listen
and be with me as we you know, keep learning
and growing. Noble Blood is a production of I Heart
Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. The show
is written and hosted by Dana Schwartz. Executive producers include
(21:15):
Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The show is
produced by rema Ill Kali and Trevor Young. Noble Blood
is on social media at Noble Blood Tales, and you
can learn more about the show over at Noble blood
Tales dot com. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
(21:35):
you listen to your favorite shows. M
Host
Dana Schwartz
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