Tipu Sultan : The business Tiger of Mysore

(Image Source:Top News.com)

Many have heard of Tipu Sultan’s exploits with the sword but few know that he was a business visionary par excellence. Tipu in his reign had built many factories and ports and had established trade with Napoleonic France as well as a way of boosting the economy of the Mysore kingdom.
Even today the remnants of his legacy are visible and I would like to discuss three of the more prominent ones.

Channapatna Toys
Channapatna toys were created due to the efforts of Tipu Sultan in the late 18th Century. It is said that the Sultan invited artisans from Persia (present day Iran) who came to Mysore and taught the local artisans the art of making the wooden toys. The tradition continued till modern times when the toys fell out of favor with the modern times.

Currently there are about 6,000 artisans working in 250 home works and 50 odd small factories making these toys. They now have had the support of the Karnataka government and the KHDC now actively supports the marketing of these toys. Also the recent Geographic Indicator (GI) status to the Channapatna Toys has added further joy to the artisans. So under WTO norms these toys cannot be copied elsewhere.
For more on the Channapatna toys please read

Lal Bagh
All those visiting Bangalore make it a point to visit Lal Bagh, but little do people know that it was Tipu Sultan who built this horticultural wonder Hyder Ali commissioned the building of this garden in 1760 but his son, Tipu Sultan, completed it. Tipu decided to create this garden on the lines of the Mughal Gardens. He laid out these famous botanical gardens and his son added horticultural wealth to them by importing trees and plants from several countries. They also deployed people from Thigala Community who were extremely good in gardening. The Lal Bagh Gardens were commissioned by the 18th century and over the years it acquired India's first lawn-clock and the subcontinent's largest collection of rare plants.




Mysore Rockets

During a visit to NASA I was drawn to painting depicting dark skinned soldiers launching rockets against the enemies. On closer inspection I realized that the soldiers were Indian and they were a part of the Mysorean ‘cushoon’ or brigade, which was a vital strike force for Tipu Sultan against the British. The rockets they were launching are called the Mysorean rockets.

The defeat for the British in the second Anglo-Mysore war was a result of the Mysore rockets. These rockets had been developed by the defense ordinance factories set up by Tipu and had Iron casings holding the propellant. This enabled the rockets to have greater thrust and range which was upto 2 kms. At the fall of Srirangapattna after Tipu’s death the British stole the remaining rockets and casings and sent them to the Royal Woolwich Arsenal. This led to the development of the Congreve rockets based on Tipu’s rockets. The Congreve rockets were used against Napoleon and also in the Battle of Baltimore. It was during the shelling of Baltimore by the Congreve rockets that the US national anthem “The stsr spangled banner “was composed.

Tipu Sultan was a great patriot, a very shrewd general and an amazing business visionary. He is responsible for many other things like the copper bottomed naval vessels and trading routes but these unfortunately have not survived, but the next time you see a Channapatna toy, or visit Lal Bagh and hear the American national anthem then you know there is a bit of Tipu in all of them.