CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION
1
CHAPTER – 1
INTRODUCTION
Technology and production in Pre-Modern Mysore is a serious attempt
to probe in to the level of technology that existed in the second half of the 18th
century in Mysore. In the late nineteenth century and in the 20th century,
serious debates had taken place involving British policy makers and the Indian
nationalist economic thinkers on the question of Indian backwardness, poverty
and lack of development. By the last decades of the nineteenth century,
Dadabhai Naoroji, the grand-old man of India had propounded the concept of
absolute poverty in India1. “He denounced the wretched, heart-rending, blood
boiling conditions in India. In 1895, he stated that the Indian is starving, he is
dying off at the slightest touch, living on in sufficient food”2
Romesh Chandra Dutt, Surendranath Banerjee, G.S. Iyer, Bipan
Chandrapal, Ranade, D.E. Waacha and host of others took up the question of
Indian poverty and backwardness, through their speeches and writings. A large
number of English and vernacular newspapers took up the question of
starvation and backwardness in India. Towards the close of the 19
th
1 Dadabhai Naoroji, Poverty and the Un-British Rule in India, p. 229.
century,
2 Dadabhai Naoroji, Speeches, Appendix A, p. 63.
2
the Indian National Congress moved several resolutions on the same question3.
The main focus was on the agricultural classes and on the breakdown of the
delicate balance between agriculture and manufacturing and the resultant flow
the artisan classes in to the rural areas, putting greater pressure on land and
agriculture. In the classic account of the Bengali newspaper Sulabh Dainik4,
the Indian has lost his vitality, he has lost his substance, his very life blood has
been sucked dry, and he is, economically speaking, no better than a bag of dry
bones. He is half fed and he is half-clad. According to the first ever
calculation of per capita income in India by Dadabhai Naoroji, it was Rs.20 per
head5 (3.4 billion rupees for a population of 170 millions). This dismally lower
per capita income and the campaign taken up by the Indian National Congress,
placed the British administrators on a tight corner. The economic experts of
the British government published a counter estimate of 27.72 rupees6 for a
population of 170 million with 5.25 billion rupees of estimated income.
According to Lord Curzon, in 1897-98, the per capita income of India was
Rs.30.717
One of the reasons for the absolute poverty in India, in the opinion of
Bipan Chandra was the disruption of the centuries old union between
agriculture and manufacturing industry
, instead of Rs.20 or Rs.27.72.
8
3 For details, see, Bipan Chandra, The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism in India, pp. 7-10.
.
4 As quoted by Bipan Chandra, Op. Cit.,, p. 10. 5 Naoroji, Poverty and the UnBritish Rule in India, p. 4. 6 Rao, An Essay on Indian National Income, pp. 16-22. 7 Lord Curzon, Speeches, Vol. I – IV (Calcutta, 1902, Vol. I, pp. 289-290). 8 Bipan Chandra, Rise and Growth… Op. Cit., p. 55.
3
The decline of traditional manufacturing and handicrafts in India is a
much talked about theme in modern India. The British writers tried to paint
India purely as an agricultural country which did not know anything other than
agriculture. People like Lord Curzon branded Indians as a nation trained only
in agriculture and that they would never practice anything other than
agriculture. But it was the same British imperialism, which converted India
into land of raw produce for the benefit of the manufacturers and operatives in
England9. R.C. Dutt argued that the displacement of Indian manufactures by
foreign products formed one of the saddest chapters of the history of British
India10
The official British position always centered around the argument that
India had nothing other than agriculture and as a nation, Indians were not fit for
any kind of manufacturing. However, the historical facts were to the country.
In the 17
.
th and the 18th centuries, India was a manufacturing country and its
exports included substantial volume of finished products such as textiles, silk,
calicoes etc. According to Vera Anstey, upto the 18th century, the economic
condition of India was relatively advanced, and Indian methods of production
and of industrial and commercial organization could stand in comparison with
those in vogue in any other part of the world11
Pre-British Indian Product
.
9 For a detailed discussion on the issue of decline of traditional manufacturing, see D.R. Gadgil, The Industrial Evolution of India in Recent Times, Chapter III & XII. 10 Dutt, England and India, p. 128. 11 Vera Anstey, The Economic Development of India, London, p. 5.
4
Right from the 14th century onwards India had undergone a process of
technological changes. The introduction of spinning wheel, cotton-carders bow
etc., were some of these innovations which had revolutionized cotton-textile
production in India. From the 14th to 18th century, India continued to sell not
only its traditional exports like pepper and spices, but also different varieties of
cotton clothes, silk, indigo and saltpeter. During 1638-3912
The statistics on the export of Indian goods to Europe by the English
East India Company show that in 1620, the total Indian exports by the EIC
stood at Rs.2½ lakhs. In 1628, it increased to Rs. 6 lakhs
, Surat alone
supplied 66,641 pieces of cotton clothes to London. It stood at 54,289 and
53,858 during 1639-40, and 1640-41 respectively. The supplies from East
Coast and Bengal forwarded in January 1639 were more diversified, though
Calicoe pre-dominated. During the same period around 84,000 pieces of
textiles (long clothes, salempores, muslin etc.) was exported.
13
12 W.H. Moreland, From Akbar to Aurangzeb, New Delhi, 1994, p. 129.
. During 1649-53,
the average exports stood at Rs. 3 lakhs and which further increased to Rs. 8
lakhs annually during 1658-60. According to Moreland, the Dutch trade
cannot be estimated on similar lines. However, from 1625 onwards, the Dutch
exports surpassed that of the English. According to Moreland, the Dutch
Reports and Journals are marked by the frequent success at the poverty and
insufficiency of their English competitors. On the other hand, the English
correspondence always showed their envy of the Dutch trading activities. The
English merchants complained of the Dutch, whose skill and prudence, backed
13 Ibid.
5
by immense resources, had given them an indisputable supremacy in the
Eastern trade. We find them competing vigorously with the English company’s
servants in India and Persia out bidding them for silk, indigo and piece goods14
It was in the 17
.
th century, that greater market for the Indian cotton-goods
could be found in Western Europe. It was during this period that the Indian
Calicoes began to be used to meet the European household needs – table –
cloths, bed-linen, napkins, towels and coloured or fancy goods as hangings or
for decorative purposes. During this period15 England did not produce much
linen unlike some of the other European countries. And therefore, the import
of Calico would not compete seriously with any home industry while, the sale
of Calicoes abroad brought money into the country. Therefore the import of
Calicoes from India was received with encouragement in Britain. Over the
years, the demand for Calico increased with remarkable rapidity. The shipment
of 1619 totalled about 14,000 pieces16 (each piece 12 to 18 yards in length).
The goods ordered in 1625 exceeded 2,00,000 pieces. By 1628, the actual
consignment exceeded 1,50,000 pieces or more or 1000 bales. In the
subsequent years, after the recovery from the Gujarat famines, the purchases
varied between 1,50,000 to 2,00,000 pieces17
The technique of dying yarn had centuries of history in India.
Benjamin
.
18
14 W.H. Moreland, From Akbar to Aurangzeb, New Delhi, 1994, p. 124.
Heyne described this process in detail in his account. However the
15 Ibid. 16 English Factory Rcords IV, 97, 158, V. 146. 17 Ibid. 18 Bendjamine Heyne, Tracts. P. 212.
6
Indian dyer was not willing to share their technical knowledge with others.
Heyne states, “though the methods of the Indian dyer are exceedingly tedious
and complicated and though they are utterly unable to explain the rationale of
their processes, yet the beauty of their colours cannot fail to be admired and
must inspire us with the opinion that a knowledge of their methods might
improve the processes of European dyers, and might enable them to make some
advantageous changes in their art”19
Certain other lines of industrial production in India had technologies that
were highly complicated and tested over the millennia. They also involved
strict observance in the use of components and the time for introducing them
into the process. That is why, despite the simple and primitive nature of their
equipment, Indian artisans frequently had results that surpassed similar
achievements in European industry
.
20
Benjamin Heyne gives an interesting description of how the dyes were
prepared and the methods used in applying them to the walls of the palaces of
the rulers of Mysore-Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan. “The brilliancy of the colours
was achieved above all by means of thorough preparation of the dyes. The
initial mass consisted of five components mixed in the corresponding weight
proportions. Then as the mass was being heated, two other components and
then a third (linseed oil be heated to the boiling point)
.
21
19 Benjamine Heyne, Op. Cit., p. 212.
were added; the mass
so obtained was boiled for two hours on a low flame; in order to give the dye
20 V.I. Pavlov, Historical Premises of India’s Transition to Capitalism, Moscow, 1978, p. 115. 21 Ibid.
7
the necessary colour, more ingredients were added. Finally, before painting,
the wall was covered with a special substance and painted only after it was
thoroughly puttied.
As far as the technique of tanning was concerned, in Mysore there was a
special process. One day, the goat skins were dried in the sun, then for two
days they22 were soaked in river water and then placed for four days in a vat in
which, to a definite amount of water, they added half the same amount of the
“milk of wild cotton” and a handful of salt; for four more days the skins were
soaked in water and scraped clean of hair. Over the next two or three days, the
skins were dried in a cool place, whitened by means23 of special clay, soaked
twice again in solutions and only then, subjected to dyeing. Then a dye
consisting of three components added in the right proportion was prepared
under controlled heating. The dye was rubbed in to the processed skin which
was then placed in another solution for five or six days, with the skin taken out
of the vat every morning and washed thoroughly. The skin was finally24
22 Heyne, Op. Cit., pp. 88-89.
ready
only after another period of drying, when it assumed a dark-red colour and
became soft. Although the process was laborious, the final product was high
quality leather. Pavlov gives the opinion that because of the laborious process,
idling time and wastage of labour, the net profit for the producer was not
substantial.
23 Ibid. 24 V.I. Pavlov, Op. Cit., p. 116.
8
Some of the authorities like Buchanan and H. Colebrooke lament about
the absence of division of labour in the Indian handicrafts production. Sub-
division of labour was very unusual in India25. According to Colebrooke,
every manufacturers, every artisan working for his own account, conducts the
whole process of his art, from the formation of his tools to the sale of his
production26
The European observes always used the European yardstick for the
handicraft production. In the 17
.
th and 18th
Eighteenth century eastern India was famous for its production of
textiles. Bengal was famous for its production of Dacca muslins, which were
sold all over the world. According to the official statistics, in 1753, before the
battle of Plassey, the export of clothes from Dacca came to 2,850,000 Arcot
rupees
centuries, it was ideal that there was
no separation of capital investor and labourer. The artisan himself invested the
capital in production and he used his labour, and his family labours for the
production. His professional knowledge was essentially a caste based, family
based, heritage which was not shared with every one in the street. In fact, in
the weaving sector, where it was necessary, the division of labour in production
could be noticed, involving immediate family circles.
27. The parity between the pound, sterling and the Arcot rupee was 1
pound sterling = 8 Arcot Rupee in the middle of the 18th
25 H. Colebrooke, Remarks on the Husbandry and Internal Commerce of Bengal, London 1804, p. 48.
century. Dacca was a
great emporium of Asia. The British, French and the Dutch East India
26 Colebrooke, Op. Cit., pp. 48-49. 27 J.R. Taylor, A Sketch of the Topography and Statistics of Dacca in Bengal, 1851, pp. 189-190.
9
Companies and the private European merchants carried away from Dacca
clothes worth Rs. 950,000. Aremenian merchants purchased goods worth
Rs.5,00,000 for Iran and Arab countries. And the Persian merchants alone
carried goods worth Rs.1,00,000. In 1753, the merchants trading on markets in
North India purchased in Dacca clothes worth Rs.5,55,000/-28. In addition to
this, the value of clothes earmarked for Delhi and to Murshidabad, the capital
of the Bengal Nawabs came to Rs.1,00,000 and Rs.1,00,000 respectively.
Along with this, the Indian merchants trading in Bengal took away clothes
worth Rs. 3,00,000. In fact, the House of Jagat Seth alone ordered29 clothes
worth Rs.1,50,000/-. It is also true that there was great degree of
diversification in textile production. It ranged from the finest muslins30 worn
by the inhabitants of the local chief’s Zenana to coarse clothes which went to
make the garments of the poor ryot. Taylor has named five towns of Bengal,
which had specialized on the manufacture of coarse cloth which was cheap31
In Bellary, in the Mysore Kingdom, there existed substantial cloth
manufacturing and the town catered not only for the local needs, but also for
export. Coarse cloth for the masses was made and sold at weekly fairs.
Clothes for mass consumption were produced in several other Mysore towns.
It is also important to mention that vigorous trade in clothes had started in
different regions of the Mysore kingdom and also in South India.
.
28 Ibid. 29 Ibid. 30 K. Dutta, Studies in the History of Bengal Subah, Part 1, Social and Economic, Calcutta, 1936, p. 425. 31 K. Dutta, Studies in the History of Bengal Subah, Part 1, Social and Economic, Calcutta, 1936, p. 425.
10
Merchants from Bellary, Adoni, Hubli, Guti and other places, situated
hundreds of miles32
Pavlov says that in the 18
away from Bangalore maintained permanent agents in that
city. These merchants sold cotton, coarse yarn, blankets, wheat etc. In
exchange, Bangalore supplied dyed cotton clothes. It was reported that
altogether 1500 cotton cart loads of cotton 50 cart loads of cotton yarn and 230
cart loads of raw silk arrived at Bangalore every year.
th Century33
In the 18
, there were indications of small
local markets merging into a general market of consumer goods for one large
region like Mysore or Bengal. These markets indicated that the consumption
level of the general masses had substantially increased.
th century India, in many areas, merchant capital was essentially
engaged in purchasing the products, instead of investing in production. In the
18th
A fact indeed which might appear altogether wonderful, if it were not at
the same time observed that the greater part of this body of people (spinner and
weavers) is composed of women belonging to the families of husbandmen or
manufacturers, and who could not otherwise be more usefully employed at
least during the hot and rainy seasons of the year. 300,000 weavers, masters
century Bengal 4,00,000 maunds of cotton were picked annually and after
ginning this left, 1,30,000 maunds of cotton fibre valued at 1.2 million rupees.
Another 6,00,000 rupees worth of cotton was imported from distant places like
Surat and Mirzapur. This huge mass of cotton was distributed among the
spinner in lots which kept them busy for a mouth.
32 Buchanan, A Journey, Vol. I, p. 40. 33 V.I. Pavlov, Historical Premises…., p. 132.
11
and journey men produced 3 million pieces of cloth a year, which cost 28
million rupees, including 1.5 million rupees worth of silk cloth, the price of the
yarn needed was not more than half that of the price of piece goods….34
From the aforesaid discussion, it is very clear that India was not a
poverty striken, backward country before the British take over. India was a
leading manufacturing country for the 16
The above statement was by Grant who had keenly observed the work of
weavers and the spinners.
th, 17th century standards. By the time
the English and the Dutch started their commercial activities in India, unlike
that of the Portuguese days, they were in need of Indian finished goods,
particularly textiles of multiple varieties saltpeter, silk, calicoes, indigo. The
sheer volume of export indicated the existence of a robust manufacturing sector
in India. These evidences which we get from the 16th – 17th century sources,
disproves the 19th
In fact, the developments in the 18
century notions of the British that India was traditionally an
agricultural country and that the Indians were not fit for any kind of
manufacturing.
th century Mysore kingdom were not a
mere continuation of the 17th
According to Ashok Sen
century situation, but something beyond it. The
Mysore kingdom was more like a modern state of Europe.
35
34 Ibid.
, the system of state-craft that Tipu strived to
evolve and administer that the political economy of his dominions could act as
35 Ashok Sen, A Pre-British Economic Formation in India of the Late 18th Century: Tipu Sultan’s Mysore, in Barun De (ed.) Perspectives in Social Sciences, I, Oxford, 1977.
12
the effective base of a decisive challenge to British power. Tipu had a great
desire to profit by western science and western political philosophy.
He was fully aware of what was happening in contemporary France. He
provided the moral, physical and financial support for the French soldiers who
founded the Jacobin club in Srirangapatna. The occasion was the fifth year of
the formation of the French Republic in 1797. He ordered36
Even a conservative British historian P.E. Robert
a salute of two
thousand three hundred canons, five hundred rockets and all the musketry to
celebrate the occasion. The celebration was concluded with his inspiring
speech.
37
According to Ashok Sen, the modern economic advancement and
progress in Europe commenced only after the rise of the Renaissance
Monarchies
states that Tipu
standards out as one of the greatest of our adversaries.
38 in Europe, under whom the modern nation states emerged. H.R.
Trevor-Roper39
36 Ibid.
states that Europe under the Renaissance Monarchies in the
sixteenth century witnessed the excited discovery of world upon world,
adventure upon adventure, the progressive enlargement of sensitivity and
show… Expansion, extension – these are its essential characteristics”.
Capitalism in Europe made its first appearance in the spheres of commerce,
company promoting and the money market under some of these monarchies,
37 P.E. Roberts, India under Wellesley, London, 1929, p. 57. 38 Ashok Sen, Op. Cit.., p. 50. 39 H.R. Trevor-Roper, The General Crisis of the 17th Century in Trever Ashton (ed.) Crisis in Europe,
1560-1660, London, 1970, p. 68.
13
cities and towns emerged free of the feudal nexus. Trade, crafts and guilds
developed in these urban areas, promising enormous potentialities for
economic expansion and capital accumulation. Under ideal monarchies we
come across an autonomous sphere of economic activity without any religious
and political restrictions. While the Spanish monarchy failed in promoting such
developments, England, Holland and France Expanded substantially under their
monarchies.
Therefore, the making of a strong political system in the 18th
A Brief History
century
Mysore under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan certainly contributed to the rise of
the same economic and social forces in the eighteenth century Mysore.
Haidar Ali gained defacto control over Mysore in 1761 AD. He was
responsible for transforming Mysore from a small principality of the southern
of present Karnataka into a vast Kingdom of South India, with territories
outside the Karnataka region. At the dawn of the 18th century the Mughal
imperial authority was on the decline. The Nawabs of Bengal and Awadh had
control over better resources than the imperial Mughals. The major political
forces of South India in the 18th century were, Mysore, the Nizam of
Hyderabad, the Mahratta confederacy and the English East India Company.
The French were, in fact, on the decline. In 1780/84 A.D. during the second
Anglo-Mysore War, several Paleygars of the Carnatic region openly defied the
14
British authority and supported Haidar Ali40. Subsequently the Madras
authorities took firm measures to counter the challenge posed by Haidar Ali
and the Paleygars. The English East India Company took firm steps to41
weaken and cripple the Paleygars. During the span of four years, between
1795 to 1799, the English East India Company occupied several Palayams of
these local potentates42. In fact, in the Manapparai, Dindugal region several
chiefs were expelled from their respective districts. By the close of the 18th
century, the Paleygars were reduced to a mere relic of the past and they
completely lost their resources for any meaningful resistance43
In the Carnatic region, a local chieftain like Dindigal Paleygar
Virupakshi was a diplomat – an expert in forming leagues against the British
. After the
suppression of the Princes and the Paleygars the British power was on the
ascendency. However, during 1763 to 1799, the major political force against
the British in South India was the Mysore Kingdom under Haidar Ali and Tipu
Sultan.
44.
In the year 1792, the English had started its trading and political activities at
Dindigal after capturing it from Mysore. The peasantry in the area was bitter
against the British for their excessive land taxation cashing on this anti-British
feeling. Gopala45
40 General Report to Madras Council Vol. 2, p. 74.
Nayak formed Leagues along with Paleygar of Manapparai,
Yadul Nayak of Delli and with some minor chieftains. Armed supporters from
41 Ibid. 42 Lord Hobart, 4th March 1795, Political Despatches to England, Vol. 2, pp. 338-340. 43 Madras Council, 29 Nov. 1799, Revenue Conultations, Vol. 99, pp. 3249-56 44 Proceedings of the Board of Revenue (PBOR), April 1799. 45 PBOR, 21 January 1799, Vol. 217, p. 594.
15
Manapparai Kallarnadu, Coimbatore46 and Salem joined together. Tipu Sultan
responded to this call. During the same period, a bitter foe of the British,
Kerala Varma Prince of the Kottayathu family of Malabar constituted the
Malabar-Coimbatore league. The leaders of the Malabar-Coimbatore League47
Tipu Sultan provided the leadership for these anti-British formations
during the close of the 18
also turned towards Tipu for help.
th
The dreadful adversary of the British, Tipu Sultan was the illustrious son
of an illustrious father, Haidar Ali. Haidar Ali was a great soldier, well-known
in the art of military strategy, diplomacy and field maneuvers. Haidar Ali had
ruled over the destiny of Mysore with unbridled autocracy for two decades and
added several features to his cap. In his military
century. But these efforts did not succeed in the
end, because Tipu himself faced martyrdom shortly.
48
In the second Anglo-Mysore war, with the co-operation of the Nizam
and the Mahrattas he had routed the British army under Col. Baillie and created
a shock for the British establishment in India. It was then that he started
engagements against the
British, he could inflict heavy blows to the British and even the British
presence in Madras was in great danger. He had entered Madras and dictated a
humiliating treaty to the British on the termination of the First Anglo-Mysore
war in 1769. Even the British presence in the South was under threat.
46PBOR, `5 April 1799 , Vol. 225, pp. 3349-52. 47 Military Consultations, Madras Council, 6 Aug. 1799, Vol. 256, p. 5114. 48 H.L. Gupta, Tipu Sultan – A Distinguished Martyr for Freedom Souvenir, Seminar on Tipu Sultan, Sept. 1989, Mysore University.
16
building up a strong navy with his own resources, to counter the British49
Tipu took over the reins of administration in 1782, after the death of
Haidar Ali, while the war was still in progress. Tipu Sultan sat on the seat of
power in the midst of a war and continued to be on the war-front till his death
in 1799. Thus, his 17 years of administrative career was spent on waging wars,
repairing damages caused by the wars and making preparations for the
approaching wars. Tipu successfully completed the second Anglo-Mysore war
and forced the British to agree to a friendly treaty at Mangalore. This Treaty
was not an unequal treaty to any one. But
.
From such a Father, Tipu Sultan had inherited personal valour of the highest
kind undying adventurous spirit, skill in warfare and art of administration.
50
Subsequent to the Treaty of Mangalore the entire attention of Tipu was
centered around consolidating his power, mustering his military and financial
resources and to develop international contacts with the European and Asian
powers to gain their support against the British 1780, Haidar Ali had attempted
a confederation of the Marathas, the Nizam and the French against the English.
This confederation did not have any lasting gain, because of its internal
suspicion and disunity. Tipu however made a serious effort to revive this
alliance against the British, but with limited success. Tipu Sultan went a step
it was psychologically disturbing
for the British general who was supposed to be a war veteran. Governor
General Warren Hastings considered the treaty as a humiliating pacification.
49 Ibid., p. 34, 50 Ibid.
17
ahead and designed an alliance of the French, the Mahrattas, the Nizam, the
Afghans and the Ottoman Turks.
Tipu desired the Sultan of Turkey to join his crusade against the British.
He sent his first embassy to Constantinople51 in 1784. A second embassy was
sent in 1785 under Gulam Ali Khan, Lutf Ali Baig, Shah Nuraullah and
Muhammad Haniff. Here, the main attention of Tipu’s embassy was to
conclude a political and military treaty with the Turkish Sultan. Tipu had
written a detailed letter to Sultan Abdul Hamid, explaining the political
situation and the British expansion in India. The fourth article of the proposed
treaty related to the military operation between Mysore and Turkey52. The
Treaty stated emphatically that “… whatever forces the Sultan of Turkey is
prepared to dispatch through the ships Tipu engages to bear all their
expenses”53
Another major power outside India which Tipu approached for military
alliance was Afghanistan. Afghanistan ruled at that time by Zaman Shah the
grandson of well-known Ahmed Shah Abdali
. Although the envoys were treated with great courtesy by Sultan
Abdul Hamid, the issue of military help was evaded because, Turkey itself was
engaged in resisting the southern expansion of Russia with British help.
54
51 Hikmet Bayur, Mysore Sultan’s Tipu Ile Osmanli Padshah Series I, Document 2.
. When Zaman Shah occupied
the throne and planned an invasion of Northern India, Tipu sent two
ambassadors, Mir Habibullah and Muhammad Reza to Kabul to discuss a
52 Ibid. 53 Hukum Naroah (Mutaffariqath) R.L.S.B. Ms. No. 1677. F. 11-B 54 Alexander Beatson, A View of the War with Tipu Sultan, London, 1792, p. 188.
18
possible Mysore-Afghan alliance55. In his reply to Tipu had expressed his
desire for his Indian invasion. Zaman Shah, in fact, did march upto Lahore, but
made a hasty retreat, due to strong British resistance56
However, Tipu’s major diplomatic ventures were with the French. It is
therefore necessary to look at the Mysore-French relations in detail.
and diplomatic
maneuvering.
MYSORE-FRENCH RELATIONS
The relationship between the kingdom of Mysore and the kingdom of
France is a very important area of historical importance. If these contacts
started during the days of Haidar Ali and continued throughout the period of
Tipu Sultan had become mutually fruitful, the 18th and 19th
In fact, the war of Austrian succession (1740-1748) and the Seven
Years; War (1756-1763) had the potential to have its deeper impact spread to
North America and India simultaneously. The Treaty of Aix-La-Chappalle
(1748) was a serious setback for France that in the French language there is
even a saying (“Faire La guerre pour Le Foi de prusse”)
century history of
the Indian sub-continent would have been different.
57
55 R.M. Martin, Despatches, Minutes, Correspondence of the Marquis of Wellesley, Vol. V, No.XV.
. “To wage war for
the king of Pussia”. France entered the Austrian succession war without any
clear purpose, but to humiliate the House of Austria. But by the treaty of Aix-
La-Chappelle (1748) , France did not get any advantage. The only beneficiary
was the ruler of Prussia. The Seven Years War ended with major disasters for
56 Ibid., XXV and XVII. 57 Lafont, “French Military Intervention in India” in Tipu Sultan and his Age, p. 65.
19
the French. By the Treaty of Paris (1763), they lost Canada to England, ceded
Eastern Louisiana to Spain as a compensation for the loss of Florida, which
Spain ceded to England. At the same time they lost their influence on India58.
They could only get back five tiny possessions, including Chandranagore and
Pondicherry59
The final outcome of the Treaty of Paris was that the British had
virtually eliminated the French in India. At the same time, England also
became the virtual master of North America, a huge space with a strong
English population in 13 colonies with access to the Pacific and the Atlantic
oceans.
.
Well-known economic historian Om Prakash in his work European
Commercial Enterprise in Pre-Colonial India, states that after the success of
the British in the Battle of Plassey, seventy five ships loaded with silver went
down the Hughly from Murshidabad to Calcutta, where they were received
triumphantly60
According to Om Prakash, “Bengal revenues provided an indirect
subsidy to the British exchequer”. For the next quarter century, till 1784,
England stopped sending silver to India for its Indian trade. Bengal revenues
surpluses were spent both in the purchase of Bengal goods to be exported from
India, and in developing a formidable army, 115,000 strong (90% sepoys)
.
61
58 Berenger J and J. Meyer, La France Dans le Monde au Xviiie siècle, Paris, SEDES, 1993, pp. 159-238.
in
59 Ibid. 60 Om Prakash, Europan Commercial Enterprises in Pre-Colonial India (New Cambridge History of
India, 11, 5. 1998, pp. 268-336. 61 Ibid.
20
1782. That was one of the reasons for the gradual drain of silver from Northern
India in the late 18th and early 19th century. According to Lafont,62 the
supremacy in world politics depended on (a) Political power in England (b)
Space with harbours, (c) men and wood for the Navy in America and (d)
money in India. The Seven Years War ended, according to Choiseul63, with
France having no money, no resources, no navy, no army, no generals, and no
ministers. The debt was one billion invrelivres turnois (4 years of French
revenue) French agents were also sent to America to see things for themselves.
Pentlerroy (Beaulieu) made a survey of the eastern coast of USA in 1764 and
1766. Kalb is another agent who spent two years in America (1766-67),
sending reports on the political conditions of the country. Benjamin Franklin
was sent to France in 1776 as a representative of the American Congress and he
was working with two other colleagues as fictitious ambassadors of a non-
existing United States of America. The French Secret agents assured64 the
Americans that the French were not going back to America to reconquer or to
take revenue but only to assist the Americans to free themselves from English
bonds. A French Agent Bonvouloir who was earlier serving in India sent his
report to Versailles on the American situation in 177665
.
62 Lafont, Op. Cit., p. 65. 63 A Mortineu, Bussy et L’Inde Francaise, p. 368. 64 Lafout, Op. Cit., p. 69 65 Ibid.
21
There was consensus in North America in the 13 Colonies that they
should fight for their independence. Bonvouloir wrote thus: “The colonies
have 50,000 regular troops well clothed, well-armed, well-disciplined and well
commanded”. For two years the French provided indirect help.
The Americans wanted ships, money, arms and ammunition, men
(particularly engineers) and clothing. In 1777, five French ships sent by
Beaumarchais had delivered 164 guns, 41,000 cannon balls, 37,000 muskets
with 373,000 flints, 514,000 balls, 161,000 livres of powder, 11,0000 grendade,
20,000 livres of lead, 4,0000 tents, 3600 blankets, 8750 pairs of shoes and
4,000 dozen stocks. The battle of Saratogh was won by an American army
entirely equipped with French arms.
In 1776, Beaumarchais received one million livres from France. This
was on the 1 of June 1776 while the French Government advanced 3 million
livres to Benjamin Franklin. In 177766 two million livres were advanced to the
Deputes d’Amerique while Vergennes gave one million livres to help
Beaumarchais continue his operations. In June 1776 officers and military
engineers were allowed to go on leave for the unstated purpose of sailing to
America. La Fayatte took leave in June, Kalb along with67
15 other officers
sailed to America in November. Washington’s defeat at Long Island was due
to the total absence of engineers and naturally, the Americans were assisted
ably by these army engineers.
66 Ibid. 67 Ibid.
22
Mysore and India
On the Indian side, several powers, notably Mysore wanted French
intervention to make themselves free from the British influence. Initially, the
French wanted a formidable alliance of the Nizam, Mysore, Marathas,
Travancore and also Delhi. The question before the French Government was
first to assess whether there was possibility68
As in the case of America, in India also, it was decided to send special
agents to conduct enquiry and send reports. Palebot de Saint Lubin who was
initially in the army of Lally in 1757-62
of a comprehensive alliance in
India against the East India Company. And if any possibility existed, how a
French naval and military operation could take place in order to deal a decisive
blow to the English in the sub-continent. Information reached Paris from
various sources including those officers who served in India during the Seven
Years War. Along with these many French civilians, who were acquainted
with Indian politics, sent reports on the conditions of the Indian states and
suggestions for alliances with Mysore, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Delhi.
69 came back as an intelligence agent to
Mysore70 in 1766-1769 and returned to Pune in 1777. Lubin71
68 Sen, S.P. The French in India, pp. 194-210.
was active
during the early days of Haidar Ali’s rule. Another special agent was
Montigny who was in Surat, Agra, Hyderabad and Goa. In order to co-ordinate
the work of the intelligence agents, Governor of Chandranagore sent Visage
and other agents to Delhi.
69 Lafont, Ibid. 70 Sen, S.P. Op. Cit., pp. 180-194. 71 Ibid., pp. 194-210.
23
As they did in North America, the French decided to reinforce the Indian
states by sending volunteers, officers and engineers under civilian cover. They
even allowed the French soldiers to join the Indian princes under the pretence
of desertion. By 1770 an office headed by Marechal de Camp Baudoin was in
charge of these operations. Under this programme Col. Hugel and his Hussars
stayed in Mysore to provide military training and technical advice there.
In order to have any future military or naval operations it was necessary
to have upto date maps of the Indian coasts. Therefore, in 1777 Lafitte de
Braissler, a French Engineer sailed along with Admiral Tranjoly in his flagship
De Brilliant and prepared maps of Eastern coast of India, till Pegu, Ache,
Sumatra and Nicobar Islands. In 177872
However, on many occasions, the French civil and military leadership
failed to act on time. In 1778, Admiral Tronjoly arrived on the Indian waters
with a squadron of D’orves. This was an attemdpt to keep a balance of naval
strength between the French and the English. In February 1781, D’orves made
demonstration in the Coromandal coast, but did not come to the help of Haidar
Ali who wanted 800 gunners and marines to crush General Coote near
Cuddalore. The French Admiral D’orves even refused to blockade
he extensively mapped Malabar Coast.
The purpose was to improve the existing naval maps, so that the French could
keep a naval squadron in the Indian Ocean. This could be one with the
assistance of Mysore or other Indian rulers.
73
7272 Alexis Rinchenbak, Depot des Fortifications des colonies, Indes, CAOM, Aix-en-Provence, 1998.
Gen.
Coote by Sea, while Haidar Ali was attacking on land. Piveron de Morlat, who
73 Sen, S.P. Op. Cit., p. 223. A. Martineu, Bussy et L’Inde Francalse, pp. 327-442.
24
headed the negotiations with D’orver on behalf of Haidar Ali, was extremely
critical of him. It was a historic opportunity to eliminate the British power in
South India.
But the French Squadron leader stated that he had no orders for a
blockade. Haidar Ali knew very well that the French officers could take their
own decisions, if it was in the highest interest of the state. But D’orves was not
willing to act on at a critical juncture.
In the meanwhile preparations were going on in France to send a strong
squadron and an army to India. Bussy was to be the commander-in-chief of the
land and naval forces74. Bussy wanted 8000 troops and 10 million livres. He
was given 4000 troops from France and to set another 4000 from Mauritius. He
received 5 millions in cash and bonds for 5 millions drawn on the Dutch East
India Company. The king of France instructed Bussy that France had no
territorial ambition in India and that all the territories recaptured from the
British would be returned to their legitimate rulers75
74 Ibid., The French in India, p. 307.
. Since Bussy was expected
any time at Hede France and was supposed to follow up the first French
military detachment to India with all his forces, the French officer Butchmin,
who had only a small army under his command was instructed not to fight the
British before the arrival of Bussy and his army of 8,000. Dutchmein was put
in-charge to negotiate and draft a Treaty with Haidar Ali for military alliance
with Mysore. But these efforts did not succeed immediately because the Wakil
75 “Journal de board du Bailli de Suffren dansl’Inde 1781-84 Paris 1888 reprinted at Renness, 1995.
25
(Lawyer)76 of Haidar Ali posted t the French camp, was infact working for the
English. The French Admiral Suffren was77 in the meanwhile chasing the
English Navy near Ceylon and fought a major action at Providien on 12 April
178278
The naval actions of Suffren had tremendous impact on Haidar Ali.
Therefore suffren decided to come back to the commercial coast and Nabob
Haidar Ali agreed to the meeting which took place at Cadalore from 26
. However on 30 April at Batticoala (Ceylon) he received ministerial
orders to return to ille de France and wait for Bussy. He however decided to
disobey, the order because it was suicidal to leave the Indian waters when the
British army was still around. Other French officials, Piveron de Merlat and
Moissac had informed him that only his naval victories would help in
preventing a break up in the Mysore-French relations.
th to 29th
July 1782. According to the available information, the men were greatly
impressed with each other. On 28th July de Launay, Commissioner General of
Bussy had arrived at Cuddalore. He informed about Bussy’s arrival at Hede
France. He also informed Haidar that Bussy would soon reach India with
reinforcements and he delivered a letter of Bussy which contained the
paragraph of Louis XVI’s instructions to Bussy. The French objectives79 were
read out in the Durbar in the presence of the representatives and Wakils of the
Indian powers accredited to Haidar Ali. On 1st Aug. 1782 Suffren’s forces
sailed from Cuddalore. On 26th
76 Ibid.
he landed his navy at Trincomale in Ceylon
77 Ibid., and S.P. Sen, Op. Cit., pp. 244-246. 78 Journal du Marquis de Bussy, pp. 56-59. 79 Ibid., p. 139
26
which captured the city. On September 3, 1782 Suffren had another battle with
the Royal Navy. Peynier had disembarked 1400 soldiers and arrived on 29th
July 178280. Unfortunately almost 1032 of them were critically ill due to an
epidemic. Bussy wrote that 448 of his soldiers and officers had died of the
epidemic. Bussy himself was sick for a couple of weeks. It was only by
December 1782. Bussy could reach India with 2275 sick soldiers. This was a
great disappointment for Bussy, because he wanted to command at least 10,000
soldiers. In Juy 1782, when Duchemin fell ill81, he gave command of the army
to Hoffelize. Hoffelize was informed by Piveron that Haidar Ali had great
respect for the French and he was waiting for Bussy for a joint operation
against the British. Hoffelize immediately offered all his assistance to Mysore.
Haidar immediately asked him to train his infantry according to the French
pattern. This training was not something new82
Haidar Ali had promised Suffren that he would wait for Busy near
Cuddalore. When Piveron left for Cuddalore he learnt of the disaster of the
battle of the Saints in which part of the French fleet was destroyed.
. Ever since Dupleix detached
some French military instructors to Haidar Ali, for more than a quarter century,
the training programme went on smoothly.
There was a second tragedy at Soulanges in April 1782, while bringing
4000 men in 4 ships of the line and several other transports to help Bussy and
Suffren. He also learnt about Bussy’s own illness. 80 Ibid. 81 Lafont, J.M. “Observations on the French Military Presence in the Indian States 1750-1849”, in K.S.
Mathew ed. Indo-French Relations, ICHR. 82 Monograph-2, Delhi, 1999, pp. 199-234.
27
It was here that they learnt about the epidemic and about Bussy’s own
difficulty in leaving the Ile de France. On the top of these tragedies, Haidar
himself fell ill seriously. There French physicians, Rousseau Rochard and
Noel (Surgeons of the French army) attended him. But Haidar was against
undergoing a surgery for his stomach ailment. And when he finally agreed, for
a surgery, it was too late. Nabob Haidar Ali died at 8.30am on 7th Dec. 1782.
The French officials under the leadership of Piveron took a historic decision to
keep the news of Haidar’s demise a top secret in order to prevent any coup
within the kingdom to capture power. Tipu was away in Malabar with his
army. Piveron assured the Mysore authorities that the French army was
backing Tipu without any reservation. The French moved their forces till Jinji
and stayed83
It was a difficult time for Tipu, because his territories in Malabar,
Mangalore and Bednur where captured by the British and he wanted to
recapture them with some possible support of the French, on 24, March 1783.
The French advised him to wait for the arrival of Bussy and his troops. In the
meanwhile he got communication from Mysore that the British were planning a
serious attack on Mysore. Hence, Tipu held a durbar on 3
there till the arrival of Tipu from Malabar on 28 Dec. 1782. Tipu
thanked the French profusely for their timely help.
rd
83 Ibid.
March 1783 at
Cuddalore with both the French and the Mysorean officials and announced his
decision to move out of the Coromandal Coast to Mysore. He prepared a list of
28
forces in 20 cities of Carnatic84 the very next day he started marching back to
Bangalore. He had taken back 600 French Soldiers with him. The French
officer Hoffelize had to defend Cuddalore with only 600 French officers and
soldiers. By March 1785
Tipu received a letter from Bussy on 24
Suffren had arrived at Porto Novo with 7 ships, 3
frigates and 123 transports. Bussy himself had landed with his forces,
including the sick woldiers. A 21 gun salute and a general discharge of
artillery was ordered by Tipu in his honour.
th March 1783. Tipu sent the
French official Piveron to Cuddalore to instruct him of his plans, which
included the recapture of Bednur, Mangalore and then destroy the Tellicherry
settlement of the British in Malabar and later undertake a joint French-Mysore
attack of Madras. Piveron and Bussy were kept informed about the progress
Tipu was making on the western front. On 7th April, the Franco-Mysorean
troops recaptured Bednur. On 3rd May Piveron left Bussy and reached
Mangalore on 22nd June. The British garrison in Mangalore was besieged. The
French engineers completed the trenches. In the meanwhile, Bussy could not
move out of Cuddalore, because Mir-Mohin-ud-din his deputy Commander on
the Coromandal Coast refused to provide him with transportation facilities.
Tipu Sultan condemned Mir-Mohin-ud- and ordered him to obey Bussy’s
orders86
84 Piveron, Memoire Sur I”inde
. In the meanwhile General Stuart commended the attack on the French
85 Ibid. 86 Lafont, Op. Cit., p. 87.
29
at Cuddalore, because he knew that the French had neither money, transport
nor reinforcements. But Stuart did not succeed in his attempt.
Under such a situation, Bussy could not do anything more than
remaining with his camp. He did not have sufficient troops under his control
and he was also short of funds. The five millions he had carried in cash from
France had almost exhausted and he was informed by the Dutch financiers of
Ceylone that they could not pay him the 5 million lives agreed upon with “less
assurances and results.” On 20th June Suffren fought his last battle against the
Royal navy, off Cuddalore. He could inflict severe blow on the British and the
English squadron retreated to Madras. Suffren87 landed reinforcements to
Bussy. In the meantime, news reached Suffren that 6 ships of line carryng the
legion of Luxenburg, an elite unit send for Indian requirements. The French
squadron prevented any help to come from tranquebar and Nagapatnam and the
Mysorean cavalry with Tipu’s insistence proved very active in cutting the rears
of the British. While Suffren and Bussy were planning a final offensive, the
news reached that the Paris Treaty88
The signing of the Treaty of Versailles in1783 had far reaching
consequences on Mysore and Tipu Sultan. Negotiations continued between the
French and the English for almost nine months and the Treaty was signed on
3
was about to be signed and that the
hostilities to be ceased at once.
rd
87 Piveron de Merlat, Memoire Sur I’Inde
September 1783. Even before the formal signing of the treaty, the Indian
powers allied to the English or to the French were given four months to join the
88 A Martineau, Bussy et I’Inde Erancaise, p. 377.
30
peace process. These powers were not to receive any military assistance from
either of the European powers. However, assistance could be provided in the
form of diplomatic effort to settle or negotiate on the existing disputes89
There were great opportunities during the period of both Haidar and
Tipu to completely destroy the British power in South India. However, despite
several decades of friendship neither the French nor Mysore could come to the
effective help of the other in crises. First, when Haidar Ali had almost crushed
Eyre Coote and Cuddalur, he needed the support of 800 French Soldiers and
engineers which never came to him. Similarly when the French
.
90 were about
to win a decisive battle against the British, Bussy was not given transporting
animals to pull their field and siege artillery by Mir Mohin-du-din Tipu;s
commander in the Carnatic. On the 1st of October 1783 Tipu Sultan wrote to
de Bussy91
89 Lafont, Op. Cit., p. 93.
. You write that you have received information and orders from the
courts of France and London that the Governor of Madras has received the
same information to decide to have peace with me and with Mohammad Ali
Khan and that you have the intention of sending Mr.Martin and Krishna Rao to
Madras to discuss with them and to meet my wakils there. You also write to
me that after all the problems here are resolved, you would recommend me to
the King of France and inform him of my attachment to the French nation.
You and Mr.Suffren ardently desire the well-being and prosperity of my
kingdom and you would be attached to me in my good fortunes as well as in
my misfortunes so long as the two kingdoms last. I am sure by now that
Mr.Appajiram and Srinivasa Rao (Tipu’s Wakhils) have reached Madras and
90 Ibid. 91 Tipu’s Letter to Bussy. 1st Oct 1783, Correspondence of the French during the reign of Hyder Ali
and Tipu Sultan 1781-1783 (ed.). Suman Venkatesh, KSA Bangalore, 1997.
31
you would do well to send Mr.Martin and Mr. Krishna Rao (French Wakhils)
as written by you so that we can discuss and agree on a peace arrangement with
the English.”
Tipu Sultan had great expectations of signing a defensive and offensive
alliance with the French to resist the English expansion in India. Tipu
requested for 10,000 French troops92
under his direct command with an
assurance of the entire expenditure by the Mysore Kingdom. The Mysore
embassy though received with great importance by Louis XVI in a public
audience on 3 Aug 1788, the emperor politely evaded the question of an
offensive and defensive alliance, because of its implications on the European
political situation, involving the French and the English.
Review of Works
The life and times of Tipu Sultan has been subjected to extreme levels of
criticism or deification. While some of the contemporary British writers
painted him black into a religious bigot and tyrant, we also come across another
group of writers who demonstrate untinted deification without substantial
material evidence. There are also important works of early 19th
Col. Wilks wrote his Historical sketches of the South India in an attempt
to trace the History of Mysore (London 1817). The book was authored in
1810, more than a decade after Tipu’s death. This book makes an attempt to
century which
provide factual information on the state of the economy, society, resources,
wages and manufacturing, with historical analysis of the previous decades.
92 Kirkpatrick, Letters of Tipu Sultan, No. 336, p. 370
32
trade the History of Mysore with greater emphasis on the details of the war
with the Nizam, the Mahrattas and the British ‘Wilks’ book, despite its literary
flair, remains a masterly piece of colonial bias93
Another work on Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan was written by Bowring
. Wilks’ perspective was
limited. Being a functionary of the colonial state as well as the beneficiary of
the colonial dispensation, Wilks could not look at the historical process of this
period in an objective and scientific manner.
94,
titled, Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan
The most controversial work is the Select Letters of Tipu Sultan
compiled and published by Kirk Patrick. The critics of Kirkpatrick including
C.K. Kareem, allege that he was involved in dexterous manipulation and
interpolation of letters written by Tipu Sultan. They also accuse him of
defective translation from Persian to English. Despite this criticism,
Kirkpatrick still continues to be one of the major sources for the study of Tipu
Sultan. Another important, work is the Narrative of the War with Tipu Sultan
(Rulers of India Series). This book was
written in1893. Bowring was the Commissioner of Mysore after Mark Cubbon.
The major drawback of Bowring is that he relied heavily on Col. Wilks. As an
author, Col.Wilks was his predecessor. But Bowring did not critically look at
his predecessors’ work. He did not subject it to any kind of textual criticism.
Bowring reproduced passages after passages from Wilks without expressing
doubt about its veracity.
93`Sebastian Joseph, “Writings on Tipu: A Historiographical Critique”, Proceedings, Seminar on National Integration with Special Reference to Tipu Sultan, Mysore, 1989, p. 56. 94 For details, see Col.Wilks, Mark, Historical Sketches of South India, Mysore, London, 1817.
33
which focused mainly on the third Anglo-Mysore War from June 1791 to
February 1792. Dirom mainly concentrated on the military aspects of the war,
without discussing the political and the diplomatic issues involved in that.
Fullerton wrote the well-known book, A View of the English Interests
in India. As the title of his publication indicates, he was a staunch loyalist
who made use of every95
Another important work is titled A View of the Origin and Conduct of
the War with Tipu Sultan (1800). This book was written by Alexander
Beatson. There are other works such as Melleson’s Seringapatam, the capital
of Tipu, MMDLT, the History of Hyder Shah and his son Tipu Sultan (1855)
and similar such works provide only either biased or partisan view of the life of
Tipu Sultan.
opportunity to serve the British cause. As a Colonel
of the East India Company army, he continued on his own way, the military
operations in Malabar, despite the signing of the Treaty of Mangalore. In fact,
he had disobeyed his own superiors to promote the British interests! No
wonder, he served the British interest through his biased writings.
Although there are several books by the British historians, which are
highly critical of Tipu, are a few writers of the 20th century who have gone
beyond the 19th century British writers in their unprintable calumny against
Tipu Sultan. One such book is I.M. Muthanna’s Tipu Sultan X-rayed96
95 Ibid.
. P.N.
Oak, who provided the “Scholarly Introduction” to the above book, argues that
96 Sebastian Joseph, Was Tipu a bigot? Review of the Book, Tipu Sultan X-rayed by I.M.Muthanna, Deccan Herald, Oct. 25, 1981.
34
the mutinees of the type of 1857 were engineered by the Indian Muslims to
recover the lost throne”. Here, we have a rare-tribe of patriotic historian, who
chuckles at the fact that the 1857 struggle got suppressed by the British.
Moved by the same spirit, Muthanna dedicates his book to those who came to
India, the British who were on their “self-ordained mission to build a vast
united India”. One of the primary intentions of I.M. Muthanna was to project
Tipu as a religious bigot. But we have vast sources which prove that Tipu was
in harmony with Hindu religious institutions including the Sringeri Mutt,
Guruvayoor temple and hundreds of other institutions. He had given land
grants and money grants to these institutions in Mysore and outside.
According to Nikhiles97
97 Nikhiles Guha, Research on Mysore History -18th and 19th Centuries. Proceedings, National
Seminar on Tipu Sultan, Mysore University, 1989.
Guha, Mohibbul Hasan and M.H. Gopal are the
two important names with emphasis on serious research into Mysore history.
They have come out with their works after sustained research over a long
period. Moibbul Hassan’s work, History of Tipu Sultan was published in
1951 (Calcuta). Hassan places major emphasis on diplomatic and military
history, since that was the major emphasis in those days. Although Mohibbul
Hassan had access to sources in India, London and Paris he did not make any
attempt to make a foray into the economic, history or the commercial history of
the period. Mohibbul Hassan also edited the diary of Tipu’s embassy to
Constantinople in 1786 entitled Waq-i-Manazil-i-Rum which was published
in 1968. The book provides a foray into the commercial relations and his grand
strategy for establishing trading centres in the Persian Gulf region Yemen,
35
Constantinople and other places. Despite this information n the commercial
activities, Hassan did not attempt to write anything seriously on commercial
relations or on the economic activities of Tipu Sultan.
M.H. Gopal was perhaps the first scholar to make serious emphasis on
the economic history of Mysore from the second half of the 18th century to the
first decades of the 19th century. His two works are important in this respect.
Tipu Sultan’s Mysore – An Economic Study (Bombay, 1971) focuses on the
revenue of the Kingdom of Mysore, commercial policy of Tipu Sultan, military
expenditure, financial administration and on general financial situations. M.H.
Gopal being basically an economist, his emphasis was purely on quantitative
study of the financial question98 and financial administration. M.H. Gopal does
not make any attempt to explain the specific colonial context, its expansion and
the nature of a war-turn economy pitted against colonial expansion. The same
emphases on the financial aspects are continued in the other volume on the first
three decades of the 19th century, viz., The Finances of the Mysore State,
1799-183199
Prof.B. Sheik Ali’s book, Brtish Relations with Haidar Ali (1963) is a
serious work based on archival research in India and abroad. The same author
has also brought out other works including the edited volume entitled Tipu
Sultan – A Great Martyr (Bangalore, 1993).
. M.H. Gopal does not make any attempt to study the implications
of the Treaty of 1799 and the resultant unequal financial relations between the
Princely Mysore State and the British Paramountcy.
98 M.H. Gopal, Tipu Sultan’s Mysore – An Economic Study (Bombay, 1971). 99 M.G. Gopal, The Finances of the Mysore State 1799-1831 (Mysore, 1960).
36
Nikhiles Guha’s work, Pre-British State System in South India –
Mysore 1761-1799) discusses among other things, land revenue,
administration, trade, manufacturing, army and the potentialities of
development.
Another important work is by Suman Venkatesh entitled The
Correspondence of the French during the Reign of Hyder Ali and Tipu
Sultan. The first volume contains letters from 1781 to 1783. Some of the
letters included in the book provide vital information on the commercial and
diplomatic relations.
Prof. Anirudh Ray has brought out a collection of Seminar papers under
the caption Tipu Sultan and His Age (Kolkata, 2002).
Confronting Colonialism – Resistance and Modernization under Haidar
Ali and Tipu Sultan edited by Irfan Habib was published by Tulika in 1999.
The volume includes not only the contemporary works but also some of the
contributions by earlier scholars.
Kate Brittle Bank’s work, Tipu Sultans Search for Legitimacy
(Oxford University Press, 1997) has taken uphither to untouched aspects of his
life and administration. The book mainly focuses its attention on (a) Tipu’s
path to legitimacy and (b) the expression and dialectic of power.
Sources
The sources on the history of the second half of the 18th century Mysore
is available in different languages such as English, French, Dutch, Persian and
Kannada. There are also a few records in Turkish, Mahratti, Malayalam and
37
Portuguese. The Portuguese records provide information on Haidar Ali’s
contacts with Portutuese at Goa, Turkish records at Constantinople (Istambul)
provide information on Tipu’s embassies to Constantinople. The Mahratta
sources mainly focus on Mysore-Mahratta relations and military engagements.
The Malayalam sources, though few, concentrates on Mysorean invasion of
Malabar. The Dutch sources in the Tamil Nadu Archives belonging to the 18th
The sources in Kannada, the Kadithas of Sringeri Mutt reveals that both
Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan had very cordial relationship with the Mutt and
they kept the religious heads in high esteem. In 1791, when the Marathas
under Parashuram Bhau invaded Mysore, they had damaged the Sringeri
temple and plundered its property. Even the idol of Saradamba was damaged.
The Swamiji of Sringeri Mutt informed Tipu about these raids and damages.
Tipu immediately wrote to the Swamiji about his deep regrets and ordered all
the possible assistance to the Mutt to restore the damaged properties of the
temple. He also provided financial assistance to the Mutt.
century, viz., official correspondence diaries, proceedings and reports provide
veritable information on Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan. The Dutch Record No.13
translated and edited by Galletti is very crucial to the understanding of the
period. The Dutch Record No.5 Historical account of Nawab Hyder Ali khan
edited by Rev. Fr. Groot Dutch Record No.2. Memoir written in the year 1781
by Adrian Moens, governor Batavia Council, Dutch Record No.11 Memoir of
Carper De Jones 1761 are important Dutch records.
38
The French records are available in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
Records are also available in other places such as Archives Nationales,
Ministere de La guerre and Ministere des Affaires Etraugeres. The Journal of
Bussy, historical documents on Tipu, Bellecombe’s letters to Piveran, the
Expedition of Suffren to India, Tipu’s correspondence with the French before
and after the French Revolution, Napoleon’s letter to Tipu are some of the
important documents. Similarly, the Archives of Fort Louis at Mauritius, has
letters of governor Cossigny to the French Governor at Pondicherry regarding
Tipu Sultan and his war efforts against the British and the possible French
assistance. A few letters of the colonial assembly to Tipu regarding the
French-Mysore relations belonging to the last decade of the 18th
English Records
century, the
list of French soldiers to Tipu’s army. A large number of other French records
throw light on not only Tipu’s relationship with the French but also on the trade
relations and the general political situation.
The English records pertaining to the second half of the 18th
The unpublished records of the National Archives include among other things
century are
available at various places such as the India Office Library, London, National
Archives, Delhi, Tamil Nadu Archives, Calicut Archives, Bombay Archives
and the Karnataka State Archives, Bangalore.
(a) Foreign and Home Department Records of1756-80 (Secret
consultations)
39
(b) Foreign and Political Consultations 1756-1780 Proceedings 1767
(Secret)
(c) Foreign and Political Select Committee Proceedings 1768 (January to
July)
(d) Foreign Miscellaneous Vol. 54, 1792-1793.
(e) Foreign Misc.S.No.92 Memoirs of the Northern Parghanas of Mysore
1800-1801 C. Machenzie, Capt of Engineers, March 1803.
(f) Foreign Misc. Memoirs of the Registers of Hoskote, Kolar, John
Warren, 1802.
(g) Foreign Misc. Report relating to the Mysore Survey. C. Mechenzie
1800.
(h) Foreign Dept. Secret correspondence 1788-89.
The unpublished Records of the Madras Record Office (Tamil Nadu
Archives) include
a) Cochin Commissioner’s Diaries, Vols. 2032, 2033 and 2034.
b) Factory Records (a)Diaries, (b) General
c) Madras Secret Consultations, Vol. V (1797), VI (1798), Vol. VIII
(1799).
d) Tellicherry Factory Records, Vol.
The Inam Registers of Calicut Archives in five folio volumes contain the
rent free lands given by Tipu Sultan to various temples, Satrams, Hindu
40
charitable institutions and Brahmin scholars in Kerala. It also gives a list of
land grant and money grants to both Hindu and Muslim institutions.
Among the published works of the National Archives, we have the India
House Correspondence Vol. II, 1757-59, Foreign and Secret series 1781-1786,
Vol.XV, Foreign and Secret Series Vol. XVII (1792-95). Malabar Joint
Commissioners Report 1792 and the Selections from the Oramis Manuscripts.
These records are helpful in looking at the political and diplomatic
developments involving Mysore and the British.
The Tamil Nadu Archives contains several published records of the
period under discussion. The Dutch Record No.5 is a Historical Account of
Nawab Haidar Ali Khan from 1763. The Dutch Record No.13 contains the
Memorandum on the Administration of the Malabar Coast by Dutch Governors
Gollenesse and Moens. This also includes a brief biography of Haidar Ali by
Moens the Dutch Governor.
The other important records are :
a) Baramahal Records Vol. I, II, III, IV, V, XI and
b) Tellicherry Consultations, Vol. I to XVIII, 1725-1752, 1766-1780.
There are also a series of other reports such as:
a) Report on the Southern Division of Malabar 1801 by John Wye.
b) Repdort on the Revenue Affairs of Malabar and Canara by William
Thackeray 1911.
c) The Despatches, Minutes and Correspondence of Marquis of
Wellesley ed. By Montgomery Martin.
d) Report on the provinces of Malabar and Canara by Sullivan 1841.
41
These records provide substantial information on the land revenue
administration during the period of Tipu Sultan in Malabar, Coimbatore and
other areas. Some of records, such as Tellicherry Diaries and Consultations,
Factory Recors etc., give us detailed information on the oceanic trade involving
the Malabar Coast, during the second half of the 18th
There are several official survey and study reports, travel accounts and
memoirs which are important for the present study. Among these, Francis
Hamilton Buchanan’s Journey from Madras Through Mysore, Canara and
Malabar, 3 Vols. (London 1807, James Forbes Oriental Memoirs, Vol. IV
(London, 1813), Tome Pires Summa Oriental Vol. 1 (London, 1944 edn),
R.H. Elliot Experiences of Planter in the Jungles of Mysore (London, 1874),
Benjamin Lewis Rice, Mysore Gazetteer, 2 Vols, 1876-78, Bangalore and
Abbe Dubois, Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies (London, 1924 edn)
are important works which throws light on the second half of the 18
century.
th
century.