The dust and smoke made my eyes burn. The British canons were relentless, but the walls of the fort held. The sultan was standing over the ramparts overseeing the defence. I climbed the stairs to convince him to come down. As his bodyguard, I had to keep him safe from some stray British bullet.
I wish I could have convinced my wife and son to leave the fortress before the siege. I remember their faces as I loaded my musket. We will not lose. We cannot afford to lose.
The war has gone badly for us till now. The Marathas and the Nizam, who helped us defeat the British in two wars have betrayed us and have joined the British. The French Emperor, Napolean Bonaparte promised us help, but he was busy fighting his own war with the British in Egypt. We have lost almost all our territories, but Srirangpatinam still holds. It will hold till the last Mysore soldier takes breath. It will hold till Tipu, my sultan, lives.
Srirangapatinam, our river fortress has never been breached before. Our sultan’s father, Hyder Ali had built in on a river island, surrounded by the river Cauvery. In preparation for the siege, Tipu had destroyed the dam upstream. The river was in spate and the British had to cross the river to lay siege. Their canons were unable to aim clearly and their muskets were falling short. I heard our rockets whizzing overhead. The rockets were causing confusion in the British ranks.
I aimed my musket at an opening in the British ranks on the river bank.
“Don’t waste your bullets. Every bullet should take down a British soldier”, ordered Tipu. I lowered my gun.
A sudden commotion in the back caught my attention. I turned around. A blood-splattered soldier pushed his way through the ranks. His helmet was dented and he was bleeding from a wound on his scalp.
“The fortress is breached! The fortress is breached! The Water Gate has been opened. The British are inside!”, he yelled and collapsed. I rushed towards the solder, but Tipu beat me to him. The sultan lifted his bleeding head in his hands and screamed for water. One of the soldiers gave him his water pack.
“What happened?”, asked Tipu.
“Sultan, the fortress has been breached. We have been betrayed. Mir Sadik and his men opened the Water Gate. The enemy is inside the fortress”. The soldier coughed out blood and fainted. We heard the sound of muskets and screams behind us, from the Water Gate.
Tipu unsheathed his sword and held it in the air.
“Come with me, my tigers. We shall wipe the British out from this land. We will chase them till the island they call home and burn that too to the ground. Come, my men, today we shall become immortal.”
The men cheered for the sultan. I screamed until my voice went hoarse. We were tigers. Tigers of Mysore.
We formed ranks and started marching towards the water gate. The British were ready. Musket balls tore through us. I saw the man marching next to me fall. I had to protect the sultan. I ran up to him stood next to him. I saw a red-coated soldier aiming at Tipu I pointed my pistol towards him and shot. He crumpled on the ground. The dust and gun-powder made it difficult to see the battle. I could hardly make out Tipu. Standing near me and shouting orders. Our ranks were breaking. Our men were dying in hordes. We were running out of ammunition.
I stood next to Tipu and slashed at anyone daring to come near, but we were surrounded. I saw British soldiers in all directions. Their bayonets were pointed towards Tipu. They were screaming for his death.
A Maratha soldier charged towards me. I blocked his sword swing and pushed him to the floor. It turned around. Tipu was surrounded. A British soldier had knocked his turban. His clothes were torn by men around him. I yelled and pushed at the soldiers. I swung my sword and beheaded one.
Tipu looked at me. His eyes were red and full of tears.
“Ali”, he gurgled my name. A British soldier ran him through with his bayonet.
“No!”, I yelled in desperation.
Another soldier took his gun and shot him through the head.
I collapsed on my knees. My sword hand limp.
“My sultan! My sultan!” I cried. A sword tip pierced through me. The blood poured out in torrents. I tried closing the wound with my hands. I looked at the crumpled body of Tipu Sultan lying next to me. The Tiger of Mysore. My sultan.
That was the last thing I saw as my vision faded to black.
The fall of Srirangapatinam under the combined forces of The British, the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad during the Fourth Ango-Mysore War is one of the saddest chapters in Indian history. It was the last battle in history in which a king died in the battlefield.
The fortress town of Srirangapatinam is built with only one goal – defence against a siege. The fortress is built on an island in river Cauvery. The dam upstream is opened during a siege which floods the island till the walls of the fort, making it siege engines redundant.
The British were unable to take the fortress of Srirangapatinam by force. They finally managed to bribe Mir Sadik, a courtier of Tipu to open the Water Gate and let the army inside.
The town of Srirangapatinam is situated 25 km from Mysore and is easily accessed by bus, train or cab from Mysore. Tipu’s original palace, Lal Mahal was razed to the ground by the British after the battle and only the foundations can be seen. Tipu’s summer palace still survives and has beautiful murals and pictures of the Mysore’s rulers. The entire wall is covered with murals of the First and Second Anglo-Mysore war which Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan won. A picture of the traitor, Mir Sadik has been vandalized and defaced. The palace contains coins, weapons and clothes of Tipu Sultan.
Gol Gumbaz is a Taj Mahal-esque tomb of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan. It was built by Tipu for his father, and later he was also buried there. The tombs are surrounded by a beautiful garden.
The outer walls of the fortress surrounds the entire island and scattered with places of historical importance. This include the site from where Tipu’s army launched rockets at the British; the Water Gate, through which Tipu was betrayed and the British army let in; and also the site where Tipu Sultan’s body was found.
Tipu’s jail has also survived the purge of history. The subterran jail was used by Tipu to imprison and torture British officers captured during the First and Second Anglo-Mysore Wars.
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