Lions & Tigers

Tipu's Tiger, an 18th-century automata with its keyboard visible. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Public Domain image via Wikimedia Commons.

Tipu Sultan, succeeded his father Hyder Ali as ruler of Mysore in December 1782. He was a formidable adversary to growing British power in late 18th-century India. He fought the British East India Company in four Anglo-Mysore Wars, allying at times with the French and facing the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad.

INDIA. Maratha Confederacy. Rupee, AH 1207 RY 34 (1792). Saharanpur Mint. In the name of Shah Alam II. NGC MS-65. Obverse: “A coin was struck across the seven climes, [under] the shadow of Divine Grace, the protector of the religion of Muḥammad, Emperor Shāh ʿĀlam, (A.H.) 1207.” سکه زد بر هفت کشور سایهٔ فضلِ اله حامی دین محمد شاه عالم بادشاه ١٢٠٧ هـ Reverse: “Year 34 of accession; struck at Sahāranpūr, [the mint epithet ‘Dār al-Surūr’] ‘Abode of Joy’. دارُالسُّرور ضرب سَهارنپور سنه ٣٤ جلوس

Tipu Sultan's reign saw Mysore reach unprecedented economic and military heights. Tipu built a large, modern army (including the innovative use of rocket artillery).

He introduced a new land revenue system to maximize agrarian income and instituted state monopolies on key commodities like sandalwood, pepper and cardamom. The British continued these monopolies after his fall. Tipu overhauled currency and administration, issuing a new coinage (without the Mughal emperor’s name) and adopting the Mauludi calendar (Tipu's hybrid lunisolar era, counted from the birth of the Prophet Muhammad CE 572),dating from 1787.

Determined to make Mysore an economic powerhouse, he promoted silk production and other industries by importing experts and technology. He established overseas trading houses and even bartered Mysore’s pepper and sandalwood for French armaments, seeking to circumvent British trade restrictions.

Vidyasankara temple, Sringeri. Photo by Calvinkrishy, used under license CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Culturally, Tipu patronized learning and religious institutions in his realm – for example, he aided the restoration and re-consecration of the Hindu Sringeri temple after it was sacked in the Maratha raid of 1791 - even as he styled himself a devout Muslim ruler. His court amassed perhaps the largest royal library south of Delhi, oversaw a Dar-ul-Umur “academy” that translated European and Arabic-Persian science, and rewarded both Muslim and Hindu clerics with land grants, precious vessels and ritual paraphernalia. A complex figure vilified by early colonial accounts, Tipu Sultan’s rule briefly made Mysore a pivot of resistance and reform in 18th-century India.

 Here's an AE Paisa of Tipu Sultan:

From 1761 onward Tipu’s father, Ḥyder ʿAlī, had reduced the Wadiyars to figureheads; his son Tipu completed the eclipse and formally adopted the title of sultan.

Henry Singleton, R.A., 1766-1839. The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultan. This dramatic composition is the third in a series of four pictures which Singleton painted c.1800. Source: Fran Pritchett

British Restore the Wodeyar Dynasty

Tipu died defending Seringapatam on 4 May 1799, Governor-General Lord Wellesley seized the moment to recast Mysore as a princely state within Britain’s rising Indian empire.

To legitimize the new British order, the Company resurrected the old Hindu line in the person of Krishnaraja Wadeyar III, whose long life (1794-1868) would unfold under British paramountcy. As a princely state, Mysore's military was subordinate to and paid tribute to Britain. In modern Karnataka, Tipu is remembered as the “Tiger of Mysore,” a symbol of resistance, while Krishnaraja III is celebrated for Kannada cultural renaissance—two contrasting legacies born of the same 1799 turning-point.

Krishnacharya Purniah (1746–1812), better known as Dewan Purnaiah, rose from Hyder Ali’s court accountant to become the chief minister of Mysore across three very different rulers. In 1782 he famously concealed Hyder’s death and rushed word to Tipu Sultan on the Malabar coast, ensuring a smooth transfer of power and earning Tipu’s lasting trust.

When Tipu fell in 1799, Purnaiah brokered the British-sponsored restoration of the Wodeyar dynasty and served as regent (dewan) for the boy-king Krishnaraja Wodeyar III until 1811, keeping rebellion in check and the treasury solvent. His administration professionalized revenue collection, dug canals and reservoirs, and erected projects such as the Wellesley Bridge at Srirangapatna.

The Wellesley Bridge across the Cauvery on the north-east face of the Fort of Srirangaptha, unidentified photo before 1860. Source: International Center of Photography

Having steered the state through the Anglo-Mysore wars and a dynastic upheaval, Purnaiah died at Srirangapatna on 27 March 1812, celebrated by modern historians as the “master survivor” who guided Mysore from Hyder Ali’s era to the threshold of British paramountcy. Here's a coin issued under Dewan Purnaiah.

Mysore, Regent Dewan Purnaiya, AH 1214-1225/AD 1799-1810, Mahisur Mint, Copper XXV Cash (11.27g, 24.2mm, KM # C187), in the name of Krishnaraja Wadiyar III

Obv: Sardula (mythical tiger) above, kanarese "shri"between sun and moon, "chamundi"

Rev: krishna kanarese legend in circle, around mint name and value

And several others from the reign of Krishnaraja Wadeyar III:

another of the same coin:

Coins of Indian Princely states, Copper Twenty Cash Series Type II Coin of Krishnaraja Wadeyar III of Mysore State.Mysore State, Krishna Raja Wadeyar III (AH 1225-1285 /1810-1868 AD), Copper 20 Cash, Series Type II,

Obv: elephant below Kanarese, "Sri" between sun and moon

Rev: Kanarese legend "Mayeli kasu ippattu" (token cash twenty)  in two lines at the top & XX Cash in English at the bottom

Mysore, Krishnaraja Wodeyar III (AH 1225-1285/1810-1868 AD), Mahisur Mint, Copper 20 Cash, 1839 AD, Type VI, 9.24g, 21.8mm

Obv: lion left, date below (1839), Kanarese legend "Sri Chamundi" between sun & moon at the top, 

Rev: Kanarese legend "Krishna" in the center, Persian legend "zarb Mahisur" (struck at Mahisur) & Meille XX Cash around

Three languages appear on this coin: English, Kanarese and Persian.  Śrī Chamundi (ಶ್ರೀ ಚಾಮುಂಡಿ) in a Kanarese / Kannada coin legend is the proper name of the goddess Chamundeshwari (Chamunda)—the fierce form of Durga revered on Chamundi Hill above Mysore and honoured as the Wodeyar dynasty’s patron deity.

On Mysore copper cash (c. 1799-1840) the words appear above the obverse lion as a devotional invocation, marking the issue as struck under her protection. Meille XX Cash is an English phonetic spelling of a Kanarese phrase "Mayili Kasu 20" meaning "Token Cash 20".

Mysore, Krishna Raja Wodeyar III, 1799-1868, AE 10 cash (4.42g), Mysore, 1842, KM-192.2

Painting of Chamunda sitting on lion with the devil’s head in her hand.

Tipu Sultan was complex figure vilified by early colonial accounts. His rule briefly made Mysore a pivot of resistance and reform in 18th-century India. Krishnaraja Wodeyar III’s long reign bridged the era of independent Mysore and the age of indirect colonial rule, laying foundations that his successors would build upon after the British returned full administration to the Wodeyars in 1881.

Engraving based on a painting by H. Singleton, engraved by J. Rogers (John Tallis, c.1855)

Mysore Kingdom, Kanteerava Narasaraja Wodeyar I, 1638-1659, Gold Fanam

Obv: seated front narasimha,

Rev: legend in nagari 'kanthirava' ( कण्ठीरव), 0.40g, 6mm

Kanteerava Narasaraja Wodeyar I (1615 – 31 July 1659) was the twelfth maharaja of Mysore who, during a 21-year reign, repelled Bijapur incursions, pushed Mysore’s frontiers deep into Tamil country, founded the kingdom’s first mint and eponymous “Kanthiraya” coinage, patronized literature and theater, and thus transformed a vulnerable principality into an ascendant regional power. Krishna Wodeyar III was a relative of Kanteerava, but not a direct line descendant as Kanteerava's successor was a cousin and there were two adoptions in the dynasty before Krishna Raja Wodeyar III.

The Gumbaz, Tipu Sultan's tomb. He built tombs for his father Hyder Ali and mother Fathima Begam in Gumbaz. The tomb of Hyder Ali is found in the middle, with the tombs of Tipu Sultan and Fathima Begam on either side. The tomb was built by Tipu Sultan and his tomb was added to Gumbaz after he died.