The Mysore ruler, Tipu Sultan was born on 20^th Nov 1750 in Devanahalli. During his rule, Tipu introduced his kingdom to many new innovations like the coinage system and land revenue system. Throughout history, Tipu has been called many things. From being one of the most powerful freedom fighters to now people calling him a controversial ruler, sultan has been a ruler that people talk about a lot. There were talks among the Karnataka government whether they should completely remove Tipu Sultan’s chapters from textbooks or not.

Tipu sultan has contributed a lot to the Mysore state. The people under his rule were genuinely happy, especially the farmers. He was the creator of Mysore-rockets. The rockets acted like iron-clad missiles, something that contributed to the defeat of Britishers in the second Anglo-Mysore war.

Then What makes this ruler so controversial?

During his time as the ruler, Tipu fought four Anglo-Mysore wars. He was an enemy of the British East India Company. But people say that his fight was not for India. Sultan was simply trying to fulfill his selfish dreams of expanding his kingdom. While some scholars say that rebel against oppressors is natural and Tipu should not be called selfish for that, while some scholars have argued that, any person who has fought with the British, shouldn’t be tagged as a freedom fighter.

The main malign to Tipu’s name is the fact that he oppressed the Hindus of Malabar and Christians of Mangalore. History has tagged him as an Anti-Christian. During his rule, Tipu had ordered the destruction of 27 Catholic churches and captured more than half of the Mangalorean Catholic. Even the way he treated his prisoners was apparently brutal.

This ‘Tiger of Mysore’ has made his name in the history books. People celebrate his birthday and talk about his valor. While we cheer and commemorate Sultan for his bravery, we cannot just completely erase certain deeds from history. Tipu Sultan will have a powerful yet controversial name in history.

The real enjoyment of life is to face all the difficulties and problems and be happy with them.#TipuSultan rh. pic.twitter.com/KVtDlCNQZv
— Safwan Khan (@SafwanKhanz) November 20, 2020