Tipu Sultan in History

This historiographical essay seeks to chart a middle course betweenwhat may be called Tipu bashing and, to borrow an expression from Anne Buddle, “TipuMania,” with a view to providing a balanced view of Tipu Sultan the man and thestatesman. This study is premised on the verdict of Joseph François Michaud who not onlyadmires the Sultan’s courage and noble intentions but also laments his superstition,lack of discretion and farsight, apathy to deliberations, and counterproductivestubbornness that inevitably led to his undoing. Tipu’s tenacious conviction in therectitude of his policies and measures deprived him of the sagacity to mend and amendthem as and when necessary. The American gymnast and three-time Olympian Dominique Dawesobserved that people do not plan to fail but respond to failure when it occurs bybouncing back and responding to it. Tipu Sultan’s misfortune was that he failed to learnfrom his failures