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| Tipu Sultan of Mysore. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipu_Sultan |
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| Mysore rocket gallery, Shivamogga, Karnataka newindianexpress.com |
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| The Mysorean rockets and Tipu Sultan. thebetterindia.com |
When the East India company was on a land-grabbing spree and on an expansion mode across the northern states of India, in the south, their imperialistic ambition did not show any fast growth. The de facto ruler of Mysore Hyder Ali and his dynamic son Tipu Sultan stalled their progress and set a huge road block for the English company. Being a great warrior with well trained army and good artillery power, Tipu was a formidable enemy for the British Bobs. The added advantage was he had close alliance with the French army. Tipu Sultan never had a soft corner for the British company and its army as they happened to be cunning, diabolical and, most importantly, dishonest to the core. They grabbed countless kingdoms run by the Maharajahs and Nawabs through outright cheating. Tipu with a powerful army and unique war equipment, posed a great challenge to the English army. Unlike other Indian rulers Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali had a separate brigade trained in ''rocketry'' - launching of missiles fitted with sharp objects that could travel long distance - more than 1000 yards.
Both Tipu and his father vastly improved the crude rocket-missile technology and increased their efficiency and fire power. They had a separate trained troops in thousands to launch missiles in the battle fields. Their missiles were provided with well hammered, heat resistant and iron cased pipes to carry the gunpowder. They had different kinds of missiles capable of travelling long distance more than 1000 yards. These missiles fixed on long bamboo sticks carry sharp spear and land on the target with a big bang and sharp edges facing the enemy. Suddenly encountering a hail of missiles armed with sharp objects means hell, the English solders had to be on the gallop like a horse to avoid injuries and lacerations. The British were introduced to an array of new rockets that were far superior than the ones used by them. The Mysore metal cased rockets that could be launched in multiple, say 10 or 12 at the same time gave them nightmare. The instant bamboo stick or sword blade attached to the rocket passed through a man’s body on impact. It could kill or severely wound 10 to 15 men till the combustion chamber became empty. ''Mysore was the first state in the world to have moved to the next stage of rocket development from wooden firework rockets to metal war rockets successfully,"
Though roughly 220 years have gone by since his death in his Srirangapatna fort on 4 May 1799 against the English company's army commanded by Arthur Wellesley, Tipu's valor and war exploits are still remembered by the people even today not withstanding the fact that he still remains a controversial figure in the matter of religion. Tipu defended Srirangapatna till his last breath. So, till his unexpected death the ‘Tiger of Mysore’ posed one of the strongest military challenges ever faced by the British in the sub-continent, His death in the battlefield gave a big break for the British.
Late Dr. Abdul Kalam, our former Indian President and a well-known missile technologist was excited about Tipu Sultan's knowledge of rocketry and wanted to have a museum built in Karnataka. His dream came true last year. On 22 November 2019 a Gallery dedicated to Tpu's metal cased Mysore rockets was opened informally by the government. The gallery is housed at the Shivappa Nayaka Palace which is also a museum.
It is said the gallery in Shivamogga city is the first and largest one showcasing the "Tipu rockets" or "Mysore rockets" in the world. Gallery is named as ''Mysore Rockets Gallery''. The Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich Arsenal in London, has a collection of two such rockets and the Karnataka government in its museum in Bengaluru has just three rockets. Believe it or not the gallery cum museum at the Shivappa Nayaka Palace has a large collection of 1,700 such rockets. Apparently, they were accidentally recovered from an old well at Nagara village in Hosanagar taluk last year. However, only 15 are on display in the gallery due to inadequate space.
As for the measurements, etc of the rockets on display, the length from 190 mm to 260 mm and the diameter ranges from 33 mm to 65 mm. While the lightest specimen weighs 372 g, the highest one weighs 1.75 kg.
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