#Tippoo's Tiger

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Tippoo's Tiger

'Tippoo's Tiger' was made for Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore in South India from 1782 to 1799. The tiger, an almost life-sized wooden semi-automaton, mauls a European soldier lying on his back. Concealed inside the tiger's body, behind a hinged flap, is an organ which can be operated by turning the handle next to it. This simultaneously makes the man's arm lift up and down and produces noises intended to imitate his dying moans. 

Tigers and tiger stripes were part of the decoration of Tipu Sultan's possessions and anything made to proclaim his rule or personal association. Jewelled gold tiger head finials were on his throne, and tiger stripes were stamped onto his coinage, and his swords and guns incorporated tiger heads and stripes in their forms and ornamentation. Small bronze mortars made for his army were in the shape of crouching tigers, and the men who fired lethal iron-cased rockets against the British wore tunics with stripes woven into the fabric.

Tipu Sultan strongly resisted the attacks by British East India Company army on his kingdom. The Company had been established to trade, but by the late 18th century was extending British rule in India. It fought three wars against Mysore before making the final assault on Tipu's capital, Seringapatam, in 1799.

[theeditorandnarratorcollaborate]

GABBLER RECOMMENDS: "Tania James on Trust, Truth, and the Desire to Create Something That Lasts"

From the podcast: Tania James: Yeah, I don’t think he actually commissioned the elephant clock. I kind of created this moment. But I think he would’ve really responded to that object that was created and designed by a 12th-century Muslim polymath. His name was Al-Jazari and he is well known in the Arab world. I don’t know. But when I discovered this thing, this was a whole other world of…

[rheasmusings]

So I’ve been retracing some of Henry and Alex’s steps across London where I was staying for a couple of days, around South Kensington, because it brings me an absurd amount of joy.

I kind of went backwards, so my first stop was the Victoria and Albert Museum! Gods it is GORGEOUS, I could spend days in there. Definitely suggest visiting, especially because it’s not too touristy.

Anyway, I went to all of the specific sculptures that were mentioned (I literally held the book in my hand as I did so), mainly located in rooms 50a, b, c and d. At the end of that, there was the chapel where they danced to Elton John’s “Your Song”, which I of course put my headphones in for and played while I stood there. (Very, very therapeutic, especially if you imagine how peaceful it might be at night.)

Heres the chapel:

I also tracked down Tippoo’s Tiger, the only one that was really in a completely different wing (South Asia), also because I had heard of it before. My family is Indian, so as a brown person, I had to see this one (and Henry’s quite right about the irony of it all). Definitely check that section out!

The whole museum was beautiful, jut a lot of stolen goods unfortunately :(

And finally, of course, I had to go to Prince Consort Road!

If you made it to the end of this lengthy post, I thank you for traveling with me on this iconic journey 😂

[bizarrobrain]

[lindahall]

Tipu Sultan – Scientist of the Day

Tipu Sultan, the "Tiger of Mysore," was born Nov. 20, 1750.  

read more...

[notesonindianhistory]

A video on Tipu's Sons and Officers painted by Thomas Hickey

[pwlanier]

Tipu’s Tiger (also Tippoo’s Tiger), c. 1793, Mysore, painted wood with metal fixtures (The Victoria and Albert Museum, © Victoria and Albert Museum, London)

Tipu Sultan’s mechanical tiger has long been one of the most well-known items in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. A large automaton (a machine that can move by itself), the tiger is shown in the act of attacking a European man. When played, the man’s left arm flails and the organ emits the sounds of the roaring cat and the cries of its victim. Perhaps what is most striking about the tiger is its change in ownership and meanings: it was made for an Indian ruler who spent much of his adult life fighting the British, and it later became a tool for imperial propaganda in Britain.

[galina]

Some recommendations for an autumn in faber poems—

Louis MacNeice, Autumn Journal Emily Berry, Dear Boy Maurice Riordan, The Holy Land Ilya Kaminsky, Deaf Republic Rachel Allen, Kingdomland Daljit Nagra, Tippoo Sultan’s Incredible White-Man-Eating Tiger Toy-Machine!!!

[harvestheart]

Tippoo's Tiger (around 1790) Courtesy of V&A

[uwmspeccoll]

A Henty A Week

This week’s Henty takes us to 18th century India with The Tiger of Mysore: A Story of the War with Tippoo Saib, by G. A. Henty. Our copy of this was published in 1895 by Scribner’s Sons with both illustrations and maps, one of which was printed in color! The illustrations are by the English painter and illustrator William Henry Margetson.

The Tiger of Mysore was the nickname given to the Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore. Both Tipu Sultan and his father before him, Sultan Hyder Ali, held off the British invasion of the region for many years and were known as the enemies of the British East India Company. Assessments of Tipu Sultan’s rule have been divided: some historians have championed him as a freedom fighter and the ruler who lifted the Mysore region to become India’s dominant economic power of the time; others believe he was a tyrant and persecuted the Muslim and Christian populations under his rule. History buffs can learn more about his contested legacy in this article by Professor Janaki Nair, which was recently published online by All About History. 

This story, like so many of Henty’s others, again champions British colonialism.So, what sets this story apart from the others? Well, we think it’s the accidental double entendres of the illustration captions.... 

View more posts from our Henty a Week series.

-- Katie, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[marchek]

Tippoo’s tiger

[aeusschool]

ٹیپو سلطان ، میسور کا ٹائیگر ، یا ٹیپو صاحب ، جسے انگریز کہتے تھے ، وہ ہندوستانی حکمران تھے جنہوں نے ایسٹ انڈیا کمپنی کی جنوبی ہندوستان پر فتح کے خلاف مزاحمت کی۔ انگلینڈ میں رائے عامہ نے انہیں ایک شیطانی ظالم سمجھا ، جبکہ جدید ہندوستانی قوم پرستوں نے انہیں آزادی پسند لڑاکا قرار دیا ہے ، لیکن یہ دونوں خیالات خواہش مندانہ سوچ کا نتیجہ ہیں۔ Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, or Tippoo Sahib as the British called him, was the Indian ruler who resisted the East India Company’s conquest of southern India. Public opinion in England considered him a vicious tyrant, while modern Indian nationalists have hailed him as a freedom fighter, but both views are the products of wishful thinking. #shaheedday #tipusultan #4thmay #AEUS #school #HazratTipuSultan (at Fatima Nagar) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_webx_lLtt/?igshid=hh1cxgchzd8q

[surejaya]

Sharpe's Tiger (Sharpe, #1)

Download : Sharpe's Tiger (Sharpe, #1) More Book at: Zaqist Book

Sharpe's Tiger (Sharpe, #1) by Bernard Cornwell

The prequel to the series, describing Sharpe's experiences in India. Sharpe’s Tiger describes the adventures of the raw young private soldier Richard Sharpe in India, before the Peninsular War. Sharpe and the rest of his battalion, along with the rising star of the general staff Arthur Wellesley, are about to embark upon the siege of Seringapatam, island citadel of the Tippoo of Mysore. The British must remove this potentate from his tiger throne, but he has gone to extraordinary lengths to defend his city from attack. And always he is surrounded by tigers, both living and ornamental…any prisoner of the Tippoo can expect a savage end. When a senior British officer is captured by the Tippoo's forces Sharpe is offered a chance to attempt a rescue, a chance he snatched in order to escape from the tyrannical Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill. But in fleeing Hakeswill he enters the confusing, exotic and dangerous world of the Tippoo and Sharpe will need all his wits just to stay alive, let alone save the British army from catastrophe. With the same meticulous research and attention to detail that distinguishes the rest of the bestselling series of Sharpe novels, Bernard Cornwell has recreated the I 799 campaign against Seringapatam which made the British masters of southern India, a campaign that pitted brutalized soldiers against an ancient and splendid civilization. Set against a background of dazzling wealth, ruinous poverty, gorgeous palaces, sudden cruelty and pitiless battles, Sharpe’s Tiger is his greatest adventure yet.

Download : Sharpe's Tiger (Sharpe, #1) More Book at: Zaqist Book

[touropeuk]

The Victoria and Albert (V&A) is considered by many to be the world’s greatest museum of Art and Design. Your tour guide will show you many of the Museum's highlights dating from ancient times to the present day such as the Raphael Cartoons, Tippoo’s Tiger, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Notebooks, Michelangelo’s wax model, the oldest dated and most important carpet in the World, the Ardabil, and the intricate timber facade of a London home that survived the Great Fire of London in 1666. The Museum’s Cast Courts house a staggering display of life-size plaster casts made in the 19th Century of famous European statues and monuments; the awe-inspiring cast of Trajan’s Column in Rome is made up of sections reaching from the floor to the ceiling. Also, see the enamel and copper Becket Casket made in the 12th century in Limoges, France, which contained the Archbishop’s relics as well as decorative arts from the reigns of Henry Vlll to Queen Victoria. . You never know unless you visit it, 👉 www.tourope.co.uk . #victoriaalbert #VictoriaAlbert #london #bathroom #museum #art #bath #bathtub #queenvictoria #vamuseum #bathroomdesign #artist #interiordesign #artsy #vanda #victoriaalbertmuseum #style #artoftheday #history #graphicdesign #sculpture #artstagram #illustrator #illustration #fashion #graphics #thesix #victoriaandalbert #victoriaalbert #vonios (at Victoria and Albert Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3zaUn9lNwL/?igshid=110kl05m1vdq2

[desgnr]

Design as Museum

An interesting collection of items at the Victoria and Albert Museum is the South and Southeast Asia collection. This exhibition of foreign goods contains 60,000 ancient artefacts which includes 10,000 textiles and 6,000 paintings covering the Indian subcontinent south of the Himalayas, including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan (Victoria and Albert Museum). However, of all the different historical pieces exhibited, the one object that really caught my attention was Tippoo’s Tiger. This object is a life sized carved and painted wooden model of a tiger devouring a European.

This gruesome object was originally designed for Tipu Sultan of Mysore who tried to drive the British out of india. This piece was most likely created in 1790 but was discovered inside the palace after Tipu’s defeat in 1799. After its discovery in the palace music room, the piece was shipped to London and became one of the most popular exhibits. Tipoo’s Tiger eventually arrived at South Kensington after the Indian Museum’s collection was split up in 1879.

The wooden tiger has an organ inside its body which produces a horrifying imitation of the European victim’s dying wails of agony. One simply just had to turn the handle at the side to produce the noise. Unfortunately, the instrument no longer produces its original sounds due to a lack of maintenance. The gruesomeness of this device clearly depicts the relationship India used to have with the British. The irony of this is the fact that this piece has ended up in museums.

There has been a long time debate about whether it is ethically right for museums to withhold artefacts such as Tippoo’s Tiger. A majority of the items and collectibles in museums, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, are items that have been looted from colonized countries in the past. There is even the controversy of scandals threaten the very acquisitive enterprise of western museums; mounting demands for repatriation make more difficult the project of building “universal” institutions presenting the art and history of the world (Tharoor). The problem with western museums lies with illicit trading, and at a more general level, of perpetuating the gross inequalities between the west and the rest of the world (Tharoor).

Tippoo’s Tiger is a museum piece that interestingly highlights the gross power that westerners have over other Asian countries. It also criticises the idea of the white male figure in a suit who withholds power over claiming the goods of other countries. Thus, bringing about the discussion of white privilege which also seems to be dominant in the historic field.

Sources: 

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/jun/29/museums-looting-art-artefacts-world-culture

https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/south-asia 

[shihlun]

Tippoo's Tiger has long been one of the V&A's most popular exhibits. The wooden model of a tiger attacking a European was made for Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore in India, in the 1790s. A mechanical organ inside the figure imitates the growling of the tiger and the man's moans.