The final assault on the fortress island of Srirangapatna on May 4, 1799, concluded the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War and shattered the most formidable barrier to British hegemony in Southern India. Driven by intelligence that the "Tiger of Mysore," Tipu Sultan, was actively negotiating an alliance with revolutionary France, the British East India Company forces launched a decisive, multi-pronged siege.
The campaign faced immense tactical challenges. Tipu Sultan’s armies utilized highly advanced Mysorean rocketry that previously spread terror across British ranks, combined with an effective defense layout along the Cauvery River. Ultimately, breach strategies aided by internal whistleblowers turned the tide. Caught in the desperate melee near the Water Gate of Srirangapatna Fort, the injured ruler suffered a fatal gunshot wound from an unnamed British private while being moved by his loyal attendant
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| Gold ring worn by Tipu Srirangapatna, hamariweb.com |
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| Tipu Sultan of Mysore,India, tmilnews.com |
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| Srirangapatna, Karnataka. nativeplanet.com |
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| place where Tipu died Srirangapatna fort.1799. en.wikipedia.org |
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| Srirangapatna Gumbaz (mausoleum) KA tripadvisor.in |
Above image: Gumbaz (Mausoleum) Srirangapatna, Karnataka. Here lies the mortal remains of Tipu, his father Hyder Ali and Tipu's mother Fatima begum. Architecture: Indo-Persian............
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| Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington) en.wikipedia.org |
Above image: Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington ( 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was a British Army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during the early 19th century, twice serving as Prime Minister. He was one of the British commanders who ended the Anglo-Mysore wars by defeating Tipu Sultan in 1799, and among those who ended the Napoleonic Wars in a Coalition victory when the Seventh Coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.Thus Wellesley .thus becoming the "conqueror of the conqueror of the word."............
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| 1799 Finding Tipu Sultan' sbody by Samuel William Reynolds,en.wikipedia.org |
Above image: Tipu died from a final gunshot wound he had received from a British soldier when injured, Tipu was being taken by his men to a secret place. When his body was found, Wellesley checked out weather he was dead or not. At last he had the gold ring removed from the slain king and kept it as a token of his big victory in Southern India...........
When his lifeless body was pulled from the heaps of the slain later that evening, senior British commanders converged on the scene to verify his death. Among them was Colonel Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington and conqueror of Napoleon at Waterloo), operating under the strategic directives of his elder brother, Richard Wellesley, the Governor-General of India. During the clearing of the body, a remarkable artifact was taken from the fallen king: a heavy gold ring weighing 41.2 grams with an raised inscription of the Hindu God's name RAMA (रामा) in Devanagari script with a unique design chased floral buds and octogonal base.
The presence of an overt Hindu religious invocation on the personal effects of an austere Muslim monarch remains a subject of rich historical analysis. Rather than a sign of battlefield confusion, modern research suggests the ring was a prized political or spiritual token. Tipu Sultan regularly engaged in diplomatic and administrative cooperation with his local Hindu subjects; he famously maintained a reverent correspondence with the Shankaracharya of Sringeri Mutt, exchanging official gifts and treasury pieces. The "Rama" ring was likely preserved in his inner chambers or worn as an auspicious amulet of statecraft.
Following its confiscation as a personal war trophy, Arthur Wellesley kept the ring in his private custody. Upon his return to England, he presented the heavy gold band as a wedding gift to his favorite niece, Emily Wellesley-Pole, on her marriage to his military confidant and Waterloo companion, Lord FitzRoy Somerset (later the 1st Baron Raglan). Somerset's name was subsequently engraved inside the ring’s inner hoop.
The historic artifact remained guarded within the private Raglan family collection for generations, hidden from public view except for a brief display period starting in 1895 at the Royal United Service Institution.
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| Gold ring and Tipu Sultan of Mysore jansatta.com |
On May 24, 2014, facing economic motivations common among descendants of colonial-era administrators seeking to clear long-standing estate debts, the family put the ring up for sale through Christie's auction house in central London. Despite immense pushback from Indian heritage fronts urging a diplomatic repatriation or a state-backed purchase, neither the Indian government nor any public-spirited philanthropists secured the piece. Estimated to fetch between 10,000 and 15,000 pounds, the ring triggered a bidding war and ultimately sold for 140,500 pounds—ten times its initial valuation. Today, it remains hidden in the private vault of an undisclosed European collector.
Glad the valuable Indians treasures looted by the English company's officials centuries ago became so handy and useful as to save the English gentlemen's face during their hardscrabble days.
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 And Lord Arthur Wellesley -){kind=link}