- Lived:
- 1751 (some sources say late 1750) – 4 May 1799 · born at Devanahalli, north of Bangalore → lived, ruled and died at Srirangapatna, the island capital of Mysore
- Field:
- kingship and war — sultan of Mysore, military innovator, and the East India Company's most determined enemy in the south
- The Big Idea:
- For seventeen years one southern kingdom — running its own arsenals, trading companies, embassies and rocket corps — was the main obstacle between the East India Company and India; when it fell, its ruler died fighting on his own wall, and its captured rockets fathered the modern military rocket.
- In their words:
- "People who have sinned against such a holy place are sure to suffer the consequences of their misdeeds." (from his letter to the Śaṅkarāchārya of Sringeri after the maṭha was plundered, 1791)
- If you remember one thing:
- The king who died on his own rampart left two archives behind — his enemies published his letters, and his private book of dreams — and more than two centuries later India is still arguing over which one holds the real Tipu.