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EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research

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Volume: 4 Issue:9 September 2018

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Volume: 4 | Issue: 9 | September 2018 SJIF Impact Factor: 4.924 ISSN (Online): 2455-3662

EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR)

A STUDY ON CONTRIBUTION OF HAIDAR ‘ALI AND TOWARDS FOREIGN RELATIONS AND SEMI-MODERNIZATION

ABSTRACT It was during the reigns of the late-eighteenth- century rulers of Mysore, Haidar ‘Ali (r.1761–82) and Tipu Sultan (r.1782–99), that one of the earliest efforts Dr. Aravind M. Managuli of semi-modernization in the regions of West, Central Associate professor, and South Asia, as well as North Africa was taking History Dept. C.M.Managuli Arts, Science place. Some scholars have described Haidar and Tipu and Commerce college, as premodern rulers, but continuity and tradition do not fully explain Mysore’s transitional character, Sindagi, Karnataka, which was embodied in these rulers’ reforms. The India following will inquire into Mysore’s late-eighteenth- century foreign relations and recruitment of foreign artisans. It will be intended to assert that neither can these efforts be exclusively understood in terms of tradition nor do they reflect the minds of modern rulers. Instead, they manifest a historical juncture that was neither dominantly traditional nor modern, but

resided in a transitory phase.

INTRODUCTION of semi-modernization in the regions of West, Central Whereas modernity is a long-term process and South Asia, as well as North Africa was taking that brought about radical epistemological, political, place.2 These endeavours were merely preceded by socio-economic etc. transformations and the the semi-modernization efforts that were launched emergence of bourgeois society, ‘modernization’ is a by the state of the Ottoman Empire.3 concept that—in hindsight—some economists and In 1997, historian Kate Brittlebank made an social scientists have ascribed to characterize important contribution to the debate in point- ing out developments beginning from the eighteenth 1 that Tipu Sultan was entrenched in traditions instead century onwards. The late-eighteenth-century semi- of being a ‘modern thinker’. She argues that Tipu’s modernization I am concerned with may be defined recruitment of artisans and interest in European as endeavours to enhance developments of state and technology, his curi- osity for and acquirement of society and implement progress-oriented economic, rarities and foreign products such as animals, plants, techno-scientific, military, political, administrative, textiles and even women, reflected his striving for judicial and educational insti- tutions, ideas, culture universal kingship. As she observes, ‘the more you and ethos. In the eighteenth and nineteenth owned, the greater was your prestige, and actually to centuries semi- modernization was envisaged in be able to give them away as gifts must have different areas of the globe, but the most enhanced that prestige considerably […] bringing important impulses stemmed from Enlightenment them under his sway, contin- ually augmented his thought, and the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. claims to be Shadow of God on earth.’4 In other It was during the reigns of the late-eighteenth- words, Tipu’s: century rulers of Mysore, Haidar ‘Ali (r.1761– 82) and Tipu Sultan (r.1782–99), that one of the earliest efforts

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in Mysore.9 In 1771, Haidar suggested to the innovations and reforms were not so much the result Portuguese Governor of Goa, via his local of caprice or the actions of ‘a modern thinker,’ but, ambassador, that he would restore former privileges rather, part of the expected role of the king as defined in the Bednore region, providing that he would by the cultural traditions of the region. And for one assist him. The chairman of the whose legitimate position might not have been fully (EIC) mentioned that Haidar’s ‘situation is such, as established, they would have formed an integral and induces him to leave no means untried, to procure important part of that role.5 assistance wherever he has the least prospect of Indeed, Brittlebank is right in emphasizing obtaining it’.10 It is worth noting that Haidar even the continuities that were visible in late-eight- eenth- wrote a letter to the German Emperor Friedrich II century Mysore. However, continuity and tradition do 11 not fully explain Mysore’s tran- sitional character, around 1774. Haidar and Tipu also had diplomatic which was embodied in Haidar’s and especially con- tacts with Spain, Manila, the Danes and the Tipu’s reforms. Their encounter with European powers Dutch.12 Similar to his father, Tipu equally set a high like the Portuguese, Dutch and French and the life- value on diplomatic relations with other countries. In threat- ening confrontation with the British convinced his correspondence with the Ottomans, it is a matter and compelled them that a transformation of state of dispute whether Tipu addressed the sovereign as and society was the most promising means to resist Caliph or rather regarded him as equal. In any case, colonization and remain inde- pendent. The he reinforced his ties with the Ottomans, France, unprecedented changes that took place in the realms Muscat, Persia and Afghanistan by dint of presents of agriculture, commerce, manufacture and such as jewellery, robes of honour, perfumes, technology, the military, the administration and elephants etc. The four ships he sent on a mission to infrastructure have been examined elsewhere.6 The Turkey (Rum), France and England were loaded with following will inquire into Mysore’s late-eighteenth- commodities for sale (e.g. turmeric, sandalwood century for- eign relations and recruitment of foreign scent, carda- mom, ginger, fans, sandalwood artisans. As in the aforementioned domains, I intend to drums) and presents with a value of over Rs 20 assert that neither can these efforts be exclusively lakh. Moreover, about 900 servants and functionaries understood in terms of tradition nor do they reflect were on board.13 Apart from strengthening the minds of modern rulers. Instead, they manifest a diplomatic ties and recruiting soldiers,14 Tipu was historical juncture that was neither dominantly especially eager to bring back a number of traditional nor modern, but resided in a transitory commodities and resources from other places—inside phase and outside of India. For instance, Tipu seems to have Elsewhere, I have already discussed Haidar’s imported silkworms from Bengal and commissioned engagement of French experts in the 1750s in order his envoys to bring seeds and saplings of almond, and to modernize his army.7 In the 1760s, Haidar different nuts (pistachio, walnut, filbert), common continued to engage European mer- cenaries, pear, yam, dates and silkworms, as well as date and engineers, artisans, interpreters and doctors.8 silkworm cultivators from Jeddah or Muscat.15 In Furthermore, Haidar ‘Ali also drew upon European the following, I shall delve into Tipu’s diplomatic prisoners of war and made use of forced labour. In missions and his craze for everything foreign. 1768, for instance, two Englishmen who were captured at Erod were urged to become armourers

MISSIONS TO FRANCE AND THE interested and curious about what was hap- pening OTTOMAN EMPIRE in other parts of the world, which was reflected in his In 1779, Haidar ‘Ali and Ragunath Rao (1734–83), pronounced thirst for European knowledge. In 1784, the former peshwa (prime minister) of the Maratha he sent the first embassy to Istanbul. There, the head Empire (1773–74), seem to have made the earliest of the legation, Mohammad Osman , received post-Mughal attempts to send emissaries to France the permission for a second, more significant and Turkey. Before this, only the Mughal emperor Shah mission.17 Alam II appears to have sent a delegation to England As early as 1785, Tipu planned to send a in the mid-1760s in order to ensure British military legation to Istanbul and entertained the idea of protection. At any rate, the vessel, including two of sending an embassy to France. The mission to Istanbul Haidar’s envoys (one destined for France and the other was sent in 1786 and consisted of four ships and a staff for Istanbul), one Maratha emissary and the French of 900 people, including secretaries, interpreters, Chevalier St. Lubin (who was accompanying the attendants, sweepers, cooks and soldiers. It had the envoys), was attacked by British forces and could not main purpose of arranging and strengthening trade continue the voyage.16 Thus, Mysore’s embassies to relations with the Ottomans, Oman and Persia, as well Paris and Istanbul had to wait till the rule of Tipu Sultan. as obtaining military assistance against the British. Indeed, similar to his father, Tipu was equally The mission was supposed to go on to Paris and

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then to London, but got stuck in Iraq. Therefore, a of rupees [c.£200,000]’.25 Moreover, the Ottoman separate legation of 45 persons—including the court was not willing to support Mysore’s struggle emissaries’ footmen, butlers, cooks and bodyguards— against the British and refused to farm out the port of was sent to France which was entirely financed by the 26 18 Basra. Indeed, the Ottomans were fighting against French gov- ernment. In a statement of instruction Russia and Austria at that time. Therefore, they were (hukmnamah), addressed to his three pious Muslim not willing to confed- erate with the enemies of the envoys19 Mohammad Dervish Khan, Abbas ‘Ali Khan British, whose support they needed for their and Mohammad Osman Khan leaving for Europe in wars.27With regard to France, Tipu had originally mid-1787, he commanded that information about ‘the desired to send a ship with 400 Indians on board. industries and rarities of each city and territory and the According to Monneron, this would have been ‘the account of the affairs of the cities’ should be written 28 20 first Indian ship to appear in European waters’. But down. the Treaty of Paris (1783)—which sealed a peace Tipu wholeheartedly searched for additional treaty between Britain and France—made such astronomers, geomancers, physicians as well as 29 craftsmen (e.g. carpenters and ironsmiths) who were endeavours impossible. In any case, Tipu’s legation able to produce muskets, cannon-pieces, matchlocks, to France arrived the abundance of wood meant that clocks (gharial), glass, chinaware and mirrors, in order there was no need to experiment with coal and the to bring them to Mysore. He looked for specialists who exploitation of its sizable deposits would await the could locate mines of sulphur, silver and gold. Tipu even nineteenth century’—Prasannan Parthasarathi, Why thought that he could obtain mineral coal in the Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic Ottoman domain and instructed his officials to bring Divergence, 1600–1850 (Cambridge: CUP, 2011), p. 11. large quantities of ‘stone coal’ (sang-i angisht) along with However, we should also bear in mind that, in England, them from Jeddah or Muscat, despitethe fact that wood scarcity alone does not explain the application of Mysore had forests and was capable of producing fossil energy. Warde points out that, ‘By the early 18th cheap charcoal. Most significantly, Tipu ordered his century, over half of the energy consumed in England embassies in Turkey and France to engage four was supplied by coal’—Paul Warde, ‘Energy and Natural experts who were willing to come to Mysore in order Resource Dependency in Europe, 1600–1900’, BWPI 21 Working Paper, 77 (2009), p. 9. As Vries emphasizes, to explore the presence of coal ores. Therefore, the ‘Britain was already experimenting with new ways of eminent historian Irfan Habib is of the opinion that producing energy when population pressure still was ‘Tipu was […] perhaps the first Indian potentate (if quite low. Wood scarcity was often a problem because not the first Indian) to apprehend the value of coal and demand was so high, not because supply was so low’— try to obtain it.’22 Peer Vries, ‘Challenges, (Non) Responses, and Politics: A Tipu’s diplomatic efforts to strengthen his ties Review of Prasannan Parthasarathi, Why Europe Grew with the Ottomans had several purposes. On the one Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic Divergence, hand, he commanded the recruitment of Ottoman (and 1600–1850’, Journal of World History, 23(3) (2012), pp. Mughal) soldiers (jawans) and captains (sardars) for the 639–664, here p. 649. in Toulon in mid-1788, over 10 combat against British forces.23 Furthermore, with the months after its departure from Pondicherry. The main objective of constructing a powerful navy, Tipu purpose of his embassy was to reach an anti-British aspired to lease (ijara) the port of Basra—which was alliance with Louis XVI. He further wished to employ under Ottoman control—through a financial 10,000 French soldiers, but ‘insisted that the French remuneration and offering a port in Mysore (e.g. commanders with their troops should be under his Mangalore) to the Ottoman ruler in exchange. As Irfan authority in all matters of war strategy, march and Habib emphasizes, Tipu ‘wished to act like the halt’.30 Significantly, the French were not in a position European Companies by establishing an overseas to develop serious colonial ambitions in India, such as settlement of his own’.24 they had shown in North America or the Caribbean. In Indeed, Basra would have provided shelter from early 1786, M De Cossigny said the following to Tipu: ‘I monsoons to Tipu’s fleet. Similar to his father Haidar can assure you, Prince, that the Emperor […] does not ‘Ali, Tipu was aware of the fact that he needed a strong have any desire to possess lands in Hindustan; he navy in order to counter the British forces. His ships needs some merchandise for his people; the Indian were already trading throughout the Gulf and to cities he has in his possession suffice for this some extent also in the Red Sea and he had agents purpose.’31 Archival evidence is available to located in places like Muscat. But Tipu’s diplomatic confirm that between 1750 and 1799, the French’s endeav- ours failed since merely 68 out of 900 people main aim was to expel the British from India.32 returned from the mission. Colonel Wilks, who even Nonetheless, in order to defeat the British assumed that 1100 persons had been sent on the forces, Tipu was even willing to give away the fort of legation, reported that the ‘secretary estimated the Pondicherry, Chennapattan (Madras) and other ports total expence [sic!] of this embassy, including the pay of the eastern littoral to the French, as well as former of the escort, the value of the ship lost, and the British territory such as Calcutta, the Presidency of merchandize embezzled at Muscat, at twenty lacs Bombay and ‘the old territory attached to them’, in

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case he would have overwhelmed the British.33 As him one in 1786), spectacles, clocks, a map and a the French Colonel Russel, who knew Tipu personally, printer of books (chhapasaz). The latter is wrote, ‘He is perfectly aware of the importance for an corroborated by Gentil, who wrote that Tipu’s Indian ruler that no European nation near him grows emissaries, when visiting the Imprimerie Royale in 34 1788, were ‘especially interested in the ones [types] too powerful.’ However, Tipu’s ambition to attain a in foreign lan- guages, particularly Arabic, Persian, treaty with France was shattered. As Joseph Michaud Syriac, etc.’ As a matter of fact, Tipu’s ambitions bore summarized: some fruit, even though his success was limited. The unhappy Louis XVI, just out of a ruinous war According to the existing literature, we know of at and troubled by the fear of internal difficulties, could least three French experts in the production of not bring himself to give again a fresh signal for cannons and guns, as well as two French master- hostilities. He contented himself with strengthening artisans, a carpenter, a turner, an optician and two the alliance already established between France and glass-makers, who had agreed to leave for Mysore in 35 Tippoo. late 1788.42 I have detected some further evidence Concurrently, the French were very cooperative that French professionals made their way to Mysore with regard to exhibiting their manufactures, along with Tipu’s envoys. In the early 1790s, 30 or 32 machines, magazines (warehouses) and ships, as well French experts belonging to different professions as providing experts who were willing to temporarily were residing in Mysore. Indeed, Tipu’s war captive work in Mysore. As one of the emissaries wrote: James Bristow mentioned ‘the arrival of thirty artists We have visited all the Imperial factories of France. from France […] with a view to instruct Tippoo’s We arrived at Brest and we were made to visit the subjects in manufactures, and aiding this Asiatic whole port; machines, shops and ships, were all 43 opened and exposed to our curiosity. We were greatly ally of France with mechanical knowledge’. satisfied by this interesting spectacle. We owe all this Accordingly, I have identified that, in late 1788, Tipu’s to the kind attention of the Emperor whose orders emissaries signed contracts—that generally had a duration of up to four years—to bring along six would have made all this possible.36The curiosity of ‘artisans’ from Paris, three from Brest, six from Nantes, the envoys was considerable. The French clerks Ruffin as well as five professionals from an unnamed place. and Piverot de Morlat attested that Osman Khan They engaged to transport them and their desired ‘to see everything’ and knew ‘how to inspire belongings free of charge to the place where Tipu 37 the Count d’ Hector to show him everything’. desired them to reside. Among these professionals, Another of Tipu’s emissaries examined ‘every piece of there was a doctor from the hospitals of the French the mechanism’ of a vessel and the General M emperor (M Villemet); a master-surgeon from Paris (M Guignance and the Constructor of the Dugue Truin Barrault); two master clockmakers from Paris (M ‘explained it to him in detail’.38 Afterwards, he Debay and M Sandor Gendre); a gardener from the ‘visited the different workshops and visited all the Château Impérial de Bellevue (M Mullot); and a gardener from the garden of the king. The small workshops till the arrival of his colleagues’.39 professionals from Brest were composed of an In a book, published in1822, J. B. Gentil writes that 44 the envoys were most interested in the royal optician/mechanic (M Monnot) from the Marine manufacture of wallpaper, especially in the ‘chemical Impériale and two glassmakers (M Antoine and M operations relating to the manufacture of colours and Descrivan). Apart from that, an arms manufacturer from the Académie de la Marine (M le Brun) and a dyes’.40 Tipu also wished to procure French master armourer (Jean Francois le Melloc), both of craftspeople capable of making novel kinds of whom specialized in cannons and mus- kets, were muskets and iron cannon-pieces (cast-iron guns), as engaged to follow the envoys to India. With the well as foremen for casting incendiary bombs and help of French officers, the emissaries also found bullet castors. Moreover, he pushed for the three carpet weavers who agreed to join them. What is recruitment of clock-makers, pro- ducers of chinaware more, a crafts- man from the imperial foundries at (Sèvre porcelain), glass, mirrors, wool-carders, textile- Nantes (M Mouyset or Mouriset) also consented to makers, weavers, printers (in the ‘oriental’ language) work in Mysore. He was allowed to bring along four and other unspecified craftsmen—10 of each guild. employees (two foremen, a carpenter and a turner). Furthermore, already in late 1786, he had requested However, M Mouyset eventually cancelled his contract one skilled physician, a pharmacist,‘thoroughly because he had presumably obtained a letter from his acquainted with, and capable of preparing, every father advising him that he had fallen ill. But another kind of medicine known in Europe’ and an able castor from Nantes (M Bégos) agreed to come surgeon. In 1788, he further requested an engineer, in 45 addition to spice plants, seeds and fruit trees along instead of Mouyset. Nonetheless, when particular to Europe as well as workers for their the envoys returned to Srirangapatna in May 1789— which was around the same time that the French cultivation.41 Revolution unfolded—Tipu was not content with the It is interesting to note that he ordered the results: the emissaries had not arranged a treaty based purchase of barometers, thermometers (Cossigny sent on an offensive and defensive alliance; they had not

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been capable of securing French soldiers; and the back from France. He had a letter from the Executive number of artisans was equally less than expected. Council expressing that the current turbulences in As a possible consequence of his discontentment or Europe did not permit an alli- ance with Mysore. As maybe because the envoys spread strictly forbidden a result, Tipu did not assist the French when rumours of France’s superiority vis-à-vis Mysore, the Britain conquered Pondicherry in August 1793. In late despot had two of his emis- saries executed, namely, 1794, the Civil Commissioner of Pondicherry, Akbar ‘Ali Khan and Mohammed Osman Khan. But Lescallier, tried to secure Tipu’s friendship with the new sparse docu- mentary evidence does not yet permit French government. Tipu renewed his demands and a us to specify Tipu’s underlying motives for the treaty was agreed upon and signed by the Deputy murders.46 Extraordinary of the French Establishments in India, According to Irfan Habib, the indication was Louis Monneron, in April 1796. Nonetheless, the that Tipu was not successful in engaging porcelain- French kept aloof from any anti-British activities in makers and shipwrights or a skilled astronomer, South Asia, apart from the impostor Ripaud who geomancer and physician. However, some of the tricked Tipu. He pretended to be an official French sought-after experts were indeed secured: apart from delegate who would arrange for the transfer of10,000 a doctor called M Villemet, a note from the French French and 20,000 to 30,000 Africans from Mauritius to Governor de Fresne confirmed that a surgeon called Mysore. Although there were hardly any troops on the Barrault arrived in Mysore. But soon after his arrival, he Isle of France, the British found out about the broke away to conspiracy. Thus, the fraud accelerated Tipu’s Pondicherry because he was not needed, except for overthrow through providing a context for a British teaching the native doctors Srirangapatna in ‘the attack.49 European practices that were unknown to them’.47 At As early as 1792, Tipu complained to M de the same time, Barrault mentioned that—apart from Fresne that a cannon-maker and glass-maker whom two marine officers (M d’Outreville and M Sarbourg), the king had sent to Mysore from France, had broken two watchmakers, two engineers away to Pondicherry, despite being well-treated. He and a surgeon—all remaining French experts were sent expected the two workers to be punished and to Srirangapatna under the guidance of Osman Khan concurrently asked for more professionals from 50 in mid-1789.48 France. According to French sources stemming What effects did the French Revolution have on from the mid-1790s, merely four French professionals the Franco-Mysorean relations? First of all, the French were left, who, presumably, asked to be freed from commitment never had been very pronounced: in 1783 oppression and the insupportable despotism of Tipu they arranged a peace treaty with Britain without Sultan. Indeed, one of these experts alluded to the consulting Tipu; in 1786 they remained neutral during fact that Tipu’s measures to promote semi- the Mysore– Maratha War; in 1788 they were modernization were primarily based on compulsion unwilling to ally with Mysore, and moreover and the recruitment of forced labour. He complained incapable of doing so. Shortly after the outbreak of that:each of us, through seeing the tyranny that the revolution, in 1790, France was not in a position to surrounds us, regrets having left his home country in support Tipu in the Third Anglo-Mysore War. Only order to serve a despot for 4 years who merely follows when an Anglo-French war was on the horizon, did his own will or that of his primary Minister Mir Sadiq. the French search for Tipu’s assistance in 1792. At The chagrin to have erred, the desperation of having that time, Britain had just defeated Mysore in the been deprived of one’s liberty crept over the majority Third Anglo-Mysore War and Tipu was forced to sign of us in such a way that a great number of us died the Treaty of Seringapatam. However, he desired to after the arrival on this foreign land which is so far arrange a treaty of co-operation and once again from our beloved home! […] by fear of desertion [… solicited 10,000 French soldiers. But when he Tipu] nearly always kept us confined in his workshops proposed to send an embassy to France in order to […] all the working hours were exactly counted […] discuss further details and conclude a treaty, de he does not allow us to work for others […] he Fresne, the French Governor of Pondicherry, allowed three of us to retire because he did not need disapproved. De Fresne does not seem to have had them anymore. He incessantly keeps us under any definite orders with respect to the desired policy surveillance […] please give us orders to retire from towards Mysore. However, he wanted to avoid a this bondage in which we find ourselves since 9 negative British reaction and the move was also years.51 reminiscent of the failed embassy of 1787. Finally, Leger, the Civil Administrator of French India, came

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Indeed, we know that one of these French Peshawar because upheavals in Afghanistan forced professionals by the name of Debay had already been him to return home.56 In 1795, when he invaded the living in Mysore for about nine years. In 1797, he was Punjab, the Persian king Agha Mohammad Khan engaged as a translator to the Isle of France. He wrote Qajar (1742–97) marched into the west of Khorasan that he had to promise not to desert and accepted and obliged Zaman Shah to return to Afghanistan. for the sake of serving his country and because he But in late 1796, he once again left for India with an believed that Tipu may have taken revenge on his 57 three remaining compatriots if he did not come army of about 32,000 cavalry and 1400 infantry. In 52 order to defeat the British, Tipu Sultan intensified his back. Due to diminished numbers of remaining diplomatic relations with the Afghan rulers. Tipu’s French artisans, in 1797 Tipu desired to employ letters to Timur Shah Durrani (1748–93) can be traced additional cannon founders, shipbuilders, back to the year 1789 and the letters to his son, manufacturers of chinaware, glass and mirror makers, Zaman Shah, as far back as1793. Zaman Shah—who, makers of ship blocks (literally wheels) and wheels (or according to an obviously flawed contemporary engines) for raising water and other sorts of wheel- source, had a battle-tested army of 100,000 men— work as well as artisans versed in fine gold plating. He 58 wished to engage 10 of each profession. In mid-1798, was visited by Tipu’s emissaries in 1796. According he wrote a note of proposal to be made by his to Reza ‘Ali Khan, one of Tipu’s envoys to Afghanistan, envoys to the Executive Directory at Paris where he Tipu’s embassy of 1796 had the purpose of engaging asked for the procurement of 4 brass founders; 4 iron the Afghan ruler in a war against the British allies: the and cannon founders; 4 paper makers;12 Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad. Gifts valued at manufacturers of glass; 2 naval engineers; and 2 greater than Rs 50,000 were presumably delivered to 53 Zaman Shah, who seems to have made clear that ‘good’ shipbuilders. financial deficiencies were the only obstacle to an It has been shown that Haidar and Tipu both invasion of north India. According to Reza ‘Ali Khan, made use of forced labour. They mistreated their Tipu agreed to pay him Rs 20 million for covering the prisoners of war, as well as the foreign artisans they preparatory costs and another Rs 20 million for the had engaged. These were strictly supervised and 59 devoid of basic human rights and liberties in order to return expenses. As late as 1797, the British do not exploit them to the fullest and also because the late- appear to have been aware of Tipu’s conspiracies eighteenth-century rulers of Mysore feared their with the Afghan ruler. It was only in early 1798 that escape. Indeed, the war prisoners and foreign the British considered such a connection when craftsmen contributed to the improvement of pro- Wellesley wrote that: it is not impossible that the late duction and their recruitment also manifests that intercourse between Tipu and Zaman Shah had for its Mysore’s semi-modernization was largely imitative. object, on the part of the former at least, some such Interestingly, M. Athar Ali—who belongs to the plan of joint operation […] I can not consider the idea ‘Aligarh School’ of South Asian historiog- raphy— of an invasion from Kabul as a mere visionary agreed with Mohibbul Hasan that Mysore:was the first danger.60 state in India to make a beginning towards Meanwhile, in 1799, Tipu conveyed valuable modernization, first and foremost in the realm of the presents to Zaman Shah and offered him a lucrative army and arms manufacture, but also even in deal: in the case that he succeeded in expelling the commerce, where the English East India Company’s British from India, he would give him one lakh of practices were sought to be imitated.54 rupees (c.£10,000) for every day’s march as well as Rs Even Athar Ali’s colleague Irfan Habib—who is 30,000 (c.£3000) for every day’s encampment till his one of the most proficient representatives of the return to Kabul. Shams ud-Daula, Shuja ud- position that post-Mughal India was in a state of Daula’s61 grandson and brother-in-law of the nawab decline—has recently claimed that ‘Tipu’s efforts, in of Bengal, equally offered Zaman Shah a great sum another age, would have been seen as a significant of money, amounting to three crores of rupees (c.£3 step towards industrialization.’55 million) and a yearly revenue of 55 lakhs of rupees AFGHANISTAN, PERSIA AND THE (c.£550,000) if he would lift him to the throne. What is more, vazir ‘Ali Khan (c.1780–c.1817), the former nawab CONSPIRACIES OF EUROPEAN of Awadh (1797–98), equally may have had POWERS connections to Zaman Shah and by September 1799 During the eighteenth century, Afghan and the British also discovered links between Ambajee, Persian invasions seriously threatened the sov- 62 ereignty of the Mughals and other regional powers in Mahadji Sindhia’s commander, and the Afghan ruler. India. The most famous one was ’s (d. 1747) In short, ’s invasion of Egypt in July 1798, invasion of North India and the sacking of Delhi in ostensible French intentions to attack British India and 1739. During Tipu’s reign, the Afghans were a perilous the Malartic proclama- tion,63 in conjunction with the threat. In both late 1793 and early 1794, Zaman Shah intrigues of Indian conspirators with Zaman Shah, Durrani (c.1770–1844) had to give up the invasion of especially Sindhia and Tipu Sultan, unsettled the

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British and convinced them to incite Russia and Persia have been taken in case of an attack: we are aware of against the Afghan ruler.64 the obstacles which are likely to delay, if not absolutely Tipu himself equally held diplomatic relations to prevent the approach of Zemaun Shah […] we have with the Qajar king of Persia, Fat’h ‘Ali Shah (1772– thought it our duty to take every precaution against the 1834). Indeed, Haidar ‘Ali had already sent two possibility of an event which combined with the embassies to the former Persian ruler Karim Khan designs of Tippoo and the French might become of Zand (c. 1705–75). A French source confirms that the most serious importance.69 ‘this brilliant reputation of Karim Khan brought The concern that the possible invasion of Haidar to send him envoys with rich presents and to Zaman Shah had fomented in the minds of some manifest his desire to confederate with him.’65 In fact, Company officers finally convinced the Governor of in 1766 Haidar desired to maintain overseas trading Calcutta, Lord Mornington, to give orders to estab- lishments in Persia in return for similar Mehdi ‘Ali Khan, the Company’s agent at Bushehr, to ‘factories’ in Mysore. In 1770 Haidar sought military frustrate Zaman Shah’s advance into India. In his assistance and in 1774 he repeatedly aimed for response to Lord Mornington, Mehdi ‘Ali Khan made establishing a trading outpost in the Persian Gulf. clear that the willingness of Persia to assist the British According to some British sources, he also proposed conspiracy depended on the specific financial means the intermarriage between their children and, in that the Company was inclined to offer. The expense return, promised to help Karim Khan in the of equipping Zaman Shah’s hostile brothers construction of ships. The mar- riage proposal was Mahmud70 and Firuz with Persian troops in Yazd dismissed, but Karim Khan is said to have promised to would account for one lakh of rupees (c.£10,000). grant Haidar ‘Ali the port of Bandar Abbas. The promise Another Rs 10,000 (c.£1000) had to be paid to the does not seem to have ever been realized. However, vazir Mirza Ibrahim so as to dispatch the Afghan Haidar ‘Ali’s envoy Shah Nurullah, the son of a native brothers with the Royal troops from Khorasan. What is of Persia, was successful in recruiting more, Mehdi ‘Ali Khan wrote that he needed one lakh 1000 soldiers (horsemen) from Shiraz, the of rupees (c.£10,000) for his journey from Bushehr to capital of Persia at that time.66 In any case, Tipu’s Tehran. This amount was primarily needed for the ties with Tehran were probably less intensive than the khil’ats and presents that he would have to offer to ones with Kabul. Interestingly, Tipu’s courtier Mir each host in the places he was going to pass through Hussein ‘Ali Khan Kirmani notes that, in 1797, one of as well as to the respectable people that would come Fat’h Ali Shah’s sons made a trip to Srirangapatna to visit him. Apart from that, he warned Mornington because of a dispute with his father and resided in that if the king of Persia, Fat’h ‘Ali Shah, were to be 67 forced to send an army of 30,000–50,000 troops in the ‘suburbs’ of Srirangapatna (Shahar Ganjam). As order to impede Zaman Shah from invading India, the a matter of fact, Tipu sent emissaries—equipped with cost would climb up to 50 lakhs of rupees (c. presents such as elephants, birds, jewels, ivory, £500,000). At the beginning of 1799, the Company dresses, spices, sandalwood, weapons, steel etc.—to accepted the expense of slightly more than two lakhs the court of the king of Persia in order to acquire 4000 71 to 5000 Persian soldiers for the war against the of rupees. It is important to add that the British British. He also advised his envoys to procure the petitions to attack Zaman Shah were convenient for rarities and choice products of the country. Fat’h ‘Ali Shah. Indeed, the latter had his own interests Furthermore, he intended to exchange a sea port of in attacking and overthrowing the Afghan ruler and equal value ‘so that the people of either state, residing it was not only the result of British instigation or at these places respectively, might facilitate a com- mere desire of money but also seems to have mercial intercourse’. The legation departed from reflected Fat’h ‘Ali Shah’s desire to establish himself as Mangalore in March 1798 and was accom- panied by the undisputed ruler of both and Afghanistan.72 Mirza Karim Beg Tabrizi, who was at Srirangapatna as Importantly, the Russian Tsar Paul I (1796) and an envoy of Rabia Khan, the maternal uncle of the Napoleon Bonaparte (1799) were both interested in Qajar king Fat’h ‘Ali Shah. They arrived in Bushehr in Zaman Shah’s rearmament and—independently of July, left for Shiraz in September and went to Tehran in each other—guaranteed support for his campaign into December. Fat’h ‘Ali Shah gave them presents and also India.73 In early 1796, Zaman Shah had already appointed the emissary Fath ‘Ali Beg to be sent to besieged Lahore since the Sikhs were not willing to Mysore in conjunction with Tipu’s vakils, but cancelled provide for an unmolested passage into India. the voyage after hearing of Tipu Sultan’s death.68 However, the revolt of his brother Mahmud in Herat Some EIC clerks were anxious about Tipu’s made him return to Afghanistan in 1797.74 In late diplomatic relationship with Zaman Shah, although 1798 Zaman Shah had reached Lahore again, with a they were not entirely convinced that the Afghan large number of troops, and was heading towards ruler would actually threaten them in India. Delhi. At that time, Major-General Craig wrote to Nonetheless, in late 1798, the Governor General in Wellesley that Zaman Shah ‘was on the point of Council wrote the following words to the Secret crossing Attock for the purpose of attacking Committee, indicating that preventive measures would Hindustan and that little or no resistance would be

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made by the Sikhs and I fear as little is to be our security in that quarter.’83 expected on the part of the Marathas’.75 As historian CONCLUSION Sheik Ali points out, ‘Only the vigilance of Wellesley Haidar ‘Ali and Tipu Sultan were neither the first frustrated the designs of the Shah.’76 Indeed, to nor the only sixteenth- to eighteenth-century rulers of Zaman Shah’s chagrin, the diplomatic efforts of Mehdi Asia who endeavoured to modernize their country’s ‘Ali Khan bore fruit and in late 1798 the Persian king military, manufacturing and institutions by expanding Fat’h-Ali Shah had dispatched Zaman Shah’s two their foreign relations and recruiting foreign artisans brothers to Herat, ‘with a thousand horse […] and has and expertise from both neighboring and faraway given orders to the chiefs of Khorassaun, who have regions. While Shirazi), more and more European ones long looked for such an opportunity of Revenge, to were hired in the course of the seventeenth century. proceed in conjunction with the Princes of Heraut & The independent post- Mughal states and rulers were even keener in recruiting European experts (e.g. Raja Jai Candahar’.77 What is more, the Persian Malik-ut- Singh, the Marathas, Serfoji II). In Safavid Persia, Shah Tujjar told Fat’h ‘Ali Shah that the Afghan king had Abbas I (r.1588–1629) held diplomatic relations with a slaughtered the Shi’a inhabitants of 15 villages number of European powers and reorganized his between Lahore and Delhi. Consequently: the Royal army with the help of the English Shirley brothers. In Indignation has been kindled thereon to such a pitch the Ottoman Empire, the Sultans Ahmed III (r.1703–30), that he has thereon issued a fresh command to his Mahmud I (r.1730–54) and especially Mustafa III officers in Khorassaun to increase the assistance to the (r.1757–74) and Selim III (r.1789–1807) took Princes to advance, after the reduction of Heraut, into important steps to modernize the military and the Plains of Kandahar and to reduce all that education system. As a result of the unprecedented 78 Country. worldwide entanglements that emerged in the When Zaman Shah found out about the sixteenth century, leading to growing global cross- activities of the Persian king, he tried to appease him bor- der connections during the seventeenth and with presents which he sent from Lahore.79 These eighteenth centuries, the pursuit of closer diplomatic efforts, however, were unsuccessful and Zaman Shah relations became an integral part of the policies of the retreated from Lahore in early 1799. Significantly, his old and new powers. Atthe same time, Haidar’s and withdrawal enabled the British to send more troops especially Tipu’s efforts to modernize Mysore were to south India in order to wage war against Tipu probably the Sultan. Indeed, the Anglo-Persian collaboration was most vigorous attempts made by the polities of crucial in bringing about Zaman Shah’s retreat. As the South, Central, West and East Asia at that time. This Governor General observed, ‘I think there is every was especially a result of the particular political reason to believe that the activity of the agent sent context at hand, as hardly any other non-European by Mr. Duncan under my orders into Persia has been a region during the second half of the eighteenth principal if not the sole cause of the shah’s century, possessing similar levels of socio-economic precipitate retreat.’80 Two years later, the Governor development, was under such heavy attack and General was convinced that, ‘The hostility of Baba threat of being conquered by European forces. Khan [Fat’h-Ali Shah] unquestionably proved the prin- Indeed, after the Ottoman Empire, Mysore was appar- 81 ently the first region of West, Central and South Asia cipal cause of the ruin of Zemaun Shah’s power.’ where a process of semi-modernization took place It could be argued that during the twentieth during the second half of the eighteenth century. century, segments of the politico-economic While Haidar and Tipu were far from being modern establishments of imperial powers such as the US, rulers as they were ingrained in tradition, the reforms Britain, France and the Soviet Union pursued they set in motion concurrently reflect the early destabilization tactics or at least profited from chaotic stages of a transition towards the construction of a circumstances of vital regions within the ‘Third World’. modern society. Indeed, instability created the necessary From the 1750s Haidar began to recruit French circumstances to subdue those countries that were military experts and in the 1760s he also engaged hostile towards imperial interests and facilitated the European engineers, artisans, interpreters and doctors. enforcement of European and North American He even forced some of his European prisoners of war geostrategic and economic interests. In the past few to help modernize the military establishment. Haidar dec- ades, this has especially been visible in the US’ held dip- lomatic relations with Persia, the policy vis-à-vis the ‘Middle East’ (above all Iraq, Portuguese, France, Prussia, Spain, Manila, Denmark Afghanistan, Syria and Iran).82 However, the same and the Dutch Republic. He dispatched two missions may be said about segments of the British politico- to the Persian king, Karim Khan Zand, and recruited economic elites of the eighteenth and nineteenth 1000 Persian soldiers, but his embassy to the centuries. As the Governor General noticed in 1801, Ottomans and France, sent in 1779, never arrived. ‘To the consolidation and active Government of Similarly, Tipu was in contact with the Ottomans, Zemaun Shah has succeeded a state of confusion in Persia, Afghanistan, Oman, the Portuguese and the Country of the Affghans, highly favourable to France. He sent an embassy to Istanbul in 1784 and again in 1786. In mid-1787 an embassy was

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dispatched to France. However, Tipu’s endeavours to European Mussalmans. They were each given one gold recruit sol- diers and forge an anti-British alliance fanam per day with provisions and clothes and they were to teach discipline to the Chela battalions’, the children with the Ottomans and French failed. He was also and young men taken as captives by Haidar. Ibid., pp. 289, unsuccessful in leasing the port of Basra. He had more 267. Similarly, Colley points out that between 1780 and success in finding foreign craftsmen and outside 1784 Tipu captured ‘several thousand British males plus a expertise. On the whole, 30 or 32 French experts small, but unknown, number of women being held captive immigrated to Mysore. In conjunction with the there for several years. Over three hundred of these men are known to have been circumcised and given Muslim prisoners of war, they were generally treated as names, and to have remained in Mysore after 1784 as forced labourers. Significantly, Tipu seems to have mercenaries and artisans.’ Linda Colley, ‘Going Native, Telling appreciated the value of coal as he ordered his Tales: Captivity, Collaborations and Empire’, Past & Present, envoys to import the fossil fuel from the Ottoman 168 (2000), pp. 170–193, p. 172. domain and to find experts who could explore 10. India Office Records (IOR): H/106: Chairman and deputy Chairman: Extract of a Letter from the Select Committee at possible coal ores in Mysore. Bombay dated the 30th October 1771, received Overland In 1796, Tipu sent emissaries to the court of on the 8th May 1772, p. 112. the Afghan ruler Zaman Shah, in order to instigate 11. Frankesch-Hallesche Stiftung (FSH): AFSt/M 1 B 62: 36a: Brief an invasion into north India, and in 1798 he sent an von Gottlieb Anastasius Freylinghausen an Johann embassy to Persia to recruit soldiers and procure Balthasar Kohlhoff, Daniel Zeglin, Oluf Maderup, Jacob Klein, Johann Friedrich König, Friedrich Wilhelm Leidemann und merchandise. However, apart from minor commercial Christoph Samuel John, Halle [Saale] 12.01.1774, Mikrofilm successes and the employment of foreign artisans, pp. 0273–4; IOR: H/190: Extract from Mr. Richard Church’s the upshot of Tipu’s diplomatic relations was more or letter to Sir Edwards Hughes, Tellicherry 18. 11. 1784, p. 197. less chastening. Tipu’s embassies to the Ottomans did 12. National Archives of India (NAI): Foreign Department (Secret) 1783, Consultation 11 August, No. 8: Letter from not achieve the given objective, while his diplomatic Sibbald toLord Macartney: Tellicherry, 12th June 1783, p. 9; relations with the French and Afghans were rather IOR: H/436: Captain Taylor, On the State of Affairs in obstructive, as they pro- vided a pretext for the India…1791, p. 138; Tamil Nadu State Archives (TNSA): British to attack Mysore. Lastly, the mission to Persia Military Sundries, Vol. 109 A: General Return of Ordnance, came too late and, at that time, the British had already Amunition, Military Stores found in the Fort and Island of Seringapatam by the Committee appointed for that instigated the Persians against the Afghans in order to purpose, 20.5.1799, pp. 219–239; Sanjay Subrahmanyam, prevent a successful Afghan invasion into India. Penumbral Visions: Making Polities in Early Modern South END NOTES India (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan,2001), p. 20 note 1. See, for example, Rainer M. Lepsius, ‘Soziologische 34. Theoreme über die Sozialstruktur der‚Moderne‘ und die 13. Iqbal Husain, tr., ‘The Diplomatic Vision of Tipu Sultan’, in Modernisierung’, in R. Koselleck, ed., Studien zum Beginn Irfan Habib, ed., State and Diplomacy under Tipu der Modernen Welt (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1977); Sultan. Documents and Essays (Delhi: Tulika, 2001), pp. 20, Reinhard Bendix, ‘Modernisierung in internationaler 24, 56 (58b). See also Habib, ‘Introduction’, in idem, p. xii; Perspektive’, in W. Zapf, ed., Theorien des Sozialen Mohibbul Hasan, ed., Khwaja Abdul Qadir, Waqai-i Manazil- Wandels (Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1969). i Rum: Diary of a Journey to Constantinople (Delhi: Asia 2. For a biography of Haidar and Tipu, see Kaveh Yazdani, Publishing House, 1968), p. 1. ‘Haidar ‘Ali and Tipu Sultan—Mysore’s 18th Century 14. Yazdani, India, chap. 2.5. Rulers in Transition’, 15. Irfan Habib, ‘Introduction: An Essay on Haidar Ali and Tipu 3. See Niyazi Berkes, The Development of Secularism in Sultan’, in idem, ed., Confronting Colonialism: Resistance Turkey (New York: Routledge, 1998 [1964]); Stanford J. and Modernization under Haidar Ali & Tipu Sultan (New Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Delhi: Tulika, 1999), pp. xxix, xliv note 41; Husain, ‘The Turkey, Vol. 1 (Cambridge: CUP, 1997 [1976]). Next to Diplomatic Vision’, pp. 26, 53 (f. 52b); William Kirkpatrick, ed., Ottoman elites, Indo-Persian bureaucrats were probably Select Letters of Tippoo Sultan to Various Public the first who analysed the reasons behind Europe’s Functionaries (London: Black, Parry and Kingsbury, 1811), ascendancy. I’tesam al-Din and Abu Excellent pp. 418–419. Intelligence Concerning Europe: Being the Travels of 16. NAL WO 1/1103: Letter from Colonel Wood to Henry Mirza Itesa Modeen in Great Britain and France… Dundas, 15.2.1799, p. 404. According to Wood, ‘The Captain (London: Parbury, Allen, and Co., 1827), p. 140; Charles of the Sloop of War and eleven of the Crew being killed, the Stewart, tr., Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan in Asia, ambassadors […] returned immediately, from Mocha, to Africa, and Europe…, Vol. 1 (London: Longman, 1814 India, whilst St Lubin, scrambled his way to France, and […] [1810]), pp. 299–305; Gulfishan Khan, Indian Muslim was shut up in the Bastile [sic!], on account of this Perceptions of the West during the Eighteenth Century disappointment. / During the remainder of Hyder Ally’s (Karachi: Oxford University Press (OUP), 1998), pp. 124, reign, I do not think that he made another attempt, to 277, 306; Kaveh Yazdani, India, Modernity and the send ambassadors to Europe’ (ibid.). To my knowledge, Great Divergence: Mysore and Gujarat (17th to 19th Haidar’s endeavour to send an embassy to Europe has not Century) (Leiden: Brill, 2017, forthcoming). been touched upon in the existing literature. In 1780, the 4. Kate Brittlebank, Tipu Sultan’s Search for Legitimacy: Maratha peshwa Raghunath Rao sent two agents as Islam and Kingship in a Hindu Domain (Delhi: OUP, delegates to England: the Brahman Hunumant Rao and 1982), pp.118–119. the Parsi Maniar. It was probably the first successful post- 5. Ibid., pp. 124–125, 154. Mughal embassy that was sent to Europe. Edalji Dosabhai, 6. Yazdani, India, chap. 2. A History of Gujarat: From the Earliest Period to the 7. Ibid., chap. 2.5. Present Time (: Asian Educational Services, 1986 8. Linda Colley, Captives (New York: Knopf, 2003), p. 274. [1894]), p. 208. For Shah Alam’s delegation, see Alexander, 9. Narendra Krishna Sinha, Haidar Ali (Calcutta: A. Mukherjee, Shigurf Namah, chap. 1. 1959 [1941]), p. 288. According to Sinha, ‘Some of the 17. Kirkpatrick, Select Letters, pp. 15–16; Major Mark Wilks, European prisoners who were young, were circumcised, Historical Sketches of the South of India, in an Attempt to dressed in Muhammadan fashion and were called Tracethe History of Mysoor, Vol. 3 (London: Higginbotham,

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1817), pp. 51–52. 455); Hasan, History of Tipu Sultan, pp. 123–124 note 18. Hasan, Waqai-i Manazil-i Rum, p. 25; Mohibbul Hasan, History 7; Venkatesh, Correspondence of the French, p. 210. Tipu of Tipu Sultan (Delhi: Aakar Books, 2005 [1971]), pp. 115–117; was also interested in procuring clove and camphor trees Husain, ‘The Diplomatic Vision’, p. 19. from the French. Venkatesh, The Correspondence of the 19. Tipu’s envoys seem to have been pious Muslims since they did French, p. 97. not drink wine and refused to eat dishes that were not 42. AN: C/2/236: Cossigny: Pondichery le 4.5.1786, p. 53; halal.Archives Nationales (AN): C/2/189: Monneron à Traduction d’une Lettre du Nabob Tipou Sultan à Mr. De Monseigneur (1788), p. 142; Hasan, History of Tipu Sultan Cossigny,Gouverneur de Pondichery, en date du 21.10.1786, p. (2005), pp. 119,120 note 2. 267; Venkatesh, Correspondence of the French, pp. 210–211, 20. Husain, ‘The Diplomatic Vision’, p. 29 (f. 4a). 278–281; Habib, ‘Introduction’, p. xix; Sridharan, ‘Tipu’s Drive 21. Husain, ‘The Diplomatic Vision’, pp. 26, 32–33, 36–37, 42, 53 towards Modernization’, p. 145; Husain, ‘The Diplomatic (3b, 16b, 6b, 7a–b, 52b, 10b, 11b, 61b); B. Sheik Ali, Tipu Sultan: Vision’, p. 57 (61a). Quotation from Lafont, Indika, p. 168. A Study in Diplomacy and Confrontation (Mysore: Rao and Hasan gives a much higher number of artisans who Raghavan, 1982), p. 137. As Parthasarathi points out, in agreed to enter Tipu’s service. See Hasan, History of Tipu India, Sultan, pp. 123–124 note 7. Similarly, Sridharan writes that, 22. Husain, ‘The Diplomatic Vision’, p. 23; Habib, ‘Introduction’, p. ‘just before leaving France in October 1788, the xiv. ambassadors had drawn up contracts of appointments in 23. Ali, Tipu, pp. 122–123; Husain, ‘The Diplomatic Vision’, pp. 33 Mysore for a number of French professionals, almost all of (7b, 10b–11b), 53 (f. 52b). whom reached Mysore.’ See Sridharan, ‘Tipu’s Drive towards 24. Habib, ‘Introduction: An Essay’, p. xxxi. Modernization’, p. 145. However, the evidence in the Archive 25. Wilks, Historical Sketches, p. 57. National suggests that Tipu was far from engaging the 26. Ibid., pp. 54–55; Denys Forrest, Tiger of Mysore: The Life and quantity of Europeans that he originally desired. Though Death of Tipu Sultan (London: Chatto & Windus, 1970), Tantet’s figures seem to be too low, they are more accurate pp.117–118; Ali, Tipu, p. 124; Husain, ‘The Diplomatic Vision’, than Hasan’s evaluation. Tantet assumed that some pp. 22–23, 31 (f.5a), 36–37 (11a), 41 (16a); Habib, technicians, a carpenter, a weaver, a blacksmith, a ‘Introduction: An Essay’, p. xxxi. See also Habib, ‘Introduction’, p. locksmith, a cutler, a watchmaker, a dyer, a physician and a xv. Three of the four ships that Tipu sent to the Ottoman surgeon were brought to Mysore. M.V. Tantet, L’ambassade Empire (1786–87) were destroyed in Basra. One of the ships de Tippou-Sahib à Paris en 1788 (Paris, 1899), p. 28 caught fire, whereas the other two vessels were destroyed quoted in Ali, Tipu, p. 141. With regard to barometers, it is by a storm. interesting to note that, in late 1786, Tipu asked Cossigny to 27. Ali, Tipu, p. 128; Nikhiles Guha, ‘Tipu Sultan’s Quest for send him a Persian translation of a European book on that Legitimacy and his Commercial Measures’, in Habib, ed., instrument. Kirkpatrick, Select Letters, pp. 464–465. State andDiplomacy under Tipu Sultan. Documents and 43. AN: C/2/189: Isle de France le 7 ventose au 6eme de la Essays (Delhi, 2001), p. 113. République française, p. 264. In a newspaper article, 28. M.P. Sridharan, ‘Tipu’s Drive towards Modernization: French Bristow men-tioned that there were 32 artisans, consisting Evidence from the 1780s’, in Habib, ed., Confronting of founders, glass blowers, sugar bakers, China makers, Colonialism: Resistance and Modernization under Haidar watchmakers, broad cloth weavers, armourers, a surgeon Ali & Tipu Sultan (New Delhi, 1999), p. 144. and doctor. FSH: AFSt/M 2 A 2: 18: ‘Escape from Captivity. 29. Ali, Tipu, p. 283. Narrative given by Bristow, whose escape from Tippoos, 30. Husain, ‘The Diplomatic Vision’, pp. 24, 33 (8b), 48 (29b). Dominions, was mentioned in a former Calcutta Paper and 31. AN: C/2/177: Copie de la réponse de Mr. De Cossigny au who is now there’, Calcutta Gazette30.6.1791. However, in his nabob Tipou Sultan en datte de 20.3.1786, p. 146. book he reduced the number to 30 foreign artisans. James 32. The French officer Lally confirmed that France merely Bristow, A Narrative of the Sufferings of James Bristow wanted to chase the British away from India. According to (London: J. Murray, 1793), p. 104. Lafont, France’s non-colonial policy was due to the fact 44. In 1793, more than four years after M Monnot had left for that, in contrast to Africa or America, India was considered Mysore, his family appealed to a Minister to procure any to be a great civilization by the intellectuals of the available information on his situation since they had not eighteenth century. Jean-Marie Lafont, Indika: Essays in heard anything from him for a long time. AN B/224: Indo-French Relations1630–1976 (New Delhi: Manohar, L’adjoint de la […] Division Au Citoyen Ordonnateur à 2000), pp. 151–152, 170 note 4; idem, tr., ‘The Mémoires of Pondichery, Paris 17.6.1793, p. 39. Lieutenant-Colonel Russel Concerning Mysore: In the 45. AN: C/2/189: Convention particulier pour les artistes, p. 256; Service Historique de l’Armée de Terre, Chateau de C/2/187: Convention Particuliére pour les verrier et un Vincennes, Paris’, in Habib, ed., State and Diplomacy under maître méchanicien et ouvrier pour le teint des Glaces, Tipu Sultan. Documents and Essays (Delhi, 2001), p. 98. 6.11.1788 [par Denis Monnot], p. 13; Convention 33. Husain, ‘The Diplomatic Vision’, p. 24. Particuliére pour des fondeurs de canons, pp. 15–16; Lettre 34. Lafont, ‘The Mémoires of Lieutenant-Colonel Russel’, p. 99. à Monseigneur, à Brest le 10.11.1788, p. 14; Traduccion d’une 35. Joseph Michaud, History of Mysore under Hyder Ali and lettre persanne remise au Sr. Ruffin à bord de la Thétys par Tippoo Sultan (New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, les noirs ambassadeurs Indiens et adressée à Monseigneur, 2003 [1801]), p. 84. Brest 18.11.1788, p. 27. See also Venkatesh, Correspondence 36. AN: C/2/187: Traduction d’une lettre persanne remise au of the French, pp. 209, 214–215, 278–281. Sr. Ruffin à bord de la Thétys par les trois ambassadeurs 46. According to Michaud, the emissaries ‘talked at the court of Indienset adressée à Monseigneur, p. 24. The translation Tippoo only of the splendours of the kingdom they had has been taken from Suman Venkatesh, tr., The visited’.However, Tipu ‘forbade his ambassadors to talk of Correspondence of theFrench during the Reign of Hyder France in this manner. His orders were not followed Ali and Tipu Sultan, 1788 to 1789 (Bangalore: Karnataka strictly, and the description of France was a favourite topic State Archives Department,1998), Vol. 3, p. 268. among the great and the small. Tippoo Saheb became so 37. Quoted in Venkatesh, The Correspondence of the French, p. furious that he vowed the death of his faithless envoys’— 274. Michaud, History of Mysore, pp. 84–85. 38. Ibid. 47. AN: C/2/191: Mr. De Fresne, à Pondichery, 4.11.1789, p. 103. 39. Ibid. 48. Ibid., p. 104. Similarly, Sridharan found some documentary 40. Lafont, Indika, pp. 166–167. evidence about a French surgeon by the name of Benard. 41. AN: C/2/174: Traduction de l’Office présenté au Roi pour les The surgeon briefly worked for Tipu Sultan, but was ambassadeurs de Tippo-Sultan, 30.7.1788, p. 255; dissatisfied with the breach of contract and other Kirkpatrick, Select Letters, pp. 454–455 (quotation on p. inequities. According to Sridharan, Tipu argued that the

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surgeon was not needed anymore since he was not able to measures in concert with persons at Muscat, for the introduce any medical novelties into Mysore. Sridharan, introduction of a Body of Arabs into the Provinces on Ships ‘Tipu’s Drive towards Modernization’, p. 145. But without from that Port, and had also employed Agents to form a further evidence this remains rather dubious. confederacy amongst the zamindars in Bengal, and to 49. Hasan, History of Tipu Sultan, pp. 282–285; Ali, Tipu, pp. 283– induce them to rise in rebellion whenever he should give 284. Hasan has opined that Ripaud’s voyage to them, the signal for that purpose. Shums ud Dowlah had Srirangapatna and the Malartic proclamation were a also entered into correspondence with a Frenchman at fabrication. Mohibbul Hasan, History of Tipu Sultan, Chensura of the name of Strother.’ See IOR: H/587: Bengal Calcutta: Bibliophile 1951, pp.293–294. Secret Letter 16.8.1799: Para 9, p. 56. In another extract 50. AN: C/2/299: de la Traduction d’une lettre de Tipou Sultan a from the Governor General it is stated that: ‘I am already in Mr. Defresne, 25.5.1792, p. 159. possession of sufficient evidence to prove that a conspiracy 51. AN: C/2/189: Isle de France le 7 ventose au 6eme de la had been formed for the purpose not only of restoring Vizier République française, pp. 264–265. Alli to the throne of Oude [Awadh] but also of favouring the 52. AN: C/2/189: Debay au Directeur, p. 265. Invasion of Zemaun Shah and of expelling the English 53. The Asiatic Annual Register 1799, Vol. 1 (London, 1801), p. Nation from the Province of Bengal, Bahar and Orissa […] 169; Copies and Extracts of Advices to and from India… the Conspiracy stated to have existed among the (London, 1800), pp. 163–164. According to an anonymous Zemindars of the Province of Bahar is wholly void of reviewer, in this context, the word ‘block’ should not be foundation.’ See IOR: H/587: Extract Governor General to translated as ‘wheel’ or ‘engine’, but as a pulley or system of Secret Committee 22.4.1799, p. 62; Ray, ‘Tipu Sultan and the pulleys encased in a housing. Invasion of Zaman Shah’. 54. M. Athar Ali, ‘The Passing of Empire: The Mughal Case’, Modern 63. Anne-Joseph-Hyppolite Malartic, Commander in Chief and Asian Studies, 9(3) (1975), pp. 385–396, here p. 392. Governor General of the Isle of France and Réunion, 55. Habib, ‘Introduction’, p. xix. andCommandant General of all French establishments to 56. According to Montstuart Elphinstone, Zaman Shah was the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, mentioned in the instigated by the Delhi prince Mirza Ahsan Bakht, ‘who had procla- mation that Tipu desired an offensive and defensive fled to Caubul in Timoor’s reign, as well by ambassadors who alliance with the French and that he would bear the arrived about this time from Tippoo Sooltaun, and who expenses of the French troops that would be sent to India. made great pecuniary offers to the king, on condition that However, the proclamation did not go further than inviting he should attack the British’—Mountstuart Elphinstone, An volunteers, including Africans that were willing to serve Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, and its Dependencies under the command of Tipu. Forrest, Tiger of Mysore, pp. in Persia, Tartary, and India (London: J. Murray, 1815), p. 341–342. Governor-General Wellesley was fully aware of the 565. fact that the volunteers—not even counting 100 persons— 57. Aniruddha Ray, ‘Tipu Sultan and the Invasion of Zaman were of no threat. But he took advantage of the situation Shah’, Sultan, 4 (1986), pp. 13–25, here p. 14; StigFörster, and used it as a welcome pretext to attack Tipu. Hasan, Diemächtigen Diener der East India Company. Ursachen History of Tipu Sultan, pp. 288, 296–297; Förster, Die und Hintergründe der britischen Expansionspolitik in mächtigen Diener, pp. 138, 148. Südasien,1793–1819 (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1992), pp. 102– 64. Compare to Ray, ‘Tipu Sultan and the Invasion of Zaman 103 note 45. Ahmad Shah Durrani (c.1722–73) had already Shah’, p. 20. invaded India several times and exploited the Punjab, 65. ADAE: Perse. 1707 à 1805. Mémoire et Documens: P08169: Kashmir, Sindh and Multan. For an overview, see J.L. Mehta, Histoire des Révolutions arrivées dans la Perse depuis la Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707–1813 mort de Nadir Shah jusqu’en 1788, 1.9.1788, p. 103. (New Delhi: New Dawn Press, 2005), pp. 246–319; Jos J.L. 66. MSA Public Department Diary, No. 65 Part II, Bombay Castle Gommans, The Rise of the Indo-Afghan Empire, C.1710– 18th May 1774, p. 376; Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. 2, 1780 (Leiden: Brill, 1995). pp.164–165; Ali, Tipu, p. 124; Hasan, Waqai-i Manazil-i Rum, 58. IOR: MSS Eur E 196 (Neg 7622): Kirkpatrick to the Earl of pp. 1–2, 12–14. Mornington, Fort St. George, 26th July 1799; NAI: 67. Mir Hussein Ali Khan Kirmani, The History of the Reign of Tipu Miscellaneous Records of Foreign Department 1799/78: Sultan, Being a Continuation of the Neshani Hyduri, Letter from Edmonstone, Fort St. George, 10th August 1799, ColonelW. Miles, tr. (London: Allen, 1864), pp. 240, 243. See p. 134; AN: C/2/305: Mémoire sur l’importance actuelle de also Ali, Tipu, p. 299. l’Inde et les moyens les plus efficaces d’y retablir la Nation 68. IOR: H/463: Letter from Edward Lord Clive to Marquis Françoise dans son ancienne spleandear, 6.8.1801, p. 67; Wellesley, 31.1.1801, pp. 101–107, 110 (quotation on p. Habibo Brechna, Die Geschichte Afghanistans: Das 107); IOR H/472: John Duncan to the Right Honourable Historische Umfeld Afghanistans über 1500 Jahre (Zürich: Richard Earl of Mornington, Surat Castle, 21.5.1800, p. 359; The VDF Hochschulverlag, 2005), p. 83. Maharashtra State Asiatic Annual Register, 1801, p. 198. Archives (MSA): Public Department Diary, No.65 Part II, 69. IOR: H/587: Extract Letter from the Governor General in Bombay Castle 18th May 1774, p. 376. I did not find out Council to the Secret Committee dated 3.10.1798, pp. 36– whether Tipu’s correspondence with Timur Shah was 37. initiated before or after the French Revolution. 70. According to two inhabitants of Herat, Mahmud had fled to 59. Archives des Affaires Etrangères (ADAE): Asie; Mémoire et Tehran, after being incapable of maintaining his post at Document; Indes Orientales et Possessions Francaises (1785– Herat. In Tehran, he seems to have been entertained by the 1826),Vol. 11: Renseignements donnés par Raza ali Kan, de king for a year. See NAI: Miscellaneous Records of Foreign Mémoire, pp. 296–297. Department 1800, S. No. 79: Translation of a written Report 60. Quoted in Ray, ‘Tipu Sultan and the Invasion of Zaman Shah’, from two Inhabitants of Herat, p. 5. p. 19. As early as 1797, Shore was aware of the fact that the 71. IOR: G/29/25: Extract of a Letter from Mirza Mehedy Ali Afghans were capable of invading Delhi or Lahore, but he Khan, Resident at Bushire, to the Honble the Governor, thought that the threat was not so serious as to augment 4.12.1798, pp. 290–292; IOR: G/29/25: Translation of a security expenses. Hasan, History of Tipu Sultan, p. 299; Letter from Mehedi Ali Khan to Mr. Manesty, dated 20.5.1799, Förster, Die mächtigen Diener, pp. 102–103 note 45. p. 376 61. The between 1754 and 1775. 72. This is confirmed by James Mill who wrote that Fat’h ‘Ali 62. IOR: G/29/25: Translation of a Letter from Mirza Mehedi Ali Shah ‘had already threatened, if not attacked, the Khan to Jonathan Duncan, received 27.4.1799, pp. 387– province of Khorassan. Mehedi Ali Khan was entrusted with 388. According to an extract of the EIC, ‘Shums ud Dowlah a mission, the objects of which, as they fell in with the […] had addressed Letters to Zemaun Shah urging that existing politics of the Persian government, were Prince also to invade your Territories […] he had taken successfully attained’—James Mill, The History of British

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India, Vol. 3 (London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1817), p. 467. Sheik Ali notes that Mehdi Ali Khan was a Shi’a from Muradabad—Ali, Tipu, p. 301. 73. Brechna, Die Geschichte Afghanistans, p. 83. 74. IOR: H/587: Extract Bengal Secret Letter dated 30.9.1796, pp. 3–4; Extract Bengal Political Letter dated 31.12.1796, p. 11; Extract Bengal Political Letter dated 25.1.1797: Para 32, p. 12; Extract Bengal Secret Letter 2.5.1797: Para 2, pp. 23– 24. 75. Quoted in Ali, Tipu, p. 296. 76. Ibid., p. 297. 77. IOR: G/29/25: The Governor of Bombay to Mehedi ali Khan, Resident at Bushire, 11.1.1799, p. 302; IOR: G/29/25: Translation of a Letter from Mehedy ali Khan, received 26.1.1799, p. 303. Interestingly, at the close of the year 1798, the British had sent 500 muskets with 5000 cartridges to Bushehr, destined for the Vizir Mirza Ibrahim. But the arms were rejected since the military used pieces called jezayer (jezail), that were sparked with matches and also because the Vizir seems to have preferred money over arms. See IOR G/29/25: From Mehedi Ali khan, 10.1.1799, p. 307; IOR G/29/25: Translate of a Letter from mehedi ali khan of the 11.1.1799; IOR: G/29/25: Extract of Letter to Mehidi Alli Khan, 1.11.1798, p. 316. According to Cooper, a jezail was a South Asian matchlock, often a ‘very accurate long-barreled’ matchlock—Randolf G. S. Cooper, The Anglo- Maratha Campaigns and the Contest for India: The Struggle for Control of the South Asian Military Economy (Cambridge: CUP, 2007 [2003]), p. 338. 78. IOR: G/29/25: Translation of a Letter from Mullick Ettigar to the Governor of Bombay, pp. 391–392. The name of the Malik-ut-Tujjar is not mentioned in the letter. 79. IOR: G/29/25: Translation of a Letter from Kheleel Mullick ettejaur of Persia to Jonathan Duncan, dated 9.4, received 27.4.1799, p. 400. 80. IOR: H/587: Extract Bengal Secret Letter dated 5.2.1799, p. 52; Letter from the Governor General to the Secret Committee, dated 12.2.1799, p. 53; Extract Governor General to Secret Committee 12.2.1799, p. 55. 81. IOR: H/587: Extract Letter from Governor General to Secret Committee 20.9.1801, p. 75. 82. Mohssen Massarrat, ‘America’s Hegemonic Middle East Policy’, Global Research, 4 September 2007, http://www.globalre- search.ca/america-s-hegemonic-middle-east-policy/6683 (accessed 22 November 2016). With regard to the Iran–Iraq war, Ramsey Clark has argued that the Iraqi ‘attack served US interests by weakening Iran and of course war against much larger Iran would weaken Iraq as well. Washington did not want either side to win.’ In a similar vein, the influential US statesman Henry Kissinger summarized the US’ policy towards Iran and Iraq with the following words: ‘I hope they kill each other and too bad they both cannot lose.’ Quoted in Ramesh Chandra, Global Terrorism: A Threat to Humanity (Delhi: Kalpaz Publications, 2004), pp. 2–3. For a similar argument with regard to the US strategy vis-à-vis Syria, Hizbollah, Iran and Iraq in 2013, see Jürgen Wagner, ‘Syrien: Giftgasangriffe und die Verstetigung des Bürgerkrieges‘, Ausdruck Oktober, 5 (2013), pp. 1–6. 83. IOR: H/587: Extract Letter from Governor General to Secret Committee 20.9.1801, p. 75.

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