Exploring Tipu Sultans armouries and the stories behind them
Introduction : Exploring Bangalore
It was a cool sunny morning in Bangalore and I had a day to spend as a tourist exploring the city. Putting aside my fears of being a non-kannadiga, I ventured out with the Metro as my magical no-conversational vahan to take me to a prearranged list of places to visit. It was a fairly fun day trying out thick, crispy dosas, savoury coffee and marvelling the weather as I walked my way from one place to the other. I walked through the roads with colourful Karnataka transport buses speeding to market places with fresh and vibrant flowers along with plastic stationary being sold in roadside impromptu markets. A sight I got to see was Bangalore fort, which began construction in 1537 as a mud fort. The builder was the ruler Kempe Gowda I, a vassal of the Vijaynagar Empire and the founder of Bangalore. Kempe Gowda is honoured in many ways in the city with locations and buildings named after him. The fort stands as a public space with half of its space locked off to the people. I walked around its courtyard, admiring its massive doors and sloping stone walls with carved murals. As a guide talked about its history to a group of foreign tourists, I sat down to check the next on the list and I find a place marked ‘Tipu Sultan’s Armoury’ on the map. Imagining what an armoury would be like and remembering the tinkering of praise I had previously heard about Tipu Sultan, I kept the other sights on hold and started walking towards the armoury.
Onroute armoury and its discovery
I set up my GPS and walked through the shaded side walks along the main road. The expansive trees shielding the area from sunlight made the walk comfortable. As I diverge from the main road, the experience inverts, coming into a place that suddenly became industrial. I had to double check if I was on the right path and all was okay. Walking through garages and houses that seemed empty, I saw it through the narrow offset between two buildings. It was sunk into the ground, bright white in colour laying there sluggish like a skeleton of a whale. I walked ahead trying to figure out a place to enter it and after asking a few people I got to know about the entrance. I walked there only to see it locked. The inside looked like a garden with a small hut made in front of it. A lady stood there outside the little hut, I saw she had a huge pot on boil. Overcoming my fears of not knowing Kannada I tried to get her attention and signal her to open the gates for me. She looked a little annoyed but came up to the gate. She said something to me in the language I had no idea about, possibly explaining to me the reason for her locking the gate. I smile and enter. I see there are stairs going down to the armoury, right behind her little hut. I look at her and point downwards, she makes a face telling me I can head down but before I could, I saw there was a rope tying the stairs entrance shut. I look back at her and she signals me to climb over. As I ponder on how to jump over, I hear her saying something. The only discernible word in her sentences was ‘lock.’ I understand through her actions that the armoury is locked. I signal to her asking about a key, making the universal sign for opening a lock. She goes into the hut and comes out with a key the size larger than my palm. She seemed a little worried about handing me the keys but I tried to convey to her again through my actions that I will be responsible and handle myself. It must have worked because she smiled and let me go on ahead. I head down and see the structure.
Exploration of the structure
The armoury was in its entirety just a big room with an entrance. Shaped like a semi-circular arched arcade, it stretched a fairly long length with an entrance block placed in the middle of the long hallway. The structure looked like it had been replastered quite recently and the cream tone paint seemed recent as it was even throughout the structure without marks of weathering/ tinkering. Pigeons sat over the structure and glared at me as I took rounds around the structure. There were two windows on the two ends of the armoury from where I could see in. Since the structure was on a level lower than every other building and road there, I was curious to know how the place didn't have any water logging, the presence of a Nahni trap in one corner gave some answers but not enough. I peered in through the window and saw the dark room that was the armoury. I see nothing in it, completely empty.
Discouraged but still willing to venture in, I head towards the entrance of the structure. As I tried to find the lock, I saw the massive spider webs in the entrance area and made the embarrassing yet smart decision to give up right there. I go back up and talk to the lady there explaining to her I didn't have the courage to open the gate because of the creepy crawlies. She laughed and took her keys back and asked for a small donation. I gave her a 10 rupee coin and walked out, closing the gate behind me. She saw me leave and went back to attending to her lunch on the makeshift stove.
It was a curious experience, I had ventured there thinking I'll get some answers to why an armoury was placed there but saw no posters, information placards, or even an attempt at making it a tourist attraction. People seemed to overlook the fact that it was placed there and were fine to see it rot there. All this increased my interest in knowing more about the building and I decided to continue on my journey around Bangalore with the promise of learning more about Tipu and how these armouries came up.
About Tipu Sultan & his armouries
Sher-e-Mysore or commonly known as Tipu Sultan was the ruler of the kingdom of Mysore. Born in 1 December 1751 and died on 4 May 1799 as he was defeated through overpowered opposition and betrayal from his closest allies. Tipu’s rule saw him pioneer rockets as a weapon used in battles, not just that but Tipu saw that he was updated with the latest and best in artillery for himself and his army. Tipu, as described by Dr. Dulari Qureshi, a renowned historian, was a fierce warrior king and was so quick in his movement that it seemed to the enemy that he was fighting on many fronts at the same time. He wanted to maintain a stronghold in South India and fought viciously to keep the British away from taking over. Trained initially by French soldiers employed by his father, Tipu kept on good terms with the French, the Ottomans, the Sultanate of Oman, Zand, Durrani, the Mughals and the Marathas in his quest to keep the British far from Southern India. He fought in 4 Anglo-Mysore wars and had conflicts with the Marathas over shared territories.
Tipu during his constant state of wars, worked relentlessly in keeping himself armed, which points to the presence of these armouries around his kingdom. These armouries store mainly gunpowder based artillery that needed to be kept cool. Gunpowder combusts when it overheats, hence the armouries were kept submerged to visually conceal them and keep them cool in and around buildings. Another issue when lowering a structure down is to restrict waterlogging, Tipu’s army was efficient in figuring out an efficient drainage system to keep these armouries dry. This did backfire for them as insurgents would block these drains leading to flooding and ultimately destroying all the artillery stored.
The story of an another armoury
In 2017, it was reported that Indian Railways wanted to introduce a express line for the Mysore - Bangalore railway line. In Tipu’s city of Srirangapatna, one of Tipu’s armouries was in the middle of the proposed line. The proposed solution reported was to move the armoury from its original location, move it 450 feet to a new location. Along with it a railway station for Srirangapatna was also included in the proposal. Srirangapatna was the capital of Tipu’s empire and housed the King’s summer place along with other important sights that laid alongside Tipu’s history. This armoury was 13 x 10 metres and weighed over 900 tonnes. It had 4 feet thick masonry walls and was covered in lime plaster with organic additives like jaggery, egg whites etc. This was also submerged halfway into the ground as was the case with the one I saw, only this was way larger in its dimensions.
“Five main beams and 11 cross beams formed a frame supporting the load. Thirty seven lifting jacks were secured underneath the frame, lifting the entire structure by two feet on February 24. Once the jacks are removed and replaced with rollers, the critical phase of shifting will begin on March 8. Hydraulically pushed on roller ramps, the armoury will first move 350 feet in a straight line. The rollers would then be reset at 90 degrees to shift the structure by another 100 feet to the right.” As reported by the Deccan Herald on 6 March 2017.
This was a mammoth task and included the efforts of an America based Wolfe House Moving company and Mumbai based STUP consultants, all metal fabrication done by PSL Engg in Jabalpur, the initial investigation and the relocation area guided by the Indian Archeological Survey in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore came together to make this excruciating process possible. It was a feat of engineering to conserve a piece of historical significance without curbing the city’s developmental progress. 13.66 crores was spent to make this endeavour possible.
The armoury is one of the 9 other armouries found in the city of Srirangapatna, and before the decision of moving, it was already in distress. The structure was neglected, certain parts of it in ruins, the lime plaster had degraded and there were signs of vandalism all over the structure. The news of moving the armoury was enough to get news headlines and was declared as the first heritage structure in India to be translocated. This promised to bring in tourists into the city that Tipu called home. However, as reported by The Hindu, the promises never came to fruition. The structure now sits in its new location with a fresh coat of paint, alone waiting for visitors only to be used as a toilet and a dumping yard.
Conclusion
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, former president and known as “The Missile Man” of India remarked how Tipu Sultan’s use of rockets in battle was revolutionary and set precedence for what the British then used as standard for fighting wars. His rockets were carefully preserved by the British and are still on display in London. Tipu’s reign in India was constantly engaged in battle but gathered immense respect from the Government of India, Pakistan and other contemporary allies like Napoleon who thought highly of him. Tipu’s possessions were soon taken over by the British and either broken down and given out as gifts to their friends or sent back to Britain to be displayed in Museums. India includes Tipu as a freedom fighter against the Britishers and has made several claims to the British for his possessions to be returned.
As these negotiations continue, several of Tipu’s palaces still remain and serve as markers of his history and ambitions. The armouries are neglected as they fail to showcase his superfluous nature, that brings interest for a tourist. The empty armouries fail to capture the bright murals displayed in Tipu’s palaces that show him reigning over the British soldiers and that show him as the Tiger of Mysore. It is given that these armouries will stay the same, and no plans are currently in action to restore their role in the archeological history of Bangalore or Srirangapatna or Mysore. In some ways I like that these structures hide and peek at people that live around them, seeing them change as they remain as markers of a time. It is heartbreaking that not many know the stories they hold in them.
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Bibliography and additional reads on the topic:
Read more about Tipu Sultan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipu_SultanYoutube Channel and blog by Shafeeq Ahmed Khan talking about Tipu Sultan’s buildings, his paraphernalia, and other stories
https://www.youtube.com/@TheTigerofMysore
https://thetigerofmysore.blogspot.com/Deccan Herald’s report on Translocating the armoury in Srirangapatna.
https://www.deccanherald.com/content/599869/legacy-tipus-armouries.htmlThe Hindu’s report on the current condition of the armoury in Srirangapatna.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/once-a-symbol-of-might-tipu-armoury-now-in-a-shambles/article28236562.eceIndian Express report on the story of the armoury in Bengaluru (only accessible for members)
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bangalore/know-your-city-bengaluru-landmark-rocketry-experiment-8184337/Photo Gallery of the armouries
https://timescontent.timesofindia.com/photo/feature/Restoration-Armoury/672409Youtube video showing the Translocation of Tipu’s Armoury in Srirangapatna
https://youtu.be/4XI37aa4Gr4?si=oktuQpeB0ZesOnxpGoogle 360 degree image of the Srirangapatna armoury after translocation and replastering.
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x3baf777e650d336b%3A0x687a276a48d5fdbc!3m1!7e115!4s%2Fmaps%2Fplace%2FTipu%2Bsultans%2Barmoury%2Bsrirangapatna%2F%4012.4242562%2C76.6773078%2C3a%2C75y%2C314.77h%2C90t%2Fdata%3D*213m4*211e1*213m2*211s6Bmcpp0SHUq_iTz4gh6_9w*212e0*214m2*213m1*211s0x3baf777e650d336b%3A0x687a276a48d5fdbc%3Fsa%3DX%26ved%3D2ahUKEwixjpyvrMuLAxVD4jgGHSOJL90Qpx96BAgkEAA!5sTipu%20sultans%20armoury%20srirangapatna%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e2!2s6Bmcpp0SHUq_iTz4gh6_9w&cr=le_a7&hl=en&ved=1t%3A206134&ictx=111Spotted Owlets blog entry showing the Srirangapatna armoury after translocation. https://www.spottedowlets.com/2021/04/Tipu-Sultan-Armoury.html
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