Editing Tipu Sultan (section)

=== Sword and tiger ===
{{main|Tipu's Tiger}}
[[File:Tipu Sultan's Tiger.JPG|thumb|right|[[Tipu's Tiger|Tipu Sultan's Tiger]]. [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], London]]
[[File:Inscribed Sword of Tipu Sultan.jpg|thumb|Sword of Tipu Sultan. [[National Museum, New Delhi|National Museum]], [[New Delhi]]]]
Tipu Sultan had lost his sword in a war with the [[Nair]]s of [[Travancore]] during the [[Battle of the Nedumkotta|Battle of the Nedumkotta (1789)]], in which he was forced to withdraw due to the severe joint attack from the Travancore army and British army.<ref>{{cite news|date=3 May 2011|title=The swords of Tipu Sultan|work=[[The Hindu]]|url=http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/03/stories/2011050362330300.htm|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110509010059/http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/03/stories/2011050362330300.htm |archive-date=9 May 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Nair Brigade|Nair army]] under the leadership of [[Raja Kesavadas]] again defeated the army of Tipu near Aluva. The Maharaja, [[Dharma Raja]], gave the famous sword to the Nawab of [[Arcot]], from whom the sword was taken as a war trophy by the British after annexing Arcot and sent to London. The sword was on display at the Wallace Collection, No. 1 Manchester Square, London.

Tipu was commonly known as the '''Tiger of Mysore''' and adopted this animal as the symbol (''bubri/babri'')<ref>{{cite web|date=17 August 2011|title=Tipu Sultan and the tiger motif |url=http://toshkhana.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/tipu-sultan-and-the-tiger-motif/|access-date=13 December 2013|work=The Seringapatnam Times|publisher=Toshkhana : wordpress}}</ref> of his rule.<ref name="ModernAsianStudies">{{Cite journal|last1=Brittlebank|first1=K.|year=1995 |title=Sakti and Barakat: The ∀ Power of Tipu's Tiger. An Examination of the Tiger Emblem of Tipu Sultan of Mysore|journal=Modern Asian Studies|volume=29|issue=2|pages=257–269 |doi=10.1017/S0026749X00012725|jstor=312813 |s2cid=145790819 }}</ref> It is said that Tipu Sultan was hunting in the forest with a French friend. They came face to face with a tiger there. The tiger first pounced on the French soldier and killed him. Tipu's gun did not work, and his dagger fell on the ground as the tiger jumped on him. He reached for the dagger, picked it up, and killed the tiger with it. That earned him the name "the Tiger of Mysore". {{citation needed|date=December 2020}} He even had French engineers build a mechanical tiger for his palace.<ref>{{cite book|last=James |first=Lawrence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xygrApPFw_4C&pg=PA67 |title=Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India|date=2000 |publisher=MacMillan|isbn=978-0-312-26382-9 |access-date=12 February 2010}}</ref> The device, known as [[Tipu's Tiger]], is on display in the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], London.<ref>{{cite news|title=Tippoo's Tiger|date=11 April 2004 |publisher=Victoria & Albert Museum |url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/asia/object_stories/Tippoo's_tiger/index.html |access-date=10 December 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060825074241/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/asia/object_stories/Tippoo's_tiger/index.html|archive-date=25 August 2006}}</ref> Not only did Tipu place relics of tigers around his palace and domain, but also had the emblem of a tiger on his banners and some arms and weapons. Sometimes this tiger was very ornate and had inscriptions within the drawing, alluding to Tipu's faith – Islam.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tiger Motif |publisher=Macquarie University Library |url=https://www.library.mq.edu.au/digital/seringapatam/images/tiger/|access-date=12 February 2010 |archive-date=4 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110304051433/http://www.library.mq.edu.au/digital/seringapatam/images/tiger/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Historian [[Alexander Beatson]] reported that "in his palace was found a great variety of curious swords, daggers, fusils, pistols, and blunderbusses; some were of exquisite workmanship, mounted with gold, or silver, and beautifully inlaid and ornamented with tigers' heads and stripes, or with Persian and Arabic verses".<ref name="Beatson">{{cite book |last=Beatson|first=Alexander |year=1800 |url=http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/digital/seringapatam/other/tipu.html|title=A View of the Origin and Conduct of the War with Tippoo Sultaun |publisher=G. & W. Nichol|location=London |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130609104725/http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/digital/seringapatam/other/tipu.html |archive-date=9 June 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The last sword used by Tipu in his last [[Battle of Srirangapatna|battle, at Sri Rangapatnam]], and the ring worn by him were taken by the British forces as war trophies. They are kept on display at the [[British Museum]] London as gifts to the museum from Maj-Gen Augustus W.H. Meyrick and Nancy Dowager.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ring and sword of Tipu Sultan |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/asia/r/ring_and_sword_of_tipu_sultan.aspx|access-date=13 December 2013 |work=Exploring the museum|publisher=The British Museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019091134/http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/asia/r/ring_and_sword_of_tipu_sultan.aspx |archive-date=19 October 2015}}</ref> At an [[auction]] in London in April 2004, [[Vijay Mallya]] purchased a sword of Tipu Sultan and some other historical artefacts, and brought them back to India.<ref>{{cite news|last=Beary|first=Habib|date=7 April 2004|title=Tipu's sword back in Indian hands |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3609205.stm |publisher=BBC News}}</ref>

In October 2013, another sword owned by Tipu Sultan and decorated with his ''babri'' (tiger stripe motif) surfaced and was auctioned by [[Sotheby's]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Sinha|first=Kounteya|date=4 October 2013|title=Another Tipu Sultan sword surfaces, to be auctioned|newspaper=[[The Times of India]] |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-10-04/uk/42716329_1_tipu-sultan-sword-dagger|access-date=13 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007080528/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-10-04/uk/42716329_1_tipu-sultan-sword-dagger |archive-date=7 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was purchased for £98,500<ref>{{cite news|last=Nag|first=Ashoke |date=21 October 2013 |title=Tipu Sultan memorabilia goes under hammer at Sotheby's 'The Arts of Imperial India' auction |newspaper=The Economic Times|url=http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-10-21/news/43250493_1_mawludi-sayyid-ma-sum-auction-sales-middle-east|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419023922/http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-10-21/news/43250493_1_mawludi-sayyid-ma-sum-auction-sales-middle-east|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 April 2015|access-date=13 December 2013}}</ref> by a telephone bidder.