ON April 8 this year, an English newspaper published the picture of an Indian gentleman, Dr Vijay Malliya, holding the sword of Tipu Sultan, the 18th century ruler of the state of Mysore. This sword was bought at an auction in London in September 2003, and has been brought back home by this gentleman.
Tipu Sultan fell on the battlefield of Seringapatam in 1799 facing the assault of Scottish regiments of the British East India Company. History tells us it that the body of the fallen Sultan clutching his sword in the post-mortem rigour was recovered from the pile of the martyred who had sacrificed their lives in the battle in his company. Dr Malliya, described as an entrepreneur in the newspaper report, may be a collector of artifacts or a connoisseur of souvenirs or a person concerned about tracing and tracking the pieces of subcontinent’s history. Whatever the reason for this gentleman to acquire the sword of the late Sultan be, he has done a good act of retrieving the lost treasure, and returning it to the soil from which it was looted as a war booty. Hats off to him!
The sword shown in the picture seems to be a good five feet in length estimated from the height of the holder’s upper body against which it is held. No piece of jewellry is seen on the handle of the sword in the black and white picture. The blade looks very smooth and is pointed at its triangular end. The length of the sword makes one guess that it must be quite heavy and would have needed a very powerful arm to wield it in a hand to hand fight. But then the Sultan was a tall and powerfully built person, well-trained during his youth in wielding the weapons used at the time.
Some biographies of Tipu Sultan mention that he had a good collection of weapons. A particular sword was his favourite. This was a curved heavy sword with certain engravings. He fought his last war with this sword and when got critically injured on the battle field a Scottish soldier tried to snatch it; but Tipu Sultan killed him instantly with the same sword. After the war, the sword was sent to London with other looted items.
When I saw the sword in the picture I was reminded of certain similar articles belonging to the Sultan on display among regimental trophies at the Edinburgh Castle Museum. There was a sword with jewel-studded handle belonging to Tipu Sultan Shaheed with the inscription La Fattah IIIa Aly, La Fatta Shair-e-Khuda. Along with this was an arm epaulet belonging to the Sultan. These must have been the articles found on the body of the Sultan and collected by the British (Scottish) as war trophies. Some other belongings of the Sultan can also be seen exhibited at the Victoria Albert Museum in London — for instance, a time piece with a tiger at its base mauling a British soldier.
The sword in the hands of Dr Malliya may not be the one seen exhibited at the Edinburgh Castle because the regimental trophies or treasures in possession of the state are usually not auctioned off publicly. The sword in the hand of Dr Malliya may be one of the swords picked or looted by the enemy soldiers from the armoury of the Sultan and claimed or kept in personal possession of a British soldier. The sword would have been passed down through generations in private hands and auctioned off in London in 2003. As chance would have it, a son of the soil from which the sword was picked up as a war trophy has purchased it back. Dr Vijay Malliya has done a great job in acquiring it personally and restoring it to the lands around Seringapatam.
