The
Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore from 1782-1799, adopted the tiger as his
royal symbol. He fought many battles against the British throughout his
reign. So after a particularly painful defeat against the British:
He
ordered the walls of houses in Seringapatam to be painted with scenes
of tigers mauling Europeans. Live tigers were kept in the city and there
were stories of prisoners thrown into the tiger-pits.
Tipu
must have been intrigued by a news item widely reported in India and
Britain in 1793, only months after he had been compelled to sign the
hated Treaty of Seringapatam. A young Englishman out shooting near
Calcutta had been carried off by 'an immense riyal tiger...four and a
half feet high and nine long', sustaining fatal injuries. The victim was
the only son of General Sir Hector Munro, who had been concerned in a
crushing defeat inflicted on Haidar and Tipu in the second Mysore War.
The
death of young Munro delighted the Tipu Sultan, so he commissioned the
creation of this macabre automaton. The Tipu Tiger, as it is known
today, was damaged by a German air raid during World War II. But when it
was fully functional, turning the crank would cause the tiger roar and
the Munro's left arm to flail about.
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