The Road to Seringapatam, Part 1

The Fall of Seringapatam, 1792

Nine months after a grueling retreat, Lord Cornwallis returns to the gates of Srirangapatna with the full weight of the Triple Alliance. Rather than initiating a slow, conventional siege, Cornwallis strikes under the cover of darkness, launching an aggressive infantry assault that shatters Tipu Sultan's formidable river defenses. In this episode, Ramjee Chandran details the pivotal turning point where the geopolitical fate of Mysore was truly sealed. Witness the completion of a flawless pincer movement as General Abercromby’s Bombay division arrives from the west, pinning the Sultan inside his island fortress and forcing a proud ruler into an unprecedented plea for terms. Key Details from the Script: * The True Fall of Mysore: While history books heavily emphasize the bloody 1799 storming where Tipu Sultan lost his life, the geopolitical fate of the Kingdom of Mysore was effectively sealed in February 1792. Following this campaign, Tipu retained his throne for seven more years but was permanently stripped of his status as an equal sovereign among regional powers. * The Midnight River Crossing: Srirangapatna was protected naturally by two deep channels of the Kaveri River, fortified with stone ramparts and heavy artillery covering every crossing. Abandoning his usual methodical caution, Cornwallis launched a surprise night assault on Tipu’s heavily fortified camp on the north bank. In chaotic, hand-to-hand combat, British sepoys and Hyderabad troops pushed across the river, establishing a vital allied foothold right on Srirangapatna island. Cornwallis himself sustained a minor wound during the close-quarters fighting. * The Pincer Closes: The assault was only the first jaw of a larger strategic trap. General Robert Abercromby successfully marched the Bombay division east from the Malabar coast, navigating the treacherous, steep, and heavily forested passes of Coorg. By mid-February 1792, Abercromby entrenched his forces southwest of the island fortress, working in perfect logistical synchronization with Cornwallis to the north to completely encircle the capital. * The Limits of the Cavalry: Tipu Sultan's elite irregular light cavalry, known as looties, remained the finest in India—even earning a private tribute from Cornwallis, who noted that any single lootie was a better soldier than the three British generals previously commanding against them. However, while these swift horsemen excelled at wars of attrition against supply lines, they were entirely unequipped to break a fixed, multi-directional pincer siege. * Tipu's Final Assault: On February 22, 1792, Tipu launched a desperate, direct counter-attack against Abercromby's southwestern position, gambling that the newly arrived Bombay division would be vulnerable after their mountain march. Abercromby’s men successfully held their ground, breaking the assault and expending the last independent military momentum Tipu possessed. * An Unprecedented Plea for Peace: Realizing that no external allies were coming to his rescue and that allied siege guns were close enough to systematically reduce the fort's walls, Tipu Sultan officially sued for peace. Distinct from an unconditional surrender, this request to negotiate was made from a position of profound weakness while the walls still stood, contrasting sharply with the 1784 Treaty of Mangalore where Tipu had dictated terms as a military equal. * Cornwallis's Personal Redemption: For Cornwallis, this victory offered profound personal redemption. A decade prior, he had carried the crushing stigma of losing America after his historic surrender to George Washington's allies at Yorktown, Virginia. By breaking Tipu Sultan on the banks of the Kaveri River, Cornwallis successfully rewrote his own legacy, transforming from the general who lost America into the commander who broke Mysore. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Prestige Group, that makes this podcast possible. Follow The History Of Bangalore on social, here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyofbangalore/ [https://www.instagram.com/historyofbangalore/] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfBangalore [https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfBangalore] Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoryOfBLR [https://twitter.com/HistoryOfBLR] YouTube: https://youtube.com/@HistoryOfBangalore?si=mnH3BsYfI4BUU234 [https://youtube.com/@HistoryOfBangalore?si=mnH3BsYfI4BUU234] iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1323-the-history-of-bangalore-163453722/ [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1323-the-history-of-bangalore-163453722/] Follow Ramjee Chandran on Instagram and Twitter: @ramjeechandran The theme music for the show was composed by German-Indian Koln based percussionist, Ramesh Shotham. Ramjee Chandran's photos by Asha Thadani. RESEARCH AND SOURCES: All our episodes are based on published research and archive records. To request information about our sources, write to hob@explocity.com [hob@explocity.com]. Let us know if you are a researcher (either institutional or independent) and also provide some information about why you need this information. Researchers will get priority. We only have time to engage serious, academic queries so please understand if we do not respond to casual requests.

The Road to Seringapatam, Part 2

Following a devastating logistical collapse and a painful retreat from Srirangapatna, Lord Cornwallis discovers he is not as isolated as he feared. Just as hunger begins to dismantle his forces, an unheralded vanguard appears on the horizon, signaling a profound turn of fortune. In this episode, Ramjee Chandran charts the dramatic resurgence of the Triple Alliance. From the miraculous eleventh-hour arrival of 40,000 Maratha horsemen to the systematic dismantling of Tipu Sultan’s "impregnable" granite hill fortresses (navadurgas), follow the allied forces as they return to the gates of the Mysorean capital—this time, leaving absolutely nothing to chance. Key Details from the Script: * The One-Day Lifeline: As the British and Nizam’s forces retreated toward Bangalore amid a quiet famine, the vanguard of a 40,000-strong Maratha cavalry army suddenly materialized. Because Tipu’s light horsemen had intercepted all prior messengers, neither army knew the other was close until they blindly converged outside Srirangapatna on May 26, 1791. Had the Marathas arrived just one day earlier, Cornwallis would not have had to destroy his vital heavy siege guns. * The Bazaars of the Marathas: The Maratha camp traveled with heavily stocked commercial bazaars, instantly alleviating the British famine with grain and provisions. While the immediate starvation ended, the lack of heavy artillery meant a second siege that season was impossible, forcing the unified coalition to march back to Bangalore to regroup and wait out the monsoon. * The Vision of Mahadji Scindia: The coalition Cornwallis now relied upon was an ironic twist of history. Years earlier, the great Maratha statesman Mahadji Scindia of Gwalior had recognized that a divided India would be picked apart by the British and tried to unite Mysore, Hyderabad, and the Marathas. Tipu Sultan’s rigid suspicion and inflexibility alienated his neighbors, resulting in Scindia's envisioned grand alliance being deployed against Mysore instead of for it. * Cracking the Navadurgas: To secure his vital supply arteries connecting Bangalore to the Carnatic and Hyderabad, Cornwallis spent the monsoon months systematically reducing Tipu's strategic granite hill fortresses. Nandidurga fell in October 1791, followed by Savanadurga and Hutridurga by December. Capturing these heights permanently flipped control of the Deccan trade routes to the British and severely fractured the Mysorean morale, proving these centuries-old landmarks were no longer impregnable. * General Medows' Gold Mine: During the high-stakes assault on Savanadurga, a rumor swept through the advancing sepoy ranks that the breach was booby-trapped with explosives. The famously humorous General William Medows defused the paralyzing tension by dryly remarking that the only mine nearby was a "gold mine," prompting laughter that propelled the Madras Infantry regiments forward to secure victory. * The Second March Commences: Refusing to be distracted by Tipu’s 28-day diversionary siege and capture of Coimbatore to the south, Cornwallis turned his massive, fully refitted allied force back toward the capital on January 25, 1792. By February 5, the army set up an extensively supplied camp at French Rocks (modern Pandavapura), just six miles north of Srirangapatna. * Dismantling the Pleasure Gardens: In an industrial display of hand-labor, 1,200 allied soldiers manufactured thousands of gabions, fascines, and pickets in a single day to prepare for the siege. In a bitter twist of wartime irony, the raw brushwood and timber for these defensive earthworks were methodically chopped down from Tipu Sultan's famously beautiful, perennially blooming pleasure gardens situated right outside the fortress walls. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Prestige Group, that makes this podcast possible. Follow The History Of Bangalore on social, here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyofbangalore/ [https://www.instagram.com/historyofbangalore/] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfBangalore [https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfBangalore] Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoryOfBLR [https://twitter.com/HistoryOfBLR] YouTube: https://youtube.com/@HistoryOfBangalore?si=mnH3BsYfI4BUU234 [https://youtube.com/@HistoryOfBangalore?si=mnH3BsYfI4BUU234] iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1323-the-history-of-bangalore-163453722/ [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1323-the-history-of-bangalore-163453722/] Follow Ramjee Chandran on Instagram and Twitter: @ramjeechandran The theme music for the show was composed by German-Indian Koln based percussionist, Ramesh Shotham. Ramjee Chandran's photos by Asha Thadani. RESEARCH AND SOURCES: All our episodes are based on published research and archive records. To request information about our sources, write to hob@explocity.com [hob@explocity.com]. Let us know if you are a researcher (either institutional or independent) and also provide some information about why you need this information. Researchers will get priority. We only have time to engage serious, academic queries so please understand if we do not respond to casual requests.

The Road to Seringapatam, Part 1

With Bangalore secured, Lord Cornwallis turns his sights west toward the ultimate prize: Tipu Sultan’s island capital of Srirangapatna. But a secondary fortress stocked for a year's siege serves as a stark warning that Mysore’s resources remain deeply formidable. In this episode, Ramjee Chandran chronicles the grueling, circuitous march against two ticking clocks—the impending southwest monsoon and a looming European war in London. Discover how Tipu’s devastating scorched-earth strategy transformed the landscape into a lethal weapon, breaking the British logistics spine and forcing a deeply demoralising retreat within sight of the capital's walls. Key Details from the Script: * The Scale of Tipu's Reserves: When British engineers surveyed the captured ammunition stores in Bangalore Fort, they found 120 foreign cannons (Spanish, French, and British) and enough dry magazine ammunition to withstand a full year's siege. This made Cornwallis realise that Mysore was far from running out of resources, raising the stakes for what awaited them at the capital. * The Two Ticking Clocks: Cornwallis was operating under intense time constraints. Locally, the southwest monsoon was due in June, leaving only a two-month window to march and conquer the capital. Globally, the radicalisation of the French Revolution put London on high alert for an impending Anglo-French war, prompting the Board of Control to explicitly pressure Cornwallis to end the campaign quickly. * The Long Way Round: To avoid marching directly into Tipu's prepared defenses along the shortest western route through Closepet (modern Ramanagara), Cornwallis chose a circuitous path down the Kanakahalli Road. This cautious manoeuver was deeply influenced by Cornwallis's haunting memories of being encircled and trapped into a historic surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, a decade prior. * The Nightmare of Scorched Earth: Tipu executed a brutal scorched-earth campaign inherited from his father, Hyder Ali, emptying villages, stripping grain stores, fouling wells, and slaughtering livestock. As fodder vanished, thousands of vital draft bullocks collapsed and died. British soldiers were forced to harness themselves to ropes to drag heavy siege guns across the rough, dissolving terrain by hand. * Disease and Desperation in Camp: The marching camp quickly deteriorated as smallpox tore through the ranks of soldiers and vulnerable camp followers. Driven by extreme hunger and exhausted rations, lower-caste followers and troops were reduced to subsisting on the meat of dead buffaloes to survive. * The Hollow Victory at Arakere: On May 14, 1791, the coalition forces—allied with the Nizam’s Hyderabad contingent—met Tipu’s army at the village of Arakere, just 20 kilometers from Srirangapatna. Although the combined artillery held the center and forced Tipu's forces to withdraw behind their capital walls, it was a hollow battlefield victory. * A Heartbreaking Retreat: A quick reconnaissance revealed that the battered, starving, and disease-ridden army lacked the strength to breach Srirangapatna's walls. On May 24, 1791, an early monsoon broke, turning the roads to mud. Cornwallis made the agonizing decision to blow up his irreplaceable heavy siege cannons, dump his dry ammunition into the Kaveri River, and order a long, miserable march back to Bangalore. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Prestige Group, that makes this podcast possible. Follow The History Of Bangalore on social, here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyofbangalore/ [https://www.instagram.com/historyofbangalore/] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfBangalore [https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfBangalore] Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoryOfBLR [https://twitter.com/HistoryOfBLR] YouTube: https://youtube.com/@HistoryOfBangalore?si=mnH3BsYfI4BUU234 [https://youtube.com/@HistoryOfBangalore?si=mnH3BsYfI4BUU234] iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1323-the-history-of-bangalore-163453722/ [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1323-the-history-of-bangalore-163453722/] Follow Ramjee Chandran on Instagram and Twitter: @ramjeechandran The theme music for the show was composed by German-Indian Koln based percussionist, Ramesh Shotham. Ramjee Chandran's photos by Asha Thadani. RESEARCH AND SOURCES: All our episodes are based on published research and archive records. To request information about our sources, write to hob@explocity.com [hob@explocity.com]. Let us know if you are a researcher (either institutional or independent) and also provide some information about why you need this information. Researchers will get priority. We only have time to engage serious, academic queries so please understand if we do not respond to casual requests.

In The Aftermath of the Fall of Bangalore, 1791

History moves quickly to the next battle, but it rarely stops to examine the morning after. Following the harrowing midnight breach of March 21, 1791, Bangalore awoke to a transformed reality. In this episode, Ramjee Chandran takes us inside the captured fort and pete to explore the immediate, human cost of victory. From the contrasting grief of two mothers on opposite sides of the ocean to the systematic plunder of Tipu Sultan’s grand palaces, the rapid establishing of British colonial bureaucracy, and a dark act of vengeful retaliation that sealed the fate of nineteen captive Highlanders, discover how the aftermath of Bangalore's fall reshaped the war. Key Details from the Script: * The Tale of Two Mothers: The episode opens by contrasting the human toll on opposite sides of the conflict. In Bangalore, a Mysorean mother mourns her son—a soldier or craftsman lost in the brutal midnight crossfire where 1,400 people died. Thousands of miles away in Britain, another mother anxiously awaits news, knowing her son might be among the heavy British casualties or survivors. * The Plunder of Tipu’s Palace: Once the fort fell, the initial hours dissolved into chaotic and extensive plundering by victorious troops. Soldiers ransacked Tipu Sultan's beautiful, double-storied teak palace within the fort. They stripped away rich carpets, heavy silken hangings, gold ornaments, and fine porcelain. Priceless books and manuscripts from Tipu's personal library were scattered across the dirt. * Cornwallis Restores Absolute Order: To stop the chaos, Lord Cornwallis acted decisively. He placed strict guards at the fort gates, established an immediate military police presence, and ordered all stolen property to be returned to a centralized prize fund. Any soldier caught looting after the order faced public floggings or execution, demonstrating the strict discipline of the British war machine. * Securing the Taramandala Industry: Beyond treasure, the British captured Tipu's highly sophisticated taramandala (armaments factory). They discovered fully operational foundry equipment, advanced wind- and water-driven boring machines, and stockpiles of half-finished iron rockets and cannon barrels. This effectively dismantled Tipu's primary industrial base for weapons manufacturing. * The Rapid Rise of Colonial Bureaucracy: Within days, the British transformed the conquered military outpost into a functioning administrative hub. Markets in the pete were forcibly reopened, standard trade regulations were implemented, and the local population was induced to return to supply the British army with grain and cattle. * The Vengeful Execution of the Highlanders: When news of Bangalore's fall reached Tipu Sultan, his shock dissolved into vengeful fury. He turned his anger on nineteen British Highlander prisoners he had held captive since an earlier engagement—men he had previously humiliated by forcing them to dress in women's clothing and perform for his court. In a sudden, exemplary act of retaliation, Tipu ordered all nineteen prisoners executed. * The Advanced Base for Seringapatam: By April 1791, the fort was fully repaired, garrisoned, and the Triple Alliance coalition was safely assembled. As historian John Fortescue later noted, taking Bangalore provided the ultimate advanced base of operations. Cornwallis now stood in the strongest fortress of Mysore, turning his eyes directly west toward the final objective: Seringapatam. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Prestige Group, that makes this podcast possible. Follow The History Of Bangalore on social, here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyofbangalore/ [https://www.instagram.com/historyofbangalore/] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfBangalore [https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfBangalore] Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoryOfBLR [https://twitter.com/HistoryOfBLR] YouTube: https://youtube.com/@HistoryOfBangalore?si=mnH3BsYfI4BUU234 [https://youtube.com/@HistoryOfBangalore?si=mnH3BsYfI4BUU234] iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1323-the-history-of-bangalore-163453722/ [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1323-the-history-of-bangalore-163453722/] Follow Ramjee Chandran on Instagram and Twitter: @ramjeechandran The theme music for the show was composed by German-Indian Koln based percussionist, Ramesh Shotham. Ramjee Chandran's photos by Asha Thadani. RESEARCH AND SOURCES: All our episodes are based on published research and archive records. To request information about our sources, write to hob@explocity.com [hob@explocity.com]. Let us know if you are a researcher (either institutional or independent) and also provide some information about why you need this information. Researchers will get priority. We only have time to engage serious, academic queries so please understand if we do not respond to casual requests.

The Fall of Bangalore, Part 2: The Breach

The high-stakes gamble of Cornwallis's ghost camp pays off at dawn, exposing a hidden web of espionage and bribery run by William Read and Thomas Munro within the Mysorean ranks. But as the siege pushes toward its absolute limit, the fate of Bangalore comes down to a desperate midnight assault on March 21, 1791. In the conclusion of this two-part special, Ramjee Chandran chronicles the harrowing final hours of the campaign: the elite "Forlorn Hope" navigating a two-foot-wide causeway under a sky illuminated by Mysorean fireballs, the tragic collapse of an exhausted garrison, and the heroic death of Killedar Bahadur Khan. Key Details from the Script: * The Ghost Camp Success: At dawn on March 17, Mysorean gunners unleashed a devastating, carefully targeted artillery salvo directly into Cornwallis's cavalry lines. Though the barrage tore through the canvas tents and churned up the landscape, the tents were entirely empty. Cornwallis's deception saved thousands of cavalry horses from being slaughtered, preserving British mobility for the rest of the campaign. * The Espionage of Read and Munro: To bypass the slow Madras administration, Cornwallis relied on Captain William Read and a young, language-proficient officer named Thomas Munro to run a sophisticated network of hircarrahs (intelligence runners). They successfully bribed and cultivated paid informants deep inside Bahadur Khan's own staff, mapping out Mysore's heavy batteries in real-time. (A historical detour: during this period, Munro translated a Persian manuscript containing the "pound of flesh" story that predated Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice). * The Arithmetic of Fatigue: Expecting an immediate British assault on March 20, Tipu Sultan threw 700 elite dismounted cavalrymen into the fort as reinforcements. The defenders stayed awake in a state of high alert for over 24 hours, maintaining constant fire. When the assault failed to materialise during the day of the 21st, the garrison succumbed to profound exhaustion—leaving them unable to hold watch when the true midnight attack finally commenced. * The Blank Cartridge Deception: On the day of the assault, the British concentrated heavy fire on the towers overlooking the eastern curtain wall breach near the Delhi Gate. For one full hour leading up to the attack, Colonel Giles ordered his men to switch to blank cartridges. The continuous noise and smoke successfully kept the defenders pinned away from the walls while allowing the storming parties to quietly slip into position undetected. * The Path of the Forlorn Hope: At 11:00 PM under absolute secrecy, the "Forlorn Hope"—a sergeant, twelve men, two lieutenants, and thirty elite soldiers—led the advance. To reach the breach, they had to cross a narrow, 100-yard causeway that the defenders had cut through, leaving a ledge just two feet wide. Soldiers crossed in single file in total darkness before the fort erupted with defensive blue lights and explosive fireballs that illuminated the night like the noon sun. * The Fall and the Tragedy: Led by the Forlorn Hope and supported by the Madras Sappers carrying scaling ladders, the British fought their way up the jagged breach, igniting brutal hand-to-hand combat across the ramparts. Within an hour, the fort fell. In the chaotic aftermath, retreating garrison troops collided with a crowd of sheltering women and children in a narrow gateway; unable to distinguish between them in the dark, British troops killed over 1,400 people. * The Death of a Hero: The silver-bearded Killedar, Bahadur Khan, fought to his final breath, sustaining nearly as many wounds "as were inflicted on Caesar in the capitol." Impressed by his gallantry, the British offered his remains to Tipu Sultan, who wept and requested he be buried where he fell. The British buried the veteran defender with full military honors, attended by senior Muslim officers from the British ranks. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Prestige Group, that makes this podcast possible. Follow The History Of Bangalore on social, here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyofbangalore/ [https://www.instagram.com/historyofbangalore/] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfBangalore [https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfBangalore] Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoryOfBLR [https://twitter.com/HistoryOfBLR] YouTube: https://youtube.com/@HistoryOfBangalore?si=mnH3BsYfI4BUU234 [https://youtube.com/@HistoryOfBangalore?si=mnH3BsYfI4BUU234] iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1323-the-history-of-bangalore-163453722/ [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1323-the-history-of-bangalore-163453722/] Follow Ramjee Chandran on Instagram and Twitter: @ramjeechandran The theme music for the show was composed by German-Indian Koln based percussionist, Ramesh Shotham. Ramjee Chandran's photos by Asha Thadani. RESEARCH AND SOURCES: All our episodes are based on published research and archive records. To request information about our sources, write to hob@explocity.com [hob@explocity.com]. Let us know if you are a researcher (either institutional or independent) and also provide some information about why you need this information. Researchers will get priority. We only have time to engage serious, academic queries so please understand if we do not respond to casual requests.