This excerpt from Vikram Sampath’s ‘Tipu Sultan: The Saga of Mysore’s Interregnum (1760–1799)’ has been published with permission from Penguin Random House India.

Tipu Sultan, taken from Alexander ... as an enlightened ruler in India. During the late eighteenth century he bitterly and effectively opposed British rule in southern India, posing a grave ...

This is the seal of Sultan Fateh Ali Tipu ... Kent probably since the early 1800s. Tipu ruled the Kingdom of Mysore, a large part of southern India, suceeding his father, Hyder Ali (1722-1782).