Place:Srirangapatna, Karnataka, India

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Srirangapatna, previously Seringapatam in British English, is a town and is the headquarters of one of the seven Taluks of Mandya district, in the Indian State of Karnataka. Located near the city of Mandya, it is of religious, cultural and historic importance.

The monuments on the island town of Srirangapatna have been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the application is pending on the tentative list of UNESCO.

History

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Srirangapatna has since time immemorial been an urban center and place of pilgrimage. During the Vijayanagar empire, it became the seat of a major viceroyalty, from where several nearby vassal states of the empire, such as Mysore and Talakad, were overseen. When perceiving the decline of the Vijayanagar empire, the rulers of Mysore ventured to assert independence, Srirangapatna was their first target. Raja Wodeyar I vanquished Rangaraya, the then viceroy of Srirangapatna, in 1610 and celebrated the Navaratri festival in the town that year. It came to be accepted in time that two things demonstrated control and signified sovereignty over the Kingdom of Mysore by any claimant to the throne, including the successful holding of the 10-day-long Navaratri festival, dedicated to Chamundeshwari, patron goddess of Mysore and control of the fort of Srirangapatna, the fortification nearest to the capital city of Mysore.

Srirangapatna remained part of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1610 to after India's independence in 1947; as the fortress closest to the capital city of Mysore, it was the last bastion and defence of the kingdom in case of invasion.

Hyder and Tipu

Srirangapatna became the capital of Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan. When Tipu finally dispensed with the charade of deference to the Wodeyar Maharaja who was actually his captive, and proclaimed the "Khudadad State" under his own kingship, though the then incumbent Wodeyar scion Chamaraja Wodeyar IX was still officially the king of Mysore.

During Tipu Sultan's wars against the British, Kodavas, and Malabar rajas; he rounded up entire communities of Nairs, Kodavas, and Mangalorean Catholics in the conquered regions and deported them to Srirangapatna, where they were held in bondage until they received freedom from captivity as a result of Tipu's defeat by the British in 1799.

Treaty of Seringapatam, 1792

The Treaty of Seringapatam (also called Srirangapatna), signed 18 March 1792, ended the Third Anglo-Mysore War. Its signatories included Lord Cornwallis on behalf of the British East India Company, representatives of the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Maratha Empire, and Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore.

Battle of Seringapatam, 1799

Srirangapatna was the scene of the last and decisive battle of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, fought in 1799 between Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore, and a combined force of 50,000 men provided equally by the Nizam of Hyderabad and the East India Company, under the overall command of General George Harris.

At the battle's climax, Tipu Sultan was killed within the fort of Seringapatam, betrayed by one of his own confidants. The spot where he fell is today marked by a memorial. Although the joint forces of the victorious army plundered Seringapatam and ransacked Tipu's palace, much of the site of the battle is still intact, including the ramparts, the Water Gate, the area where British prisoners were held, and the site of the destroyed palace.

Apart from the usual gold and cash, innumerable other valuables were shipped to England, including objets d'art and personal possessions of Tipu Sultan such as his rich clothing, shoes, sword, and firearms. Most of these remain in the British Royal Collection and in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the latter of which holds Tipu's Tiger, an automaton of a tiger on top of a British soldier. The sword of Tipu Sultan was purchased at a Sotheby's auction by Vijay Mallya, a liquor baron from Karnataka.

British composer Harriet Wainwright composed a work for chorus ("Seringapatam") about the battle.

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