Trip to Tipu Sultan Summer Palace

This palace is said to resemble Daria Daulat Palace of Srirangapatna. The palace construction was started by Hyder Ali (Father of Tipu Sultan).This palace is a two-storeyed building, though it resembles single-storeyed. The first floor has around 2 rooms on each side(left and right). There is a darbar like setting on three sides of the first floor. It is as if the king will be able to address people from three sides of the building. But only one side (front side) of the building has more space in front of it now as in the other two sides, new buildings have come up. There is a fort nearby which is called Bangalore fort (Bangalore Kila).

From what I read, my assumption is the fort was enclosing the palace but now because of the new buildings and encroachments that have come up, the fort and palace stand as two separate unrelated entities.

The ground floor houses a small museum with few paintings, few descriptions and yes, two rockets!!!

Before going on, hope you all know that Tipu is the son of Hyder Ali and Fakrunissa (alias Fathima). He lived in the 18th century and was known as Tiger of Mysore.

Story behind the name “Mysore Tiger”
One day, when Tipu was young and when he went for hunting in forest, a tiger sprang on him all of a sudden and he fought alone and killed the tiger. And so the name.

The famous toy
A model of a toy which Tipu liked is kept in the museum. He liked the original toy(which is now in some Europe museum) so much that he used to carry it with him most of the time. The toy depicts a tiger sprung up on a British soldier. It was done so scientifically, that there is a small setting in the body of the tiger, and which when closed(from opened state) will create the sound of tiger’s roar. Tipu got this done hearing that Lord/General(Don’t know which) Munroe was killed by a tiger. Few days back, Tipu was defeated by Munroe in a small battle.

Throne of Tipu Sultan
There is a painting and description of a throne. The throne is made of gold and stone. There is a Staff upon which a Canopy is present. The Canopy was decked with pearls. (Imagine a chariot and its umbrella. A canopy is something like an umbrella). At the top of the Canopy, there is a carving of Huma bird. In those days, it was considered that, whoever the Huma bird alights on, he will become a king (Or “will wear the crown” according to original words given in the inscription).
Tipu sweared that he will ascend that throne only after he chases away British from the country. So he never got to ascend it. After his period, it was impossible to move the throne easily as it was very heavy and they could not sell it out as one piece as it was very costly. So parts of it were cut and sold separately. The Huma bird was sent as a gift to Queen Victoria by some British General.

Tipu’s officers
Tipu made all his officers to take oath that they won’t embezzle money before they assumed offices. He also made them declare all their assets before they enter public service.

Tipu and his dreams
Tipu used to record his dreams in a diary and always tried to find a co-relation between what is happening in his life and what he is seeing in his dreams. He used to record his dreams only when he was alone. Once when British captured his fort, they looked and took part of this collection with them.

Rockets
Coming to rockets, two of the rockets are present in the museum and the rest in other museums (including museums outside India). Tipu had a skilled army of 5000 who can handle rockets. The rockets were able to hit a target at around 2.5 kilometres. Our President Dr. Kalam had visited a museum (don’t remember whether it is in Europe or US) with a fellow scientist as rocket technologists which housed Tipu’s rockets. The rocket’s capacity had been tested there and confirmed that it is true that it could hit a target within 2.5 kms. He had expressed his wonder that with the iron casings that were used in those days, the capacity of the rocket is a scientific achievement.

The Summer Palace is closed on Sundays and is open from 9 AM to 6 PM on the rest of the days. It is at a walkable distance from City market (K.R. market) in Bangalore. The entry fee is only Rs. 5. Adjacent to Tipu’s palace there is Venkataramana temple.

Bangalore fort (near Victoria Hospital) is not open for visitors.

The buildings, gardens and toilets are maintained well and especially the outside garden is maintained better than the building. Whoever is in charge of the maintenance of palace is worthy of appreciation.

P.S: What I have written here is from what I read and saw. So the versions one hears from tour guides should be more interesting.

For more readings, click on to the links:
1. More about Tipu Sultan
2. Tipu Summer Palace (Courtesy: The Hindu)
3. “Tipuvin Kangal” article by Paavannan in Kumudam Magazine dated 13th June 2007