"Tipu Sultan was trying to build in Mysore a strong centralized and militarized state, with ambitious territorial designs." Critically Examine.

Answer:

Tipu Sultan (r. 1782-99) inherited from Haidar Ali a formidable Mysore and pushed further towards a centralised, militarised and modernising state, though the description of his designs as merely 'ambitious territorial' understates the defensive logic of his struggle with the English East India Company.

Centralisation of the state

• He curbed the hereditary poligars and brought their lands under direct administration.
• Revenue was collected directly from cultivators, reducing intermediaries.
• He established state monopolies in sandalwood, pepper and other commodities.
• A new calendar, coinage and system of weights asserted his sovereign authority.

Militarisation and modernisation

• He modernised the army on European lines with infantry drill and discipline.
• Mysorean rockets, used at Pollilur and Seringapatam, impressed and alarmed the British.
• He built a navy board and sought French, Ottoman and Afghan alliances.
• State-sponsored workshops produced arms, and he encouraged sericulture and industry.

A critical view

• His expansion against Travancore, the Marathas and the Nizam gave the charge some substance.
• Yet much of his warfare was defensive against a steadily encroaching Company.
• His severity in Coorg and Malabar earned lasting hostility and eased his isolation.
• Colonial historiography painted him a fanatic; recent work stresses his modernising statecraft.

The statement is thus broadly accurate in describing Tipu's centralising and militarising drive, but incomplete as an account of his motives. As modern historians emphasise, he was among the most innovative Indian rulers of his age, and his state-building is better read as a determined, if ultimately unsuccessful, response to the advance of British power.