"All the rockets in the world today can be traced to those used during the wars in Mysore," says aerospace scientist Professor Roddam Narasimha, DST year-of-science professor, engineering mechanics unit of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, who has been pursuing Tipu"s rockets as "an interesting sideline" for decades. "There is one single line of technology development that links those rockets to what the US, Russia and India are doing today ," he says. "It was Tipu who realized the full potential of rockets as weapons--both in his mind and on the field--and used them to create havoc in the East Indian Company lines."
The Chinese used rockets in warfare from the 13th century to repulse Mongol invaders, Europeans experimented with them in the 15th century and the Mughals shot them on the battlefield, but rockets were rapidly discarded as cannons and other forms of artillery with greater accuracy were developed."Most of these rockets were made of cardboard and other materials and they were not very different from our Deepavali crackers, lots of smoke and noise," says Prof Narasimha.
Tipu"s new, improved rockets caused as much fear and confusion as damage in the British infantry ranks against which the Mysore army was arrayed.In 1780, at the Battle of Pollilur during the Second Anglo Mysore War, Tipu-under the rule of his father Hyder Ali-launched his supercharged weapons at the East India Company army led by William Baillie. The barrage of rockets set fire to the Company"s ammunition dumps and the British suffered one of their worst ever defeats in India. At its height, Tipu"s rocket corps had more than 5,000 men.
"Tipu had a fairly advanced technological set up, not the same as western science but very advanced for its time," says Dr Narendar Pani, professor, School of Social Science, National Institute of Advanced Studies. "The metal tubes and provision of direction drew the line between fireworks and rocketry." The superior quality iron available in Mysore was an added advantage and Tipu set up Taramandalpets (which translate as star-cluster bazaars) to do his research. "Tipu had four, what we would now call, tech parks--Srirangapatna, Bangalore, Chitradurga and Bidanur (present-day Nagara in central Karnataka) for rocket research," says Prof Narasimha.
Tipu"s manufacturers were largely craftsmen who were pushed to do the best they could and improve their casting and firing through experimentation. His rocketmen were taught to make basic calculations for launch-they knew how to vary elevation depending on the size and weight of the rocket and the distance of the object to be struck. "Tipu was an interesting character. He promoted art and craft, including those that would help him in warfare," says Prof Narasimha.
Tipu"s rocketeers launched about a dozen missiles at a time using wheeled carts with three or more rocket ramps.One of these barrages ended up scaring Arthur Wellesley silly in 1799--long before Wellesley became the hero of Waterloo and the Duke of Wellington--during the fourth and final Anglo-Mysore wars. Wellesley was sent out to reconnoiter a grove in Sultanpet in Srirangapatna and found himself under attack."He"d never encountered rocket fire before and he ran away . He should have been court martialed but he got away because his brother was the Governor General in Calcutta at the time," says Narasimha. "Wellesleys" biographer says the event changed him, he determined never to show fear again. He came to be known as the man who could not be rattled by anything. So you see, Mysore influenced Waterloo and the Iron Duke was forged in Sultanpet," he says.
Only two specimens remain of the Mysore rocket, both in the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich, and the details left are what the British recorded during their tests. "There was no proper documentation of our capability ," says Dr W Selvamurthy, former chief controller of R&D at DRDO, and currently president of Amity Science Technology and Innovation Foundation. "That"s one reason why we fell behind. The other is that this was the time of the Industrial Revolution, and Europe made great strides. We, under British rule, were left behind."
a lie.
