The told & untold history of Mysuru Kingdom

Research and author: Ameen Ahmed Background The names of Mysore rulers Haidar Ali and his son Tipu Sultan often crop up when someone speaks of India's freedom movement. While there are some who say he was India's earliest freedom fighter, others argue he fought only to safeguard his own kingdom (1). There is an argument that the concept and dream of an independent India was never conceived until the 1857. That was the year when many Indians took up arms, particularly in the north, against East India Company. The British saw it as a mutiny of some disaffected soldiers. But many natives across the sub-continent call it the First War of Independence. They point to the fact that many Indians cut across the barriers of religion, and regions, and dreamed of a free India.  But was that the first time someone dreamed of an India free of British?  Let us look at some sources.  Mysorean Army in action against the British East India Company troops at Cuddalore, south-eastern India.  By Ri