Hundred Great Muslims

418 Hundred Great Muslims
true patriot, and a true Muslim who practised what he preached. He was a farsighted
ruler who foresaw the danger which loomed on the Indian horizon and
staked his all to remove it.
Tipu Sultan was an outstanding administrator and a great reformer,
endowed with great vision and calibre. Despite his troubled life, he introduced
great reforms in almost all departments of the State Administration which
brought unprecedented peace and prosperity to his people. He highly developed
agriculture and industry in his dominion and initiated progressive agricultural
reforms beneficial to the peasantry. Mill, the celebrated English historian,
considers his territories to be "the best and its population the most flourishing in
India" and Tipu Sultan, a ruler who "sustains an advantageous comparison with
the greatest princes of the East" (History of India, London 1848). He kept a
watch over his people and received reports about the economic condition
through the ''Amils " who were instructed to make annual tours of their districts
for this purpose. The "patels" could not subject the poor cultivators to do
forced labour.
The Sultan took effective steps towards the promotion of trade and
industry in his country. He established several factories and built an Armada to
protect his marine commerce from pirates. This led to the development of
international trade with several countries, specially of the East. He set up trading
agencies in several coastal towns and established large factories for manufacturing
watches, ammunition, cutlery and paper. Cottage industries also thrived. His
State was surplus in foodgrains, sugar, glassware, paper, silk and cotton cloth.
Buchanan who visited his State acknowledges that "Tipu was born with a
commercial mind".
He set up his military machine on a sound footing and divided the army
administration into eleven different departments. He adopted modern weapons
of war and divided his dominion into 22 military districts. His reforms, both in
civil and military spheres, were far in advance of those of his predecessors and
contemporaries. He was a well-wisher of his people and considered them as a
"unique trust held for God, the real Master". (Quoted from Records in the
National Archives of India, by Muhibbul Hassan Khan in his "History of Tipu
Sultan "]. He was generous towards his non-Muslim subjects and bequeathed to
them rich grants for the maintenance of their sacred places. He held the Swami
of Sringari Temple in high esteem and protected him when the temple was
raided by Mahrattas. In a letter to the Swami he stated: "People who have
sinned against such a holy place are sure to suffer the consequences of their
misdeeds".
Being himself a very learned man, well versed in Persian, Arabic and Urdu,
he immensely promoted learning. During his short troubled reign he popularised
education. The Imperial Library of Seringapattam was finest of its kind in the
East. He was also a writer of repute. He wrote Fateh-al-Muiahidin, an Army
Manual and Muaiyyad al Mujahidin, the Collection of his Friday Sermons.