BENGALURU: The world knows that iron-cased rockets were pioneered in Mysore under Tipu Sultan, which the British, after having suffered heavy casualties due to these rockets during their wars with the ‘Tiger of Mysore’, reverse engineered to develop their Congreve rockets that they used to deadly effect in their wars against Napoleon’s France. But does the government know, or understand the significance?
The state is doing little to preserve Tipu’s rocket launch site, just 120 kilometres from Bengaluru. The site in Srirangapatna is in a shambles. Not only have some concrete structures come up, covering all four sides of the rocket launch site, but the very spot from where Tipu's soldiers launched the rockets has become a playground. Worse, a section of it has become a dump yard for the locals.
“During British rule, rockets from here were sent to London ahead of World War II. The British improved on the technology and made their own rockets,” says 85-year-old historian and scholar, Prof Karimuddin.
Prof Karimuddin believes there may have been, in fact, many rocket launch sites between the first and second entrances to the Srirangapatna fort. “Tipu made sure that no houses or other buildings came up between Srirangapatna fort and Ganjam Pete, a distance of 1.5 miles, to keep people safe from the rockets being fired, but now concrete structures have come up all along this path,” he said.
