The last time he bought a sword belonging to Tipu Sultan, the warrior king of Mysore, at a London auction, it turned out to be a painful experience. The customs officials sent liquor baron and Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya a notice asking him how he had brought the item to India without proper papers.

This time around, with the largest-ever collection of Tipu Sultan memorabilia on offer at Sotheby's in London, Mallya was well-prepared. Once bitten but certainly not twice shy, the flamboyant tycoon snapped up a number of the rare items that went under the hammer. The list of items on offer included exquisitely carved quivers, field cannons, a gem-encrusted trophy sword and flintlock pistols, which sold for over £1.2 million (Rs 9.5 crore). Mallya, who is known to have a keen interest in Tipu's items, spent nearly £1 million to buy back the looted treasures and was in London specifically for the auction. "There were quite a few similar type of items and I am happy that I was able to pick out some of the best. They are all prized possessions and I can't single out any one as the highlight," he said, adding, "I am very happy and proud as an Indian to have acquired these items for India." The chairman of the UB Group also disclosed his plans to set up a museum dedicated to Tipu Sultan in Bangalore provided the Government helped him import some of the rare treasures of the great warrior.

PICTURE SPEAK
PRIZE CATCH: (Clockwise from top) Tipu's sword; silver-mounted flintlock pistol; cannon with tiger motif; bronze cannon on carriage; and trophy sword

Among the rare articles he bought at the auction included a silver-mounted flintlock sporting gun from the personal armoury of the "Tiger of Mysore" on which he spent £120,000. Other major items were a rare three-pounder bronze cannon on its presentation carriage from Tipu's palace (£72,000) and a three-pounder bronze cannon (£66,000). "Indians should be proud of their history and the government should have thought of acquiring these items long ago. I want everything in writing from the Government before I take these back to India," Mallya warned before leaving for the US.

Sotheby's, which saw great interest from bidders, said that the Tipu Sultan Collection was originally formed over a period of 30 years by Robin Wigington, author and a leading authority on Tipu firearms. According to the auction house, "It is the most important collection of its kind ever to come to the market and the single-owner sale includes an outstanding group of weaponry and other rarities captured after the British stormed Tipu Sultan's palace at Seringapatam in May 1799."

In all, the Tipu Sultan objects fetched a total of £1,239,240, including a buyer's premium of between 12 per cent and 20 per cent depending on whether an object costs more or less than £100,000, said a spokesperson for the auction house.

PICTURE SPEAK
DAZZLING APPEAL: (left) A silver-mounted flintlock sporting gun (price �120,000) from Tipu's personal armoury; a rare sword with bubri-patterned watered blade (�50,400) from the palace armoury

Tipu Sultan's treasures have a great historic value. The "Tiger of Mysore" (1782-99) is one of the greatest heroes of Indian history and was described by Mahatma Gandhi as "an embodiment of Hindu-Muslim unity". Tipu led a heroic and ultimately doomed struggle against the British and met a glorious death. After the siege his palace was ransacked by the British, and much of the booty captured by General Baird and Colonel Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington) was presented to "Mad King George", George III, and ended up in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. Many individual pieces, however, were distributed among the British officers who led the campaign, and were passed down through generations. They were subsequently acquired for the Tipu Sultan Collection.

As the collection showed, Tipu was obsessed with tigers and adopted the tiger motif as his emblem of state, which was stamped on every item in court, including guns and the hilts of swords. According to historians and curators, what makes the Tipu Sultan Collection unique and valuable is the identifiable tiger motif. As Sotheby's describes, "The tiger that is seen on all pieces of Tipu's collection has an iconic quality."

The weaponry group is highlighted by Tipu Sultan's silver-mounted flintlock sporting gun bought by Mallya. Its stock is carved in the form of a leaping tiger. The tiger detailing extends along the barrel of the gun. Even the two field cannons from Tipu's palace, also bought by Mallya, have their barrels designed in the form of roaring tigers.

Mallya's effort to honour Tipu by purchasing his memorabilia after two centuries is admirable. But it will take a while before those valuable objects come to India. He is reportedly keeping the collection at a San Francisco museum awaiting official nod to bring them back to India without any hurdles. These are historically important treasures and hopefully his £1 million investment should at least ensure that he gets to see his possessions displayed at an Indian museum.

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