Hyder Ali

Hyder Ali (Haidar Áli), ruler of Mysore, and one of the greatest Mohammedan princes of India, was born in 1728. His grandfather was a wandering fakir; his father a constable of a district in Mysore. Hyder spent his youth in idleness, though occasionally doing military service; but in 1749 his bravery at a siege attracted the notice of the maharajah of Mysore's minister. He soon became in all but name ruler of the kingdom; and in 1759 he dispossessed his master, allowing him to retain his title, while he himself took that of daiva, or regent. He then conquered Calicut, Bednor, Kananur, and other neighbouring states; and in 1766 his dominions included more than 84,000 sq. m. He withheld the customary tribute from the Mahrattas (q.v.), and carried on an ultimately successful war against them. He waged two wars against the British, in the first of which (1767-69) he was practically successful, and signed a treaty under the walls of Madras, which provided for a kind of alliance. When Hyder was defeated by the Mahrattas in 1772 he claimed English support; and on the refusal of the Madras government to fulfil what he believed to be the treaty obligations, he became the bitter enemy of the English. Taking advantage of the war between the English and French (1778), he and his son and successor, Tippoo Saib, descended like a thunderbolt into the Carnatic, totally routed two English commanders, and ravaged the country to within forty miles of Madras; but he was ultimately defeated in three battles by Sir Eyre Coote. He died suddenly, still in alliance with the French, in December 1782. See L. B. Bowring, Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan (1893).