Seringapatam

Seringapatam (properly Sri Ranga Patanam = 'City of Vishnu'), the capital of Mysore state in Southern India from 1610 to 1799, is built on an island in the Kaveri, 10 miles NE. of the city of Mysore. The island is three miles long and one broad; at its western end stands the fort, surrounded by strong walls of stone, and enclosing the palace of Tippoo Saib and the principal mosque. Outside it are the garden in which was built the mausoleum of Tippoo and his father, Hyder Ali, and Tippoo's summer palace. The fort was besieged by Lord Cornwallis in 1791, and again in 1792. On the last occasion the terms dictated by the British to Tippoo were very severe. A British army appeared before the walls again in 1799, and on the 3d May of that year the fort was stormed and Tippoo slain in the vicinity of his own palace. Pop. 150,000 in Tippoo's day; 32,000 in 1800; and now 10,000, most of whom live at the suburb of Ganjam, the ancient city being now in a very ruinous condition.