Paintings, objects from Tipu Sultan's reign on display in Doha

A collection of 24 paintings depicting the famous battle of Pollilur in 1780 in which the 'Tiger of Mysore' Tipu Sultan, fighting alongside his father, crushed the British East India Company forces is on display in a special exhibition at a museum here.
The exhibition 'The Tiger's Dream: Tipu Sultan' at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) explores the life and times of Tipu Sultan, the Muslim ruler of Mysore, through objects and paintings produced under his rule which lasted from 1782 to 1799.
Drawn entirely from the MIA collection, the centrepiece of the exhibition is a group of 24 paintings showing Tipu and his father's victory over the British army at the Battle of Pollilur in 1780.

The battle of Pollilur, fought in September 1780 between the British East India Company and the forces of Tipu Sultan and his father Haydar Ali, has been described as 'the severest blow that the British ever sustained in India', the museum said.
The paintings appear to be a preparatory attempt for a palatial mural. In their original state, they formed one continuous roll of rice paper, approximately 2m high and 9m wide. It has since been cut into 24 separate pieces.
The painting has been digitally re-stitched for the exhibition, allowing it to be seen again as a single artwork.

The actual wall painting in the Darya Daulat Bagh, Tipu's palace in Srirangapatna, survives to this day, although it has been heavily restored.

Alongside the paintings on display is a selection of objects which reflect Tipu's image as the 'Tiger of Mysore', the museum said on its website.
Among them is a 481-kg cannon which features snarling tiger heads at the muzzle, on the sides and back of the gun barrel.
An inscription within a pair of tiger stripes on the barrel calls on the 'truimphant lion of God', a phrase found regularly in calligraphic designs of this period.
The inscription reveals the 254-cm-long cannon was manufactured in Srirangapatna, Tipu's capital, and dates back to 1790.

The presence of the heart-shaped 'Haydar' talisman shows that the cannon was cast at the sultan's foundry.