Tea at Trianon: The Mysorean Ruler Who Battled Britain

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, August 21, 2025

The Mysorean Ruler Who Battled Britain

From New Straits Times:

CELEBRITY status doesn't usually last long for world leaders. As long ago as the eighteenth18th century, those few names that were known across the planet endured a little longer. Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan have sunk into obscurity, as has their kingdom.

Mysore only exists as a part of southern-Indian history these days. Karnataka is the modern incarnation and this includes locations which have become more celebrated in recent years for reasons that might have pleased Tipu Sultan.

Everyone in Malaysia with an interest in tech will be familiar with Bangalore (or Bengaluru as it is known in India). This is Asia's Silicon Valley and is apparently growing faster than the sluggish old mothership in California.

Malaysia's connections with southern India have been strong for more than 2,000 years. Now they are even stronger, thanks to the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia's (IAMM) latest exhibition. More than a Day as a Tiger: Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore (1761-99) opened recently and should spark some interest in a kingdom that didn't last long, but almost beat the British as they advanced unstoppably across India 250 years ago. (Read more.)