Tipu Sultan, one of the most talented, valiant and enlightened monarchs that India has produced, was destined to struggle against heavy odds at a time when the British power had, to a great extent, established its supremacy over the major pat of the subcontinent and had successfully conspired with the Marhattas and the Nizam to overcome the only formidable hurdle in the south--- the Muslim state of Mysore. Tipu Sultan put up a gallant fight against much superior forces. But, for the treachery of his own men, the history of the subcontinent would have been different from what it has been during the last 150 years.