Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Green Tiger of Mysore

The Lalbagh gardens in Bangalore was started by Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali, who ruled Mysore 250 years ago. It is now one of the best botanical gardens in India, housing a large number of rare native and exotic plants.
A warrior par excellence, Tipu Sultan was a nightmare to the expansionist British East India Company. He was nicknamed 'the Tiger of Mysore'. His legendary sword has a solid gold hilt, and a wootz steel blade which could bend extraordinarily. The blade had tiger stripes built into the matrix of the material.
Tipu Sultan imposed a novel punishment upon petty criminals- they had to plant and look after trees till they grew to a stipulated height. His 230 year old palace in Bangalore is situated on a tree lined street.
He introduced many varieties of fruits and vegetables brought from foreign lands, and encouraged farmers to grow them. The tradition continues, and we enjoy fresh veggies every day now.
You can read more about Tipu Sultan in an interesting article by S.Tahsin Ahmed here.
I thank the team of My world.

23 comments:

  1. I have read about Tipu Sultan and find him a most interesting man!
    Love the shot of the vegetables in the giant baskets!

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  2. SO many information on Tipu Sultan!
    The vegetable basket is so full!

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  3. Marvelous, informative post for the day and your photos are superb! I do love the vegetables! Have a great day!

    Sylvia

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  4. I really enjoyed this interesting post about something I've never heard of before. Fabulous photos, especially of the very colourful produce.

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  5. I particularly like this part of the story "Tipu Sultan imposed a novel punishment upon petty criminals- they had to plant and look after trees till they grew to a stipulated height. His 230 year old palace in Bangalore is situated on a tree lined street."

    I wish we had that kind of punishment now. The world would be greener.

    Thanks for visiting and commenting on MY WORLD post.

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  6. a beautiful post and nice photos. i love fruits and vegetables. i could almost smell them from here.

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  7. Great post! You have so much fruits we never see here in north.

    Thanks for caring about my country.
    Happy week to you!

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  8. Interesting story of the garden and Tipu Sultan. And those photos are wonderful. I miss some of those veggies.

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  9. Well told. I enjoyed this fascinating lesson in history, especially learning of Tipu Sultan, a fascinating person. Great photos! Thank you!

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  10. What a wonderful place!

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  11. He left a beautiful legacy in that garden!

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  12. what a visionary! this is a very interesting post. will read more about Tipu Sultan.

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  13. Great post - love botanical gardens like this.

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  14. Great post and info. I love the flowers and the veggies are look beautiful.

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  15. What a novel punishment! Great idea.

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  16. WOW the veggies look scrumptious, and I am looking to get some seeds for those same aubergines. Lovely just lovely!

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  17. very nicely written. love the shot of the vegetables!

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  18. This was a most delightful post on the history of the Lalbagh Gardens and Tipu Sultan. How nice that this warrior brought so many valued vegetables and plants to India!

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  19. So luck to come across your excellent blog. Your blog brings me a great deal of fun.. Good luck with the site.

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