Erstwhile Mysore King Tipu Sultan’s Armour Auctioned for 6 Million Pounds
Tipu Sultan was probably the last independent king of the Mysore kingdom. His arms and armour has recently found its way to auction in London for 6 million pounds last month (23rd April). A lot of this artifacts were probably taken to UK during the British rule of India. However, this do not make UK the owner of this items. This items should have been returned to India, who is the rightful owner. These artifacts place is not at auctions, rather should be at a museum for public display. International law says if anyone discovers any antique item in a country, they can study them and need to return them to the country of origin after creating a replica. But we keep on hearing Indian historical items getting auctioned at Southby’s, Bonhams and such. The government of India should take strong steps to bring such items back to India and detest such auction houses to deal in such items of national history.
Tipu’s personal sword which has a tiger head and laced with precious stones was bought by liquor baron Vijay Mallya in 2004 at an auction in London and brought to India. The point I am trying to make is that this items are our heritage and should stay in the country. The government of India should talk to the country concerned. People at large also can raise this via social media.
Take a look at the pictures of some of the items: click here.