Found: A Cache of 18th-Century Rockets in India

Author: Sarah Laskow / Source: Atlas Obscura

Here’s how Tipu Sultan, the ruler of the Indian Kingdom of Mysore at the end of the 18th century, felt about the British. He commissioned an automaton, more than two feet high and about five-and-a-half feet long, of a tiger—his emblem—that had pounced on a European man.

would move the man’s arm up and down over his open mouth, as he emitted a mournful high-pitched note, which was followed by the deeper, resonant “growl” of the tiger.

As a military leader, Tipu’s prowess backed up the growl of his automaton. He’s considered one of the fiercest opponents of British colonialism in India, and he had a frightening weapon on his side—iron-cased rockets, the first of their kind to be successfully used in battle. Recently, at the site of a fort in the Shimoga district of India’s Karnataka state, archaeologists dug up more than 1,000 Mysorean rockets hidden in the 18th century for later use.

When Tipu Sultan took power after his father’s death in 1782, Mysore had already been battling with the British East India Company for years. Tipu’s father had made sure his…

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