Mysorean rockets: ahead of their time
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in the American state of Virginia, houses a painting depicting a battle scene from one of the Anglo-Mysore Wars. The painting also features Tipu Sultan, the 18th century ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore and his indigenously developed rockets.
Former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam happened upon the painting during one of his visits to the NASA centre. Intrigued by its presence at a key NASA base, he recorded this intriguing find in his autobiography, ‘Wings of Fire’. Developed in the 18th century, Tipu Sultan's Mysorean rockets were one of a kind. Due to their advanced technology, like iron casings and stabilizing tail fins, they were more accurate and yielded a better range than their European counterparts.
Owing to the advanced military technology of the Mysorean rockets, the British stood no chance. After Tipu Sultan’s defeat in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, the British made it a point to confiscate the Mysorean rockets used against them. They were soon sent to London and used as a blueprint in the development of rocket technology in England and all of Europe. Mysorean rockets directly inspired the development of the Congreve rockets, later used by the British in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
A tribute to Tipu
As he states in his autobiography, Dr Kalam was deeply moved by the presence of the painting so far away from his home country. To him, it symbolized a powerful arc of history, depicting how indigenous innovation, once defeated and plundered, eventually found its way back as inspiration for global scientific progress.
The portrait at NASA isn’t just an artistic tribute, but also a quiet acknowledgment of Tipu Sultan’s pioneering role in early rocket warfare development. In many ways, it served as a reminder of how global science is built upon shared, and sometimes forgotten, legacies. The presence of this painting in one of the world’s leading space research centres, yet its absence from our own collective historical consciousness, is striking.
It is a sombre reminder that symbols of innovation often find recognition abroad before they are honoured at home.
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