EXCAVATIONS ON TIPU SULTAN’S UNFINISHED FORT

• The wall and laterite chamber unearthed from Mysore king Tipu Sultan’s fort at Feroke near Kozhikode in Kerala. K. Ragesh
• Less-known facts are now emerging about a well-planned fort that was designed to be part of Farokhabad, the capital of Malabar at Feroke near Kozhikode, as envisioned by the Mysore king Tipu Sultan.
• These are coming to light in the course of the excavations by the Kerala State Archaeological Department in the area.
• Historical documents such as William Logan’s Malabar Manual, the Joint Commissioner’s ‘Report on Malabar’, and Mohibbul Hassan’s
• A History of Tipu Sultan say that Tipu planned to build the fort on the south bank of the Chaliyarriver between 1786 and 1790.
• But its construction could not be completed. A report by the department says that this was the only fort in Kerala built entirely by Tipu.
• The main structures found inside the fort earlier were a bungalow built by the Basel Mission, a laterite chamber, a helical step-well and a rock-cut cave of the early Iron Age.
• Through systematic exploration, we have now uncovered bastions, ramparts, moats, arsenal remains, and ditch wells.
• The fort was situated on a strategic location on a hillock with the Arabian Sea on one side and the Chaliyarriver on the other to keep an eye on military movements from both sides.
• The defence wall on the western side was built on a laterite foundation.
• The bastions are a two-tier structure similar to the one at Tipu’s fort in Palakkad.
• The excavations have also led to the discovery of copper coins and coin pellet moulds, hinting at a possibility of minting on the premises, probably in the laterite chamber.
• Musket balls and gun flints are among the other relics excavated from the area. Shards of ceramic collections and Staffordshire pottery too have been found.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT