Page:Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan.djvu/216

212 correspondence was registered with great regularity and precision, judging from the records found at Seringapatam.

One of Tipú's flights of fancy was the issue of a new coinage bearing on the obverse 'the faith of Ahmad (Muhammad) is proclaimed to the world by the victories of Haidar – struck in Patan (Seringapatam) in the year Jalú or 1199 Hijri:' and on the reverse 'He (either God or Tipú?) is the only Sultán, the just one – the third of Bahári in the year Jalú, and third of the reign.' He had the audacity to send an offering of these coins, in which, contrary to received usage, the name of the Emperor was studiously omitted, to Sháh Álam. When he found that the Great Mughal took offence at the inscription, he pretended that he had merely sent the coins in order to ascertain His Majesty's pleasure about them, and offered an apology for the affront.

As he claimed an intimate acquaintance with all military matters, he compiled a code called 'The Triumphs of Holy Warriors,' a work in eighteen chapters. Minute instructions are given in it for guidance regarding manual exercises, the duties of all grades of officers, night attacks, fighting in a wooded country or on plains, salutes on special occasions, military guards, furlough, desertions, and so forth. According to an ordinance (Hukmnámah) issued by the Sultán in 1793, the 'Piádah Askar,' or regular infantry, then comprised five Kachahris or