Bengaluru: More than 1,000 “missiles of war” belonging to the 18^th-century ruler Tipu Sultan was found in the erstwhile Mysore state. The place where they were found was an abandoned open well at Bidanooru Fort in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district, according to an official on Saturday.

“Excavation of the open well in the fort at Nagara near Shivamogga led to the unearthing of over 1,000 corroded rockets that were stored during Tipu’s time for use in wars,” state Archaeology Department Assistant Director R. Shejeshwara Nayaka told IANS from the site, 385km northwest of Bengaluru.

The discovery was based on chance with a total number of 160 rusted rockets in the vicinity in the year 2002 with their identification after five year’s of research in the year 2007 about the Tipu era made the department explore for other such ammunition that may be lying buried inside the fort.

“Digging of the dry well where its mud was smelling like gunpowder led to the discovery of the rockets and shells in a pile, each filled with potassium nitrate, charcoal, and magnesium powder used to fire or lob them using an artillery,” Mr. Nayaka noted.

A big team of 15 member team of archaeologists, laborers, and excavators took a total of three days from Wednesday to unearth the rockets lying under the ground along with gunpowder and cast in rustic iron.

“The war rockets are in different sizes, measuring 23-26 cm or 12-14 inches. They were found buried in a secure place in the well-shaped place beneath the surface,” Mr. Nayaka pointed out.

The newly-found rockets will be kept for the public to see at the department’s museum in Shivamogga city in the Malnad region of Karnataka.

“The iron-cased rockets clearly show Tipu’s technology was used in making them. Some of them could even belong to Keladi Dynasty and the Wodeyar rulers of the Mysore kingdom after Tipu’s reign,” added Mr. Nayaka.

As per the historical records available with the department, the Malnad region which includes the fort area in Shivamogga was, in fact, a part of Tipu’s Mysore kingdom from 1750-99 and the rockets were used in the wars Tipu fought against the East India Company of the British Empire.

The great warrior, Tipu Sultan, was killed in the fourth Anglo-Mysore war in 1799 at Srirangapatna near Mysore after successive victories in battles against the British rulers.

Tipu was considered a pioneer in using rocket artillery to deploy the rockets to deter the advancing British forces from advancing into his territory.

Tipu took the help of the French army to develop the rockets in the wars against British.

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