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Journalism of Courage
Thanks to the ‘king of good times’ Vijay Mallya, the sword of Tipu Sultan is back in India after 205 years. The liquor baron announced at a press conference here that he was the ‘‘mysterious’’ buyer of the sword six months ago at an auction in London.
Unveiling the treasured sword on Wednesday, Mallya said that he bought Tipu’s sword at a stupendous cost of around Rs 1.5 crore during the auction. ‘‘My aim was to restore the pride of Karnataka and bring back the sword where it rightfully belonged,’’ he said adding that it was the symbol of the bravery of the people of Karnataka people.
The sword used by Tipu was taken away by the British after his heroic death on the battleground near Srirangapattana on May 4, 1799. It was later presented to the British Army Major, General Baird, as a token of high opinion of his courage.
Since then, the sword has been a personal collection of the Baird’s. It was only in September, that the family decided to auction this historically significant sword whose total length is around 42 inches. The sword has a calligraphic hilt with a broad, straight, wide single-edged blade and a velvet covered silver gilt mounted scabbard. The sword will be displayed for a week at Srirangapattana during the Tipu anniversary, Mallya said.
Asked whether he unveiled the sword with an eye on elections, Mallya replied in the negative. ‘‘It was in London all these days and brought to India only a couple of weeks ago.’’
