The Treaty of Mangalore carried the seeds of strife with the Marathas, because they were
disappointed in their expectation of acting as the mediators and of recovering their
losses in the North of Mysore. Tipu had emerged with enhanced prestige
whom even the mighty English could not humble. This excited the jealousy of both the
Martha's and the Nizam who fought a war with him for two years from 1785 to 1787. The
Nizam was also not friendly towards Mysore ever since he had come to power in 1761. He
regarded himself as the overlord of the entire south, and expected Haidar and Tipu to be
his tributaries. As he was military imbecile he allied himself either with the Marathas or
the English to distress the Mysore rulers. There was always a pro-British party at
Hyderabad which dissuaded the Nizam from begin cordial to Tipu. In the war that followed
Tipu had the upper hand despite the alliance of his two neighbors. The
war came to an end in April 1787 by the Treaty of Gajendragadh by which he ceded Badami to
the Marathas hoping to win their support against the English or at least to prevent them
from joining the English.
Tipu was disappointed in his expectations. Far from joining him to remove the English from
India, both of them, the Marathas and the Nizam joined the English in a powerful
confederacy against Tipu in the Third Mysore war.
The allies struggled hard for nearly two years
from 1790 to 1792.
Lord Cornwallis who had surrendered to the Americans at Saratoga in the new world assumed
the command, and with great difficulty he was successful in a surprise night attack to
enter into the island of Srirangapatna on 6th Feb. 1792. Tipu was made
to make peace by surrendering half of his kingdom, and paying three crores has indemnity,
apart from sending two of his sons as hostages to Madras. This was a serious blow to Tipu.
Marquess Cornwallis receiving the sons of Tipu Sultan as
Hostages