The History Of Bangalore The Maratha Invasion and the Build Up: The Second Anglo-Mysore War, Part 1
The Treaty of Madras was supposed to be Hyder Ali’s greatest diplomatic victory, turning his enemy into his guarantor. But as Ramjee Chandran reveals, the ink was barely dry before the British East India Company proved their promises were worthless. When a massive Maratha invasion led by Peshwa Madhav Rao pushed Hyder to the brink—forcing him to take refuge behind the walls of Seringapatam—the British watched from the sidelines, ignoring their treaty obligations. This episode tracks Hyder’s cold realization that the British could never be allies, leading him to forge a "Triple Alliance" of his own and assemble an army of 100,000 men on the Bangalore plateau.
Key Details from the Script:
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The Test of the Treaty (1770): Only a year after the Treaty of Madras, the Marathas launched a full-scale invasion of Mysore. Hyder invoked the mutual defense clause, but the British in Madras sent nothing but excuses.
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The Chinkuruli Defeat: Hyder suffered a rare and devastating tactical defeat at the hands of the Marathas, losing his entire artillery and being forced to flee to Seringapatam with only a small guard.
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The "Lame Excuse": The British claimed they couldn't help because they had no orders from London and feared the Marathas would attack Madras next. This betrayal became the "foundational grievance" for the next war.
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The Pivot to the French: Realizing the British were unreliable, Hyder turned to the French at Mahe for modern weaponry and technical advisors, further infuriating the Company.
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The Grand Alliance (1779): In a brilliant diplomatic reversal, Hyder persuaded his former enemies—the Nizam and the Marathas—to join him in a "Triple Alliance" to expel the British from India.
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The Machine at Bangalore: By July 1780, Hyder had turned Bangalore into a "military capital," assembling 100,000 men and a massive rocket corps before descending into the Carnatic to begin the Second Anglo-Mysore War.
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The theme music for the show was composed by German-Indian Koln based percussionist, Ramesh Shotham. Ramjee Chandran's photos by Asha Thadani.
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