Work / monument · artifact

Tipu's Tiger

c. 1795 · 18th century

Tipu's Tiger is a wooden automaton made for Tipu Sultan of Mysore around 1795, showing a life-sized tiger mauling a European soldier. A small pipe organ inside imitates the growls of the tiger and the cries of its victim. Taken by the British after the fall of Srirangapatna in 1799, it became a famous trophy of empire and is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Tipu's Tiger
Image: Victoria and Albert Museum · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 profile

Kingdom of Mysore (1399-1799)Impact, Summary

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Tipu's Tiger. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tipus-tiger
MLA
“Tipu's Tiger.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tipus-tiger. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Tipu's Tiger.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tipus-tiger.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Tipu's Tiger’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tipus-tiger (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻