Colonel Bailey's Dungeon in

Srirangapatna Srirangapatna or Srirangapattana is a town and headquarters of one of the seven Taluks of Mandya district, in the Indian State of Karnataka. It gets its name from the Ranganthaswamy temple consecrated around 984 CE. Later, under the Britis ...

was the place where

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...

, ruler of

Mysore Kingdom The Kingdom of Mysore was a geopolitical realm in South India, southern India founded in around 1399 in the vicinity of the modern-day city of Mysore and prevailed until 1950. The territorial boundaries and the form of government transmuted su ...

used to imprison all the British officers who were captured during the Anglo–Mysore Wars fought by him and earlier by his father

Hyder Ali Hyder Ali (''Haidar'alī''; ; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's ...

. Colonel Bailey, also spelled Baillie, fell into Tipu's hands in the

Second Anglo-Mysore War The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company from 1780 to 1784. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the conflict between Britain against the French and Dutch in t ...

at the

Battle of Pollilur The Battle of Pollilur (a.k.a. Pullalur), also known as the Battle of Polilore or Battle of Perambakam, took place on 10 September 1780 at Pollilur near Conjeevaram, the city of Kanchipuram in present-day Tamil Nadu state, India, as part of t ...

(1780), and spent several months in the dungeons of Srirangapatna. It is near the burial memorial of Tipu Sultan and is surrounded by gardens on all four sides. Colonel William Bailey (Baillie) was the only British officer who died in that place in 1782 as he could not sustain the inhuman conditions, and so the dungeon was later named after him. In this context it is said that prisoners were tied to fixtures in the stone slab of the dungeon and were immersed in water up to their necks.

Location

Colonel Bailey's Dungeon, also spelled Baillie's Dungeon, is in the northern part of the rocky island of Srirangapatna ( long and wide), on the

Cauvery River The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery) is a major river flowing across Southern India. It is the third largest river in the region after Godavari and Krishna. The catchment area of the Kaveri basin is estimated to be and encompasses the states o ...

, from Mysore city. It is an underground prison built in the 18th century during the reign of Tipu Sultan, the then ruler of Mysore Kingdom. It is a white-walled dungeon used to hold prisoners of war including the British officers and soldiers. It is in the Northern and North-eastern part of the fort wall that surrounded the capital city of Srirangapatna of the Mysore Kingdom, and is to the Northern side of the Srirangapattana temple. It is next to an oblong bastion which had heavy battery in the past, which is called Sultan Bateri. Below the bastion is the dungeon, obscured from any passers' view.

History

The town of Srirangapatna, of historical significance, served as the capital of the

Wadiyar dynasty The Wadiyar dynasty,() also referred to as the Wadiyars of Mysore (also spelt Wodeyer, Odeyer, and Wadeyar), is a Medieval India, late-medieval India, Indian royal family of former Maharaja of Mysore, maharajas of Mysore from the Urs (surname) ...

, as well as their supplanters Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan who ruled from 1762 to 1782 and 1782 to 1799 respectively. The capital city was surrounded by the ramparts of

Srirangapatna Fort Tipu Sultan's Fort is a historical fort located in Srirangapatna, the historical capital city of the Kingdom of Mysore in present-day South Indian state of Karnataka. Built by the Timmanna Nayaka in 1454, the fort was modified by King Haider A ...

built in an irregular zone at the western tip of the island, and measures about . The polygonal bastions and turreted parapets surrounded by broad moats were the work of French engineers in the service of Tipu Sultan. The vaulted dungeons built by the Sultans, Colonel Bailey's Dungeon, Inman Dungeon and Sultan bateri on the northern part of the island were primarily meant to imprison the army personnel of the British army who fought against Hydder Ali and Tipu in the Mysore wars. Between 1761 and 1799 CE, Srirangapatna was the centre of South Indian political activity. Four Wars were fought by the Sultans against the

British forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping ef ...

of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

, first two by Hyder Ali and the last two by Tipu Sultan. The Second Anglo- Mysore War (1780 to 1784), also known as the

, was fought on 10 September 1780 when Tipu Sultan participated with his father. Earlier to this, Tipu had in fact fought for his father, between 1774 and 1778 and 1780 to 1784, and helped in regaining all the territory from the

Marathas The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

which he had lost during previous wars. The Sultan's army consisted of 10,000 soldiers and several guns. The opposing

British army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

was led by Col. Bailey. Unfortunately for the British, they lost the battle and Colonel Bailey and some other soldiers were taken

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

, and taken to Srirngapatna to be incarcerated in the specially built dungeons there. Initially, Colonel Bailey along with some officers were confined to a

choultry Choultry is a resting place, an inn or caravansary for travelers, pilgrims or visitors to a site, typically linked to Buddhist, Jain and Hindu temples. They are also referred to as . British officers taken prisoners in subsequent battles fought by Tipu, such as Captains Baird and Rulay, Colonel Braithwhite, Sampson, Frazer and Lindsay were also incarcerated in this dungeon.

Features of the dungeon

This unique underground dungeon is built, below the Sultan Bateri of the fort, with brick and lime mortar masonry and is architecturally eye catching as it has a series of symmetric arches which lights up the chamber. The particular aspect of the arches is that it appears like a

masjid A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were simple p ...

's tomb, bulbous in shape on the side and amalgamating with the ceiling, thus facilitating prisoners to stand to their full height. The dungeon measures x and abuts the fort wall, and has a raised platform on which stone slabs of shoulder height with holes fixed with hooks and chain devices are fitted to tie down the prisoners. It is approached from the ground level through a few steps. Even though the roof of the dungeon was strong, in the last battle fought by Tipu Sultan in 1799 when Srirangapatna was bombarded by the British forces a large canon had pierced the roof creating a large hole can be seen even today and the canon is also on display. In the context of treatment of prisoners in this dungeon, it is said that prisoners were tied to fixtures in the stone slab of the dungeon and were immersed in water up to their necks. Col. Bailey died in this dungeon on 13 November 1782 following a prolonged sickness, and the dungeon was thereafter named after him. Much later to Colonel Bailey's death, a monument with an inscription was erected in 1816 in the near by Lalbagh in his memory by his nephew Lieut. Col. John Bailey, the then Resident at the court of Lucknow.

Access

Colonel Bailey's Dungeon is well connected by road, rail and air. It is on the National Highway between

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

and Mysore - from Mysore and from Bengaluru.

References

{{Reflist Cities and towns in Mandya district Kingdom of Mysore Hindu holy cities Former capital cities in India Landforms of Karnataka Islands of Karnataka Tourist attractions in Mandya district River islands of India Geography of Mandya district