Daria Daulat Bagh – Tippu sultan summer palace & Museum is a palace located in the city of Srirangapatna near Mandya district in the state of Karnataka. It is mostly made of teak wood. This palace is the closest place to Mysore.
Daria Daulat Bagh is about 127 km from Bangalore. It is about 27 km from Mandya city and only 16 km from Mysore city. Just 17 km from Mysore Railway Station.
Tipu Sultan’s Daria Daulat Bagh, Summer Palace & Museum in Srirangapatna is open between 8.30 AM and 5.30 PM on all days. Entry fee is Rs.20/- for Indian citizens and Rs.200/- for foreign tourists. Tickets should be purchased online only, there is no counter for ticket purchase.
It is an island in the Kaveri river. Daria Daulat Bagh in Srirangapatna will be known as the summer palace of the Maharaja of Mysore. Darya Daulat Bagh means “seaside garden of wealth”. It is situated on an island in the Kaveri River. It is located amidst beautiful gardens called Darya Daulat Bagh. Popularly known as the “Tiger of Mysore”, Tipu Sultan built this palace in 1784.
The palace was built in the Indo-Saracenic style in the mid-18th century after Tipu Sultan’s father, Hyder Ali, ruled Mysore from the Wadiyars for a while. The palace has a rectangular plan and is built on a raised platform. There are open corridors on the four sides of the stage and wooden pillars along the edge of the plinth. The western and eastern sides have walls and the other two sides have receding terraces with pillars supporting the roof, the hall is divided into four rooms at the four corners and a central hall connecting the east and west corridors.
Walls, pillars, canopies and arches all available have colorful images in the style of Mysore paintings. On the outer walls of the palace are paintings of battle scenes and portraits. The inner walls are decorated with scrolls of thin leaves and floral patterns. The wooden ceilings of the palace are painted with floral patterns. On the western wall is depicted the victory of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan over the British led by Colonel Bailey at the Battle of Pollilur near Kancheepuram in 1780. The panels on the left depict the army led by Hyder Ali and Tipu.
As the Sultan marches into battle and the right-wing Colonel Bailey is shown seated in a palanquin, the English army surrounding him is besieged by Tipu Sultan’s army. At the top right, there is a portrait of French soldiers led by Colonel Lally, observing through a telescope. The eastern wall features portraits of various contemporaries of Tipu Sultan, including the Hindu queen of Chittor, the king of Tanjore, the Raja of Benares, Balaji Rao II Peshwa, Magadi Kempegowda, Madakari Nayaka of Chitradurga, and Krishnaraja Wodeyar II.
Tipu Sultan Museum is located on the top floor of Daria Daulat Palace. It houses a collection of Tipu memorabilia, European paintings and Persian manuscripts. The museum has an oil painting by Sir Robert Kerr Porter done in 1800. This historic painting depicts the final fall of Srirangapatna on 4 May 1799. The painting shows Tipu’s soldiers putting up stiff resistance to the British army and many British officers. are clearly visible in the painting. Behind the fort walls are parts of the palace and the minarets of the mosque. Tipu’s palace, Lal Mahal lies in ruins nearby. Outside the fort is the Gumbaz containing Tipu’s tomb, his father Hyder Ali’s tomb and his mother’s tomb.