born 1722, Budikote, Mysore, India
died Dec. 7, 1782, Chittoor
Muslim ruler of Mysore, in southern India.
He organized the first Indian-controlled corps of Indian soldiers armed with Western weapons, obtained a command in the Mysore army, and eventually overthrew Mysore's raja. He conquered neighbouring areas and joined a confederacy with the Niẓām ʽAlī Khān and the Marathas against the British. He fought the British for more than a decade, but at the end of his life, recognizing that he could not defeat them, he urged his son to make peace.