South India

Hyder Ali (1720-1782), the self-made military genius who rose from a minor officer to become the effective ruler of Mysore, transforming it into the most powerful state in southern India and mounting the first serious indigenous military challenge to British colonial expansion.

The Kingdom of Mysore, ruled by the Hindu Wodeyar dynasty from 1399, became the most powerful state in southern India under its Muslim rulers Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan before its defeat by the British in 1799.