Lal Bagh from Charles Gold's Oriental Drawings

Shortly before Tipu’s defeat British soldiers occupied the Lal Bagh Garden, the site of his father's mausoleum. They made firewood of the ornamental Cypress trees that had surrounded the tomb; exercised their horses on the manicured lawns; used the buildings and monuments for target practice; used areas set aside for meditation as latrines; and buried their dead in the flower-beds. This desecration and destruction was within sight of the Royal Palace where Tipu's family were imprisoned before being transported to Vellore.