Ti[pu Sultan

There is serious effort by earlier Congress Govt and now  JD/Congress govt in Karnataka to persist with the idea to make Tipu Sultan as Kannada icon. What the history books have taught us that he was a courageous fighter who rallied against Britisher in defence of national interest. Or was he a religious fanatic who massacred innocent Hindus and Christians by thousands and indulged in widespread forced conversions. Or is he the hapless victim of modern day smear campaign started by right wing, as some claim. so can he be given status of State’s Icon.

These are million dollar questions and they need to be addressed  before he is bestowed with this title.

Now historians have found evidence, and by which Tipu Sultan stands condemned of religious bigotry, by the evidence of his own words and not by the accusation of his antagonists. Listed below are excerpts from Ti[pu’s correspondence, reviewed by noted historian KM Panicker in Bisha Posini magazine in Aug 1923( Tipu Sultan: villain or Hero edited by Sita Ram Goel)

1. Letter dated March 22, 1788 to Abdul Kadir  ” Over 12,000 Hindus were honoured with Islam. There were many Namboodri Brahmins among them. This achievement should be widely publicised among the Hindus.Then the local Hindus should be brought before you and converted to Islam> No Namboodri Brahmin to be spared.”
2. Letter dated Dec 14, 1788 to his Army Chief in Calicut ” I am sending two of my followers with Hussain Ali. With their assistance, you should capture and kill all Hindus. Those below 20 may be kept in prison and 5000 from the rest should be killed from tree tops. These are my orders.”
3. Letter dated Jan 18, 1790, to Syed Abdul Ali “– almost all Hindus in Calicut are converted to Islam. I consider this as Jihad.

These excerpts indicate a brutal ruler and which is unpardonable. More over the fact that these excerpts were published in 1923, when there was no raging controversy on the role of Tipu Sultan and hence no dubious motive for their publication, makes these statements all the more realistic.

Coorg, district in karnataka, who has opposed in recent times about Tipu being made state icon, was the area which bore the brunt of Tipu’s religious killings.

In 1980, IM Muthanna in his book: Tipu sultan X Rayed (Usha Press Mysore) wrote ” His raid was not that of an Emperor intent on expanding his empire. it was cultural and religious invasion. He followed the policy of Islam or death. Tipu targeted and assaulted temples. Some historian say that he killed about 40,000  Coorgis and converted an equal number.” Christians too were victims of his religious fanaticism.

Fra Bartolomeo, a Portugese traveller wrote in 1790 ” Tipu was riding an Elephant followed by army of 30,000 soldiers. Most of the women and men were hanged in Calicut, first mothers were hanged with their children tied to their necks.’ He further adds ” That barbarian Tipu Sultan tied the naked Christians & Hindus to the legs of elephants and made the elephants to move around till the bodies of helpless victims were torn to pieces. temples and Churches were burned down, desecrated and destroyed.

In a documents discovered in Paris in 1988, a french soldiers who travelled to  Mysore from Mauritius to aid Tipu against the Bristisher writes ” I am disturbed by Tipu Sultan’s treatment of these most gentle souls, the Hindus. During the seige Of Mangalore, Tipu’s soldiers daily exposed the heads of Hindu Brahmins, for the Hindu followers to see.”

Tipu sultan was no doubt a valiant fighter who opposed the British, but that can not mitigate the fact that he was also a religious bigot- a figure incompatible with modern secular times. finally Tipu Sultan’s much proclaimed status as a Kannada icon  proves to be a shaky one, when one scrutinises the pages of history. In fact , he spared no effort to make Parsian as the local language of Karnataka at the cost of Kannada.

In 2016, Chief justice of Karnataka High Court, responding to a PIL posed this question to the Congress Govt intent of celebrating Tipu Jayanti. ” What is the logic behind celebrating Tipu Jayanti. He was not a freedom fighter, but a monarch who fought his opponents to safeguard his interest”.

This year CM of Karnataka was wise to feign illness and stay away from unwarranted Tipu Jayanti celebration which was organised by Congress Dominated Coalition Govt of Karnataka. It looks like State Govt erred in continuing the Tipu Jayanti Celebrations.

But such is Congress’s love for Muslim rulers that they are least bothered about interest of communal harmony and historical objectivity.

Waiting for your feed backs/views/comments.

Anil Malik

22nd Nov, 2018.