Muslims From India

"Mussulmans were exempted from paying the housetax and taxes on grain and other goods meant for their personal use and not for trade. Christians were seized and deported to the capital, and their property confiscated. Converts to Islam were given concessions such as exemption from taxes...[Tipu] removed Hindus from all administrative posts and replaced them with Mussulmans with the exception of Diwan Purnaiah..."

"According to Dhanagare: Tipu Sultan, who was both more ruthless and more ambitious than his father, Hyder Ali, resumed the invasion of Malabar in the 1780s, persecuting and forcibly converting the Hindus. Moplahs seized this opportunity to further their economic interests, as well as improve their numerical strength."

"[Colonel Fullerton was serving in the British army, which was rendering assistance to the Rajas of the Malabar and petty chieftains in Tamil Nadu. Some of his observations and experiences have been recorded in Colonel Castell’s History of India. Colonel Fullerton’s report to his superiors with respect to his unit’s battle with Tipu is very revealing. ]7There a very steep fort at a town near Coimbatore. Near it was a Shiva temple made entirely of black stone. Tipu fell upon this temple which contained beautiful Hindu sculptures, destroyed it completely, and looted all the gold, ornaments, and valuables in it... Fullerton continues: This temple was extremely sacred to the Hindus. Tipu had despoiled this temple so badly that it had greatly enraged the Hindus. Until then, nobody had done an iota of harm to the temple."

"Therefore we have to conclude that he did not necessarily make use of the rebellions as lame excuses for expansion of Islam or Hindu persecution and that the only instance of conversion of the Malabar Hindus was due to other than religious reasons."

"‘He [Tipu] rivalled Mahmud of Ghazni, Nadir Shah, and Ala-ud-din the Pathan Emperor of Delhi surnamed the Khuni or the Bloody, all of whom were famous for the number of infidels slaughtered by their orders. For this very zeal for the faith, notwithstanding the cruelties which attended his persecutions, the name of Tipu Sultan was long held in reverence by his co-religionists in Southern India—a proof how readily crimes that cry to Heaven are condoned when the perpetrator of them is supposed to have been animated by a sincere desire to propagate the faith which he professed.’"

"Many of them are from Hindustan Proper, and many are daughters of Brahmans or Hindu Princes, taken by force from their parents. They have all been shut up in the zenana when they were young; and have been carefully brought up to a zealous belief in the religion of Mahomet. I have sufficient reason to think that none of them are desirous of leaving their confinement; being wholly ignorant of any other manner of living, and having no acquaintance whatever beyond the walls of their prison."

"Tipu…had no compunction in cutting [the prisoners’] throats, or strangling and poisoning them; while…numbers of them were sent to die of malaria and starvation on the fatal mountain of Kabaldrug [Kabbaladurga]. The English prisoners were specially selected as victims of his vengeance, not omitting officers of rank such as General Matthews; while, in direct contravention of the treaty made at Mangalore in 1784, he did not scruple to retain in captivity considerable numbers of Europeans. Many of these, particularly young and good-looking boys, were forcibly circumcised, married haphazard to girls who had been captured in the Coromandel districts, and drafted into the ranks of the army, or compelled to sing and dance for the amusement of the sovereign... those who conspired against him were put in a cage… [and] were allowed half a pound of rice a day, with salt, but no water, so they soon expired under this frightful ordeal.. There were other punishments nearly equally dreadful, such as making men bestride a wooden horse on a saddle studded with sharp spikes. On a spring being touched the horse of torture reared, and the spikes penetrated the unfortunate wretches. A more common mode of punishment was to bind tightly the hands and feet of condemned men, and then to attach them by a rope to the foot of an elephant, which, being urged forwards, dragged them after it on the rough ground, and painfully terminated their existence. Some again were ruthlessly thrown into the dens of tigers to be devoured."

"[Lewin Bowring mentions a “remarkable proclamation” that Tipu issued in 1786, ]…calling upon all true believers to ‘extract the cotton of negligence from the ears of their understanding,’ and, quitting the territories of apostates and unbelievers, to take refuge in his dominions, where, by the Divine blessing, they would be better provided for than before, and their lives, honour, and property remain under the protection of God,” and that he had resolved that the “worthless and stiff-necked infidels, who had turned aside their heads from obedience to the true faith, and openly raised the standard of unbelief, should be chastised by the hands of the faithful, and made either to acknowledge the true religion or to pay tribute. As, owing to the imbecility of the princes of Hind, that insolent race (presumably the English) had conceived the futile opinion that true believers had become weak, mean, and contemptible, and had overrun and laid waste the territories of Musalmans, extending the hand of violence and injustice on the property and honour of the faithful, he had resolved to prosecute a holy war against them."

"In the Tamil land and in Malabar, he earned the sobriquet of “a Brahman-killer and a despoiler of south Indian temples”."

"He likewise issued a proclamation, prohibiting all marriages in the kingdom of Mysore until such time as the wedding of his son should take place, being determined to celebrate that day by the consummation of 25,000 marriages at his own charge. To be ignorant of every other feature in the character of this extraordinary man, and to be informed of this circumstance alone, would certainly inspire a high opinion of his munificence, liberality, and philanthropy, but the moment we are told that he tarnished all the glory which accompanied such a splendid act, by a piece of contemptible, fanatical, and tyrannical despotism, compelling 100,000 of his defenceless Hindoo subjects to embrace Mahometism on the same day, our admiration changes into merited detestation. It is his constant and favourite practice to insult and persecute the Hindoos on the score of religion: he has demolished many of their temples and sanctified places of worship, particularly a much-revered pagoda near the bazaar of Seringapatam, where he found, it is asserted, 150,000 coined pagodas, buried under the stone out of which the oval was hewn. He frequently orders calves to be brought before the doors of their temples, and sheds the sacred blood under the very nose of the offended deity. Such as are acquainted with the enthusiastic attachment of the Hindoos to their ancient religion and its rites, and their veneration for both, will guess at the extreme horror with which such frightful sacrileges must fill them, and will easily be persuaded that Tippoo, as I have once observed, is detested by the majority of his subjects..."

"For thirty years, first Haidar Ali, Tipu’s father, then Tipu himself, had been at the forefront of the British public’s consciousness…. So by the time he died at the hands of General Harris’s troops, as they besieged his island capital in 1799, Tipu Sultan was probably the most famous Indian, if not villain, in the United Kingdom."

"To show his ardent devotion and steadfast faith in Muhammaddan religion, Tipu Sultan found Kozhikode to be the most suitable place. It was because the Hindus of Malabar refused to reject the matriarchal system, polyandry and half-nakedness of women that the 'great reformer' Tipu Sultan tried to honour the entire population with Islam."

"Having occupied and fortified Egypt, we shall send a force of 15,000 men from Suez to India, to join the forces of Tipu-Sahib and drive away the English."

"As soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions."

"During the end of the 18th century the Peshwas continued to purchase cannions from the English, and Tipu Sultan switched over from purchase to manufacture of guns. Buchanan might have thought that the Indians would remain non-violent and docile for ever. Forty-six years later, the Nation which had produced Sivaji and Tipu Sultan, used gunpowder against the British during its first struggle for independence."

"First a corps of 30,000 barbarians who butchered everybody on the way, followed by the Field-Gun Unit under the French Commander, M. Lally. Tipu Sultan was riding on an elephant behind which another army of 30,000 soldiers followed. Most of the men and women were hanged in Calicut. First mothers were hanged with children tied to the necks of their mothers. That barbarian Tipu Sultan tied the naked Christians and Hindus to the legs of elephants and made the elephants move about till the bodies of the helpless victims were torn to pieces. Temples and Churches were ordered to be burnt, desecrated and destroyed. Christian and Hindu women were forced to marry Muhammadans and similarly their men were forced to marry Muhammadan women. Those Christians who refused to be 'honoured' with Islam, were ordered to be killed by hanging then and there. The above version of the atrocities was obtained from the sorrowful narration by the victims who escaped from Tipu's army and reached Varapuzha (near Alwaye) which is the centre of Carmichael Christian Mission. I myself helped many victims to cross the Varapuzha river by boats."

"When the British defeated Tipu Sultan in 1799, they were astonished by the quality of his cannons. Nearly 927 cannons were captured after the fall of Srirangapatnam in 1799. Out of these, nearly 400 brass cannons were manufactured in Tipu's foundries (one located at Bangalore and two in Seringapatna). His cannons were cast by the 'cast-on' construction in which the inner core was held in position using iron chaplets. Water powered boring machines were used in Tipu's arsenals and this produced perfect finish to his guns ". Although some French technicians were employed by Tipu Sultan, as noted by Francis Buchanan, the foundries of Tipu Sultan were operated by the Indian engineers. Most of the cannons that were captured by the British were melted and reused (i.e. recast) as British cannons. Therefore, we have lost valuable evidences of how the wonderful cannons of Tipu Sultan looked like, but for few surviving models. For example, at the Rotunda museum in Woolwich in England is displayed a wonderful cannon of Tipu Sultan seized during the British capture of Srirangapatnam'. His remarkable cannons reveal iconic tiger motifs (on the muzzle, trunnion ends, cascable and tiger stripes) apart from inscriptions providing the date of manufacture and the engineer responsible for the manufacture of the cannon. Several of Tipu Sultan's cannons are still preserved in the museum at Srirangapatnam and they need to be studied."

"The most charitable assessment of Tipu Sultan after a survey of these sources is to call him the tyrant of Mysore. His seventeen-year long regime was primarily a tenure of military and economic terror as far as Hindus were concerned. He razed entire cities literally to the ground and depopulated them.... The intensity of Tipu’s raid was so terrifying that hundreds of temple priests fled to Mangalore along with their families. Worship came to a permanent halt in several temples. Some temples were covered with leaves in order to conceal their presence. The Maletirike Bhagavati temple at Virajpet is a good example of this. Equally, the renowned Omkareshwara temple in Madikeri was about to meet the same fate—the then ruler at Madikeri panicked at the approach of Tipu, removed its tower and replaced it with a dome so that it resembled a mosque from afar. The temple continues to retain this appearance till date."

"It is difficult to pinpoint the areas worked during 1400.,..-1800.but there is ample evidence that active mining for reef gold was going in many of the gold fields of southern India. such as Bellara, Kabligatti, Wynad and elsewhere, during the reign of Vijayanagar Kings (1336-1560) and later during the regime ofTipu Sultan."

"Major Allan, who knew the Sultan at firsthand, observed, It is impossible that Tippoo could have been loved by his people. The Musselmen [Musalmans] certainly looked up to him as the head of their faith; by them, perhaps, his death is regretted but they could not have been attached to him, by affection. (cited in Rao, 1948, p. 1025).... Major Alexander Allan (1764-1820) reports on Tipu’s murdering the European captives on April 28, 1799, the very day he was negotiating with Lieutenant-General Harris for peace terms. “Of the real character of this Prince,” Allan writes, we hitherto have been ignorant! But now it will be placed in its true light. That he was suspicious, vindictive, cruel and hurried away by the sadder impulse of passion, to which he was subjected even without any apparent provocation, is certain and probably it will be found that he was more deficient in military talents, and others as essential to govern an extensive kingdom than has been generally imagined. (cited in Rao, 1948, Vol. 3, p. 1025)"

"From the foregoing it is quite evident that Tipu vouched a decided hatred against the Christians only after the siege of Bangalore because they rendered both active and pecuniary help to the English who were his enemies, and this infuriated Tipu to such an extent that in his frenzy he resorted to savage Persecution and forcible conversion of the Kanara Christian, to be Mohammedan religion and he makes use of religious pretext to justify their captivity at Seringapatna in 1784."

"Tipu was not happy with the social conditions of the day. There was wide disparity between different castes. The rigidity of the caste system was intensely high at the time. As far as land relations were concerned, the jagirdari system was prevalent. In Kerala, for example, there were communities where women did not cover the upper part of their bodies. Tipu was concerned about the inequalities in society. Tipu was in contact with the French during the time of the French Revolution. He was aware of events in Europe and was attracted to the maxims of the revolution, which called for equal rights for everyone in the world: liberty, equality and fraternity. He referred to himself as “Citizen Tipu” and saw himself as a revolutionist. In Srirangapatnam, he had a club consisting of 59 French soldiers and himself. In this club, everyone was equal, including the king. Through his friends among the French, he was aware of social movements in Europe. He was influenced by three European movements: Renaissance [Italy], Reformation [Germany] and Revolution [France]. He wanted to blend the salient features of these movements in his reign. Tipu was aware of the role of the French in the American War of Independence [1775-1783]. The French offered crucial support to the Americans. They went to America, fought the war for American independence and came back. Likewise, Tipu was under the assumption that Napoleon would drive the British out of India and go back. That did not happen. That was the reason for his embassy to Louis XVI in 1787 and the invitation to Napoleon in 1798. Tipu Sultan was the first Indian ruler to envisage state control of trade and industry. He established manufacturing and trade centres in several parts of his kingdom and also in Muscat, Jeddah, Basrah and Pegu. Tipu Sultan conceptualised a system of state capitalism that was far ahead of his times. Mysore silk, which has become a recognised industry in Karnataka, had its roots in Tipu’s success in introducing sericulture. Tipu’s army also had iron-cased rockets that were far more advanced than what the East India Company was equipped with at the time. He is also credited with forming a navy with the intention of fighting sea battles as opposed to the merchant navies that other rulers had. He undertook a series of reforms such as the abolition of the jagirdari system. The English saw Tipu as an impediment to their plans of conquering India. The early British sources on Tipu were the ones written by soldiers who had been imprisoned by him during the Anglo-Mysore Wars. This formed the basis for prejudiced accounts of Tipu’s reign that cast him as a despot. There was a constant campaign against Tipu by the English. No one in India had humiliated and dictated terms to the English as Tipu and Hyder had done. The intensity and hostility had gone to such a level that the English regretted that their language was not copious enough to find sufficient epithets to condemn him with."

"Tipu Sultan is probably the Muhammadan monarch who most systematically engaged in the work of forcible conversion.... early in 1789 Tipu Sultan prepared to enforce his proclamation (for conversion of Hindus) with an army of more than twenty thousand men.... Thousands of Hindus were accordingly circumcised and made to eat beef... most of the Brahmans and Nayars who had been forcibly converted subsequently disowned their new religion."

"To Siyad Abdulla, Dated 18th January 1790. With the grace of God and help from Muhammad, we have almost entirely converted the non-believers. A few are remaining in areas near to Kochi. I have decided to make them too Mohammadans. I have considered this as a religious war."

"To Sheikh Kuttub dated 1st December 1788. I am happy finding the report you have sent. Whoever has come in your hands, all above age of twenty should be hung on trees. If they hide in nooks and corners and forests, to find them out, instruct Dilkhan to split his force in to three."

"I have the secret information that the Kings of Kodanger and Kadathanad have allied with Bajirayir. Either by deceit or design when you get them in hand, they should be immediately imprisoned and dispatched to hell as expenses. If these dogs come to hands, the above action should be carried out. This is my command."

"Your Majesty’s gracious letter…has given increased [value] to our friendship…You were pleased to write that it was the object of yours to crush the infidels and to propagate the religion of Muhammad; please God, your Majesty would soon proceed with the conquering army to prosecute a holy war against the infidels and heretics…It is my hope…that the oppression of the infidels and polytheists may be destroyed by the avenging sword of those who have been selected by God to exercise dominion… The English having received intimation of the arrival of the ambassadors of the Sarkar [Tipu’s ambassadors] at your Highness’s court…have taken umbrage, and in concert with the infidels, taken up arms against me and they have written that they entertain the design to subvert Islam. Many are the words that proceed from their lips but their words are nought but lies."

"Your Majesty must doubtless have been informed that my exalted ambition is to wage a Holy War…In the midst of this land of heretics, the Almighty protects this tract of Muhammadan dominion like the Ark of Noah and cuts short the extended arm of the abandoned heretic."

"His 5 February 1797 letter to Zaman Shah is more fervent, severer in tone and morbid in its violence against Hindus: I have the satisfaction to hear that your Majesty, the Ornament on the throne, the promoter of Faith, the destroyer of the heretics, etc, employs your whole time and exerts every faculty in the support of the enlightened Religion, and is wholly devoted to its cause… In return to this [Zaman Shah’s religious piety] nearly a hundred thousand followers of the Faith, nay more, assemble every Friday at the mosques of the capital [Srirangapattana], called the Allah and Aksha mosques, and after the prescribed forms of prayer…as “Grant thy aid, O God, to those who aid the religion of Muhammad….and destroy those who destroy the religion of Muhammad…and pray that the Almighty will render your Majesty who is the supporter of the Faith.”"

"If none of your Majesty’s noblemen should be sufficiently in your confidence or equal to the undertaking, and if your Majesty should be entirely at ease with respect to the state of your country… it is proposed that you should in person proceed to Delhi, and having made the necessary arrangements there, establish one of your confidential servants in the office of the Vizier and return to your own capital. The person who may be selected…[as the] Vizier must be a man of enterprise and status, that remaining twelve months with his army in Delhi, he may be able to bring under subjection the chiefs of the neighbouring country. The second year, your Majesty should also send from your capital a small army as a reinforcement so that the Vizier…may proceed with the chiefs of Hindustan towards the Deccan. Should those infidel Brahmins direct their power to that quarter, by the grace of God, the hands of the heroes of the Faith in this part of the world shall be raised for their chastisement. After their extirpation, it will be proper to enjoin the Vizier…to fix upon a place of rendezvous and there to meet me and then a proper means may be adopted for the settlement of the country."

"That your Majesty should remain in your capital and send one of your Number; a man in whom you have confidence, to Delhi with an army; that, this person on his arrival there should make the necessary arrangements, and after deposing the infirm king who has reduced the Faith to this state of weakness, select from among the family someone properly qualified for the Government; he should remain one year for the purpose of settling the country and taking with him the chiefs of the country who are the Rajputs and … direct his standard towards the Deccan, so that the Brahmins and others may come forward and present themselves to him, whilst I, from this quarter, with the aid of God, will raise the standard of the Holy Wars and make the infidels bow under the sword of Faith. After these shall have been sacrificed to the sword, and no longer exist, the remaining infidels will be nothing. Afterwards, the settlements of the Deccan may be concluded in any manner which shall be mutually agreed upon."

"I am very desirous of engaging in this pursuit, but there are three sects of infidels in the way of it, and although when we are united there is little ground for apprehension, yet the union of the followers of the Faith is necessary. If that Ornament of the Throne, that conqueror of kingdoms, should adopt (one of the) two plans for effecting this, it will tend to the glory of the Faith. One of the plans is as under."

"The imbecility and ruinous condition of the kingdom of Delhi are more obvious than the sun. Delhi, which is one of the seats of the Government of the Muslim faith, has been reduced to this state of ruin so that the infidels altogether prevail; it has become proper and incumbent upon the leaders of the Faithful that uniting together they exterminate the infidels."

"In letters to Muslim rulers, he abused the Marathas addressing them as “those worthless Sardars of the Poona infidels.” Here is a representative letter addressed to Zaman Shah of Kabul: Your Majesty would soon proceed…to prosecute a holy war against the infidels…should those infidel Brahmins [Marathas] direct their power…the hands of the heroes of the Faith [Muslim soldiers] in this part of the world shall be raised for their chastisement. We should unite in carrying on a holy war against the infidels…Delhi, the seat of the Government of the Muhammadan faith has been reduced to this state of ruin so that the infidels altogether prevail…we should unite in carrying a holy war against the infidels and free these regions of Hindustan."

"In yet another letter, written on the occasion of seizing a part of the Nizam’s calvary at Kadapa, Tipu says: Let the prisoners be strangled, and the horses, after being valued, be taken into Government service."

"If any person, whether before or after marriage, shall keep a prostitute or a female-slave, you shall, after ascertaining the fact, take the slave for the Government,' and, if any person objects to it, he will be punishable"

"To live like a lion for a day is far better than to live for a hundred years like a jackal."

"Who are my people? All of them – Yes those that ring the temple bells and those that pray in the mosque – they are my people and this land is theirs and mine"

"People who have sinned against such a holy place are sure to suffer the consequences of their misdeeds at no distant date in this Kali age in accordance with the verse: Hasadbhih kriyate karma rudadbhir-anubhuyate (People do [evil] deeds smilingly but suffer the consequences crying)."

"[ ….In a proclamation issued to the people in 1788 Tipu Sultan outlined his new scheme of social reform as follows:] 'From the period of the conquest until this day, during twenty-four years, you have been a turbulent and refractory people, and in the wars waged during your rainy season, you have caused number of our warriors to taste the draught of martyrdom. Be it so. What is past is past. Hereafter you must proceed in an opposite manner, dwell quietly and pay your dues like good subjects and since it is the practice with you for one woman to associate with ten men, and you leave your mothers and sisters unconstrained in their obscene practices, and are thence all born in adultery, and are more shameless in your connections than the beasts of the fields: I hereby require you to forsake these sinful practices and be like the rest of mankind; and if you are disobedient to these commands, I have made repeated vows to honour the whole of you with Islam and to march all the chief persons to the seat of Government.'"

"To begin the so much desired work of the conversion of the Hindoos and to seize on the Brahmins, ... and make them examples to the other inferior castes, in becoming Mussulmans, by suffering circumcision and being compelled to eat beef: accordingly many Brahmins were seized in or about the month of July 1788..."

"Oh! Almighty God! Dispose the whole body of infidels! Scatter their tribe, cause their feet to stagger! Overthrow their councils! Change their State! Destroy their very root! Cause death to be near them, cut off from them the means of sustenance! Shorten their days! Be their bodies the constant object of their cares (i.e. infest them with diseases), deprive their eyes of sight, make black their faces (i.e. bring shame and disgrace on them), destroy in them the organs of speech! Slay them as Shedaud (i.e. the Prince who presumptuously aimed at establishing a paradise for himself and was slain by command of God); drown them as Pharoah was drowned, and visit them with the severity of thy wrath. Oh Avenger! Oh! Universal Father! I am depressed and overpowered, grant me thy assistance."

"In the hills the unbelievers of the land of the enemy have forbidden fasting and prayer; convert them all to Islam, so that the religion of Thy messenger may gain in strength."

"It is our constant object and sincere intention, that those worthless and stiff-necked infidels, who have turned aside their heads from obedience to the true-believers, and openly raised the standards of infidelity, should be chastised by the hands of the faithful, or made either to acknowledge the true religion or to pay tribute, particularly at this time, when owing to the imbecility of the princes of Hind, that insolent race having conceived the futile opinion, that the true believers are become weak, mean and contemptible; and not satisfied even with this, but preparing for war, have over-run and laid waste the territories of the Moslems, and extended the hand of violence and injustice on the property and honour of the faithful."

"It is our constant object and sincere intention, that those worthless and stiff-necked infidels, who have turned aside their heads from obedience to the true-believers, and openly raised the standards of infidelity, should be chastised by the hands of the faithful, or made either to acknowledge the true religion or to pay tribute, particularly at this time, when owing to the imbecility of the princes of Hind, that insolent race having conceived the futile opinion, that the true believers are become weak, mean and contemptible; and not satisfied even with this, but preparing for war, have over-run and laid waste the territories of the Moslems, and extended the hand of violence and injustice on the property and honour of the faithful. ...Whosoever shall refuse to give ear to these words, shall contravene their promulgation, shall be considered as destitute of [every particle of] honour [or zeal], as a stranger to [or no participator in] the bliss derived from [a steady]faith, and as deserving to be banished from the presence of God, to be excluded from the circle of the faithful and to be accounted as one of the accursed infidels."

"Meer Husain Ali has been dispatched [to you] with two kushoons. With the assistance of Almighty God, and guided by the Divine grace, he will, with the [further] aid of the holy Prophet, [soon] join you. You must [then] in conjunction with the aforesaid Meer, make prisoners of, and slay the infidels [utterly]. Such of the males among them as may be under twenty years of age, are to be made prisoners. Of the remaining unbelievers, let five thousand be suspended to trees."

"‘Having circumcised them,’ Tipu ordered, ‘you must enroll them among the faithful [make them Musalmans] . . . if any of those should escape, you will come under our displeasure."

"The holy war or jihad against them had led ‘to the spontaneous profession of the true faith by great numbers of infidels and their families . . . the positive duty of all Musalmans to take up arms for the advancement of Islam; and by expatiating on the favour which they will by so doing, acquire with God, with his Prophet, and with the Muhammadan world at large.’"

"He then ordered Bakshi to make a ‘repast of rice and beef, [which] you must feed the whole of the prisoners on the same day, and afterwards incorporate them with the professors of Islam. They are then to be given in charge to the Muhammadies, with the directions for their being all forthwith circumcised. This being done, let them be reinstated in their possessions.’"

"Tipu ordered that ‘40,000 captives, unhappy families of the Koorg country and other parts of the Mallabar Coast are to be circumcised [converted].’"