Military Leaders From India

"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."

"‘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.’"

"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."

"[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."

"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."

"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..."

"[M.H. Gopal’s excellent Tipu Sultan’s Mysore: An Economic Study published in 1971 echoes McLeod:] Even in the Revenue Code…Tipu exhibited his communal tendencies. Mussulmans were exempted from paying the house tax, 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… If a person who converted to Islam was a peasant, he was entitled to a 50% tax rebate on his agricultural income. He was completely exempt from house tax. Lands seized from various persons as well as Government lands were given to Qazis and other Muslim officers as “Inaam” (gift). Lands were freely gifted away for the purpose of constructing Mosques. On the other hand, lands given to temples and Brahmins were taken back... Another evil which later assumed huge proportions was the appointment of inexperienced people as officers and the lenience with which he sometimes treated them. In 1785 he ordered his Diwan of Bangalore not to take rigid measures to recover the balance due from Mir Futah Ali, the talukdar of Chikkaballapur, but to realise it gradually as the officer “has never before exercised the functions of that office, and…he is…a stranger and inexperienced in business.”"

"Unfortunately, there are no memorials erected anywhere in Kodungallur, or Trichur, or Alwaye to honour Dharma Raja who gave shelter in his state to thousands of Hindus escaping from the Islamic brutalities of the fanatic Tipu Sultan; or Ayyappan Marthanda Pillai who was the architect of the historic Nedumkotta; or Raja Keshavadas under whose direct command a comparatively small army humbled and defeated the invading army of Tipu Sultan; or scores of valiant Hindu soldiers who laid down their lives to protect their country and faith. The most despicable and shameful act of the anti-Hindu secularist government of Kerala since Independence was that instead of honouring the legendary heroes of the land, a memorial in the form of a flagstaff was erected near the historic Trichur Palace to perpetuate the memory of the Islamic bigot Tipu Sultan who was instrumental in the forcible mass circumcision and killing of Hindus, destruction of Hindu temples, and devastation of the Malabar, Trichur, Alwaye and Kodungallur regions."

"Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore, had been everyone’s icon. The recent efforts of the Hindu right to project him as a Muslim bigot show that their political stakes in him have changed."

"'Accompanied by an army of 60,000, Tipu Sultan came to Kozhikode in 1788 and razed it to the ground. It is not possible even to describe the brutalities committed by that Islamic barbarian from Mysore.""

"Tipu succeeded to a large kingdom that was bounded in the north by the river Krishna, in the south by the state of Travancore and the district of Tinnevelly [Tirunelveli], in the east by the Eastern Ghats and in the west by the Arabian Sea."

"Tipu proclaimed: "It is our constant object and sincere intention that those worthless and stiffnecked infidels (Hindus) who have turned aside their heads from obedience to the true believers, and openly raised the standard of infidelity should be chastised by the hands of the faithful and made either to acknowledge the true religion or to pay tribute."...He proclaimed that his commanders should serve Islam: "Promoting the prosperity and advantage of the people of Islam and the overthrowing of unrighteous infidels, you will do whatever may be in your power to increase the lustre of the firm religion of Mohammed.... He was out to humuliate the Hindus and glorify Islam: "By the blessings of Allah and the aid of the Prophet, the forces of the accursed, having experienced a signal defeat and chastisement, have turned their faces to flight, and the troops of Islam are victorious over the enemies of the faith. Thus the army of the accursed infidels has been trodden underfoot by the hoofs of the horses of Islam and rendered vile and miserable, while the religion of Mohammed has been thereby made to flourish. You, Sir, will, therefore, apply with all your heart the best means of advancing the religion of Mohammed and of administering to the support of Islam.".... He wrote to Zaman Shah, the king of Afghanistan, that "we should come together in carrying on a holy war against the infidels, and for freeing the region of Hindustan from the contamination of the enemies of our religion (Hindus)"."

"Tipu, after a feeble resistance in the field, retired into Seringapatam, and, when his capital was stormed, died fighting bravely in the breach, 1799. Since the battle of Plassey no event had so greatly impressed the native imagination as the capture of Seringapatam, which won for General Harris a peerage, and for Wellesley an Irish Marquisate. The silk-worm is said to have been introduced into Mysore by Tipu Sultan, and for many years continued to prosper. But recently the Mysore worms have been afflicted by an epidemic."

"'In consequence, the Hindus of Malabar had to suffer the most severe enormities the world had ever known in history' ... "When the second-in-line of Zamorins, Eralppad, refused to cooperate with Tipu Sultan in his military operations against Travancore because of Tipu's crude methods of forcible circumcision and conversion of Hindus to Islam, the enraged Tipu Sultan took a solemn oath to circumcise and convert the Zamorin and his chieftains and Hindu soldiers to Islamic faith.""

"Tipu Sultan died a heroic death fighting the British. He was also a pioneer in the development and use of Mysore rockets in warfare. This technology was later adopted by the Europeans."

"Among the galaxy of heroes and heroines of Indian history the personality of Tipu Sultan will ever shine with a rare lustre. He was the only Indian Ruler who had the courage to challenge the British and had the distinction of dying on the battle field fighting the British and their allies. More than 200 years back Tipu Sultan visualised the birth of a free country. He was inspired by the French Revolution and wanted to put into reality the concepts of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity."

"Tipu's proclamation created universal resentment and the whole country rose in rebellion. Fearing forcible conversion about 30,000 Brahmins alone fled to Travancore. The Kottayam and Kadattanand Rajas sought the English East India Company's protection. Calicut was attacked in November, 1788. Tipu's officers laid hands on the Karanavappad of Manjeri. The Nairs of Calicut and South Malabar headed by Ravi Varma and other princes of the Padinjare Kovilakam turned in despair on their oppressors. Tipu set 6,000 troops under M. Lally to raise the siege, but Ravi Varma could not be driven out of the field. Earlier, in 1789, Tipu himself came down to Malabar via the Tamarasseri Ghat to enforce his proclamation at the point of his sword. General orders were issued to his army that 'every being in the district without distinction should be burned, that they should be traced to their lurking places, and that all means of truth and falsehood, force or fraud should be employed to effect their universal conversion'. The Kadattanad Raja's fortified palace at Kuttipuram was surrounded and 2,000 Nairs, forced to surrender after a resistance of several days, were circumcised and regaled with beef. Several. Rajas and rich land owners fled to Travancore where the Dharma Raja rendered them all help to rehabilitate themselves in their new surroundings. The poor Nairs, however, retreated into the jungles and were relentlessly pursued by Mysorean troops. From their jungle homes the Nairs could engage themselves in a kind of guerrilla warfare against the enemy forces. Hence Tipu organised a regular and systematic Nair hunt with the help of his soldiers. He then proceeded to Cannanore and after celebrating the marriage of his son with the daughter of the Ali Raja, marched along the coast of Chowghat to overawe the native population by a show of his power. From there he retired to Coimbatore after making arrangements for the administrative reorganisation of the province and leaving a permanent army of occupation to frighten the population into passive submission.""

"Oh Shiva! Shiva Lingam (idol) has gone (destroyed) from the temple, and also the Lingam (manliness) from the land:"

"Tipoo knew his will to be a law the propriety of which… would never be questioned or doubted by any of his slaves… He probably measured the sentiments in question by a different standard from that with which we estimate them. Thus the various murders and acts of treachery which we see him directing to be carried into execution, were not criminal, but on the contrary just, and even meritorious, in his eyes."... "The Koran taught him that it was not necessary to keep faith with infidels, or the enemies of the true religion, in which case it was not difficult for him to persuade himself that it was right to include all who opposed or refused to cooperate in his views for the extension of that religion; or, in other words, for his own aggrandisement."

"Lieutenant-Colonel William Kirkpatrick (1756-1813) writes that once the Sultan ordered his brother-in-law Burhanuddin Khan to mount an assault on a region including “every living creature in it, whether man or woman, old or young, child, dog, cat, or any living thing, else, must be put to the sword” (Kirkpatrick, 1811, Letter # 85 dated July 10, 1785, italics in original). Kirkpatrick (1811) writes further, “Colonel Munro [Sir Hector, 1726-1805] assures me, that it is an absolute fact that on one occasion he [Tipu] ordered all the male population of a particular village which had given him offence, to be castrated” (p. 3, translator’s “Observations” on Letter # 1 dated February 17, 1785)."

"[The British Colonel, historian, and scholar, William Kirkpatrick who discovered more than 2000 letters (written in Farsi in Tipu’s own handwriting) at the Srirangapattana fort after Tipu’s death makes a devastating assessment of Tipu’s character and personality:] The importance of these letters…consist[s]…in the vivid illustration which they afford of the genius, talents, and disposition of their extraordinary author, who is here successively and repeatedly delineated, in colors from his own pencil, as the cruel and relentless enemy; the intolerant bigot or furious fanatic; the oppressive and unjust ruler; the harsh and rigid master ; the sanguinary tyrant; the perfidious negotiator; tile frivolous and capricious innovator; the mean and minute economist; the peddling trader; and even the retail shop-keeper…the various murders and acts of treachery, which we see him directing to be carried into execution, were not criminal, but…just, and even meritorious, in his eyes. They might… in a great degree, proceed from a disposition naturally cruel and sanguinary: but, perhaps, an intolerant religious zeal and bigotry were not less active motives to them…the Sultan does not appear to have possessed a sufficient stretch of thought upon any subject…to enable him to discuss it, either with logical force or precision. A consecutive train of argument was a thing of which he nowhere seems to have had an idea… Arrogance and vanity were, undoubtedly, among the most prominent features of the Sultan’s mind."

"…there stood a Hindu temple, the area or space round which was large. The Sultan, therefore, in his infancy being like all children fond of play, and as in that space boys of Kinhiri Brahmin castes assembled to amuse themselves, was accustomed to quit the house to see them play, or play with them. It happened one day that a Fakir (a religious mendicant) a man of saint-like mind passed that way, and seeing the Sultan gave him a life bestowing benediction, saying to him, 'Fortunate child, at a future time thou will be the king of this country, and whey thy time comes, remember my words-take this temple and destroy it, and build a Masjid in its place, and for ages it will remain a memorial of thee.' The Sultan smiled, and in reply told him, 'that whenever, by his blessing, he should become a Padishah, or king, he would do as he (the Fakir) directed.' When, therefore, after a short time his father became a prince, the possessor of wealth and territory, he remembered his promise, and after his return from Nagar and Gorial Bundar, he purchased the temple from the adorers of the image in it (which after all was nothing but the figure of a bull, made of brick and mortar) with their goodwill, and the Brahmins, therefore, taking away their image, placed it in the Deorhi Peenth, and the temple was pulled down, and the foundations of a new Masjid raised on the site, agreeably to a plan of the Mosque built by Ali Adil Shah, at Bijapur, and brought thence."

"Kirmani writes: [The Fakir said:] ‘Fortunate child, at a future time thou wilt be the king of this country, and when time comes, remember my words: take this temple and destroy it, and build a Musjid in its place, and for ages it will remain a memorial of thee.’ The Sultan smiled and in reply told him, ‘That whenever, by his blessing, he should become a Padishah, or king, he would do as he [the fakir] directed.’ When, therefore, after a short time his father became a prince, the possessor of wealth and territory, he remembered his promise, and after his return from the Nuggur and Gorial Bunder [Mangalore], he purchased the temple from the adorers of the image in it (which after all was nothing but the figure of a bull, made of brick and mortar) and with their goodwill and the Brahmins, therefore taking away their image, placed it in the Deorai Peenth [Gunjam gate], and the temple was pulled down, and the foundations of a new Musjid raised on the site, agreeably to a plan of the mosque, built by Ali Adil Shah, at Beejapoor, and brought from thence."

"Mir Hussein Kirmani (1980) points out that “the Sultan had a great aversion to . . . Hindus and other tribes,” built a mosque in every town, and appointed a muezzin, a moula, and a kazi to each (pp. 154-155)"

"Tipu’s biographer, Kirmani, gloats about how Tipu ‘appointed a detachment of his troops to ravage the country [Malabar] of his enemies, and they accordingly lighted up the fire of oppression in all the towns and villages in that neighbourhood.’35 In an almost poetic flourish, Kirmani exults: When they marched into that country, they committed many cruel acts, they lighted up such a fire of plunder, that at once they burned up everything it contained. From the hoofs of their horses, the mountains and plains were all trodden to dust, and even the rocks, trees and stones, deep sighs arose and wailing. After the whole country had been swept by the bosom of devastation, and when a host of the refractory and rebellious has been carried away by the whirlwind of desolation, those who remained being subdued, placed the ring of servitude in their ear of their lives [the ear-ring that they were made to wear after circumcision and conversion], and with their hands tied together submitted."

"As the Sultan had a great aversion to Brahmuns [sic], Hindus and other tribes, he did not consider any but the people of Islam his friends, and therefore, on all accounts his chief object was to promote and provide for them. He accordingly selected a number of Mussulmans who could scarcely read and write, and appointed them Mirzas of the treasury departments and placed one over each of the other accountants to the end that the accounts might be submitted by them to him in the Persian language, and in the extent of his dominions, in every Purgana by his orders was placed an Asof [Magistrate] and in the towns yielding a revenue of five thousands . . . pagodas, one Amil (collector), one Serishtadar, one Ameen and one Mujmoodar, all Mussulmans."

"The Lahore Staff College publication on Tipu recounts his official edict to destroy Hindu temples in his dominions as follows:He [Tipu] issued an edict for the destruction of all the Hindu temples in his dominions excepting those of Srirangapattana and Melukote…he resolved to destroy every monument of the former Government to which end he caused the ancient fort and city of Mysore to be razed, and removed the stones of the temples and palace to a neighboring hill where he laid the foundation of a new fort which he named Nuzerbad. But in the furiousness of his wrath, he spared not the works of the greatest public utility, in the destruction of the celebrated reservoir of Yadavi Nudi because it recorded the wisdom, riches and power of the ancient Hindu sovereigns. (Emphasis added)"

"Tippu’s soldiers, therefore daily exposed the heads of many Brahmans in sight of the fort. It is asserted that the Zamorin, rather than witness such enormities (and to avoid further killing of innocent Brahmins), chose to abandon Palghautcherry (Palghat Fort)."

"It had been confirmed from Calicut that "200 Brahmans had been seized and confined, made Mussulmen, and forced to eat beef and other things contrary to their caste.""

"It was at Kuttippuram, the head-quarters of the Kadattanad family, that this force surrounded 2,000 Nayars with their families in an old fort which they defended for several days. At last finding it untenable they submitted to Tippu’s terms which were “a voluntary profession of the Muhammadan faith, or a forcible conversion with deportation from their native land. The unhappy captives gave a forced assent, and on the next day the rite of circumcision was performed on all the males, every individual of both sexes being compelled to close the ceremony by eating beef.”"

"The noon-tide came with baleful light, The Sultan’s corpse in silence lay; His kingdom, like a dream of night, In silence vanish’d quite away. [...] In Vishnu’s lotus-foot alone Confide! His power shall ne’er decay, When tumbles every earthly throne, And mortal glory fades away."

"The list of the chiefs of every province or district contained only Muslim names like Sheikh Ali, Sher Khan, Muhammad Syed, Meer Hussain, Syed Peer, Abdul Karim, and so on. There was nary a...non-Muslim name."

"All the Amildars under Tipu’s Government were Moors who were seldom chosen for any other reason than their being Muhammadans; and although they had an oath of fidelity administered to them, the embezzlement of public revenue, by the several classes of servants, is supposed to have amounted annually to 15 or 20 lakhs of pagodas."

"In the month of Chingam 952, Malayalam Era (corresponding to August, 1786) Tipu's Army destroyed idols of the famous Perumanam Temple and desecrated all the temples between Trichur and Karuvannur river. Irinjalakuda and Thiruvanchikulam temples were also defiled and damaged by Tipu's Army."

"The nightmarish results of Tipu's invasion of Kerala have been aptly described by the former editor of Gazetteer of Kerala and the renowned historian A. Sreedhara Menon. They state as follows: "Hindus, especially Nairs and chieftains who resisted Islamic cruelties, were the main targets of Tipu's anger. Hundreds of Nair women and children were abducted to Sreerangapatanam or sold as slaves to the Dutch. Nairs were hunted down and killed and also deprived of all traditional and social privileges. Thousands of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Nairs and other respected classes of Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam or driven out of their traditional ancestral homes. Thousands sought refuge in Travancore State while hundreds fled to forests and hills to escape Tipu's atrocities which had completely shaken their sense of security." "The new phase of Mysore administration in Kerala resulted in unending wars. Extreme cruelties of the invading army had badly affected every section of the society, leading to the mass exodus of people from Malabar." "Many Hindu temples, royal houses and chieftain families were destroyed and plundered. The exodus of Brahmins and Kshatriyas who were the patrons and custodians of traditional arts and culture, resulted in stagnation in the cultural field also.""

"Hindus, especially Nairs and chieftains who resisted Islamic cruelties, were the main targets of Tipu's anger. Hundreds of Nair women and children were abducted to Sreerangapatanam or sold as slaves to the Dutch. Nairs were hunted down and killed and also deprived of all traditional and social privileges. Thousands of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Nairs and other respected classes of Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam or driven out of their traditional ancestral homes. Thousands sought refuge in Travancore State while hundreds fled to forests and hills to escape Tipu's atrocities which had completely shaken their sense of security.. The new phase of Mysore administration in Kerala resulted in unending wars. Extreme cruelties of the invading army had badly affected every section of the society, leading to the mass exodus of people from Malabar.. Many Hindu temples, royal houses and chieftain families were destroyed and plundered. The exodus of Brahmins and Kshatriyas who were the patrons and custodians of traditional arts and culture, resulted in stagnation in the cultural field also."

""The Padayottam military occupation period won't be forgotten by the Malayalis for generations. It was this invasion, between Malayalam era 957 to 967 (1782 to 1792) that turned Malayalam upside down," says P. Raman Menon, biographer of Shaktan Tampuran, the King of Cochin during Tipu's invasion. He adds: "There was hardly any cowshed left in Malayalam where the Mysore Tiger did not enter." The reference is to the mass cow-slaughter carried out by Tipu's army on his orders."

"The Mysore Gazetteer says that the ravaging army of Tipu Sultan had destroyed more than 8000 temples in South India. The temples of Malabar and Cochin principalities had to bear the brunt of plunder and destruction. The History of Cochin by K.P. Padmanabha Menon and History of Kerala by A. Sreedhara Menon narrate some of them: "In the month of Chingam 952, Malayalam Era (corresponding to August, 1786) Tipu's Army destroyed idols of the famous Perumanam Temple and desecrated all the temples between Trichur and Karuvannur river. "Irinjalakuda and Thiruvanchikulam temples were also defiled and damaged by Tipu's Army." Some of the other famous temples looted and desecrated were as follows: Triprangot, Thrichembaram, Thirunavaya, Thiruvannoor, Calicut Thali, Hemambika Temple, the Jain Temple in Palghat, Mammiyur, Parambatali, Venkitangu, Pemmayanadu, Tiruvanjikulam, Terumanam, Vadakhumnnathan Temple of Trichur, Belur Siva Temple, Shri Veliyanattukava, Varakkal, Puthu, Govindapuram, Keraladhiswara, Trikkandiyur, Sukapuram, Maranehei Temple of Aaalvancheiri Tambrakkal, Vengara Temple of Aranadu, Tikulam, Ramanathakra, Azhinjalam Indiannur, Mannur Narayan Kanniar and Vadukunda Siva Temple of Madai."

"The Governor of Madras Thomas Munro (1761-1827) considered Tipu’s Mysore as “the most simple and despotic monarchy in the world” (Glieg, 1830, pp. 1, 84)."

"My victorious sabre is lightning for the destruction of the unbelievers. Haidar, the Lord of the Faith, is victorious for my advantage. And, moreover, he destroyed the wicked race who were unbelievers. Praise be to him, who is the Lord of the Worlds! Thou art our Lord, support us against the people who are unbelievers. He to whom the Lord giveth victory prevails over all (mankind). Oh Lord, make him victorious, who promoteth the faith of Muhammad. Confound him, who refuseth the faith of Muhammad; and withhold us from those who are so inclined. The Lord is predominant over his own works. Victory and conquest are from the Almighty. Bring happy tidings, Oh Muhammad, to the faithful; for God is the kind protector and is the most merciful of the merciful. If God assists thee, thou wilt prosper. May the Lord God assist thee, Oh Muhammad, with mighty victory."

"The reversion of Mangalore to the possession of Tipu was signalized by the forcible circumcision of many thousands of Indian Christians and their deportation to Seringapatam. A revolt in Coorg next year led to the same treatment of the greater part of the inhabitants the occasion being marked by Tipu's assumption of the tide of Badshah. ... A simultaneous rebellion occurred now in Coorg and Malabar, and the Sultan, passing through Coorg to quiet it, entered Malabar. Large parties of the Nairs were surrounded and offered the alternative of death or circumcision. ... Over 8,000 temples were also desecrated, their roofs of gold, silver and copper and the treasures buried under the idols amounting to many lakhs, being treated as royal plunder....His orders were, that 'every being in the district, without distinction, should be honoured with Islam; that the houses of such as fled to avoid that honour should be burned; that they should be traced to their lurking places, and that all means of truth and falsehood, fraud or force, should be employed' to effect their universal conversion. The following is a translation of an inscription on the stone found at Seringapatam, which was to have been set up in a conspicuous place in the fort:"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).""

"Roderick Mackenzie (1793) commented on Tipu’s march to Trinomaly and his mayhem there in 1790:Here neither respect, for the grandeur and antiquity of their temples, nor veneration for the sacred rites of a religion whose origin no time records, proved any protection for the persons or property, even of the first Brahmins. Their pagodas, breached with sacrilegious cannon, were forcibly entered, their altars defiled, their valuables seized, their dwellings reduced to ashes, and the devastation was rendered still more horrible by the scattered remains of men, women and children, mangled beneath a murderous sword. (Vol. 1, p. 203)"

"[The Persian scholar Colonel William Miles who translated Mir Hussain Kirmani’s hagiography on Tipu writes in the preface of his translation that] [Tipu] was a bigoted Muslim, and like most of that class unprincipled and quite unscrupulous as to the means he employed to attain his ends in the propagation of his religion. With these bad qualities, his dark, suspicious, faithless character, alienated those who were at first his most attached friends, and at the time Srirangapattana was taken [in the Fourth AngloMysore War], he appears to have had scarcely one [friend] left."

"The majority of the women were originally Hindus, from families whom the Sultan had put to death or held in confinement."

"Close to the eastern or Bangalore gate stood formerly a Hindu temple with a prakara wall and a verandah running around. It was very probably a structure of the early eighteenthcentury and was not of great architectural importance. It is said to have been dedicated to Hanuman or Anjaneya. Near it, in the field, Tipu is said to have played in his younger days when his father was yet a rising young officer in the Mysore army. One day a Fakir told the boy that he would some day become very prosperous and directed him to convert the temple into a mosque when he became a great man. When he became king, Tipu compelled the Hindus to remove the image from the temple, filled up the ground floor and on the top of the temple got erected the Jumma Masjid, the hall of which has numerous foil arches and a Mihrab on the west in the form of a small room. On the walls of the hall are found stone inscriptions with quotations from the Quran, etc. One of them gives the date of its construction corresponding to 1787 A.D. The main points of interest in the mosque are its two great and beautiful minars which combine majesty with grace. Their shafts are ornamented with cornices and floral bands while near the top are narrow terraces with ornamental parapets. From there a visitor gets a panoramic view of the neighbourhood. At the crown of the minars are large masonry kalashas placed upon flowers and fully ornamented. Above are small metallic kalashas of the Hindu type."

"Agrarian trade prospered in the reign of Haider and Tippu Sulthan. Kumbala, Mangalore, Mulki, Basaruru, Gangoli, Bhatkala, Honnavara and Karwar continued to be prominent trade centres of agrarian products namely rice, pepper and coconut. Both Haidar and Tippu Sulthan had intentions to expand agrarian trade ofrice and pepper to Muscat, China, Pegu, Arabia and even distant Maldiva Island. For the expansion of trade, Tippu Sulthan set up a depot at Muscat and it was placed under the charge of Amildar at Mangalore. Hyder and Tippu Sulthan also took keen interest in the expansion of activities further. They particularly encouraged the cultivation of cash crops namely sugarcane, pepper, arecanut, coconut, sandal wood etc. Attempts were made to bring barren and unproductive lands under the cultivation. Tippu Sulthan in particular granted barren lands to peasants and collected a nominal rate of tax. He even encouraged the cultivation of sugar cane and sandalwood. The enterprising peasants were given loans for the expansion of agricultural activities in the barren places. His Government provided irrigation facility in places, where it was feasible. Both Haidar and Tippu sulthan took interest in improving the communication system with an intention of increasing the agrarian trade in rice, pepper and coconut produced in the Kingdom. For instance, the state constructed boats for the sea trade. The state ships carried rice, pepper, sugarcane and coir to Muscat, Aden, Arabia and Red Sea region and even distant China. The state maintained roads and provided facilities to the traders. Although Tippu’s revenue code was framed with great ability, it was badly implemented by his officers of whom the Sultan had lost his grip after 1792. Newly recruited revenue officers were indulged in corruption and dishonesty. They kept the revenue accounts in the most unreliable manner. For instance in Kanara, the ryots in 1796 A.D. under Tippu received a nominal remission of 20% of their assessment but the remitted amount was paid in years between 1796 and 1799 as a bribe to the revenue officers. Along with the Muslims, “trusted Brahmans” from the region of Mysore were entrusted with the revenue administration of South Kanara. The defective implementation of Tippu’s agrarian policy adversely affected the status of the Christian agriculturist, the Gowda-Sarasvats and the Jain Paleyagars in the agrarian set up in the region under study."

"The communal Mappila outrage of 1921 in Malabar could be easily traced to the forcible mass conversion and related Islamic atrocities of Tipu Sultan during his cruel military regime from 1783 to 1792. It is doubtful whether the Hindus of Kerala had ever suffered so much devastation and atrocities since the reclamation of Kerala by the mythological Lord Parasurama in a previous Era. Many thousands of Hindus were forcibly converted into Muhammadan faith."

"rockets made an extraordinary impression on the British, and led, from 1801, to what would now be called a vigorous research and development programme (at the Royal Woolwich Arsenal). Sir William Congreve made systematic studies of propellants, analysed performance applying Newton’s laws, developed a series of rockets of different sizes and characteristics, made a comparative cost analysis and published three books on the subject. Rockets were soon systematically used by the British during the Napoleonic Wars and their confrontation with the U.S. during 1812-14."

"In March, 1789, a Mysorean force of 19000 men with 46 field-pieces, surrounded 2000 Nayars with their families in an old fort at Kuttipuram, the head-quarters of the Kadathanad Raja’s family which the besieged defended for several days. ‘At last, finding it untenable. they submitted to Tippu’s terms which were a voluntary profession of the Muhammadan faith or a forcible, conversion with deportation from their native land. The unhappy captives gave a forced assent and on the next day the rite of circumcision was performed on all the males, every individual of both sexes being compelled to close the ceremony by eating beef. This achievement was held out as an example to the other detachments of the army. Christian and Pagan women were forcibly married to Muhammadans.’ Tippu had made repeated vows to honour the whole of the people of Malabar with Islam and would have carried out the vow, and Malabar would have been a Moslem country, but for the treaty dated 18th March, 1792, under which Tippu was forced to yield Malabar to the East India Company."

"Lewis Rice estimates in his Mysore Gazetteer that Tipu had destroyed about 8000 temples in South India. Colonel R.D. Palsokar also confirms this number in his study on Tipu Sultan when he says that Tipu relates that he had destroyed 8000 temples, many of them with roofs of gold, silver, copper and all containing treasures buried under the idols. The Raja of Cherakal offered him Rs. 400000 and the plates of gold with which one particular temple was roofed but Tipu said that he would not spare it for all the treasures of the earth and sea."