November 10 is also a day when 700 Melukote Ayyangars were hanged by Tipu Sultan. The day of worst genocide Karnataka has ever seen is shockingly turned into the day of pride
Shreyanka S Ranade
Karnataka Government has decided officially to celebrate Tipu Jayanti on November 10. Celebrating a ruthless tyrant’s birthday as state festival of Karnataka is not just a whole hearted objection of the people from all walks of life but it is also unacceptable to democratic, secular and humane Indians and native Kannadiga’s. Not only is the current dispensation doing great disservice to the general Kannadiga population by celebrating the Jayanti of a highly divisive historical tyrant ruler, they are also willfully creating a deep rift between the peaceful coexisting communities Hindus and Muslims of the state. Opposition to Tipu Jayanti is not because he was a Muslim but because he was Anti-human tyrant. We endorse great personalities like Sant Shishunal Sharif, Mirza Ismail, Idayatullah Mestri, Nazir Sab etc., not because they all were Muslims but because their contribution to humanity is unquestionable. Here is an attempt to reveal the true picture of Tipu to the readers.
- The Summer Palace near Kalasipalyam bus stand is named after Tipu Sultan. But the unknown fact is that it was constructed by Nadaprabu Kempegowda in very indigenous style. It was renovated and modified with Islamic
architecture by Hyder Ali in the year 1761. Later on the practice and precedence continued to call it as Tipu’s Palace forgetting the original father behind the construction of the history. Not to mention how Kempegowda of Bengaluru was annoyed and embarrassed by Hyder Ali. Can anyone forget the way Wodeyar prince of Mysore’s trust was breached, cheated and
imprisoned? How can we forget the way Madakari Nayaka of Chitradurga was attacked
treacherously and haunted him? - As far as the famous Mysore
missile technology is concerned, it was not the sudden offshoot under the Tipu Sultan’s regime as wrongly projected and assumed. But it was the gradual development of the technology natively. Before Anglo-Maratha wars there was no major war like situation before Mysore kingdom and therefore it was never used. It was effectively used by Tipu and not exactly developed by him. - November 10 is also a day when 700 Mandayam Iyengars in Melkote were hanged by Tipu Sultan. One of the worst genocide Karnataka has ever seen. The day supposed to be the day of
mourning for humanity but shockingly it has become the day of pride. It is the real blunder by the Government of Karnataka. This celebration is like celebrating the Hitler Jayanti on the day he began holocaust. Not just the Melkote’s Iyengars. It’s the Kodavas, whom he butchered in thousands, mainly women and children. It’s the Mangalorean Catholics, whose churches he destroyed. Evidence for this comes from Tipu’s own letters and diaries. - He is celebrated as Tiger of Mysore mainly for two reasons. One unfortunately without any option he had to fight three battles with East India Company. Second reason is very political. After the ruthless despotic regimes of Islamic Delhi sultanate, Mughals in Delhi and regional tyrants like Bhamani’s in Karnataka, Nizam of Hyderabad etc. Secular historians wanted to prove at least one Islamic regime to be fighting for freedom, only on the slippery bricks of lies. It was very easily used to encash the vote bank of Muslims very cleverly by celebrating Tipu Jayanti as official festival of the state, legitimising him to be the real freedom fighter with great virtues, as the father of missile technology and ideal administrator not to mention his (un)secular approach in daily life. Pushing down the real Tipu Sultan, portrayed fictional Tipu may be a fact we all need to put behind us and move ahead but falsely
believing in those unquestioned lies of historians and blindly
celebrating him to be the martyr who fought for nation. - Tipu’s radical chauvinist mentality was not limited to language. Prominent Muslim historians Kirmani and Ghulam Muhammad, Tipu Sultan’s own son, revealed numerous shocking facts and
realities associated with Tipu Sultan in their writings. Since he wanted to give everything a Muslim touch, he got several Hindu names of places replaced with Muslim names.
For example, Mangalore or Mangalapuri was changed to Jalalabad, Mysore to Nazarabad, Bepur to Sultanpatanam, Dharwar to Quarshed-Sawad, Dindigul to Khaliqabad, Ratnagiri to Mustafabad and Kozhikode to Islamabad. The local residents of all these places could revert to old names only after Tipu’s death! - As per an official report by Colonel Fullarton, the then in-charge of British forces in Mangalore, Tipu Sultan committed the worst possible brutalities on Hindu”s during his acquisition of Palghat Fort in the year 1783. His soldiers scared Hindus by
exposing the heads of all innocent Brahmins that were brutally killed by them from the fort Zamorin. - During his reign, one of the major goals of Tipu Sultan was to destroy Hindu temples in Mysore and Malabar, and let Islam establish and thrive. Historians like Lewis B Boury have described Tipu’s violence against Hindus in and around Malabar as ‘more ferocious’ than atrocities
committed by Mahmud of Ghazni, Nadir Shah and Alauddin Khalji against Hindus in Hindustan. William Logan has mentioned in the “Malabar Manual” that Thalipparampu and Thrichambaram temples of Chirackal Taluqa, Ponmeri Temple of Badakara, and Thiruvangatu of Tellicherry were among the major temples smashed by Tipu Sultan. - Last year when this conspiracy was started, it was celebrated under Waqf board. Now the government has started to show its true colour by celebrating it under Department of Kannada and Culture. One of the easiest way Karnataka Government found it to consolidate Muslims.
- Last year also Karnataka Government celebrated it surpassing all the dissents, protests and uncountable requests. Not to mention the disturbance caused to life and peace of the state! After 300 years, even when many liberal Muslims do not endorse this Jayanti and even when State is starving without water and facing multiple challenges, is it necessary for the State Government to happily celebrate Tipu Jayanti? It shows that the State Government arrogantly believes in ‘mine is right principle’ which is very dangerous dictatorial attitude.
- During his regime, Tipu forcefully imposed Persian language as the language of administration,
scrappingdown the popular native Kannada language. This is mere contradictory jolt that the person who was enemy of Kannada language and Kannada culture has been celebrated as Hero by Karnataka Government’s Kannada and Culture department.
Think it for yourself and draw your own conclusion whether the celebration of Tipu Jayanti is ‘Right or Wrong’.
(The writer is a Bengaluru based Blogger)
