All kings have to fight wars in
defense and sometimes have to make attacks on others due to valid reasons. Sometimes
they even have to kill people to “send a message” or to “make an example”. As a
novelist said, “all is fair in war”. But what makes Tipu Sultan gain a monster
like reputation is not his mass murders but his religious fanaticism and acts
which can very well be compared with what today’s IS is doing in Iraq and Syria:
- Malabar: Captivity of Hindu
Nairs: In his repeated attacks on Malabar, Tipu devastated the warrior Nairs
with his atrocities and religious intolerance. During Hyder Ali's rule, the
Hindu Nairs who strongly adhered to martial tradition were prohibited from
carrying arms and privileges were given to anybody who converted to Islam. But
Tipu approved of forced conversions. Nairs, men women and children, were
captivated and forcefully converted; their men were forcefully circumcised. The
captivity of Nairs ended when Nair troops from Travancore, with the help of the
East India Company defeated Tipu in the Third Anglo-Mysore War. It is estimated
that out of the 30,000 Nairs put to captivity only a few hundred returned to
Malabar alive.
- Coorg: Captivity of Kodava
Hindus / Coorgis at Seringapatam: Tipu seized men, women and children and
carried them captive to Seringapatam. Actual number varies from 70000 to 80000
in historical accounts. Prisoners were forcefully converted to Islam and styled
Ahmadis. The young men were all forcibly circumcised and incorporated into the
Ahmedy Corps - to be trained to make a regiment of army.
- Mangalore: After Tipu's
Mangalore campaign, over 60,000 Syrian Christians were taken captive, coerced
to convert and brutalized. Young women were forcibly made wives of the Muslims.
According to a historical account from a survivor of the captivity, if a person
who had escaped from Seringapatam was found, the punishment under the orders of
Tipu was the cutting off of the ears, nose, the feet and one hand.
- Calicut (Kozhikode): In 1788,
Tipu ordered his governor in Calicut Sher Khan to begin the process of
converting Hindus to Islam, and in July of that year, 200 Brahmins were
forcibly converted.
On the handle of the sword
presented by Tipu to Marquess Wellesley was the following inscription: 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
from the true faith.
Tipu’s own letters demonstrate
this zeal. For instance:
- Tipu wrote to Burduz Zamaun
Khan on 19 January 1790: “Don’t you know I have achieved a great victory
recently in Malabar and over four lakh Hindus were converted to Islam?”
- Tipu wrote to Syed Abdul Dulai
on 18 January 1790: “With the grace of Prophet Muhammad and Allah, almost all
Hindus in Calicut are now converted to Islam. Only a few are still not
converted on the borders of Cochin State. I am determined to convert them also
very soon. I consider this as Jehad to achieve that object.”
Tipu is still hated in many
parts of Kerala, Coorg and Mangalore, where many remember his bigotry.
You may also like to read more
on Tipu Sultan:
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