Voices Pushpesh Pant Ravi Shankar Devdutt Pattanaik Sibichen K Mathew Anuja Chandramouli Swami Sukhabodhananda MAGAZINE Buffet People Wellness Books Food Art & Culture Entertainment NEW DELHI December 15 2024 SUNDAY PAGES 12 Southern Terrors Book Excerpts A new book shines light on the real Tipu Sultan, often hailed as a great hero of Indian Independence who fought against the British, and Haidar Ali as a warrior who rose from humble origins to be a progressive king. Through meticulous research, the author unearths the ruthlessness of the dynasty, which held visceral hatred towards Hindus and outsiders from other races and religions, and committed unspeakable atrocities all across South India Haidar Ali HAIDAR ALI Bigoted Sensualist On 13 February 1754, 12,000 Maratha and Mysore horses, 6,000 sepoys and 400 French troops with seven guns managed to attack a British convoy that was making its way to Tiruchirapalli. It was the Rajput Jamadar of Mysore cavalry Hari Singh, who led this charge. , Once the operation was successful, Hari Singh found all the guns and tumbrils to be in the possession of Haidar, who had taken them away through his network of Bedars. Hari Singh made a huge show of protest; he had led the campaign and won the day yet the spoils of the , war were now with his most hated rival, Haidar. This was to become the template of his military career. After much negotiation, Haidar parted with just one gun and kept the rest with himself, claiming that they were his legitimate catch. Expectedly this heroic act of driving the , Marathas away and liberating Mysorean territories won Haidar great applause from his superiors. The delighted Maharaja welcomed him in a special darbar in December 1758, honoured him with costly presents and granted the title of ‘Nawab’ Fateh (victorious) Haidar Ali Khan Bahadur on him. That the title had the name of his father in it made it extra special for Haidar. A few months later, in April 1759, when Haidar told the Maharaja about the difficulties he faced in recruiting additional troops and also in fulfilling the claims of the Maratha bankers, he was readily assigned revenues from one half of the kingdom. Thus, virtually as circumstances unfolded, Haidar , emerged as one of the most powerful persons in the polity of Mysore. It was just a matter of time before he was to formalise his authority and position. of the Nairs remained defiant and held on to their faith, dispersing instead to seek refuge in the safe havens of Travancore. With Manjeri as his base, Haidar ordered a systematic hunt of the Nairs who had fled to the mountains and those who were caught were mercilessly hanged or beheaded. CARNALLY CRUEL: French historian J Michaud mentions that the young man (Prince Chennabasavayya of Bidanur) in his long years of living in secrecy had found his lady love in the valley in his childhood. The love had blossomed with time and the young lady accompanied him everywhere, including to the war camp of Haidar and later to Bidanur. Haidar ‘young, boiling and impetuous’ saw the young, beautiful lady and his heart was instantly set on her. He demanded her as the price of his conquest. As Michaud explains: ‘The young Raja still at an age when one prefers the heart of a woman to a kingdom, dared by his refusal, to expose himself to the danger of losing his crown again. Hyder, being angered, employed violence and carried away the young favourite of the Raja.’ The cruel injustice did not stop with this. Having possessed his lover by force, Haidar now decided to take over his kingdom too and conveniently packed off to Maddagiri prison even Chennabasavayya, whose cause he was so far claiming to fight. He immediately declared him to be an imposter, and not the original claimant, and hence needed to be packed off to prison. PLEASURE PLUS POWER: By sunset, his apartments were completely illuminated with tapers in chandeliers of exquisite workmanship, ornamented with festoons of fragrant and delicate flowers. The apartments were normally covered with white muslin, spread upon the most exquisite and beautiful Persian carpets. White seemed to be Haidar’s favourite colour and most of his furniture were draped in cloths of the colour. Private gatherings followed with family friends and close officers. The young , nobility too, in all their finery and swords, , moved around busily talking merrily to one , another as the evening moved to one of entertainment. Drinks and dinner were served to all present, even as a comedy show or a dance or music performance of courtesans went on. If the woman was a Hindu, she was to wear a white dress, and if she were Muslim, a dress 20 January 1789, Tipu set off again towards Calicut. The reports of the arrival of the large army of nearly 60,000 and of Tipu’s march into their land made the Nairs seek shelter, as always, in the woods and mountains. Tipu ordered his army to surround the woods Haidar Ali on campaign, a 1780, illustration from Hutchinson’s Story of the British Nation SAVAGE HARVEST: Haidar clashed with the Nairs at Vettat Puthiyangadi where the Nairs had taken up a fortified position... Peixoto paints a gruesome picture of the Malabar after this conquest: The entire Nair country was plundered; their homes were burnt and a universal massacre of the Nair caste was ordered. The Nairs were hunted down and butchered. Hyder gave ‘Rupees 5 to anyone who brought him the head of a Nair that was able to fight; if it was an old man, he gave four, and if of a boy he gave three rupees.’ A price of three rupees was also paid for every Nair woman captured alive. Many women were thus captured and transported to distant places as presents to governors and chiefs. Before leaving Malabar, Haidar passed an edict that deprived the Nairs of all their privileges. They were hitherto considered the second important caste after the Brahmins, but were downgraded to the lowest of the caste hierarchies, requiring them to even salute the lowest of the castes and the untouchables. They were forbidden from possessing arms, while all other castes were allowed to have them and also kill any Nair they found bearing arms, creating thereby a sense of fear and insecurity in the Nairs. As de La Tour states: ‘By this rigorous edict Hyder expected to make all the other castes enemies of the Nayres [Nairs]; and that they would rejoice in the occasion of revenging themselves for the tyrannic oppression this nobility had till then exerted over them.’ Those Nairs who agreed to convert to Islam were reinstated with all their past privileges. While some of them succumbed and converted, most Tipu Sultan embroidered with gold. In the song and dance, she was not allowed to laugh or smile or display wanton gestures or steps. She was to perform slowly and softly And as many men as there . might be in the gathering, they were not allowed to ogle at the beauty of the woman, but instead keep their eyes fixated at him and admire his beauty alone. If any of them even by chance happened to look at the dancing girls, he would coarsely abuse them saying ‘Look! Look! Well! For your mother (meaning the dancing girl), has left her house and is occupied in dancing in the midst of her husbands!’ In fact, Peixoto mentions how, when a certain concubine casually lifted her eyes at a servant, Haidar killed her with his own hand and the hapless servant was ruthlessly skinned. The captive women were classified into four groups in the harem and distinguished by the colour of their dress—red, green, blue and white. Each group was assigned different chores under the supervision of a female head, who finally reported to Haidar’s principal wife, Fatima Begum... He however seems to be extremely possessive of his concubines and if any of them were suspected of infidelity they , had to pay a heavy price, as was mentioned by Peixoto earlier. Other than his three wives, Haidar had upwards of 4,000 concubines, distributed all over the kingdom, though principally in Srirangapatna, Bangalore and Bidanur. They were of all castes and even included some European mistresses. When he was overcome with the desire to indulge in intercourse, he would take a slow walk in the garden, where the concubines would assemble in two rows. They would hold a nose ring in their hands and he would pick the ring of those he wanted, giving ‘the sign for them to go to him that night’. Peixoto states that besides these concubines, he ‘would amuse himself with others who were brought to him by force on pain of death’. TIPU SULTAN Scourge of Islam 20 January 1789, Tipu set off again towards Calicut. The reports of the arrival of the large army of nearly 60,000 and of Tipu’s march into their land made the Nairs seek shelter, as always, in the woods and mountains. Tipu ordered his army to surround the woods and seize the chiefs of the faction. He also sent messages to Francis Gordon not to give protection to any of the Nairs who might flee to Tellicherry Leaving a portion of his troops in . Calicut, Tipu swooped northwards, signalling thereby to the Hindu chiefs there to flee. Before he left Calicut, Tipu ordered Muhammad Ali, the second Diwan of Calicut, on 28 February 1789 that the 242 captured Nairs were being sent to him as prisoners. ‘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.’ BARBARIC BIGOT: He (Paolino da San Bartolomeo, a Portuguese Roman Catholic Missionary) writes: The manner in which he [Tipu] behaved to the inhabitants of Calicut was horrid. A great part of them, both male and female, were hung. He first tied up the mothers, and then suspended the children from their necks. The cruel tyrant caused several Christians and Heathens [Hindus] to be brought out naked, and made fast to the feet of his elephants, which were then obliged to drag them about till their limbs fell in pieces from their bodies. At the same time, he ordered all the churches and temples to be burned or pulled down or destroyed in some manner. Christian and pagan [Hindu] women were compelled to marry Mohammedans. The pagans were deprived of the token of their nobility which is a lock of , hair called kudumi; and every Christian, who appeared in the streets, must either submit to be circumcised, or be hanged on the spot. During the government of his father, the Hindus continued unmolested in the exercise of their religion; the customs and observances of which, in many essential points supply the place of laws... Tippoo, on the contrary early undertook , to render Islamism the sole religion of Malabar. In this cruel and impolite undertaking, he was warmly seconded by the Moplays [Mapillahs], men possessed of a strong zeal, and of a large share of that spirit of violence and depredation which appears to have invariably been an ingredient in the character of the professors of their religion, in every part of the world where it has spread. DEATHLY DESECRATOR: In November 1789, Tipu, at the head of a large army made a steady , march to the present Trichur district. On the way to Trichur, Hindu temples and Christian churches were plundered and desecrated, and had their roofs blown off. Houses and bazaars Turn to page 2