The man who calls himself a roaring Lion of Mysore is responsible for the genocide of crores of Hindus! The name on which the people of Mysore have their shoulders broadened with pride, the story of his butchery is not unfamiliar to each one of us. The victims of his barbarism were the Karnataka’s Kodava community and the Malabar’s Nair community. There was one more community which had been the victim of him and the auspicious occasion of Diwali turned to be a dark horror night to them.
No mainstream media will tell you about this mass genocide. No school textbook will teach you about the 800 murders of Mandyam Iyengars done by this man. Women, as well as kids, were also not spared by his hands. You cannot ignore this story of Barbarism on the auspicious day of Diwali.
I am talking about the man none other than “Tipu Sultan”, glorified as the Tiger Of Mysore by many Indian historians was responsible for the destruction of cultural heritage in south India during his rule. He was involved in many inhuman killings among which most commonly known are the killings of unarmed Kodavas at Devatiparambu and Nair’s at Malabar. But many people ignore the uprisings which constantly took place at Mysore during his tenure and how Tipu crushed it by killing hundreds of unarmed civilians including women and children. Mandyam Iyengars do not celebrate Diwali even till this day, as on this day, several of their ancestors were killed by the butcher Tipu Sultan.
Tipu ruled his kingdom only for about sixteen years, from December 29, 1782 -May 4, 1799. The territory of Malabar was under his effective control only for a short period of eight years. He had a treacherous Divan by the name Purnaiyya. Purnaiyya had managed to gather some 90,000 soldiers, 3 crore rupees and huge quantities of gold ornaments and precious stones from the Hindu population for Tipu. Seeing this wealth Tipu wanted to rule South India and wanted to become an Emperor of India. Tipu had to defeat the British first to become an emperor. For this purpose, Tipu consulted many Hindu astrologers in Sri Ranganatha Swami temple at Srirangapatnam. These astrologers did not see Tipu becoming an emperor but suggested that if some of the suggested remedial Hindu rituals were performed; he could achieve his cherished ambition.
As per these sayings of the astrologers, Tipu performed all Hindu pujas in the Sri Ranaganatha Swami temple as suggested by the astrologers. This act is being widely interpreted by leftist and minority historians as the love and respect for Hindu religion and traditions by Tipu. But there is a long list of Hindu temples that were desecrated and razed down by Tipu and his Moslem army in South India mainly in Kodagu and Malabar. On the eve of his death, there were only two Hindu temples left standing in the Srirangapatnam fortress.
What led to this mass genocide of Mandyam Iyengars?
Let me come back to the note regarding the Mandyam Iyengars. They belong to a group of the Iyengar community which has a history going back to the times of Sri Ramanujacharya who is said to have converted Hoysala king Bittideva from Jainism to Vishnuvardhana of Vaishnavism. Melkote or Melukote became a stronghold of Mandyam Iyengars who belonged to Bharadwaja Gotra. They lived happily by performing Vedic rituals and worship in temples. It is said that they migrated in a group to Melkote. They all belonged to Thangalai group of Iyengar sect. They spoke Tamil in addition to Kannada.
When Hyder Ali captured the throne of Mysore in a treacherous way from Immadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar II, the royal family of Mysore was kept under house arrest. But the queen of Wodeyar, Lakshmi Ammani Devi constantly made efforts for restoration of the rule of Mysore royal family after looking at various atrocities committed on the “Hindu population” by the government. She started negotiating with the British in 1760’s with the help of her Pradhan, “Tirumala Iyengar” which resulted in the imprisonment of relatives of Tirumala Iyengar by Hyder Ali. These people were called as Mandyam Iyengars and they lived between Mandya and Srirangapatnam area, mainly in Melkote.
Some years later during his rule, Tipu came to know of an agreement between General Harris, the then Governor of Madras, and Tirumala Iyengar. As he already was trying to destroy the allies of British by repeatedly waging wars on the kingdom of Travancore, Tipu decided to end the other uprisings happening against his atrocities in his kingdom. Hence Tipu thought of massacring the Iyengars who were living in Melkote. The day he selected for this was “Naraka Chaturdashi”.
When all Mandyam Iyengars were immersed in Diwali celebrations, Tipu’s men entered Melkote and massacred at least 800 people including women and children. The survivors abandoned Melkote and ran away and the town became a ghost town. Friends and relatives of Tirumala Iyengar were killed in cold blood. Thus Naraka Chaturdashi became a “black day” in the history of Mandyam Iyengars belonging to Bharadwaja gotra who were the people massacred on this fateful day.
After the genocide of these Brahmins of Karnataka, their descendants till date have not celebrated a single Diwali festival. The cruelty inflicted on the innocents has parallel only to the Christian Nazi concentration camps of the Second World War. The Karnataka Brahmins belonging to a community of the Mandyam Iyengars of Bharadwaja gotra observe “Diwali as a Dark Day”.
https://www.esamskriti.com/essays/docfile/1352.jpg
As per the reputed historian, Benjamin Lewis Rice, who wrote the History of Mysore, he states Tipu as a Muslim fanatic. As per B. L. Rice, on the eve of Tipu’s death, there were only two Hindu temples left standing within the Srirangapatnam fortress. It was only for the satisfaction of his Hindu astrologers who bluffed Tipu that one day he will be an emperor of entire India that Tipu had spared those two temples. The entire wealth of every Hindu temple was looted before the year 1790 itself by Tipu.
The result of Tipu’s brutal conversion of Hindus in south India is there for everybody to witness today. Hindu population and prosperity were reduced in the areas where Tipu ruled. In these mini Pakistan’s, Muslims run a mini Islamic state with many youths abducting Hindu women from the regions of Malabar and south Karnataka and joining terrorist organizations like ISIS, Taliban etc., Thus it is left to us to decide whether to not repeat the mistakes which were earlier made to avoid such genocides or let them just unfold by singing the praise of such tyrants.
Source: https://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26382
http://postcardhindi.com/pc402
Advithi
