The genocide of Mandyam Iyengars by the tyrant Tipu Sultan | paanchajanya
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 nairs 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.
Tipu Sultan (Portrait in London Library)
Tipu ruled his kingdom only for about sixteen years, from December 29, 1782 to 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 first the British to become an emperor. Superstitious 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. Believing 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 with in the Srirangapatanam fortress.
Narayanaperumal Kshetram, Talakolatur, Calicut, 1900 (Destroyed by mysore sultan invasions)
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 1760s 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 repeated 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 Deepavali 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 gothra who were the people massacred on this fateful day.
After the genocide of these Brahmins of Karnataka, their descendents till date have not celebrated a single Deepavali 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 community of the Mandyam Iyengars of Bharadwaja gothra observe Deepavali as a Dark Day.
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 Tipus death there were only two Hindu temples left standing within the Srirangapatanam fortress. It was only for the satisfaction of his Hindu astrologers who bluffed Tipu that he will one day be an emperor of entire India that Tipu had spared those two temples. The entire wealth of every Hindu temple was looted before 1790 itself by Tipu.
The result of Tipus brutal conversion of Hindus in the south India is there for everybody to see today. Mini Pakistans have come up in all those areas where Tipu ruled. If Tipu had not secured the assistance of a traitor Brahmin Purnaiyya, there would not have been so many terrorist muslims in the states of Kerala and Karnataka. Hindu population and prosperity were reduced in the areas where Tipu ruled. In these mini Pakistans, muslims run a mini Islamic state with many youths abducting hindu women and joining terrorist organizations like ISIS, Taliban etc., Thus it is left or 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.
