The story of a Patriotic Martyr

Source: Tippu Sultan
By Dr. B. N. Pande

In 1927-28 I was doing some research on Tipu Sultan at Allahabad. One day some office-bearers of Anglo-Bengali college students' union approached me with a request to inaugrate their history Association. They had directly come from the college with their text - books. Incidently, I glanced through their text book. I opened the chapter on Tipu Sultan. One of the sentences that struck me deeply, was:
"Three thousand Brahmins commited sucide as Tipu wanted to convert them forcibly into the fold of Islam"
The author of the text-book was Mahamahopadhyaya Dr.Har Prasad Shastri, Head ofi the Department of Sanskrit, Calcutta University. I immediateiy wrote to Dr. Shastri for the source of his information. After many reminders came the reply that he had taken the fact from the Mysore Gazetteer. The Mysore Gazetteer was not available either at AIlahabad or at the imperial Library, Calcutta. So I wrote to Sir Brijendra Nath Seal, the then Vice Chancellor of Mysore Univeisity seeking a confirmation of the statement of Dr. Shastri. Sir Brijendra Nath Seal forwarded my letter to Prof. Srikantia, who was-then busy editing a new edition of the Mysore Gazetteer.
Prof. Srikantia informed me that "the episode of the suicide of 3,000 Brahmins is nowhere in the Mysore Gazetteer and he, as student of history of Mysore, was quite certain that no such incident had taken place." He further informed me that the Prime Minister of Tipu Sultan was a Brahmin, named Purnea and his Commander-in-Chief was also a Brahmin, named Krishna Rao. He supplied me with the list of 156 termples to which Tipu Sultan tssd to pay annual grants. He sent me 30 photostat copies of Tipu Sultan's letters addressed to the then Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Sringeri Math with whom Tipu Sultan and his father Haider Ali had very cordial relations. Tipu Sultan, as was customary with the rulers of Mysore, daily visited the temple of Lord Ranganatha located inside the fort of Srirangapatnam before taking his breakfast.
Dr. Shastri's book was approved as a course book af history for High Schools in Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, U P, M P and Rajasthan, I approached the then Vice - Chancellor of Calcutta University and sent him al the correspondence that I had exchanged with Dr. Shastri, with Mysore University, Vice Chancellor, Sir Brijendra Nath Seal, and Prof. Srikantia, with the request to take proper action against the offending passages in the text-book. Prompt came the reply from the Vice-Chancellor, that the history book by Dr.H.P.Shastri has been put out of course.
IN YOUNG INDIA, edited by Mahatma Gandhi dated January 23, 1930, on page 31 appeared the foltowing item :
Fatehali Tipu Sultan of Mysore is represented by foreign historians as a fanatic who oppressed his Hindu subjects and converted them to Islam by force. But he was nothing of the kind. On the other hand his relations with his Hindu subjects were of a perfectly cordial nature. The Archeaological Department of Mysore State is in possession of over thirty letters by Tipu to the Shankaracharya of Shringeri Math. These letters are written in the Kannada characters. ln one of the letters written to the Shankaracharya in 1793 Tipu acknowledges receipt of the Shankaracharya's letter and requests him to perform TAFAS (i.e., to undergo self - purificatory discipline) and to offer prayers for the welfare and prosperity of his own realm as for that of the whole universe. And finaly he asks the Shankaracharya to return to Mysore, for the presence of good men in a country brings down rain and makes for good cultivations and plenty. This letter deserves to be printed in letters of gold in every history of India, and no apology need therefore be offered for reproducing in Devanagari characters the original Kannada which is full of Sanskrit words, some of these being printed here :
Tipu made lavish gifts of land and other things to Hindu temples and temples dedicated to Shri Venkataramanna, Shrinivas and Shri Ranganath and located in the vicinity of Tipu's palaces still bear testimony to his broad-minded toleration, and indicate that great martyr at any rate for a real martyr he was in the cause of liberty was not disturbed in his prayers by the Hindu bells calling people to worship the same Allah whose devotee he was.

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