Exactly 240 years ago, a pall of gloom fell upon Srirangapatna on the day of Deepavali when innocent members of 700 families of Mandayam Iyengars were put to death under the order of Tipu Sultan.
The offence they committed was to have been born in the families related to those who wanted to restore the kingdom of Mysore to its legitimate royal family from the clutches of Tipu.
What remained since then was a faded memory of a dreadful Deepavali marked by the non-celebration of Deepavali by certain families. This triggered a vigorous search by the members of these families who managed to collect letters and documents of the period of massacre and presented them in a short essay titled, “The Mysore Pradhans”.
Compiled and written by M.A. Sreenivasachar, this essay traces the lineage of the affected families from Thirumalai Ananthalwan, a disciple of Ramanujacharya who was a native of Kirangur near Srirangapatna. The Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana gifted him with eight villages (ashtagram). Later, after the Hoysala dynasty weakened, these villages fell into the hands of the Palayakars. However, Ananthalwan clans were serving the country as gurus to the king and in ministerial posts. They also became the Pradhans (prime ministers) in the Mysore royal court. Problems started after Hyder Ali rose into power and conquered his master’s kingdom in 1762.
The exiled Mysore king, Krishnaraja Wadayar II passed away a few years later. The Pradhan Govindarajiah (of Ananthalwan’s lineage) was killed by Hyder. The two sons of the Pradhan, Tirumal Row and Narayana Row became the confidante of the queen in exile, Maharani Lakshmammanny. Dedicated to restoring the kingdom to the royal family, the two brothers started reaching out to the British authorities to dislodge Tipu from the throne.
It was a long story of struggle for 24 years in that endeavour that ultimately caused them lose their dear ones and their properties. The loss of the 700 families to Tipu’s fury was one of the bloody chapters in their long struggle. It happened in 1783 when the English army succeeded in capturing Karur and proceeded further towards Srirangapatna. At the same time, the Pradhans were hatching a conspiracy with their friends to overthrow Tipu’s government. Subraj Urs and Narasinga Row guided the project in Srirangapatna. Aided by three thousand Jettis, Mahrathas and others loyal to the king, a plan was made to enter the fort, seize the treasury, and arrest every Mahamadan. The attack was planned on the night of 28th July 1783. But Killedar Syed Mahamad, the head of the fort, discovered the plot at the last minute and killed the conspirators including Subraj.
Tipu was immediately informed of the conspiracy hatched by Tirumal Row. On coming to know of the activities of the Pradhans in dislodging him with the help of the English army, Tipu swung into action.
He “ordered the arrest and imprisonment of all the relations of the Pradhans and Subraj Urs &co.,including men, women and children to the extent of 700 families. They were chained with heavy irons and thrust into the dungeons of Seringapatam. Pradhan Narayan Row was also captured and imprisoned, but he soon managed to escape and join his brother. Tippu on his return to the capital ordered a wholesale massacre of these 700 families, and had them mercilessly put to death by one means or another. He also confiscated the Jaghirs and other property enjoyed by the Pradhans and their relations,” writes the author of the essay.
The massacre had taken place on the day of Deepavali in Shobhakrit year corresponding to 25th October, 1783. Among the documents produced in the essay, the letter written by the queen Lakshmammanny to Lords Mornington and Clive on 3rd February, 1799 recalls the sacrifices made by 700 families.
“In the year Subhakritu, Lord Macartney gave us ample assurance of our restoration, and hence we got together many of our adherents. Just on the eve of our capturing Tippu and recovering our kingdom, our object was disclosed to Tippu, and consequently he put to death 700 families from amongst our relations as well as those of Tirumal Row, including men, women and children.”
This shows that apart from the families of Tirumal Row, those from the royal family were also put death.
In a letter written by the queen to Tirumal Row in 1796, she specifically refers to the death of 700 families of the kith and kin of Tirumal Row.
The misfortune that had befallen on the family of Tirumal Row is also recorded in the minutes of Lord Mornington, the Governor-General of India.
Those who escaped the massacre migrated to Nagamangala, Baburayana Koppalu, Mandya Koppal and Mandya. Finally, they reached Melukote and settled there.
Many people do not believe this act of Tipu and praise him as if he fought against the British and gave freedom to the country. He opposed the British for retaining the Mysore country his father usurped from its legal owners. In the process, the genocide of nearly 1000 innocent people including children belonging to 700 families of the Mysore Pradhans and the royals has gone unnoticed in the freedom saga of India.
Ultimately Tirumal Row succeeded in getting the British attack Tipu and finish him off on May 4, 1799 but failed to regain their lost position in the now regained kingdom of Mysore.
Rivalry, jealousy and greediness of the officials of the kingdom who wanted to maintain their position in the new dispensation caused the British to keep away Tirumal Row and his brother despite the queen’s wish to take them back as Pradhans. They reasoned out that the Row brothers, by being out of the kingdom of Mysore for many years, could not be conversant with the then state of affairs, which on the other hand could be handled well by themselves to ensure continuity.
The queen was upset over these developments and refused to move out of her exiled location. Fearing that this might cause some trouble again, Tirumal Row immediately wrote to her, asking her to go to Mysore. Her grandson was crowned as Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar III on 30th June, 1799.
Thirumal Row returned to Madras. He died in 1815 without any recognition for his efforts and without getting his rightful place in the history of fight against Tipu by losing all his kith and kin. His brother Narayana Rao also died in 1811.
The sacrifices of his family also disappeared without anyone knowing about them. Only the dark Deepavali observed year after year by his descendants for three hundred years had ignited the search for truth which deserves a place in the history of fight for freedom of our country.
(This article is an excerpt from the book ‘Ramanuja Itihasam’ authored by Jayasree Saranathan in Tamil.)
Jayasree Saranathan is a researcher, writer and astrologer with a Ph.D. in Astrology. Her research areas include Indology, Hindu Epics, Tamil Sangam literature and Astrometeorology. She is the author of “Mahabharata 3136 BCE: Validation of the Traditional Date”.
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