Tippu & Iyengers

In recent days, this debate has reached a crescendo with one section backing  Tippu  as a freedom fighter and brave warrior and another pointing out to his harsh treatment of Hindus and the wanton destruction of temples.

A little known fact about Tipu is that he indeed did give generous gifts to Hindu temples and Hindu religious institutions such as the temples in Sringeri, the Cheluvanarayana and Yoga Narasimha temple in Melkote, the Ranganatha temple in Srirangapatna and the Nanjundeshwara temple in Nanjangud.

However, there are also records of the manner in which Tipu massacred people in Kerala and  also  massacred nearly 800 Brahmins in Melkote in Mandya district and this happened on Naraka Chaturdashi more than two centuries ago. All the massacred Brahmins in Melkote belonged to what is popularly known as Mandyam Iyengars and they all belonged to a single gotra-Bharadwaja.   These  people  as per one  theory  have  said  to  have  migrated  from  tirupathi  . I  will  come  back  to you  on  mandyam  iyengers  and  how  they were  massacred    but  before  that   It is intresting &  desirable to know something about this place Melkote. Situated in Pandavapura taluk,  

.Melkote is famous as one of the four places:considered  as abode  of  Lord  vishnu  the remaining three being Sriranga, Tirupati and Kanchipuram. Melkote has antiquity going back to mythological times wherein it was referred to as Narayanadri, Vedadri, Yadavadri etc. During the Treta Yuga, Lord Dattatreya performed vedic discourses and it became famous as Vedadri. In Dwapara Yuga, Sri Krishna lived here and hence it became famous as Yadavadri and in the Kali Yuga it became famous by the consecration of Vishnu temples. In inscriptions it is referred to as Thirunarayanapura and Vaikuntavardhana Kshetra..

According to history the Cholas who  were  ruling most of Taml nadu were champions of Saivism. They were not well disposed towards Ramanujacharya who propagated Vaishnavism. Fearing for life, Ramanujacharya is said to have left Tamil Nadu and came to Karnataka. First he came to Tonnur or Tondanur where some disciples joined him. Subsequently, he went to Melkote. Where  he stayed  for twelve years.

 The Cheluvanarayana Temple is the most important temple here with an enclosure of 290 feet with many Mantapas. The Navaranga in front of the garbhagriha has three entrances. It also has a shrine for Ramanujacharya and the image therein is said to have been consecrated by his disciples when Ramanujacharya left for Srirangam. It is of importance to note that rituals and worship are done here as per the regulations and rules as promulgated by Ramanujacharya himself.

. coming  back  to  Mandyam  iyengers who   were masters of Sanskrit. also  spoke a distinct dialect of Tamil called Mandyam Tamil. All the Mandyam Iyengars belonged to the Thenkalai sect of Iyengars. It was time of the last Anglo-Mysore war between Tipu on one hand and the British and Nizam of Hyderabad on the other hand.Tipu has been seething with anger at what he considered humiliating and unfair terms of the treaty that brought an end to the third Anglo-Mysore war. He was particularly harsh on his detractors and critics.    

One day, Tipu received news that one of his Hindu or rather Brahmin ministers, Shamaiah Iyengar had allied himself with the Dowager Queen of the Wodeyars, Lakshmammani, and had joined hands with the British to oust him.Unlike his father, Hyder Ali, who had respected the Mysoreroyal family, Tipu had shown scant regard and respect for them. He had a rather strained relationship with the Mysoreroyals.

Queen Lakshammanni, the Dowager Queen of Mysore, began trying to regain the throne when Hyder Ali usurped power. She started negotiating with the British in the 1760's with the help of Tirumala iyenger  and Narayana iyenger . She had assured the two brothers of the pradhanship of Mysore and one-tenth of the income of the state as their salary in perpetuity. When Hyder came to know of this agreement, he imprisoned all their relatives.

After Hyder’s death, the Queen intensified her efforts to place a Wodeyar back on the throne of Mysore. Though Tipu maintained a safe distance from the Wodeyars, he kept a wary eye on them.

When news of the Dowager Queen interacting with the British with help from Shamaiah Iyengar reached Tipu, he decided to take revenge.   Earlie to  this the agreement signed between the British General Harris of Madras and Tirumaliyengar further infuriated Tipu. Tirumaliyengar was often referred to by the British as Tirumala Row. He was the Pradhan of Mysore. . Finding  Iyengars against him, Tipu thought of destroying 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 persons.

The slaughter was on the day when the Mandyam Iyengars were getting ready to celebrate Naraka Chaturdashi.   But the celebrations turned into mourning.The slaughter literally led to the death of Melkote. All people abandoned the temple city and it soon turned into a ghost town. The 29 Kalyanis in Melkote went to dust, water shortage became endemic and the hills browned and of course Sanskrit lost a home.

To this day, the Mandyam Iyengars of  Melkote do not celebrate  Deepavali. Unfortunately, there is no mention of the despicable incident in any history book, but even now local folklore and a few accounts of the horrifying event still exist.

Recent research on the incident by Dr MA Jayashree and MA Narasimhan who  were  originally  from  Melkote and  belonging  to bharadawaj  Gotra  Mandyam  iyengers sect  have proved that the incident did take place and among those massacred were women. The research was  also  presented at a seminar at Dhvanyaloka, Mysore.

Another lopsided fact of history is that the heroic role Queen  Lakshammanni in protecting her family and her relentless battle for the restoration of the throne during the period of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, is not adequately mentioned. The only acknowledged account is the three-volume History of Mysore by Hayavadana Rao. 
Unfortunately, the Queen and the Pradhans are a forgotten chapter of history. It is only during Deepavali that the sacrifice of the Pradhans come to light and that too only among the Mandyam Iyengars. .

As one historian aptly remarked, most historians write that Tipu killed a tiger though they never saw it, but do not write about the massacre of Mandyam Iyengars though they have seen it or heard of it from authentic sources. Just for information, one of the most important Mandyam Iyengars today is the chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa.