Beyond the controversy
SHIVASUNDAR
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Tipu Sultan has always been misrepresented because the victors are the ones who have a say in recording history
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PHOTO: BIJOY GHOSH
A VISIONARY The Daria Daulat Bagh in Srirangapatna, Tipu Sultan's summer palace, was emblematic of his architectural vision
Tipu Sultan is in the eye of a storm thanks to the comments made by the education minister Shankarmurthy describing him as a traitor to Kannada. For a balanced view, it is necessary to look at Tipu within the historical context.
Apart from the ideological Left and Muslims, Kannada groups, Dalit and the farmer groups hailed Tipu as a saviour. It is not coincidental that the forces that opposed Tipu were the priestly class and the colonizers and those who praised him were farmers and shudras. He is a hero in folkloreand ballads, while being depicted as a villain and a traitor in written history. If folklore is understood as a conscious act of subversion by the subaltern, it is undoubted that Tipu has been misinterpreted in written history. It is due to the gradual empowerment of the marginalized that in history, the heroes of the fringe people started to get their due.Recorded history by the victors, be it the British or the priests revealsthat Tipu Sultan and his father Haidar Ali decimated more than 200 fiefdoms that were fleecing the peasantry. The official records of the Nanajangud temple and the Melkote temples reveal that the annual revenues of these religious institutions, which ran into more than 15,000 pagodas was reduced to few thousand pagodas.
The Land Revenue Regulations of Tipu Sultan codified during 1792 and documented by famous Historian Nikhilesh Guha, declares
"The land would be owned by only those who cultivate or till it irrespective of caste, creed, or religion" Another very important measure introduced by Tipu, which annoyed the hegemonic class and liberated the Ryots was due to the clause 11 of this Regulation. It declared that
"A Patel has been attached to every village from the time old; wherever it happens that the person holding this office is unfit for it, another who is capable shall be chosen from amongst Ryots can be appointed to it; and the former Patel shall be reduced to the condition of Ryot and be made to work at the plough."
Even Buchanan, a colonial historian, confirms this in his writings by observing that: "The office of the Gouda was originally hereditary; but now these persons are appointed by the Amildar... "
While several such measures dislodged the deeply entrenched feudal class from the social order, at the same time they empowered the hitherto oppressed classes. Along with these reforms, Sufism introduced by Tipu also provided spiritual liberation from hierarchy. Recorded history of the times suggests Tipu's standing army was one lakh strong with another one lakh para military staff. These soldiers were drawn from the marginalized castes like Bedas, lambanis, kurubas, eedigas, okkaligas and many other Dalit and oppressed castes. All these soldiers were given land for the first time in the history of Karnataka. Thus after the fall of Tipu in 1799, when the British wanted to reintroduce zamindar system, farmers of the erstwhile Tipu regime waged an armed rebellion against the British often led by ex commanders of the disbanded Army, like Dhundiawagh and Budibasappa Nayaka. It is due to these far reaching reforms that by early 20th century, the shudra stratum of the society was already in a position of social ascendancy and were staking claims in political and administrative power.
Due to this ascendancy, Nalmadi Krisnaraja Wodeyar, the then king of the Mysore introduced reservation in administration and Prajaprathinidhi sabha. It is also well recorded that M. Vishweshwrayya, the then Diwan of Mysore opposed this policy of reservation and tendered his resignation. Thus when S. L. Bairappa, the famous novelist tries to prove Tipu's anti-Kannada policy because of the Persian terms used in his administration like khate, kirdi, kathchery etc, it is natural that contrary questions like why there are no such parallel terms in Kannada as a substitute comes up. The reason is there was no such land tenure system that benefited farmers before Tipu. It was during Tipu's reign that a consolidated centralized administration emerged and through that a need for written languages in administration for which he used many languages including Kannada. The far-reaching social economic reforms Tipu introduced demanded the use of language comprehendible by the masses. The recognition or vilification of historical figures is thus not just a historical phenomenon. The ongoing vilification of historical figures like Ambedkar and Tipu only suggests the re-marginalization of classes that were empowered by Tipu and the ascendancy of the priestly and colonial classes to power.
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