Captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam
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The Captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam (1784–1799) was a 15-year imprisonment of Mangalorean Catholics and other Christians at Seringapatam in the Indian region of Canara
by Tipu Sultan
, the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore
. Estimates of the number of captives range from 30,000 to 80,000 but the generally accepted figure is 60,000, as stated by Tipu in the Sultan-ul-Tawarikh. The captivity was the most disconsolate period in the community's history. Its cause is disputed, although most historians consider it happened for political rather than religious reasons, owing to the alliance between the Mangalorean Catholics and the British
during the Second Anglo-Mysore War
(1780–1784).
The Mangalorean Catholic community in Mangalore flourished during the regime of Tipu's father, Hyder Ali
. Soon after Tipu inherited the territory in January 1784, he issued orders to seize the Christians in Canara, confiscate their estates, and deport them to Seringapatam. His orders were carried out on 24 February 1784. Twenty thousand Christians died during the journey from Mangalore
to Seringapatam. During captivity they suffered extreme hardships, torture, death, and persecutions with many Christians forcibly converted to Islam
. Their captivity led to a near disintegration of the community and ended only when Tipu was killed by the British at the Battle of Seringapatam
on 4 May 1799, during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War
. Of the 60,000–80,000 Christians taken captive, only 15,000–20,000 both made it out alive and retained their original faith. The episode had a deep impact on the Literature of Mangalorean Catholics
. The bi-centennial anniversary of the Christians' release from captivity was celebrated across the region on 4 May 1999.
district on the south-western coast of India, under the jurisdiction of the Mangalore Diocese, are generally known as Mangalorean Catholics. They are Konkani people
who speak the Konkani language
. All earlier records of South Canara's Christian
s were lost at the time of their deportation by Tipu in 1784 and it is not known when Christianity was introduced in South Canara. It is possible that Syrian Christians
settled in South Canara as they had in Malabar
, a region south of Canara. During the 13th century Italian traveller Marco Polo
recorded that there were considerable trading activities between the Red Sea
and the Canara coast. Scholars have surmised that foreign Christian merchants were visiting the coastal towns of South Canara during that period for commerce, and that some Christian priests possibly accompanied them in their evangelical work. In 1321, the French Dominican
friar Jordanus Catalani
of Severac in south-western France, arrived in Bhatkal
, North Canara. According to historian Severine Silva, no concrete evidence has yet been found that there were any permanent settlements of Christians in South Canara before the 16th century.
Propagation of Christianity in the region only began after the arrival of the Portuguese in 1498, when Vasco da Gama
's landed on St Mary's Islands
in South Canara and planted a cross there on his voyage from Portugal to India.
In 1500, the Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral
arrived at Anjediva
in North Canara with eight Franciscan
missionaries under the leadership of Frei Henrique Soares de Coimbra. On arrival they converted 22 or 23 natives to Christianity in the Mangalore region. In 1526, during the viceroyship of Lopo Vaz de Sampaio
, the Portuguese took possession of Mangalore
whereupon Portuguese Franciscans began slowly spreading Christianity in Mangalore.
Contemporary Mangalorean Catholics are descended mainly from the Goan Catholic
settlers, who migrated to Canara from Goa
, a state north of Canara, between 1560 and 1763 in three major waves. The first wave of immigrants came to Mangalore to escape the trials of the Goa Inquisition
of 1560. These migrants were welcomed by the native Bednore rulers of Canara for their agricultural skills. They were followed by a second major wave precipitated by the Portugal–Adil Shahi wars between 1570 and 1579. A final influx of immigrants arrived during the Portugal–Maratha
wars in Goa during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. According to Mangalorean historian Alan Machado Prabhu, the Mangalorean Catholics numbered about 58,000 by the time of the capture of Canara by Hyder Ali in 1765.
, capital of the Kingdom of Mysore, was home to a community of more than 400 Catholics who were severely harassed in the following two decades when their churches were destroyed and the priest's house confiscated. This destruction was undertaken in the name of the Wodeyar
king, Kanthirava Narasaraja I
by his finance minister. The priest's house was eventually returned to the church in 1709. Sometime between 1700 and 1717, another church was built in Rampura, a suburb of Seringapatam, in the face of local opposition. Relations between the Wodeyars and the Mangalorean Catholics improved until 1717, when an anti-Christian outburst led to the expulsion of the resident priest who was thereafter forbidden to preach. Several more anti-Christian demonstrations followed, but by 1736 relations had once more improved between the two groups.
Hyder Ali
, born in 1721 or 1722 at Budikote
in the northern part of Mysore State
, joined the Mysorean Army and distinguished himself in the 1749 Siege of Devanahalli
. He took part in the Carnatic wars
of (1751–1755) and gained in-depth experience of warfare. Hyder Ali rapidly rose to power at the Mysore court and soon became prime minister and general of the king. From 1761 onwards, he took de facto control of the throne of the Mysore Kingdom through the Wodeyar dynasty
. In 1763, he occupied Mangalore
and Canara, but maintained amicable relations with the Christians. Historian Severine Silva states, "the general relations between Hyder and Christians form a chapter which has been entirely lost." Hyder was close friends with two Goan Catholic priests, Bishop Noronha, and Fr. Joachim Miranda. Sehwarts, a Protestant missionary, also lived at the court of Hyder. However, Hyder was also involved in suppressing the Jesuit order.
Hyder's army included several Catholic soldiers and he allowed Christians to build a church within the Seringapatam Fort where French generals offered prayers and priests visited. Mangalorean historian A.L.P. D'Souza mentions that Hyder had also used Canara Christians for administrative purposes. In accordance with the two treaties concluded with Portugal, Hyder allowed Portuguese priests to settle disputes among the Christians. Despite this, the Christians in general hated Hyder Ali because of the heavy taxes they were made to pay to the king's treasury.
In February 1768, the British captured Mangalore and Canara from Hyder. At the end of the same year, Hyder, along with his son Tipu Sultan, defeated the British and recaptured Mangalore. After the conquest, Hyder was informed that the Mangalorean Catholics had helped the British in their conquest of Mangalore. Hyder believed that this behaviour amounted to treachery against the sovereign. Summoning a Portuguese officer and several Christian priests from Mangalore, he asked for suggestions as to how the Mangalorean Catholics should be punished. The Portuguese officer suggested the death penalty for those Catholics who had helped the British, as it was the standard punishment for betraying a sovereign. Rather than follow this advice, Hyder chose a diplomatic stance and imprisoned Christians found guilty of treachery instead of executing them. Later, he opened negotiations with the Portuguese. Agreement was reached and suspicions against the clergy and the Christians were removed and they were no longer chastised. During Hyder's regime, Roman Catholicism in Mangalore and the Mangalorean Catholic community continued to flourish.
Historians claim that Hyder was extremely tolerant towards the Christians. According to historian Severine Silva, he followed the same policy of religious tolerance towards Christians as he had from the beginning, even though the Christians had revolted against him. The Second Anglo-Mysore War
began in 1780 and led to Hyder's death on 7 December 1782, at Arcot. Afterwards the British recaptured the fort at Mangalore.
Tipu Sultan
succeeded his father at the age of 31. He had also taken part in the conquest of Mangalore in 1768, and was aware of the treachery of the Mangalorean Catholics towards the sovereign, as well as their having helped the British. He also knew of the treatment of Canara Muslims by the Portuguese clergy and had always resented his father's favourable policy towards the Mangalorean Catholics.
The British army under Commander-in-Chief, Brigadier-General Richard Matthews, landed in Canara
on 9 March 1783, and captured the Mangalore fort on the orders of the Bombay Government. Many Christians were allegedly recruited into the army of General Matthews. Tipu became infuriated with the Christians of Canara for two reasons. Firstly, when French soldiers laid down their arms because of the Peace of Paris (1783)
treaty, the Christians refused to fight for Tipu. Secondly, the Christians lent the sum of Rs. 3,30,000 to General Matthews, which led Tipu to believe that the Mangalorean Catholics were helping the British.
In May 1783, General Matthews was accused of procrastination and suspended by the Bombay Government. Thereafter Colonel John Campbell received provisional command of the strategic fort of Mangalore on 5 May 1783. Tipu made several assaults on the Mangalore fort up until January 1784, all of which resulted in failure. Looking at the wounded embattled garrison, Colonel Campbell considered it futile to hold out any longer. He finally delivered the Mangalore fort to Tipu when the British capitulated on 30 January 1784. On 11 March 1784, Tipu and the British East India Company
signed the Treaty of Mangalore
, thus bringing an end to the Second Anglo-Mysore War
.
Historian Ahmad Saeed states that the Christians acted as spies and guided the British whilst historian Praxy Fernandes points out that the Christians helped Colonel Campbell in the Mangalore fort and adjoining towns by providing them with rice, vegetables, meat, men, and money. In a letter to his superiors, Colonel Campbell strongly commended the role of the Bombay Natives
regiment. This was led by a native major named Francis Pinto who put up a brave defence of the fort. He also refers to these troops as the "Native Christians". Fernandes further points out that the Christians had entered into a league with Mysore traitors Kasim Ali and Mohammed Ali, who were enemies of Tipu, and had plotted with the English to overthrow him. He also states that the Head of the Congregation of Monte Mariano Church
at Farangipet, near Mangalore, provided the British garrison with 1,000 bags of rice.
Severine Silva points out that the Christians of Canara were eager to get rid of Tipu. The History of the Diocese of Mangalore by J. Moore and Angelus Francis Xavier Maffei also purports to show that the Christians of Canara were charged with assisting the British during the Second Anglo-Mysore War. Tipu made a number of accusations against the Christians, including that they had invited the British to invade Canara in 1781–82, furnished supplies to and otherwise assisted General Matthews' army when it landed and took possession of Onore
, accompanied the British detachment to Mangalore, provided it with supplies both before and after the march, aided the British in repairing breaches made when the fort was besieged by Tipu and plundered the state treasury at Nuggur when that fortress fell to General Matthews.
After receiving highly exaggerated reports about the role of the Christians and their help to the British during the Second Anglo-Mysore War, Tipu decided to minimise the threat to his kingdom from the British and banish the Christians of Canara. According to Severine Silva, this decision was the logical outcome of the plans he had nurtured since the time of the conquest of Mangalore with his father Hyder in 1768.
It is generally believed that the propaganda of the Goan priests and the alliance of the Christians with the English cause Tipu to banish the community from Canara. The main political reason for this decision was Tipu's belief that if he banished the Christians, he could keep the British at bay. However, Alan Machado Prabhu dismisses the idea of large-scale Christian support for the British during the Second Mangalore War as a myth which is not based on any concrete evidence.
Prabhu states that the charge that the Christians constituted a united front cannot be sustained. Apart from divergent viewpoints among the Christian community at the time, he argues that difficulties in communication for a minority Christian population spread over a 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) forested coastline broken by numerous streams and rivers, would have made united action practically impossible. He further states that the majority of Mangalorean Catholics were agriculturists farming land capable of growing three crops a year. The idea of neglecting their fields in the cause of a small band of British isolated in the confines of a fort besieged by a large Mysorean army would have sounded insane. Even if the British had made promises, they would have had little effect on the militarily inexperienced Christians, who would then have had to fight a large and well-trained army in support of a beleaguered army which was not even successful.
On the basis of Colonel Campbell's letter, Prabhu concludes that the "Native Christian" soldiers present in the fort were probably all East Indian infantry and artillery experts, belonging to the Bombay Natives. He believes that at best, any assistance was of a limited nature and restricted to purely individual enterprise. Prabhu points out that European troops, both English and French, including those from Tipu's own mercenaries
, did receive some assistance although this was more humanitarian than military. He also states that claim of the Christians paying the British Rs. 3,30,000 is an utter fabrication. To make his point, Prabhu points out that the annual revenue of the Portuguese province of Goa itself amounted to over three to four lakh rupees. Payment of the huge sum claimed by Tipu would have required a large number of wealthy donors—which the Mangalorean Catholics were not.
Soon after Tipu gained possession of Mangalore in January 1784, he issued orders for the seizure of the Christians in Canara, confiscation of their estates, and their subsequent deportation to his capital at Seringapatam along the Jamalabad fort
route. Tipu expelled the 13 Goan priests from his kingdom. They were issued with orders of expulsion to Goa
, fined Rs. 2 lakhs, and threatened with death by hanging if they ever returned. He also banished Fr. Joachim Miranda, a close friend of his father Hyder Ali. In a letter to the Portuguese Government, Tipu wrote that he had commuted the priests' sentences of capital punishment and ordered a fine of 3 crore rupees instead. According to a report of 1784, Tipu had driven 26 missionaries out of his state, three of whom secretly went to join the captives. Two died en-route and one was killed by a soldier. The missionaries were warned that they faced the death penalty if they re-entered Tipu's kingdom.
On 24 February 1784, (Ash Wednesday
), in a secret and well planned move, Tipu arrested a large number of Christians across the province of Canara and other parts of his kingdom. Accounts of the number of captives range from 30,000 to 80,000. According to historian Kranti Farias, all arrests may not have been made on a single day, but instead carried out in stages.
When Tipu issued his orders to seize the Christians, the British, who had entered into a treaty with him on 11 March 1784, were helpless. Captives also included Malayali Christians
, and Tamil Christians from the Tamil-countries
. The Portuguese, guardians of the Christian faith in Canara, intervened and requested Tipu not to imprison the priests. They suggested that he let the Christians live peacefully as his father Hyder Ali had done. But Tipu paid no heed to their request. Estimates suggest that about 7,000 people remained in hiding. Many were actively assisted by the Hindus whilst the few Christians in Canara who escaped Tipu's initial captivity fled to Coorg and Malabar, where they were protected by the native rulers.
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On Tipu's orders, all estates and properties of the Christians were seized, and distributed among his soldiers. Churches and historical records were also destroyed. The seizures were so sudden that the Christians had no time to prepare for their departure or to dispose of what little property they possessed. The value of property confiscated is estimated by Fr. Angelus Francis Xavier Maffei, an Italian Jesuit, at Rs. 5,00,000.
Tipu then ordered the destruction of all 27 churches in Canara. According to oral tradition, the Idgah mosque in Mangalore was constructed with stones from the destroyed Milagres Church
. Other Christian establishments that were spared were converted to storehouses, offices, or homes for wealthy Muslims. A popular fortification in Mangalore, the Sultan Battery
, built in 1784 by Tipu Sultan to prevent English warships from entering the Gurupura
river, was constructed with stones taken from destroyed churches. The bells from the demolished churches eventually found their way into a number of temples in the area. After being informed of the impending roundup by a friend in Tipu's government, Fr. Joachim Miranda disbanded St. Joseph's Seminary
and sent the seminarians to Verapoly, from where some proceeded to Goa while some joined the Augustinian order
.
A few buildings escaped destruction, including a small chapel at Shantigramma near Hassan, built in 1768 and said to have been saved by Tipu's Muslim officers on the pretext that it was used to store cotton. Tipu also spared the Monte Mariano church at Farangipet, on account of his father's friendship with Fr. Joachim Miranda.
Tipu is said to have given orders to preserve the church at Baleguli, near Ancola
, in gratitude for a cure by a Christian woman while at Ancola. The Igreja da Santa Cruz at Hospet
was saved through the intercession of the local Jain chiefs. In Seringapatam, a whole battalion of Catholics under an officer named Michael Surappa, upon hearing of Tipu's order to destroy the Seringapatam church, called their fellow soldiers to arms. Surappa, a veteran of Hyder's army, is credited with telling the assembled Christians, "I shall remain a Christian in spite of all the orders of Tipu Sultan." The church at Kirangur
was spared, although the battalion gradually dispersed.
According to the Barcoor Manuscript, written in Kannada by a Mangalorean Catholic from Barcoor
on his return from Seringapatam, the Christians were interned in holding camps at Mangalore
, Manjeshwar
, Cundapore
, Onore, Ancola
, and Sunquerim, with the more rebellious Christians brought in in chains. They were then forced to climb nearly 4000 feet (1,219.2 m) through the dense jungles and gorges of the Western Ghat
mountain ranges along two routes, one of which was along the Bantval
-Belthangadi-Kulshekar
-Virajpet
-Coorg-Mysore route, and the other along the Gersoppa falls
(Shimoga) route. On the 200 miles (321.9 km) journey from Mangalore to Seringapatam the Christians were accompanied by three priests, who had secretly joined them despite threats of expulsion by Tipu.
Trouble arose when guards began molesting captive Christian women at their first camp at Bantwal, although able-bodied captives were able to resist the guards. At the next camp at Jamalabad fort
, the rebel Christian leaders were thrown down from the fort. The town of "Nettrekere" or "Netterkedu" in Tulu
, on the cross roads from Maripalla to Kalpane, derives its name from the large pool of blood which resulted from the execution of rebellious Mangalorean Catholics on their march to Mysore.
According to a captive from Barcoor, pregnant women often gave birth en route, and their babies had to be borne bundled about them. When they rested, the infants were suspended in cradles from the branches of trees. If anyone happened to die they were buried on the spot. Captives were not given any rations, and when the time came to move on, those who had not finished cooking had to leave behind their rice and the cooking pots. The Barcoor Manuscript along with other British Government records suggest that 20,000 captives (one-third of the total) died on the march to Seringapatam due to hunger, disease, and ill treatment by soldiers. The journey to Seringapatam took six weeks. By 1787, some 30,000 captives, half the original number, had perished.
On arrival at Seringapatam the Christian captives were forced to embrace Islam. All those who complied were freed. Those who refused were tied to the feet of the elephants to be dragged and trampled on Tipu's orders.
One English prisoner related that two risalas (regiments of soldiers) arrived daily in Seringapatam to select girls they could take as prizes to join their harem
s. Often when girls were seized, their young men would offer resistance and smash their dhoolies (palanquin
). Officers would capture the attackers and administer five hundred strokes with whips and canes, from whose effects many men died. Historian Lewin Bentham Bowring
reports that, "Tipu demanded the surrender of the daughters of some of these Christians in order to have them placed in his seraglio
, and that, on the refusal of their parents, the latter had their noses, ears and upper lips cut off, and were paraded through the streets on asses, with their faces towards the tails of the animals."
Such treatment of the Christians for refusals by the girls is also confirmed in the accounts of British officer James Scurry
, who was held captive along with the Mangalorean Catholics. In his book The Captivity, Sufferings, and Escape of James Scurry, who was Detained a Prisoner During Ten Years, in the Dominions of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib (1824), Scurry also reports that Tipu relented on his demand for captive girls, after one captive fell from her beast and expired on the spot through loss of blood. About 200 young women, the prettiest and fairest, were selected for Tipu's seraglio. The rest of the women were distributed as wives to Muslim officers and favourites living there. The future Christian progeny of these young girls and women were lost, and their descendants are fully Islamic as of today.
As the food in the camp was sub-standard, Balthazar of Belthangadi
, a Mangalorean Catholic nobleman, offered to make a chutney
for the captured Mangalorean Catholics. This came to be known as the legendary "Balthazar Chutney" . The jemadars, subedars, and havildars meted out more a ignominious punishment to those who refused to accept Islam, slitting off their ears and noses. They were seated on asses, paraded through the city, and thrown into the dungeons of Seringapatam. Able-bodied young Christian men were drafted into the army after being circumcised and converted to Islam.
The Barcoor Manuscript records, "On four occasions the young able-bodied Christian men were thus drafted for the Army. Some of them were appointed jemadars, subedars, and havildars. The Sircar supplied them with ghee, butter, curds, firewood, etc. One hundred men were formed into one company, four companies into a risala, four risalas into a sufedar, and four sufedars were placed under a bakshi. Out of every company twenty-five men were taken and circumcised at the end of every month. When the wounds were healed, another twenty-five were taken and circumcised, and so on, until the whole company was initiated into Islamism."
British general Kirkpatrick arrives at a figure of 15,000 young men capable of bearing arms, formed into 30 risalas. They were drafted into the Ahmedy Corps in 1785 and went on to serve in Tipu's campaigns against the Marathas
, the Nizam, and the British
during 1786 and 1787. Casualties were heavy and only a few survived captivity.
Those who remained, such as the lame, the blind and the aged, employed themselves in cultivating the land and doing other manual work. Many were made to carry baskets filled with gobra (cowdung) for three days as a public warning to others. The stubborn Christians were given the most menial tasks, and made to work in the paddy fields. They were underfed, and immediately imprisoned for fighting. Completely isolated from any women, the idea was for the captive men to die of old age without creating any progeny.
Tipu appointed some Christian captives to posts in his household. He made Salu (Salvadore) Pinto Deputy Vizier and Anthony Gagialgar (clockmaker) Saldanha House Chamberlain. One of his most faithful servants, a Mangalorean Catholic named Manuel Mendes, saved Tipu's life in Travancore
when he donned his master's robes and sat in his palanquin. Tipu escaped in the general panic whilst Mendes was captured and killed by the Nairs, who mistook him for Tipu.
In 1785, after declaring the Coorgis guilty of polyandry
, Tipu seized nearly 70,000 Hindus of Coorg along with the King of Coorg, Dodda Vira-Rajendra, and held them captive at Seringapatam. They were also forcibly converted to Islam and received the same treatment as the Mangalorean Catholics. From 1786 until 1789, even the Nairs of Malabar were captured and deported to Seringapatam.
By 1787, half of the Christians had perished through disease and starvation. Tipu attempted to preach to the remaining Christians in Canara, and took them into custody. As the Christians settled down in Seringapatam, they slowly reorganised themselves with the elders forming a secret group named the "Council of Ten", to help keep their faith alive. According to Balthazar of Belthangadi, in the "Council of Ten", the Christians met from time to time to deliberate on issues concerning the community. In 1789, Tipu came to know of the group through one of his officers and thereafter banned any political gathering of the Christians.
The Christians, believing that this tribulation came upon them for their neglect of the Law of God and their religious duties, began to fervently read the Krista Purana
, an epic poem on the life of Jesus Christ
written by the English Jesuit Thomas Stephens
(1549–1619). On discovering this, some Muslims destroyed the books, but the Christians constructed subterranean refuges in which to perform their religious devotions, read the books, and strengthen their faith. According to Mr. Silva of Gangollim
, a survivor of the captivity, if a person who had escaped from Seringapatam was found, the punishment ordered by Tipu was amputation of the ears, nose, feet and one hand.
Reports by Joachim Miranda and the Portuguese Government confirm that the Christians were forcibly circumcised and converted to Islam. These Christians then openly practised Islam. Some writers hold the view that the Christians did not voluntary submit to these conversions. Other Christian missionaries also appealed to the Roman Catholic Church
to intervene on behalf of the captive Christians. A priest also wrote a letter to the Holy See
to put pressure on Tipu to allow the priests.
When Tipu's embassy visited the court of the French King Louis XVI in 1788, Pope Clement XIV
's representative conveyed the appeal to the embassy. In the Third Anglo-Mysore War
(1789–92), the British and their allies defeated Tipu. Desperate to break the alliance of powers surrounding him on all sides, Tipu sought to make peace with Portugal, the Marathas, and other powers. According to Severine Silva, he consequently gave up the persecution of Christians, opened negotiations with the Portuguese Government and with the Archbishop of Goa, with a promise that he would stop molesting the Christians, further asserting that he would rebuild all destroyed churches at his own cost. The Christians found their supervision relaxed and Tipu became more conciliatory in his attitude. The Christians now escaped from the camps of Seringapatam and gradually began to enter the neighbouring kingdoms of Coorg and Malabar.
At this time many Christians performed daring feats to rescue captives from Seringapatnam and take them to places of safety. A captive named Domingo Pinto (brother of Salvador Pinto, who rose to high rank in the services of Tipu), was particularly proficient in this. He rescued many people and took them secretly to Mangalore or Tellicherry. He proposed that those anxious to regain their liberty could be rescued on payment to him of a certain sum of money. He fixed the rescue price per captive at 8 hoons (Rs. 32) for a male, and 4 hoons (Rs. 16) for a female.
In 1792, the King of Coorg, Dodda Vira-Rajendra, managed to escape from captivity at Seringapatnam, and, with the aid of the British armies under Lord Cornwallis, was able to regain Coorg for himself through the treaty of 1792 between the English, their allies and Tipu. Anxious to repopulate a kingdom depopulated by Tipu, Dodda welcomed the fugitive Konkani Christians. As an inducement to remain permanently in his territory, he granted them several privileges, obtained a priest from Goa, and built a chapel for them. After the relaxation of policies from 1792 onwards, the Christians began to resettle in Canara. Many Mangalorean Catholic students, who had studied for the priesthood in Goa returned to Mangalore.
After considering the changed circumstances, the Archbishop of Goa, by a provision issued on 20 February 1795, appointed Minguel José Louis Mendes interim vicar of the four sub-districts of Mangalore, Barcoor, Onore and Moolki. Some other priests also came to Canara with the new vicar. Those from Goa retained their old prejudices and could not accept the rule of Tipu, openly advocating rebellion against him, writing offensive letters and making offensive speeches. As a result, in 1797, the brief repite enjoyed by the Christians ceased and their persecution recommenced.
, David Baird
, and
Arthur Wellesley
stormed the fortress, breached the town of Seringapatam, and killed Tipu. After Tipu's death in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War
, the Mangalorean Catholics were freed from captivity. Of the 60,000–80,000 Christians taken captive, only 15,000–20,000 made it out as Christians. British general Arthur Wellesley helped 10,000 of them return to Canara. Of the remaining Christians freed, about a thousand went to Malabar, and some hundreds settled in Coorg.
According to Francis Buchanan
, 15,000 of them returned to Mangalore and its environs, whilst 10,000 of them migrated to Malabar. The Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency (1883) mentions that 15,000 persons returned, of whom 12,000 were from South Canara and 3,000 from North Canara. According to the Mangalorean Catholic genealogist Michael Lobo, the present Mangalorean Catholic community is descended almost entirely from the small group of survivors who returned to South Canara. Soon after the death of Tipu, a detachment from the Bombay army under Lieutenant-Colonel Wiseman took possession of Mangalore on 4 June 1799, as well as the entire province of Canara, with the exception of the fortress of Jamalabad.
Thomas Munro was appointed the first collector of Canara in June 1799 and remained in the post until October 1800. He was accompanied by officers John Goldsborough Ravenshaw and Alexander Reade who were to take control and reorganise the administration.
Munro issued three edicts regarding Christian estates that had been taken over by non-Christians during the captivity. In determining ownership of land, he sent two Mangalorean Hindus, Muthsuddy Vencappah and Saly Purvoe Dur Shetty along with other Christians to investigate and report back to him about these estates. Through the assistance of the Church, and with the support of Munro, the Christians were able to recover their lands and estates.
In 1800, the British took a census of the region. Of the 396,672 people living in South Canara, 10,877 were Christians residing in 2,545 houses. According to the same census, in the entire province of Canara, out of the 5,92,000 people, the Christian population was recorded as 10,877 in South Canara, and 2,380 in North Canara. Padre José Miguel Luis de Mendes, a Goan Catholic priest, was appointed Vicar of Our Lady of Rosary at Mangalore on 7 December 1799. He took a lot of interest in the re-establishment of the community from 1799 to 1808. Later, John Goldsborough Ravenshaw was appointed collector of South Canara
, whilst Alexander Reade became collector of North Canara. Ravenshaw took an active part in the re-establishment of their former possessions and recovery of their estates. He constructed a church for them, which was completed in 1806. Churches destroyed by Tipu were rebuilt by the Christians.
After relocation, the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Goa recommenced. The Christian population almost doubled in 1818 when their total in North and South Canara was estimated to be 21,280 out of a total population of 670,355.
According to various parish books dating to the time, Mangalorean Catholics numbered 19,068 in South Canara (12,877 in Mangalore
and Bantval
, 3,918 in Moolki, 2,273 in Cundapore
and Barcoor
), whilst Christians in North Canara numbered 2,749 (1,878 in Onore
, 599 in Ancola
, and 272 in Sunquerim). Before long the Mangalorean Catholics became a prosperous and influential community consisting mainly of planters, tile manufacturers, and agriculturists. They also competed with the local Brahmin
s for offices in the services of the British, under whose rule the community prospered.
Many Roman Catholic and British writers have severely criticised Tipu for his policies and treatment of Christians. British general Kirkpatrick referred to Tipu as, "the intolerant bigot and the furious fanatic." British Colonel Mark Wilks
in his Historical Sketches of the South of India, cites an account in which Tipu mentions that, "the cause arose from the rage of Islam began to boil in his breast when informed of the circumstances of the spread of Christianity in Goa and Canara."
According to historian Thomas Paul, Tipu shifted his hatred for the British to the Mangalorean Catholics and other South Indian Christian communities. Sita Ram Goel
mentions that Tipu's justification for the conversion was that during the Portuguese domination, many Muslims were forcibly converted to Christianity. Tipu proclaimed his actions as a punishment for the conversion of Muslims to Christianity.
According to historian Alan Machado Prabhu, Tipu's reasons for the captivity were primarily religious. He found the social customs of the Christians distasteful, such as their fondness for pork and the social acceptance of alcohol. Tipu therefore saw them as a community deserving of his religious zeal as a Padishah
. As evidence of this, Prabhu states that Tipu does not mention a large scale Christian conspiracy in his writings in the Sultan-ul-Tawarikh, where he justifies his action instead as arising from the "rage of Islam that began to boil in his breast."
Prabhu further asserts that Tipu's hatred of Christians was compounded by fears that as they shared the same faith as their European co-religionists, the Christians were viewed as a potential fifth column
in the event of a British attack. To this, he adds that Tipu also had future territorial ambitions in Goa and wanted to rid himself of any potential dissent from the Christians within his domain. Therefore, according to Prabhu, through coerced confessions of prominent Mangalorean Catholics, Tipu fabricated evidence of a large-scale Christian conspiracy against him, even though he knew it wasn't true.
Contemporary scholars like Surendranath Sen, Mohibul Hasan, N. K. Sinha, and B. Sheik Ali, who have analysed Tipu's religious policies on Christians, conclude that he was not a religious bigot. They argue that forcible conversions to Islam were done purely for political, not religious reasons. Forced conversions were carried out as a punishment for Christians who supported the British against their own native suzerain. The conversions came after many warnings by Tippu.
Irrespective of these views, the Mangalorean Catholic community still considers Tipu as a bitter religious bigot and a ferocious conquistadore. He remains a hated personality among the community. More than a century after the Captivity ended, Jerome Saldanha, a Mangalorean Catholic historian and civil servant during the British Raj
at the Bombay Presidency, wrote an article in Mangalore Magazine, published by St. Aloysius College
, which chronicled contemporary developments and views from the closing decades of 19th century:
.
, Bishop of Mangalore (1931–1955), erected a large cross on the former outskirts of Mangalore in Nanthoor
near the Padav hills
in honour of the memory of those Mangalorean Catholics who died on the march to Seringapatam during the Captivity. The bicentenary of the release from captivity was widely celebrated on 4 May 1999 by the Mangalorean Catholic community. Five Catholics walked from Seringapatam to Mangalore to retrace the 278 kilometres (172.7 mi) route that Tipu Sultan forced the Christians to follow in 1784. The commemorative march ended on 11 May at the Rosario Cathedral, Mangalore.
c Rakshasa is the Konkani word for demon or monster.
d Bakri is the Hindi word for goat.
Kanara
The Kanara or Canara region comprises three coastal districts of Karnataka, namely Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada and Kasaragod district of Kerala in southwestern India. Kanara forms the southern part of the Konkan coast...
by Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan , also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-Nissa...
, the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore
Kingdom of Mysore
The Kingdom of Mysore was a kingdom of southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. The kingdom, which was ruled by the Wodeyar family, initially served as a vassal state of the Vijayanagara Empire...
. Estimates of the number of captives range from 30,000 to 80,000 but the generally accepted figure is 60,000, as stated by Tipu in the Sultan-ul-Tawarikh. The captivity was the most disconsolate period in the community's history. Its cause is disputed, although most historians consider it happened for political rather than religious reasons, owing to the alliance between the Mangalorean Catholics and the British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
during the Second Anglo-Mysore War
Second Anglo-Mysore War
The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict in Mughal India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the Franco-British conflict raging on account of the American Revolutionary War helped spark Anglo-Mysorean...
(1780–1784).
The Mangalorean Catholic community in Mangalore flourished during the regime of Tipu's father, Hyder Ali
Hyder Ali
Hyder Ali was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born Hyder Naik, he distinguished himself militarily, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's rulers...
. Soon after Tipu inherited the territory in January 1784, he issued orders to seize the Christians in Canara, confiscate their estates, and deport them to Seringapatam. His orders were carried out on 24 February 1784. Twenty thousand Christians died during the journey from Mangalore
Mangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
to Seringapatam. During captivity they suffered extreme hardships, torture, death, and persecutions with many Christians forcibly converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. Their captivity led to a near disintegration of the community and ended only when Tipu was killed by the British at the Battle of Seringapatam
Battle of Seringapatam
The Siege of Seringapatam was the final confrontation of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore. The British achieved a decisive victory after breaching the walls of the fortress at Seringapatam and storming the citadel. Tippu Sultan, Mysore's...
on 4 May 1799, during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War
Fourth Anglo-Mysore War
The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a war in South India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company under the Earl of Mornington....
. Of the 60,000–80,000 Christians taken captive, only 15,000–20,000 both made it out alive and retained their original faith. The episode had a deep impact on the Literature of Mangalorean Catholics
Literature of Mangalorean Catholics
-History:Mangalorean Catholics have immensely contributed towards Media Activities in Mangalore, Bombay and other cities in India. The Konkani Dirvem was the first Konkani language periodical to be published in Mangalore in 1912. The founder-editor of Konkani Dirvem was the great poet Louis...
. The bi-centennial anniversary of the Christians' release from captivity was celebrated across the region on 4 May 1999.
Background
Roman Catholics from the South CanaraSouth Canara
South Canara was a district under the British empire, located at . It was bifurcated in 1859 from Canara district. It was the undivided Dakshina Kannada district...
district on the south-western coast of India, under the jurisdiction of the Mangalore Diocese, are generally known as Mangalorean Catholics. They are Konkani people
Konkani people
Konkani people , form a group of people mainly found in the Konkan Coast of western India whose mother-tongue is the Konkani language....
who speak the Konkani language
Konkani language
KonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...
. All earlier records of South Canara's Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s were lost at the time of their deportation by Tipu in 1784 and it is not known when Christianity was introduced in South Canara. It is possible that Syrian Christians
Saint Thomas Christians
The Saint Thomas Christians are an ancient body of Christians from Kerala, India, who trace their origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. They are also known as "Nasranis" because they are followers of "Jesus of Nazareth". The term "Nasrani" is still used by St...
settled in South Canara as they had in Malabar
Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...
, a region south of Canara. During the 13th century Italian traveller Marco Polo
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
recorded that there were considerable trading activities between the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
and the Canara coast. Scholars have surmised that foreign Christian merchants were visiting the coastal towns of South Canara during that period for commerce, and that some Christian priests possibly accompanied them in their evangelical work. In 1321, the French Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
friar Jordanus Catalani
Jordanus
Jordanus or Jordan Catalani was a French Dominican missionary and explorer in Asia known for his Mirabilia describing the marvels of the East.-Travels:He was perhaps born at Sévérac-le-Château in Aveyron, north-east of Toulouse...
of Severac in south-western France, arrived in Bhatkal
Bhatkal
Bhatkal is also known as Batecala in some historical text especially in Portuguese history.Once ruled by Jain King Bhattakalanka and thus the name. Bhatkal is a port town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India 126 km from Karwar. The town lies on NH-17 running between Mumbai and Mangalore...
, North Canara. According to historian Severine Silva, no concrete evidence has yet been found that there were any permanent settlements of Christians in South Canara before the 16th century.
Propagation of Christianity in the region only began after the arrival of the Portuguese in 1498, when Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
's landed on St Mary's Islands
St Mary's Island, Karnataka
St. Mary's Islands also known as Coconut Island, are a set of four small islands in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Malpe in Udupi, Karnataka, India. They are known for their distinctive geological formation of columnar basaltic lava ....
in South Canara and planted a cross there on his voyage from Portugal to India.
In 1500, the Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral
Pedro Álvares Cabral
Pedro Álvares Cabral was a Portuguese noble, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the discoverer of Brazil. Cabral conducted the first substantial exploration of the northeast coast of South America and claimed it for Portugal. While details of Cabral's early life are sketchy, it...
arrived at Anjediva
Anjadip Island
Anjadip Island is an island in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Canacona in the South Goa district, Goa, India. Legally and constitutionally, it remains a part of Goa, although there is a widespread misconception that it is a part of the Karnataka state off whose coast it lies.-History:Anjediva,...
in North Canara with eight Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
missionaries under the leadership of Frei Henrique Soares de Coimbra. On arrival they converted 22 or 23 natives to Christianity in the Mangalore region. In 1526, during the viceroyship of Lopo Vaz de Sampaio
Lopo Vaz de Sampaio
Lopo Vaz de Sampaio was an administrator of the Portuguese Empire. He was also the captain of Vasco da Gama, a famous Portuguese explorer. During 1528-29, Lopo Vaz de Sampaio seized the fort of Mahim from the Gujarat Sultanate, when the King was at war with Nizam-ul-mulk, the emperor of Chaul, a...
, the Portuguese took possession of Mangalore
Mangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
whereupon Portuguese Franciscans began slowly spreading Christianity in Mangalore.
Contemporary Mangalorean Catholics are descended mainly from the Goan Catholic
Goan Catholics
The Goan Catholics are an ethno-religious community of Roman Catholics and their descendants from the state of Goa, located on the west coast of India. They are Konkani people and speak the Konkani language...
settlers, who migrated to Canara from Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, a state north of Canara, between 1560 and 1763 in three major waves. The first wave of immigrants came to Mangalore to escape the trials of the Goa Inquisition
Goa Inquisition
The Goa Inquisition was the office of the Inquisition acting in the Indian state of Goa and the rest of the Portuguese empire in Asia. It was established in 1560, briefly suppressed from 1774–1778, and finally abolished in 1812. The Goan Inquisition is considered a blot on the history of...
of 1560. These migrants were welcomed by the native Bednore rulers of Canara for their agricultural skills. They were followed by a second major wave precipitated by the Portugal–Adil Shahi wars between 1570 and 1579. A final influx of immigrants arrived during the Portugal–Maratha
Maratha Empire
The Maratha Empire or the Maratha Confederacy was an Indian imperial power that existed from 1674 to 1818. At its peak, the empire covered much of South Asia, encompassing a territory of over 2.8 million km²....
wars in Goa during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. According to Mangalorean historian Alan Machado Prabhu, the Mangalorean Catholics numbered about 58,000 by the time of the capture of Canara by Hyder Ali in 1765.
Under the Wodeyar Rajas and Hyder Ali
By 1686, SeringapatamSrirangapatna
Srirangapatna is a town in Mandya district of the Indian state of Karnataka...
, capital of the Kingdom of Mysore, was home to a community of more than 400 Catholics who were severely harassed in the following two decades when their churches were destroyed and the priest's house confiscated. This destruction was undertaken in the name of the Wodeyar
Wodeyar
The Wodeyar dynasty was an Indian royal dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Mysore from 1399 to 1947, until the independence of India from British rule and the subsequent unification of the Indian dominion and princely states into the Republic of India.The spelling Wodeyar/Wadiyar is found in most...
king, Kanthirava Narasaraja I
Kanthirava Narasaraja I
Kanthirava Narasaraja I was the Wodeyar ruler of Mysore from 1638 to 1659.-Early years:...
by his finance minister. The priest's house was eventually returned to the church in 1709. Sometime between 1700 and 1717, another church was built in Rampura, a suburb of Seringapatam, in the face of local opposition. Relations between the Wodeyars and the Mangalorean Catholics improved until 1717, when an anti-Christian outburst led to the expulsion of the resident priest who was thereafter forbidden to preach. Several more anti-Christian demonstrations followed, but by 1736 relations had once more improved between the two groups.
Hyder Ali
Hyder Ali
Hyder Ali was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born Hyder Naik, he distinguished himself militarily, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's rulers...
, born in 1721 or 1722 at Budikote
Budikote
Budikote or the "Fort of Ash" is a small village situated in Bangarpet Taluk of Kolar District in Karnataka state of India. It is about 15 miles from Kolar Gold Fields the nearest city. It has an old fort, hence the name. It is also the birth place of Hyder Ali, father of Tipu Sultan-the Tiger of...
in the northern part of Mysore State
Mysore State
The Kingdom of Mysore was one of the three largest princely states within the erstwhile British Empire of India. Upon India gaining its independence in 1947, the Maharaja of Mysore merged his realm with the Union of India...
, joined the Mysorean Army and distinguished himself in the 1749 Siege of Devanahalli
Devanahalli
Devanahalli previously called Devanadoddi, Devanapura, and Yusufabad) is a city in the state of Karnataka in India. The city is located outside the city limits of Bangalore. Devanahalli is the site of the newly constructed Bengaluru International Airport, the second largest in India...
. He took part in the Carnatic wars
Carnatic Wars
The Carnatic Wars were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th century on the Indian subcontinent...
of (1751–1755) and gained in-depth experience of warfare. Hyder Ali rapidly rose to power at the Mysore court and soon became prime minister and general of the king. From 1761 onwards, he took de facto control of the throne of the Mysore Kingdom through the Wodeyar dynasty
Wodeyar
The Wodeyar dynasty was an Indian royal dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Mysore from 1399 to 1947, until the independence of India from British rule and the subsequent unification of the Indian dominion and princely states into the Republic of India.The spelling Wodeyar/Wadiyar is found in most...
. In 1763, he occupied Mangalore
Mangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
and Canara, but maintained amicable relations with the Christians. Historian Severine Silva states, "the general relations between Hyder and Christians form a chapter which has been entirely lost." Hyder was close friends with two Goan Catholic priests, Bishop Noronha, and Fr. Joachim Miranda. Sehwarts, a Protestant missionary, also lived at the court of Hyder. However, Hyder was also involved in suppressing the Jesuit order.
In February 1768, the British captured Mangalore and Canara from Hyder. At the end of the same year, Hyder, along with his son Tipu Sultan, defeated the British and recaptured Mangalore. After the conquest, Hyder was informed that the Mangalorean Catholics had helped the British in their conquest of Mangalore. Hyder believed that this behaviour amounted to treachery against the sovereign. Summoning a Portuguese officer and several Christian priests from Mangalore, he asked for suggestions as to how the Mangalorean Catholics should be punished. The Portuguese officer suggested the death penalty for those Catholics who had helped the British, as it was the standard punishment for betraying a sovereign. Rather than follow this advice, Hyder chose a diplomatic stance and imprisoned Christians found guilty of treachery instead of executing them. Later, he opened negotiations with the Portuguese. Agreement was reached and suspicions against the clergy and the Christians were removed and they were no longer chastised. During Hyder's regime, Roman Catholicism in Mangalore and the Mangalorean Catholic community continued to flourish.
Historians claim that Hyder was extremely tolerant towards the Christians. According to historian Severine Silva, he followed the same policy of religious tolerance towards Christians as he had from the beginning, even though the Christians had revolted against him. The Second Anglo-Mysore War
Second Anglo-Mysore War
The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict in Mughal India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the Franco-British conflict raging on account of the American Revolutionary War helped spark Anglo-Mysorean...
began in 1780 and led to Hyder's death on 7 December 1782, at Arcot. Afterwards the British recaptured the fort at Mangalore.
Causes
Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan , also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-Nissa...
succeeded his father at the age of 31. He had also taken part in the conquest of Mangalore in 1768, and was aware of the treachery of the Mangalorean Catholics towards the sovereign, as well as their having helped the British. He also knew of the treatment of Canara Muslims by the Portuguese clergy and had always resented his father's favourable policy towards the Mangalorean Catholics.
The British army under Commander-in-Chief, Brigadier-General Richard Matthews, landed in Canara
Kanara
The Kanara or Canara region comprises three coastal districts of Karnataka, namely Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada and Kasaragod district of Kerala in southwestern India. Kanara forms the southern part of the Konkan coast...
on 9 March 1783, and captured the Mangalore fort on the orders of the Bombay Government. Many Christians were allegedly recruited into the army of General Matthews. Tipu became infuriated with the Christians of Canara for two reasons. Firstly, when French soldiers laid down their arms because of the Peace of Paris (1783)
Peace of Paris (1783)
The Peace of Paris was the set of treaties which ended the American Revolutionary War. On 3 September 1783, representatives of King George III of Great Britain signed a treaty in Paris with representatives of the United States of America—commonly known as the Treaty of Paris —and two treaties at...
treaty, the Christians refused to fight for Tipu. Secondly, the Christians lent the sum of Rs. 3,30,000 to General Matthews, which led Tipu to believe that the Mangalorean Catholics were helping the British.
In May 1783, General Matthews was accused of procrastination and suspended by the Bombay Government. Thereafter Colonel John Campbell received provisional command of the strategic fort of Mangalore on 5 May 1783. Tipu made several assaults on the Mangalore fort up until January 1784, all of which resulted in failure. Looking at the wounded embattled garrison, Colonel Campbell considered it futile to hold out any longer. He finally delivered the Mangalore fort to Tipu when the British capitulated on 30 January 1784. On 11 March 1784, Tipu and the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
signed the Treaty of Mangalore
Treaty of Mangalore
The Treaty of Mangalore was signed between Tippu Sultan and the British East India Company on 11 March 1784. It was signed in Mangalore and brought an end to the Second Anglo-Mysore War.-Background:...
, thus bringing an end to the Second Anglo-Mysore War
Second Anglo-Mysore War
The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict in Mughal India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the Franco-British conflict raging on account of the American Revolutionary War helped spark Anglo-Mysorean...
.
Historian Ahmad Saeed states that the Christians acted as spies and guided the British whilst historian Praxy Fernandes points out that the Christians helped Colonel Campbell in the Mangalore fort and adjoining towns by providing them with rice, vegetables, meat, men, and money. In a letter to his superiors, Colonel Campbell strongly commended the role of the Bombay Natives
Bombay Army
The Bombay Army was the army of the Bombay Presidency, one of the three Presidencies of British India, in South Asia.The Presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company until the Government of India Act 1858 transferred all three presidencies to the direct...
regiment. This was led by a native major named Francis Pinto who put up a brave defence of the fort. He also refers to these troops as the "Native Christians". Fernandes further points out that the Christians had entered into a league with Mysore traitors Kasim Ali and Mohammed Ali, who were enemies of Tipu, and had plotted with the English to overthrow him. He also states that the Head of the Congregation of Monte Mariano Church
Monte Mariano Church
Monte Mariano Church at Farangipet in South Canara, is a church where the Roman Catholic festival Monti Fest was initiated by Joachim Miranda, a Goan Catholic priest at Farangipet in 1763. Though Tippu Sultan destroyed the churches of Canara, he spared Monte Mariano Church in deference to the...
at Farangipet, near Mangalore, provided the British garrison with 1,000 bags of rice.
Severine Silva points out that the Christians of Canara were eager to get rid of Tipu. The History of the Diocese of Mangalore by J. Moore and Angelus Francis Xavier Maffei also purports to show that the Christians of Canara were charged with assisting the British during the Second Anglo-Mysore War. Tipu made a number of accusations against the Christians, including that they had invited the British to invade Canara in 1781–82, furnished supplies to and otherwise assisted General Matthews' army when it landed and took possession of Onore
Honavar
Honavar or Honnavar , is a port town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India. The town is the headquarters of Honnavar taluk.- History :...
, accompanied the British detachment to Mangalore, provided it with supplies both before and after the march, aided the British in repairing breaches made when the fort was besieged by Tipu and plundered the state treasury at Nuggur when that fortress fell to General Matthews.
After receiving highly exaggerated reports about the role of the Christians and their help to the British during the Second Anglo-Mysore War, Tipu decided to minimise the threat to his kingdom from the British and banish the Christians of Canara. According to Severine Silva, this decision was the logical outcome of the plans he had nurtured since the time of the conquest of Mangalore with his father Hyder in 1768.
It is generally believed that the propaganda of the Goan priests and the alliance of the Christians with the English cause Tipu to banish the community from Canara. The main political reason for this decision was Tipu's belief that if he banished the Christians, he could keep the British at bay. However, Alan Machado Prabhu dismisses the idea of large-scale Christian support for the British during the Second Mangalore War as a myth which is not based on any concrete evidence.
Prabhu states that the charge that the Christians constituted a united front cannot be sustained. Apart from divergent viewpoints among the Christian community at the time, he argues that difficulties in communication for a minority Christian population spread over a 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) forested coastline broken by numerous streams and rivers, would have made united action practically impossible. He further states that the majority of Mangalorean Catholics were agriculturists farming land capable of growing three crops a year. The idea of neglecting their fields in the cause of a small band of British isolated in the confines of a fort besieged by a large Mysorean army would have sounded insane. Even if the British had made promises, they would have had little effect on the militarily inexperienced Christians, who would then have had to fight a large and well-trained army in support of a beleaguered army which was not even successful.
On the basis of Colonel Campbell's letter, Prabhu concludes that the "Native Christian" soldiers present in the fort were probably all East Indian infantry and artillery experts, belonging to the Bombay Natives. He believes that at best, any assistance was of a limited nature and restricted to purely individual enterprise. Prabhu points out that European troops, both English and French, including those from Tipu's own mercenaries
Mercenaries in India
In 16th and 17th centuries, the imperial Mughal power was crumbling and other powers, mainly Maratha chiefs, were emerging. At this time, a number of mercenaries, arriving from several countries found employment in India...
, did receive some assistance although this was more humanitarian than military. He also states that claim of the Christians paying the British Rs. 3,30,000 is an utter fabrication. To make his point, Prabhu points out that the annual revenue of the Portuguese province of Goa itself amounted to over three to four lakh rupees. Payment of the huge sum claimed by Tipu would have required a large number of wealthy donors—which the Mangalorean Catholics were not.
Execution of orders
"We instantly directed the Divan of the Havur Kutchery to prepare a list of houses occupied by Christians, taking care not to omit a single habitation. After a detailed plan was made, we stationed an officer and soldiers in every place inhabited by Christians, signifying to them that at certain time they would receive orders that they would carry out in full effect.... On the morning of a specific day, (Ash Wednesday 24 February 1784) at the hour of Morning Prayer, let all Christians be made prisoner and dispatched to our presence. Accordingly all orders were everywhere opened at the same moment and at the same hour, namely that of the Morning Prayer." |
| Letter of an officer to Tipu Sultan (Kirkpatrick's Collection of Letters) |
Soon after Tipu gained possession of Mangalore in January 1784, he issued orders for the seizure of the Christians in Canara, confiscation of their estates, and their subsequent deportation to his capital at Seringapatam along the Jamalabad fort
Jamalabad
Jamalabad fort, located 8 km north of Beltangadi town, is 1788 ft above sea level and was formerly called Narasimha Ghada, which refers to the granite hill on which the fort is built. It is also referred locally as 'Jamalagadda' or 'Gadaikallu'.The fort was built by Tippu Sultan in 1794 and named...
route. Tipu expelled the 13 Goan priests from his kingdom. They were issued with orders of expulsion to Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, fined Rs. 2 lakhs, and threatened with death by hanging if they ever returned. He also banished Fr. Joachim Miranda, a close friend of his father Hyder Ali. In a letter to the Portuguese Government, Tipu wrote that he had commuted the priests' sentences of capital punishment and ordered a fine of 3 crore rupees instead. According to a report of 1784, Tipu had driven 26 missionaries out of his state, three of whom secretly went to join the captives. Two died en-route and one was killed by a soldier. The missionaries were warned that they faced the death penalty if they re-entered Tipu's kingdom.
On 24 February 1784, (Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...
), in a secret and well planned move, Tipu arrested a large number of Christians across the province of Canara and other parts of his kingdom. Accounts of the number of captives range from 30,000 to 80,000. According to historian Kranti Farias, all arrests may not have been made on a single day, but instead carried out in stages.
When Tipu issued his orders to seize the Christians, the British, who had entered into a treaty with him on 11 March 1784, were helpless. Captives also included Malayali Christians
Christianity in Kerala
Christianity is the third-most practiced religion in Kerala with 19% of the population according to the Indian census. Although a minority, Christians represent a much larger percentage of the population of Kerala than of India considered as a whole...
, and Tamil Christians from the Tamil-countries
Ancient Tamil country
The Sangam period is the classical period in the history of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other parts of South India, spanning about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE...
. The Portuguese, guardians of the Christian faith in Canara, intervened and requested Tipu not to imprison the priests. They suggested that he let the Christians live peacefully as his father Hyder Ali had done. But Tipu paid no heed to their request. Estimates suggest that about 7,000 people remained in hiding. Many were actively assisted by the Hindus whilst the few Christians in Canara who escaped Tipu's initial captivity fled to Coorg and Malabar, where they were protected by the native rulers.
| Account of the number of captives | |
| Source | Number |
|---|---|
| British officer James Scurry James Scurry James Scurry was a British soldier and memoirist. He was held captive by Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan for 10 years at Seringapatam. He had been kept as a guest at the fort. After his release from Seringapatam he reached an English camp... |
30,000 |
| Tipu Sultan | 60,000 |
| Scottish officer Thomas Munro | 60,000 |
| Scottish physician Francis Buchanan Francis Buchanan-Hamilton Dr Francis Buchanan, later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton was a Scottish physician who made significant contributions as a geographer, zoologist, and botanist while living in India.The standard botanical author abbreviation Buch.-Ham. is applied to... |
80,000 |
| British general Kirkpatrick | 70,000 |
| Asiatic Register of 1799 | 70,000 |
| The Memorial of 15 May 1860 | 60,000 |
| The Memorial of Rosario Parishioners Our Lady of Rosary of Mangalore Church of Our Lady of Rosary of Mangalore , or Rosario Cathedral at Bolar is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Mangalore, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. It was the first Roman Catholic church in the Canara region... |
80,000 |
| Barcoor Manuscript | 80,000 (60,000 from South Canara South Canara South Canara was a district under the British empire, located at . It was bifurcated in 1859 from Canara district. It was the undivided Dakshina Kannada district... and 20,000 from North Canara) |
| Goan priest Joachim Miranda | 40,000 |
| French priest Abbe Dubois | 60,000 |
| British Colonel Mark Wilks Mark Wilks Colonel Mark Wilks FRS was a Manx soldier and administrator.He was born in the Isle of Man, the son of Rev. James Wilks and Margaret Woods, and came from a long lineage of Manxmen.... |
60,000 |
| British general James Bristow | 40,000 |
| Mangalorean Historian S.N. Saldanha | 80,000 (60,000 from South Canara and 20,000 from North Canara) |
Confiscation of property and destruction of churches
Tipu then ordered the destruction of all 27 churches in Canara. According to oral tradition, the Idgah mosque in Mangalore was constructed with stones from the destroyed Milagres Church
Milagres Church
The Milagres Church is a historic Roman Catholic Church situated in the Hampankatta locality of Mangalore. The church was built in 1680 by Bishop Thomas de Castro, a Theatine from Divar, Goa. The original structure was constructed at the site of the present-day cemetery...
. Other Christian establishments that were spared were converted to storehouses, offices, or homes for wealthy Muslims. A popular fortification in Mangalore, the Sultan Battery
Sultan Battery (Mangalore)
Sultan Battery watch tower constructed by Tipu Sultan, is situated 4 km from Mangalore City. Built in black stones, it gives the impression of a miniature fortress with its arrangements for mounting cannons all-round....
, built in 1784 by Tipu Sultan to prevent English warships from entering the Gurupura
Gurupura
Gurupura is a small town near the city of Mangalore in the state of Karnataka, India. This town is sutuated on the banks of river Phalguniwhich is also known as Gurupura Nadi. This town is sitauted 15 kilometers away from Mangalore....
river, was constructed with stones taken from destroyed churches. The bells from the demolished churches eventually found their way into a number of temples in the area. After being informed of the impending roundup by a friend in Tipu's government, Fr. Joachim Miranda disbanded St. Joseph's Seminary
St. Joseph's Seminary (Mangalore)
St. Joseph's Inter-diocesan Seminary, Mangalore is a Jesuit seminary in Jeppu, Mangalore. It was first established by Fr. Joachim Miranda in 1763, and later reestablished by Msgr Nicholas Pagani in 1878.-History:...
and sent the seminarians to Verapoly, from where some proceeded to Goa while some joined the Augustinian order
Augustinians
The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...
.
| Churches destroyed by Tipu | ||||
| Original Portuguese name | Common English name | Sub-district | District | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Mangalore | Our Lady of Rosary (Mangalore) Our Lady of Rosary of Mangalore Church of Our Lady of Rosary of Mangalore , or Rosario Cathedral at Bolar is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Mangalore, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. It was the first Roman Catholic church in the Canara region... |
Mangalore | South Canara | |
| Nossa Senhora do Melagres de Mangalore | Our Lady of Miracles (Mangalore) Milagres Church The Milagres Church is a historic Roman Catholic Church situated in the Hampankatta locality of Mangalore. The church was built in 1680 by Bishop Thomas de Castro, a Theatine from Divar, Goa. The original structure was constructed at the site of the present-day cemetery... |
Mangalore | South Canara | |
| Nossa Senhora de Mercês de Velala | Our Lady of Mercy (Ullal Ullal Ullāḷ is a panchayat town in Dakshina Kannada district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is a small town about 8–10 km south of Mangalore close to the border between the two southern states of Karnataka and Kerala. It comprises two revenue villages, Ullal and Parmannur, in Mangalore Taluk... ) |
Mangalore | South Canara | |
| Jesus Maria Joze de Omzur | Holy Family Church (Omzoor Omzoor Omzoor is situated at a distance of 14 km from Mangalore to the north east and is surrounded by Neermarga, Belloor, Modankap, Fermai parishes.... ) |
Mangalore | South Canara | |
| Senhora São Joze de Pezar | St. Joseph (Pezar) | Mangalore | South Canara | |
| St. Joseph's Convent and seminary | Mangalore | South Canara | ||
| Menino Jesus de Bantval | Infant Jesus (Bantval Bantwal Bantwal is a taluk in Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, India. It is also a town by the same name. The adjacent township of B.C.Road serves as the commercial center.- History :... ) |
Bantval | South Canara | |
| Santa Cruz de Bedrim | Santa Cruz of Bidre | Bantval | South Canara | |
| Senhor Salvador de Agrar | Most Holy Saviour Church (Agrar) | Bantval | South Canara | |
| Sao. Lourenço de Carcoal | St. Lawrence Church St. Lawrence Shrine St. Lawrence Shrine or Attur Church is a Church in the erstwhile South Canara in existence from 1759, is said to have a history of miracles. It is by characterized its Attur Jatre or Attur Fest .... (Karkala Karkala Karkala is a town and the headquarters of Karkala taluk in the Udupi district of Karnataka, India. Located about 380 km from Bangalore, it lies near the Western Ghats.... ) |
Moolki | South Canara | |
| Nossa Senhora de Conçuçao de Mulquim | Our Lady of Immaculate Conception | Moolki | South Canara | |
| Nossa Senhora de Remedios de Quirim | Our Lady of Remedies (Kirem) | Moolki | South Canara | |
| Nossa Senhora de Saude de Sirvam | Our Lady of Health (Shirva Shirva Shirva is a village in Udupi taluk of Udupi district. The village is known locally for cultivation of flowers, especially Jasmine, called Mallige in Tulu language spoken by locals... ) |
Moolki | South Canara | |
| De Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Cundapoor | Our Lady of the Rosary (Cundapore Kundapura -Languages and culture :The town mainly consists of Kannadigas who speak Kundagannada, Konkanis and Tuluvas. The Goud Saraswat Brahmins who fled Goa during the Portuguese arrival in the 16th century arrived by Boat in Basrur and some settled in Kundapura and surrounding villages. These people and... ) |
Cundapore | South Canara | |
| De Nossa Senhora de Conçuçao de Gangollim | Immaculate Conception of the Blesses Virgin Mary (Gangollim Gangolli Gangolli is an Indian village in the Kundapura taluk of Udupi. It is situated across the river Pancha Gangaval from the town of Kundapura. It is located on a peninsula on the west coast of Karnataka... ) |
Cundapore | South Canara | |
| De Nossa Senhora do Melagres de Calliampoor | Holy Rosary (Kallianpur Kallianpur Kallianpur is a hamlet of Tonse-East village about six km from Udupi. It is a developed hamlet with all modern amenities like schools, college, hospital, good transport and communication facilities. The people of Kallianpur have survived many ages and still retain great positions with attachment to... ) |
Barcoor | South Canara | |
| De Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Onore | Our Lady of Rosary (Onore Honavar Honavar or Honnavar , is a port town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India. The town is the headquarters of Honnavar taluk.- History :... ) |
Onore | North Canara | |
| De Senhor São Francisco Xavier de Chandor | St. Francis Xavier Church (Chandavar) | Onore | North Canara | |
| De Nossa Senhora de Remedios de Gulmona | Our Lady of Remedies (Gulmona) | Onore | North Canara | |
| Imaculada Conceição de Sunquerim | Immaculate Conception | Sunquerim (Sunkery) | North Canara | |
| Source: History of the Catholic Community of South Kanara (1983) | ||||
A few buildings escaped destruction, including a small chapel at Shantigramma near Hassan, built in 1768 and said to have been saved by Tipu's Muslim officers on the pretext that it was used to store cotton. Tipu also spared the Monte Mariano church at Farangipet, on account of his father's friendship with Fr. Joachim Miranda.
Tipu is said to have given orders to preserve the church at Baleguli, near Ancola
Ankola
Ankola which is a Taluk is in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state, India. A small town by any standard surrounded by numerous temples. It is in line with Arabian sea. The beaches present at this place are Baskal gudda, nadibag, shedikuli, keni, Belekeri and many more...
, in gratitude for a cure by a Christian woman while at Ancola. The Igreja da Santa Cruz at Hospet
Hosabettu
Hosabettu is a census town in Dakshina Kannada District in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located near Moodbidri coming within limits Karnataka state.-Demographics:...
was saved through the intercession of the local Jain chiefs. In Seringapatam, a whole battalion of Catholics under an officer named Michael Surappa, upon hearing of Tipu's order to destroy the Seringapatam church, called their fellow soldiers to arms. Surappa, a veteran of Hyder's army, is credited with telling the assembled Christians, "I shall remain a Christian in spite of all the orders of Tipu Sultan." The church at Kirangur
Kirangur
Kirangur is a village in the southern state of Karnataka, India. It is located in the Shrirangapattana taluk of Mandya district in Karnataka.-Demographics:As of 2001 India census, Kirangur had a population of 7087 with 3549 males and 3538 females....
was spared, although the battalion gradually dispersed.
Journey from Mangalore to Seringapatam
Barkur
Barkur is a cluster of 3 villages [Hosala, Hanehalli, Kachoor] in Udupi district of the Karnataka state in South India. The place is located on the bank of river Seeta.-History:...
on his return from Seringapatam, the Christians were interned in holding camps at Mangalore
Mangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
, Manjeshwar
Manjeshwar
Manjeshwara is the northern tip of Kerala, bordering Karnataka. It is a small coastal village in Kasaragod district in the Indian state of Kerala. It is 21 km from Mangalore town...
, Cundapore
Kundapura
-Languages and culture :The town mainly consists of Kannadigas who speak Kundagannada, Konkanis and Tuluvas. The Goud Saraswat Brahmins who fled Goa during the Portuguese arrival in the 16th century arrived by Boat in Basrur and some settled in Kundapura and surrounding villages. These people and...
, Onore, Ancola
Ankola
Ankola which is a Taluk is in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state, India. A small town by any standard surrounded by numerous temples. It is in line with Arabian sea. The beaches present at this place are Baskal gudda, nadibag, shedikuli, keni, Belekeri and many more...
, and Sunquerim, with the more rebellious Christians brought in in chains. They were then forced to climb nearly 4000 feet (1,219.2 m) through the dense jungles and gorges of the Western Ghat
Western Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
mountain ranges along two routes, one of which was along the Bantval
Bantwal
Bantwal is a taluk in Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, India. It is also a town by the same name. The adjacent township of B.C.Road serves as the commercial center.- History :...
-Belthangadi-Kulshekar
Kulshekar
Kulshekar is a locality in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. The famous Holy Cross Church is located in the Cordel suburb of Kulshekar.-External links:*...
-Virajpet
Virajpet
The town of Virajpet is the second town of the district of Kodagu, in Karnataka. It is the main town of the Virajpet taluka, in the south of the district. The name is an abbreviation of Virarajendrapete after the former ruler of Kodagu, Virarajendra, and this latter form is still sometimes used.It...
-Coorg-Mysore route, and the other along the Gersoppa falls
Jog Falls
Jog Falls , created by the Sharavathi River falling from a height of is the second-highest plunge waterfall in India Located in Sagara, Karnataka Shimoga District of Karnataka state, these segmented falls are a major tourist attraction...
(Shimoga) route. On the 200 miles (321.9 km) journey from Mangalore to Seringapatam the Christians were accompanied by three priests, who had secretly joined them despite threats of expulsion by Tipu.
Trouble arose when guards began molesting captive Christian women at their first camp at Bantwal, although able-bodied captives were able to resist the guards. At the next camp at Jamalabad fort
Jamalabad
Jamalabad fort, located 8 km north of Beltangadi town, is 1788 ft above sea level and was formerly called Narasimha Ghada, which refers to the granite hill on which the fort is built. It is also referred locally as 'Jamalagadda' or 'Gadaikallu'.The fort was built by Tippu Sultan in 1794 and named...
, the rebel Christian leaders were thrown down from the fort. The town of "Nettrekere" or "Netterkedu" in Tulu
Tulu language
The Tulu language |?]]]) is a Dravidian language spoken by 1.95 million native speakers mainly in the southwest part of Indian state Karnataka known as Tulu Nadu. In India, 1.72 million people speak it as their mother tongue , increased by 10 percent over the 1991 census...
, on the cross roads from Maripalla to Kalpane, derives its name from the large pool of blood which resulted from the execution of rebellious Mangalorean Catholics on their march to Mysore.
According to a captive from Barcoor, pregnant women often gave birth en route, and their babies had to be borne bundled about them. When they rested, the infants were suspended in cradles from the branches of trees. If anyone happened to die they were buried on the spot. Captives were not given any rations, and when the time came to move on, those who had not finished cooking had to leave behind their rice and the cooking pots. The Barcoor Manuscript along with other British Government records suggest that 20,000 captives (one-third of the total) died on the march to Seringapatam due to hunger, disease, and ill treatment by soldiers. The journey to Seringapatam took six weeks. By 1787, some 30,000 captives, half the original number, had perished.
Fifteen-year captivity
One English prisoner related that two risalas (regiments of soldiers) arrived daily in Seringapatam to select girls they could take as prizes to join their harem
Harem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
s. Often when girls were seized, their young men would offer resistance and smash their dhoolies (palanquin
Litter (vehicle)
The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of persons. Examples of litter vehicles include lectica , jiao [较] , sedan chairs , palanquin , Woh , gama...
). Officers would capture the attackers and administer five hundred strokes with whips and canes, from whose effects many men died. Historian Lewin Bentham Bowring
Lewin Bentham Bowring
Lewin Bentham Bowring was a British civil servant in India who served as commissioner of Mysore between 1862 and 1870. He was also an author and man of letters.- Family :...
reports that, "Tipu demanded the surrender of the daughters of some of these Christians in order to have them placed in his seraglio
Seraglio
A seraglio or serail is the sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines in a Turkish household. The word comes from an Italian variant of Turkish saray, from Persian sarai , meaning palace, or the enclosed courts for the wives and concubines of the harem of a house or palace...
, and that, on the refusal of their parents, the latter had their noses, ears and upper lips cut off, and were paraded through the streets on asses, with their faces towards the tails of the animals."
Such treatment of the Christians for refusals by the girls is also confirmed in the accounts of British officer James Scurry
James Scurry
James Scurry was a British soldier and memoirist. He was held captive by Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan for 10 years at Seringapatam. He had been kept as a guest at the fort. After his release from Seringapatam he reached an English camp...
, who was held captive along with the Mangalorean Catholics. In his book The Captivity, Sufferings, and Escape of James Scurry, who was Detained a Prisoner During Ten Years, in the Dominions of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib (1824), Scurry also reports that Tipu relented on his demand for captive girls, after one captive fell from her beast and expired on the spot through loss of blood. About 200 young women, the prettiest and fairest, were selected for Tipu's seraglio. The rest of the women were distributed as wives to Muslim officers and favourites living there. The future Christian progeny of these young girls and women were lost, and their descendants are fully Islamic as of today.
As the food in the camp was sub-standard, Balthazar of Belthangadi
Belthangady
Belthangady is the headquarters of Belthangady taluk of the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka state in India. Belthangady taluk is mostly covered by forests. Western ghats provide scenic beauty, especially during the monsoon season that usually lasts from the month of June to September...
, a Mangalorean Catholic nobleman, offered to make a chutney
Chutney
Chutney is a a condiment used in South Asian cuisine that usually contains a spice and vegetable mix.Chutneys are wet or dry, having a coarse to fine texture. The Anglo-Indian loan word refers to fresh and pickled preparations indiscriminately, with preserves often sweetened. At least several...
for the captured Mangalorean Catholics. This came to be known as the legendary "Balthazar Chutney" . The jemadars, subedars, and havildars meted out more a ignominious punishment to those who refused to accept Islam, slitting off their ears and noses. They were seated on asses, paraded through the city, and thrown into the dungeons of Seringapatam. Able-bodied young Christian men were drafted into the army after being circumcised and converted to Islam.
British general Kirkpatrick arrives at a figure of 15,000 young men capable of bearing arms, formed into 30 risalas. They were drafted into the Ahmedy Corps in 1785 and went on to serve in Tipu's campaigns against the Marathas
Maratha Empire
The Maratha Empire or the Maratha Confederacy was an Indian imperial power that existed from 1674 to 1818. At its peak, the empire covered much of South Asia, encompassing a territory of over 2.8 million km²....
, the Nizam, and the British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
during 1786 and 1787. Casualties were heavy and only a few survived captivity.
Those who remained, such as the lame, the blind and the aged, employed themselves in cultivating the land and doing other manual work. Many were made to carry baskets filled with gobra (cowdung) for three days as a public warning to others. The stubborn Christians were given the most menial tasks, and made to work in the paddy fields. They were underfed, and immediately imprisoned for fighting. Completely isolated from any women, the idea was for the captive men to die of old age without creating any progeny.
Tipu appointed some Christian captives to posts in his household. He made Salu (Salvadore) Pinto Deputy Vizier and Anthony Gagialgar (clockmaker) Saldanha House Chamberlain. One of his most faithful servants, a Mangalorean Catholic named Manuel Mendes, saved Tipu's life in Travancore
Travancore
Kingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...
when he donned his master's robes and sat in his palanquin. Tipu escaped in the general panic whilst Mendes was captured and killed by the Nairs, who mistook him for Tipu.
In 1785, after declaring the Coorgis guilty of polyandry
Polyandry
Polyandry refers to a form of marriage in which a woman has two or more husbands at the same time. The form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more brothers is known as "fraternal polyandry", and it is believed by many anthropologists to be the most frequently encountered...
, Tipu seized nearly 70,000 Hindus of Coorg along with the King of Coorg, Dodda Vira-Rajendra, and held them captive at Seringapatam. They were also forcibly converted to Islam and received the same treatment as the Mangalorean Catholics. From 1786 until 1789, even the Nairs of Malabar were captured and deported to Seringapatam.
The Christians, believing that this tribulation came upon them for their neglect of the Law of God and their religious duties, began to fervently read the Krista Purana
Krista Purana
Krista Purana, |Fr.Thomas Stephens, S.J.]] . Adopting the literary form of the Hindu puranas it retells the entire story of mankind, from the creation days to the time of Jesus in lyrical verse form. The Christian Puranas - 11,000 stanzas of 4 verses - were very popular in the churches of the area...
, an epic poem on the life of Jesus Christ
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
written by the English Jesuit Thomas Stephens
Thomas Stephens (Jesuit)
Thomas Stephens was a Jesuit priest missionary in Portuguese India, writer and linguist.- Early years and studies :...
(1549–1619). On discovering this, some Muslims destroyed the books, but the Christians constructed subterranean refuges in which to perform their religious devotions, read the books, and strengthen their faith. According to Mr. Silva of Gangollim
Gangolli
Gangolli is an Indian village in the Kundapura taluk of Udupi. It is situated across the river Pancha Gangaval from the town of Kundapura. It is located on a peninsula on the west coast of Karnataka...
, a survivor of the captivity, if a person who had escaped from Seringapatam was found, the punishment ordered by Tipu was amputation of the ears, nose, feet and one hand.
Reports by Joachim Miranda and the Portuguese Government confirm that the Christians were forcibly circumcised and converted to Islam. These Christians then openly practised Islam. Some writers hold the view that the Christians did not voluntary submit to these conversions. Other Christian missionaries also appealed to the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
to intervene on behalf of the captive Christians. A priest also wrote a letter to the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
to put pressure on Tipu to allow the priests.
When Tipu's embassy visited the court of the French King Louis XVI in 1788, Pope Clement XIV
Pope Clement XIV
Pope Clement XIV , born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was Pope from 1769 to 1774. At the time of his election, he was the only Franciscan friar in the College of Cardinals.-Early life:...
's representative conveyed the appeal to the embassy. In the Third Anglo-Mysore War
Third Anglo-Mysore War
The Third Anglo-Mysore War was a war in South India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company and its allies, including the Mahratta Empire and the Nizam of Hyderabad...
(1789–92), the British and their allies defeated Tipu. Desperate to break the alliance of powers surrounding him on all sides, Tipu sought to make peace with Portugal, the Marathas, and other powers. According to Severine Silva, he consequently gave up the persecution of Christians, opened negotiations with the Portuguese Government and with the Archbishop of Goa, with a promise that he would stop molesting the Christians, further asserting that he would rebuild all destroyed churches at his own cost. The Christians found their supervision relaxed and Tipu became more conciliatory in his attitude. The Christians now escaped from the camps of Seringapatam and gradually began to enter the neighbouring kingdoms of Coorg and Malabar.
At this time many Christians performed daring feats to rescue captives from Seringapatnam and take them to places of safety. A captive named Domingo Pinto (brother of Salvador Pinto, who rose to high rank in the services of Tipu), was particularly proficient in this. He rescued many people and took them secretly to Mangalore or Tellicherry. He proposed that those anxious to regain their liberty could be rescued on payment to him of a certain sum of money. He fixed the rescue price per captive at 8 hoons (Rs. 32) for a male, and 4 hoons (Rs. 16) for a female.
In 1792, the King of Coorg, Dodda Vira-Rajendra, managed to escape from captivity at Seringapatnam, and, with the aid of the British armies under Lord Cornwallis, was able to regain Coorg for himself through the treaty of 1792 between the English, their allies and Tipu. Anxious to repopulate a kingdom depopulated by Tipu, Dodda welcomed the fugitive Konkani Christians. As an inducement to remain permanently in his territory, he granted them several privileges, obtained a priest from Goa, and built a chapel for them. After the relaxation of policies from 1792 onwards, the Christians began to resettle in Canara. Many Mangalorean Catholic students, who had studied for the priesthood in Goa returned to Mangalore.
After considering the changed circumstances, the Archbishop of Goa, by a provision issued on 20 February 1795, appointed Minguel José Louis Mendes interim vicar of the four sub-districts of Mangalore, Barcoor, Onore and Moolki. Some other priests also came to Canara with the new vicar. Those from Goa retained their old prejudices and could not accept the rule of Tipu, openly advocating rebellion against him, writing offensive letters and making offensive speeches. As a result, in 1797, the brief repite enjoyed by the Christians ceased and their persecution recommenced.
End of captivity and re-establishment
In the Battle of Seringapatam on 4 May 1799, the British army under officers George HarrisGeorge Harris, 1st Baron Harris
George Harris, 1st Baron Harris GCB was a British soldier.Harris was the son of the Reverend George Harris, curate of Brasted, Kent. He was educated at Westminster School and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he was commissioned to the Royal Artillery in 1760, transferring to an ensigncy in...
, David Baird
Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet
General Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet GCB was a British military leader.-Military career:He was born at Newbyth House in Haddingtonshire, Scotland, the son of an Edinburgh merchant family, and entered the British Army in 1772. He was sent to India in 1779 with the 73rd Highlanders, in which he...
, and
Arthur Wellesley
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
stormed the fortress, breached the town of Seringapatam, and killed Tipu. After Tipu's death in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War
Fourth Anglo-Mysore War
The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a war in South India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company under the Earl of Mornington....
, the Mangalorean Catholics were freed from captivity. Of the 60,000–80,000 Christians taken captive, only 15,000–20,000 made it out as Christians. British general Arthur Wellesley helped 10,000 of them return to Canara. Of the remaining Christians freed, about a thousand went to Malabar, and some hundreds settled in Coorg.
According to Francis Buchanan
Francis Buchanan-Hamilton
Dr Francis Buchanan, later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton was a Scottish physician who made significant contributions as a geographer, zoologist, and botanist while living in India.The standard botanical author abbreviation Buch.-Ham. is applied to...
, 15,000 of them returned to Mangalore and its environs, whilst 10,000 of them migrated to Malabar. The Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency (1883) mentions that 15,000 persons returned, of whom 12,000 were from South Canara and 3,000 from North Canara. According to the Mangalorean Catholic genealogist Michael Lobo, the present Mangalorean Catholic community is descended almost entirely from the small group of survivors who returned to South Canara. Soon after the death of Tipu, a detachment from the Bombay army under Lieutenant-Colonel Wiseman took possession of Mangalore on 4 June 1799, as well as the entire province of Canara, with the exception of the fortress of Jamalabad.
Thomas Munro was appointed the first collector of Canara in June 1799 and remained in the post until October 1800. He was accompanied by officers John Goldsborough Ravenshaw and Alexander Reade who were to take control and reorganise the administration.
Munro issued three edicts regarding Christian estates that had been taken over by non-Christians during the captivity. In determining ownership of land, he sent two Mangalorean Hindus, Muthsuddy Vencappah and Saly Purvoe Dur Shetty along with other Christians to investigate and report back to him about these estates. Through the assistance of the Church, and with the support of Munro, the Christians were able to recover their lands and estates.
In 1800, the British took a census of the region. Of the 396,672 people living in South Canara, 10,877 were Christians residing in 2,545 houses. According to the same census, in the entire province of Canara, out of the 5,92,000 people, the Christian population was recorded as 10,877 in South Canara, and 2,380 in North Canara. Padre José Miguel Luis de Mendes, a Goan Catholic priest, was appointed Vicar of Our Lady of Rosary at Mangalore on 7 December 1799. He took a lot of interest in the re-establishment of the community from 1799 to 1808. Later, John Goldsborough Ravenshaw was appointed collector of South Canara
South Canara
South Canara was a district under the British empire, located at . It was bifurcated in 1859 from Canara district. It was the undivided Dakshina Kannada district...
, whilst Alexander Reade became collector of North Canara. Ravenshaw took an active part in the re-establishment of their former possessions and recovery of their estates. He constructed a church for them, which was completed in 1806. Churches destroyed by Tipu were rebuilt by the Christians.
After relocation, the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Goa recommenced. The Christian population almost doubled in 1818 when their total in North and South Canara was estimated to be 21,280 out of a total population of 670,355.
According to various parish books dating to the time, Mangalorean Catholics numbered 19,068 in South Canara (12,877 in Mangalore
Mangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
and Bantval
Bantwal
Bantwal is a taluk in Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, India. It is also a town by the same name. The adjacent township of B.C.Road serves as the commercial center.- History :...
, 3,918 in Moolki, 2,273 in Cundapore
Kundapura
-Languages and culture :The town mainly consists of Kannadigas who speak Kundagannada, Konkanis and Tuluvas. The Goud Saraswat Brahmins who fled Goa during the Portuguese arrival in the 16th century arrived by Boat in Basrur and some settled in Kundapura and surrounding villages. These people and...
and Barcoor
Barkur
Barkur is a cluster of 3 villages [Hosala, Hanehalli, Kachoor] in Udupi district of the Karnataka state in South India. The place is located on the bank of river Seeta.-History:...
), whilst Christians in North Canara numbered 2,749 (1,878 in Onore
Onore
Onore is a comune in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about 80 km northeast of Milan and about 35 km northeast of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 799 and an area of 11.6 km².Onore borders the following municipalities:...
, 599 in Ancola
Ankola
Ankola which is a Taluk is in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state, India. A small town by any standard surrounded by numerous temples. It is in line with Arabian sea. The beaches present at this place are Baskal gudda, nadibag, shedikuli, keni, Belekeri and many more...
, and 272 in Sunquerim). Before long the Mangalorean Catholics became a prosperous and influential community consisting mainly of planters, tile manufacturers, and agriculturists. They also competed with the local Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
s for offices in the services of the British, under whose rule the community prospered.
Criticism of Tipu
Mark Wilks
Colonel Mark Wilks FRS was a Manx soldier and administrator.He was born in the Isle of Man, the son of Rev. James Wilks and Margaret Woods, and came from a long lineage of Manxmen....
in his Historical Sketches of the South of India, cites an account in which Tipu mentions that, "the cause arose from the rage of Islam began to boil in his breast when informed of the circumstances of the spread of Christianity in Goa and Canara."
According to historian Thomas Paul, Tipu shifted his hatred for the British to the Mangalorean Catholics and other South Indian Christian communities. Sita Ram Goel
Sita Ram Goel
Sita Ram Goel , writer and publisher in late twentieth century. He had Marxist leanings during the 1940s, but later became an outspoken anti-communist that also spoke negatively about Islam and Christianity...
mentions that Tipu's justification for the conversion was that during the Portuguese domination, many Muslims were forcibly converted to Christianity. Tipu proclaimed his actions as a punishment for the conversion of Muslims to Christianity.
According to historian Alan Machado Prabhu, Tipu's reasons for the captivity were primarily religious. He found the social customs of the Christians distasteful, such as their fondness for pork and the social acceptance of alcohol. Tipu therefore saw them as a community deserving of his religious zeal as a Padishah
Padishah
Padishah, Padshah, Padeshah, Badishah or Badshah is a superlative royal title, composed of the Persian pād "master" and the widespread shāh "king", which was adopted by several monarchs claiming the highest rank, roughly equivalent to the ancient Persian notion of "The Great" or "Great King", and...
. As evidence of this, Prabhu states that Tipu does not mention a large scale Christian conspiracy in his writings in the Sultan-ul-Tawarikh, where he justifies his action instead as arising from the "rage of Islam that began to boil in his breast."
Prabhu further asserts that Tipu's hatred of Christians was compounded by fears that as they shared the same faith as their European co-religionists, the Christians were viewed as a potential fifth column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
in the event of a British attack. To this, he adds that Tipu also had future territorial ambitions in Goa and wanted to rid himself of any potential dissent from the Christians within his domain. Therefore, according to Prabhu, through coerced confessions of prominent Mangalorean Catholics, Tipu fabricated evidence of a large-scale Christian conspiracy against him, even though he knew it wasn't true.
Contemporary scholars like Surendranath Sen, Mohibul Hasan, N. K. Sinha, and B. Sheik Ali, who have analysed Tipu's religious policies on Christians, conclude that he was not a religious bigot. They argue that forcible conversions to Islam were done purely for political, not religious reasons. Forced conversions were carried out as a punishment for Christians who supported the British against their own native suzerain. The conversions came after many warnings by Tippu.
Irrespective of these views, the Mangalorean Catholic community still considers Tipu as a bitter religious bigot and a ferocious conquistadore. He remains a hated personality among the community. More than a century after the Captivity ended, Jerome Saldanha, a Mangalorean Catholic historian and civil servant during the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
at the Bombay Presidency, wrote an article in Mangalore Magazine, published by St. Aloysius College
St. Aloysius College (Mangalore)
St. Aloysius College is a Jesuit college in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. It is situated on a campus atop Light House Hill, overlooking the Arabian Sea....
, which chronicled contemporary developments and views from the closing decades of 19th century:
People of all classes belonging to Canara, especially the Christians, had suffered so dreadfully from Tipu's regime of terror that they welcomed the British with a sense of relief and joy, and a hope of future peace and prosperity, that perhaps nowhere else was felt in India on the advent of the British. Nor were our ancestors disappointed, for they found that the main object of British rule in India was to secure the happiness of the people over whom it was held.
Criticism of the Christians
Thirty years after the event the apparent lack of resistance from the Christian captives drew criticism from the French priest Abbe Dubois. In one of his letters dated 1815, Dubois commented, "not a single individual among so many thousands had courage enough to confess his faith under this trying circumstance, and become a martyr to his religion." Various writers have concluded that the acceptance and practise of Islam by the Christians amounted to partial apostasyApostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
.
Remembrance of captivity
During the mid-19th century, Victor FernandesBishop Victor R. Fernandes
Bishop Victor R. Fernandes was the Bishop of the Mangalore Diocese from 1931 to 1955.-External links:*...
, Bishop of Mangalore (1931–1955), erected a large cross on the former outskirts of Mangalore in Nanthoor
Nanthoor
-External links:*...
near the Padav hills
Padav Hills
Padav hills are a range of hills in the Mangalore taluk, Karnataka, India. During the mid-nineteenth century, Bishop Victor Fernandes, a Mangalorean Catholic priest, erected a large cross at former outskirts of Mangalore in Nanthoor near Padav hills to honour the memory of Mangalorean Catholic...
in honour of the memory of those Mangalorean Catholics who died on the march to Seringapatam during the Captivity. The bicentenary of the release from captivity was widely celebrated on 4 May 1999 by the Mangalorean Catholic community. Five Catholics walked from Seringapatam to Mangalore to retrace the 278 kilometres (172.7 mi) route that Tipu Sultan forced the Christians to follow in 1784. The commemorative march ended on 11 May at the Rosario Cathedral, Mangalore.
James Scurry
Mr. Silva of Gangollim, a survivor of the captivity
In popular culture
- Many of Konkani littérateur V.J.P. Saldanha's Konkani historical novels such as Belthangaddicho Balthazar (Balthazar of BelthangadiBelthangadyBelthangady is the headquarters of Belthangady taluk of the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka state in India. Belthangady taluk is mostly covered by forests. Western ghats provide scenic beauty, especially during the monsoon season that usually lasts from the month of June to September...
), Devache Krupen (By the Grace of God), Sardarachi Sinol (The sign of the Knights) and Infernachi Daram (The gates of Hell) deal with the captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam. In these novels, the Mangalorean Catholic community of the eighteenth century are portrayed as brave, hardworking and selfless, while Tipu is portrayed as cunning, haughty, hard-hearted, revengeful, yet full of self control.
Footnotes
b "Malabar Christians" is a possible misinterpretation by James Scurry. The term actually refers to the Christians of Canara.c Rakshasa is the Konkani word for demon or monster.
d Bakri is the Hindi word for goat.
External links
- Accounts of the Captivity from Various Sources by Lúcio Mascarenhas
- The Babylonian Captivity At Seringapatnam by Lúcio Mascarenhas
- Christian Missionaries under Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan
- A summary of the book "Sarasvati's Children" by Joe Lobo, Kinnigoli.com
- Tipu Sultan: Coming to terms with the past by M. V. KamathM. V. Kamath'Madhav Vittal Kamath' is an Indian journalist. He was the former chairman of Prasar Bharati. He worked as the editor of 'The Sunday Times ' for two years during 1967-69 and as the its Washington Correspondent of 'Times of India' during 1969-78. He has also served as editor of 'The Illustrated...
, The News TodayThe News TodayThe News Today is an English evening daily newspaper in Chennai, India. It is published from Chennai every evening since 1982.-External links:*...