Tipu sent a letter on 19 January 1790 to the Governor of Bekal, Budruz Zuman Khan. It says:
“Don’t you know I have achieved a great victory recently in Malabar and over four lakh Hindus were converted to Islam? I am determined to march against that cursed Raman Nair (Rajah of Travancore) very soon. Since I am overjoyed at the prospect of converting him and his subjects to Islam, I have happily abandoned the idea of going back to Srirangapatanam now.”
Captivity of Kodavas at Seringapatam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Seringapatam, the young men were all forcibly circumcised and incorporated into the Ahmedy Corps, and were formed into eight Risalas or regiments.[SUP][2]](Captivity of Kodavas at Seringapatam - Wikipedia)[/SUP] The actual number of Kodavas that were captured in the operation is unclear. The British administrator Mark Wilks gives it as 70,000, Historian Lewis Rice arrives at the figure of 85,000, while Mir Kirmani’s score for the Coorg campaign is 80,000 men, women and child prisoners.[SUP][2]](Captivity of Kodavas at Seringapatam - Wikipedia)[/SUP] In a letter to Runmust Khan, Tipu himself stated:[SUP][3]](Captivity of Kodavas at Seringapatam - Wikipedia)[/SUP] “We proceeded with the utmost speed, and, at once, made prisoners of 40,000 occasion-seeking and sedition-exciting Coorgis, who alarmed at the approach of our victorious army, had slunk into woods, and concealed themselves in lofty mountains, inaccessible even to birds. Then carrying them away from their native country (the native place of sedition) we raised them to the honour of Islam, and incorporated them into our Ahmedy corps.”
With Coorg depopulated of its original inhabitants, Tipu sought to Islamize it with Muslim settlements. To this end, he brought in 7,000 men from the Shaikh and Sayyid clans, along with their families. However, this attempt proved to be partly successful, as many of them were eventually slain or fled after Tipu lost Coorg. The Coorg capital of Madikeri was also renamed to Zafarabad.
Captivity of Nairs at Seringapatam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nairs were treated with extreme brutality by the Muslims due to their strong adherence to the Hindu faith and martial tradition.
In his letter to the Governor of Bekal, Budruz Zaman Khan, dated 13 February 1756, Tipu approved of forced conversions of Nairs:[SUP][11]](Captivity of Nairs at Seringapatam - Wikipedia)[/SUP] "Your two letters, with the enclosed memorandums of the Nâimâ (Nair) captives, have been received. You did right in causing a hundred and thirty-five of them to be circumcised, and in putting eleven of the youngest of these into the Usud Ilhye band, and the remaining ninety-four into the Ahmedy troops, consigning the whole, at the same time, to the charge of the Kiladar of Nugr (Bednore).
In May of the same year, an order was sent to the Faujdar of Calicut, Arshad Ali Baig, pertaining to the treatment of a Nair dissident:[SUP][11]](Captivity of Nairs at Seringapatam - Wikipedia)[/SUP] “Getting possession of the villain, Goorkul, and of his wife and children, you must forcibly make Mussalmans out of them, and then dispatch the whole under a guard to Seringapatam.”
Proclamation
In 1788, Tipu issued a proclamation to the Nairs of Malabar, wherein he outlined his new scheme of social reform:[SUP][12]](Captivity of Nairs at Seringapatam - Wikipedia)[/SUP] “From the period of the conquest until this day, during twenty-four years, you have been a turbulent and refractory people, and in the wars waged during your rainy season, you have caused number of our warriors to taste the draught of martyrdom. Be it so. What is past is past. Hereafter you must proceed in an opposite manner, dwell quietly and pay your dues like good subjects and since it is the practice with you for one woman to associate with ten men, and you leave your mothers and sisters unconstrained in their obscene practices, and are thence all born in adultery, and are more shameless in your connections than the beasts of the fields : I hereby require you to forsake these sinful practices and be like the rest of mankind; and if you are disobedient to these commands, I have made repeated vows to honour the whole of you with Islam and to march all the chief persons to the seat of Government.”
His proclamation was met with widespread resentment and consequently, the Hindus of Malabar rose in rebellion.[SUP][12]](Captivity of Nairs at Seringapatam - Wikipedia)[/SUP] 30,000 Brahmins fled to Travancore, out of fear of being converted to Islam.