Tipu Sultan - Hero or Villian

[Ali_Syed]

Re: Tipu Sultan - Hero or Villian

@calypsodc

Historian C. Hayavadana Rao wrote about Tippu in his encyclopaedic work on the History of Mysore. He asserted that Tippu’s “religious fanaticism and the excesses committed in the name of religion, both in Mysore and in the provinces, stand condemned for all time. His bigotry, indeed, was so great that it precluded all ideas of toleration”. He further asserts that the acts of Tippu that were constructive towards Hindus were largely political and ostentatious rather than an indication of genuine tolerance.

Hayavadana Rao was not just some 2 bit hindu historian. C. Hayavadana Rao - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are many other Hindu historians according to the NYTimes piece that I posted above who dont believe this.

Religion in Kerala - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Muslims are generally referred to as Mappilas in Kerala. They form 24.3% of the population of Kerala. They share a common language (Malayalam) with the rest of the population and have a culture commonly regarded as the Malayalam culture of Kerala with an Arabian blend.[11] The general consensus among historians is that Islam arrived in Kerala through Arab traders either during the time of Muhammad himself (AD 609 - AD 632) or in the following few decades. Kerala has a very ancient relation with the middle east even during the Pre-Islamic period. Muslim merchants (Malik, son of Dinar) settled in Kerala by the 8th century AD and introduced Islam.

Later the Zamorin of Kozhikode allowed the Arab Muslim traders to settle and form a major community in Kozhikode, from where the religion gradually spread in the following centuries. Significant populations of Muslims live in Calicut, Malapuram districts in the Malabar region. Noted historian A. Sreedhara Menon opines that the policy followed by the Zamorins of encouraging Muslim traders to settle down in his kingdom to flourish maritime trade perhaps accounts for the relatively high proportion of Muslims in Malabar. The Muslims also manned the Zamorin’s navy and were so intensely pro-Zamorin that one of them issued an order to bring up one male member in every fishermen family in his kingdom as a Muslim so as to get sufficient numbers in his navy.[12] There is also a significant Muslim population living in the coastal regions of central and southern Kerala.

Historians also believe that during invasion of North Kerala by Tipu Sultan, he forcefully converted many Hindus to Islam.[13][14] In a letter Tipu sent to one of his generals he claims to have converted over four lakh Hindus.

Since Islam reached Malabar as early as 7th century it had almost mixed with the culture and traditions of the people of Kerala and Hinduism. So, the Islahi movements of Kerala (a part of the renaissance of the community) after the Malabar Rebellion of 1921, produced a Salafi sect known as Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen from the Sunnis of Kerala. In later years, both these branches split multiple times to produce complicated branches and sects.

Muslims in Kerala enjoy a better social and financial security when compared to Muslims living in other parts of India. Kerala’s Muslim population is the fastest growing sect in Kerala. Muslims formed only 20 of Kerala population in 1971, but due to high population growth rate it increased to 24.3% of population as of 2001.[15]