Earlier published in PGurus
Tipu Sultan’s assault on men, material
and temples is well known by now, but a lesser known atrocity by him was the destruction
he caused to Tonnur Lake, popularly known as Tonnur kere located in
Mandya district. This lake was named as ‘Moti Talab’ by Nasir Jung, the
Subedar of the Deccan in view of the crystal clear water ever present in this
lake. The waters are so clear that one can see the pebbles at the bottom of the
lake.
Popular notion today attributes the
modern Moti Talab to Tipu Sultan! People also believe that he repaired the lake,
but facts speak otherwise. A dig into the history of this lake shows that Tipu
Sultan was the only person to have caused extensive damage to this lake which at once caused Jala samadhi for most people of Thondanur living downstream. The bund was subsequently repaired by the British. In a short period of 200 years after
that, the atrocity was forgotten or twisted deliberately with the result the
one who breached it was credited with having repaired it! And the motive for
the breach was his hatred for Hindus, as expected.
The “Souvenir of Mysore Album” from the
collection of Lord Curzon says that “The tank was breached by Tipu Sultan in
1798 to prevent its being of use to the enemy, but was restored by the British
and is maintained in good order”. The same article also traces the origin
of this lake to none other than the Hindu sage, Sri Ramanujacharya
during his stay at Thondanur, now corrupted as Tonnur. The formation of this
lake by Ramanujacharya is also well attested in Buchanan’s travelogue written
soon after the fall of Tipu Sultan.
In Buchanan’s times the lake was known
as ‘Yadavi Nuddi’. It was formed by two mountain currents that merged
together and forced their way through a gap between two hills. He recounts that
Ramanujacharya found a way to stop the water and closed the gap so that water
could be stored in the form of a lake. The superfluous water was let off
through channels cut through the hills. When the lake was full, it sustained
agriculture for two years.
Tonnur Lake
Ramanuja’s involvement in the formation
of the lake is also attested in the sthala Purana of Shravana belagola.
It says that the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana built the lake at the advice of
Ramanuja. It also says that the lake was named as Tirumala Sagara, after
the abode of Vishnu. This name is still in vogue today. The outflow channel of
the lake is called as Ramanuja Gange, in memory of Ramanuja. It is
really shocking that the 1000 year old history of this lake along with its
founder is completely unknown to many. But Tipu’s name continues to be
associated with the lake re-christined as Moti Talab and as one who repaired
the breach.
Only a few years after Tipu caused the
breach, Buchannan had visited Tonnur Lake. He was in Tonnur as part of an
assignment to survey the region after the fall of Tipu. He had written that
Tipu had made a narrow trench in the mound that closed the gap between the hills.
Once the opening was made the enormous water stored in the tank gushed out with
so much force that two thirds of the mound was swept away. An opinion prevalent
at that time was that Tipu wanted to destroy a monument built near the bund for
a Hindu Doctor, venerated by Hindus and he achieved it by allowing the water to
sweep it out. But Buchanan writes that, “Although the demolition of this
work by Tippoo was but a just retaliation for the enormities by which it had
been erected, nothing could be more absurd or impolitic, both as giving offence
to his subjects, and as injuring the resources of the country”.
It was on this trip to Tonnur Lake that
Tipu came to know about the presence of a monument near the lake for a fanatic
follower of Ghazni who suffered martyrdom. Buchanan states that “his zeal
against the infidels had been inflamed into rage by the recollection of the
martyrdom” and made him enlarge the mausoleum.
How he enlarged the mausoleum can be
understood from the Annual Report of the Mysore Archaeological Department for
the year 1939. It says that the mausoleum now stands on the ruins of a Hindu
temple. “Several pillars are Hindu. Some of these in the mantapa bear
figures of Hanuman etc.” So a Vishnu temple had been destroyed to build the
mausoleum of the ‘fanatic follower’ of Mahmud Ghazi who was likely to be
the one who ransacked the temples of Thondanur and Melkote. His accomplice had
escaped with the loot that included the processional deity of Melkote,
Ramapriyan.
It was only after the survey by
Buchanan, the breach had been repaired by the British. As if to pay back for
the massive gush of waters caused by Tipu, the sky opened up suddenly at the
time of burial of Tipu at the Gumbaz at Srirangapatna. “The funeral party
escorting Tippoo's body to the mausoleum of his ancestors situated in the Lal
Bagh Garden, where the remains of his warlike father, Hyder Ali, had been
deposited, were overtaken at the commencement of this furious whirlwind, and
the soldiers ever after were impressed with a firm persuasion that his Satanic
majesty attended in person at the funeral procession.... A fearful description
of the Day of Judgement might have been depicted from the appalling storm of
this awful night,” writes Lieutenant Richard Bayly, one of the British
officers who preferred to face a hundred battles than the horrific storm that
he witnessed at the time of Tipu’s burial.
Such was the thinking of an army officer
who had witnessed the atrocities committed by Tipu. Separated by time, we have
lost the power to judge the damage done by Tipu to the people and the earth as
well. Coming out fresh from celebrating Tipu Jayanti, a minister says that
there should be “Dharma (righteousness) in politics but not politics in
Dharma (religion)” By what Dharma can he and his ilk support Tipu for the
enormous damage he caused to the natural resource of the earth?
References:
Francis Buchanan, T. Cadell and W.
Davies, (1807) “A Journey from Madras Through the Countries of Mysore, Canara
and Malabar..” Volume II
Online Gallery, British Library, http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/m/019pho000430s41u00104000.html
Coelho, William (1950) “Hoysala Vamsa”
Gumbaz, Srirangapatna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumbaz,_Srirangapatna
