Captivity of Nairs at Seringapatam

The captivity of Nairs at Seringapatam was imposed on the Nairs of Malabar by Tipu Sultan, the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1786 to 1799. They were subjected to forcible conversions to Sunni Islam, the official religious sect sanctioned by the Ottoman Caliphate, whose approval and alliance was sought by Tipu Sultan. Those who refused conversions had to face many humiliations, hardships, torture, and even death. The captivity ended when Nair troops from Travancore defeated Tipu in the Third Anglo-Mysore War. It is estimated that out of the 30,000 Nairs put to captivity (including women and children), only a few hundred returned to Malabar alive. Quotes 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 his letter to the Governor of Bekal, Budruz Zaman Khan, in the year 1200 AH (1785 AD), Tipu approved of forced conversions of Nairs Kirkpatrick (2012). Select letters of Tippoo Sultan to various public functionaries. General Books. p. 256. Retrieved 14 February 2014. 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. In May 1785, an order was sent to the Faujdar of Calicut, Arshad Ali Baig, pertaining to the treatment of a Nair dissident Sen, Surendranath (1930). Studies in Indian history. University of Calcutta.. External links Category:History of India