In my previous article named “Blood Bath Of Kodavas” I had exposed about a religious fanatic called Tippu Sultan, today I would like to further unearth the hidden secrets of how France and Tippu together went on massacring Hindus. 13th Dec of 1785, under the leadership of the French General Lally, and the ruler of Mysore, tyrant Tippu sultan, and his soldiers massacred 60,000 Kodavas in Devattparamb and about 65000 Kodava survivors (including women and children), among them the women were raped and children were forcefully indoctrinated to Islam. Tippu had lost battle 32 times against Kodavas and he apparently realised he would never be able to capture Kodagu which basically means he cannot capture Mangalore port for trade with France. The main backbone of this event was the French empire, they extended their military, financial, political, diplomatic support and they equipped Tippu with modern weapons.
It is a known fact that the Zamorin kings of Malabar were the supporters of Portuguese East India Company and Nair kings of Cochin were the supporters of Dutch East India Company and Varma King of Travancore Province supported by British East India Company.(The Catholics of Mangalore who were in friendly terms with the British and the Portuguese and would contribute to them by giving away their rice and paddy grown by them in their paddy fields. This angered Tippu and the French. He then, massacred the Catholics of Mangalore and the ones that survived had forcefully been converted to Islam).
Similarly, the Lingayath Rulers of Coorg and their subjects- Kodava warriors were in favour of the British East India company. Napoleon Bonaparte who had a close association with French East India Company wanted to capture the world but the mighty British stood on his way. Tippu, who was infamous for dacoity, murder, invasion, rape, betrayer, and fanatic was supported by Napoleon. Tippu was a sadist and wasn’t trustworthy, neither did he trust anyone else. Napoleon, on the other hand, supported such a prick of a man to defeat the British. The French east India company entered India with a clear intention of looting the spices especially the black pepper which used to be grown in Kodagu
Coorg was strategically, a buffer zone which linked Mangalore and Malabar. Through the port of Malabar & Mangalore, Napoleon had to supply modern weapons to Mysore through French East India Company via Coorg to strengthen Tippu’s army. Brave Kodavas continuously resisted the trade, therefore, Tippu decided to conquer Coorg. Tippu decided to conquer Coorg by hook or by crook and hence depended on the French army. So he hatched a plan, A plan which symbolised one of the biggest human genocide in the history of human race.
Tippu with the help of General Lally invited Kodavas to ‘make peace’ stating his real enemies are the British and the Marathas and not Kodavas. He invited all the Kodavas for a friendly feast unarmed in the pretext of a new friendship and bidding an end to the decade-long war at Devattparamb. 1,25,000 Kodavas gathered at the event. This is an official document published by the Karnataka government.
Devattparambis is situated on the banks of the sacred river Cauvery near the Tala Cauvery On 13th of December 1785 when the sun set behind the mountains of Kodagu The French allied forces and Tippu’s soldiers, as planned, were hiding behind the bamboo shrubs and inside the forest located on the banks of the river Cauvery, As Kodavas gathered to end the long-standing rivalry Tippu ordered both the French and his army to attack the unarmed Kodavas. This merciless and heart-wrenching act can be compared to the infamous Jallianwallah bagh.
The cries and screams of the men and the women, the victims of this deadly event still echoes in the heart of every Kodava. It’s said the water in the river turned red for about 12 days due to blood oozing out of dead bodies. This heart-wrenching event & untold misery of Kodava women has been recorded by Tippu’s historian Mir Hussain Ali Khan Kirmani and also by Tippu himself in the Persian language. When this inhuman act was taking place, Tippu, watched spitefully from the top of a hill near Devatiparamb called Kopati kund/Kopati Mountains. 60,000 Women, children, men were slaughtered to death, while the rest who survived were dragged across chained and sent to the Ganjam of Srirangapatna. This anarchy witnessed large scale displacement and enslavement of Kodava race in the history of mankind. Kodavas captured died of thirst, and hunger on the way. The women were raped and left in dumps by the soldiers of Tippu and General Lally’s French soldiers.
This inhumane act conducted by Tippu with the help of his French counterpart General Lally is one of the worst in the history of mankind. It is a sin to the human race. This Devattparambpillage turned entire Coorg into a graveyard. A large piece of land where all one could hear is screams of the dying and cries of their families. French allied forces and Tippu’s army charged with raiding residences, temples belonging to Kodava race across Coorg. This act against humanity is a war crime. This is the most traumatic chapter in the history of Kodava race. Through French East India Company, the French Empire provided Tippu with high armed cannonade contingent to attack, kill and destroy Kodavas. This can be proved by the endless iron cannon balls that can be found in the Nalnad region of Kodagu (Coorg) even today. We herewith attest the photographs of cannon- balls found in the Nalnad region of Kodagu (Coorg).
The battle between Kodavas and Tippu Sultan is one of the most bitter rivalries in the history. There were repeated attempts to capture Kodagu by the sultan and his father Hyder Ali before him. The primary reason for sultan’s interest in Kodagu was that by annexing Kodagu would provide him access to Mangalore port. The Kodavas knew their lands and mountains very well, which made them excellent at guerrilla warfare and were successful in defeating the mighty enemy
On few occasions, Tippu’s army managed to reach Madikeri (Capital of Kodagu) but the Kodavas always ambushed the contingent left behind by Tippu. Kodavas refusal to bow before the sultan was primarily because throughout their history they enjoyed independence, though there were Rajahs ruling over them, governance of the land mainly rested with Kodavas. After capturing Kodagu on one occasion, Tippu announced, “If you ever dare to ambush my men again, I will honour every one of you with Islam”, the resilient Kodavas ambushed his men yet again and drove them back to Mysore. By now Tippu realized conventional warfare would never yield him Kodagu. He devised a plan to annex Kodagu by offering his friendship. Tippu got Runmust Khan, the Nawab of Kurnool, to launch a surprise attack upon the Kodava who were plagued by the invading Muslim army. 60,000 were killed and over 40,000 Kodavas fled to the woods and concealed themselves in the mountains. Thousands of Kodavas were seized along with the Raja and held captive at Srirangapatana. Arguably, they were thought to be subjected to forcible conversions to Islam, death, and torture. In Srirangapatana, the young men were all forcibly circumcised and incorporated into the Ahmedy Corps and were formed into eight Risalas or regiments. The actual number of Kodavas that were captured in the operation varies from one historian to another. 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.
In a letter to Runmust Khan, Tippu himself stated: “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 sunk into woods and hide in lofty mountains, inaccessible even to birds. we raised them to the honour of Islam, and incorporated them into our Ahmedy corps.”
The aggression and elimination of Aboriginal indigenous Kodava race by the demon like Tippu can never be erased from the memories of the human race and world history, in particular. But the self-proclaimed leftists and so-called progressive thinkers and those who lack emotional and sensitivity did not consider the atrocious acts of Tippu to be a crime against humanity, instead they continuously glorify him as a patriotic hero and the champion of the freedom struggle and only because of that, such a heinous tragic massacre could never become an international subject to think over. Such a thing believably could happen on account of the crude factor that the international entry into the subject was deliberately shut, and with that, all the sufferings and massacre of Kodavas lay buried forever. Such a tragic holocaust could be translated into action only on account of the support and help lent by the French Empire through its allied forces.
The French and Tippu through their inhuman act minimized the Kodava population from over 1500 clans into 842 clans today (Earlier each Kodava habitation was recognised according to the number of Kodava clans residing in that region for e.g. Noorakkanad (Noor + vakka) means 100 clans, likewise Thombadokka means 90 clans, Embadokka means 80 clans, Yelvadokka means 70 clans i.e. Yevakapady, Arvadokka (60 clans), Imbadokka (50 clans), Napadokka(40 clans), Nuppadokka(30 clans), Irvadokka(20 clans), Pathokka(10 clans) and Anjokka (5 clans)[was the village which had the least number of clans i.e. 5 clans in that village]. After the tragic holocaust of Devattparamb in 1785 by Tippu & French Allied Forces, the number of clans in each village has dwindled dramatically for e.g Noorakkanad which had 100 clans, now has only one Kodava clan remained by name Porimanda. For e.gYevakapadyhad 70 clans (70 vokkas)and now only 14 clans are left. These all are the glaring examples of genocide committed by Tippu Sultan.)The unspeakable atrocities suffered by Kodavas haunt many of their descendants. What happened to their ancestors and their loved ones during those eventful and sordid days can neither forgive and nor forget. Many countries have formerly apologised for war crimes in World War II, China still holds Japan responsible for forcing thousands of Chinese women to become sex slaves. Decades after the war, Japan apologized for the war crimes, committed by its soldiers in a number of countries – China, Korea, and Philippines; Germany accepted responsibility for the holocaust. British Prime Minister David Cameron apologised in 2013 for Jallianwala Bagh massacre, he bowed his head at the memorial in the Jallianwala Bagh public gardens. In a handwritten note in the book of condolence for victims of the massacre, Cameron quoted and described the shootings, in his own words, as a “deeply shameful event”.Old wounds have resurfaced due to continued glorification of Tippu by the successive govt. agencies for the brutal genocide that claimed thousands of Kodava lives in 1785.
According to Karma theory, one of the strongest beliefs in the Hindu Dharmashastra – “What goes around, comes around”. French who participated and blessed Tippu with the horrific and murderous act, and terrorized thousands of Kodava people 231 years back. The same Tippu is idolized as an iconic figure by dreaded terrorist organization like Al Qaeda and ISIS (ISIL) and our enemy Pakistan, who are a threat to the human race and a sin to the world have been attacking the same France continuously of the past three years after more than two centuries. Read thus:
Terror attacks in France since 2013 till date
2013 Paris attacks
2014 Nantes attack
2014 Dijon attack
2014 Tours police station stabbing
13th November 2015 a series of coordinated terrorist attacks Paris
On January 8th, a gunman named Amedy Coulibaly shot and killed a female police officer in Paris.
Threatening letter to French Consulate in Bangalore on Jan 21, 2016
Above incident recalls us that 231 years back, Tippu gave birth to World Terrorism by trying to eliminate every Kodava at Devattparamb, the French who participated, helped and supported him, give rise to such a barbaric act that after more than 231 years have been suffering – now the Karma theory is taking its course. The cycle of their sin and curse of Kodava is now tangled in France’s throat. Now the French, should at least realize & repent for their past mistakes, how they helped Tippu to massacre 60,000 Kodavas, destroy our tribe. France must publicly apologize for their act, for better human being – On the same lines of Japan and Germany, who committed mass murder during the World War II. British Prime Minister David Cameron apologised in 2013 for Jallianwala Bagh massacre, he bowed his head at the memorial in the Jallianwala Bagh public gardens. In a handwritten note in the book of condolence for victims of the massacre, Cameron quoted and described the shootings, in his own words, as a “deeply shameful event”.
Since the League of Nations, failed to prevent the inevitable unrest & bloodshed occurred during the course of second world war which led to the promulgation of Atlantic declaration in 1944 at Dumbarton Oaks Conference in Washington which eventually gave birth to the United Nations Organizations with all the five, which have veto power in UN security Council for original signatories of the charter. In other words, the main theme and objective of the existent of the UNO are to protect the basic human rights and to respect the self-determination rights of each and every nationality and ethnic group. France which until then was the aggressive nation was signatory to the Atlantic Declaration and UN charter. And it has transformed itself into the champion of the human rights across the world. Hence, France must look into and address the pains and pangs of Kodavas. France must at least test the veracity of our pains and pang with very same honesty.
Codava National Council, a organisation headed by N U Nachappa fighting for Kodava rights has appealed UN, War Crime Court, Indian Govt, French Govt and French Ambassador to India to take advantage of the good international ties that India has built with France in the recent times and appeal to France for the apology towards the Kodava race, who are living with this pain & sorrowful days of brutal death of their patriarchs in their hearts for 231 years because of this unfaithful incident that took place under the leadership and support of the French empire. Kodavas being a small martial tribe, have contributed so immensely to the nation’s security- every Kodavas household have at least one member serving the nation. French should apologise for their role in the biggest genocide of mankind.
Leave a Comment