Karwar: “Two contrasting pictures of Tipu Sultan presented before us is giving rise to a social debate. This reminds us of Edward Hallett Carr’s quote ‘Study the historian before you begin to study the facts’. Hence, there is a need to reanalyse if the history of Tipu studied in schools or the claims being made now were true”, said Prof Vinaya Okkunda.
Delivering a special lecture during the Tipu Sultan Jayanthi programme organised by the district administration, zilla panchayat and the Kannada & Culture Department in Karwar on Saturday, she said that the history told by the British gives a bad picture of Tipu and have given rise to a tarnished image of the ruler. This is quite natural as Tipu took on the British politically and philosophically. There are number of folk songs (Lavani) on Tipu and had he been that cruel and religious fanatic, there wouldn’t have been so many songs in is praise.
“It is unfortunate that history had been twisted. The religious conversions which took place in unavoidable circumstances as a result of the frequently brewing of plots by the British army in Malabar and Mangaluru regions is being portrayed in a different manner. Otherwise, Tipu was quite religious tolerant. He was a person who had to become a Sufi saint. Being an author, Tipu had set up a library in his palace. The credit of setting up a rocket science lab for the first time in the world goes to Tipu”, she said.
Deputy Commissioner S S Nakul said that Tipu was the first ruler in the country to form a disciplined army. He had an unparalleled knowledge and skill on war techniques and science. After the death of Tipu in the war, it was his rocket lab that drew the attention of the British. There are examples of British having used this rocket technique in their war against the French.
On the occasion, students of the essay writing competition organised for high school students of Karwar taluk, were given prizes. While Sanskrithi Verma of St Micheal School bagged the first prize, Akshay Revankar of Janata Vidyalaya in Kadwad and Bhavani Bihari of Government High School secured the second and third prizes respectively.