Now, for those who are not much
aware of who is James Scurry, I would request you to check his article on Wikipedia.
As per Wikipedia,
James Scurry (1766–1822) was a British soldier and memoirist. He was held captive by
Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan for 10 years (1780–1790) at Seringapatam.
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| James Scurry |
The important part about him is that the when the Mangaloreans arrived in 1784 at Seringapatam, he was there to witness the atrocities. I have mentioned his own account below on the atrocities committed on our community.
Now followed the fate of the poor Malabar Christians, of which I shall consider myself the
innocent cause, in reading what was written by General Mathews, as stated in
the preceding note. Their country was invested by Tippu's army, and they were
driven men, women and children to the number of 30,000 to Sirangapatam where
all who were fit to carry arms were circumcised and forwarded into four
battalions. The sufferings of these poor creatures were most excruciating: one
circumstance which came under my immediate notice, I will attempt to describe:
when recovered they were armed and drilled, and ordered to Mysore, nine miles
from the capital, but for what purpose we could not learn. Their daughters were
many of them beautiful girls; and Tippu was determined to have them for his
seraglio; but this they
refused; and Mysore was invested by his orders, and the four battalions were
disarmed and brought prisoners to Sirangapatam. This being done, the officers
tied their hands behind them. The Chambars or Sandalmakers were then sent for
and their noses ears and upper lips were cut off. They were then mounted on
asses, their faces towards the tail and led through Patan, with a wretch before
them proclaming their crime. One fell from his beast and expired on the spot
through loss of blood. Such a mangled and bloody scene excited the compassion
of numbers and our hearts were ready to burst at the inhuman sight. It was
reported that Tippu relented in this case, and I rather think it true, as he
never gave any further orders respecting their women. The twenty-six that survived were sent to
his different arsenals where after the lapse of a few years I saw several of
them lingering out a most miserable existence.
§
No doubt many of them survived the
downfall of Tippu and I should have been proud to hear that the Company had
done something for those brave unfortunate men, and particularly so as all
their miseries originated from an English general. The prison from whence the
Malabar Christians were brought to have their noses and ears cut off for
refusing their daughters when Tippu demanded them for his seraglio was a horrid
dismal hole which we named the Bull, as there was an image, considerably larger
than life, of that animal on that building, which was originally designed for a
Hindoo place of worship, but by Tippu converted into a dungeon. This prison we
frequently passed and expected sooner or later to occupy some part of it. Very
few who were so unfortunate to be confined here, escaped with less punishment
than the loss of their nose and ears. The Chambars by whom the operation was
performed are held in abhorrence by the Mahomedans, and, on that account they
were consigned to this office;
and such was their brutality that they frequently cut, (or sawed rather), the
upper lip off with the nose leaving the poor unfortunate wretch a pitiable
object, to spin out a most miserable existence, being always sent to Tippu's
arsenals to hard labour on a scanty allowance.
His narrative contains some more interesting accounts. His narrative is published in his book The Captivity, Sufferings And Escape of James Scurry Who Was Detained a Prisoner During Ten Years In The Dominions of Hyder Ali and Tippu Saheb (1824)
If you wish to download the Narrative, please click the below links,
- PDF format
- Text format
- Other formats (Please select the format from the page)
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