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| Scott's Bungalow, Seringapatam/en.wikipedia.org |
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| Scott's Bungalow, Seringapatam/en.wikipedia.org |
The Scott's Bungalow in Seringapatam ( also Srirangapatnam)on the banks of the river Cauvery was once the residence of Col. Scott, an officer of the Madras Army who played no less role in the Siege of Seringapatam in 1799. Located about half a mile from the Mysore Gate of the Seringapatam gate, it is a historical bungalow and hidden in it lurks a poignant and heart-rending story of Col. I.C. Scott and his family. Their tragic life in that bungalow is highlighted in a lament in the form of a poem by Walter Yeldham called 'The Deserted Bungalow', published in 1875.
It was the Fourth and final Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Tipu Sultan of Mysore that saw the death of Tipu in 1799 during the Siege of Seringapatam. The British led by Wellesley made a decisive victory after a long struggle. The Company army managed to cross the sturdy walls of the fortress and raided the main area that resulted in the fall of mighty Tipu. Officer Scott was an active participant in that crucial war. The British restored the kingdom to the original Hindu rulers the Wodeyar Dynasty from whom Hyder Ali seized the reigns taking advantage of turmoil in the royal family. Obviously Seringapatam and the fort became a garrison town of the Madras Army of the East India Company.
Scott was assigned as a supervisor in a gun factory in Ganjam, a village close to Srirngapatna as he possessed good knowledge of gun-making, particularly, using the locally available teak wood. His hard work and devotion to duty won him promotion and in 1817, he became a Colonel and Commanding Officer of the garrisons at the French Rocks and at Seringapatam. During his stay here there developed a fine friendship with the ruler of Mysore and the Maharajah had a bungalow built on the banks of the Cauvery river for the comfortable stay of Col, Scott.
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| Angelo-Mysore war, en.wikipedia.org |
In April, 1817 as part of his routine duty Scott left for inspection at the French Rocks garrison on horse-back. On his return to his residence following day - 19 April 1817, to his shock, he found his wife and two daughters had been dead of cholera. Soon after this tragic incident in his family, local legend has it that Col. Scott disappeared suddenly without any trace. The other version is that he drove his horse carriage into the near by Cauvery River when it was in full flow. Quite grief-stricken, Mysore Maharajah, it is believed, gave special orders to regularly maintain the bungalow and the furniture there-in, hoping one day Col. Scott would return home. It never happened and the whereabouts of Col Scott remained a riddle. The later Mysore rulers of the Wodeyar dynasty had continued the tradition of maintaining the Scott’s Bungalow.
Other versions confirm the tragedy in the Scott family, Mrs. Caroline Isabella Scott is said to have died during childbirth on 19 April 1817 and her two daughters died from cholera. After the unexpected death of his family members, Col Scott was devastated, however, did not vanish as various rumors claimed. Scott, with heavy heart, left the bungalow as it was and then went back to England on medical leave to keep his mind off the calamity at Srirangapatna. He continued his military services and became major-general in 1821. He breathed his last on 1 January 1833.
As for the bungalow at Srirangpatna where Scott had lived for a long time, it was not rented out and had been maintained since then on a regular basis and left the same way as Scott has left it in 1817. In 1962, an Australian/English lady Yvette Zerfas, wife of Dr. Freddie Zerfas who was with a mission hospital bought the Scott's Bungalow. The bungalow served as a venue for green organic markets till the early 2000s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott%27s_Bungalow#Captain_Scott
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