Mandyam Iyengar Community of Melkote, Karnataka Never Celebrates Diwali Even Today: Why?

Navrangindia.blogspot.com September 08, 2026

Tipu Sultan thefamouspeople.com

 That the Indian History  school and college  text books  do  not contain the authentic information on past rulers, particularly wrongs committed by the ex Muslim rulers of India is a sad  commentary and the explanation given by a certain section of so called pseudo nationalists is this may leave a scar on the secular fabric of India. This explanation is preposterous.The same people had kept their mouth shut when toward the end of 1989 roughly 500000 Kashmiri Pundits were driven out (actually they were the original inhabitants of the valley) under threats to their lives by the terrorists trained in Pakistan, leaving behind their properties and houses there.  The barbarity was started here centuries ago by Muslim invader from NW Taimur (1398) and his notorious army that changed the politico-religious map of Kashmir.  Now, they have a sort of hand to mouth life in many parts of north India. Historians must put the facts before the public without any reservation above religion,country and caste.

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During the reign of Tipu Sultan toward the last phase of the 18th century (210 years ago), tragedy followed by gloom, struck on the evening of Deepavali - Hindu festival of light. Hell's gate was broken wide open  when Tipu's army raided  on a congregation of  700 Mandyam Iyengars  at Narasimha Swamy temple on the banks of Cauvery at Srirangapatna town, capital of Tipu Sultan. With drawn razor-sharp sword in their hands, the  rampaging soldiers made  the unexpected, bewildered  and frightened crowd run helter-skelter fearing for their lives. In the wake of this unprovoked raid on innocent, quiet people, there was a trail of destruction, chaos and killing no body ever saw in this part before. In a jiff, an occasion of joy and fun turned into an poignant one filled  with crying, waling and weeping over the dead and severely injured. The Sultan's army had just committed massacre - the worst one on the soil of what is now called Mandya district of Karnataka. 

This kind of mass-killing was never heard of before here. It was simply a barbaric act on the part of Tipu's army. Earlier in CE 1323, according to the Koil Ozhugu during a raid on Srirangam Ranganathar temple, Tamil Nadu army Commander Ulugh Khan  and his treacherous troops, dispatched from the Delhi Sultanate (during the reign of Alauddin Khilji) massacred 12000 Vaishnavites who  had tried to save the temple from further plundering.( vide: https://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2015/11/srirangam-temple-plundering-1300s-by.html  and  https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/koil-ozhugu-authentic-documentation-of-history/article2774682.ece

Certain Hindu organizations in Karnataka protested every year when Tipu Sultan's birth anniversary is observed  across  this state. Tipu was  a good, intelligent  and innovative warrior  who
terrorized the British besides.  There are reports that Tipu provided grants to some Hindu temples in his kingdom and was helpful to the Sringeri Mutt. Some other reports point out that he did not want to antagonize the majority of the population - Hindus. 
In matters related to Hindus, Tipu remains an enigma.  However, the killing of 700 plus Mandyam Iyengars and the 15 year imprisonment of Mangalore Catholics numbering about 60000 at Srirangapatna have put a black mark on his reign and kingship. The Indian history text books , as usual, do not give clear picture of certain past events about Tipu and his atrocities.

What made Tipu Sultan, a  Muslim ruler, commit this kind of heinous crime against innocent, quiet  Brahmin community native to that region? Historians say that this extreme step was taken by Tipu because some members of the Mandyam Iyengar community  wanted  the Mysore kingdom restored back to the Wodeyar family  and, in this regard, not only this community supported Maharani Lakshmi Ammanni but also went a step further and colluded with the British  to find a suitable political solution. 

lament of Native American Indians. History keeps changing.
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This is the view of  Lakshmi Thatcher, a Sanskrit scholar and a researcher. Consequent upon this mass killing by Tipu, a  section of  people from this community never celebrated Deepavali for more than two centuries, said Thatachar.

History never remains static and it keeps changing. So is the political history of a kingdom. Hyder Ali, Tipu's father  rapidly
rose to power at the Mysore court by dint of hard work and commitments when the Wodeyars were the rulers. Soon  Hyder Ali  became prime minister and  general of the king's army. 

From 1761 onward, he took de facto control of the throne of the Mysore Kingdom through the Wodeyar dynasty - Immadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar II, The chaotic internal turmoil in the Royal family of Wodeyar  ended in favor of him. Later Hyder Ali betrayed the royal family and captured the throne of Mysore to the dismay of the royal family. The family members - hereditary rulers of Mysore kingdom were kept under house arrest. 

But the queen of Wodeyar family, Lakshmi Ammanni Devi, a woman of guts and wisdom never gave room to defeat. Undeterred by the tough political situation created by Hyder Ali, she made up her mind to get the kingdom restored back to the royal family.  She began negotiating with the East India company's officials in 1760’s  secretly with the help of her trusted Pradhan, “Tirumala Iyengar”. When Hyder Ali came to know about it, he was upset and put the  relatives of Tirumala Iyengar  in the jail. As far as Hyder Ali and Tipu, the English were their sworn enemy and were against their hegemony. Hence, he had a military alliance with the French Army.

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Years later when Tipu took over the reins and came to know that an acceptable  political agreement between General Harris, the then Governor of Madras Presidency and  the queen  was either made or on the anvil with the help of one  Shamaiah Ayyangar and  Tirumala Ayyangar, he was in rage.  Just because two men from the Mandyam Iyengar community acted against him - to topple him from power, Tipu took refuge in 'vigilante justice' and decided to suppress the entire community  as retribution. His  heavily armed  army, as mentioned earlier, killed 700 persons, including women and children on a short mission. The inhuman slaughter  turned the village  into a place of desolation  and gloom on the  Naraka Chaturdashi  day (Deepavali).

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Tipu, historians say, is not anti Hindu or anti Christians, but  would become vicious against those who supported  his arch enemy - the British who took away the lands from various rulers in the north. As for destruction of churches and temples in Kerala and elsewhere  and the killing of  Nairs and others, Tipu's  assumption was  that they supported the ruler of Travancore  who was an alley of the British. In the case of Christians - both Mangalore Christians  and St. Thomas Christians, his suspicion was that being members of the same faith, they were loyal to the foreigners and wanted to topple him.  This suspicions led him to wage wars against the kingdom of Travancore and certain people. To put an end to the future  uprisings  against  his rule Tipu  massacred the  Mandyam Iyengars.  Queen Lakshmi Ammani's possible alliance  with the British was the root cause of this mass killing. No matter what explanation many historians may put forth the crime committed by Tipu  against his own subjects is just disgraceful.

Tit-bits:

Who are Mandyam Iyengars ?  The Mandhya Ayyangar community  members were converted to Vaishnavism long ago by the great seer Sri Ramanujacharya who was on a visit to the Hoysala kingdom. It is believed he  converted Hoysala ruler Bitti Deva from Jainism to Vishnuvardhana of Vaishnavism. In course of time, Melkote or Melukote became a seat of Mandyam.. Like Smartha or Vaishnavite Brahmins of Tamil Nadu, they were in charge of conducting pujas in the temples and performing Vedic rituals. Though they have been here for centuries, these people who follow Thenkalai sampradayam, speak Tamil at home and are  well versed in Kannada. They spoke Tamil in addition to Kannada. I understand that famous Kannada writer Late Masti Venkatesha Iyengar (6 June 1891 – 6 June 1986), a recipient of  Jnanpith Award and a special title Rajasevasakta by then Maharajah of Mysore Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar)  and Tamil and Kannada scholar late A.K. Ramanujan of Univ. of Chicago, USA  belong to this community. Popular former CM of Tamil Nadu late Ms. Jayalalitha and Famous Hindi and Tamil actress, and a great Bharatanatyam exponent Mrs. Vyjayanthimala Bali also hail from this community.

MandhyamIyyegar community, Karnataka
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Above images:For the Mendham Iyengar community in Karnataka, Deepavali is a dark and unwelcome reminder of their tryst with a tyrant, Tipu Sultan.They never celebrate the Festival of Light which tuned out to be the Festival of Murder and mayhem in the small town of Melkote...............

It is  said that Saint Ramanuja stayed at Melkote for twelve years and the famous temple called  Cheluvanarayana Temple  has a shrine dedicated to Ramanuja after he had left this place for Srirangam. Temple  rituals and worship are  followed here as prescribed by Sri Ramanujacharya himself. Thus Melcote  is just like  Srirangam, Tirupati, Kanchipuram and, to some extent, Kumbakonam, is an important seat of Vaishnavism. These people were called as Mandyam Iyengars and they lived between Mandya and Srirangapatna area, mainly in Melkote.

The Cheluvanarayana  temple was patronized by  many rulers  Vijayanagara, Mysore Wadiyars . Raja Wadiyar donated lands and jewels. Ornaments Rajamudi and Krishnamurti.  Tipu Sultan also gave many grants to this temple.



K. N. Jayaraman (Author: navrangindia.blogspot.com)