Film offer reignites Tipu debate

A film producer has offered Tamil superstar Rajinikanth a role playing Tipu Sultan, the eighteenth-century Tiger of Mysore. The Bharatiya Janata Party and Hindutva groups have demanded he refuse.

Why the opposition exists

Opponents argue Tipu, an eighteenth-century Mysore ruler, was a tyrant who killed thousands of Hindus as they refused to convert to Islam. This is not the first controversy over his name.

Tipu's name has sparked past rows

Sanjay Khan made a tele-serial based on Bhagwan S.Gidwani's book The Sword of Tipu Sultan.The Congress government intended to celebrate his birth anniversary in two thousand fourteen.

Historians disagree on his record

Colonial historians called Tipu a religious bigot who killed and converted thousands. Kannada chauvinists said he was anti-Kannadiga. Marxist historians viewed him as a foremost commander of independence struggle and harbinger of new productive forces.

Tipu combined multiple traditions

Tipu cannot be reduced to a singular narrative of intolerance or bigotry.He represented multiple traditions: tolerant inter-religious traditions, liberal and secular traditions, anti-colonialism and internationalism.

“He represented multiple traditions.”

Tipu's radical reforms

Tipu was the first to ban alcohol consumption in Mysore state on moral and health grounds, saying a total prohibition was very near to his heart.

“A total prohibition is very near to my heart.”

Tipu's support for temples

Tipu made annual grants to no less than one hundred fifty-six temples, including land deeds and jewellery.

Conversions driven by politics, not faith

Allegations of forcible conversions must be seen against political exigencies. Christians of Dakshina Kannada sided with colonialists. Coorgis waged protracted guerrilla war. Historians have distorted facts by reducing political exigencies to communal ideology of Tipu.