The Captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam (1784–1799) was a 15-year-long imprisonment of Mangalorean Catholics and other Christians at Seringapatam, in the Carnataca region of India by Tippu Sultan; who was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore following its usurpation. Estimates of the number of captives range from 30,000 to 80,000, but the generally accepted figure is 60,000, as stated by Tippu himself in the Sultan-ul-Tawarikh. The captivity was the most disconsolate period in the community's history.
The Catholic Christians of Mangalore flourished during the regime of Tipu's father, Hyder Ali. Soon after Tipu inherited the territory in January 1784, he issued orders to seize the Christian community in Canara, confiscate their estates & deport them to Seringapatam. His orders were carried out on 24 February 1784. Mangalorean churches were demolished and the stones were used to build the Sultan Battery. About twenty thousand Christians died during the difficult journey, from South Canara to Seringapatam. The Christians of Canara suffered extreme hardships, torture, and executions. Many converted in captivity to Sunni Islam, the official religion of the Ottoman Caliphate, whose approval and assistance was sought by Tippu Sultan.OPINION | Khilafat: Scriptural Sanction and Historical AntecedentsTipu Sultan's relations with the Ottoman Empire – 5-Minute HistoryTwo-faced Tipu Sultan: Political double trouble | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis The captivity brought the once flourishing Christian community of Mangalore close to extermination. The captivity ended when Tippu died on 4 May 1799, at the Siege of Seringapatam, led by the English East India Company and its allies; such as the Nizam of Hyderabad. Of the 60,000–80,000 Christians taken captive, only 15,000–20,000 both survived and retained their original Catholic Christian faith. The captivity left an impact on the literature of Mangalorean Catholics. The bi-centennial anniversary of the Christians' release from captivity was commemorated across the South Canara area on 4 May, 1999.
Background
Roman Catholics from the South Canara district by the south-western coast of India, under the jurisdiction of the Mangalore Diocese, are generally known as Mangalorean Catholics. "This city [Mangalore] has a very influential proportion of Roman Catholics, numbering over a good quarter of the total population. It is the seat of the Mangalore Roman Catholic Diocese, and hence when we speak of the Mangalorean Catholics, we do not limit ourselves only to the roughly 60,000 Catholics within the city limits, but to a total of much over 2,000,000 Catholics spread over the whole diocese." They are Konkani people who speak the Konkani language., "The Konkani speaking Christians of Mangalore are generally Catholics. They use their mother tongue not only for their religious purpose in the churches as well as at homes but also in their social activities as a medium of oral and written communications." All earlier records of South Canara's Christians were lost at the time of their deportation by Tipu in 1784 and it is not known when Christianity was introduced in South Canara. It is possible that Syrian Christians settled in South Canara as they had in Malabar, a region south of Canara. During the 13th century Italian traveller Marco Polo recorded that there were considerable trading activities between the Red Sea and the Canara coast. Scholars have surmised that foreign Christian merchants were visiting the coastal towns of South Canara during that period for commerce, and that some Christian priests possibly accompanied them in their evangelical work. In 1321, the French Dominican friar Jordan de Catalunya of south-western France, arrived in Bhatkal, North Canara. According to historian Severine Silva, no concrete evidence has yet been found that there were any permanent settlements of Christians in South Canara before the 16th century.
Propagation of Christianity in the region only began after the arrival of the Portuguese in 1498, when Vasco da Gama's landed on St Mary's Islands in South Canara and planted a cross there on his voyage from Portugal to India. In 1500, the Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived at Anjediva in North Canara with eight Franciscan missionaries under the leadership of Frei Henrique Soares de Coimbra. On arrival they converted 22 or 23 natives to Christianity in the Mangalore region. In 1526, during the viceroyship of Lopo Vaz de Sampaio, the Portuguese took possession of Mangalore whereupon Portuguese Franciscans began slowly spreading Christianity in Mangalore.
Contemporary Mangalorean Catholics are descended mainly from the Goan Catholic settlers, who migrated to Canara from Goa, a state north of Canara, between 1560 and 1763 in three major waves. The first wave of immigrants came to Mangalore to escape the trials of the Goa Inquisition of 1560. These migrants were welcomed by the native Bednore rulers of Canara for their agricultural skills. They were followed by a second major wave precipitated by the Portuguese–Adil Shahi Wars in the 1570s. A final influx of immigrants arrived during the Mahratta Invasions of Goa and Bombay in the late 17th & early 18th centuries. According to Mangalorean historian Alan Machado Prabhu, the Mangalorean Catholics numbered about 58,000 by the time of the capture of Canara by Hyder Ali in 1765.
Under the Wodeyar Rajas and Hyder Ali
By 1686, Seringapatam, capital of the Kingdom of Mysore, was home to a community of more than 400 Catholic Christians who were severely harassed in the following two decades when their churches were destroyed and the priest's house confiscated. This destruction was undertaken in the name of the Wodeyar king, Kanthirava Narasaraja I by his finance minister. The priest's house was eventually returned to the church in 1709. Sometime between 1700 and 1717, another church was built in Rampura, a suburb of Seringapatam, in the face of local opposition. Relations between the Wodeyars and the Mangalorean Catholics improved until 1717, when an anti-Christian purge led to the expulsion of the resident priest who was thereafter forbidden to preach. Several more anti-Christian demonstrations followed, but by 1736 relations had once more improved between the two groups.
Hyder Ali, born in 1721 or 1722 at Budikote in the northern part of Mysore State,(now the Kolar district of Karnataka) joined the Mysorean Army and distinguished himself in the 1749 Siege of Devanahalli. He took part in the Carnatic wars of (1751–1755) and gained in-depth experience of warfare. Hyder Ali rapidly rose to power at the Mysore court and soon became prime minister and general of the king. From 1761 onwards, he took de facto control of the throne of the Mysore Kingdom through the Wodeyar dynasty. In 1763, he occupied Mangalore and Canara, but maintained amicable relations with the Christians. Historian Severine Silva states, "the general relations between Hyder and Christians form a chapter which has been entirely lost." Hyder was close friends with two Goan Catholic priests, Bishop Noronha, and Fr Joachim Miranda. Sehwarts, a Protestant missionary, also lived at the court of Hyder. However, Hyder was also involved in suppressing the Jesuit order.
Hyder's army included several Catholic soldiers and he allowed Christians to build a church within the Seringapatam Fort where French generals offered prayers and priests visited. Mangalorean historian A.L.P. D'Souza mentions that Hyder had also used Canara Christians for administrative purposes. In accordance with the two treaties concluded with Portugal, Hyder allowed Portuguese priests to settle disputes among the Christians. Despite this, the Christians in general resented Hyder Ali's rule because of the heavy taxes they were made to pay to the king's treasury.
In February 1768, the British captured Mangalore and Canara from Hyder. At the end of the same year, Hyder, along with his son Tipu Sultan, defeated the British and recaptured Mangalore. After the conquest, Hyder was informed that the Mangalorean Catholics had helped the British in their conquest of Mangalore. Hyder believed that this behaviour amounted to treachery against the sovereign. Summoning a Portuguese officer and several Christian priests from Mangalore, he asked for suggestions as to how the Mangalorean Catholics should be punished. The Portuguese officer suggested the death penalty for those Catholics who had helped the British, as it was the standard punishment for betraying a sovereign. Rather than follow this advice, Hyder chose a diplomatic stance and imprisoned Christians found guilty of treachery instead of executing them. Later, he opened negotiations with the Portuguese. Agreement was reached and suspicions against the clergy and the Christians were removed and they were no longer chastised. During Hyder's regime, Roman Catholicism in Mangalore and the Mangalorean Catholic community continued to flourish.
According to historian Severine Silva, Hyder followed the same policy of religious tolerance towards Christians as he had from the beginning, even though the Christians disliked his rule. The Second Anglo-Mysore War began in 1780 and led to Hyder's death on 7 December 1782, at Arcot. Afterwards the British recaptured the fort at Mangalore.
Causes
Tipu Sultan succeeded his father at the age of 31. He had also taken part in the conquest of Mangalore in 1768, and accused the Mangalorean Catholics of treachery towards the sovereign, as well as their having helped the British. He was aware of the treatment of Canara Muslims by the Portuguese clergy, and had always resented his father's favourable policy towards the Mangalorean Catholics.
The British army under Commander-in-Chief, Brigadier-General Richard Matthews, landed in Canara on 9 March 1783, and captured the Mangalore fort on the orders of the Bombay Government. Many Christians were allegedly recruited into the army of General Matthews. Tipu became infuriated with the Christians of Canara for two reasons. Firstly, when French soldiers laid down their arms because of the Peace of Paris (1783) treaty, the Christians refused to fight for Tipu. Secondly, the Christians lent the sum of Rs. to General Matthews, which led Tipu to believe that the Mangalorean Catholics were helping the British.
In May 1783, General Matthews was accused of procrastination and suspended by the Bombay Government. Thereafter Colonel John Campbell received provisional command of the strategic fort of Mangalore on 5 May 1783. Tipu made several assaults on the Mangalore fort up until January 1784, all of which resulted in failure. Looking at the wounded embattled garrison, Colonel Campbell considered it futile to hold out any longer. He finally delivered the Mangalore fort to Tipu when the British capitulated on 30 January 1784. On 11 March 1784, Tipu and the British East India Company signed the Treaty of Mangalore, thus bringing an end to the Second Anglo-Mysore War.
Historian Ahmad Saeed states that the Christians acted as spies and guided the British whilst historian Praxy Fernandes points out that the Christians helped Colonel Campbell in the Mangalore fort and adjoining towns by providing them with rice, vegetables, meat, men, and money. In a letter to his superiors, Colonel Campbell strongly commended the role of the Bombay Natives regiment. This was led by a native major named Francis Pinto who put up a brave defence of the fort. He also refers to these troops as the "Native Christians". Fernandes further points out that the Christians had entered into a league with Mysore traitors Kasim Ali and Mohammed Ali, who were enemies of Tipu, and had plotted with the English to overthrow him. He also states that the Head of the Congregation of Monte Mariano Church at Farangipet, near Mangalore, provided the British garrison with 1,000 bags of rice.