The told & untold history of Mysuru Kingdom

Introduction The Third Anglo Mysore War (1790-92 CE) saw Maratha Armies under Parshuram Bhau and Hari Pant (spelled  Puraseram Bhow  and  Hurry Punt  respectively by contemporary English writers) sweep through most settlements and farmlands of Mysore Kingdom (a big part of which is the present day state of Karnataka).  The Marathas were in action with a detachment of British East India Company's Bombay Army led by Captain little from May 1790 to June 1792. Both Hari Pant and Parshuram Bhau had about 12,000 men with them (1). While the general populace suffered heavily, contemporary writings say the non-Brahmins, referred to as Shudras by Francis Buchanan (2), suffered the most. While one reason for this was the segregation of residential layouts based on 'varna' or caste system in which  Brahmins resided in the most fortified part  of a settlement or even within actual forts, a closer look reveals the deliberate targeting of non-Brahmins/ Dalits by the Maratha Armies.

The residential areas of 18th century Mysore Kingdom seem to have followed the age old varna or caste system of Hinduism according to eye witness accounts. Francis Buchanan^, an  early 19th century English Physician, traveler and writer says Brahmins always occupied the most fortified part of  the villages, towns and forts that he visited. Hence, according to him non-Brahmins were the worst sufferers of invasions by external forces. Here are a few such accounts by him: 'It must be observed, that throughout both Carnatica, except at Madras, and some other  large towns under the government of infidels, the Brahmans appropriate to themselves a  particular quarter of every town, and that generally the best fortified. A Sudra is not  permitted to dwell in the same street with a Brahman; while he again exacts the same  difference from the Whalliaru or Parriars, and other low caste. These people in general  live in wretched huts about the suburbs. A Brahman is considered as polluted by