The told & untold history of Mysuru Kingdom

Research and author : Ameen Ahmed Below is a  chronological   sequence  of forty four sites belonging to  Hindus (temples, towns, crops), including Sringeri Mutt, affected by Peshwa Maratha soldiers' excesses in Mysore Kingdom (present day Karnataka) between 1790 - 92 CE, during the 3rd Anglo Mysore War. Twenty six of these were eye-witnessed and documented by English soldiers accompanying the Maratha armies . Destruction of seventeen more such places is attributed  by later sources   to these attacks, which were led primarily by the Peshwa Maratha General Parshuram Bhau, his son Appa Sahib and brother Raghunath Rao.  A view of the fortified Hindu holy town of Devarayanadurga, Tumakuru District in 1862. This town was captured on Jul. 13, 1791 by the combined forces of a detachment of Bombay Army of East India Company and Maratha armies led by Parshuram Bhau, who looted and burnt it.  Credit: By Lieutenant Colonel Henry Dixon - https://clevelandart.org/art/2017.7, CC0, https://commo

Research and author : Ameen Ahmed The centuries' old Sri Vidyashankar Temple at Sringeri town. The Sringeri Mutt, among Hinduism's holiest sites, was ransacked by Peshwa Maratha soldiers in mid-1791 CE.  By Irrigator at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57547533  Background In 1791 CE, the world of Hinduism trembled in horror. A bunch of horse riding ruffians pillaged Sringeri, in south-western India. The town is home to Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham, popular as Sringeri Mutt, one of the four education sites originally established in 8th century CE by Adi Shankaracharya to spread the faith (1). A mid-20th century Hindu nationalist historian described this attack as ‘ an affront to Hindu religion by a brother Hindu, the sad memory of which long remained fresh in Maratha memory ’ (2). On Jul. 6, 1791, Tipu Sultan, wrote a letter to Sri Sachidananda Bharati Swamy, the head of this institution, condemning this attack by the Maratha cava

Research and author: Ameen Ahmed Background The names of Mysore rulers Haidar Ali and his son Tipu Sultan often crop up when someone speaks of India's freedom movement. While there are some who say he was India's earliest freedom fighter, others argue he fought only to safeguard his own kingdom (1). There is an argument that the concept and dream of an independent India was never conceived until the 1857. That was the year when many Indians took up arms, particularly in the north, against East India Company. The British saw it as a mutiny of some disaffected soldiers. But many natives across the sub-continent call it the First War of Independence. They point to the fact that many Indians cut across the barriers of religion, and regions, and dreamed of a free India.  But was that the first time someone dreamed of an India free of British?  Let us look at some sources.  Mysorean Army in action against the British East India Company troops at Cuddalore, south-eastern India.  By Ri