_Behaviour of Tippoo towards his Prisoners—Conduct, Defeat,
Treatment, and Death of General Matthews—Fate of the
Malabar Christians—Execution of English Prisoners—
Exhibitions at Seringapatam—Offenders devoured by Wild
Beasts—Modes of Punishment—Despotic Cruelty—Human Ears
and Noses exhibited in the Public Market—Author and
Companions compelled to take Wives—Mode of Procedure—
Marriage Ceremony—Visits Hyder Ali’s Tomb—Situation
described._
In a narrative of the sufferings of the English who survived that fatal
day, published by an officer of Colonel Bailey’s detachment, we find it
related, that Hyder Ali, seated on a throne or chair in his tent,
enjoyed the sight of the heads of the slain, as well as of the
prisoners. Colonel Bailey, who was himself dangerously wounded, was
brought into his camp on a cannon, and with several of his officers, in
the same situation, laid at the tyrant’s feet, on the ground, in the
open air. In this condition, they saw many of the heads of their
countrymen presented to the conqueror;—some of them by English officers,
who were compelled to perform that horrid task! In a little time,
however, Hyder ordered no more heads to be brought to him while the
English officers were present.
A tent was then fixed up for the unfortunate gentlemen, but without
straw or any thing to lie on, though many of them were dangerously
wounded; and as the tent would contain no more than ten, the remainder
were obliged to lie in the open air. When the prisoners were removed
from place to place, they were wantonly insulted, and even beaten, by
those who had the care of them. I have heard a long catalogue of
sufferings, which I could easily believe to be but too true. There were
numbers of strange cures related by this gentleman, from whom I received
the account, which the reader may see recorded, if so disposed, by a
reference to the “Encyclopædia.” I was conversant with several while at
Patam, who were first circumcised, and, finally, put to death in
Bednore. In the narrations of this officer, what I particularly noticed,
was, an account of the brave Colonel Fletcher,—the tenderness and
humanity of the elephants,—and the almost unprecedented valour of a
battalion of cook-boys, who acted as such to the Europeans. The brave
Colonel Fletcher slew several with his own hand before he fell.
As the elephants would not, with all the exertions of their keepers,
tread upon the wounded and slain, these, after the carnage was over,
were thrown into a hole in one promiscuous heap. From this heap, a
corporal, whose name was Sinclair, of the 73d regiment, who was
dreadfully wounded, contrived to crawl: he afterwards recovered, was
Mohammedanized, and was with us at Seringapatam. The battalion of
cook-boys above mentioned, fell, with few exceptions, three deep, as was
their position when standing. These brave fellows ought to have been
noticed, as well as the European prisoners, for they suffered much more;
I have often been an eye-witness to the cruelties with which they were
treated at Seringapatam; but they still continued true and loyal to the
English.
Colonel Bailey’s detachment consisted of about 4700 men, of whom about
700 survived, and many of those severely wounded. None of them were
released; some of them died, and others were put to death; and only one,
whose name was Mackenzie, made his escape from Chitteldroog after I did.
Thus much for the brave but unfortunate Colonel Bailey.
The next whose fate I shall endeavour to describe, is General Matthews,
who, with many of his officers and men, arrived prisoners at
Seringapatam (about the time of Colonel Bailey’s exit) from Bednore, or
Hyder Niger. They had surrendered by capitulation, but it was first
violated on the part of the general, relative to the treasures; this,
together with another circumstance which I shall presently state, was
the cause of his miserable end, together with that of many of his
officers.
Onore, or Ananpour, a fort about two days’ march from Bednore, had been
stormed by part of his army, and all the inhabitants wantonly and
inhumanly put to death, and their bodies thrown into several tanks in
the fort: this was fresh in Tippoo’s memory. The cause of this cruelty
was, that two flags of truce had been sent, and both detained. How far
such conduct for such a crime could be justifiable, on the part of the
English, I leave to those of superior judgment. This was told me by
several, to whom I had, at times, opportunity of speaking; and had he
taken Hyat Saib’s advice, (the killadare of Hyder Niger,) and who gave
him no great trouble in the conquest of the place, he would have done
well; but it appears, from many circumstances, that it was to be so. It
was intended that he should die by poison,[7] administered in milk; but
as it did not operate, in their view, sufficiently expeditious, his
guards closed his existence with the buts of their firelocks. Perhaps
Tippoo, as a Mohammedan, considered this as a just retaliation for the
butchery at the before mentioned place. Several of his fife and drum
boys were Mohammedanized, and placed in the seraglio for the purpose of
castration; but this operation never took place: and many of his
principal officers left him for Bombay, prior to his being captured.
Such was the end of this ambitious and ill-fated general. But before I
close, it may be necessary to state the following circumstance, which I
conceive will corroborate what I have before observed relative to the
cause of his melancholy end.
George Bush, of the Yarmouth, country ship, which was captured by La
Fin, French frigate of 40 guns, and James Forsythe, who were separated
from us some years after, but who finally made their escape, and joined
us in the Mahratta camp, were, with many more, sent direct to Hyder
Niger. In the course of their journey thither, they halted at Ananpour;
and being excessively thirsty, they were instantly led to one of the
wells, which, I am sorry to observe, the English had filled up some
years before with their slain. One James Duffee was then with the above,
and had been one of the storming party in this inhuman business; and
such was the indignation of the residents on this spot, that, had they
not been prevented by the guards, they would have sacrificed those
innocent men to their fury, from a remembrance of what had taken place.
I mention this circumstance, because I have seen an attempt to justify
this branch of the general’s conduct.
Now followed the fate of the poor Malabar Christians, of which I shall
ever consider myself the innocent cause, in reading what was written by
General Matthews, as stated in the preceding note. Their country was
invested by Tippoo’s army, and they were driven, men, women, and
children, to the number of 30,000, to Seringapatam, where all who were
fit to carry arms were circumcised, and formed into four battalions. The
sufferings of these poor creatures were most excruciating: one
circumstance, which came under my immediate notice, I will attempt to
describe. When recovered, they were armed and drilled, and ordered to
Mysore, nine miles from the capital, but for what purpose we never could
learn. Their daughters were many of them beautiful girls, and Tippoo was
determined to have them for his seraglio; but this they refused; and
Mysore was invested by his orders, and the four battalions were disarmed
and brought prisoners to Seringapatam. This being done, the officers
tied their hands behind them. The chumbars, or sandal-makers, were then
sent for, and their noses, ears, and upper lips, were cut off; they were
then mounted on asses, their faces towards the tail, and led through
Patam, with a wretch before them proclaiming their crime. One fell from
his beast, and expired on the spot through loss of blood. Such a mangled
and bloody scene excited the compassion of numbers, and our hearts were
ready to burst at the inhuman sight. It was reported that Tippoo
relented in this case, and I rather think it true, as he never gave any
further orders respecting their women. The twenty-six that survived were
sent to his different arsenals, where, after the lapse of a few years, I
saw several of them lingering out a most miserable existence.[8] Some
time after our initiation, (about nine months,) many of the mechanics
were brought from their different prisons to Patam, and sent to his
arsenal, to their different employments; about eighty was their number;
they had a tolerable allowance, but were all circumcised. One, whose
name was William Williams, effected his escape, but was taken, and
treated as the above, with the exception of losing only one ear, with
his nose; which was executed before us, as a terror, no doubt, to
prevent our attempting any thing in the same manner. Most of those
unfortunate men were put to death; nine of them, including two
carpenter’s mates, belonging to the Hannibal, Archy Douglas, and another
whose name I have forgotten, were hung on one tree, because one of the
party, named Flood, a serjeant-major in the Company’s service, to pass
away a tedious hour, had been taking a sketch of the surrounding
scenery; this was the crime for which they all suffered death!
The deserters had no lenity shewn them; most of them suffered also, and
among them was Dempster, whom I have named before, who was piked to
death in his hut; which we were very happy to hear, as this wretch had
been the cause of much cruelty towards us. Randal Cadman, who survived
those evils, (through illness,) although in the midst of them, escaped
on the night our troops, under Lord Cornwallis, defeated and followed
Tippoo’s army over the river into Sarragangam; we were then at some
distance from the capital, but saw him when we afterwards joined his
lordship. He was then all but dead; he survived, however, and from him
we had this information. He also informed us, that prior to his
lordship’s arrival, the principal street in Seringapatam, on each side,
was ornamented with paintings, such as, elephants whirling Europeans in
the air,—tigers seizing whole battalions of English Sepoys,—five or six
English officers supplicating for mercy at the feet of one of his
troopers,—and companies flying frightened at the charge of ten or twenty
of his horse: with a variety of other worse than silly representations.
But when his lordship had taken Bangalore, and was on his way to the
capital, Tippoo thought it prudent to order these daubings to be
cancelled.—But to return to the years 1783 and 1784.
Shortly after the arrival of General Matthews, Tippoo, thinking his mode
of punishment towards those poor creatures who happened to fall under
his displeasure not severe or terrific enough, ordered nine large tiger
cages to be made, and placed opposite his kerconah, or treasury. They
were arranged there according to his order, and soon tenanted, each with
a large tiger. After the death of Colonel Bailey, we were paraded before
these ferocious animals, and had an opportunity of seeing them fed once
or twice a day; one of the nine was as black as a coal, the only one I
ever saw of that colour. They were all taken in the Curakee jungles,
which abound with elephants, tigers, wild boars, panthers, tiger-cats,
leopards, &c. and lie about twenty miles from Patam, and about ten from
Mysore. Those tigers, above stated, were designed for the punishment of
high crimes and misdemeanours: three of his principal officers, namely,
his head inchewalla, or general postmaster, his buxey, or paymaster
general, and another, were severally thrown to the tigers, and devoured
in an instant, all but their heads; for which purpose the tigers were
always kept hungry! These all suffered within the short space of four
months.
Confinement, however, soon proved destructive to the animals themselves,
as scarcely one of them survived above eleven months. At this period,
there was a regular import of wild beasts at least twice a week, taken
from the jungles by himself, on his hunting excursions; to which
exercise, at one time, he appeared very partial. 1000 horse, 500
pulligars, or pikemen, with some foot, formed his hunting party. His
tiger-cats, or leopards, would always accompany him, and with these he
used to course, as our gentlemen do with hounds. The elephants were
caught in pits; and the tigers and other wild beasts in cages, by
fastening, at the other end of the cage, a young pig, a lamb, &c. The
wild elephants, though he had numbers that were domesticated, and
tigers, were designed for his games, which I shall presently attempt to
describe; but I will first mention the manner in which he punished
criminals. Amongst numerous other instruments, he had a wooden horse, of
a full size, resembling those adopted for his cavalry, curiously and
infernally contrived, on the saddle of which were nine rows of sharp
spikes, about three quarters of an inch long. The machine was moved by
springs; and as soon as the culprit mounted, the horse, by some
mechanism, would rear on his hind legs, and then, falling with a jerk on
his fore feet, the spikes would enter the posteriors of the rider. The
time of riding was proportioned to the crime; though it was said, that
one of his horsemen rode this machine with such dexterity as to avoid
the spikes,—in consequence of which he was pardoned. I have oft-times
seen the horse, with its furniture, &c. but never saw a culprit on his
back, though I was at Seringapatam at the time that several were
punished that way. It was removed when Lord Cornwallis took possession
of Bangalore.
But his most common mode of punishment was, that of drawing to death by
the elephant’s feet; the manner of which was as follows: the poor
wretches (for several were drawn at one time) first had their arms tied
behind them, above the elbows, and then a rope put about the small of
their legs, which was fastened to the elephant’s foot. This being done,
the criminals stood with their backs towards the elephant’s posteriors,
waiting sometimes an hour for an order for their execution. The distance
they stood from the beast was about six yards, and the first step the
elephant took would throw the poor unfortunates on their faces; thus
they would be dragged over rough and smooth ground till dead, and with
no faces left. There was a singular circumstance respecting one of his
elephants, called Immaumbucies, which, when young, and about the size of
a buffalo, came into Seringapatam with a herd of those animals. It was
the largest he had, and measured fifteen feet in height. He was much
caressed, and appeared sensible of every kind action; in fact, he was
more sagacious than any of his fellows, and wonderfully docile. This
incident transpired about fifty or sixty years prior to Hyder Ali’s
usurpation, when Seringapatam was in the possession of the Mysorean
chief, as sole monarch of the whole country.
Some error, of no great import, was discovered in the accounts of
fifteen fine young Bramins, who were in one of his offices as clerks;
for which they lost the fore-finger and thumb of their right hands, all
except one, who was left-handed, and he had his left finger and thumb
cut off: but the sufferings of the Bramins in general were indescribably
cruel. Poor inoffensive men! Were they accused of being rich, it was
enough; and no small pains were taken to procure their accusation,
Tippoo’s emissaries and spies being in every corner of his kingdom. Once
informed against, all pleas were useless, and they were instantly
dragged to Seringapatam. On their arrival, they were sent for by the
paymaster-general, who would address them mildly, stating, that he had
received information they were worth a certain sum of money, which he
named, and that he wanted so much for his master’s services. If the
proposal was acceded to, all was well, and perhaps the Bramin would be
put in a more lucrative situation; but a denial, or a supposed
prevarication, was sure to be accompanied with the most exquisite
tortures. In this process, the first mode was, piqueting for a given
number of hours; then, if this was found of no avail, the addition of
scourging; if this also proved ineffectual, needles, fixed in corks,
were incessantly applied to their bodies, while still under the scourge.
This mode of punishment continued several days; and if all this could
not make them confess where their supposed riches were, they would be
then led to the large pagoda yard, and there put into cages of iron, on
half a pound of rice, and a certain quantity of salt, per day, but not a
drop of water, or any thing but those two articles. In this situation I
have seen them, with their souls looking through their eyes, and God
knows my feelings at the time; but a look of pity at them from us would
have been construed into guilt. They would thus linger a few days, and
expire in agonies.
The situation of the oppressors and the oppressed, in pecuniary matters,
is, I believe, widely different now. It is generally believed in India,
that the Bramins are very tenacious of their money; which may be the
case, and I give it credit; but I am strongly of opinion, that numbers
of these inoffensive people suffered as above described, having no
property whatever; a strong information against them being a just ground
with Tippoo for all these cruelties.
About this period, in the year 1785, he seemed more bent on barbarities,
than at any other time that I was in his country. It was not
unfrequently that two or three hundred noses and ears would be exhibited
in the public market, but to whom they belonged we could not learn. We
must, however, leave these tragic scenes awhile, and turn to something
less horrible.
We were one day strangely informed, that each of us, who was of proper
age, was to have a wife; for this piece of news we were extremely sorry,
but there was no possibility of our preventing their designs. There
were, at this time, a number of young girls, who had been driven with
their relations out of the Carnatic, when Hyder infested that country,
which he almost over-ran, as already stated. Some of these poor
creatures were allotted for us; and one morning, we were ordered to fall
into rank and file, when those girls were placed one behind each of us,
while we stood gazing at one another, wondering what they were about to
do. At last, the durga gave the word, “To the right about face;” with
the addition (in the Moorish language) of “take what is before you.”
This, when understood, some did, and some did not; but the refractory
were soon obliged to comply. Thus they fed their vanity, by making our
first interview as ludicrous as possible, each being by this means
supplied with a piece of furniture, for which, however valuable in
general, we had neither want nor inclination. When this ceremony was
completed, we were ordered back to our square, and on our return with
our young black doxies, we had the bazaar, or public market, to pass,
where the crowd was so difficult to penetrate, as to separate us. This
laid the foundation for some serious disputes afterwards, many insisting
that the women they had, when they arrived at the square, were not the
same they had at first. This scene was truly comic, for the girls, when
we understood them, which was many months afterwards, had the same views
that we had; and were frequently engaged with their tongues, on this
score, long before we could understand the cause of their disputes. Our
enemies seemed to enjoy this in a manner that would have done honour to
a British theatre. Two months passed on, when the priest came to
consummate our nuptials; and the conclusion of the ceremony was as
curious as the beginning. The bride and her consort were led to an
eminence, with flowers round their necks, and seated; after which, their
thumbs were tied together, when the priest muttered something which we
could not comprehend, and we were married. They, however, gave us to
understand, that we were subject to pay eighty rupees to the cadi, in
case we divorced our wives, very few of whom exceeded eleven years of
age.[9] The one who fell to my lot was a native of Arcot, and had been
driven with thousands more when Hyder and Tippoo spread destruction
almost throughout the Company’s territories. She was an affectionate
creature, by whom I had two children; one died, and the other I left in
the arms of its distracted mother. But I shall wave this subject for the
present, and resume it again, if possible, towards the close.
About four months prior to the ratification of peace with the Company
and Tippoo, our circumstances were bettered, and we had liberty to walk
where we thought proper in the fort, and sometimes permission to go to
Sanagangam, about two miles from the fort, where Hyder Ali lies buried,
in a garden called Col-bog, or the Red Garden. We were taken to this
spot, with many more good mussulmen, to pray for the soul of the
deceased, when we had an opportunity of viewing his mosque. It is
situate in the centre of the garden, and in the centre of the mosque is
the tomb of this hero. It is a magnificent square building, with four
doors, east, west, north, and south; and is ascended by steps, on the
top of which, you immediately see, through the doors, his tomb, which,
when I saw it, was covered with black velvet, and a steel ball was
suspended over it, larger than a 42 lb. shot, of an amazing brightness.
Here are always a number of faquirs (priests) of the highest order, to
perform religious ceremonies, and keep the place inviolate.
There is another garden worth notice, called Derea, Dowlah-bog, or, the
Rich Garden of the Sea; this is a most charming spot, nearly surrounded
by a lofty wall, at the foot of which runs the river. Here was a great
variety of fruits of the most exquisite flavour, lofty trees of a
sublime appearance, together with a representation of the defeat of the
brave but unfortunate Colonel Bailey: peace to his manes! Outside of
this delectable spot, and near the walls, is a vast tank, in which
numbers of large fish were kept (consecrated, I suppose, for they were
never disturbed) by the highest order of the faquirs, who had their
dwellings on the margin of the tank. But when the English took
possession, no doubt these fine fish were appropriated to some other
use. The Bramins had a spot also, directly under the fort walls,
containing a great number of very fine fish, which were daily fed by
them; but doubtless they also have long since been destroyed by some of
John Bull’s sons.
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