Some tales about Tipu Sultan

Some  tales  about  Tipu Sultan

Compiled  by

P.R.Ramachander

I belong to a village called  Chelakkara , near Trichur town. To every hindu  in Chelakkara , The temple of Narasimhamurthy is the most important temple . Sultan Tipu  marching to conquer  Cochin   and Travancore, did visit  Chelakkara. He broke the Narasimha    swamy statue   and threw  it in the temple tank .( I have met many old people   who  have taken out  the old broken statue from temple tank

Some one there  told him  about another   great Shiva temple (Anthi maha kalan temple) and when he was  marching towards  it, he met  an old hag. He asked her how far is Anthimahakalan temple   and she told him that  he has to cross  five thousand fields, five thousand forests  and five thousand tanks.He felt that  it was   a very difficult  thing to do and started  his march to Cochin.(Even today  one field in chelakkara  is called  Ayyayiram parambu  , followed by  one tank Ayyayiram kolam  and and one  collection of bushes  called Ayyayiram Kadu)

    The devotees of Guruvayurappan   fled with his statue   to Ambalappuzha  near Aleppy.  Disappointed   the Sultan continued his march.

     After  Kodungallore  before  he reached  Chalakkudy ,  A  nedum kotta(  long fort-  was about 48 km long, 20 feet wide and 12 feet high)   was constructed   with in a day by the people   ( some say by the Travancore king) and this  prevented  the further  march  of the Sultan  and he had to return back to Mysore.

   Another  place   you must have heard  is a place called  Chavghat  near  Guruvayur).It is believed that all the people   were  converted  to islam   there  by the Sultan .Because of it the place  was  called  Saapa Kadu(the forest of curse) which later  became Chowghat.In 1965  , I had  travelled   all round this great wall  .

There  must be very many stories  of  Tipu  Sultan’s march in Kerala. Can some of you  write   about them