Painter’s Hub

Almost all would be familiar with the serial that came many years back on Doordarshan called “The sword of Tipu sultan”. It was a very nicely conceptualized and executed one, which had its own share of controversies. Although the present generation might have watched it or read about Tippu sultan in their history books. Very few know that Tippu sultan has a connection with the present Tamilnadu also. Here’s where the sleepy town of Sathyamangalam comes into picture.

Whenever I mention the name Sathyamangalam to anybody, the next word that spits out of his or her mouths is Veerappan. I am quite bemused by that, though he is responsible for making this place quite famous. At the moment he is history, but there is more history attached to Sathyamangalam then Veerappan. That’s the purpose of this travelogue.

I had an opportunity to visit Mr. Dhamodaran, my friend from JNU, at his home in Sathyamangalam in 2007. On the way, while crossing the Bhavani River, I asked him what those ruins are and he answered me that these were the ruins of Tippu Sultan’s fort. It caught my attention immediately and was very curious to visit this place. I got the moment only now in 2009 when I visited this place again, to meet my friend and his family before I leave for the US.

This time I already requested him to take me this place. His family also came with us as an escape from the torture of power cut at home. At the behest, I would like to say that I was not expecting much from this visit. There are no entrances remaining as of now. So we took the road that lead us to our destination and was surprised to see many newly constructed houses throughout the area. My host’s dad mentioned that the fort complex is about 25 acres in area. In which almost 90% of the place are currently in private hands as residences. We visited a small temple within this complex called “Kotai Muneeswaran” temple for the deity protecting the fort. It is basically under a huge (my extended wide angle was not enough to capture it from a normal distance) peepal (Arasa maram) tree and quite well maintained. A remnant of the fort has been incorporated at one part of the complex. A roof beam having two damsels holding creepers, which has been heavily whitewashed and the subtle features have all been disappeared.

Figure 1a: Supposedly a roof panel heavily plastered with lime, still showing the elegant beauty of the damsels facing each other.

Figure 1b: The big “Arasa maram” under which is the Kotai Munneswaran temple.

From there we proceeded to what was supposed to be the entrance for the fort on the eastern direction. I was quite disappointed to see nothing but fields. The “Kodimaram” spot has been converted into a field at the moment. According to Mr. S.R.Krishnaswamy, a Tippu sultan chronicler, the British had destroyed the establishments of Tippu sultan once he was defeated. Quoting him “After the fall of Srirangapatna in May 1799, the Britishers destroyed the vital forts of Sathyamangalam, Danaickenkottai and Gajalhatti to wreck the nerve-line of provisions to and from Mysore” [Reference 1]. We saw a room that was used for storing gunpowder, which the locals call as “Poora Koondu” or pigeon cage. One can still see the small bricks used for the construction.

Figure 2: Poora Koondu. Notice the recent construction just behind it.

The Next part on the same series we will dig more about this place…

About The Author:
Ragothaman M. Yennamalli is a research scholar, completed his Ph.D in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Apart from Scientific interests, he is a student of bharatanatyam in kalakshetra bani. He also paints occasionally in his free time. He is currently enjoying his stay at Chennai before his next venture at Iowa State University, Iowa.