Use of Muharram Rituals as Trick by Lord Cornwallis

Lord Cornwallis receiving Tipu's sons as Hostages.

Dr. Mazhar Naqvi

How the British used religious sentiments of Indians to extend the empire? An illustration of this policy can be found in the battle fought between East India Company and Tipu Sultan. Mir Munshi of Lord Cornwallis has given a vivid description of the British shrewdness in his account. He writes in his memoir “when our English forces were stationed in Care, the Muharram moon was sighted. Lord Cornwallis decided to camp for ten days as Indian soldiers of English forces wanted to observe those ten days of Muharram through several actions and take out Tazias and flags(Alam).While Tipu was averse to the idea of Muharram observance ,Lord Cornwallis declared holiday for them and also said that he is interested to see the observance of Muharram. On the seventh day soldiers disguised them in so many forms, carried Tazia and Alam, Lord Cornwallis witnessed the rituals ,sitting on a chair and respected the people when they passed by him and he used to bow his head  when a Tazia or Taboot passed in front of him and walked two or three steps behind them to show his respect. He also presented them money on a silver plate.”

The gesture of Lord won the hearts of Indians when they came to know about the respect exhibited by the Governor General and English soldiers to the rituals and observance of Muharram. Majority  of them remarked openly “ British are better than their own rulers.”  Indians turned hostile against Tipu and extended their support whole-heartedly to the English forces, leading to the downfall of Sultanate Khudadad. After the martyrdom of Tipu, Indian soon realized that Cornwallis had simply applied a trick to woo Indians against Khudadad kingdom and he had no sentiments attached to Muharram rituals. It is evident from the fact that he never showed any respect to religious sentiments till his death at Ghazipur town in eastern part of modern Uttar Pradesh state of India. The incident also reveals folly of Tipu. Despite his patriotic character and unconditional love for Holy Prophet and his family, he ignored the sentiments of natives and paid a heavy price for it.(References available n request. Photo Courtesy Google Images)