SRIRANGAPATTANA

Extreme right red circling    .......Col Bailey Tomb   Sangam is just ahead

Red circling just before above.......masoleum housing the tombs of  Tipu his Father and Mother

Extreme left red circling  ........breach through which the forces in the IV mysore war stormed the fort

Red circling on the right of above along the upper Cauvery component  .......Dungeons

the next red circling on this river component    .........water gate

the only circling on lower cauvery component..................ruins of the complex..to its right is ranganatha Swamy temple

the lone red circling in the middle.............daria daulat palace

I  have presented above a very old drawing of  Srirangapattana. I got it from a rare source. Recently the British government has made a list of its key enemies all time and alongside George Washington  and Napolean figures Tipu Sultan and thus my sudden fascination for this place.I have written about Srirangapattana on earlier occassions but this time over it might be special ib the backdrop of this sketch.

Some 500 years ago a place like Bangalore probably never existed in significance but this place called Srirangapattana was at the center of local affairs for this part of the world was probably ruled from there and power fell into different hands successively and aonly to be abandoned thereupon as world affairs began to change.

Cauvery river is some kind of  a life line in this part of the world..taking its birth in the district of Coorg and emptying itself near pondicherry  the river goes through an arduous course largely gushing down a downward gradient as it traverses this part of the Deccan. As it rushes down in a relatively exaggerated pace as it appears to me compared to other rivers it circumvents itself through three island like formations the first of it being at Srirangapattana ..an island which must be 10 kilometers in breadth and some 06 kilometers in length and the other two island formations at Shi vana Samudhra  and the other at Srirangam. All these islands are sacred from centuries as stone built temples deifying Ranganatha Swamy were built ansd strikingly so I find the deity of Sri Ranganatha Swamy at Sri rangapattanam very similar in demeanor to that at the Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram ; there is some link to the possible unified source from which these statues emerged.  

Some resemblance of a fort first built with mud and later with stones has taken shape within this island and can be seen even to this day and to Indian and some European communities this island has special significance. In recent times more precisely the earlier parts of this millennium the fort and the complex was the administrative headquarters of the Vijayanagar kingdom. Sriranga was the name of one of the viceroys of Vijayanagar who was overpowered by Raja wodeyar during the early 17th century as the Vijayanagar empire began to fumble and the power usurped by Hyderali in one of the confusions that beset the wodeyar king who along with family were imprisoned within this complex. The marattas seem to have played their part in this sudden transition of power the Wodeyar king  being helpless in paying the tribute demanded by the marattas had entrusted Hyder Ali to negotiate the issue with the marattas and the balance of power slowly slipping into the hands of Hyder Ali under an overall scene of uncertainty and skirmishes.

What is Srirangapattana all about now ? It is a tourist place and any tourist entering this place would find the following write up of mine useful. If you are approaching Srirangapattana from Bangalore it is 125kms and the main road or highway cuts the city island into two. Mysore is some 15kms away. On the left of the highway you get places like the Daria Daulat  ; the mausoleum housing the graves of Hyder Ali; Tippu Sultan and his mother Fakrunissa  and Sangam. It is a drive of about six kilometers on this stretch.Near the masoleum there is also the tomb of Col. Bailey a Scotsman tortured to death during the wars. (There was another man Col. Baird who narrowly escaped death and was released as a consequence of some peace deal and he was the one who gave front-line leadership in the war of 1799). Col  Bailey it appears was imprisoned in Bangalore fort too which points to the possibility of his being taken to Srirangapattana from

 Ar cot through Bangalore of those times. Sangam is the terminal point where the two tributaries of the Cauvery that encircle Srirangapattana converge.

If you were to get into the fort complex on the right you see the Masjid built by Hyder Ali..; leading to the spot where Tippu Sultan was found dead in the fouth Mysore war on 4th may 1799..the Ranganatha Swamy temple behind which is the dungeons and later to a view of the ruins and ramparts of what remains from that era.

The present day Srirangapattana looks more like a residential lay-out as against a place of historical significance and the Government can develop this place which has historical distinction by putting up an auditorium and musuem within these precincts where the true significance of the place can be communicated to the casual traveller who must get transported through the bygone era to appreciate that he stands on a land that spells heritage on every stone.