The Chelas: lashkar-i-ahmadi

Following Tipu’s return from Mangalore sometime in mid-1784, Scurry was transferred to the newly formed lashkar-i-ahmadi composed of “Mohamadized Christians, formerly of Mangalore...” Rutledge, Speediman, Smith, and Dempster, each commanded a risala each.[1] 

The Barkur Manuscript gives intimate details of the recruitment of Kanara Christians into the laskar-i-ahmadi. They began while the captives were still recovering from the aftermath of the devastating epidemic that wiped out nearly a third of their numbers in the camps in Srirangapatna. Tipu relates that they were formed into battalions of 500 each, circumcised, and distributed to the principal garrisons with orders for the daily provision of food, apparel, and other requisites, and called Ahmedy. About 25% of a battalion’s strength, as per existing practice, would have been composed of service personnel, so that the actual fighting men would have been 100. This is the figure given by the Barkur Manuscript. It says 100 men formed a company, four companies a risala, four risalas a sufedar, and four sufedars were placed under a bakshi. The four garrisons were probably Srirangapatna, Mysore, Channarayapatna, and Chitradurga, which makes the number of recruits around 5,600.

The Barkur Manuscript adds that about 200 young and robust girls were selected and taken to the harem. Abbe Dubois In reality, there would have been many more, some assigned as wives to the chelas. The family tradition of the descendants of Pedru Sequeira, a captive posted to the capital’s garrison, who married in Srirangapatna and returned with his wife to Omzur, maintains the marriage ceremony consisted in clasping the hand of his bride and running across a line drawn on an open field. Holding hands while exchanging vows is an integral part of Muslim marriage ceremony.

Kirkpatrick estimates the total number in the laskar-i-ahmadi was 15,000, composed of 30 risalas. These numbers would have included Christians taken from Tipu’s Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu-speaking areas. This would mean a more or less equal number of captives came from these areas. The French missionary, Per Motet, encountered many circumcised Christians in Salem in 1792.

Shortly after Mangalore was retaken, Kodagu revolted. Large numbers were taken into captivity in Srirangapatna. In January 1785, Tipu commemorated his victory with their public conversion to Islam. According to Kirmani, eight risalas were formed from these captives. The lashkar-i-ahmadi had been augmented by a further 3,000 to 4,000 chelas.

In February 1786, Tipu mobilized his army in Bangalore for his northern campaign against a Maratha-Nizam alliance. Drake writes that the 80,000 strong force included 12 lashkar-i-ahmadi and four asad-i-ilahi risalas.[2] Bristow writes that 30 Europeans were incorporated into four lashkar-i-ahmadi risalas which took part in the Adoni campaign. Scurry, meanwhile, was stationed at Channarayapatna.

The Adoni campaign took place in the peak summer heat of May 1786. The Barkur Manuscript records many chelas died of water-borne disease and poor rations. Four thousand men died or were wounded during the siege of Adoni alone.[3] The survivors were sent to Channarayapatna and Harihar. The casualties mounted. The survivors were brought back to Srirangapatna.

The war, ending with the onset of the monsoon in July 1787, had taken a severe toll on the Christian ahmadis. A round up of Christians who had escaped the 1784 dragnet was initiated. Those who could, like Caithan and Basil Coelho, escaped to Tellicherry where a small expatriate community sought refuge.

Eight chela risalas participated in the Malabar campaign of 1789-90.[4] Tipu’s commanders were ordered to send all captive boys below the age of 20 to Srirangapatna.[5] To reduce the potential for revolt, risala strength was reduced to 200, thereby increasing the number to 30, and the composition of each risala included men from all regions.[6] It would mean chela strength had dropped to 6,000. One of Tipu’s officers reveals, in 1790 the lashkar-i-ahmadi had 1,500 Christian and 1,500 Kodava, and the asad-i-ilahi had 2,500 Carnatic and 500 Beder chelas.[7]  In seven years, war, disease, and desertions had reduced the number of Kanara Christian ahmadis from 5,600 to 1,500.

Then, on the night of February 6, 1792, about 10,000 Kodava and Christian chelas escaped to Kodagu with their families. The Christians were settled by the Kodagu raja in the new town named after him, Virajpet. LINK

[1] Scurry, James. 1824. The Captivity, Sufferings and Escape of James Scurry. London: Henry Fisher. p 337

[2] Selections from Calcutta Gazettes, 1789-1797, Vol II. Calcutta, 1865.: 311-316

[3] Burette’s Narrative, Some particulars extracted from...635-52. London Library.

[4] Bristow, James. 1793. A Narrative of the Sufferings of James Bistrow...London. J Murray. p 106

[5] Kirkpatrick, William. 1812.  “Original Letters of Tippoo Sultaun”. In The Asiatic Annual Register, Vol XII, 1810-11, 385-483. London. Letter I, II

[6] Selections from Calcutta Gazettes, 1789-1797, Vol II. Calcutta, 1865. 311-16; Bristow 1793: 116

[7] The Asiatic Annual Register for the Year 1799. London. Characters: 3