Opines Historian Vasundhara Filliozat

Mysuru: Expressing displeasure over State Government’s decision to remove materials related to Tipu Sultan from textbooks, Historian Vasundhara Filliozat said “Tipu might have done both good deeds and bad deeds. It is the duty of historians to record both for future generation.”

She was speaking after receiving Itihasa Samskruthi Sri title conferred to her by Karnataka Itihasa Academy, Bengaluru, at her residence in Yadavagiri in city yesterday. “After the fall of Vijayanagar empire, Marathas hesitated to occupy Hampi, but the Nizam tried to take over Hampi. At that time, it was Tipu who claimed for it, as documented by the British. Before Tipu’s rule, there were no limits for wickedness of British in Srirangapatna. It was Tipu who tried put an end to British and their brutality, but the brutality of the British has not been documented,” she added.

“There is no mention of the name Vijayanagar in any of the 30 inscriptions. British rulers who came to power after the fall of Vijayanagar empire, limited Wadiyars to the Kingdom of Mysuru. The Maharaja of Mysore, in his inscriptions, used to say he was the King of Karnataka, so Vijayanagar empire should be called as Karnataka empire,” she added.

As part of 33rd Annual Conference of Karnataka Itihasa Academy, the Academy felicitated Dr. Vasundhara Filliozat and her husband Prof. Pierre Sylvain Filliozat, who is a Sanskrit scholar and conferred the title, which carries a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh. Academy Director Dr. Devarakonda Reddy and others were present on the occasion.