Editing Tipu Sultan (section)

====Relations with Hindus====
Tipu Sultan's treasurer was Krishna Rao, [[Shamaiya Iyengar]] was his Minister of Post and Police, his brother Ranga Iyengar was also an officer, and [[Purnaiah|Purnaiya]] held the very important post of "Mir Asaf". Moolchand and Sujan Rai were his chief agents at the Mughal court, and his chief "Peshkar", Suba Rao, was also a Hindu.{{sfn|Hasan|2005|pp=357–358}}

The Editor of Mysore Gazette reports of correspondence between his court and temples, and his having donated jewellery and deeded land grants to several temples, which he was compelled to for forming alliances with Hindu rulers. Between 1782 and 1799 Tipu Sultan issued 34 "Sanads" (deeds) of endowment to temples in his domain, while also presenting many of them with gifts of silver and gold plate.{{sfn|Hasan|2005|p=360}}

The Srikanteswara Temple in Nanjangud still possesses a jeweled cup presented by the Sultan.<ref name="A. Subbaraya Chetty 2002"/> He also gave a greenish [[linga]]; to Ranganatha temple at Srirangapatna, he donated seven silver cups and a silver [[camphor]] burner. This temple was hardly a stone's throw from his palace from where he would listen with equal respect to the ringing of temple bells and the [[muezzin]]'s call from the mosque; to the [[Lakshmikanta Temple, Kalale|Lakshmikanta Temple]] at [[Kalale]] he gifted four cups, a plate and [[Spitoon]] in silver.<ref name="padiga3"/>{{sfn|Hasan|2005|p=360}}

During the [[Maratha–Mysore War]] in 1791, a group of [[Maratha Empire|Maratha]] horsemen under Raghunath Rao Patwardhan raided the temple and ''matha'' of [[Sringeri]] ''[[Shankaracharya]]''. They wounded and killed many people, including Brahmins, plundered the monastery of all its valuable possessions, and desecrated the temple by displacing the image of goddess Sarada.{{sfn|Hasan|2005|pp=357–358}}

The incumbent ''Shankaracharya'' petitioned Tipu Sultan for help. About 30 letters written in [[Kannada]], which were exchanged between Tipu Sultan's court and the [[Sringeri]] [[Shankaracharya]], were discovered in 1916 by the Director of Archaeology in [[Mysore]]. Tipu Sultan expressed his indignation and grief at the news of the raid:{{sfn|Hasan|2005|pp=357–358}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/bO9Ma9Sb2g4aUvIUT29fCP/Why-we-love-to-hate-Tipu-Sultan.html|title=Why we love to hate Tipu Sultan|last=Sampath |first=Vikram |work=livemint.com|date=31 January 2014}}</ref>

<blockquote>"People who have sinned against such a holy place are sure to suffer the consequences of their misdeeds at no distant date in this Kali age in accordance with the verse: "Hasadbhih kriyate karma rudadbhir-anubhuyate" (People do [evil] deeds smilingly but suffer the consequences crying)."<ref>''Annual Report of the Mysore Archaeological Department'' 1916 pp&nbsp;10–11, 73–6</ref> </blockquote>

He immediately ordered the Asaf of [[Bednur]] to supply the Swami with 200 ''rahati''s (''[[Travancore Fanam|fanam]]''s) in cash and other gifts and articles. Tipu Sultan's interest in the Sringeri temple continued for many years, and he was still writing to the Swami in the 1790s.{{sfn|Hasan|2005|p=359}}

In light of this and other events, historian B. A. Saletare has described Tipu Sultan as a defender of the Hindu [[dharma]], who also patronised other temples including one at Melkote, for which he issued a Kannada decree that the Shrivaishnava invocatory verses there should be recited in the traditional form.<ref name='tipu defender of Hindu faith'>Saletare, B.A. "Tipu Sultan as Defender of the Hindu Dharma", pp. 116–8 in [[#Confronting|''Confronting Colonialism'']]</ref> The temple at Melkote still has gold and silver vessels with inscriptions indicating that they were presented by the Sultan. Tipu Sultan also presented four silver cups to the Lakshmikanta Temple at Kalale.<ref name='tipu defender of Hindu faith'/> Tipu Sultan does seem to have repossessed unauthorised grants of land made to [[Brahmin]]s and temples, but those which had proper ''sanads'' (certificates) were not. It was a normal practice for any ruler, Muslim or Hindu, on his accession or on the conquest of new territory.