Samvit Prakashan and CSIS Dakshinapatha Studies jointly organized the book launch of the Telugu book `Tippu Nijaswarupam’ on the evening of 5th November 2023 at Dadawadi Jain temple hall, Sikh village, Secunderabad.
The book originally written in English `Tippu as he really was’ by Sri Gajanan Bhaskar Mahandale has been translated into Telugu by Smt Hemalatha Gooda and published by Samvit Prakashan. Dr Gopal Reddy, President CSIS in his opening remarks introduced CSIS Dakshinapatha Studies and stated that work regarding unearthing the forgotten chapters of history is being undertaken by the organization. He emphasized on the great contribution by many forgotten and unsung heroes, and the many epochs that have been ignored and said there is a need to focus on content generation on these subjects. He gave the example of `anubhava mantapam’ of Sage Basaveswara, near bidar, which was a sabha-samithi or a kind of parliament, of which many people are not aware of. CSIS is trying to fill this gap and is also helping in the publications of the content. He appreciated that Samvit books give source material, are well-researched with evidence and facts. He cautioned that today’s youth unfortunately doesn’t show much of social concern and hence there is a great need to change the direction of the youth. He congratulated Samvit Prakashan and Smt Hemalatha, the translator of the book.
The chief guest, Dr Narra Bhupathi Reddy, geo-physicist and groundwater specialist, who also runs the organization e-sreshta, in his keynote address stated that, unfortunately our society is neither aware of its glorious past, nor about it’s own enemies. The external desert religions which have invaded and occupied the nation, have destroyed the society; they changed the way battles are fought, when villages and towns were invaded and flattened, women were raped and children were killed. Arts and sciences were destroyed, temples were demolished and desecrated, social evils like `casteism’ were created. The glorious Hindu Kingdom Vijayanagara, which was founded by Swami Vidyaranya, was cruelly razed to the ground by the Bahmanis. Some people have written articles that `Indian army is suppressing militants in Kashmir’, we don’t know if such people are Marxists, `moorkhists’ or jihadists. School lessons are still taught about `akbar the great’; and Vandematharam has been removed from school assemblies. When questioned, officials have said they are helpless. He said it is time that we reclaim our own histories; he congratulated the organizers for bringing out such books.
The book was launched by all the dignitaries on the stage- Dr Gopal Reddy, Dr Bhupathi Reddy, Smt Hemalatha Gooda and Ms Shailaja from Samvit Prakashan.
The translator of the book, Smt Hemalatha in her talk, explained in detail, on how the original author Sri Gajanan Mahandale, placed all facts on the table after in-depth research. The book talks about the atrocities committed by the tyrant Tippu Sultan against innocent Hindus, plundering them, ruining the agriculture and trade. He also committed unspeakable crimes against women and children, destroyed many temples. The book also mentions letters written by the Tippu Sultan to foreign invaders inviting them to attack India. However the pseudo-secular writers and historians whitewashed his horrendous crimes and presented him as a freedom fighter. They glorified the few acts of his charity towards temples for political reasons, and ignored the fact that he destroyed dozens of temples and forcibly converted or killed lakhs of people. It is ironical that the same Tippu who was hated by Hindus in his time, was glorified by leftist historians much later. She stated that we would have forgotten the sacrifices made by Hindus in the past, and wouldn’t deserve such great ancestors who stood valiantly against such onslaughts, if we don’t know our own histories and pass them on to the next generations.
Important interventions were made by distinguished guests in the audience. Sri Kannan/ Paravastu Krishna, senior advocate spoke about the Srivaishnava Iyengars from Melkote in Mandya district, who were massacred en-masse a day before Deepavali festival by Tipu Sultan. In remembrance of that ghastly day, the Melkote Brahmins do not celebrate Deepavali to this date. He said our Gods and Goddesses – Sri Narasimha, Sri Hanuman, Devi matha, have astras and shastras, and we should not forget that Sakthi is worshipped by Hindus. Senior journalist and author Sri Vedula Narasimham, stated that not only Tipu Sultan, even his father Hyder Ali was also a big tyrant and a destroyer of Hindu temples. He gave the example of Thimmappa devalayam, near Chandragiri in Chitoor district, Andhra Pradesh which was destroyed by Hyder Ali, a few other temples near Tirupathi were also destroyed.
Ms Shailaja, representing Samvit Prakashan explained that the publication firm in a short time has published about 30 titles which are of great importance and value. Earlier the same author Sri Mahandale’s book `Sivaji’ was also was translated by Sri Kesava and published in Telugu. Samvit is systematically unearthing forgotten, distorted or ignored chapters from history and have come up with a series of publications with valuable content like – `Akhari pravakta, Khilafat, Bengal Bleeding, Goa Inquisition, Matham perutho akramalu’ and many others; three titles are published on the `Nizams’ rule’ in Hyderabad; classics like `Sivasya kulam’, `Siva Bharatam’ and `Charvakam’ are published, and some important translated works include `Gangalo Vishanagulu, Islam Antharangam’ etc. She invited the audience to visit the websites of Samvitprakashan.com and Dakshinapatha.com; she thanked the speakers, organizers and the audience for a wonderful evening of book launch. The event was attended by a large number of audience.