Charkavyuha - the story of a brave soldier

The year was 1787, Muthanna and his clan had been fighting the armies of Tipu Sultan for three weeks. The men were weary and exhausted, but had taken a solemn oath of never to be caught or converted. Tippu’s army was moving across Coorg, they had started out at Mysore, and then moved West, capturing, killing and converting as they went along. The Raja of Coorg had decided to fight them. His army, a disparate group of clans from Coorg, were united in the common cause of fighting this army. Muthanna, was from the Biddanda clan, the elder of the clan had been killed the previous evening, in a sword fight. Muthanna shouted the order to withdraw and his clan melted into the hill side. Tippu’s men tried to chase them for a bit, but the sun was setting and then decided it would be futile.

That evening around the camp fire, while the injured were being looked after, Muthanna sat with his men and ate the food being prepared by his wife and the other women. They started discussing the day, and Muthanna began narrating the days events to the women. His wife Thangamma, listened quietly and then said only one word “Chakravyuha’. Muthanna asked her what did she mean by that, and she mentioned that in the great Mahabharata war, Dronacharya, the teacher of all the Pandava’s and Kaurava’s taught them about the most difficult formations, to break the enemy’s attack. It was about positioning the most powerful fighters, so as to inflict the maximum damage to the enemy. She told him “You do not win a war with might, but with brains’. Muthanna listened to his wife, and had to agree that she was right. They needed a strategy.

Muthanna did not get sleep the whole night. Try as he might, the words of his wife kept playing in his head. He awoke early, and then started putting a plan together. He knew they had one advantage over Tipu’s army, they knew the territory. His men needed to use the element of surprise, short raids, quick attacks, and maximum damage. He divided his clan into three teams, the front team were to attack the last, the attack would start from behind, then the middle section would be attacked and then finally the front. The idea was to create chaos, the rains had started in earnest to add to the confusion and it was bitterly cold.

Early in the morning, he gathered his clan together, and chalked out the plan. His men, who trusted him, wanted to win. He sent his brother Devaya, with ten others to the top of the hill. He sent his cousin Nanjappa to the middle of the hill, and asked them to take cover behind the outcrop of stones, and he positioned himself and his group at the entrance of the valley, from where the army would pass to start climbing the hill to get to the other side. Their call sign was the cuckoo birds tweet, three long one short. Only then would they be attacking. It had to happen within minutes of each other.

It was mayhem, Muthanna and his men caused the maximum destruction to Tipu’s army. In the ensuing confusion, Muthanna and his men escaped into the hills. This was the starting of a series of small victories and battles, between the Coorgs and Tipu’s army, and Muthanna’s legend grew, and stories of his bravery and cunning reached Tipu. Tipu called his Army Commander in Chief- Yaar Muhammed, and told him he wanted Muthanna dead or alive. Yaar Mohammed, was a brave and brilliant strategist. He decided to smoke Muthanna out of hiding, and he literally did just that. He started burning village after village in Coorg, making the women and kids homeless. He knew that one day he would exhaust his opponent. They played a cat and mouse game, it lasted for seven months. In the summer of 1788, Muthanna was killed. When Tipu heard the news he sent word to Yaar Muhammed to get him proof of this. Yaar Muhammed reached the Srirangapatnam fort and entered the palace and went straight to Tipu’s private chambers. He carried with him the decapitated head of Muthanna. He presented the head covered in cloth to Tipu. When Tipu removed the cloth, he was shocked on how handsome, young and regal the man was. Muthanna was buried with full military honors, as befitting a General.

The story of Muthanna is one of many in Coorg, and in many biography’s of Tipu Sultan, there is a mention of the bravery of the Coorgs. The Coorgs finally lost the war against Tipu Sultan, and he formed a Coorg battalion, which fought against the British.