Vikram Sampath on Forced circumcision

“The English prisoners also noted in their memoirs that they observed large numbers of Hindu boys and girls, too, being carried away from their homes and against the wishes of their parents, forcibly converted and married off at the whims of their captors. Recounting his experience from the dungeons in Srirangapatna on 10 March 1781, Captain Lindsay writes: ‘The greatest part of the houses and choultries [resting places for travellers] around us, we found, were full of multitudes of inhabitants of the Carnatic, all of whom Haidar had made embrace the Mahometan religion; about three- thousand of these unwilling proselytes, most of them being young men, were formed into different battalions, and were now exercised mornings and evenings upon the parade, upon the instructions of two or three Frenchmen . . . on another part of the parade there was about an equal number of women and girls, under the same description, confined together, and who we were informed, were reserved to be married to the boys, when they were grown up.’59”

“Another British officer, who notes anonymously in his account, records many such details of forced conversion and circumcision of several English prisoners, as well as Hindu citizens, whom he calls the ‘Carnatic slave boys,’60 possibly captured in war. He notes that on 30 October 1781, ‘Duncan Macintosh and Donald Steward, privates, both of the 73rd Regiment, were forcibly taken out and circumcised.’61 On 19 June 1782, he records: ‘Arrived prisoners, fourteen European children, eight boys and six girls. It is reported that they were taken at Cuddalore.’62 Likewise, on 13 July 1782, ‘Arrived prisoners, five hundred Carnatic boys, in order to be made slaves, and to be entered into Haidar’s slave battalions.’63 Some of the youngest and handsomest boys were also selected and lodged at Haidar’s palace; some serving as dancing boys, others castrated as eunuchs.64 There are numerous such entries in this account, more like a diary, that records the making of slaves and forced conversions, right from Haidar’s time.”

“James Scurry, a British sailor, was taken prisoner by the French and was among the 500 British prisoners of war handed over to Haidar by the French Admiral Suffrein in June 1782. Scurry was barely sixteen years old then. After being lodged in Bangalore for a few months, he and several of his batch of prisoners were packed off to Srirangapatna. Here, after shaving off their heads, the unfortunate prisoners were to learn that Haidar had ordered for their forced circumcision and thereby a conversion to Islam. Scurry writes: ‘A mat, and a kind of sheet, was provided for each of us, wewere ordered to arrange ourselves in two rows, and then lie down on our mats. This being done, the guards, barbers . . . came among us, and seizing the youngest, Randal Cadman, a midshipman, they placed him on a cudgeree pot, when four of these stout men held his legs and arms, while the barber performed his office [circumcised him]. In this manner, they went through the operation, and in two hours, the “pious” work wasfinished, and we were laid on our separate mats.’56 Even as they lay writhing in pain and being fed a strong opiate, majum, priests were ushered in to instruct the ‘converts’ on the theology of their new faith and its tenets. The converted were then drafted into Haidar’s chela (slave) battalion. Their ears were pierced and a slave’s mark put on each of them. They were normally given excruciating tasks and many kept fainting while they did these. The chelas were bundled together in dank, dingy rooms, with little place to even breathe and surrounded by mounds of filth that was seldom cleaned. All of this led to the outbreak of numerous diseases and fatal epidemics.57 Scurry managed to escape only in 1791 and reached a small fort that was under Maratha control and thereafter joined a British detachment operating with the Maratha army near Dharwad. Another prisoner of war James Bristow recounts the horrific ritual of forcible conversion and circumcision that took place in September 1781 at the behest of one Sergeant Dempster whose name repeatedly occurs in all accounts as the collaborator conducting this act: This incident spread general terror amongst the rest of the prisoners, everyone apprehending that he might be the next victim devoted to Mahometism; nor were our fears groundless, for early in January 1782, the same persons entered our prison, accompanied by Sergeant Dempster, and made a second selection of fourteen, in which number I had the misfortune to be included. As Dempster was suspected of a share in this horrid business, at least so far as pointing out the objects on whom the choice ought to fall; every one of us were highly exasperated against him, and it was fortunate for him that he was protected by his guards. The treatment the first victim had undergone, served in some degree to apprise us of the inutility of resistance. With horror and indignation, we swallowed the narcotic potion, and those whom the dose had no effect upon, were forcibly seized and pinioned by stout coffres whilst the operation [circumcision] was performed (having previously shaved us in the customary manner). After the operation, our right ears were perforated and small silver rings with round knobs fixed in them, this being the mark of slavery amongst the Mahometans. As soon as we had recovered from this diabolical ceremony, we were transferred to what is termed the tyrant’s Chaylah battalions (that is, slaves), these are composed of such of his own subjects as have been condemned to perpetual slavery, and such unfortunate captives as he takes in war . . . after we had been made what was termed Musselmen, we neglected no opportunity of evincing our contempt for the religion of our tormentors, and the cruel force they had employed against us, by catching dogs and bandicoots and circumcising them publicly.”