Mysore, Colonial Karnataka and the Unification — KPSC KAS GS Paper I

Weightage: GS Paper I, Section II asks for modern Indian history, the freedom movement and the unification of Karnataka. The all-India frame comes from the aliased UPSC CSE chapters. This chapter supplies the Karnataka layer.

1. Why Karnataka's colonial story is not one story

Colonial Karnataka was split. Mysore was a princely state under the Wodeyars. The coast and Bombay-Karnataka belonged to British provinces, Hyderabad-Karnataka to the Nizam, and Kodagu to a separate administration.

The unification movement exists because this one language region lived under four or five different governments.

2. Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan

Hyder Ali rose through the Mysore army and became the real ruler of Mysore around 1761, while the Wodeyar king remained on the throne. Tipu Sultan succeeded him in 1782.

The four Anglo-Mysore wars run in a fixed order:

• First, 1767-69: ended by the Treaty of Madras.
• Second, 1780-84: ended by the Treaty of Mangalore (1784).
• Third, 1790-92: ended by the Treaty of Srirangapatna (1792), in which Tipu lost about half his territory and paid an indemnity.
• Fourth, 1799: Tipu died defending Srirangapatna.

Tipu is known for administrative and economic experiments, state-run trading, the use of Mysorean rockets and efforts to build a navy.

3. The Wodeyar restoration and the princely state

After 1799 the British restored the Wodeyar family, with Purnaiah as Dewan. The state was placed under direct British administration from 1831, after the Nagar revolt, and was handed back to the Wodeyars in 1881 (the Rendition).

Mysore as a model state. Under later Wodeyar kings and Dewans, Mysore gained a reputation for planned development. Sir M. Visvesvaraya, Dewan from 1912 to 1918, is the best-known figure. The Krishnaraja Sagara (KRS) dam on the Kaveri was built in this period and finished in 1932.

Other landmarks of this Mysore are the Mysore University (1916), the first university in a princely state, and early electricity from the Shivanasamudra hydel plant.

4. Early revolts and the freedom struggle

Kittur Chennamma led an armed revolt against the British in 1824, when the Company refused to recognise her adopted heir. Her forces killed the collector Thackeray. She was captured and died in custody.

Sangolli Rayanna, her commander, continued resistance and was hanged in 1831. Both are remembered as early figures of the struggle, long before 1857.

In the 20th century the Congress organised Karnataka's districts and linked them to the national movement. Two events are frequently set:

• The Shivapura flag satyagraha (1938), in Mysore state, when Mysore Congress asserted the right to fly its flag.
• Vidurashwatha (1938), where police firing on a gathering of Congress supporters killed many people; it is often called the Jallianwala Bagh of Karnataka.

In 1947 the Mysore Chalo movement pressed for responsible government.

5. The Ekikarana movement

Ekikarana means unification. Early work was cultural: the Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha at Dharwad (1890) and the Kannada Sahitya Parishat in Bangalore (1915).

Aluru Venkata Rao is called the father of the Karnataka unification movement; his work Karnataka Gatavaibhava gave it a historical basis.

The States Reorganisation Commission (1953-55, the Fazl Ali Commission) accepted language as the basis. The new Mysore State was formed on 1 November 1956, joining Kannada-speaking areas from the old Mysore, Bombay, Madras and Hyderabad states and Coorg.

6. From Mysore to Karnataka

The enlarged state kept the name Mysore until 1 November 1973, when it was renamed Karnataka during D. Devaraj Urs's chief ministership. Rajyotsava is celebrated each 1 November.

The Kalyana-Karnataka region. The Hyderabad-Karnataka districts came in at unification but had lagged under Nizam rule. Article 371(J) later gave the region special provisions, a link to the constitutional chapters of this hub.

Common traps KPSC sets here

• Mixing the Treaty of Mangalore (1784) with the Treaty of Srirangapatna (1792). The first closed the second war and the second closed the third.
• Saying Tipu died in the third war. He died in 1799 in the fourth.
• Treating Kittur and 1857 as the same revolt. Kittur was in 1824.
• Confusing the Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha with the Kannada Sahitya Parishat. One is at Dharwad (1890), the other at Bangalore (1915).
• Dating the name Karnataka to 1956. The unified state was Mysore until 1973.

Memory aids

• "67, 80, 90, 99": the starts of the four Anglo-Mysore wars.
• "84 Mangalore, 92 Srirangapatna": the two treaties.
• "1956 unites, 1973 renames": the two Karnataka dates.

Summary

Karnataka's colonial history was fragmented across Mysore, British provinces, Hyderabad and Kodagu. Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan fought four Anglo-Mysore wars, ending at Srirangapatna in 1799, after which the Wodeyars were restored.

Mysore became a model state under Dewans like Visvesvaraya, while Kittur Chennamma in 1824 and the Shivapura and Vidurashwatha events of 1938 mark the freedom struggle. The Ekikarana movement, helped by Aluru Venkata Rao, achieved the unified Mysore State on 1 November 1956, renamed Karnataka in 1973.

Exam protocol

• Give the four wars with dates and the two treaties with years.
• Name Kittur Chennamma and Sangolli Rayanna together with 1824 and 1831.
• Separate the 1956 unification from the 1973 renaming in every answer.