Sulthan Bathery, Wayanad, Kerala - Jain temple where Tipu Sultan stored arms and artillery weapons,

Navrang India July 06, 2023

13 to14 CE Jain temple, Sultan bathery, commons.wikimedia.org

Situated at an altitude of roughly 1000m above the sea level, about 100 km from Kozhikode city, Kerala Sulthan Bathery, as it is called today,  is a historical place and it got the strange  name because during the war expedition to the Malabar region, the  erstwhile ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, stored his arms and ammunition, including  artillery guns, etc  in an old Jain temple here. Close to NH 212, the place was earlier known as Ganapathivattom. The name Sulthan  Bathery is a corrupt form of Sultan's Battery. A police station stands on the ruins of a fort once built by the Mysore ruler. 

Jain temple, Sulthan bathery, kerala.ndiantravelblogs.blogspot.com

Above image:  13th century Jain temple atop the hill, Sulthan bathery (Sultan Battery). Built by the Vijayanagara ruler, presently it is being managed by the ASI. Tipu Sultan captured this place and used the jain temple to store his war weapons as he had a plan to expand his sultanate in this region. In 1792 by a treaty with Tipu, The English company had not ceded it and after the fall of Tipu in 1799 at Srirangapatna in the final Anglo-Mysore war, the Wayanad area was given to the previous Mysore ruler the Wadiyar royal family (from whom Hyder Ali seized the kingdom). However on 29 December 1803, the English company repossessed this area which was administered by col. Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington  who was defeated in the late 1700s in a rebellion led by Pazhassi Raja, a warrior prince) whose army defeated French army chief Napoleon in Waterloo.......... 

Road to Sulthan bathery, Kerala .tripadvisor.in

The place atop a small hill, in the mountainous area, has comfortable and congenial climate throughout the year. Over a long period of time,  this place, once a strategic location in the Malabar region for the warring  armies, has grown into a large town in  Wayanad district now named Sulthan Bathery (Malayalam version of Sultan Battery) .  Lots of tourists visit this place because of the presence of meandering streams, rolling hills,  trails in the wooded areas, prehistoric caves and lush greenery. Primarily  a tribal area, lots of migrants from other parts of Kerala settled here and it is believed, they were displaced during the raids by the Mysore rulers -Hyder Ali and Tipu. The tribes constitute the majority of the population The tribes and others worship at 8th century ganapati temple. 

In the late 1700s Tipu Sultan was keen to conquer the fertile land of Travancore and particularly, he focussed on the strategically  important ports. After the second Anglo-Mysore war, Tipu was obsessed  with annexing Travancore. His attempt to collude with the ruler of  Cochin having been misfired, in 1789, Tipu sent forces to Malabar to subdue a rebellion. Many rebels found political asylum in Travancore and Cochin in the wake of his advance

The place is  connected with various places through the NH 212 Kozhikode – Mysore National Highway.