Was it true? Dr Pande wrote immediately to the author and asked him for the source on which he had based this episode in his text%u2013book. After several reminders, Dr Shastri replied that he had taken this information from the Mysore Gazetteer. So Dr. Pande requested the Mysore University vice%u2013chancellor, Sir Brijendra Nath Seal, to verify for him Dr Shastri%u2019s statement from the Gazetteer. Sir Brijendra referred his letter to Prof. Srikantia who was then working on a new edition of the Gazetteer.
Srikantia wrote to say that the Gazetteer mentioned no such incident and, as a historian himself, he was certain that nothing like this had taken place. Prof Srikantia added that both the prime minister and the commander%u2013in%u2013chief of Tipu Sultan were themselves Brahmins. He also enclosed a list of 136 Hindu temples which used to receive annual grants from the Sultan%u2019s treasury.
