Call him the Shoban Sarkar of Karnataka or a foreword to another treasure hunt episode: A Bangalorean, who claims to have a soldier in the army of Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan in his past life, has submitted a petition to the Mandya district administration on a hidden treasure in Srirangapatna.

The place coming in his dreams is close to the place where Tipu was killed in the Fourth Mysore War (May 04, 1799). According to historical records, this place is the Hoally (Diddy) Gateway, 270 m in the north eastern direction from the Srirangapatna Fort.

Forty-four year old Mohammed Aziz Pasha, a resident of city’s Shamanna Garden, who was called by Srirangapatna police on November 29, has also identified the spot that haunts him in dream. The petition is now forwarded to the archaeology department, which has now sought expert opinion, said officials.

“We had called him and took him around. He stopped near a mantap that is beside Gangadharaswamy temple and close to the area where Tipu was killed. He pointed that the mantap was the place where the treasure was hid. However we have now forwarded the application to the archaeology department to take suitable action. They will have to decide further,” a police official with Srirangapatna told Bangalore Mirror.

The treasure

Pasha has explained in his petition that he has been getting dreams for the last 10 years in which he was among those who hid 20 trunks of diamonds and gold treasure on Tipu’s command. Pasha told Bangalore Mirror how he is haunted by dreams of being in Tipu Sultan’s army. “I have been getting dreams and when I visited the place it turned out to be the same as the one in my dreams. Gold, silver and other valuables were stuffed in about twenty safes made of iron and hid in the area. Later a structure was constructed on it. I want the state government to take the treasure. Hence I have visited the deputy commissioner and have given my petition.”

Intriguingly, Pasha unerringly took the police officials to the Gangadhareshwara temple and told them this was the spot. He claims to have never been to Srirangapatna before, in this life.

“There were about twenty soldiers and what comes in my dream always is that I was one among those. Tipu, our king, I remember, ordered us to hide these twenty safes as he sensed that British may attack us. Then all other soldiers were sent and about twenty of us, who were his confidantes were asked to hide them inside ground and construct a mantap above. We followed orders. This has been coming in my dreams for the last 10 years now.”

He was so convinced that he met the deputy commissioner of Mandya B N Krishnaiah. “He had come to me with a petition. As the matter pertained to the archaeology department, I referred it further to them and to police. It is they who have to decide on how to go about,” Krishnaiah told Bangalore Mirror.

Unlike the Shoban Sarkar case, where the Uttar Pradesh government and archeology department actually started digging based on his ”visions,” the state administration is being cautious. “A person had come and he was telling us about this treasury. As the land belongs to archaeology department, we have directed him to the concerned,” Bhushan Gulabrao Borase, superintendent of police, Mandya district said.

Pasha was confident of finding the treasure which Tipu had hid and claimed that the iron safes were covered by lime and then sand before the soil was stuffed in. ”The treasure is not very deep. It is just a few feet from the ground. All the twenty iron safes with precious stones, diamond, gold were hidden in the ground and later sand was put and then soil. That was the place coming in my dream and I could easily make out in my first visit. So I’m sure the treasure is there,” Pasha said.

Archaeology looks at options

The state archaeology department officials whose opinion is sought maintained that options are being explored on the petition.

“The police have sought our opinion. There is no point in jumping to a conclusion without proper study. So we are exploring if there are any options to study the place to know about the existence of unnatural things using an alternative method other than excavation. If anything is found in such studies without excavating land, we can go ahead. If the study finds nothing, then we can conclude at that. So at this stage we are yet to arrive at any decision,” a state archaeology department official told Bangalore Mirror.

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Others / by Chetan R, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / December 07th, 2013