The War of Noses

No child could have tried to find out the origin of the Kongu Tamil expression 'Mookaruthu Poduven' uttered by its father or mother, whenever the little one did some mischief. 

The phrase with its meaning “I will chop off your nose, if you do mischief “in fact, shockingly originates from real incidents of cutting the nose in a war held at Erode, the part of the then Coimbatore.

When Kanthirava Narasaraja, the ruler of Mysore, tried to capture Vellore, his attempts were foiled by Thirumalai Nayak, the ruler of Madurai, with the help of the Bijapur Sultan.

Vexed over his defeat, the angry Kanthirava Narasaraja ordered his commander Humbarajayyan to chop off the noses of the Madurai soldiers. 

As Erode and Sathyamangalam were under the rule of Thirumalai Nayak, Humbarajayyan marched to Erode and mercilessly chopped off the noses of Madurai soldiers, who were camping in Erode in 1657. 

Having done so, he 'packed' all the 'noses' in bags and sent them to his king Kanthirava Narasaraja, who rewarded his soldiers with valuable prizes. 

What’s more, he gave away special prizes for the soldiers, who chopped off their noses along with moustaches!

Pained over the pathetic scene of his people living without noses, ThirumalaiNayak, though ailing in the evening of his life, ordered his brother Kumara Muthu Nayak to avenge the Mysore soldiers and pay them in the same coin. 

Kumara Muthu Nayak allied with Dindigul Aranganna Nayak and many other Palayakarars marched till Nanjencode and started their ‘operations’ Reaching also Srirangapattinam, they caught the Mysore ruler Kanthirava Narasaraja as captive and chopped off his nose too. 

Nonetheless, Thirumalai Nayak passed away even before the news of the victory reached him. 

Though the cruelties in the wars are unbelievable today, there are many documents available to prove these barbaric acts as true. 

A document dating 1679 discovered at Fort St George says that the soldiers of Mysore had used a peculiar knife for chopping off the nose along with the upper lip. 

Lewis Rice, an epigraphist, who studied over 9000 inscriptions in the area of old Mysore, notes that the warriors of Mysore practiced this cruel operation to keep their enemies always in fear. 

Besides these accounts from historians, the great Tamil poet Kamban, in his Kambaramayana describes that Lakshmana chopped off the nose, ears, and breasts of Surpanaha, the sister of the Lankan king Ravana.