Ahmadis of Tipu

Following three letters were written by Tipu Sultan to his officers. He mentioned "Ahmadis" in all these letters. Now who were these Ahmadis?

1. To Ghulam Ahmed, Kazy of Nugr

“Your letter has been received. You have written, that nine Frenchmen, together with their captain, had embraced the faith, and that the said captain humbly hoped to be honored with the command of a Ahmadi Risalas. It is known and our pleasure is, that ten rupees be given to each of them, and that they be all dispatched, under an escort a safeguard, to the Presence, where, on their arrival, the aforesaid captain shall receive the honor he solicits. Peremptory orders for the payment of the above stipends, and for furnishing the necessary escort, have been sent to the Kiladar of Nugr.”

2. To the Baxi of Gooty

“Directing him to chastise the turbulent or seditious wherever they raised the head of revolt ; and after making them prisoners, to place those under age or of tender years in the Ahmadi band, and to hang the remainder”

3. To Budruz Zuman Khan

“Your two letters, with the enclosed memorandums of the Nair captives, have been received. You did right in causing a hundred and thirty-five of them to be circumcised, and in putting eleven of the youngest of these into the Usud Ilyhe band [or class], and the remaining ninety-four into the Ahmadi troops”

The Ahmadis were a military corps, composed of the converts (whether forced or voluntary) to the Mohammedan religion. It was instituted by Tipu Sultan. Most of the members of Ahmadi contingent were hindus who were captured and forcibly converted during Tipu’s Malabar and Coorg raids. May be, he was inspired by Janissaries (elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops & bodyguards, an elite corps of slaves made up of kidnapped young Christian boys who were forced to convert to Islam, and became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order).