THE Persian Language, as any one at all acquainted with it is aware, delights in inflated description, pompous imagery, sounding epithets, and in all extravagant figures; and according to the character of the writer, this genius or affection of the language is frequently carried to the verge of absurdity— that is, absurdity as measured by our scale.

To suppress or soften these peculiarities when very wild, and retain them when deserving to be kept, is I think, indispensable, and in my transla­tion of this work, I have tried hard to conform to this rule, although I may not perhaps have always succeeded in my endeavour.

It must however be observed, that in most cases these ornaments as they and extravagancies as we call them, are applicable to themselves alone— for, with regard to their enemies these descriptions are as tame as it is possible for them to be, and some times so obscure, that without long practice no one can understand them.

In some places, therefore, as I suppose must occur in most translations, I have been obliged to change the person, tense, and order of the words and sentences; to reject for the sake of brevity and clearness many of the parallel or synonymous terms;— to omit most of the high sounding epi­thets accompanying the names of Hydur Alí, Tip­poo, their families, &c.; and lastly to abridge much of that poetic licence which is natural to the Per­sian language.

With respect to the Indian names of persons and places, it may be proper to remark, that in English authors they are very incorrectly spelled, and in some cases altogether changed:— As, for instance, Fuzzel oolla, for Fyze ullah; Ooscote, for Huskote; Dunnully, for Dewun Hulli; Chittapet, for Jeeth Peeth;* Malwagle, for Murwakul, &c. &c. To avoid, if possible, following these examples, I write the words as they are written in the Persian MS.; but, notwithstanding this precaution, I fear that many names are still mispelt.

The history of the Rajas, or Ooderes,* of Mysore has been so ably written by Colonel Wilks, that little more of any importance, can, I believe, be said about them. By the minute accuracy of that gallant officer, and by the details in this work, I am also relieved from the task of pointing out the original boundaries of Mysore and the acquisitions of Hydur Alí. But, as the work of Colonel Wilks may not be in the hands of those who read this, I beg leave to offer, as an outline, that they con­sisted generally of the Balaghaut* and part of the Payeen Ghaut Provinces. The country depending on Mysore may be said to have extended E. and W. from Bednore to Cotapilly, near Rama Sumoo­drum, which by the map, is something less than three hundred miles; and N. and S. from Rai Droog, to Urdenall, about two hundred miles. This, of course, does not include many of Hydur’s conquests, and is intended as an approximation only.

In translating this work I have not, in general, made any reference to those of Orme,* Wilks, and others, on the history of Mysore and the wars of the Karnatic; firstly, because this book is suffi­ciently large without such an addition; and, secondly, because, although we have seen abundance of what has been said respecting Hydur Alí and his son Tippoo, by English and French writers; still we have never seen what those two individuals, or any of their nation, have said of themselves; if we except a portion, and that I believe a small one, of Tippoo’s letters, translated by the late Colonel Kirkpatrick.

For these reasons, I have thought it best to allow Hydur’s historian to tell his tale without comment. This account, compared with those above mentioned, will, it may be presumed, fur­nish a tolerably fair guide for the general historian. There is, however, only a partial resemblance between the English histories of the wars in the Karnatic and this; only a small part of this relating to the English wars, while, on the contrary, the English histories contain very little else.

It may, perhaps, be expected, that I should attempt a short outline of the history of Hydur and his family.

According to the statement of a writer, from whose work I have translated a character of Hydur, that chief, himself was accustomed to claim a descent from the kings of Bejapoor. There appears however to be no other ground for his claim, than his own assertion; and the Author of this work, if he had had the slightest pretext for assigning so noble an origin to his hero, would not, I think, have failed to give him the full advantage of it.* But the fact is, that his origin was very obscure, and the term Náík is rather ambiguous.— It origi­nally, no doubt, signified a Chief or Leader, and was the title of the Hindu Rajas of Madhura* and Tinavelli, who were conquered by the Nawaub of Arkaut, in the beginning of the last century. But, it is, also, the designation given to the lowest rank of non-commissioned officers in the Company’s army, and the surname assumed by nearly the lowest class of Hindus in the Dukkun.

It is rare, therefore, that a Mussulman should have such an addition to his name, except in the Indian army.*

The title, however,— for title it is,— was given to Futteh Muhammad, the father of Hydur, by the Raja of Mysore; and the author says, that it is given only to those who are distinguished as states­men or soldiers.

Another account of Hydur states, his family to have been originally called Náík by the Afghans* of Kirpa and Kurnole.

According to this history, the first of Hydur’s ascertained ancestors, Wulli Muhammad, came from the neighbourhood of Dehli to Kalberga, during the reign of Muhmud Adil Shah,* sultan of Beja­poor; and it states that he was of the tribe of Koreish,* the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad.

It appears, that this Wulli Muhammad was one of those persons called by the Arabs Mushaikh, that is, a grave devout mussulman; and that he took up his residence there in the Durgah, or mau­soleum, of a celebrated saint, named Bundeh Nowaz,* and remained there until the reign of Ali Adil Shah the second, of Bejapoor, when he died.*