THE 
 
MYSOREAN
 
REVENUE REGULATIONS.
 
TRANSLATED BY
 
BURRISH CRISP, Esq.
 
FROM THE PERSIAN ORIGINAL,
 
UNDER THE SEAL OF
 
TIPPOO SULTAUN,
 
IN THE POSSESSION OF
 
COLONEL JOHN MURRAY.
 
CALCUTTA.
 
1792.
 
ADVERTISEMENT.

IT is believed that the practical rules of Tippoo Sultaun are the most accurate delineation of the modern Mahomedan govern­ment that has appeared; a MS. copy of these Regulations were sent to me last year, before they were printed. The first ships of this year brought me a printed copy, by which some errors of the MS. have been corrected. It appears that the original was obtained for Colonel John Murray during the Coimbatore campaign, and that B. Crisp, Esq. translated it.

I reprint the Dedication prefixed to the Calcutta edition; and although anonymous panegyric is often impertinent, I cannot, as one of the public, make my acknowledgements to Colonel John Murray for this extra-official political curiosity, with­out also bearing my anonymous tribute of praise and regard to that distinguished servant of the Company. The annual parliamentary accounts are evidence of the accuracy and regularity of the military audit, and at the same time oblige me to lament the inefficacy of the present powers of the civil auditor to inforce equal perspi­cuity in the accounts of the civil depart­ments of British India.

The Translator’s Dedication to Colonel John Murray, Military Auditor General in the East Indies.

DEAR SIR,

I HAVE now the pleasure to send you the translation of Tippoo’s Regulations.

It is unfortunate, that after an unremit­ting search, I have not been able to meet with a single person in Calcutta sufficiently conversant in the Teling or Malabar dia­lects, to give me explanations, such as I could rely upon, of the provincial terms that occur in almost every article. Disap­pointed in this respect, I thought it best to copy those terms from the original, and to subjoin notes, containing such explanations of them as, from the context, it appears to me they would bear. We may, how­ever, in a short time hence expect to obtain more accurate information from some European gentlemen, or natives of this coun­try, who have traversed the Sultaun’s dominions with our victorious army, and who probably will return here with Lord Cornwallis. Whenever that time comes, I shall be very happy to revise the transla­tion, and to correct any error that may have arisen from misconception, as well as to add the explanation of such terms as I have not now ventured to hazard a con­jecture upon.

I remain,
Dear SIR, &c. &c.
Calcutta, B. CRISP.
June 1, 1792.

P. S. The Persian copy of the Regula­tions, from which this translation has been made, bears the impression of the Sultaun’s seal, with the words Teepoo Sultaun. Seyed Mahommed certifies that he revised them; they appear to have been registered in the office of Govind Roy, belonging to the Dewan of the Huzzoor, on the 2d month of the first month Ahmudee, in the year Delo, i. e., on the 2d of the first month of the 40th year of the Cycle.