In transcribing the following paragraphs from the Internet Archive online version of The Imperial Gazetteer’s entry on Mysore, I have expanded the abbreviations for easier reading and added paragraphing and links. The map and illustration are in the original. The title-page bears the date 1856, but internal evidence in various entrees makes clear that the text dates from 1851. This discussion of a major city in British India has particular importance because it immediately precedes the 1857 Mutiny.— George P. Landow]
Mysore (Mysuru), a town of south Hindoostan and capitol of the province of the same name, is 10 miles south of Seringapatam and is situated at latitude 12˚ 19 North and longitude 76˚ 42 East. It is large and populous; and is enclosed by a wall of red earth. The streets are regular, and the houses intermingled with trees and temples. The fort, which is separated from the town by an esplanade, is built in imitation of the European style. It contains the rajah’s palace and the dwellings of the principal merchants and bankers, and many other private edifices. To the South of the fort, and about 5 miles from the city, is Mysore hill, a conical mountain, about 1000 feet high, on the summit of which is the British residency.
Bibliography
Blackie, Walker Graham. The Imperial Gazetteer: A General Dictionary of Geography, Physical, Political, Statistical and Descriptive. 4 vols. London: Blackie & Son, 1856. Internet Archive online version of a copy in the University of California Library. Web. 24 November 2018.
Last modified 25 November 2018