The Tigress of Mysore

Allan Mallinson

THE TIGRESS OF MYSORE

CONTENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A professional soldier for thirty-five years, Allan Mallinson began writing while still serving. His first book was a history of four regiments of British light dragoons, one of which he commanded. His debut novel was the bestselling A Close Run Thing, the first in an acclaimed series chronicling the life of a fictitious cavalry officer before and after Waterloo (The Tigress of Mysore is the fourteenth in the series). His The Making of the British Army was shortlisted for a number of prizes, while 1914: Fight the Good Fight won the British Army’s ‘Book of the Year’ Award. Its sequel, Too Important for the Generals, is a provocative look at leadership during the Great War, while Fight to the Finish is a comprehensive history of the First World War, month by month.

Allan Mallinson reviews for the Spectator and the TLS, and writes for The Times. He lives on Salisbury Plain.

Follow him on Twitter @allan_mallinson

Also by Allan Mallinson

LIGHT DRAGOONS: THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT

THE MAKING OF THE BRITISH ARMY

1914: FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT

TOO IMPORTANT FOR THE GENERALS

FIGHT TO THE FINISH

The Matthew Hervey titles

A CLOSE RUN THING

THE NIZAM’S DAUGHTERS

A REGIMENTAL AFFAIR

A CALL TO ARMS

THE SABRE’S EDGE

RUMOURS OF WAR

AN ACT OF COURAGE

COMPANY OF SPEARS

MAN OF WAR

WARRIOR

ON HIS MAJESTY’S SERVICE

WORDS OF COMMAND

THE PASSAGE TO INDIA

For more information on Allan Mallinson and his books, visit www.penguin.co.uk

Note on Orthography

At this time in India there was no standard spelling of words transcribed from Hindustani and Urdu. It was not until 1837 that the Honourable East India Company, which had recently been charged by Parliament with government and administration rather than exclusively with trade, replaced Persian with the local vernacular as the official language of government offices and of the lower courts.

Hindustani was the native language of northern India, historically the region known as Hindustan. The Mughals brought the Persian language with them to India, and Hindustani began to acquire Persian words. In parallel, the pure Persian of the Mughal court began to acquire words of Hindustani, becoming zabān-i Urdū-yi mu‘allá – the ‘Language of the Exalted Camp’ – referring to the ruling classes and Mughal army.

Hindustani and Urdu were, and are, practically the same spoken language. However, the former was written in Devanagari script (as in modern Hindi), and Urdu was written in the Persian Nastaliq script (as in modern-day Pakistan and by the Urdu-speaking Moslems of India).

Transliteration in Hervey’s time was, understandably, haphazard. Letters and diaries sometimes spell the same word differently on the same page. The vowels are the usual cause of variation. ‘Hindustani’, the modern preference, was variously spelled Hindoostani, Hindoostanee, Hindustanee, Hindostani, Hindostanee. Rendering the Indian vernacular in what might be called ‘Times of India’ style would have the merit of consistency, but would lose a certain sense of period. As in earlier books, I have therefore adopted the practice of the double-letter vowel, but not exclusively, for to do so would make some words look just too quaint.