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{{Short description|Provisional government of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1831 to 1881}}
{{Infobox official post
| post = Chief Commissioner
| body = the [[Kingdom of Mysore]]
| status = Abolished
| appointer = [[Governor-General of India]]
| formation = 19 October 1831
| abolished = 22 February 1881
| reports_to = [[Governor-General of India]]
| residence = [[Bangalore]]
}}

The '''Mysore Commission''', also known as '''Commissioners' Rule''' or simply the '''Commission Rule''',<ref name="rice1897-434">{{Harvnb|Rice|1897|p=434}}</ref> was a period and form of government in the history of the [[Kingdom of Mysore]] and the neighbouring [[Coorg Province|province of Coorg]] from 1831 to 1881 when British commissioners administered the kingdom due to the deposition of Maharaja [[Krishnaraja Wodeyar III]] and later during the minority of Yuvaraja [[Chamarajendra Wadiyar X|Chamaraja Wadiyar X]]. A board of commissioners constituted the chief executive body and [[Princely state|provincial]] head of the kingdom's government. The commission began with uninstallation of Krishnaraja Wodeyar III as [[Maharaja of Mysore|King]] in 1831 and ended with investing Chamaraja Wadiyar X as the new maharaja in 1881.

Coorg province, however, ruled as a "non-regulation" province under Mysore Commission,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Thornton |first=Thomas Henry |url=http://archive.org/details/generalsirricha02thorgoog |title=General Sir Richard Meade and the feudatory states of central and southern India; a record of forty-three year's service as soldier, political officer and administrator |date=1898 |publisher=London, New York [etc.] Longmans, Green, and co. |others=University of California}}</ref> would never again return to its Coorg rajas and would remain part of [[Madras Presidency]] until [[Indian independence movement|India's independence]] from the British crown, after which it was absorbed into [[Mysore State]] and became a [[Kodagu district|district]]. After Mysore Commission was dissolved, a new [[Chief Commissioner of Coorg]] was appointed.

== History ==
After the [[Tipu Sultan#Death|death of Tipu]] at the end of the [[Fourth Anglo-Mysore War]] in 1799, the [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore throne]] was restored to the [[Wadiyar dynasty]] under a regency.<ref name="SUKHist">{{cite book |last=Kamath |first=Suryanath U. |title=A concise history of Karnataka : from pre-historic times to the present |publisher=Jupiter books |year=2001 |location=Bangalore |lccn=80905179 |oclc=7796041 |authorlink=Suryanath U. Kamath |orig-date=1980}}</ref> The hereditary [[Wadiyar dynasty|Wadiyar]] prince Krishnaraja Wodeyar III was an infant and could not be installed on the throne. In his stead, his adoptive grandmother Maharani [[Lakshmi Ammani Devi|Lakshmi Devi]] reigned over the kingdom as Queen Regent, with Tipu's prime minister [[Purnaiah]] as her own royal adviser and [[Dewan of Mysore|dewan]]. The regency, referred to as ''Lakshmi Vilas Sannidhana'', lasted until 1810 when she died. In two years' time, Purnaiah died, too, in 1812, at about the time the young prince attained the age of majority. He was inducted as the [[maharaja of Mysore]] by [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Arthur Wellesley]] who had defeated Tipu in 1799.

{{Multiple image
| image1 = Krishnaraja Wodeyar III as the child king.jpg
| caption1 = The young infant prince Krishnaraja Wadiyar III
| image2 = Krishnaraja Wadiyar III, Maharaja of Mysore.jpg
| alt2 =
| caption2 = An aged Krishnaraja Wadiyar III, the epicentre for the institution of the Commissioners' Rule
| image3 = Bentinck william.png
| caption3 = William Bentinck, the governor general of India who placed Mysore under the Commission Rule
| total_width = 400
| align = right
| image4 = Chamaraja Wodeyar 1863-94.jpg
| caption4 = The newly installed Maharaja of Mysore Chamaraja Wadiyar X at the end of the Mysore Commission
}}

According to British accounts, in around 1830, groups of peasants and locals in the village of Nagar (in present-day [[Shimoga district]]) in the north of the kingdom are said to have protested against the despotic land revenues imposed during the reign of Krishnaraja Wodeyar III,<ref>{{cite book |author=Bell, Evans |url=https://archive.org/stream/mysorereversion01bellgoog#page/n34/mode/2up |title=The Mysore Reversion, "an exceptional case" |year=1866 |publisher=Trübner and Co. |edition=2 |place=London |pages=9–12}}</ref> resulting in the [[Nagar revolt]], leading to some hundreds of deaths.<ref name="KNVS">{{cite book |last1=Sastri |first1=K N Venkatasubba |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.505283/page/n5 |title=The Administration Of Mysore Under Sir Mark Cubbon (1834-1861) |date=1932 |publisher=George Allen & Unwin Ltd. |location=London |access-date=29 July 2019}}</ref><ref>Sastri (1932):15-18</ref> Taking note of this, [[Lord William Bentinck|William Bentinck]], the [[Governor-General of India|governor-general of India]], asked for a committee to be formed to investigate the incident.

A committee was then formed, consisting of [[Thomas Hawker (British Army officer)|Thomas Hawker]], J M Macleod, [[William Morison (1781–1851)|William Morison]], and [[Mark Cubbon (army officer)|Mark Cubbon]], the latter two of whom would later on be appointed as commissioners. The committee, after a year-long investigation and based on oral testimonies and sources some of which might have been unreliable, criticised the maharaja's style of rule and personal character and made no remarks particularly on the taxation. After the report was submitted, Bentinck decreed that a commission shall administer the state. Eventually, a commission was formed and came into power on 19 October 1831.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rice |first=B.L. |url=https://archive.org/details/mysoregazetteerc01rice |title=Mysore. A Gazetteer Compiled for Government. Revised Edition. Volume 1 |publisher=Archiband Constable and Company |year=1897 |place=London}}</ref> Later, it came to knowledge that reports of misgovernance were grossly exaggerated.<ref>{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2020-02-27 |title=Lord Ripon |url=https://civilspedia.com/lord-ripon/ |access-date=2023-02-01 |website=civilspedia.com |language=en}}</ref> This entire affair came to be seen as British usurpation of the kingdom under Bentinck.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2003-06-22 |title=The Hindu : Diwans take over |website=[[The Hindu]] |url=http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/08/15/stories/2002081500220200.htm |access-date=2022-12-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030622220420/http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/08/15/stories/2002081500220200.htm |archive-date=2003-06-22 }}</ref>

== Commissioners' rule ==
The commissioners' rule began with [[John Briggs (East India Company officer)|John Briggs]] and his deputy, Lushington, from [[Madras Presidency]]. Briggs' appointment was not seen favourably by Madras Presidency. Owing to heated squabbles between the two, they were replaced by [[William Morison (1781–1851)|William Morison]],<ref>{{cite book |author=Hunter, W.W. |url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924081223335#page/n95/mode/2up |title=The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Volume X. |publisher=Trubner & Co. |year=1886 |place=London |page=95}}</ref> a [[Scottish people|Scottish]] general from Madras Artillery. In 1834, Morison resigned to become a member of the [[Supreme Court of India|Supreme Council of India]]. [[Mark Cubbon (army officer)|Mark Cubbon]] succeeded him.<ref name="odnb">{{cite ODNB|author=H. M. Stephens & James Lunt (reviser)|editor1-first=James|editor1-last=Lunt|chapter=Sir Mark Cubbon (1784–1861)|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/6857}}</ref>

Cubbon became the longest-serving commissioner of Mysore, for nearly three decades. [[Cubbon Park]] and the [[Cubbon Park metro station|Cubbon Park Metro Station]] in [[Bangalore]] are named after him. He was succeeded by [[Lewin Bentham Bowring|Lewin Bowring]].

During both Cubbon and Bowring's commissions, Krishnaraja Wodeyar III appealed for a return of power—an idea to which both commissioners were opposed during their respective administrations, and the deposed king died a dejected man.<ref name=":0" />

Bowring was succeeded by [[Richard John Meade|Richard Meade]], a [[British Indian Army]] officer. During his commission, Meade himself mentored Yuvaraja Chamaraja Wadiyar X, the young prince of Mysore, for his future role as Maharaja, and the two would often correspond.<ref name=":1" />

=== List of commissioners ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!No.
!Chief commissioner
!Portrait
!Tenure
!Appointing Governor-General
|-
|1
|[[John Briggs (East India Company officer)|John Briggs]]
|[[File:Portrait of John Briggs (cropped).jpg|frameless|165x165px]]
|October 1831 - May 1834
| rowspan="3" |[[File:Lord-william-bentinck-2.jpg|center|thumb|179x179px|[[Lord William Bentinck|William Bentinck]]]]
|-
|2
|[[William Morison (1781–1851)|William Morison]]
| [[File:Major-General_Sir_William_Morison_(1781–1851).jpg|frameless|179x179px]]
|May 1834 - June 1834
|-
| 3
| [[Mark Cubbon (army officer)|Mark Cubbon]]
| [[File:Mark Cubbon b1775.jpg|frameless|179x179px]]
| June 1834 - 1861
|-
|4
|[[Lewin Bentham Bowring|Lewin Bowring]]
|[[File:Bentham Bowring.jpg|frameless|203x203px]]
|1861 - 1870
|[[File:Lord_Viscount_Canning.jpg|center|thumb|164x164px|[[Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning|Charles Canning]]]]
|-
|5
|[[Richard John Meade|Richard Meade]]
|[[File:Generalsirrichar00thor 0012.jpg|frameless|190x190px]]
|1870 - 1881
|[[File:6th_Earl_of_Mayo.jpg|center|thumb|151x151px|[[Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo|Richard Bourke]]]]
|}

== Dissolution ==
In 1881, Chamaraja Wadiyar X attained the age of majority, making him eligible to take over as the ruler of the kingdom. Consequently, the presiding Governor-General [[George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon|George Robinson]] devised an instrument of rendition, inducting the prince as King. With this, the Commission was dissolved and the kingdom would return to the Wadiyars—for one last time, until it would be ceded into the [[India|Republic of India]] in 1950.

With this, the Commission was dissolved, a Mysore [[Resident minister|Resident]] represented [[British Raj|British India]] at [[Mysore Palace]], and a separate Chief Commissionership was formed for Coorg.

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Kingdom of Mysore]]
[[Category:Political history of Karnataka]]

Mysore Commission - Revision history

GavinEspinoza2: made initial page basic info