The government is vested in His Highness the Maharaja, a chief justice and a court of three judges. The capital is at Mysore City, but the administrative headquarters are at Bangalore. The administrative districts of the state are Bangalore, Kolar, Tumkfir, Mysore, Hassan, Spimoga and Chitaldroog. The officer in charge of a district is called the deputy commissioner who has a staff of assistants. The villages have local government under a patel, a hereditary office. A representative as sembly meets once a year, when the annual statement of finances is made. The govern ment of India is represented by a resident. There are military systems, lesser courts, sys tems of land tenure and revenue, police depart ments, etc. Education was at first introduced by European missionaries and has been devel oped into a fine public system. There are now about 3,800 schools of all grades with some 125,000 male and 25,000 female students. Hos pitals and asylums are also provided in the larger cities. The population of the entire dis trict according to the most recent census is 2,871,572. Hindu castes predominate the Lingayats forming the strongest sect. There are about 50,000 Christians, about 8,000 of whom are white. The principal cities are Ban galore, Mysore, Kolar, Tuinkftr, Channapatna, Davangere and Tarikere.
The authentic history of Mysore as gathered from inscriptions, begins after the invasion of Alexander the Great in 327 B.C. After his re
tirement the north of Mysore came under the rule of the Andhra of Satavahana dynasty, ex tending down to the 2d century B.C. The various parts were under petty local princes who were frequently at war with each other, until in the 14th century the territory became a part of the Ballala Kingdom of Delhi, after the invasion of the Mohammedans. After their downfall a new Hindu sovereignty arose at Vijayanagar on the Tungabhadra. In 1565, this dynasty was defeated at the battle of Talikota and petty chieftains again divided up the state. The most important of these, the wcdeyar of Mysore, seized the fort of Seringapatam in 1610 and founded the present state. Deva Raja it became a powerful kingdom. In the 18th century this dynasty was overthrown by the Mohammedan Hyder Ali, who, after a brief but brilliant reign, was defeated at Sering apatam in 1799, and the government was left to an infant descendant and an unscrupulous regent, Purnaiya. The British government took over the administration in 1831. In 1867, it was determined to permit the native rule, under British surveillance. In 1881, Maharaja Chamarajendra took the rule of the state, main taining the standard of administration. In 1902 the ruler was vested with full powers. Con sult 'Imperial Gazetteer of India) (Vol. XVIII, Oxford 1908).