Economy of the Kingdom of Mysore

The Kingdom of Mysore (Kannada ಮೈಸೂರು ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ ) (1399 - 1947 CE) was a kingdom in southern India founded in 1399 by Yaduraya in the region of the modern city of Mysore, in the Karnataka state. The Wodeyar dynasty ruled the Southern Karnataka region until Indian independence in 1947, when the kingdom was merged with the Union of India.

The peak of Mysore's economic power was under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan in the post-Mughal era of the mid-late 18th century. They embarked on an ambitious program of economic development, aiming increase the wealth and revenue of Mysore. Under their reigns, Mysore overtook Bengal Subah as India's dominant economic power, with highly productive agriculture and textile manufacturing.

The economy of the Kingdom was based on agriculture, due to the majority of its people being villagers. Ownership of land was considered a prestige and people from all trades aimed to own a piece of land, whether they were directly involved in cultivation or not. The agrarian population consisted of landlords (gavunda, zamindar, heggadde) great and small who tilled the land by employing a number of landless labourers. Payments for services were in kind, usually grain, and even minor cultivators were willing to hire themselves out as labourers if the need arose. It was due to the availability of these landless labourers that kings and landlords were able to execute major projects such as palaces, temples, mosques, anicuts (chack dam) and tanks. Because land was abundant and the population relatively sparse, no rent was charged on land ownership. Instead, landowners paid tax for cultivation, normally amounting up to one half of all produce that was harvested.

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