Editing Tipu Sultan (section)

====British accounts====
Historians such as Brittlebank, Hasan, Chetty, Habib, and Saletare, amongst others, argue that controversial stories of Tipu Sultan's religious persecution of Hindus and Christians are largely derived from the work of early British authors (who were very much against Tipu Sultan's independence and harboured prejudice against the Sultan) such as [[James Achilles Kirkpatrick|James Kirkpatrick]]<ref>Kirkpatrick, W. (1811)  [https://archive.org/details/selectlettersoft00tipu ''Select Letters of Tipu Sultan''], London</ref> and [[Mark Wilks]],<ref>Wilks, M. (1930) ''Report on the Interior Administration, Resources and Expenditure of the Government of Mysore under the System prescribed by the Order of the Governor-General in Council dated 4 September 1799'', Bangalore 1864, and ''Historical Sketches of the South of India in an Attempt to Trace the History of Mysore'', 2 vols, ed. M. Hammick, Mysore.</ref> whom they do not consider to be entirely reliable and likely fabricated.<ref name="habib"/> A. S. Chetty argues that Wilks' account in particular cannot be trusted.<ref name="chetty111">A. Subbaraya Chetty "Tipu's endowments to Hindus and Hindu institutions", p. 111 in [[#Confronting|''Confronting Colonialism'']]</ref>

[[Irfan Habib]] and Mohibbul Hasan argue that these early British authors had a strong vested interest in presenting Tipu Sultan as a tyrant from whom the British had liberated Mysore.<ref name="habib">Habib, Irfan (2001). "War and Peace. Tipu Sultan's Account of the last Phase of the Second War with the English, 1783-4", p. 5 in ''State and Diplomacy Under Tipu Sultan: Documents and Essays'', Manohar Publishers and Distributors, {{ISBN|81-85229-52-X}}</ref>{{sfn|Hasan|2005|p=368}} This assessment is echoed by Brittlebank in her recent work where she writes that Wilks and Kirkpatrick must be used with particular care as both authors had taken part in the wars against Tipu Sultan and were closely connected to the administrations of [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Lord Cornwallis]] and [[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley]].{{sfn|Brittlebank|1999|pp=2–12}}