The Godavari Gazette

Vî]'
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
Cni/^>l-w'u l\\i W1.I jiiWtll^
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF MADRAS GOVERNMENT

PUBLICATIONS.
IN INDIA.
A. C. Barraud & Co. (Late A. J. Combridge & Co.), Madras.
R. Cambray & Co., Calcutta.
E. M. GoPALAKRiSHNA KoNE, Pudumantapam, Madura.
HiGGiNBOTHAMS, (Ltd.), Mount Road, Madras.
V. Kalvanarama Iyer & Co., Esplanade, Madras.
G. C. Loganatham Brothers, Madras.
S. MuRTHY & Co., Madras.
G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras.
The Superintendent, Nazair Kanun Hind Press, Allahabad.
P. R. Rama Iyar & Co., Madras.
D. Taraporevala Sons & Co., Bombay.
P..
Thacker & Co. (Ltd.), Bombay.

Thacker, Spink & Co., Calcutta,
S. Vas & Co., Madras.
IN ENGLAND.
B. H. Blackwell, 50 and 51, Broad Street, Oxford.
Constable & Co., 10, Orange Street, Leicester Square, London, W'.C.
Deighton, Bell & Co. (Ltd.), Camb. idge.
T. Fisher Unwin (Ltd.), i, Adelphi Terrace, London, W.C.
Grindlay & Co., S4, Parliament Street, London, S.W.
Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. (Ltd.), 68—74, Carter Lane, London,
E.C. and 25, Museum Street, London, W.C.
Henry S. King & Co., 65, Cornhill, London, E.C. .
P. S. King & Son, 2 and 4, Great Smith Street, Westminster, London, S.W.
LuzAC & Co., 46, Great Russell Street, London', W.C.
B. Quaritch, II, Grafton Street, New Bond Street, London, W.
W. Thacker & Co., 2, Creed Lane, London, E.C.
ON THE CONTINENT.
Ernest Leroux, 28, Rue Bonaparte, Paris.
Martinus Nijhofk, The Hague, Holland.
MADRAS DISTRICT GAZETTEERS.
I I
GODAVARI
VOLUME I.
[Price, 2 rupees.] [3 shillings.]

'^''^'^'*°'''-'^
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MADRAS DISTRICT GAZETTEERS
godAvari
BY
F. R. HEMINGWAY,
INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE,
MADRAS:
REPRINTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, GOVERNMENT PRESS.
I 9 lis .
/9/S
PREFACE. /. /
This Gazetteer has been prepared on the plan prescribed by

Government according to which statistics have been rele-
gated as far as possible Appendix which is to
to a separate
be revised decennially. The original District Manual was '

'
written by Mr. H. Morris of the Madras Civil Service in

1878.
I have gratefully to return thanks for help from many

quarters. The account of the early history has been almost
entirely based on information supplied by Rai
Bahadur
V. Venkayya, m.a., the Government Epigraphist, whose
kindness in reading and correcting my drafts and answer-
ing my questions I cannot too warmly acknowledge. The
District officials have all given me their ready and cordial
assistance, and so have many non-official residents of the
district. I wish particularly to express my obligations to the
Revs. J. H. Harper, J. Cain and A. Gangloff, to Messrs.
E. B. Elwin, I.C.S., H. Lafiamme, C. Mildred, G. F. F.
Foulkes, M. G. K. Waite, J. F. Marshall, M. Woodhouse,
W. J. M. Inkster, L. D. Buchanan, H. J. Allen, F. Armitage,
A. C. Pranatartihara Aiyar, R. Venkata Rao and V. Partha-
saradhi Chetti and to Capt. M. N. Chaudhuri, I. M.S. All
these gentlemen have helped me with the records at their
disposal or with their personal experience ; and they have
supplied a large portion of the material found in this Gazet-
teer. I have also to thank Mr. J. A.Gumming, I.C.S., for
reading through the proofs and for many valuable sugges-
tions.
F. R. H.
1111157
PLAN OF CONTENTS.
Chapter pages
I. Physical Description ... ... 1-16
II. Political History ... ... ... ... ... 17-37
III. The People 38-67
IV. Agriculture and Irrigation... ... ... ... 68-91
V. Forests ... ... ... ... ... ... Q2-101
VI. Occupations AND Trade ... ... 102-123
VII. Means of Communication ... ... 124-134
VIII. Rainfall AND Seasons ... ... 135-147
IX. Public Health ... ... ... ... ... 148-152
X. Education ... ... ... ... ... ... 153-159
XI. Land Revenue Administration ... ... ... 160-180
XII. Salt, Abkari and Miscellaneous Revenue 181-187
XIII. Administration of Justice ... ... ... ... 188-195
XIV. Local Self-Government ... ... ... ... 196-199
XV. Gazetteer —
Amalapuram Taluk ... ... ... ... ... 200-206
Cocanada Taluk ... ... ... ... ... 207-216
Nagaram Taluk ... ... ... ... ... 217-220
Peddapuram Taluk ... ... ... .>. ... 221-226
Pithapuram Division ... ... ... ... ... 227-239
Rajahmundry Taluk ... ... ... ... ... 240-248
Ramachandrapuram Taluk ... ... ... ... 249-254
Tuni Division ... ... ... ... ... ... 255-257
Bhadrachalam Taluk ... ... ... ... ... 258-265
Chodavaram Division ... ... ... ... ... 266-277
Polavaram Division ... ... ... ... ... 278-283
Yellavaram Division ... ... ... ... ... 284-288
Index 289-302
————
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION.
PAGE
General DESCRIPTION (page i) — Chief towns (2) — Etymology of the name-
Natural divisions (3). Hills— The Ghats. Rivers (4)— The Godavari
Its sanctity (6) — Its islands —
and encroachments The season of its floods
(7) — Its tributaries — The Yeleru, Soils (8). Geology Physical changes —
now in progress (9). Minerals — Coal — The Gauridevipeta field
(10)
Bedadanuru — Gold (11) — Iron — Graphite — Mica — Building stone — Rock-
crystals, garnets, sapphires. Climate — Rainfall — Temperature (12)
Wind and weather. Flora. Fauna (13) — Cattle— Buffaloes — Sheep and
goats (14) — Cattle-breeding — Feeding methods— Cattle diseases — Cattle
fairs (15)— Game— Fish — Native sportsmen (16) ... ... ... ... 1-16
CHAPTER IL
POLITICAL HISTORY.
Early History (page 17)— Asoka's conquest, 260 B.C. The Andhras, down —
to —
200 A. D. (18) The Pallavas, about 200-615 A.D. The Chalukyas —
Their conquest of Vengi, about 615 (19)— Separation of the Eastern and
—
Western Chalukyas, about 630 Hiuen Tsiang's description of the former
(20) —
Eastern Chalukya rule, 630-999- -Chola conquest, 999 Kulottunga —
—
Chola I (21) He obtains the Chola and Vengi thrones, 1070 His viceroys —
in Vengi —
His death in 1119 and the decline of the Cholas (22)— The
Velanandu chieftains, twelfth century (23) — The Kona chiefs of the delta
— Local chiefs of Ellore, Nadendla, etc, — The Kakatiyas of Warangal
conquer Kistna about — And Godavari about 1300— Pratapa
1200 (24)
Rudra's viceroys — Temporary
Musalman conquest of the district, 1323 (25)
— —
The Korukonda Reddis, 1325-95 The Reddis of Kondavid, 1344-1422
— The Rajahmundry Reddis, 1422-50 (26) The Gajapatis of Orissa take —
the district, 1450 —
But cede part of it to the Muhammadans, 1470 The —
latter ousted, 1489 (27) —
Conquest by Vijayanagar, 1 515— Musalman
conquest of Kistna, 1540 — And of Godavari, 1571 (28). Muhammadan
Period —Weakness of their rule — Aurangzeb establishes his authority,
1687 (29) — The Subadar of the Deccan becomes independent, 1724 — The
Northern Circars ceded to the French, 1753 (30)— Their there difficulties
Eussy at length obtains possession, 1757 (31) — Forde's expedition against

the French, 1758 — His victory Condore — The country cleared of the
at
French (32) — Cession of the Northern Circars to the English, 1765 (33).
English Period (34) — Early administration — Disturbances of the peace
In 1785-go (34)— In 1790-1800— Quieter times thereafter (36)— Subba
Reddi's rebellion, 1858 — Outbreaks in Rampa 17-37
—
X TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
THE PEOPLE.
PAGE
General Characteristics (page 38)— Density of the population— Its growth
— Parent-tongue — Religions. The Jains (38). The Musalmans. The
Christians — American Evangelical Lutheran Mission — The Canadian
Baptist Mission (40) — The Church Missionary Society (41) — The Roman
Catholic Mission The Hindus — Villages— Houses (43)— Dress (44)
(42).
— Food (44) —Amusements— Superstitions (46)—Village, caste, and family
gods (47) — Marriage rules and ceremonies (49) — Funerals (50). Prin-
cipal Castes — Telugu Brahmans (51) — Razus (53)— Komatis (54) — Kapus
(55) — Kammas — Perikes (56) — Idigas (57) — Gamallas — Kamabattus (58)
—Sanis— Malas — Madigas (60) — Koyas — Hill Reddis (66) 38-67
CHAPTER IV.
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION.

Wet Cultivation (page 68)— Paddy; its seasons — Its varieties — Rain-fed
paddy (69)— Sowing 7'ersiis transplantation — Methods of raising seedlings
Preparation of fields (70) — Transplantation and care of the crop — Second-
— —
crop cultivation (71) Third crops Agricultural maxims Wet crops —
other than paddy (72) — —
Rotations Cultivation of sugar-cane Jaggery- —
— —
making (74) Ratooning Varieties of sugar-cane Recent sugar-cane —
disease and the Samalkot experimental farm (75). Dry Cultivation (76)
— Seasons, etc. — Cultivation (77)— Cholam — Tobacco (77) —Improvement
of — Shifting cultivation in the Agency— Storage of grain (79).

the leaf
Irrigation — Protected area. Thk Godavari Anicut — Origin of the idea

(So) — First estimates — The site and design (81) — Progress of construction
(82) — Subsequent difiiculties (83) — Alterations since effected (84) — Distri-
butarv works (85) — The Gannavaram aqueduct (86) — Completion of
distributaries (87) — Financial results of the scheme — Possible extensions
of it (88) — Its administration. Other Irrigation Sources (89) — Minor
channels and tanks— Wells— Artesian wells (90). Economic Condition
OF Agriculturists 68-91
CHAPTER V.
FORESTS.
Early Operations (page 92)— Progress'of reservation. Settlement (93)—
Proprietary rights -Susceptibilities of the jungle tribes (04)— P6r/z< cultiva-
tion. Administration (95)— In Rampa— In the rest of the Agency (96)
— River transit rules —
Artificial reproduction (97);
(97)— Fire-protection
casuarina— Mangrove Introduction of exotics, etc. General Charac-
ter OF the Forests— On the coast— In the uplands (99) In Polavaram —
and Yellavaram— In Rampa (100)— In Bhadrichalam— Timber and the
market for it (loi)— Minor forest produce— Forest revenue 92-101

—
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi
CHAPTER VI.
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE.

PAGB
Arts and Industries — Silk-weavers— Cotton-weavers (103)
(page 102) ;
their numbers — Their methods — Tape-weaving (104) — Gunny-weaving

Cotton-dyeing — Chintz-stamping (105) — Mats and — Metal-work tattis
Painting (106) — Pith-work— Musical instruments — Wood and stone carving
—Ropes (107) — Oils—Tanning— Shoes (108) — Baskets — Bangles — Pottery
(109) — Country sugar - Mercury — House-building (no) — Printing-presses
—Rice-mills— Indigo factories — Ship-building— Dowlaishweram workshops
— District Board Workshops at Cocanada (in)— Samalkot and distillery
sugar-factory — Dummagudem lace (112). Trade — Markets — Grain-deal-
ing — Exports — Imports (113) — Trade of Cocanada— The harbour — Port
conservancy (114) — European business houses at Cocanada (115) —
European Chamber of Commerce— Steamers visiting the port — Amount of
trade — Character of trade (116). Weights and Measures (117)
Goldsmiths' weights — Commercial weights — Measures of capacity (118)
Miscellaneous commercial notations (120)— Lineal measures — Land
measures (121) — Measures of time (122) — Local monetary terms ... ... 102-123
CHAPTER VII.
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.
Roads — (page 124)— Their length and condition— Quarries Maintenance, —
establishment —
and allotments (125) Bridges — Ferries (126). Water
Carriage (127)— The rivers — Upper Godavari project (128)— Navigable
canals (129) their history — Expenditure and
; traffic (130) Nature of —
traffic (131) —
Conflicting interests of irrigation and navigation (132).
Madras Railway. Accommodation for travellers (133)—
Bungalows — Chattrams ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 124-134
CHAPTER Vm.
RAINFALL AND SEASONS
Rainfall (page 135). Famine (136) —
The conditions existing —Famine
in 1791 (137)— The ' Guntiir famine' of 1833 (138) — Distress in
1835-38 (139) — Disasters of 1839-41 (140)— Improvement resulting from
the anicut— Scarcity in the Agency, 1897. Inundations by the sea
— About 1706 — In 1787 (142) — extent and
(141) — The accom-
Its effects
panying hurricane (143) — The landholders' losses — Inundation of 1839.
Cyclones (144). Floods- In 1614 (X4<;)— In 1875, 1878, 1882,1883
and 1884— Great flood of 1886— Floods of 1887 and 1892 (146)— Of 1895-
96— Of 1900 (147) 135-147
CHAPTER IX.
PUBLIC HEALTH.
Prey.\lent Ijiskases (page 148) — Malaria in the Agency In the uplands
; —
(149) —
In the delta — Cholera— Small-pox (150) Other diseases— Sanita- —
tion. Medical In.stitutions (151) — Public hospitals and dispensaries
—Mission institutions — Institutions in Cocanada— Rajahmundry hospital
(152^ 148-152
——
—
xii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
EDUCATION.
PAGE
Census Statistics (page 153)— By taluks — By religions. Educational
Institutions Early —beginnings — Schools now existing (154) The —
Government college, Rajahmundry — The Government training college,
—
Rajahraundry (156) The Pithapuram Raja's College (157) ... 153-159
CHAPTER XI.
LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION.

Early History (page 160) -The zamindars — Their administration (i6i)— The
—
havili land Committee of Circuit, 1785-87 (162) Settlement with the —
zamindars in 1879 (163)— Abolition °f ^^^ Chiefs and Councils, 1794
Collectors of the ;^c^;^7^ land. The Permanent Settlement, 1802-03
(164) — Its failure (165) — Its effect on the ryots (166)— Special Commis-
sioner appointed, 1S43 (167). Ryotwari Settlements — Before 1865
Settlement of 1865-66 (169) —
Its scope (170) —
Grouping of villages
Classification of soils— Standard crops, grain outturns, commutation prices
— Cultivation expenses and money rates (171) — Financial results — Water-
rate in the delta (172) — The existing settlement scope — Reclassifica-
; its
tion of delta soils — Water-rate problems (173) — Settlement of wild tracts

(174) —Financial results — Bhadrachalam taluk — Proprietary rights (175)
Fixing of the peshkash — Settlement of 1890 in Bhadrachalam (176)
Agency tracts and rented villages (177). District and Divisional
Limits (178). Village Establishments— Re-organized in 1866
Revised in 18S5 (179). INAMS (180) 160-180
CHAPTER XII.
SALT, ABKARI AND MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE.

Salt (page 181) — The systems of administration — Methods of manufacture
(182) — Markets— Salt
for Vanam — Fish-curing yards (183) — Contraband
—
Abkaki and Opium Arrack— Arrack in the Agency (184)
salt-earth.-
Toddy (185)— Toddy in the Agency — Foreign liquor — Opium and hemp-
drugs— In the Agency (186). Customs Land-customs Sea-customs — —
(187). Income-tax. Stamps 181-187
CHAPTER Xm.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
Early Methods (page 188) — Under native rule — Under the Chiefs and
Councils. The Present System (189) —
In the plains— In the Agency.
Civil Justice —
(191)— Existing Courts Amount of litigation Registra- —
tion. Criminal Justice — The various Courts — Crime (192) — The
Vanadis or —
Nakkalas Other criminal classes (193). Police (194)
Former systems— The existing force. Jails (195) ... ••• •• ... 188-195
—
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiii
CHAPTER XIV.
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT.
Page
The Local Boards (page 196) — The Unions (197) — Finances of the Boards.
The Two Municipalities — Cocanada municipality — Kajahmundry
municipality (198) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 196-199
CHAPTER XV.
GAZETTEER.
Amalapuram taluk (page 200) — Amalapuram (201) — Ambajipcta — Ayinavalli
(202) — Banddrulanka — Bendamiirlanka — Gannavaram— Kesanakuriu (203)
— Mandapalli Muramalla — Palivela — Peruru (204) — Rali (205) — Vadapalli
— Vanapalli — Vyagresvarapuram (206). Cocanada Taluk (207) —
Bhimavaram— Chollangi (208)— Cocanada — Coringa (210) — Gollapalaiyam
(212) — Injaram — Nilapalli (213) — Samalkot — Sarpavaram (214) — Tallarevu
(215) — Yanam Nagaram Taluk (217) — Aniarvedi — Jagannapeta (218)
— Kadali (219) — Nagaram — Rajavolu — Sivakodu — Tatipaka (220). Pedda-
PURAM Taluk (221) — Annavaram — DhiramalUipuram — Tagammapeta
(222) — Kandrakota — Ivattipudi — Kirlampudi — Peddapuram — Prattipadu
(224) — Ragampeta (225) — Ratigampeta — Talh'iru — Totapalli — Viravaram
(226) — Yelesvaram. Pithapuram Division (227) — Chandurti — Kotta-
palli (232) — Mulapeta — Pithapuram (233) — Ponnada (239) — Uppada.
Rajahaiundry Taluk (240) — Dowlaishweram — Gokavaram (242) —
Korukonda — Kottapalli (243) — Rajahmundry. Ramachandrapuram
Taluk (249) — Bikkavolu — Draksharamam (250)— Gangavaram (252)
Kotipalli — Maredipaka (253) — Ramachandrapuram — Ramaghatt;ilu
—
Vegayammapeta (254). TuNi Division (255)— Bendapiidi — Hamsavaram
(256) — Kottapalli — Talliiru —Tatipaka — Tetagunta — Tuni. Bhadra-
CHALAM Taluk (258) — Bhadrachalam (259) — Dummagudem (262) —
Gundala — Kumarasvamigudem (263) — Kunnavaram — Parnasala — Rekapalle
— SriRamagiri (265). Chodavaram Division (266)— Bandapalli— Biram-
palli(267) — Boduh'iru — Bolagonda — Chavala — Chiduguru — Chodavaram
(268) — Chopakonda — Dandangi Dorachintalapalem — Geddada — Kakuru —
-
Kondamodalu (269) — Kundada — Marrivada —Musurumilli (270) — Xedunuru

— Nimmalapalem -Palem Pamuleru -Peta -Rampa — Sirigindalapadu(276)
— Tadepalli — Tunmiru (277)— Vadapalli — Velagapalli — Valamiiru— Vemula-
konda, Polavaram Division (278) —
Gangolu Gutala Jangareddi- —
— —
giidem (279) Pata Pattisam Polavaram (2S0) Taduvayi (283). Yella-
VARAM Division (284)— Addaligela— Anigeru (285)— Dutcharti— Gurtedu
(286) — —
Jaddangi Rota (287)— —
Mohanapuram Nellipudi— Pandrapole
Ramavaram — Virabhadrapuram (288) .. ... ... ... ... ... 200-288
GAZETTEER
GODAVARI DISTRICT.
CHAPTER I.
General description — Chief towns— Etymology of the name— Natural

divisions. HiLLS — The Ghats. Rivers— The G6davari-Its sanctity-
Its islands and encroachments — The season of its floods — Its tributaries
The Yeleru,
Soils. Geology — Physical changes now in progress.
Minerals— Coal The — Gauridevipeta field — Bedadanuru — Gold— Iron
Graphite— Mica - Building stone— Kock-crystals, garnets, sapphires. Cli-
mate — Rainfall — Temperature— Wind and weather. Flora. Fauna
Cattle— Buffaloes— Sheep and goats — Cattle-breeding— Feeding methods-
Cattle diseases— Cattle fairs — Game — Fish — Native sportsmen.
The Godavari on the north-east coast of the
district lies
CHAP. I.
Madras Presidency. has an area of 5,634 square miles and
It
General
extends from 16° 20' to 18° 4' N. and from 80° 52' to 82^ 36' E. descrip-
It is bounded on the north-east by Vizagapatam, on the north
tion.
by the same district and the Bastar State of the Central

Provinces, and on the west and south-west by the Godavari
river, which separates it from the Nizam's Dominions and
Kistna. The district, however, extends across this river at one
point to include the Polavaram division. Godavari is roughly
triangular in shape, its base being formed by the line of the
coast from the western mouth of the Godavari river to the
Vizagapatam border, one side by the Godavari river itself,
and the other by the irregular frontier of Vizagapatam and the
Central Provinces.
The district made up
of ten taluks and two deputy
is
tahsildars' divisions namely, the taluks of Nagaram,^ Amala-

;
puram, Ramachandrapuram and Cocanada, which make up

the fertile delta of the Godavari river; the upland taluks of
^ Nagaram taluk is also commonly known as the Tatipaka siina (' country ')
from the village of that name within it, and Amalapuram taluk as the
Kona sim(f
('the end country').
GODAVARL
CHAP. I. Rajahmundry and Peddapuram ^ the hilly divisions of ;
General Yellavaram, Chodavaram and Polavaram the taluk of ;

DESCRIP-
TION. Bhadrachalam beyond the Eastern Ghats and the two zamin- ;
dari deputy tahsildars' divisions of Pithapuram and Tuni in

the north-eastern corner of the district, the former of which
resembles in character the upland taluks and the latter the
three hilly divisions. Statistical particulars of each of these
areas will be found in the separate Appendix to this volume,
and some account of each and of its chief towns and villages
is given in Chapter XV
below. Yellavaram, Chodavaram,
Polavaram and Bhadrachalam are tracts covered with hill
and jungle and inhabited by uncivilized tribes to whom it is
inexpedient to apply the whole of the ordinary law of the
land. Under the Scheduled Districts Act of 1874, these have
been formed (see p. 190) into an Agency in which civil justice
is administered under special rules and the Collector has
special powers in his capacity of Government Agent.' They

'
are consequently always known as the Agency or the

'
'
'
Agency tracts.'
Chief towns. The capital of the district is the busy seaport and
municipality of Cocanada, and with the exception of Nagaram
taluk and Yellavaram division, the head-quarters of the
various taluks and divisions are the towns or villages from
which they are named- The head-quarters of Nagaram taluk
is Rajavolu (Razole) and of Yellavaram, Addatigela.
;
Besides the tahsildars' stations, both Samalkot in the Coca-

nada taluk and Dowlaishweram near Rajahmundry are towns
of importance and interest.
Many places in the delta, such as Coringa, Georgepet,
Nilapalli, and Injaram in the Cocanada taluk and Bendamur-
lanka in Amalapuram, were notable ports or settlements of
the East India Company at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. All these have now sunk into insignificance. The
little village of Chandurti in the Pithapuram division has
given its name, under the distorted form of Condore,^ to the
decisive battle by which the sovereignty of the whole of the
Northern Circars was wrested by the British from the French.
Yanam in the Cocanada taluk is one of the few French
settlements in India.
Etymology Godavari takes its name from the great river which forms
of the name. western boundary and the delta of which is its richest and
its
most fertile portion. Rai Bahadur V. Venkayya, M.A., the

' The parts of Cocanada and Peddapuram taluks and of the Pithapuram
division which are watered by the Yeleru river are often spoken of as Porlunadu.
Cf. Chapter XV, p. 221.
2 See below Chapter II, p. 31 and Chapter XV, p. 227.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. j
Government Epigraphist, considers that the word means cHAP. i.

literally 'streams giving water' (sometimes in old
either general
writings abbreviated to Goda or giving water ') or streams ' ' descr p-
TION.
giving kine.' Another Sanskrit authority ^ interprets the
word in a somewhat similar way as meaning the best (vari) '
[of those that] give water and adds the alternative the
'
;
'
chief [of those that] give heaven with reference to the sancti-
'
fying power of the river. The local and popular etymology

of the name says that it means the expiation for killing a '
cow,' and a well-known story relates how the rishi Gautama

brought the Godavari to the district to expiate the sin of
having killed a cow in a moment of anger. Kovvurin Yerna-
gudem taluk, Kistna district, the name of which is said to
mean the village of the cow,' is pointed out as the place
*
where the cow was slain and the water was first made to flow.
The district consists of four very dissimilar natural Natural
divisions namely (beginning in the north-west), the undu-
; divisions.
lating taluk of Bhadrachalam above the Eastern Ghats; the

hilly agency divisions which really form a part of that range ;
the upland taluks which divide the agency hills from the low
lands of the delta and the delta of the Godavari itself.
;
Thedelta presents a vast expanse of rice fields dotted

with gardens of plantains, betel and cocoanut and with
innumerable palmyras; the uplands form a gently undulating
and fairly wooded plain the Agency consists of broken,
;
forest-clad hills and the Bhadrachalam taluk above the

;
ghats resembles the uplands except that its undulations are

sharper and its woods much more dense. It is broken up by
the clusters of the Bodugiidem and Rekapalle hills, which are
not unlike the ghats themselves.
The only the district are the Eastern Ghats, which
hills in Hills.
rise by gentle gradations from the level of the coast. The -Yhe Ghats
scenery of these mountains, particularly in the neighbourhood
of the Godavari river, is exceedingly picturesque. Their sides
are clothed with luxuriant forests, interspersed with bamboo
and a thick undergrowth of forest shrubs. Their highest
point is Dumkonda, 4,478 feet, and another prominent peak
stands to the south of the fine gorge through which the
Godavari passes them, and is called Papikonda or Bison Hill.
A hill in the range which runs from that peak across the river
into the Polavaram division is locally known as Biraiya
Konda, and is regarded as the haunt of a demon called
Biraiya who is worshipped by the native navigators of the
Godavari.^
* The Sabdalialpadnima by Sir Rajah Radha Kantha Deva (Calcutta, i8S6).
^ See below p. 5.
4 GODAVARI.
CHAP. I. Among the great rivers of India the Godavari takes rank
Rivers. next after the Ganges and Indus. It runs nearly across the
Pjjg
peninsula, its course is 900 miles long, and it receives the
iodavari. drainage from 115,000 square miles, an area greater than that
of England and Scotland combined. Its maximum discharge
is calculated to be one and a half million cubic feet per
second, more than 200 times that of the Thames at Staines
and about three times that of the Nile at Cairo.^
It Trimbak, a village about seventy miles north-
rises at
east of Bombay and
only fifty miles from the Arabian Sea.
The place traditionally regarded as the source of the river is
a reservoir on a hill behind the village. This is approached
by a flight of 690 stone steps, and the water trickles into it
drop by drop from the lips of a carven image, shrouded by a
canopy of stone.^ From thence the river flows in a south-
easterly direction until, after it has completed a course of 650
miles, it receives from the north at Sironcha the waters of
the Wardha, the Painganga and the Wainganga united in
the single noble stream of the Pranhita, From this point the
river has some 200 miles to run to the Bay of Bengal. It is
soon joined by the Indravati, also from the north, and before
long skirts the Bhadrachalam taluk of this district. A few
miles below the Bhadrachalam border is the Dummagudem
anicut, almost the sole relic of the great scheme conceived by
Sir Arthur Cotton {see p. 80) for the navigation of the upper
waters of the river. Next the beautiful Saveri (or Sabari)
flows in from the north, skirting the edge of the forest-clad
Rekapalle hills. From there the Eastern Ghats come into
view, some 2,500 feet in average height, bounding the whole
horizon and towering above the lesser and detached hills that
flank the river.
The Godavari has by this time assumed imposing
proportions, being generally a mile, and sometimes two and a
half miles, broad. After its junction with the Saveri, however,
its bed is suddenly contracted by spurs of the ghats till at
length it forces a passage between them, penetrating by an
almost precipitous gorge to the very heart of the range- The
scenery of this gorge is famous for its beauty. The steep
wooded slopes of the mountains which overhang it approach
at one place to within 200 yards of each other; and they
constantly recede and advance and form a succession of
beautiful little lakes from which there is apparently no
outlet. Here and there a faint line of smoke indicates the
^ The Engineering Works of the Godavari Delta, by Mr. G. T. Walch
(Madras, 1896), p. i.
- Hunter's Imperial Gazetteer.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. 5
existence of a Koya or Reddi village, but the hills are very CHAP. I.
sparsely inhabited. Rivers.

In flood time the water flows with terrific force. '
Through
the gorge,' writes Dr. King, 'the pent-up waters tear their way
with, I have been told, a surface so strangely concave on the
cross section that adventurous boatmen glide along the bottom
of a trough whose sides rise up to a good height and hide
away the immediate banks; and out of this gorge away
towards the open country of the Godavari district the river
has such a fall that the sensation produced on the mind of the
traveller is said to be that of sliding down an inclined plane.' ^
Native boatmen are much afraid of navigating the river at
such times and none of them, of whatever creed, omit to
;
break a number of cocoanuts at the mouth of the gorge to

appease the dangerous demon Biraiya already mentioned,
who will dash on a rock or drown in a whirlpool the navigator
who omits this homage. So great is the action of the stream
during floods that the rocky bed has been scoured out to
depths popularly supposed to be unfathomable, but which
really vary normally from lODto nearly 200 feet. High floods
rise quite 50 feet above the normal level, so that the gorge
then encloses a torrent of waters from 150 to 250 feet in
depth.-
After passing this point and entering the open country, the
riverwidens out and flows by the old zamindari strongholds
of Polavaram and Gutala and the picturesque and sacred
islands of Mahanandi'svaram and Pattisam."* At Rajahmundry
it nearly two miles wide, and some five miles further down,
is
at Dowlaishweram, at the head of the delta, it is crossed by

the celebrated anicut which renders its waters at last avail-
able for irrigation. At this point the river is nearly four
miles broad, though about a third of this width is taken up
by three islands, and the spot is more fully described in
Chapter IV. At Dowlaishweram the Godavari divides into
two main streams— the eastern or Gautami Godavari flowing
past Injaram, the little French settlement of Yanam, and
Nilapalli, and entering the sea near Point Godavari, and the
western or Vasishta Godavari flowing nearly due south and
entering the sea at Point Narasapur. A
few miles above this
latter mouth another large branch, the Vainateyam, breaks off
to the east of the Vnsishta Godavari (forming the island of
Nagaram between itself and the latter river) and reaches the
^ Memoirs, Geol. Surv., India, xviii, pt. 3, 5.
* Mr. G. T. Walch in The Engineering Works of the Godavari Delta
(Madras, 1896), p. I.
^ See Chapter XV, p. 279.
;
GODAVARI.
CHAP. I. sea near Bendamurlanka. The three factories of the old East
Rivers. India Company at Injaram, Bendamurlanka and Madapollam
were situated near these three principal mouths of the
Godavari. Part of Madapollam village has been swept away
by the river.
Its sanctity.
Seven traditional mouths are recognized as sacred by
Hindus. The holy waters of the Godavari are said to have
been brought from the head of Siva by the saint Gautama,
^
and the seven branches by which it is traditionally supposed

to have reached the sea are said lo have been made by seven
great risJiis. The mouths of these are considered especially
holy, and to bathe in the sea at any one of them is considered
an act of great religious efficacy. It is customary for the pious
(especially childless persons desirous of offspring) to make a
pilgrimage to each in turn and bathe there, thus performing
the sapta-sdgara-ydtrd or pilgrimage of the seven confluences.'
'
The Vainateyam is not one of these traditional mouths, but is

supposed to have been created afterwards by a rishi of that
name who stole a part of the Vasishta for the purpose." The
traditional seven are the Kasyapa or Tulya (the Tulya Bhaga
drain), the Atri (the Coringa river), the Gautami, the Bharadvaja,
the Visvamitra or Kausika, the Jamadagni and the Vasishta.
The Bharadvaja, Visvamitra and Jamadagni no longer exist
but pilgrims bathe in the sea at the spots where they are
supposed to have been.'' Several other sacred bathing-places
in the delta are noticed in Chapter XV. The most important
of them is Kotipalli in the Ramachandrapuram taluk. But a
bath in the river anywhere along its course has great sancti-
fying virtue. Every thirteenth year this virtue is supposed
to be much increased, and the piishkaram festival which then
takes place is performed all along the stream in recognition
of the fact.
Its islands Several islands of a permanent character stand in various
and
encroach-
parts of the Godavari but the river constantly forms new
;
ments. temporary islands and modifies old ones. Islands liable to

these changes are called laiikas. They are rendered extraordi-
narily fertile by the silt deposited upon them by the river, and
the rich tobacco grown on them is known as laiika tobacco-
Other physical changes are produced by the force of the
stream. Its encroachments upon the banks are noticeable in
Another account says they were brought from the Ganges. The Godavari
^
is spoken of by the name of the Ganges in ancient writings.

frecjuently
* See Chapter XV, p. 202.
^ The traditional Bharadvaja mouih is located at Tirtalamondi, a hamlet of
Guttinadevi, and the Kausika mouth in Ramesvaram, a hamlet of Samantakurru,

both in the Amalapuram taluk.
—
more than one place. At Tallapudi above Rajahmundry it CHAP. i.
presses hard against the right bank, which is in many places Rivers.
cut down precipitously by the action of the stream, and
Tallapudi and other villages, which used to be some distance
from the river, now stand on its bank. In 167Q the encroach-
ments of the river at Narasapur on the Vasishta Godavari
forced many of the English merchants to leave their houses.^
The
greater portion of the area drained by the Godavari The season of
receives more rain in the south-west than in the north-east I's floods.
monsoon, and it is during the former, therefore, that the river
brings down most water. It begins to rise at Dowlaishweram
some ten days after the south-west rains set in at Bombay
—
usually about the middle of June and it is almost always
high till October. The season for floods is then over; but
during the next two months or so occasional freshes are caused
by the north-east monsoon rains. When these have ceased
the river gets lower and lower, till about the middle of May
(its lowest stage) its discharge is at times as little as 1,500 cubic
feet per second.

The navigation on the river and on the delta canals is
referred to in Chapter VII.

Twotributaries of the Godavari flow through this district- Its
The Saveri rises in the hills in the Vizagapatam Agency, and ^"^^^"^s.
afterwards runs in a south-westerly course, forming for some
distance the boundary between that tract and the Bastar State.
It receives several tributaries on the way, and, at the point
where Bastar, Vizagapatam and Godavari meet, is joined by

the Sileru river from the hills of Jeypore. The latter forms for
many miles the boundary between the Rampa country of
this district and the Jeypore zamindari. The united waters of
these two rivers are much used for floating timber from the
Rekapalle hills, which are enclosed between the Saveri and
the Godavari.
One two insignificant streams run down from the north xhe
or Yeieru.
into the Godavari, and from the Tuni hills into the sea; but
the only other noteworthy river in the district is the Yeieru.
This is formed by the union of three streams which take their
rise in the hills of Rampa, Golgonda and Jaddangi respectively
and unite a little to the north-east of Yellavaram. It flows
through Peddapuram taluk to a point a little above Viravaram,
where it again separates into several streams. The western-
most of these continues its course, still under the name of the
parent stream, along the boundary of Pithapuram division into
Cocanada taluk; passes under the Samalkot canal, which
' Journa' of the tour of the Agent of Fort St. George to Madapollam in 1679.
—
8 GODAVARI.
CHAP. I. crosses by an aqueduct near 'that town, and finally drops
it
Rivers. into the Bikkavolu drain and the Cocanada tidal creek, and so
into the Cocanada bay. Meanwhile the two other branches
have both flowed into the Pithapuram division, where, united
again under the name of the Gorikanadi, they distribute their
waters to numerous works of irrigation, and finally reach the
sea near Uppada.
Soils. The following table gives the clsssification of the soils in
the Government land in the district excluding the taluk of
Bhadrachalam, which has not yet been settled by the Madras
Government :
Geology.
uppermost throughout Bhadrachalam, Chodavaram and the CHAP. I.
eastern portion of Polavaram, and, in the form of what is Geology.

called Bezwada gneiss, throughout Yellavaram and much of
Tuni as well as in the north of Rajahmundry and Peddapuram
taluks.
After the gneiss, the next most ancient formation is three

groups of the Lower Gondwana rocks. The Talchir group is
found in very small and scattered tracts in the Nizam's
Dominions and also near Dummagudem, between Dumma-
gudem and Bhadrachalam, and between Bhadrachalam and
Rekapalle; the Kamthi group stretches all along the river on
the Hyderabad side, but only reaches into this district at the
south-western corner of the Polavaram division and the ;
Barakar group occurs in small and scattered areas in two

places in the district, namely Bedadamiru in the south-west
corner of Polavaram, and Gauridevipeta sixteen miles down
the river from Bhadrachalam. This group is of particular
interest,because coal is found in it.^
Among still more recent geological formations, a few small
outcrops of the older Tirupati sandstones occur between the
gneiss and the alluvium of Peddapuram and Tuni. broad A
belt of the Cuddalore sandstone also stretches, like an island
in the middle of the alluvium, from Rajahmundry to Samalkot
with a narrow strip of Deccan trap and some isolated patches
of gneiss on its north-western edge. The whole of the rest of
the district is formed of fluviatile alluvium. This occupies
nearly the whole of the delta, and above the ghats stretches
in some places a long way from the river on either side.
At some remote period the great plain which is now physical
covered with alluvial soils must have been occupied by the changes now
^" Progress.
sea, the sandstone '
island between Rajahmundry and
'
Samalkot must have been an island in fact, and the salt water
must have stretched to the edge of the northern hills. This
plain was gradually raised above tidal level by the deltaic
deposits of the Godavari and the minor streams in the north-
east of the district, and the process still continues. It is
particularly noticeable in the constant extension of the shore
round Point Godavari and the gradual silting up of Coringa
bay. In Pliny's time the village of Coringa, now miles
inland, stood apparently upon a cape, and even within the
memory of man great changes have taken place. The map
of 1842 had to be much modified in 1891 and already needs
further alteration. A spit of land is extending to the north
from the old Point Godavari at an estimated rate of one
^ See below p. IQ.
10 GUDAVARI.
CHAP. I. mile in 20 years and is gradually enclosing the Coringa bay;

Geology, and the anchorage in the bay is said to be shallowing at the
~ rate of a foot every ten years. But a compensating process of
erosion is taking place elsewhere. At Uppada on the Pitha-
puram coast the land has been much encroached upon by the
sea. Since 1900 over fifty yards have been swept away and
the process must have been going on for many years. A ruin
about half a mile out at sea still catches the fishermen's nets,
and children hunt the beach at spring tides for coins which
are occasionally washed up from what must be a submerged
town.
Minerals. As above remarked, there are two places in the district
Coal. where the coal-bearing Barakar strata are found, viz., near
Bedadanuru in Polavaram division, and at Gauridevipeta in
the Bhadrachalam taluk.
The Gauri- The Gauridevipeta field was first reported on in 1871 by
devineta
field.
Mr. W. T. Blanford, who summarized the position as follows ^ :
'Just below Bhadrachalam the Godavari traverses a small

field of Barakar rocks about seven miles across from east to
west and five miles, where broadest, from north to south. The
whole area is about 24 square miles, the greater portion of
which lies on the right bank of the river in the Nizam's
territory. The portion of this field on the north (left) bank of
the river has been thoroughly explored by boring and some
coal has been found, but the quality is altogether inferior and
the quantity small, the seams being thin and much mixed with
shale.' An attempt to work this field was made by the
Godavari Coal Company, Limited, in 1891. The operations
were not successful, as coal was not found in paying quanti-
ties, and soon after the commencement of the work a fault was
encountered which made it impossible to recover the seam.
The seam, moreover, was of poor quality and contained a
quantity of shale." It is thought possible that better and
more plentiful supplies might be found on the southern bank
of the river.
Bedadanuru. The Bedadanuru field'' is the most southerly outcrop of
Barakar rocks known in the Madras Presidency. It was once
hoped that good coal would be found there, and extensive
borings were undertaken under the superintendence of the
Executive Engineer at Dummagudem in 1874 but these ;
resulted only in the discovery of some thin seams of very poor

coaly shales, and the exploration was abandoned. The field
^ Records, Geol. Surv., India, iv, 59 fol'.

2 Information kindly supplied by Messrs. Binny & Co., Madras, the agents
of the Company.
See Memoirs, Geol. Surv., India, xviii, pt. 3, 29, 45.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. ti
is about five and a quarter square miles in extent and is CHAP. I.
situated near the head waters of a large feeder of the Yerra Minerals.
Kalwa with the small village of Bedadanuru in its midst.
Further prospecting was undertaken about six years ago.
Some eight square miles near the village were thoroughly
explored by borings, but the only discovery was a one-inch
seam.
The existence of gold in the bed of the Godavari is men- Gold.
tioned in several works published about the beginning of the
last century. The Gazetteer of the Central Provinces says ^
that the metal used to be washed at the point where the Kinar-
sani river falls into the Godavari just below Bhadrachalam.
Local enquiries at Bhadrachalam vaguely substantiate the
former existence of the industry there.
Iron is smelted from scattered ore in several villages in the Iron.
Bhadrachalam taluk.
Graphite or plumbago is distributed in small quantities Graphite.
among the gneissic rocks in the north-west of the district,
notably near Velagapalli and Yerrametla in the Chodavaram
division and at Gullapudi in Polavaram. The South Indian
Export Company has been prospecting recently at the last-
named place. The Godavari Coal Company possesses a
graphite mine at Pedakonda in Bhadrachalam taluk, and has
prospected for the mineral in several parts of the surrounding
country. Outcrops are said to be plentiful and the samples
obtained to be of fair quality but not so good as those from
Ceylon. A good average quality fetches from £13 to £15 per
ton in the London market at present.^
Mica said to exist in parts of the Agency and is being Mica.
is
prospected for near Polavaram by the South Indian Export

Company.
Good building stone is obtained from the different sand- Building
stone.
stone and trap groups in the alluvial plains of the Godavari.
A locality particularly mentioned by Dr. King is Peddapuram.
A little cutstone is also obtained in the Chodavaram division.
Very pure rock-crj'^stal, inferior garnets and some sapphires Rock crys-
tals,garnets,
occur in the neighbourhood of Bhadrachalam. The crystals sapphires.
are kept as curiosities or used in native medicines. The
garnets are said to be found in the beds of the Godavari and
Kinarsani rivers, especially near Gauridevipeta.
Detailed statistics of the rainfall in Godavari are given in Climate.
Chapter VIII below. The average annual fall for the district Rainfall.
is 40*26 inches.
Nagpur, 1870, 506.

Information furnished by Messrs. Binny & Co., Madras.
I2 GODAVARI.
CHAP. I.
Climate.
Temper-
atuie.
Month.
Wind and
weather.
existence of several distinct floras, while the residence of the CHAP. I.
great Indian botanist, Roxburgh, at Samalkot has caused the Flora.

native plants to be more carefully studied than elsewhere.
The irrigated delta teems with weeds of cultivation, the
uplands yield the plants of the dry scrub forest, while the hill
tracts of Rampa present an entirely different series. The latter
are most easily studied where the Godavari pierces the back-
bone of the Eastern Ghats, and the deep ravines near Bison Hill
afford the nearest approach to a moist evergreen forest to be
met with in this part of India. Among the interesting plants of
the Godavari gorges may be noted the beautiful blue Barleria
strigosa, Oldenlandia nudicaulis, Sauropiis quadrangularis,
Baiihinia Euphorbia elcgcms and Payllanthiis suhcrosiis.
Vahlii,
Bordering the stream and in the rapids Euphorbia Lawii
appears to be at home, while on the banks such exotic ferns
as Ltiffa echinata and Melilotus parviflora may be found.
Many Godavari plants are illustrated and described in the
magnificent Coromandel Plants prepared by Roxburgh while he
was Carnatic Botanist to the Hon. East India Company.^
Five kinds of cattle are locally recognized ; viz., the desavdli Fauna.
^" ^'
(or country), the paratnati (western), the turpu (eastern), the
Koya and the Sugali. The desavdli are found both in the
plains and in the Agency in the latter they are called also
;
gommu (riverside) cattle and are generally stronger than in

the plains. The western cattle are easily recognized by their
peculiar and plentiful branding and by the shortness of their
horns. They are not found in the Agency and are imported
in small numbers from Nellore and Guntiir. The cows give
better milk than the country animals. The eastern cattle
come from Vizagapatam, but are apparently merely animals
bought as calves from Guntur and Nellore and reared in that
district. The Koya cattle are inferior animals raised by the
hill tribe of that name. The Sugali breed are brought by
Sugalis (Lambadis) of the Nizam's Dominions to this district
and are especially common in the Rajahmundry and Rama-
chandrapuram taluks. These Sugalis are wandering traders
and use the cattle to transport forest produce from the upper
reaches of the river and to carry grain for the ryots.
Four kinds of buffaloes occur in the district. In the plains Buffaloes.
*
country buffaloes and eastern buffaloes from Vizagapatam
' ' '
district are the usual breeds. They are much alike in

appearance. A
larger kind, called the Bobbili or Gauvada
buffalo, is less common. In Bhadrachalam a fine animal
1 This paragraph was written by Mr. C. A. Barber (the Government Botanist)

for the Imperial Gazetteer.
'
14 GODAVARI.
CHAP. I. called the northern (iittarddi) buffalo is used. It generally

Fauna. has white patches on the forehead and just above the hoofs.
Sheep and There are three kinds of sheep namely, the country sheep, ;
goats. which give milk, manure and meat, but bear no wool the ;
kidam sheep, which are valued for their wool but are rare and ;
the sima (foreign) sheep, which have long tails, give no wool,
and seem only to occur in Tuni.
Of goats the large or country kind and the small
' ' ' ' '
or Kdnchi
'
' breed are distinguished. The latter also are
called the '
Calcutta ' breed. They yield richer and more
wholesome milk and are more prolific than the former. Some
care taken about the breeding of both sheep and goats.
is
Most of the males are sold for meat, and only one or two
superior animals are kept for breeding purposes.
Cattle- Two local practices are of considerable importance to the
breeding.
improvement of the cattle. In almost every village a really
good bull or two is set free to roam among the herds, and in
the Agency the owners of cattle often set apart a superior
animal, called the vittanain (seed) bull, to be used exclusively
for crossing purposes. In many parts of the district, also,
people castrate the inferior bulls.
Feeding paddy straw in the plains and
Cattle are usually fed on
methods.
cholam straw Agency. In the central delta and in
in the
Rajahmundry taluk they are also given sunn hemp (janumii),
which is much grown there. In Amalapuram, where grazing
is especially scarce, they are fed on rice husk, horse-gram and
gingelly oil-cake. When the crops are on the ground and

there is no particular work for the cattle, i.e., from August
to December, they are sent from the plains to graze in the
forests in the Yellavaram and Chodavaram hills. The
Pithapuram ryots drive theirs to Tuni. The Amalapuram
and Nagaram ryots do not as a rule send their animals away
owing to the trouble of getting them across the rivers. The
Bhadrachalam ryots drive theirs in the hot weather to Bastar
and the Jeypore zamindari, where the grazing is better. The
Polavaram forests are resorted to by the cattle of the Kistna
district.
Cattle Cattle mortality is said to be heavy in the delta (especially
diseases.
in the central delta and Ramachandrapuram), where fodder is
scarce, the animals are crowded and the ground is saturated
with moisture. They suffer from the absence of grazing
'
and deficient food at one time and from feeding on rank,

quickly-grown herbage at others.' ^
' Mr Benson in G.O. No. 28, Revenue, dated nth January li p. 15-
See also p. 13 of the same G.O.
The chief diseases in theare foot and mouth

district CHAP. I.
disease fgdllit), anthrax (domnia),
rinderpest (peddajddyam), Fauna.
fever (kurama) and siigalirdgani or malignant sore throat.
Eruptions all over the body, an occasional symptom of rinder-
pest, are called by the natives kinka. Cattle are said to be
not infrequently poisoned by Madigas, who then eat their
flesh and take their hides.
Generally speaking, the cattle are bought by merchants and Cattle fairs,
ryots at the large weekly fairs at Tummapala (in Vizagapatam
district), Pithapuram, Draksharamam (in Ramachandra-
puram), Ambajipeta (in Amalapuram) and PalokoUu in the
Kistna district. Merchants go the round of these markets
with their herds until they are all sold. The Pithapuram and
Draksharamam cattle fairs are famous. Sometimes drovers
take their cattle round the country and sell them to the ryots
in their own villages. This is what is usually done by the
Sugalis, who seem never to frequent the markets.
Big game is plentiful in the hills of the Agency and less so Game,
in the uplands of Tuni and Peddapuram. Tigers and
panthers are numerous bears are fairly common
; bison ;
(gaur) occur; nilgai have been shot in the Bhadrachalam

taluk sambur, spotted deer, jungle sheep, black-buck and
;
pig are all common. Dholes (wild dogs) are found in

Bhadrachalam and Polavaram. Small game exists in great
abundance. Good snipe-shooting is to be had in the
neighbourhood of Rajahmundry and in many other spots.
Wild geese, duck and teal, are common on the river and its
lankas, and the two latter swarm on many jhils and tanks and
on the sea at the mouth of the creeks between Cocanada and
Coringa, whence they fly inland to feed at night. Partridge,
peafowl, jungle-fowl and the smaller quail are all fairly
common. The larger quail, florican and sand-grouse are more
rarely met with. Other uncommon birds found in the district
are the imperial pigeon, pied mina, and bhimardj. Hares and
partridges are captured in quantities by native shikaris, the
former with nets, the latter with the help of decoy birds.
Crocodiles are found in the upper Godavari in large numbers
and people are afraid to enter the deep parts of the river even
as far down as Rajahmundry.
Mahseer occur in the Godavari, Saveri and Pannileru Yish.
rivers. The
large sable fish (clupea palasah or hilsa) are
netted in very large quantities near the Dowlaishweram
anient, when they come up the river to spawn. Fine carp
and labeo are caught near Polavaram and in the tanks, as the
villagers will not allow the drinking-water tanks to be netted.
The fishing in the tidal water near Cocanada and Coringa is
I6 GODAVARI.
CHAP. I. said to be particularly good. Afine fish which the natives

Fauna. call pundikuppa and which runs up to lOO lb. comes up the
creeks. The mango fish and the mullet may also be caught in
large quantities near the sea.
Native Yerukalas are the commonest shikari caste. Idigas, Kapus,
sportsmen.
Razus, Musalmans and Malas also shoot. Nakkalas hunt
jackals and foxes for food. In Bhadrachalam and Polavaram
the Koyas, Reddis and Mutrachas are keen sportsmen. Some
of the methods employed are interesting, if the accounts given
by the natives are to be credited. Jackals and foxes are
killed with assegais of split bamboo antelope are caught by
;
sending out a tame buck with nooses on his horns which

entangle the wild ones when they try to eject him; some
animals are shot from behind a trained cow which conceals
the sportsman and provides a rest for his gun and spring
;
guns are sometimes placed in the tracks of game. Birds are

caught in nooses placed near the cage of a decoy and by
;
limed twigs baited with worms. Waterfowl are driven, by a

man concealed behind a trained cow, over a net spread under
water.
nharwarO^
If
i4
^Koppamfe
>mancalorS*^
—7
POLITICAL HISTORY. 1
CHAPTER II.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
Early History — As6ka's —

conquest, 260 B.C. The Andhras, down to 200
A.D. —The —
about 200-615 '^•D. The Chalukyas Their conquest
I'allavas, —
of Vengi, about 615 - Separation of the Eastern and Western Chalukyas,
—
about 630 Hiuen Tsiang's description of the former Eastern Chalukya —
rule, —
63C-999 -Chola conquest, 999 Kulottunga Chola I He obtains the —
—
Chola and Vengi thrones, 1070 His viceroys in Vengi His death in 11 19 —
and the decline of the Cholas — The Velanandu chieftains, twelfth century —
—
The Kona chiefs of the delta ^Local chiefs of EUore, Nadendla, etc. The —
Kakatiyas of Warangal conquer Kistna about 1200 And Godavari about —
—
1300— Pratapa Rudra's viceroys Temporary Musalman conquest of the
district, 1323 — —
The Korukonda Reddis, 1325-95 The Reddis of Kondavid,
—
1344-1422 The Rajahmundry Reddis, 1422-50 The Gajapatis ofOrissa —
—
take the district, 1450 But cede part of it to the Muhammadans, 1470
—
The latter ousted, 1489 Conquest by Vijayanagar, 1515 Musalman con- —
quest of Kistna, 1540— And of Godavari, 1571. Muhammadan Period —
Weakness of their rule— Aurangzeb establishes his authority, 1687 The —
Subadar of the Deccan becomes independent, 1724 The Northern Circars —
ceded to the French, 1753 — Their difificulties there — Bussy at length obtains
possession, 1757 — P'orde's expedition against the French, 1 758 — His victory
at Condore — The country cleared of the French — Cession of the Northern
Circars to the English, 1765. English Period -Early administration
Disturbances of the peace — In 1785-90— In 1790-1800 — Quieter times
thereafter - Subba Reddi's rebellion, 1858 — Outbreaks in Kampa.
The mention of the Godavari district occurs

earliest historical CHAP. II.
in the inscriptions ofAsoka, the Buddhist ruler of the great Early

istor\.
Maurjân empire, the capital of which was at Pataliputra, the
modern Patna, In 260 B.C.^ this monarch conquered the king- Asoka's
ô^^^^^*^' 260
dom of Kalinga (a tract of varying extent which may be taken
to have comprised the country between the Mahanadi river on
the north and the Godavari on the south) and he claims also
to have subdued the Andhras, a dynasty whose sway
apparently extended as far north as the Godavari river.
Asoka was the great apostle of the Buddhist religion, which
he extended far and wide in India, and the magnificent
Buddhist remains at Amaravati on the Kistna river are proof
that the faith he espoused obtained a strong hold in country
even further south than the Godavari. They contain an
inscription in the Mauryan character.
' Indian Antiquary, xx, 247.

i8 GODAVARI.
CHAP. II. But his conquest of the Andhras by no means terminated

Early the existence of that dynasty. For long after his reign they
History.
retained, and probably increased, their power in this district,
The Andhras, Pliny mentions them as a strong people with 30 fortified cities,
down to 200
A.D. 100,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 1,000 elephants. Their
conquests extended far to the north, and even to the western
coast of the peninsula, for one of their earlier kings, Simuka,
covered the walls of a large cave at Nanaghat (50 miles north-
west of Poona) with inscriptions recording his sacrifices and
;
his successors have left evidence by their coins and in their

inscriptions in the cave temples at Nasik, Karle and Kanheri
that they extended their power to Malwa and the borders of
Gujarat. Towards the south their dominions included parts
of Mysore. Their capital was at first at Srikakulam on the
Kistna, nineteen miles west of Masulipatam, but was after-
wards removed to Dharanikota, near Amaravati. From coins,
inscriptions and other material have been ascertained the
names and dates of kings of the line who ruled from about
IIO to 220 A.D.
The Pallavas, The next power to appear upon the scene were the Pallavas.
about 200-
This race, like others of the invaders of the south, perhaps
615 A.D.
passed into central India from the north-west during the
second century A.D. In an inscription, the Andhra king
Gotamiputra ( 1 72-202 A.D.) boasts that he defeated them, but
they shortly afterwards subdued the Andhras and extended
their empire as far south as Conjeeveram and the borders of
the Tanjore country, and as far to the north-east as the
frontiers of Orissa- Records of them are few and far between ;
but the absence of inscriptions of the Andhras after about the

year 218 and the discovery at Mayidavolu and Kondamudi (in
the Guntiir district) of two Pallava records which on palaso-
graphical grounds may be assigned to the end of the second
century, go to show that their conquest of the Andhras
occurred about that period. Moreover inscriptions of two
kings named Attivarman and Prithivimiila, who were also
apparently Pallava rulers, have been found in the Godavari
district and seem to belong to a slightly later period. In the
fourth century, the Allahabad inscription mentioned on p. 233
refers to a chief of Pithapuram who was apparently a Pallava.
Whether these Pallavas were independent monarchs or merely
local feudatories of the main Pallava empire, the capital of
which was at Conjeeveram, cannot be stated with certainty.
The
Chalukyas. About the beginning of the seventh century, the Chalukyas,
who were also invaders from the north-west and who possessed
a large empire in central and western India the capital of
which was Badami in the Bombay Presidency, came into
:
POLITICAL HISTORY. I^
prominence. An unusually distinct picture of them is drawn CHAP. II.
by the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang, who visited India Early

History.
between the years 629 and 644 A.D.
'
This disposition of the people is honest and simple ; they are
tall of stature and of a stern, vindictive character. To their bene-
factors they are grateful, to their enemies relentless. If they are
insulted, they will risk their lives to avenge themselves. If they are
asked to help one in distress, they will forget themselves in their haste
to render assistance. If they are going to seek revenge they first
give their enemy warning ; then, each being armed, they attack each
other with spears. When one turns to flee, the other pursues him,
but they do not kill a man who submits. If a general losses a battle,
they do not inflict punishment, but present him with woman's clothes,
and so he is driven to seek death for himself. The country provides

for a band of champions to the number of several hundred. When
about to engage in conflict they intoxicate themselves with wine, and
then one man with lance in hand will meet ten thousand and
challenge them to fight. If one of these champions meets a man and
kills him, the laws of the country do not punish him. Every time
they go forth they beat drums before them. Moreover they make
drunk many hundred head of elephants and, taking thera out to ;
fight, and after themselves drinking wine, they rush forward in mass
and trample everything down so that no enemy can stand before them.
The king in consequence of his possessing these men and elephants
treats his neighbours with contempt. He is of the Kshatriya caste
^
and his name is Pulakesi.'
The monarch here referred to (Pulakesin II, 609-42)

extended his conquests throughout the Godavari district and
into Vizagapatam, drove the Pallavas to the walls of Conjee-
veram and threatened the country of the Cholas of Tanjore.
His conquest of Godavari is detailed in a stone inscription Their
at Aihole (in the Bombay Presidency) in which he mentions conquest of
Vengi, about
the reduction of Pithapuram and EUore.^ It took place about 615.
615 A.D.
During his absence on this campaign, Pulakesin had made Separation of
the Eastern
his younger brother Vishnuvardhana I his regent at his capital and Western
of Badami, and on his return he deputed him to govern the Chalukyas,
country he had recently conquered. By 632 Vishnuvardhana about 630.
had established himself in these new territories as an inde-

pendent sovereign of the kingdom of Vengi,' the capital of '
which was at Pedda Vegi near Ellore and which included the
Godavari district, and there he founded the Eastern Chalukya
dynasty, which held that country for at least five centuries
* Bombay Gazetteer (1896), i, pt. 2, 353.

" Indian Antiquary, xx, 94.
io GODAVARL
CHAP. II. and remained throughout distinct from, and independent of,
Early theWestern Chalukyas.
History.
Hiuen Tsiang visited this kingdom also. He describes it as
Hiuen
Tsiang's
being nearly 1,000 miles in circuit and its capital as some seven
description
of the
miles round, but the country was thinly populated possibly —
former.
owing to its recent conquest. The once numerous Buddhist
convents were in ruins and deserted, for, though the Andhras
and Pallavas had been Buddhists or Jains, the Eastern
Chalukyas were Vaishnavites by creed.
Eastern The genealogy and some of the acts of the Eastern
Chalukya
rule, 630-999.
Chalukya kings of Vengi are given with great chronological
distinctness in the various grants of the dynasty that have come
down to us.^ In the early part of the eighth century Udaya-
chandra, the general of the Pallava king Nandivarman, claims
that he subdued the Eastern Chalukya king Vishnuvardhana
III (709-46) ^
but this reconquest by the ancient owners of the
;
country seems to have been short-lived. Vijayaditya II

(799-843) had to defend himself against his neighbours on the
west, the Rashtrakutas of Malkhed (90 miles west by south of
Hyderabad), who had subdued and taken the place of the
Western Chalukyas. What was the result of the fighting is
not clear. Vijayaditya II relates how '
during twelve years
by day and by night he fought a hundred and eight battles
with the armies of the Gangas (probably the Mysore Gangas)
and the Rattas {i.e., the Rashtrakutas) but his Rashtrakuta
'
;
contemporary, Govinda III, boasts that he ordered the king of

Vengi into his presence and made him assist in building and
fortifying a city.
Chola At the end of the tenth century, the mighty Rajaraja I, who
conquest,
had laid the foundations of a great Chola empire with its
999-
capital at Tanjore, conquered the Eastern Chalukya country.
He seems to have appointed a prince of the fallen line
(Saktivarman, 999-IOII) as king (or perhaps feudatory) in
Vengi. ^ This man's brother and successor, Vimaladitya
(1011-22),^ though he had married a Chola princess, appar-
ently attempted to throw off his allegiance, for Rajaraja's son
Rajendra Chola (1011-14) again invaded the Vengi country
and advanced as far as the hill called Mahendragiri in
Ganjam, where he planted a pillar of victory. Vimaladitya
was not deposed, however, and was succeeded by his son
* Indian Antiqury, xx, 93 ff. and 266 ff.
^ South Indian Inscriptions, ii, 364.
" Epigraphia Indica, vi, 349.
"•
There is some doubt about the duration of his reign, for though the dates
of his and his successor's accession are given as in the text, his reign is generally
represented as having only lasted seven years.
POLITICAL HISTORY. 2t
Rajaraja (1022-62), who also married a princess of the Chola CHAP. H.

royal house. This king fixed his capital at Rajahmundry, Early
History.
and it was during his reign that the Mahabharata was
translated into Telugu.*
His son Kulottunga was afterwards the famous Kulottunga Kulottunga
Chola I.
Chola I, who, though belonging on his father's side to the
ancient line of Vengi, claimed to succeed to the Chola throne
at Tanjore through his mother and his grandmother, and
ultimately founded a new Chola dynasty in the south. While
heir-apparent to the Vengi throne he distinguished himself by
capturing elephants and defeating a king, but when his father
Rajaraja died he was ousted from the succession by his
paternal uncle Vijayaditya VII.
The latter's rule appears to have been disturbed by
invasion. The Western Chalukya kingdom had revived after
the fall of the Rashtrakutas, and its great monarch Vikrama-
ditya VI (whose capital was at Kalyani, north-west of
Hyderabad) was by this time harassing both the Chola and
the Vengi countries. He twice invaded the latter,^ but was,
however, defeated by the Chola king, who re-established his
authority in Vengi and restored Vijayaditya VII to his throne
there.' His elephants drank the water of the Godavari.
'
He crossed even Kalingam, and beyond it despatched for

battle his invincible army as far as the further end of
Chakrakotta. He reconquered the good country of Vengai
and bestowed it on Vijayaditya, whose broad hands held
weapons of war and who had taken refuge at his lotus feet.' ^
About 1069 the then Chola king died, and his son secured He obtains
the Chola
the throne with the help of the Western Chalukya king and Vengi
Vikramaditya VI. The Kulottunga already mentioned thrones,
claimed, however, to succeed as both grandson and adopted 1070.
son of a former Chola ruler. He took up arms, slew the new

king, and entered on a fierce conflict with Vikramaditya VI.
The accounts given by the two monarchs of the events which
followed are widely different but victory finally rested with
;
Kulottunga, who made himself king of the Chola country

and overlord of Vengi, and ruled till II18 with the title of
Kulottunga Chola I.
He magnanimously allowed his uncle Vijayaditya VII, His viceroys

in Vengi.
who had before supplanted him, to continue in charge of
^ Ep. Ind., V, 31. He is well known to local tradition to this day under the
name Rajaraja Narendra. Cf. Mackenzie MSS., Local Records, ii, 231 ; xix
75 ; and Ix, 24.
^ S. Ind. Inset"., iii, 37.
=*
Dr. Hultzsch in S. Ind. Inscr., iii, 128.
• His inscription quoted in the Government Epigraphist's report for 189S.
22 GODAVARI.
CHAP. II. Vengi, and appears to have treated him with cordiality.
Early When this man died in 1077, Kulottunga appointed his own
History.
second son, Rajaraja II, as viceroy of Vengi. The latter
seems to have been uncomfortable and insecure in his
position. An inscription of this date says that finding a '
kingdom not such a pleasure as the worship of the illustrious

feet of the elders, he returned to his parents, after having
ruled over Vengi for one year.' He was replaced (1078) by
'
his younger brother Vira Choda, the brave prince, the

'
incarnation of valour,' who joyfully put on the tiara of the

'
world.' This prince was superseded in 1084 by Kulottunga's

eldest son Rajaraja Choda Ganga, but was reinstated in
1088-89 and continued to rule till at least 1092-93. He was
then succeeded by another and better known brother, Vikrama
Chola, who ruled the Vengi country till about 1 1 18. The
reasons for these constant changes are nowhere stated but it;
would appear that Kulottunga placed no great reliance on his

sons' loyalty to himself.
The only eventof importance in this period is the conquest
of Kalinga which was achieved by Kulottunga some time
before 1095-96. Kalinga was feudatory to Vengi and had
withheld tribute for two years. Vikrama Chola also claims
to have effected this victory, and it was perhaps achieved
during his viceroyalty. He governed the Vengi country for
some 20 years, and in III8 he was called to the south to
become co-regent with, and shortly afterwards the successor
of, Kulottunga, who seems to have died in that or the follow-
ing year. On his departure a certain Choda, the son of
Gonka, was appointed as viceroy of Vengi, and was even
honoured with adoption into Kulottunga's family. His
descendants (see below) long played a prominent part in the
history of the district.
His death in The Chola supremacy in Vengi was at this point disturbed
I rig and the
for afew years by the aged Western Chalukya king Vikrama-
decline of the
Ch61as* ditya VI, who took advantage of the departure of Vikrama
Chola and the death of his old enemy Kulottunga to invade
this northern province of theirs. Their viceroy Choda sub-
mitted to him, and from II20 to 1 124 Vikramaditya was
undisputed king of Vengi. His rule cannot have lasted long,
as inscriptions of Vikrama Chola, dated I127 and II35
respectively, occur in Kistna. After the latter of these years,
however, neither he nor his successors took an active part in
the government of Vengi. Occupied with their own troubles
in the south, the Cholas gradually lost their influence in that
province, and, though they were recognized as overlords by
S. Ind. Inscr., i.% 60.

the various petty rulers who now divided the country, even CHAP. II.
down to a time when their power in Tanjore was shattered, E4.RLY

History.
they had any, real influence in Vengi after the death
little, if
of Vikrama Chola.
Of these pettyrulers, the most important (and apparently The Vela-
the admitted suzerains over the others) were the Velanandu nandu chief-
tains, twelfth
family, to which belonged that Choda who was adopted into century.
Kulottunga's family and left as viceroy of Vengi when
Vikrama Chola went in Ill8 to join his father in the south.
Velanandu is said ^ to be an old name for the Chandhavolu
'
country {i.e., the western part of the Kistna delta), where the
'
family appear to have been long established and to have

ruled as feudatories of the Eastern Chalukyas. Choda's
Gonka I, seems to have ruled the Andhra country
father, ' '
under Kulottunga I, and is mentioned in an inscription at

Chebrolu in the Kistna district dated 1076. A cousin of his
named Vedura was a minister of Kulottunga's son Vi'ra Choda
when viceroy of Vengi and, in recognition of his services
;
against a Pandyan king,' was given by his master the over-

'
lordship of the country between the Kistna and the Godavari.

It was however under Choda that the Velanandu family first
attained the position of viceroys of the Vengi country. He

and his successors wielded considerable power. Choda, as
has been seen, bowed the neck to Vikramaditya VI, but his
son Gonka II (alias Kulottunga Choda Gonka) claims to have
ruled from Kalahasti in North Arcot to Ganjam. The queen
of the latter's grandson, Gonka in (1137-56), covered with gold
the idol at Simhachalam near Vizagapatam. The family
seems to have been suppressed by the Kakatiyas of Warangal,
in what is now the Nizam's Dominions, who forced their way
into the country south of the Godavari at the beginning of
the thirteenth century. The last of them who is known to
history was Prithisvara, the son of Gonka in, who ruled from
II63 to at least I186.
Meanwhile another family, the Haihiya chiefs of the The Kona '
Kona country,' were in power in the delta of the Godavari. chiefs of the
delta.
The delta taluk of Amalapuram is still known as the Kona
country. These people were apparently hereditary chieftains

subordinate to the Vengi viceroys and the Velanandu family.
Their inscriptions in this district range from I128 to 1206.
Other local rulers were the chiefs of Nadendla in the Local chiefs
of Ellore,
Kistna district, who seem to have recognized the authority of
Nadendla,
the Velanandu line and have left inscriptions ranging from etc.
^ Ep. Ind., iv,33. and Manual of the Kistna district, 214. The Velinadu
Smarta Telugu Brahmans have a tradition that Velanandu is a name for the
country near Kondavid. See Chapter III, p, 52.
24 GODAVARI.
CHAP. II. I130 to 1232; the chieftains of Ellore, whose records date
Early from 1139-40 to I2II-I2; a family whose inscriptions are
History.
found in several places in the delta, who claim descent from
the Eastern Chalukya king Amma I (918-25) and the best
known of whom is Mallapa III who seems to have ruled from
I173 to at least 1223 and Annala Reddi of Korukonda (in
;
Rajahmundry taluk), who is stated in one of the Mackenzie

MSS. to have ruled over the greater part of the lowlands of
district for a long time till he was succeeded {i.e., ousted)
' ' ' '
by king Pratapa Rudra of the Kakatiya line of Warangal.

The Kaka- These Kakatiya kings had by now begun to lay the founda-
tiyas of
Warangal
tions of their empire on the ruins of the western Chalukya
conquer kingdom. As early as 1 162 their king Rudra Deva boasted ^
Kistna
that he had conquered the whole country as far as Srisailam
about 1200.
(in Kurnool) in the south, and up to the salt sea on the east.
The first indubitable inscription of the dynasty found in the
Vengi country is one of Rudra Deva's son Ganapati at
Chebrolu (in the Kistna district) dated 1213-14; -and that
this king overcame the Velanandu chieftains is indicated by
the existence of an inscription of his at Chandhavolu, their
capital.
And When the Kakatiyas first crossed the Godavari is doubtful.
Godavari
about 1300. An inscription at Draksharamam mentions king Ganapati
(1213-53), but it is fragmentary and undated, and may belong
to the time of his successor and the first record in this

;
district which can be unhesitatingly ascribed to the dynasty

is one of Pratapa Rudra, dated 1317, at Palivela in the
Amalapuram taluk. Ferishta moreover speaks of the king of
Rajahmundry as an independent prince in 1295.'^ It would
thus seem that the Kakatiyas did not cross the Godavari till
some time after their conquest of Vengi proper, and that this
district did not fall under their dominion until the end of the
thirteenth century.
Pratapa One Mackenzie MSS.^ which (where it can be
of the
Rudra's
viceroys.
checked) agrees in its facts and dates with local inscriptions
and is thus presumably trustworthy, throws an interesting
side-light on Pratapa Rudra's rule of the district. His local
viceroys were two brothers named Pedda Malla Razu and
Chinna Malla Razu, who held their court with great pomp
and luxury at Bendapiidi in the Tuni division. They were
most oppressive in their rule, and a long list is given of the
enormities they perpetrated. Finally, in 1322-23, Pratapa
^ Ind. Antiq-, xi, 9 ff.
- Ep. Ind., V, 143.

^ Scott's Ferishta Introduction, p. sii.
* Wilson's Catalogue, p. 396, 8, 3,
Rudra had himself to interfere, since '

the cultivators refused CHAP. II.
to follow their occupation and fled the country.' The MS. Early
History.
describes at length the rules he then laid down for the
revenue administration of the province. The two viceroys
eventually fell foul of the Raja of Cuttack (the Ganga king
' '
of Kalinga), Pedda Malla Razu having kidnapped the bride of

one of that potentate's relatives as she was passing through
the district. The Ganga king sent an expedition to revenge
the affront; and, after a long siege, Bendapudi was taken
and the two brothers were captured and beheaded.
The Mughal emperor of Delhi had long been jealous of Temporary
Musalnian
the growing power of the Kakatiyas. In 1303 he had un- conquest of
successfully attempted to crush their kingdom; in 1310 his the district,
general Malik Kafur captured Warangal, but Pratapa Rudra 1323.
soon recovered his independence but in 1323 the Delhi heir-
;
apparent, Muhammad Tughlak, took the town again and

carried off its king to Delhi.
Muhammad Tughlak seems to have penetrated as far as
Rajahmundry itself, for an inscription, dated 1324, on a
mosque there describes its erection by him in that year. The
tide of Muhammadan invasion receded almost at once, but
from this point the influence of the kings of Warangal in the
Telugu country disappears, and Vengi was ruled by the
Reddi chiefs of Korukonda, Kondavid and Rajahmundry.
A history of the Korukonda Reddis is given in the The Koru-
Mackenzie MS. already quoted. The founder of the line was konda
Reddis,
Kona or Kuna Reddi, a good Sudra,' who built the fort at 1325-95-
'
Korukonda and made the place into a big town. His son
Mummidi Reddi succeeded him, and (along with his two
brothers) is said to have ruled as far as Tatipaka (either the
village of that name in Nagaram island or its namesake in
Tuni division) and have founded one of the Korukonda
to
temples in 1353. Mummidi Reddi was followed by his son
Kuna Reddi, and he by his two brothers Anna Reddi and
Katama Reddi, one after the other. Their reigns are said to
have lasted 40 years. The latter was succeeded by his son
Mummidi Nayak, by whom another of the Korukonda temples
was repaired in 1394-95.
The Reddis of Kondavid were Sudra cultivators but the The Reddis
;
family seems to have been in the service of the kings of of Kondavid,

1344-1422.
Warangal and no doubt derived the beginnings of its power
from this circumstance. They apparently ruled side by side
with the Korukonda Reddis, for the inscriptions of the two
overlap. Their earliest extant record is dated in 1344. Their
original capital was at Addanki in Guntur, but they subse-
quently moved to Kondavid. The founder of the dynasty
4
26 GODAVARI.
CHAP. II. was Vema, the son of Prola, who boasts that he conquered
Early Raichur and defeated certain kings, calls himself the lion to '
History.
the elephant which was the Pandyan king (whatever that '
may mean), and was a great patron of Telugu and Tamil

literature. Of his successors, two are stated to have fought
against the Musalmans and three were men of letters. His
grandson Kumaragiri placed his minister and brother-in-law,
Kataya Vema, in charge of the eastern portion of his domi-
nions and made Rajahmundry the capital thereof. Kataya
Vema's dates range from 1385 to 1422 and an inscription of
his occurs in the Simhachalam temple in Vizagapatam.
The Rajah- On the death of Kataya Vema, one AUada the son of
mundry
Reddis, Dodda Reddi obtained (it is not clear how) the throne of
1422-50. Rajahmundry, and founded a new, though short-lived, dynasty.
His inscriptions appear as early as 1415-17 in the delta (at
Palakollu, and Draksharamam) and he is repre-
Palivela,
sented therein as being the friend or servant of Kataya Vema,
whose enemies he claims to have uprooted.' His military
'
operations were extensive. He says that he befriended' the '
Gajapati of Orissa and the king of Karnata {i.e., the king of

Vijayanagar, in the Bellary district) who was allied with the
Gajapati, and defeated a Musalman general called Alpa
Khan. He also claims to have defeated the Reddis of
Kondavid. His sons Allaya Vema and Virabhadra ruled
jointly and members of the family are mentioned in the
;
Draksharamam inscriptions until as late as 144/-

The Gajapa- In 1434 the Gajapati dynasty of Orissa was founded by
of Orissa
tis
Kapilesvara, the minister of the last Ganga king of that
take the
district, country.^ Kapilesvara had shortly before been in alliance
1450. with the Rajahmundry Reddis and the Vijayanagar king
against the Muhammadans, but he none the less obtained the
assistance of the Bahmani king of Kulbarga, then the most
powerful Musalman chief in the Deccan, in establishing
himself in his new position. By 1454 he was recognized as
suzerain as far south as Kondavid, and a minister of his was
ruling atRajahmundry in 1458 so, though the details of the
;
conquest are unknown, he had apparently seized the whole of

this district.
But cede part In 1470, however, his successor Purushottama applied to
of it to the
Muham- the Bahmani king of Kulbarga, for lielp against a rival
madans, claimant, and was forced to cede to that ruler, as the price of
1470.
his assistance, the districts of Rajahmundry and Kondapalle in
Kistna. The Hindu inhabitants of Kondapalle, however, soon
afterwards revolted, murdered the Muhammadan governor,
'Babu Man Mohan Chakravarti's paper in J.A.S.B,, Ixix, pt. i, No. 2.

POLITICAL HISTORY. 2;
and called for help from Purushottama, who accordingly CHAP. II.
came and besieged Rajahmundry. A Musalman army relieved Early

History.
that place, and about 1478 the Kulbarga king Muhammad
took terrible vengeance on the Orissa country and forced
Purushottama to purchase his withdrawal by a present of
valuable elephants. Kondapalle was retaken, its temple
destroyed (the Brahman priests being massacred), and a
mosque erected on the site. The Kulbarga king remained
three years at Rajahmundry, expelling or reducing refractory
zamindars and establishing military posts. He appointed
one Malik Ahmed as his viceroy, and at the end of 1480 left
the district to prosecute his conquests in the south.
Afew years afterwards, however, the -Kulbarga kingdom The latter
ousted, 1489.
was dismembered by revolutions which resulted in the
formation of the three Muhammadan kingdoms of Bijapur,
Ahmadnagar and Golconda in the years 1489, 1490 and 1512
respectively and the kings of Orissa recovered this district.
;
f<
Krishna Deva, the greatest of the kings of the
In 1515, Conquest
by Vijaya-
Hindu empire of Vijayanagar, the capital of which was at nagar, 1 51 5.
Hampe in the Bellary district, and which was now at the
zenith of its power, marched northwards in great strength.
He took the strong fort of Udayagiri in Nellore after a siege
of a year and a half, and then invested Kondavid. The king
of Orissa, Pratapa Rudra, came south to relieve the latter
place, and Krishna Deva quitted the siege and advanced to
meet him. The two armies came face to face at a large river
'
of salt water crossed by a ford (presumably the Kistna), and

'
Krishna Deva offered to retire six miles so that his adversary

might cross the river unmolested and they might then fight
on equal terms. Receiving no reply, he forded the river him-
self in the face of the Orissan army, losing heavily in the
operation engaged the enemy on the other side; and won a
;
complete victory. He took Kondapalle after a siege of three

months, escaladed Kondavid (capturing there the wife and
son of the Orissan king and many of his nobles) and then
advanced as far north as Potniiru in the Vizagapatam district,
where he set up a pillar of victory. From this place he
despatched several challenges to Pratapa Rudra, daring him
to come and fight, and when these met with no response he
eventually returned south to his own capital. He subse-
quently sent back Pratapa Rudra's queen and married his
daughter.
Before many years had passed the Muhammadans again Musalman
conquest of
attacked the country. The invader this time was the first king Kistna, 154O.
of the new dynasty of Golconda, Qutb Shah (1512-43), and
the cause of the war was the assistance given by the house
28 GODAVARI.
CHAP. II. , of Orissa to a rebellious feudatory of Golconda. The large

Early forces of the Hindus were routed by the fanatical courage of
History.
the Musalmans, who took Kondapalle and won a battle in the
neighbourhood of Rajahmundry. The king of Orissa sued
/ for peace, and consented to surrender to Golconda the whole
of the territory between the Kistna and Godavari rivers.
And of Meanwhile domestic revolutions had weakened the king-
Godavari,
dom of Orissa. Two sons of Pratapa Rudra succeeded him
1571-
one after the other, and ruled for a year or two till they were
both murdered in 1541-42 by a minister named Govinda Deva,
who took the kingdom for himself.^ He and his sons ruled
till 1559-60, when a Telugu named Harichandana raised a
revolt, killed two of the sons of the usurper, and himself ruled
till 1571, when the kingdom fell finally into the hands of the
Muhammadan kings of Golconda.

This conquest had not been effected without severe fight-
ing. The Hindu Raja of Kondavid attacked the Musalman
garrison of Kondapalle, and the chief of Rajahmundry, one
Vidiadri, who was apparently ^ a prince of the house of Orissa,
laid siege to Ellore, which was also held by the Muhamma-
dans. The latter was signally defeated and fled to Rajah-
mundry. The Golconda troops laid waste the country round
that town and were then called away (1564) to assist the
other Musalman kings of the Deccan in the joint attack on
Vijayanagar which resulted in the overthrow of that empire
in the great battle of Talikota, north of the Kistna river, in
1565. That decisive campaign won, Golconda's conquest of
Godavari soon recommenced. The forts of Peddapuram and
Rajanagaram (from which reinforcements and provisions
were being sent to Rajahmundry) were first taken, the latter
with difficulty because of the narrowness of the paths and the
thickness of the jungles which had to be traversed. Rajah-
mundry was then attacked. The Hindus were defeated in a
desperate battle outside the walls (though they broke thp left
wing of the invader's army) and the fort was then invested
for four months, when it surrendered- This took place in
1571-72. The Muhammadans then marched north, reducing
the fortified places on the way, and finally conquered all the
country of Orissa as far as Chicacole in Ganjam.
MUHAM- Their control of their new possessions was apparently
MADAN far from firm, and disorders and outbreaks were continual.
Period.
Weakness of
The Reddis of the hills, for example, plundered Ellore and
their rule.
* Mr. Chakravarti's paper already quoted.
2Grant's Political Survey of the Northern Circars, appended to the Fifth
Report on the affairs of the East India Co. (1812), Madras reprint of 1883.
p. 142.
Nidadavolu, and for some time kept up a desultory resistance CHAP. ii.
against the forces sent to suppress them. When attacked, Muham-
they dispersed, only to reassemble in difficult passes and period.
ravines, and it was with difficulty that tranquillity was
restored. A standing militia appears to have been main-
tained but its efforts to keep order were not always successful,
;
and its exactions from the inhabitants increased the miseries

of the country.
It was during the Golconda rule that the earliest English
settlements on this coast were made. Masulipatam was first

visited in 1611 and the factory at Madapollam near Narasapur
(also in Kistna) was founded about 1678. Of the settlements
in this district, that at Injaram near Yanam was established
in 1708,and that at Bendamurlanka in 1751. The Dutch had
several important outposts in the neighbourhood, but the only
one in this district was Jagannathapuram, now a part of
Cocanada. The French started a factory at Yanam about
1750. None of these outposts had any influence
at this time
worth mentioning on the history of the district, and it is
sufficient for the present to chronicle the fact of their
existence.
Meanwhile, in 1686, Aurangzeb, emperor of Delhi, marched Aurangzeb
to reduce the south of India to his authority. In the next year ^fs^ authority
he overthrew (among others) the kingdom of Golconda, and 1687. ';
the country passed under the direct rule of Delhi. He

appointed to rule his new territories a viceroy who was known
as the Subadar of the Deccan (and later as the Nizam of
Hyderabad) and resided first at Aurangabad and afterwards
at Hyderabad. The subadari consisted of 22 provinces, of
which Rajahmundry and Chicacole were two. With the
provinces of Kondapalle, Ellore and Gunturthey formed what
were known as the Northern Circars,' a name which still
'
/
survives. The system (or want of system) of administration I
remained unchanged, and disorders continued as freely as/

before.
In 1724 the Subadar of the Deccan (Nizam), who had long The Subadar
been virtually independent of Delhi, became so in fact, and of the Deccan
appointed his own nominees as Nawabs of the provinces independent
under him. Rustum Khan was appointed to Rajahmundry 1724-
and is still known to local tradition as Haji Hussain.
The country was in great disorder. Zamindars, or farmers
of the revenue, had generally availed themselves of the late
political disturbances to usurp the rights and feeble authority
of theirMuhammadan superintendents. They defrauded the
public treasury and squeezed with an iron hand the husband-
man and manufacturer. The new ruler set himself to suppress
36 godavarL
bHAP. II. them. Those who escaped the sword were proclaimed aS
'
MuHAM- traitors and, a reward being offered for their own with
;
their adherents' heads, a sufficient number was soon collected

Period
to erect two shocking pyramidical monuments, called kiilla-
miiidr, near each of the provincial capitals.' ^ Temporary
dmins were for a time appointed in place of the refractory
zamindars to collect the revenue but the indolence and
;
depravity of the ruling nation soon made it necessary to

revert to the ancient system, and new zamindars were
appointed. These quickly became guilty of the same outrages
as their predecessors and in later years their descendants
;
caused constant disorders throughout the Northern Circars.

The Northern In 1748 the Subadar of the Deccan died ; and a great
to'the'^ French
Struggle followed for his place. The events of this contest
1753- relate less to the history of Godavari than to that of the
southern districts, and it is sufficient to note here that the
French and English (who were now powers of importance)
each took different sides, and that after many vicissitudes
Salabat Jang became Subadar in 1751 through the influence
and aid of the former. In his gratitude for their help, Salabat
Jang ceded the Kondavid country to them in 1752 and four of
the Northern Circars (not Guntur) in 1753. They had already
(in 1750) been granted Masulipatam and the adjacent country ;
and Bussy, the French general, sent M. Moracin, the officer in

charge at Masulipatam, instructions to take over the newly
ceded territory.
Their Jafar Ali, governor of Chicacole, was however in no way
difficulties disposed to surrender his position quietly to the French, and
conspired with the Raja of Vizianagram, the most powerful
of the renter-chiefs who had come into existence during the
Musalman rule, to oppose M. Moracin's entry. The latter
seduced the Raja from the compact by offering to lease him
the Rajahmundry and Chicacole circars at a rate much below
their value, and Jafar Ali then called in the aid of the
Marathas of Nagpore, who crossed the ghats with a large
force, devastated both circars from end to end, and regained
their own country by way of EUore with an immense booty.
In July 1754 Bussy went in person to Masulipatam and
Rajahmundry and restored order there. Some of the trouble-
some zamindars were dismissed efforts were made to ascertain
;
the real revenue collections made by these renters and on this

datum to found an adequate assessment and they were ;
required to maintain a sibbandi, or militia, of 12,000 men to

keep the public peace, collect the rents, and, when called upon,
to repel invasion.
1 Grant's Political Survey, etc., 143.

Soon afterwards, however, relations between Biissy and CHAP. II.

the Nizam became strained, at last an open breach occurred, MUHAM-
MADAN
and for six weeks in 1756 the former had to entrench himself Period.
near Hyderabad against the latter's troops.
He was eventually relieved by reinforcements from Masuli- Bussy at

length
patam and taken back into favour, and at the end of 1756 he obtains
went to Rajahmundry with a strong force to re-establish his possession,
fallen authority in the Circars. Aided by the Raja of Vizia-
nagram, he soon reduced the country to obedience; and a
force from Rajahmundry took the three English factories at
Madapollam,Bendamurlanka andlnjaram. Except for twenty
men at the last-named, these places had no garrisons, and
resistance was out of the question.
In January 1758 Bussy returned to Hyderabad, and in July Forde's
he was summoned by Lally, the new Governor of Pondicherry, expedition
against the
to proceed south, with all the troops that could be spared, to French, 1758.
assist in the operations against Madras. His departure was
a fatal blow to the fortunes of the French, who within ten
months were driven out of the Circars.
Almost as soon as he had gone, the new Raja of Vizia-
nagram, who was dissatisfied with the arrangements made by
the French at the time of his predecessor's decease, seized
Vizagapatam, hoisted the English flag there and made
overtures to the English in Calcutta and Madras, offering to
render them every assistance in his power if they would send
an expedition to invade the Northern Circars.^ Clive, who
was then at Calcutta, determined, despite the unanimous
opposition of his Council, to fall in with the Raja's proposals ;
an expedition was at once arranged; and the command of it

was conferred on Colonel Forde. His force consisted of 500
Europeans, including artillerymen, 2,000 sepoys and lOO
lascars. It reached Vizagapatam in October 1758, marched
thence in November, effected a junction with the levies of the

Raja of Vizianagram, and then proceeded southwards into
this district.
The French had assembled in force at Rajahmundry and His victory
atCondore.
moved thence to Gollaprolu, a few miles north-east of Pitha-
puram. Their force consisted of 500 Europeans, 6,000 sepoys
and a great many local troops, of whom 500 were cavalry.
The whole was under the command of the Marquis de Conflans,
Bussy's successor. The opposing forces came in sight of each
other at Gollaprolu on December 3rd. Nearly a week elapsed
before they joined battle but at length on the Qth a most
;
Ornae's history (Madras, 1861), ii,

355.
32 GODAVARI.
CHAP. II. decisive actionwas fought near the little village of Condore
MUH\M- (Chandurti) a few miles north of Gollaprolu. The result was
MADAN
Period. a complete victory for the English, the French losing all
their baggage and ammunition and nearly all their artillery
and retreating in confusion to Rajahmundry. The battle is
described in more detail in Chapter XV.
Forde at once sent forward a force of 1,500 sepoys to
occupy Rajahmundry and the garrison there, imagining that
;
the whole of the English force was upon them, abandoned the
fort on lOth December and retired to the south. Forde again
advanced on January 28th and reached Ellore on February
6th. Thence he detached a force to occupy the French
factory at Narasapur, which was abandoned on its approach.
De Conflans had retired to Masulipatam, and at his earnest
request the Subadar of the Deccan, Salabat Jang, marched to
assist him down the valley of the Kistna. On the 6th March
Forde appeared before Masulipatam and, after a month's
siege, carried that fort by a brilliant assault. On the 14th
May 1759 he concluded a treaty with Salabat Jang (who was
so awed by his successes and harassed by disputes with a
brother that he made no attempt to assist the French) by
which the country round Masulipatam and Nizampatam was
ceded as'inam' to the English, and the Subadar promised
to renounce all friendship with the French and prohibit them
from ever again settling in the Circars.^ By this treaty the
whole of the country north of the Godavari returned again to
the dominions of the Subadar of the Deccan.
The country The district was not at once cleared of the French. A
cleared of small force of about 250 Europeans and 2,000 sepoys had
the French.
remained between Masulipatam and Rajahmundry to cut off
the supplies of the English troops from that direction. This
proceeded to Rajahmundry, where only a very small garrison
had been left, and compelled the place to surrender. Soon
afterwards, however, it left the district with the object of
joining Salabat Jang.
M. Moracin, who had been sent from the south with rein-
forcements for Masulipatam before its fall was known, landed
on November llth at Cocanada (which was still in the posses-
sion of the Dutch) and endeavoured to foment disturbance by
intriguing with Jagapati Razu, a cousin of the Vizianagram
Raja, who had assisted the French in the recent campaign and
was still under arms. His efforts were unsuccessful, and he
soon re-embarked and sailed for Pondicherry.
^ Aitchison's Treaties, etc. (1892), viii, 278.

In December same year a small French force of 50

of the CHAP. II.
Europeans and 100 sepoys landed at Cocanada with the MUHAM-
object of entering into negotiations with this same Jagapati MADAN
Period.
Razu. By this time the English army at Masulipatam, now
under the command of Captain Fischer, had commenced its
return march. Learning on his arrival at Rajahmundry of
the presence of the French at Cocanada, Fischer proceeded
thither at once and found the enemy posted in a village two
miles from the Dutch fort. They fled at once inside the fort
and eventually surrendered, and thenceforth no French forces
set foot in the district.
The country north of the Godavari was now nominally
subject to the Nizam, but he was too busy with other affairs
to attend to its administration, and the consequence was that
'
for seven succeeding years, the completest anarchy recorded
in the history of Hindustan prevailed over all the Northern
Circars. The forms, nay even the remembrance, of civil
government seemed to be wholly lost.' The provinces had
^
been leased to one Hussain Ali Khan, but his authority was
little more than nominal, and an English force despatched to
establish it was interrupted by the invasion of the Carnatic

by the Subadar. A small body of 200 sepoys and twelve
artillerymen under Lieutenant (afterwards Sir Henry) Cosby
did, however, reach Rajahmundry, was instrumental in saving
Hussain Ali from a conspiracy formed by a disappointed
rival to seize the town, and remained there till the Northern
Circars were eventually ceded to the English.
This event occurred in 1765. Lord Clive, who had Cession of
the Northern
returned to India, entered into negotiations regarding the Circars to the
cession, and on August 12, 1765, received a grant of the English,
1765.
Circars from the emperor of Delhi. The Madras Government
hesitated to avail themselves at once of this grant of country
which the Subadar of the Deccan considered to be his own
property, alleging that there was no immediate necessity for
taking possession, since Hussain Ali Khan had already
collected the revenues and but little more could be obtained
that year. In the following March, however, they published
the emperor's firman and sent General Calliaud to take
possession. The Nizam threatened to retaliate by invading
the Carnatic ;and Calliaud was ordered to meet him at
Hyderabad and negotiate a cession from him. The result
was a treaty dated November 12, 1766, whereby the whole of
the Northern Circars with the exception of Guntiir (which
was not ceded till 1788) was handed over to the English. The
Grant's Political Survey, etc., 146.
34 GODAVARI.
CHAP. II. latter on their side engaged to pay the Subadar a tribute of
MUHAM- nine lakhs of rupees per annum, and to furnish him with
MADAN
Period.
military assistance whenever required. The treaty made no
mention of the previous free grant of the country by the
emperor.
Almost immediately afterwards the Subadar faithlessly
joined Haidar Ali of Mysore against the British but the ;
success of the latter nation in the south and an invasion of

his country from Bengal brought him to his senses and, by a ;
second treaty dated February 23, 1768, the tribute was reduced
and the imperial grant was acknowledged. Tribute continued
to be paid until as late as 1823, when it was capitalized by
the payment of a lump sum of Rs. 1,66,66,666.'
English The country was not at once administered directly by the
Period. English, but was leased out to native renters. The Godavari
Early His lease
district continued to be under Hussain Ali Khan.
adminis-
tration. expired in 1769, and then the system of Provincial Chiefs and
Councils described in Chapter XI was introduced, this district
being placed under the Chief and Council of Masulipatam.
Disturb- It only remains to refer to the various disturbances of the
ances of the
peace.
peace by the rebellions of zamindars or the outbreaks {fituris,
as they are locally called) of hill tribes which have occurred
since the English occupation. The powerful zamindars of
Pithapuram, Polavaram and Peddapuram occupied most of the
centre and north of the district, while beyond them ruled the
untamed mansabdars of Rampa, Totapalli and Jaddangi. At
first, the latter recognized no authority whatever; while the
former maintained large bodies of troops and did much as

they liked. Constant attempts were made to reduce the
power of both, but for a long time in vain. It has been the '
object,' wrote the Board of Revenue in 1794, of every new '
settlement with the zamindars to endeavour to reduce their

military force, and a clause has been inserted in their
cabooliats binding them to keep up only such sibbendy
(militia) as may be indispensably necessary for the purpose
of collection and (in some situations near the hills) for
protection ;but a clause so vague and indefinite, it may
easily be supposed, has never met the smallest attention from
the zamindars.' Considerable difficulty was consequently
experienced in keeping the hill men and the zamindars from
breaking the peace.
In 1785-90. The first disturbance appears to have occurred in 1785,
and was due to disputes about the division and management
of the property belonging to three brothers who owned,
1 Aitchison's Treaties, etc. (1892), viii, 269.
POLITICAL HISTORY. ^S
respectively, the zamindaris of Gutala, Polavaram and Kotta- chap. ii.
palli. A zamindar of Nagavaram took a part in the

hill English
Pekkjd.
quarrel and opened hostilities by capturing Gutala in 1785.
Troops had to be moved up to restore order, and some fighting
took place. Somewhat similar disorders occurred in 1786,
1787 and 1790, and are described in more detail in the account
of Polavaram in Chapter XV.
These troubles were really in the nature of a family i» 1790 1800,
quarrel, and only incidentally involved resistance to Govern-

ment. In 1794 Collectors replaced the Chiefs in Council, and
since a famine had depopulated the country, the revenue due
by the zamindars had been raised, and Government had
resolved to be more stringent in the collection of its dues than
hitherto, these new officers met with considerable opposition
in the discharge of their duties. Difficulties in Peddapuram
and Pithapuram were solved without bloodshed but the ;
renters of Mogalturru estate (near Narasapur in Kistna

district) raised a serious outbreak.
This property had been administered by Government since
1787, and a petty insurrection occurred there in 1791. At the
end of that year it had been resumed by Government and
leased out to renters. These people would not pay their dues,
and were imprisoned and sent to Conjeeveram. They
escaped thence and made their way to Hyderabad territory,
their families also flying from Mogalturru to Bhadrachalam.
The zamindar of that place and the amildar at Kammamet in
Hyderabad assisted the fugitives, who succeeded in collecting
a force of 2,000 peons and making an incursion into the
district in July 1795. They marched by way of Yernagudem
to Mogalturru. The Collector was nearly surprised in his
house; and was unable to attempt an armed resistance. The
party, however, behaved with great moderation, committed
no excesses whatever, and, on being assured by the Collector
that a memorial of what they considered their wrongs would
be forwarded to the Board of Revenue, returned to Bhadra-
chalam. Little further came of this disturbance the ;
memorial was dismissed, and the malcontents (who continued

at Bhadrachalam) made no further incursion. In September
of the same year some of their peons attacked Chagallu, on
the other side of the river facing Rajahmundry, but were
easily dispersed. A
petty disturbance was also created in
1798 by a revenue defaulter who had fled the country along
with the Mogalturru renters. He proceeded with 200 or 300
pikemen as far as Undi (near Bhimavaram), where he brutally
murdered the tanahdar; but he retreated into Hyderabad
territory on the arrival of troops.
36 GODAVARI.
CHAP. II. The most serious outbreak of this period occurred in the
English Gutala and Polavaram estates, and involved something in the
Period. nature of a campaign. It is described in the account of
Polavaram Chapter XV.
in
Quieter times After the permanent settlement, things quieted down, and
thereafter.
there have been few important outbreaks since. The pressure
of that settlement and the enforcement of decrees against
defaulting zamindars occasionally caused disturbances. It is
to these that Munro refers in his minute of 1822 quoted in
Chapter XL We are every day liable,' he wrote, to be
' '
dragged into a petty warfare among unhealthy hills, where an

enemy is hardly ever seen, where numbers of valuable lives
are lost by the climate, and where we often lose but never
gain reputation.' He deplored the want of respect and
loyalty to Government in the province, which he ascribed to
the prevalence of the zamindari system. It was no doubt
largely due to the gradual downfall of that system that the
increased peace and order of the country were due,
Subba
Reddi's
A petty disturbance took place in 1858 among the hills
rebellion,
north of Yernagudem, which is of interest as having been
1858. indirectly connected with the Mutiny. It originated in a
private dispute among some hill chiefs about a woman but ;
the leader of the affair, Subba Reddi, pleaded that he had

heard that Nana Sahib was advancing with his victorious army
and that whoever did most against the English would be
'
rewarded most.' At the head of a large body of Koyas he

killed the village magistrate of Buttayagudem, who kept as
his mistress a rich widow whom Subba Reddi wanted to
marry to his son, plundered some villages, and successfully
resisted a body of 60 or 70 peons led against him by the Head
Assistant Magistrate. Two companies of Sappers and Miners
were sent to Yernagudem and thence marched against the
rebels. The only place where they made a stand was Jilu-
gumilli (Polavaram taluk) but their resistance was brief and
they dispersed into the jungle. They were pursued by a
force of armed peons embodied for the purpose, and Subba
Reddi and seven other ringleaders were ultimately captured
and hanged.
Outbreaks in The Rampa country was a continual source of trouble.
Rampa.
The disturbances there were not generally in the nature of a
revolt against supposed oppression, since no revenue was
collected in the country till towards the end of the century.
They were either plundering raids or internal feuds. Govern-
ment became involved in the latter by championing the
mansabdar against his muttadars, and it was his abuse of
this support which ultimately led to the Rampa rebellion of
1879 and the removal of the mansabdar. The chief disturb- CHAf^ 11.
ances which occurred were the mansabdar's incursion of 1813 English

Period.
into the plains; the trouble consequent on his expulsion in
1840 the resistance to him in 1858 and 1862, and the Rampa
;
'
rebellion 'of 1879. These are briefly described in the account

of Rampa in Chapter XV.
—
3S GODAVARI.
CHAPTER III,
THE PEOPLE.
General Characteristics— Density of the population— Its growth— Parent-

tongue— Religions. The Jains. The Musalmans. The Christians—
—
American Evangelical Lutheran Mission The Canadian Baptist Mission—
—
The Church Missionary Society The Roman Catholic Mission. The
—
Hlndus Villages — Houses— — —
Dress Food Amusements Superstitions —
Village, caste, and family gods — Marriage rules and ceremonies Funerals. —
— — —
Principal Castes Telugu Brahmans Razus- Komatis Kapus Kammas — —
— — — — —
Perikes Idigas Gamallas Karnabattus Sanis Malas — —
Madigas Koyas —
—Hill Reddis.
CHAP. III. The Godavari district contained, in IQOI, 1,445,961 inhabit-

Geneual The density of the population
ants, or 257 to the square mile.
Character- in the various taluks and divisions varies greatly. In the
istics.
Agency as a whole it averages only 51 persons to the square
Density of mile, while in the rest of the district it is as high as 516, In
the popula-
tion. the Chodavaram and Yellavaram divisions of the Agency the
figure is less than 35, but in Polavaram it rises to 103. Out-
side the Agency, the rich delta taluks of Nagaram, Cocanada
and Ramachandrapuram are the most thickly populated, while
Peddapuram and Tuni come at the bottom of the list.
Its growth. The population increased by ten per cent, in the decade
1891-1901, against an average of seven per cent, in the Presi-
dency as a whole. Much of this was due to the extraordinary
amount of emigration from Vizagapatam which has occurred.
The greatest proportional increase was in Cocanada, where it
was as high as l6'5 per cent., in Bhadrachalam, 15 per cent,
and in Rajahmundry, 14 per cent. The relative advance was
smallest in Pithapuram, Tuni and Peddapuram.
Parent- The prevailing language of the district is Telugu, which is
tongue.
spoken by 96 per cent, of the people. Hindustani is the
homespeech of I '4 per cent, of them, and the small remainder
talk Uriya, Yerukala, Marathi, and Koya, the vernacular of
the hill tribe of that name.
Religions. Thelarge majority of the people (1,411,573) are Hindus or
Animists. Only 24,646 of them are Musalmans and only
5,497 Christians. There are hardly any Jains. Musalmans
are found in the largest numbers in Rajahmundry, Cocanada
and Amalapuram, and are fewest in Tuni and the Agency.
Christians are commonest in Rajahmundry and Cocanada, the
head-quarters of the chief missionary bodies.
The Jains. As already noted in Chapter II, was once ruled
the district
by the Buddhist emperor Asoka and perhaps remained
THE PEOPLE. 39
Buddhist in religion until the middle of the seventh century. CHAP. III.
A number of Buddhist or Jain remains survive in it. The The Jains.
village of Ariyavattam in Cocanada taluk is sometimes called
Jain-padu (' the Jain ruins ') and contains several large but
rude images of figures sitting cross-legged in the traditional
attitude of contemplation. These are not now 'worshipped,
but images of a similar nature in the streets of Pithapuram are
still worshipped by Hindus there under the name of sanydsi
devulii (' ascetic gods '), and are honoured with a festival in
times of drought. At Neduniiru in the Amalapuram taluk are
other images of this king which are said to be the largest in
the district, and yet other similar relics are found at Kazuliiru,
Yendamuru and Cocanada taluk, Jalliiru in Pithapuram
Sila in
division, Amalapuram, Tatipaka in Nagaram,
Atreyapuram in
and Draksharamam in Ramachandrapuram taluk. There
are also many large revetted wells in the Nagaram and
Amalapuram taluks which for some obscure reason are called
'
Jain wells.'
The relations of the Musalmans with their Hindu The
neighbours are on the whole friendly though petty disputes Musalmans.
;
sometimes arise at festival times, when the processions or

observances of the one offend the other. Followers of the
faith are generally engaged in menial work or petty trade, and
few of them are wealthy. They have no local places of
pilgrimage, though the Muhammadans of Draksharamam in
Ramachandrapuram taluk say that the darga of their local
saint was once regularly visited by the pious of the district.
A few of the mixed class called Dudekus occur. They are
said to be the descendants of converts from Hinduism, and,
though they profess the Muhammadan religion, most of them
speak only Telugu, wear the Hindu cloth and not the trousers
or the kilt (lunji) of the Muhammadans, and adopt Hindu
names. They cannot intermarry with other Musalmans and
are looked down upon because they are musicians and
cotton-cleaners.
There are four Christian missions in the district; namely, The
the Roman Catholics and the Canadian Baptist Mission with Christians.
their head-quarters at Cocanada, the American Evangelical
Lutheran Mission of Rajahmundry, and the Church Missionary
Society, which wc-ks a small district
'
from Dummagudem
'
in Bhadrachalam taluk.
The American Evangelical Lutheran Mission was founded American
by the North German Mission Society in 1844. The first Evangelical
Lutheran
missionary sent out was the Rev. L. M. Valette. He selected Mission,
Rajahmundry as his head-quarters and took up his residence
there in 1844. Soon afterwards, in consequence of the
;
40 GODAVARI.
CHAP. III. unsettled condition of things in Germany and financial

The embarrassment in the church, the North German Mission
Christians.
Society found itself unable to support the mission and in ;
1851 transferred the care of it to the General Synod of the

American Lutheran Church, which was working in the Kistna
district with head-quarters at Guntiir.
Owing to the difficulties regarding both men and means
occasioned by the American Civil War, the General Synod
found it impossible to carry on the work at all its stations
and in 1870 the mission was transferred to the General
Council of the American Lutheran Church, by whom it is now
managed.
Six European missionaries and now working
six ladies are
in this district. The '
field '
by them' includes large
visited
portions of all the low country taluks except Nagaram,
Cocanada and Tuni, and also the northern portion of Kistna,
whence come the majority of the converts. Statistics of the
work in this district alone are not available, but altogether
the mission has now some 250 congregations and a baptized
membership of nearly 12,000, manages a number of schools,
and is educating some 5,800 boys in primary classes. Of its
schools, the girls' and boys' central schools at Rajahmundry
(the latter of which contains 1 50 pupils) are considerable
institutions with substantial buildings, and the high schools
at Rajahmundry and Peddapuram contain 350 and 540 boys
respectively on their rolls. The mission is now erecting
buildings for a new central boys' school and seminary at
Rajahmundry and a hostel for the accommodation of 200 boys
the estimated cost of which is Rs. 6o,000, and has also decided
to put up new accommodation for the Peddapuram high
school. The mission also supports a large dispensary ^ and a
small hospital at Rajahmundry, and the erection of a new
hospital building there, at a cost of Rs, 6o,000 has been
sanctioned by the American Board which controls its affairs.
The mission has nine churches in the district, ten bungalows
and 154 school houses. Its total expenditure on education in
1904 was over Rs. 20,000, and on medical institutions nearly
Rs. 5,000. The mission is in charge of the Rev. J. H. Harper,
who has kindly furnished the above information.
The Canadian The Canadian Baptist Mission owes its origin to the Revs,
Baptisl
Mission. Thomas Gabriel and John McLaurin, D,D,, who started work
in Cocanada in 1869. The present mission premises in that
town were acquired in 1876. A station was established at
Tuni in 1878, a seminary for training school-masters and
1 See Chapter IX, p, 151,

THE PEOPLE. 41
preachers at Samalkot in 1882, and stations at Peddapuram CHAP. HI.

in 1891 and Eamachandrapuram in 1893. The
The mission's '
field '
whole of Christians.
in this district includes the
Cocanada and Tuni divisions and parts of the Pithapuram
division and the Ramachandrapuram, Rajahmundry and
Peddapuram taluks. Its European staff includes six mission-
aries, all of whom are ordained and five of whom are assisted
by their wives, and nine unmarried lady missionaries. One
of the missionaries possesses full medical qualifications and
two of the ladies are trained nurses. The mission possesses
2,400 adherents and 24 churches, five of the latter being
substantial buildings.
It also undertakes educational and philanthropic work. Its
educational institutions include 35 day schools with an
average attendance of 450 boys and 425 girls, 88 Sunday
schools with 2,000 pupils, free primary boarding schools for
boys at Ramachandrapuram and Tuni (preparatory for the
Samalkot seminary), a free lower secondary boarding school
for girls at Cocanada, the Timpany Memorial high school at
Cocanada and the Samalkot seminary. The high school was
founded in memory of the Rev. A. V. Timpany, who was in
charge of the mission from 1879 till 1885, when he died of
cholera, and receives European boys and girls (the latter as
boarders) and a few native girls. The Samalkot seminary
comprises a theological school, a training school for primary
teachers, a lower secondary school and a primary school,
and its pupils number about a hundred. The mission has
also a small industrial school with some twenty pupils at
Cocanada. The total expenditure of the mission on education
in 1903, including the salaries of the missionaries engaged
solely in that work, amounted to Rs. 25,580.
The philanthropic institutions of the mission include the
Kellock Leper Home, the Phillips Memorial Home, and the
hospital and dispensary at Ramachandrapuram and a ;
hospital is being built at Pithapuram. The two Homes are

referred to in Chapter IX. The mission publishes a weekly
newspaper in Telugu and maintains a public reading room at
Cocanada. The Rev. H. F. Laflamme has been good enough
to furnish this information regarding its work.
The mission at Dummagiidem was started through the The Church
°^^^^y-
influence of Sir Arthur Cotton, and work was first begun there
by his brother-in-law, the late Major-General Haig, R.E.,^
when charge of the Upper Godavari navigation works (see
in
p. 128), and
at the cost of the engineers on that project. The
mission is now under the Church Missionary Society. No
^ The builder of the Gannavaram aqueduct; see p. 86,
42 GODAVARI.
CHAP. III. European missionaries resided regularly at Dummagudem till

The 1874, but since then, with an interval from 1879 to 1882, the
Christians,
Rev. J. Cain has been stationed there. The field of the
mission is practically confined to the Bhadrachalam taluk, and
the work lies mainly among the Koyas and Malas. The
converts number 900, and the mission maintains at Dumma-
gudem a dispensary, a lower secondary boys' school, a girls'
day school and boys' and girls' boarding schools, besides
seventeen day schools in other parts of the district. The lace-
work done by the converts at Dummagudem is referred to
in Chapter VI.
The Roman The Roman Catholic Mission was started about 50 years
Catholic
Mission. ago by French priests of Savoy belonging to the mission of
St. Francis of Sales. It is included in the Diocese of Vizaga-
patam. The convent in Yanam was built by Bishop Neyret

in 1850, the church at Cocanada in 1854 by Bishop Tissot,
and the church at Yanam in 1859. Chapels have been
erected at Samalkot, Dowlaishweram and Rajahmundry. Two
European priests are working in the district at Cocanada and
Rajahmundry. The Roman Catholic congregation numbers
some 900, of whom about one-third are Europeans and Eura-
sians and most of the others Tamils. Want of funds has
hampered attempts to convert the Telugus.
The mission ownsa handsome convent at Cocanada which

is incharge of seven European Sisters, is used as a lower
secondary school, and gives instruction to some eighty or
ninety European and Eurasian girls, about half of whom are
boarders. The convent at Yanam is used as a Hindu girls'
school and teaches some 150 pupils and the mission
;
manages a boys' lower primary school at Cocanada and a

small dispensary at the same town.
The The very
large majority of the population of the district
Hindus.
are Hindus and these require more lengthy treat-
or Animists,
ment. The Animists, those who reverence animistic deities,
and not the gods of the Hindu pantheon, are almost all found
in the Agency. An attempt will first be made to describe
the salient features of the religious and social life of the
Hindus of the low country (customs in the Agency are referred
to in the accounts below of the Koyas and hill Reddis) and
then to give some description of the castes which are charac-
teristic of the district or occur in it in unusual numbers.
Villages.
The villages of the district, unlike those in the Deccan,
were seldom fortified, and consequently (except in the delta)
the houses are not closely crowded together, but are built with
plenty of room between them, like those in southern villages.
—
THE PEOPLE. 43
The lowest castes are required to live in separate quarters ; CHAP. III.
but the Rrahmans, unlike those of the south, do not mind The
Hindus.
dwelling side by side with Siidras and do not always have
their own distinct streets.
The houses seldom have terraced roofs, and are generally Houses,
thatched with palmyra leaves. Tiles are common in towns,

but much less so outside them. Under the roof a terrace or
ceiling of mud is often made with the double object of serving
as a loft or store-house, and of protecting the house itself if the
roof gets on fire. The walls of houses are generally of mud.
Brick and stone are comparatively rare. In the Agency the
walls are generally of split bamboo, sometimes smeared with
mud. Outside the big towns, houses of two storeys are rare.
Among all but the lowest classes, houses are very usually
built on one of two type plans, called respectively the chdvadi
illu or ' hall house,' and the manduva illu or '
courtyard house,'
also called the '
f ourroom plan.' The two figures below will
give an idea of how each is arranged:
44 GODAVARI.
CHAP. III. or richer classes, and resembles the typical house of the
The southern country in having an opening (manduva) in the middle
Hindus. of the courtyard to let in light. The kitchen is usually located
if possible in the western part of the house, but even if it is
not, it is still called the west room' (padamati illu). The

'
front steps of the houses are usually decorated with lines of

powdered chunam, the lower parts of the doorposts with the
usual saffron and kunkumam in honour of Lakshmi, and the
sides of the pials and walls with white spots made with
chunam and water.
Dress. The dress of the Hindus presents no very special peculi-
arities. boys of the higher castes usually wear short
Little
breeches or drawers as their only garments, and those of the
poorer classes nothing but the languti or piece-cloth. Little
girls of the two classes wear respectively a petticoat and
bodice, and a bit of cloth wound round their waists. Ortho-
dox married Brahman men tie their waist-cloths in the usual
complicated manner called panchakachcham. Others of the
upper classes tie them, as elsewhere, once or twice round the
waist and then pass the upper front fold between their legs
and tuck it in at the back. The favourite colour for the cloth
is red. Malas and Madigas ordinarily wear only a languti.
The women usually dress in white cloths. Dancing-girls
wear petticoats and bodices, and bodices are common among
other castes also. The women's cloths are nearly always of
cotton silk is a rarity. Brahman women, as elsewhere, pass
;
between their legs the outer front fold of the part which goes
round their waists, and tuck it into their waists behind.
Women working in the fields tuck their garments between
their legs and then pull them up as high as they can. The
women of most subdivisions of the Brahmans, and also those
of the Komatis, Kamsalas and Perikes, wear the cloth over
the left shoulder instead of the right.
The men do not usually shave the whole of their heads
except one top-knot, as in the south, but often cut their hair
like Europeans. Telugu Brahmans differ from their Tamil
caste-fellows in frequently wearing moustaches.
Tattooing common as an adornment among the
is very
women, and two or three straight lines are sometimes tattooed
across painful swellings, to act as a blister. The ponna chettu
(the favourite tree of Krishna) is a popular ornamental pattern,
and Rama's feet and the chank and chakram of Vishnu are
also common.
Food. The ordinary food-grain of the district is rice. Even out-
side the delta, in such upland parts as Tuni and Pithapuram,
THE PEOPLE. 45
rice is commonly eaten, though it is often mixed with cambu CHAP. ill.
(ânti) and ragi (tsodi). In the Agency, cholam (jonna) is The
the commonest food. Brahmans, Kamsalas, and the Gavara Hindus.
and Lingadhari Komatis are apparently the only castes

which do not eat meat. Malas and Madigas will eat beef
and carrion, and Nakkalas are fond of jackal. A good many
castes will eat hare, which elsewhere is often considered
unclean.
The labouring classes have three meals a day, at 8 A.M.,
midday, and 8 P.M. ;orthodox Brahmans two meals, at about
II A.M., and 8 P.M. ; while officials and the richer people eat at
10 A.M., 3 P.M., and 8 P.M., and often have early coffee as well
at about ^ A.M. But coffee is much less drunk in this district
tlian in the south. Smoking, on the contrary, is a habit with
all except the orthodox Brahmans. Even the women of many
castes smoke, and little boys and girls may also often be
seen with cheroots in their mouths. Opium is freely eaten
by most classes, especially, it is said, as a prophylactic against
fever. It is also considered an excellent tonic for children
and the aged.^

The boys of the district play much the same kinds of Amusements.
games as in the south. They fly kites and play at marbles,
tipcat (gonibilla), a kind of rounders (banthulu), a sort of
blind man's buff and many other games. Girls and women
of the higher castes have quieter indoor pastimes, such as
tossing up and catching tamarind seeds, and various games
with cowries on a board. Men have no outdoor sports, but
play cards and chess- A
popular local card-game is called
dasdvatdri. This is played with a pack of 120 cards, con-
taining ten suits of twelve cards each. Each suit consists of a
king, a vizier and ten plain cards and is called after, and
marked with the image of, one of the ten incarnations
(avatdrs) of Vishnu. In half the suits the higher plain cards
take the lower, as in English cards, and in the other half the
opposite is the case. A
trump card is turned up and the
tricks are won in much the same way as at Bridge. All
except the higher classes are devoted to cock-fighting.
Boatmen going down the river often take their cocks with
them to pit them against the birds of the villages on the way.
Puppet shows are very common. The puppets are concealed
from the audience by a sheet on to which their shadows are
thrown by a light behind them.
1 The two common medicines of the district are nulla mandti (' black
medicine,' j.e.,opium) and tella niacin (' white medicine,' i.e., a preparation of
mercury). These are everywhere known and frequently used. The latter is a
laxative. The former has a contrary effect.
46 GODAVARI.
CHAP. Ill
The superstitions of the people are legion. A few typica 1
examples may be given. an owl perches on a house, it
If
The
brings luck to the inmates. A crow cawing on the roof of
—
Hindus.
~. a
ill
house indicates the arrival of a guest. Bad omens include

upers 1 ion.
|^g^j^g questioned regarding business on which one is setting
out, or, directly after leaving the house, catching sight of one
Brahman, two Sudras, a widow, oil, a snake, a shikari, or a
sanyasi. Good omens are hearing a bell ring, a cannon go
off, the braying of an ass, the cry of a Brahmani kite, or, on
first leaving the house, seeing a married woman, a corpse,

flowers, water or a toddy pot. Talismans are commonly worn.
A usual kind is a flat piece of metal with a figure of Hanuman
on it. Another, made of leather with the skin of a lizard got
from a Madiga stitched into it, is hung round the shoulders of
weak and sickly children. Women and houses are supposed
often to be possessed of devils, whom only a professional
sorcerer can exorcise. Yerukala women are in great request
as exorcists. In cases of illness supposed to be due to the ill
will of a god or spirit, three handfuls of rice are carried round
the invalid, and are then placed in a winnowing fan, which
is held by both the patient and the sorceress. The latter then
scans the former's face, professes to be able to read there
the name of the offended spirit, and advises as to the propi-
tiation to be made. In the Agency, belief in witchcraft is
exceptionally strong, and almost every ill is thought to be
due to the person's being bewitched. The old raja of Cherla,
just across the border, was especially afraid of witches and
wizards, and before the British occupation of the taluk an
easy method of ridding oneself of an enemy there was to
accuse him of practising the black art. The raja immediately
seized and hanged him.^
Childbirth is surrounded by a number of superstitions. A
pregnant woman should not see an eclipse, or her child will
be born deformed. The pains of childbirth are relieved by
turning the face of the bull god in a Saivite temple away
from the emblem of Siva, or by the woman's touching a ring
made of a mixture of gold, silver, copper, lead and iron by a
fasting blacksmith on the day of an eclipse. A child whose
first tooth comes in the upper jaw is supposed to foreshadow
evil to its maternal uncle and may not be seen by that
;
relative till he has neutralized the omen by seeing the

reflection of the child in a bowl of oil and broken a cocoanut.
Similarly, as elsewhere, a girl who has attained maturity in an
inauspicious hour may not be looked at by her husband until
they have seen each other's reflections in a bowl of oil. Some
^ Rev. Mr. Cain in the Indian Antiquary, v, 303.
THE PEOPLE. 47
dreams are supposed to foretell events. Thus it is a good CHAP. ni.

thing to dream of being bitten by a cobra, especially if the The
Hindl-s.
bite drew blood.
It is believed that a barren tree will bear if a naked man
cuts a piece off on the day of an eclipse that the nesting
it ;
of a clay-building fly in a house foretells the birth of a child;

that the appearance of a swarm of ants or a blood-sucker in
the house foreshadows some benefit; that a child which
sneezes on a winnowing fan or on the door-frame will meet
with misfortune unless balls of boiled rice-flour are thrown
over it; and that a man who sneezes during his meals,
especially at night, will also be unlucky unless water is
sprinkled over his face and he is made to pronounce his own
name and that of his birth-place and his patron deity. People
who have lost two children and expect to have a third
generally beg small pieces of gold from their neighbours with
which they make a gold ornament to put in the nose of the
new-born baby. The child is called, if a boy, Pullayya or
Pentayya, and if a girl, either Pullamma or Pentamma,
meaning respectively used up leaf-plates or refuse.' The
' ' '
idea is to propitiate by due humility the nemesis of the power

whose enmity has caused the death of the previous children,
and is common in other districts.
Scarcity of rain is dealt with in various ways. It is con-
sidered very efficacious if the Brahmans take in procession
round the village an image of Varuna (the god of rain) made
of mud from the bank of a river or tank. Another method is
to pour 1,000 pots of water over the lingam in the Siva temple.
Malas tie a live frog to a mortar and put on the top of the
latter a mud figure representing Gontiyalamma, the mother of
the Pandava brothers. They then take these objects in
procession, singing Mother frog, playing in water, pour rain
'
by pots full.' The villagers of other castes then come and

pour water over the Malas.
Besides the orthodox gods of the Hindu pantheon, three Village,
other classes of supernatural beings are commonly worship- fauinv^?ods

ped. These are the village goddesses referred to below, who
are essentially local in character the caste deities, who
;
are objects of special reverence among special castes and ;
the family deities, namely the vinidii, or soul of some dead

bachelor of the family, and the per ant am or spirit of some
woman outlived by her husband, who have been accorded
apotheosis because they appeared in a dream to some
member of the family and announced that they had been
made immortal.
48 GODAVARI.
CHAP. III. The village deities are always female, and usually can
The only be propitiated by the shedding of blood. They are not,
H indu s. however, merely malevolent, but will confer benefits on those
whom they favour. Some of the most common of them are
Nukalamma, Paradesamma, Neralamma, Mallamma, Pole-
ramma, Muthyalamma, Peddintamma, Somalamma, Banga-
ramma, Mavullamma, and Talupulamma. Wherever one of
them is established, her brother, who always goes by the
name of Poturazu, is also worshipped. Some of them have
a reputation far beyond the local limits of their villages, and
are visited by pilgrims from distant places. Nukalamma of
Kandrakota in Peddapuram taluk, Mavullamma of Maredi-
paka in Ramachandrapuram and Somalamma of Rajah-
mundry are famous almost throughout the district. These
village goddesses are ordinarily worshipped only on the
occasion of their annual festival. A
buffalo and a number
of sheep and fowls are then sacrificed to them. The fowls
are killed at the four corners of the village; the buffalo is
slain at about midnight on the last day of the festival, its
blood is collected in a pot, and grain of various kinds is put
into it. The blood is left in the temple in front of the
goddess, and a day or two later the prospects of the harvest
are foretold from the degree to which the various kinds of
grain have sprouted.
Among the deities who are worshipped by special castes
are Kanyakamma, the goddess of the Komatis, referred to
later, the Kattumai (who is also sometimes called Kattu-
mahesvarudu) of the Gamallas and Idigas, the Gontiyalamma
(the mother of the Pandava brothers) of the Malas, the
Kamsalas' Kamakshi-amma, the Karnabattus' Somesvara,
and the Madigas' Matangiralu. Brahman families also often
have 'some favourite deity whom they worship in preference
to all others.
Maridamma, who many
respects corresponds to the
in
Mariamma of the south,purely malevolent in character
is
and is not in the habit of conferring benefits. She brings

disease upon the villages, but can be induced by becoming
worship to hold her hand. She is offered animal sacrifices
whenever serious sickness visits a village. Sometimes a small
car is made to which pigs and fowls are tied and which is
then dragged through the village. Every household pours
offerings of rice, etc., upon it and it is at last left outside the
village limits to symbolise the departure of the goddess. The
animals are taken away by the Malas and Madigas.^
^ A somewhat similar ceremony is mentioned in the Bellary Gazetteer, 60.
THE PEOPLE. 49
Before proceeding to refer to the principal castes of the CHAP. iii.

district it will be convenient to refer to some general aspects The
indus.
of the rules and ceremonies which prevail at marriages and
funerals among the non-Brahman castes of the low country. Marriage
Most of these castes are split into endogamous sub- ^^^^^ '^"^
ceremonies,
... . .
J.
.
divisions, marriage outside of which is forbidden, and some

have also exogamous sections of these subdivisions, marriage
outside which is compulsory. The latter are known as inti
pcruliiy or 'house-names.' The most suitable bride for a man
is usually thought to be his maternal uncle's daughter, and
in some castes he is compelled to marry her unless she be

deformed or mentally deficient. This rule is called mena-
rikam. Divorce and the re-marriage of widows and divorcees
are not allowed by Brahmans or the castes which copy
Brahman ways. The same may be said of the practice of
paying a bride-price.
There are three stages in the ordinary marriage. First a
formal betrothal, secondly the wedding which makes the
couple man and wife, and lastly a nuptial ceremony when
they begin to live together.
The betrothal usually takes place in the bride's house,
and is a formal ceremony at which pdnsupdri is exchanged,
the bridegroom is given new clothing (sdpu), or some other
token of the undertaking is granted.
The wedding sometimes takes place in the bride's house
and sometimes in the bridegroom's. It generally occurs after
dark and usually occupies only one day, but among the
Brahmans and some higher castes it lasts for three or five
clays. In the latter cases the marriage-badge (tali or sata-
mdnain) referred to below is tied round the bride's neck on
the first day, and the saffron threads removed from the wrists
of the happy pair on the last. On the day previous to the
wedding the bridegroom's party goes to the bride's house
with presents of fruit, etc., and a new cloth for her. Some
married woman of the party then ties a saffron-coloured thread
(hondu) round the neck of the bride, the ceremony being
called praddnam. Sometimes this is clone on the night of the
wedding. On this night the couple are seated side by side,
their toe-nails are solemnly cut by a barber man and woman,
the bridegroom's front hair is clipped, and they both put on
new clothes. Next the bride worships a rice mortar represent-
ing Gauri, the wife of Siva, and her parents make obeisance
to the bridegroom. The pair then tie saffron threads (kanka-
iiam) round each others' wrists, put a little cummin on each
others' heads, and do reverence to the tdli, which the bride-
groom ties round the bride's neck. They next pour rice
mixed with ghee and milk on each others' heads Ca ceremony
7
50 GODAVARI.
CHAP. III. called talamhrdlu and signifying a solemn vow of fidelity)

The and the bridegroom places his foot on the bride's. This and
Hindus. the tying of the Izanlzanam are the binding parts of the
ceremony. The star Arundhati (popularly called Aranjoti) is
pointed out to the bride as typical of chastity, and the couple
do worship to some coloured pots (aviredi) representing the
gods. The relatives give presents of money (katnam) to the
bride, which are not supposed to be retained, but are returned
to the giverson the first convenient occasion. The final rites
are performed next morning, or in some castes on the third or
fifth day. The bridegroom ties a string of black glass beads
round the bride's neck, and the saffron threads are removed
from the couple's wrists. They then are given a pot of water
coloured with chunam and saffron in which a ring and some
other ornaments have been placed, and they scramble for the
ornaments, like children hunting in a bran pie.
The nuptial rites, which are simple, are performed on a
separate occasion, since days auspicious for weddings are not
suitable for them.
The ceremonies at the re-marriage of a widow are, as else-
where, much shorter. The bridegroom merely goes to her
house, ties the tali, and takes her to his house the same night.
Funerals. The dead are usually burnt, but children are buried and
some simple rite is performed, such as the pouring of milk,
either alone or mixed with rice or oil and ghee, on the grave.
The ceremonies at the funerals of adults are much the same
in all non-Brahman castes. The body is bathed and is
borne to the burning-ground on a bier. The Malas and
Madigas carry it in their arms in a sitting posture. The
corpse is set down three times on the road while rice is placed
at the four corners of the bier. When it has been placed on
the pyre, the son of the deceased walks thrice round it with a
pot of water in which three holes have been made, and lights
the pyre with face averted. The relatives then go home and
worship a lamp. Further ceremonies are performed on the
eleventh day afterwards (called the pedda dinam or great '
day ') and on some day between the second and fifth after it,
which is called the chinna dinam or small day.' On the
'
latter the bones and ashes are collected and are offered a ball
of cooked rice. The party then returns home and feasts.
Principal Statistics numerous castes which occur in the
of the
Castes. Godavari be found in the separate Appendix to
district will
this volume. Space prevents reference to the whole of them,
and most of them, indeed, are common to the whole of the
Telugu country and their ways do not differ in this district
from those of their caste-fellows elsewhere.
—
THE PEOPLE. 51
The six most numerous communities (taking them in the chap. III.
order of their strength) are the Kapus, the landowning class ; Principal
the Malas, outcaste agricultural labourers the Idigas, who ;
draw toddy; the Madigas, outcaste workers in leather; the

Kammas, who are closely connected with the Kapus and
resemble them in their social customs; and the Telugu-
speaking Brahmans.
All these are shortly referred to below, and, in addition,
some notes are given regarding a few communities which
occur in greater strength in this district than in any other;
namely, the Razus, who claim to be Kshatriyas; the Komatis,
traders and money-lenders the Perikes, who are cultivators
; ;
the Gamallas, an offshoot from the Idigas the Karnabattu, ;
weavers the Sanis, many of whose women are dancing-

;
girls;and the two hill tribes of the Koyas and the hill
Reddis.
Of all of Brahmans take the highest
these castes the
and they may be first referred to.
social position,
Telugu-speaking Brahmans are unusually numerous in Teiugu
Brahmans.
Godavari. Some of them, though their home-speech is Teiugu,
appear to have a Tamil or Canarese origin. Among the
former are the Konasima Brahmans of Amalapuram taluk,
who have a tradition (see p. 204) that they came from near
Kumbakonam in Tanjore district the Aramas, who are few ;
and scattered and the Divilis, who are to be found chiefly in

;
Pithapuram taluk. The Teiugu Brahmans proper, also called

Andhras, are a linguistic division of the Dravidas, one of the
two great classes (Dravida and Cauda) into which all Brah-
mans in this Presidency are divided. They are popularly
subdivided into the following sectarian, territorial and
occupational groups :
f Tengalais.
'
Vaishnavites. -| Nambis.
[ Golconda Vyaparis.
Vaidiki.
Velinadu ... Niyogi or Aru-
Andhra vela Niyogi,
Brahmans. -{ Pujari.
Veginadu
Vaidiki.
Telaganya
Niyogi.
Kasileya.
Smartas ...1 Murikinadu.
Kakumanu.
Kalinga.
Tambala Piijari.
{Vyapari.
Karnakamma.
Vaidiki.
Prathamasakha.
52 GODAVARL
CHAP. III. It will be seen that the primary division is sectarian, into
Principal Vaishnavites and Smartas. Among the former there are none
Castes.
of the Vadagalais, the rival sect to the Tengalais Nambis ;
are priests in the temples and the origin of the name

;
Golconda Vyaparis (' traders ') is not clear.

Among the Smartas, the Velinadus say they came from
'
the Vidarbha country near Kondavidu the Veginadus claim
'
;
to have come from the Vengi country in the neighbourhood

of Ellore the Telaganyas give their original home as the
;
Trilingam country, which they locate between Srisailam in

Kurnool, Kalahasti in North Arcot, and Draksharamam in
this district; the Kasileyas state that they belong to the
Kosala country, or Orissa the Murikinadus say that they
;
come from the Maladamo country in the north

'
the Kaku- '
;
manus are perhaps connected with the village of that name

in the Kistna district; and the Kalingas are evidently con-
nected with the ancient country of that name referred to in
the last chapter. The Tambala Pujaris are an occupational
subdivision, who officiate as priests in the Saivite temples
and correspond to the Tamil Gurukkals. The Karnakammas
say their real name is Kama Rukkumus and is derived from
their adherence to the Rig Veda. The Prathamasakhas
('people of the first division') profess to owe their name
to the fact that they follow that division of the Yajur Veda.
They also go by the name of the 'mid-day Paraiyans,' the
story being that they labour under a curse which makes
them Paraiyans for an hour at midday. The Velinadus and
Telaganyas are further subdivided into the well-known occu-
pational groups of Vaidikis (or priests) and Niyogis (or
secularists), and the former have also a third group, namely,
the Pujaris. Karnakammas are split into Vaidikis and
Vyaparis, or traders. The name Aruvela Niyogi by which
the Velinadu Niyogis are known is said to be due to the fact
that this section numbered just 6,000 persons when it split
off from the Vaidikis. Its members have three sectarian
subdivisions namely Smartas, Lingadharis (who favour

;
Lingayat practices) and Golconda Vyaparis, who have gone

over to the Vaishnavite creed. Some of these Smartas have
taken to Vaidiki occupations, though Niyogis by descent, and
are called Paddatis. With a few unimportant exceptions
these numerous subdivisions of the Telugu Brahmans will eat
together but will not intermarry.
Though in the study of the Vedas and the observance of
the more important ceremonies of the caste the Telugu Brah-
mans are not inferior to their castemen in the southern districts,
they are less scrupulous in several minor matters. They
tHE PEOPLE. 53
will smoke, for example, and eat opium. They perhaps, also, CHAP. iii.
have lessinfluence in religious and social matters over other Principal

castes than in the south. The lower classes do not make them C aste s.
the ready namaskdram obeisance which is usual in Tanjore, for
example, nor is there the same anxiety to follow their social
and domestic ceremonies. Nor do the Telugu Brahmans hold
themselves as severely aloof from the upper non-Brahman
castes as in the south. It has already been^ mentioned that
they seldom live in separate quarters in the villages, and they
will give a respectable non-Brahman food in any part of
their houses except the kitchen, a piece of latitude which
would be most unusual in Tanjore.
Attached caste is the beggar community called
to the
Vipravinodis amusers of Brahmans'), who are professional
('
sorcerers and jugglers who decline to perform unless some

Brahman is present, and subsist chiefly on alms begged from
the members of that caste. Several unconvincing tales are
told to account for this odd connection between two such
widely differing classes but, as will be seen immediately,
several other castes in this district have beggar communities
attached particularly to them and in some cases these are
declared to consist of their illegitimate descendants.
The Razus also stand high in the social scale. They are Razus.
numerous in the Amalapuram and Ramachandrapuram taluks,
and there is a large colony of them in Tuni town. They say
they are Kshatriyas, wear the sacred thread, keep their
womenkind strictly gosha, have Brahmanical gotras, decline
to eat with other non-Brahmans, and are divided into the three
clans of Siirya (sun), Chandra (moon), and Machi (fish)
Razus, of whom the first claim to be descended from the
kings of Oudh, of the same lineage as Rama the second,
;
from the kings of Hastinapura, of the same line as the

Pandavas and the third from Hanuman and a mermaid.
;
These subdivisions may eat together, and among the zamin-

dars the first two intermarry. The solar line is the commonest
in this district. Written contracts of marriage are exchanged ;
the wedding is performed in the bride's house ; at the

praddnam ceremony no hondu (safl'ron thread) is tied round
the bride's neck; the bridegroom has to wear a sword
throughout the marriage ceremonies, and he is paraded round
the village with it before they begin and the saffron thread
;
(kaiikanani) which is tied round the wrists of the couple is of

wool and cotton instead of cotton alone.
The Razus are chiefly employed in cultivation. Their
turbans are made to bunch out at the left side above the ear,
and one end of them hangs down behind. They do not shave
54 GODAVARI.
CHAF. III. any part of their heads and allow long locks to hang down
Principal in front of their ears.
Castes.
The beggar community attached to them are the Bhatrazus,
who were originally their court bards and panegyrists, but now
beg from other castes as well and have less special claim
upon them than formerly. These people are no<"orious for
their importunity and their gift for lampooning those who
refuse them alms, and they trade upon the fact.
Komatis. The Komatis are the great trading and money-lending
caste of the Telugu country, and are not popular. They call
themselves Vaisyas, wear the sacred thread, claim to have 102
'
gotras,' and of late years some of them have adopted Vedic
rites at their marriages and funerals in place of the Puranic
rites which are traditional with them. But on the other hand
their gotras are not Brahmanical and they follow the Dravid-
ian rule of menarikam in their marriages. In this district they
are subdivided into the Gavaras, Kalingas, and Traivar-
nikas (' third-caste-men '), who neither intermarry nor dine
together, and the last of whom differ from the others in the
strictness of their observance of Brahmanical ways. The
Gavaras are by far the most numerous.
Their caste goddess, Kanyakamma or Kanyaka Parames-
vari already mentioned, is said to be a deification of a beautiful
Komati girl named Vasavamma who belonged to Penugonda
in Kistna. The Eastern Chalukya king Vishnuvardhana
wanted to marry her, her caste-people objected and were
persecuted accordingly, and at last she burnt herself alive to
end the trouble. The headmen of 102 families, the ancestors
of the present gotras,' sacrificed themselves with her. She
'
has many temples, but the chief is at her native village of

Penugonda. The fines collected at caste panchayats are
even now sent to this.
Of the 102 '
gotras '
some at least are totemistic, which is
another argument against the twice-born origin of the caste.
They are derived from the names of plants, and to this day
the members of these gotras may not touch their eponymous
plants, and even involuntary contact with them involves
ceremonial pollution which must be removed by a bath.
Some of these are given in the report on the Madras census
of 1901, p.
162. The same volume gives authorities for the
custom among Komatis (which is strenuously denied by them)
requiring them to give betel and nut to a Madiga before a
wedding performed in the caste. The practice is said to
is
be dying out or to be usually veiled by the Komati giving the

Madiga some cobbling work to do and handing him the betel
and nut with the amount of his bill. Members of the caste
;
THE PEOPLE. 55
who admit an obscure connection with these Madigas explain CHAP. ill.
itby saying them during their trouble

that the latter protected Principal
astes.
with Vishnuvardhana. Some of the Velamas somewhat
similarly arrange that a Mala couple shall be married just
before a wedding in their own houses, and even find the
funds. The Rev. J. Cain says that with the Bhadrachalam
Velamas it is a Palli couple that is thus first married.
Velamas explain the story by saying that a Mala once allowed
a Velama to sacrifice him to propitiate the goddess who
guards hidden treasure, and that the custom is kept up out of
gratitude for the discovery of the treasure which resulted.
Among some classes of Komatis the women do the cooking
while in a state of nudity. Those who admit the practice
say that it is done for cleanliness' sake, lest the touch of an
impure garment should defile the food.
Attached to the Komatis are two begging castes called
Viramushtis and Mailaris. They are said by the Komatis to
have been the messengers in their dealings with Vishnu-
vardhana, and, at the last, to have delayed the advent of the
king till the holocaust was over. The Viramushtis are
wrestlers and bards, and the Mailaris carry round an image
of Kanyakamma and sing songs in her praise.
The Kapus or Reddis, by far the most numerous of the Kapus.
castes of the district, are landowners by occupation and are

among the most respected of the non-Brahman bodies.
Closely connected with them are the Velamas, the Telagas,
the Vantarlu and the Kammas referred to below and all ;
four of these are probably offshoots of the great Kapu clan.

They will usually eat with Kapus even now, but they do not
intermarry with them or with one another, and in several
instances peculiarities of dress or customs have arisen. The
Vantarlus, for example, arrange their top-knot further for-
ward, and more to the left, than the others tie their cloths
;
differently; dress their women in petticoats and keep them

gosha.
It is said that in some districts the Kapus have totemistic Kammas,
subdivisions, but these do not appear to exist in Godavari.

Their marriages are usually celebrated in the bride's house;
the women of the bridegroom's family do "^not attend
and on the last day of the ceremony the couple pretend to
plough and sow, a custom which exists among some of the
Telugu castes who have emigrated to the Tanjore and
Trichinopoly districts.
The Kammasare a cultivating caste closely akin to, and
probably a subdivision of, the Kapus. Some of them say
they were originally Kshatriyas, but were persecuted by a
king because one of them called him a bastard, and therefore
56 GODAVARI.
CHAP. III. sought refuge with the Kapus an(^ adopted the customs of
Principal their protectors. Others of them say that they are descended
Castes.
from the same ancestor as the Velamas and some of the
Kapus and that the subdivisions in these castes are the same
as in their own. Like the Kapus, they are generally cultivat-
ors, and and characteristics are similar.
their social position
In this district, Kammas
are subdivided into the Kavitis,
Eredis, Gampas or Gudas, Uggams and Rachas, who eat in
each others' houses and intermarry. The names have a
totemistic flavour, but according to local accounts are derived
from curious household customs, generally from traditional
methods of carrying water. Thus the Kavitis ordinarily will
not carry water except in pots on a Mvidi ; the Eredis except
on a pack-bullock the Uggams except in pots held in the
;
hand and not borne on their hips or heads; and the Rachas
except in pot carried by two persons. The Gampa women,
when they first go to their husbands' houses, take the
customary presents in baskets, gampa or guda. It is said that
these practices are generally observed to the present day.
The Kaviti and Uggam women are said to wear their cloths
over the right shoulder and the Eredi and Gampa women
over the left. The Eredi and Uggam women are said to be
strictly gosha. The Kammas, support a special beggar caste,
namely the Pichchiguntas. These beg only of Kammas,
Velamas and certain Kapus.
Perikes. The Perikes are a small cultivating caste who are
particularly numerous in Godavari. The name means a
gunny-bag, and the caste were originally gunny-bag weavers.
Those in this district are now mostly cultivators (the Pisu
Perikes, who still weave gunny, are said not to belong to the
caste proper, who call themselves Racha Perikes) but the
gunny-bag plays a part in their traditions and ceremonies.
They are perhaps commonest in the Prattipadu subdivision
of Peddapuram taluk and the southern villages of Tuni.
Their social position is similar to that of the Kapus and
Kammas, whom they resemble generally in character and
customs. Like some of the Kammas, they claim to be of
Kshatriya stock, and say they are of the lineage of Parasu
Rama but were driven out by him for kidnapping his sister
while pretending to be gunny-weavers. They say they were
brought into this country by the king Nala mentioned in the
Mahabharata in gratitude for their having taken care of his
wife Damayanti when he quitted her during his misfortunes,
Perikes support the begging caste of the Varugu Bhattas,
who, they say, helped them in their exile, and to whom they
gave a sanad authorizing them to demand alms. These
people go round the Perike houses for their dues every year.
THE PEOPLE. 57
The Perike marriage ceremonies are peculiar. On the day CHAP. III.
of the wedding the bride and groom are made to fast, as are Principal
three male relatives whom they call siiribhaktas. At the Castes.
marriage the couple sit on a gunny-bag, and another gunny,

on which a representation of the god Mailar is drawn or
painted, is spread before them. A figure of the same god is
drawn on two pots, and these, and also a third pot, are filled
with rice and dholl which are then cooked by two married
women of the party. The food is then offered to Mailar.
Next the three suribhaktas take lOl cotton threads, fasten them
together, and tie seven knots in them. Bride and bridegroom
are then given cloths which have been partly immersed in
water coloured with saffron and chunam, and they and the
suribhaktas are fed with the rice and dholl cooked in the three
pots. The couple are then taken round the village in proces-
sion, and on their return the knotted cotton threads are tied
round the bride's neck instead of a tali.
The Idigas or Indras are very numerous in Godavari. Idigas.
They are the Telugu toddy-drawing caste. They are com-'
monly called Chettis (Chcttigdndlu) in this district, but the name
Indra is used inthe north-east divisions and Idiga in the
central delta. They claim to be descended from Vyasa, the
traditional compiler of the Mahabharata. They are still
largely employed in toddy-drawing (though some are cultiva-
tors) and consequently occupy a low position in the social
scale. In some districts, it is said, they bury their dead,
prohibit the consumption of alcohol and have endogamous
subdivisions, but these things are not so in this district. Some
are Saivites and some Vaishnavites, but these are allowed
to intermarry.
Two of their marriage ceremonies are peculiar. The
couple walk three times round four upright sticks placed so as
to make a small square and connected with each other by
cotton threads, and then the bridegroom cuts the cotton with
a knife. They also make two cakes of rice flour, ghee and
sugar, one of which is eaten by themselves and the other by
their relatives.
The god is Kattumai, to whom they annu-
Idigas' special
on New Year's Day, and daily offer a few
ally sacrifice fowls
drops of toddy from the first pot taken from the tree.
The Gamallas are ordinarily supposed to be Idigas who Gamaiias
have bettered themselves and separated from that caste. The
more wealthy of them are toddy and arrack shop-keepers, but
the poorer members of the caste draw toddy like the Idigas.
Both classes worship the Idiga deity Kattumai. They
support a begging caste called Yeniitis or Gavuda Jettis.
8
58 GODAVARI.
CHAP. III. The Karnabattus are almost entirely confined to the

Principal Godavari district, and are weavers by occupation. They
Castes.
forbid the re-marriage of widows, but eat even pork. They
Karnabatlus. bury their dead in a sitting posture. Their caste headman is
called sendpati leader of an army.' Their special deity is
'
Somesvara, whom they unite to worship on the new-moon day

of Pushyam (January-February). The god is represented by
a mud idol made for the occasion. The pi'ijdri throws flowers
over it in token of adoration and then sits before it with
his hands outstretched and his mouth closed until one of the
flowers falls into his hands.
Sanis. The Sanis are a small caste of dancing-girls and prosti-
tutes. In this district this class of ofwomen is made up
six perfectly distinct castes which are in danger of being
confused namely, the Sanis proper, the Bogams, the Dommara
;
Sanis, theTuraka Sanis, the Mangala Bogams, and the

Madiga Bogams. Of these, the Bogams claim to be superior
and will not dance in the presence of, or after a performance
by, any of the others. The Sanis do not admit this claim, but
they do not mind dancing after the Bogams or in their
presence. All the other classes are admittedly inferior to the
Sanis and the Bogams. The Madiga Bogams only dance
before, and consort with, Madigas and Malas. The Dommara
Sanis, Turaka Sanis and Mangala Bogams will consort with
any of the non-polluting castes.
The Sani women are not exclusively devoted to their tradi-
tional profession. Some of them marry the men of the caste
and respectably at home with them. The men moreover
live
do not. as in the dancing castes of the south, assist in the
dancing (as by playing the accompaniments or forming a
chorus), but are cultivators and petty traders. Bogam men,
however, follow the southern custom. The Sanis, like the
dancing-girl castes of the south, keep up their numbers by the
adoption and even purchase of girls of other castes, such as
Kapus, Kammas and Idigas. They do service in the temples,
but they are not required to be formally dedicated or married
to the god, as in the Tamil country. Those of them who are
to become prostitutes are usually married to a sword on
attaining maturity.
Malas. The Malas are the great agricultural labourer class and are
very numerous the district. They are split into four endoga-
in
mous subdivisions, the Kantes, the Boyas or Sadur Boyas, the
Payikis and the Mala Dasaris. Kupe, Arava (Tamil) and
Bruda (' marsh ') are also given as subdivisions. The Mala
Dasaris are the caste priests and the Payikis are sweepers by
occupation. The former are admittedly superior to the rest
of the caste and the latter are generally regarded as inferior.
THE PEOPLE. 5^
None of the subdivisions intermarry or eat in each others' chap, hi,

houses. Mahis eat beef and are consequently almost at the Principal
C.vstes
bottom of the social scale. They are not allowed to enter the
Hindu temples no other caste (not even excluding the Madi-
;
gas) will eat in their houses and they pollute all Sudra castes
;
by touching them or entering their houses, and a Brahman by

even approaching him. Even the Madigas pretend to be
polluted if a Mala enters their houses but the Malas return
;
the compliment. The ordinary barbers will not work for

Malas and they either shave each othei- or have their own
barbers. The ordinary washermen will wash their clothes if
these have first been given a preliminary soaking. A peculiar
ceremony at their weddings (which is also observed by the
Madigas) consists in burying handfuls of different kinds of
grain, and sacrificing a fowl over the spot.
They have their own beggar castes, namely the Mashtigas,
who are gymnasts, the Pambalas, who are musicians, and the
Katikapus, who are jugglers. Round Tuni the jungle tribe
there called Chentzus are also included among the Mala
beggars.
Their special caste deity is Gontiyalamma, the mother of
the five Pandava brethern. They say (it is not an edifying
story) that Bhima, one of the five, threatened to kill his mother,
who accordingly took refuge under an avircdi pot (the painted
pot used at weddings) in a Mala house. For this, she was
solemnly cursed by her sons, who said she should remain a
Mala woman for ever. In commemoration of this story, a
handful of growing paddy is pulled up every year at the
Dasara, and eight days later the earth adhering to its roots is
mixed with saffron and milk, made into an image of the
goddess, and hidden under an avircdi pot. For the next six
months this image is worshipped every Sunday by all the
villagers in turn, and on the Sivaratri night it is taken in
procession round the village, accompanied by all the Malas
bearing pots of rice and other food carried in a kdvidi, and is
finally thrown with much ceremony into a river or tank. This
rite is supposed to mean that the ^goddess is the daughter of
the caste, that she has lived with them six months, and that
they are now solemnly sending her back with suitably gifts
(the rice, etc) to her husband. A common form of religious
vow among Malas is to promise to send a cloth and a cow
with the goddess on the last day of the rite, the gifts being
afterwards presented to a married daughter. The part played
by the image of Gontiyalamma in the Malas' rain-making
ceremonies has already (p. 47) been described. Both Malas
and Madigas hold a feast in honour of their ancestors at
—
Pongal an uncommon rite.
60 GODAVARI.
CHAP. III. The Madigas are a numerous caste whose traditional

Principal occupations are tanning and shoe-making. Some of them say
they are the descendants of a saint or demi-god called
Madigas. Jambha-muni and a woman called Puramasi who disturbed
the saint in his contemplation and became his wife.
They are subdivided into the occupational classes of
Madiga Dasaris (priests), Madiga Payikis (sweepers), the
Kommalas (who blow horns) and the ordinary Madigas who
follow the traditional callings of tanning and shoe-making.
These will not dine together or intermarry. The last of them
is by far the most numerous. The Dasaris are considered
socially the highest, and the Payikis the lowest, of the sub-
divisions.
Madigas are much despised by other castes because they
are leather-workers and eat beef and even carrion, and they
take much the same low social position as the Malas. Their
curious connection with the Komatis has been mentioned in
the account of that caste above. Their marriage and other
ceremonies are very similar to those of the Malas. Their
special caste goddess is Matangi, who they say was defeated
by Parasu Rama and concealed herself from him under the
'
tanning-pot in a Madiga's house. At Pongal they worship
their tanning-pots, as representing the goddess, with offerings
of fowls and liquor.
The begging castes attached to the Madigas

specially
are the Dekkalas, Mastidis and Tappitas
or Bagavatas. Of
these the Dekkalas are musicians who sing the praises of
their patron's ancestors, the Mastidis are gymnasts, and the
Tappitas are the same as the Madiga Bogams, and are the
dancers and prostitutes of the caste,
:6yas. The Koyas ar© a caste of jungle men found in the country
on either side of the Godavari from the point where the
Indravati joins it down to the apex of the delta. They occur as
far south as Kammamet in the Nizam's Dominions, and on the
north they stretch far into the Bastar State. The Rev. J. Cain
of Dummagudem, who has lived among them for thirty years
and published several accounts of their ways, and who has
been kind enough to supply information embodied below,
estimates that they form one-fourth of the inhabitants of
Bhadrachalam taluk, but only a small portion of the popula-
tion of Chodavaram. They are also common in Bastar and
theMalkanagiri taluk of Vizagapatam. In the case of a tribe
spread over such a large extent of such wild country it is
difficult to be sure that statements regarding customs are
universally applicable. What follows applies primarily to
the Koyas of Polavaram and Bhadrachalam taluks and the
THE PEOPLE. 61
south of Bastar State.' It has been stated ^ that the Koyas are chap. III.
a section of the great Goncl tribe, but in this district they have Principal
no theory of their origin except that they are descended from Castes.
Bhima, one of the five Pandava brothers. By the people of
the plains they are called Koya Doralu, or Koya lords.' '
Their language, called Koya, is Dravidian and bears anologies

to Tamil and Telugu. Most of the men, however, can speak
Telugu, though the women know little but their own verna-
cular. The highland, or kiitta, Koyas, who live in the uplands
of Bastar, are distinct from the riverside, or gommii, Koyas
with whom we are concerned. The latter say they were
driven down from the Bastar plateau some two hundred years
ago by the former. They are rather despised by the high-
landers, who call them rascals ( mdyalotilu) and they acknowl-
edge their inferiority by sending the kutta Koyas gifts on
festal occasions. The tribe is also split up into occupational
endogamous subdivisions, among whom are the Kammaras
(blacksmiths), Musaras (brass-workers), Dolis (professional
beggars), Pattidis (cultivators and beggars), Oddis (supe-
rior priests), Kaka and the Matta Koyas, and the Racha
or Dora Koyas. These last are by far the most numerous
subdivision and consider themselves superior to all the others
except the Oddis. Some of the others are apparently not true
Koyas at all. The Dolis are Malas from the plains, and
definite traditions regarding the reception into the tribe,
many generations ago, of the Kakas (who were
Kapus)
and the Mattas (who were Gollas) have been published by
Mr. Cain, A contrary process is exemplified by the Basa
Gollas, who were once Koyas.
Exogamous divisions called ^«^/«5 occur in the tribe. Among
them are Miido ('third'), Nalo ('fourth') or Paredi, Aido
(' fifth or Rayibanda, Aro (' sixth '), Nutamuppayo (' 130th '),
')
and Peramboya. In some places the members of the Mtido,

Ndlo, and Aido gattas are said to be recognizable by the
difi'erence in the marks they occasionally wear on their fore-
heads, a spot, a horizontal line and a perpendicular line
respectively being used by them. The Aro gatta, however,
also uses the perpendicular line.
The Koyas are looked upon with a certain respect by the
Hindus of the plains, but are held
to pollute a Brahman by
' Information regarding the caste will be found in the Rev. Cain's articles
J.
m Indian Antiquary, v, 301, 357; viii, 33, 219; and x, 259 the Christian
;
College Magazine, v (old series), 3529 and vi (old series), 274-80 the Census
:
Reports of 1S71 and 1S91 (paragraph 406 and page 227 respectively) Taylor's ;
Catalogue Raisonnc of Oriental MSS., iii, 464 and the Rev. Stephen Hislop's
;
Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces (Nagpore, 1866), 4,

- Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, 4.
6± GODAVARI.
CHAP. III.
Principal touch and the better non-Brahmans by entering their kitchens.

Castes.
^^^^^^^ Koyas, like other hill tribes, have no respect at all
for Brahmans or other Hindus merely on account of their
caste.
The Koyas proper are chiefly engaged in agriculture.

Their character is a curious medley. They excite admiration
by their truthfulness; pity by their love of strong drink,
listlessness and want of thrift; surprise by their simplicity,
and their combination of timidity and self-importance and ;
aversion by their uncanny superstitions. Their truthfulness

is proverbial, though it is said to be less characteristic than
of yore, and they never break their word. Their intemperate

ways are largely due to the commonness of the ippa (Bassia
latifolia) tree, from the flowers of which strong spirit is easily
distilled, and are most noticeable when this is in blossom.
Their listlessness has often been remarked. " To the officer
enquiring after khahar of game the reply is invariably ledu
(' nothing ') while if approached on the subject of the utiliza-
;
tion of their labour, they passively obstruct all progress by

their exasperating reply of repii (' to-morrow')." Their reckless
and primitive modes of agriculture will be described in
Chapters IV and V. Their ignorance and simplicity are
attested by numerous stories. One, vouched for by Mr. Cain,
.'
relates how some of them, being despatched with a basket of
fruit and a note describing its contents, and being warned that
the note would betray any pilfering, first buried the note so '
that it could not see,' then abstracted some of the fruit, after-
wards disinterred the note and delivered it and the basket,
and were quite at a loss, when charged with the theft, to know
how the note could have learnt about it. They are terribly
victimized by traders and money-lenders from the low country,
who take advantage of their guilelessness to cheat them in
every conceivable way. Their timidity has on occasion driven
them to seek refuge in the jungle on the appearance of a
stranger in clean clothes, but, on the other hand, they expect
(and receive) a considerable measure of respect from low-
landers whom they encounter. They are perfectly aware that
their title Dora means lord,' and they insist on being given
' ' '
it. They tolerate the address uncle (mama) from their '
'
neighbours of other castes but they do not like being called

;
Koyas. When so addressed they have sometimes replied

'
whose throat have I cut ? playing on the word koya, which
'
means to slice or cut the throat.' When driven to extremes

' ' '
they are capable of much courage. Blood feuds have only

recently become uncommon in British territory and in 1876
flourished greatly in the Bastar State.
THE PEOPLE. 63
Of the Hindu religion the Koyas know nothing. They CHAP. in.
worship deities of their own. Some of them have adopted Principal
the village goddesses of the plains, such as Kondalamma and .
Bairamma (near Polavaram), Maisamma and Poleramma (near

Bhadrachalam) and Muthyalamma and her brother Poturazu.
Mr. Cain says that Muthyalamma is specially reverenced as
the goddess of disease, and as equivalent to the Maridamma
of the plains. Other Koyas adhere to the worship of the
animistic deities of the hills and forests, the konda devatulu.
Palamuni, Nilamuni and Korrarazu, the god of tigers, are
three of these. Mr. Cain also mentions Kommalamma and a
fearsome female devil called Pida, who is propitiated in
December with curious rites. The Pandava brothers (especi-
ally Bhima), and the wild-dogs who are supposed to be their
messengers, are also worshipped. Human sacrifices, made
sometimes to a dread deity called Mamili, were not unknown
in former days. Writing in 1876, Mr. Cain said that there
was strong reason to believe that two men had been sacrificed
that year not far from Dummagiidem, and that there was no
doubt that in Bastar strangers were kidnapped and secretly
offered up every year. During the Rampa outbreak of 1879-80
several constables and others were openly sacrificed by the
rebels.^ Mr. Cain says that a langiir (white-faced monkey) was
ordinarily substituted for the human victim, under the name
of kurommapotu (' a male with small beasts '), as an offering to
appease the deity.
Most peculiar objects of reverence are the velpus, a name
which Mr. Cain says is the Koya for god.' They consist of
*
small pieces of metal, generally iron and less than a foot in

length, which are kept in a hollow bamboo deposited in some
wild and unfrequented spot. They are guarded with great
secrecy by those in charge of them and are only shown to the
principal worshippers on the rare occasions when they are
taken out to be adored. The Koyas are very reticent about
them. Mr. Cain says there is one supreme velpu which is
recognized as the highest by the whole Koya tribe and kept
hidden in the depths of Bastar. There are also velpus for each
gatta and for each family. The former are considered superior
to the latter and are less ^frequently brought out of their
retreats. One of them called Lakkala (or Lakka) Ramu,
which belongs either to the Aro or Peramboya gatta, is con-
sidered more potent than the others. It is ornamented with
eyes of gold and silver and is kept in a cave near Sitanaga-
ram, not far from Parnasala in Bhadrachalam taluk. The
1 For a description by an eye-witness, see G.O. No. 2275, Judicial, dated 4th
September 1879.
64 GODAVARI.
CHAP, III. others are deposited in different places in the Bastar State.
Principal They all have names of their own, but are also known by the
'
generic term Adama Razu.
Both the gat t a and family velpus are worshipped only by
members of the sept or family to which they appertain. They
are taken round the country at intervals to receive the rever-
ence and gifts of their adherents. The former are brought
out once in every three or four years, especially during wide-
spread sickness, failure of crops or cattle-disease. The velpu
is washed, and a flag is then planted beside it. An animal
(generally a young bullock) is stabbed under the left shoulder,
the blood is sprinkled over the deity, and the animal is next
killed, and its liver is cut out and offered to the deity. A
feast, which sometimes lasts for two days, takes place and the
velpu is then put back in its hiding-place. The flag is taken
round the villages where members of the gatta or family
reside, and these make a feast and offer gifts. The flag of a
family velpu is a large three-cornered red cloth on which are
stitched a number of figures roughly cut out of bits of cloth
of other colours to represent various ancestors. Whenever any
important male member of the family dies, a new figure is
added to commemorate his services.
Like other hill tribes, the Koyas are firm believers in the
black art and the power of wizards. In some parts whenever
any one falls ill the professional sorcerer (veszugddu) is con-
sulted, and he reads both the cause and the remedy in a leaf-
platter of rice which he carries thrice round the invalid.
Whenever a man dies he is supposed to have been the victim
of some sorcerer instigated by an enemy. An enquiry is then
held as to who is guilty. Some male member of the family,
generally the nephew of the deceased, throws coloured rice
over the corpse as it lies stretched on the bed, pronouncing
as he does so the names of all the known sorcerers who live
in the neighbourhood. It is even now solemnly asserted that
when the name of the wizard responsible is pronounced the
bed gets up and moves towards the house or village where
he resides. Suspected wizards have to clear themselves by
undergoing the ordeal of dipping their hands in boiling oil or
water. Sometimes they flee in terroj" rather than attempt this
Reputed wizards and witches are held in the greatest abhor-
rence and one of the old complaints against British rule was
;
that it prevented these people from being put to death. Mr.

Cain mentions a case in which a Koya was compelled (in 1876)
to murder a woman of his family because she was thought to
be a witch,
THE PEOPLE. 65
The Koyas appear to have few festivals now. Formerly CHAP. III.
those who lived near Dummagiidem used to celebrate one Principal

Castes
whenever any crop was ripening. They still keep a feast for
jonna kotta, the new cholam harvest. The rites seem to vary.
' '
Mr. Cain says that a fowl is killed and its blood sprinkled
on a stone. In some places the victim is a sheep, and it
and the first fruits are offered to the local gods and to
ancestors. The mango
kotta and sdmai kotta are also important.
Once a yearcelebrated a feast similar to the well-known
is
Chaitra Saturnalia in the Vizagapatam Agency, whereat all
the men go out and beat for game and those who return empty-
handed are pelted with mud and filth by the women and not
allowed to enter the village that night. This is called the
Bhudevi Pandigai, or festival of the earth goddess. In times
of drought a festival to Bhima, which lasts five days, is held.
When rain appears, the Koyas sacrifice a cow or pig to their
patron. Dancing plays an important part at all these feasts
and also at marriages. The men put on head-dresses of
straw into which buffalo-horns are stuck, and accompany
themselves with a kind of chant.
In Polavaram and Bhadrachalam, Koya villages are divided
into groups, sometimes called samutus, over each of which is
an hereditary head called the samutu dora or yetimani.
If a Koya youth is refused by the maiden of his choice he
generally carries her off by force. But a boy can reserve a
girl baby for himself by giving the mother a pot and a cloth
for the baby to lie upon, and then she may not be carried off.
Widows and divorced women may remarry. The wedding
takes place in the bridegroom's house and lasts five days.
A tali and a saffron-coloured thread are tied round the neck
of the girl. If the marriage was effected by capture, matters
are much simplified. The girl is made to kneel, the boy
stoops over her, and water is poured over both of them. The
boy then ties a saffron-coloured thread round her neck and
the ceremony is over. Girls who consort with a man of low
caste are purified by having their tongues branded with a hot
golden needle and by being made to pass through seven
arches of palmyra leaves, which are afterwards btirnt.
The Koyas generally burn their dead, but infants are
buried. Mr. Cain says babies less than a month old are
buried close to the house, so that the rain dropping from the
eaves may fall upon the grave and cause fertility in the
parents. When a Koya dies, a cow or bullock is slaughtered
and the tail is cut off and put in the dead person's hand. The
liver is said to be sometimes put in his mouth. His widow's
tali is always placed there, and when a married woman dies
her tali is put in her mouth, The pyre of a man is lighted by

66 GODAVARI.
CHAP. III. his nephew, and of a woman by her son. After the body is
Principal burnt, the ashes are made into balls and deposited in a hole
at the side of the road, which is covered with a slab. Many
Koyas place a perpendicular stone about three feet high, like
the head-stone of a tomb, over the slab. No pollution is
observed by those attending the funeral. The beef of the
animal slain at the beginning of the rites provides a feast,
and the whole party returns home and makes merry. On the
eighth day a pot'full of water is placed in the dead man 's nouse
for him to drink, and is watched by his nephew. Next morn-
ing another cow slaughtered and the tail and a ball of
is
cooked rice are offered to the soul at the burning-ground.
Mr. Cain says that when a man passes an old friend's tomb-
stone he will often place a little tobacco on it, remarking that
the deceased liked the herb when alive and will probably be
glad of it now.
The same authority states that the only conception of a
future state among the Koyas is that the dead wander about
the jungle in the form oi pisdchas or ghosts. The Rev. F. W. N.
Alexander however says that some of them believe that there
is a heaven, a great fort full of good things to eat, and a hell
in which an iron crow continually gnaws the flesh of the

wicked. People who are neither good enough for heaven nor
bad enough for hell are born again in their former family.
^ Children with hare-lips, moles, etc., are often identified as
reincarnations of deceased relations.
Koya villages are small and are usually inhabited solely
by people of the tribe. Any outsiders live in a separate
quarter. The houses are made of bamboo with a thatch of
grass or palmyra. The Koyas are very restless and families ;
change frequently from one village to another. Before

moving, they consult the omens to see whether the change
will be auspicious or not. Sometimes the hatching of a clutch
of eggs provides the answer or four grains of four kinds of
;
seed (representing the prosperity of men, cattle, sheep and

land) are put on a heap of ashes under a man's bed, any
movement among them during the night being a bad omen.
TattooiiTg is common. It is considered very important for
the soul in the next world that the body should have been
adequately tattooed.
Hill Reddis. The hill Reddis (or Konda Reddis) area caste of jungle
men having some characteristics in common with the Koyas.
They appear to be found only in the Rekapalle country, the
hills in thenorth of the Polavaram division and in Rampa,
and still They usually talk a -rough Telugu,
further north.
clipping their words so that it is often difficult to understand
THE PEOPLE. 67
them ;but it is said that some of them speak Koya. They CHAP. ill.
are of slighter build than the Koyas and their villages are Principal
Castes.
even smaller. They will not eat in the house of a Koya.
They call themselves by various high-sounding titles,
such as Pandava Reddis, Raja Reddis and Reddis of the solar
race (siirya vamsa), and do not like the simple name Konda
Reddi. They recognize no endogamous subdivisions, but
have exogamous septs. In character they resemble the
Koyas, but are less simple and stupid and in former years were
much given to crime. They live by shifting (podii) cultivation.
They do not eat beef, but will partake of pork.
They profess to be both Saivites and Vaishnavites and
occasionally employ Brahman priests at their funerals and ;
yet they worship the Pandavas, the spirits of the hills (or, as
they call them, the sons of Racha'), their ancestors (including
'
women who have died before their husbands) and the deities
Muthyalamma and her brother Poturazu, Saralamma and
Unamalamma. The last three are found in almost every
village. Other Doddiganga, who is the protector
deities are
of cattle and worshipped when the herds are driven into
is
the forests to graze, and Desaganga (or Paraganga), who

takes the place of the Maridamma of the plains and the
Muthyalamma of the Koyas as goddess of cholera and small-
pox. The shrine of Saralamma of Pedakonda (eight miles
east of Rekapalle) is a place of pilgrimage, and so is Bison
Hill (Papikonda), where an important Reddi festival is held
every seven or eight years in honour of the Pandava brothers,
and a huge pig fattened for the occasion is killed and eaten.
The Reddis, like the Koyas, also observe the harvest festivals.
They are very superstitious, believing firmly in sorcery and
calling in wizards in time of illness. Their villages are formed
into groups like those of the Koyas and the hereditary
headmen over these are called by different names, such
as dora, muttaddr, vaniapedda and kulapdtradu. Headmen of
villages are known as Pettamdars. They recognize, though
they do not frequently practise, marriage by capture. If a
parent wishes to show his dislike for a match, he absents
himself when the suitor's party calls and sends a bundle of
cold rice after them when they have departed.
Children are buried. Vaishnavite Reddis burn their adult
dead, while the Saivites bury them. Satanis officiate as
priests to the former and Jangams to the latter. The pyre is
kindled by the eldest male of the famil}' and a feast is held
on the fifth day after the funeral. The dead are believed to
be born again into their former families.
—
68 GODAVARI.
CHAPTER IV.
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION.
Wet Cultivation— Paddy ; its seasons— Its varieties — Rain-fed paddy— Sowing
versus transplantation— Methods of raising seedlings Preparation of fields- —
Transplantation and care of the crop— Second-crop cultivation Third crops —
—
Agricultural maxims Wet crops other than paddy Rotations Cultivation — —
of sugar-cane — — —
laggery-making Ratooning Varieties of sugar-cane Recent —
sugar-cane disease and the Samalkot experimental farm. Dry Cultivation
—Seasons, etc. — Cultivation — Cholam — Tobacco— Improvement of the leaf
Shifting cultivation in the Agency— Storage of grain. Irrigation — Pro-
tected area. The Godavari Anicut— Origin of the idea— First estimates
The site and design— Progress of construction — Subsequent difficulties
Alterations since effected — Distributary works — The Gannavaram aqueduct

Completion of distributaries— Financial results of the scheme — Possible
extensions of it —
Its administration. Other Irrigation Sources— Minor
channels and tanks— Wells- Artesian wells. Economic Condition of
Agriculturists.
CHAP. IV. The immense area irrigated from the Godavari anicut has
Wet naturally resulted in paddy being the most important crop in
Cultiva- the district. The seasons for growing it in Bhadrachalam
tion.
(where, however, very little is raised) differ from those else-
Paddy, its where. In Bhadrachalam a short crop (pinna vari) is raised
seasons.
between May and August and a longer one (pedda vari)
between August and January while in the rest of the district;
the first (and chief) crop grown between June and December
is
and the second (if any) between January or February and

April or May. The first crop season is called either the
sdrava white') season, from the fact that white paddy is

{,'
grown in it, or the tolakari (' early ') season and the second ;
is known as the ^rt/amrC black ') season, because black paddy
is grown then, the sitakattii ('cold ') season, since the crop is
sown in January, or the vdsangi (' hot ') season, because it is

reaped in May.
Except in the delta and Bhadrachalam, two wet crops are
seldom raised on the same land, but a dry crop is raised when
the paddy has been harvested. This dry crop season is called
the payini or apfirdlii season.
Its varieties. Many varieties of grown in the district. The
paddy are
ryots divide two main principles of classi-
them according to
fication namely, the time a variety takes to mature— whether
;
it is long (pedda) or short (pinna or punasa) and its colour— —

whether white or black.' The varieties raised in the delta
' ' '
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION. 69
taluks, with their unfailing irrigation, naturally differ from CHAP. iv.
those grown in the uplands of Peddapuram and Tuni, and both Wet
differ again from the favourite species in the different climate
^^^^loj^"^"
of Bhadrachalam.
Apparently none of the white kinds are *
ever grown without irrigation but on the other hand many

;
varieties of black paddy are raised on wet lands. The most

valuable and most popular species of all are called atrakadalii
and akkullu, both of which are long white varieties. They are
grown all over the district and have several sub-species.
They require more water than the rest, but resist floods better.
The kind known a.s, praydga (again long and white) is also
very hardy, resisting droughts and floods equally well. The
least valuable is the short white rasangi paddy, which is worth
Rs. 10 less per garce than the atrakadalii and akkullu. Though
most prolific, it is very indigestible. A kind of intoxicating
liquor is extracted from it.
Rain-fed paddy is raised on lankas, superior dry land or Rain-fed

high-level wet land. Only certain kinds of paddy will P*^^'^)'-
flourish in this way, and the outturn is naturally smaller than

on irrigated land. The seed is sown broadcast without
preliminary soaking when the early showers fall in June.
Weeds are removed twice with a weeder (tollika) some two or
three weeks after sowing and again a fortnight or a month
later. In the upland taluks the ryots weed with what is called
a gorru, a log of wood provided with iron or wooden teeth and
drawn by cattle. The crop is ordinarily harvested in Septem-
ber or October, but the shorter Bhadrachalam crop is reaped
in August.
Except in the case of this rain-fed crop, paddy is seldom Sowing
sown broadcast, but is transplanted from seed-beds. In f^''^"^ ,
r> .
IT-.
,
Rajahmundry, Ti 1 '
Polavaram, Pithapuram and Tuni sowing is of
transplanta-
tion.
necessity resorted to in the case of the very deep wet fields

in which, owing to their low level, it is impossible to control the
depth of the water in the manner necessary with transplanted
seedlings. In these fieMs a special kind of paddy, called
kdsari, is sown (unsoaked) in May before the rains or floods
are received, the field having been ploughed when dry. This
variety does not mind being submerged.
Broadcast sowing
is also sometimes adopted by ryots who cannot afford the
expense of transplantation, but this is generally looked upon

as bad farming.
There appear to be four recognized methods of raising Methods of
paddy in seed-beds, which are known as kareddkii, mettapa- raising
'"^^*
dunii, mokkdkii and diikdkii. In the case of the two former, the
beds are ploughed when quite dry, before water comes down the
'
70 GODAVARI.
CHAP. IV. channels; while with the two latter they are not cultivated
Wet until they have been well soaked. The two former methods
Cultiva- are very similar, the only noteworthy difference between them
tion.
apparently being that in the kareddkn system an inch of
water is let in directly the grain is sown and is drained off
an hour later, while in the mettapadunu method the seed is
sown after rain and the land allowed to get quite dry again
before any water is let on to it. Similarly the mokkdku and
dukdkii systems closely resemble one another except that with
the former the seed is soaked and allowed to sprout before
being sown. The cultivation of the seed-beds when dry is
far more popular than the rival method, and the dukdkii
system seems to be confined to Cocanada taluk and the
mokkdku chiefly to Nagaram and Amalapuram.
Preparation The fields are first levelled with a crowbar (geddapdra) or a
of fields. pickaxe (guddali), various kinds of manure (chiefly the dung of
sheep and cattle penned on the field, village sweepings, ashes,
—
and oil-cake green manuring is rare) are next applied, and
then the field is irrigated and ploughed. On heavy soils (as
near Ramachandrapuram) the ploughing is done after rain
and before flooding, lest the plough-cattle should sink too
deeply into the soil. Ploughing is always done at intervals,
so that the soil gets thoroughly aerated, but as it does not
begin until floods come down the river, the intervals are short.
The parts of the fields near the ridges, which the plough cannot
get at properly, are dug up with mamiittis. The field is
levelled with a plank called the patti, drawn by hand or by
bullocks. In Bhadrachalam a log of wood with iron teeth
(bnruda gorru) is used.
Transplanta- The seedlings are transplanted in July or August. The
tion and care usual rule governing the irrigation of them is to give them a
of the crop.
span's depth of water until the ears are formed and then to
allow the field to dry up. The water is changed periodically in
order to obtain a fresh supply of silt and to wash away alkaline
matter. In Amalapuram, however, as much as a foot of
water is let in after the first fortnight, while in the middle of
September the field is drained and left dry for the fortnight
known as the iittarn kdrti because it is believed that worms
which eat the stalks are generated in the water during that
period.
Weeding is done one or two months after transplantation.
In Amalapuram taluk manures of various kinds, such as
gingelly, cocoanut and castor cake and a kind of fish called
chengudi royyi are powdered and thrown broadcast over the
fields three weeks after transplantation.
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION. n
The second wet crop does not follow as close on the first CHAP. IV.
as in Tanjore. In the latter district the ryots get seedlings Wet
ready for transplantation in the seed-bed before the harvest Cultiva-
tion.
of the crop is over, whereas in Godavari it is believed
first
that seedlings will not thrive until the warm corn wind Second crop
'
'
cultivation.
(payini gdlij, which is expected in December, sets in from the
south. The first crop is harvested in November or December,
and seedlings for the second crop are sown in December or
January and are ready for transplantation in February and
March. The preparation of the field for the second crop is a
somewhat perfunctory operation. Levelling is generally
omitted; and, in Amalapuram, manuring is generally omitted
also. The kinds of paddy most commonly used (outside
Bhadrachalam) are called garika sannain and ddlava.
Where the second crop is a dry crop, it is generally green,
black, Bengal, or horse-gram, gingelly, or sunn hemp. Beans
(amimulu), ragi and onions are also raised. Except Bengal
gram, gingelly, ragi and onions, these are generally sown a
week before the harvest of the wet crop and left to take care
of themselves. For Bengal gram and gingelly, the field is
ploughed and the seed is covered by dragging a green, leafy
branch (kampa) across it, or, in sandy soil by ploughing it in.
Ragi and onions are transplanted into plots about two yards
square, made
after the field has been ploughed without water
times in the course of a week, and are watered a
five or six
week after transplanting and thereafter once a month.
Both cambu and gingelly are not infrequently grown as Third crops.
a third crop, sometimes called the piindsa crop. In Tuni
(perhaps -elsewhere also) they are put down at the beginning
of the first wet-crop season on the chance of the rains being
late or insufficient and it being therefore impossible to grow a
wet crop at the proper time, if at all. If the rains come while
the crop is on the ground, it is either ploughed up to make
room for the paddy, or, if nearly ripe, is left to mature, the
paddy transplantation being delayed accordingly.
In Rajahmundry and Ramachandrapuram third crops are
sometimes secured by growing a short wet crop between June
and September, followed by a dry crop harvested by January,
and then by a short paddy crop of the garika sannam, ddlava
or rdjahlwgala varieties, which is harvested in May.
The Godavari ryots divide the six months from June to Agricultural
December into twelve kdrtis of about a fortnight each, called maxims.
by the names of various stars. To each of these periods some

agricultural operation or other is considered particularly
appropriate. Even the Koyas and hillReddis, for example,
72 GODAVARI.
CHAP. IV. believe that the best time for sowing paddy is the mrigasira,
Wet which begins about the end of the first week in June
kcirti, ;
Cultiva-
tion, the am'irddhd Mrti (the latter part of December) is a name of
happy augury, suggesting the harvest and the fulfilment of
ryot's hopes; thunder on the first day of the magha kdrti is
the happiest possible omen for the future, and will make
'
even a pole on a fort wall grow'; and so on. On the day

before harvest the ryots run round their fields thrice repeating
the name of the village goddess and crying out that she has
given them a good crop. They then cut three handfuls of
ears to represent the goddess and sacrifice fowls to them.
When measuring the first heap of paddy of the first harvest
of the year, they pour boiled rice-flour over it to propitiate the
belly-god.
Wet crops Next to paddy, the irrigated crops chiefly grown are sugar-
other than
paddy. cane, betel, turmeric and plantains. Cocoanut and areca
palms are also largely raised in Amalapuram and Nagaram
taluks, and are occasionally irrigated. Sugar-cane is grown
everywhere except in the Agency and the Tuni division,
but is commonest in Peddapuram, Ramachandrapuram,
Cocanada, Nagaram and Rajahmundry taluks. Betel on wet
lands appears to be almost confined to Ramachandrapuram
and Nagaram taluks and turmeric to Peddapuram, Rajah-
mundry and Amalapuram, in which last it is raised without
irrigation. Plantains are found chiefly in Ramachandra-
puram, Amalapuram and Nagaram. In Rajahmundry and
elsewhere a kind of sweet potato ( mddap(dam dumpa) is much
cultivated.
Rotations. As elsewhere, paddy isfrequently grown year after year
on the same land. When other crops are cultivated, a definite
rotation observed, but this differs widely in different parts.
is
The Peddapuram and Pithapuram, for example,

ryots of
consider that an interval of two years is sufficient between
two crops of sugar-cane, while those of Cocanada, Rajah-
mundry and Amalapuram say that four years is necessary,
and those of Ramachandrapuram and Nagaram from six to
eight years.
Cultivation of In the cultivation of sugar-cane, the ground is sometimes
sugar-cane. plough and sometimes with a crowbar.
broken up with a
When a plough is used, the field is first well manured (in
December or January) and then ploughed (without being
flooded) from five to ten times. The ryots say the soil should
be brought into such a soft and powdery condition that the
footprints of the birds should be easily seen in it, and that a
chatty full of water should neither spill nor break when
dropped on to it. The field, still unirrigated, is next divided
into small plots (spaces being left for the channels which are chap, iv
to be dug later on) either with a hoe or a plough. Wet
Cultiva-
The crowbar method of preparing the ground is partly tion.
adopted for the sake of economy, and so in this system
manuring is also generally dispensed with. The jaggery
which results is inferior, but the difference in the cost of
cultivation is said to more than counterbalance this drawback.
The land is dug up with the crowbar in January, and the
clods are left to weather for ten days, when they are broken
up and roughly powdered. The soil is not rendered suffici-
ently fine to be formed into plots without water, and the field
has to be flooded.
Before planting the cuttings of sugar-cane the field is
watered till it attains the consistency of cooked ragi (anibali
'
'
padiinu) and then (in February or March) the cuttings are

thrown on the ground and one end of them is pressed gently
in with the foot. The tops are usually considered to make
the best cuttings, but the rest of the cane is often used. The
cuttings are kept in the shade for a fortnight before planting.
Regarding the irrigation of the crop, practice varies. In
Peddapuram, for example, the field is flooded once a fortnight
and then drained immediately. In Ramachandrapuram and
Cocanada it is watered once a week, without draining off the
water for six months and then allowed to dry up as the rainy
;
season approaches. The Peddapuram system is the better,

since stagnant water injures the roots of the cane.^ Two
months after being planted, the crop is manured round the
roots with castor cake, green gram husk, bats dung, or mud '
from the village site.- In some places green gram is sown in

the field and dug in as a green manure. Three weedings are
made with a hoe (tolika) at intervals of a fortnight. When
the crop has been about two months on the ground the plots
are broken up and the irrigation trenches are dug, the soil
from them being thrown round the roots of the cane. About
four months after planting, the leaves are twisted round the
canes to prevent them from cracking or being dried up by the
sun, and check the growth of weakening lateral shoots.
to
In the fifth are supported by bamboos. The
month the canes
crop is cut in February with a bill-hook (pota katti) and made
into jaggery the same day.
The canes are crushed in iron mills, and the juice is boiled
for about two and a half or three hours with chunam (a piece
^ Papers printed with G.(X No. 193, Revenue, dated 30tb December 1901,
1
p. 24. Cf. G.O. No. 1020, Reventie, dated 14th September 1904, p. 31.
2 The ' saltpetre earth of Mr. Benson's report, G.O. No. 28, Revenue, dated
'
Ilth January 1884, pp. 7, 14.

-
74 GODAVARI.
CHAP. IV of chunam the size of a tennis ball is added to every pan of

Wet eight pots, or l68 seers, of juice), until it reaches such a
Cultiva-
tion. consistency that it will no longer drip from the finger. It is
then put into a pot and well stirred, and afterwards poured on
Jaggery-
making.
to a bamboo mat to set. Some of the ryots say that an acre
of land generally yields 15 candies of jaggery worth Rs. 300,
and that the cultivator makes a clear profit of Rs. 100.
Ratooning. Ratooning is usual. The ratooned crop is ready to cut in
ten months. It is inferior to the first, but the saving in the

cost of cultivation is considerable.^ Sometimes a third crop
is cut.
Varieties ct Previous to the building of the Dowlaishweram anicut the

sugar-cane. cane grown Godavari was a thin, white, reed-like variety,
in
similar not identical with, the canes of Ganjam, South
to, if
Arcot, Trichinopoly and other districts, which was called the

desavdli or country cane.
'
Its hard rind enabled it to resist
'
the attacks of jackals, so that it was possible to grow it at a

distance from the villages ; it did not require much water;
and the jaggery it gave was small in quantity, though very
sweet and white. When the anicut was made, softer, larger
and more juicy canes were introduced. The sinm variety, a
stout dark kind sometimes called the Mauritius cane, was
introduced about 1870 by Messrs. Cotton and Rundall for
their factory near Rajavolu (Razole), but the history of the
other species is obscure.
At the present time the kinds grown are desavdli or

'
country,' bonthakarri or Bombay, erra or sannakarri, keli,
hontha or hontha ndmalii, )id)naln or sdra, mogili and pdlahontha
(which seem to be only found in Ramachandrapuram taluk),
and vdlu, confined to Peddapuram. The Bombay or bontha-
karri is very similar to, and possibly identical with, the sima;
its jaggery is poor and of a purple colour. The erra, or
sannakarri variety is a thin, dark cane producing similar
jaggery. The keli is a white cane with a cracked bark giving
watery juice which wants more boiling than usual. The
bontha or bontlui ndmalu is a stout, striped cane, but the jaggery
it gives is said to be
very inferior- The ndmalu is a thin,
striped variety, also producing a bad jaggery. The mogili is
a very thick kind with knots at short intervals its jaggery is ;
'
The advantages of ratooning are still the subject of careful experiment at
the Samalkot experimental farm. G.O. No. 1020, Revenue, dated 14th
September 1904, p. 29.
Much of what follows has l)een taken from the report of Mr. C. A. Barber,
the Government BcHanist, in (i.O. No. 1193, Revenue, dated ^cth Deceml ei
1901, pp. 21 foil.
again like that of the Bombay cane, but it gives much juice chap. iv.
and has hitherto shown a considerable immunity from disease. Wet
The pdlahontha is a soft cane which is sold for chewing. The ^'^^^q^^'
vdlii is like the 'country cane, but a little thinner; and the
'
juice is a more watery and requires longer boiling.

little The
mogili, '
country and pdlahontha canes grow only about
'
six or
seven feet high. The rest run up to nine feet.
About the end of the last century an obscure disease Kecent
decimated the sugar-cane district. In March 1900
in thedSs^'^'^
Government introduced cuttings from Hospet in Bellary, and the
where disease was rare, but this did little good.
° The Govern- Samaikot
experimental
ment Botanist, Mr. C. A. Barber, was accordingly deputed to farm,
make a thorough investigation of the crops and the disease,
and his report, dated 24th April 1901, threw much light on the
subject and suggested the starting of a Government agricul-
tural station at which the matter might be further studied.
The station was opened in 1902 at Samalkot. It has been
recently decided that it shall be a permanent institution.
The diseases of the sugar-cane in the district are described
in Mr. Barber's first report. The moth borer, the ravages of
which do such an infinity of harm in the West Indies and no
small damage in Ganjam, is responsible for very little of the
evil perhaps owing to the scattered cultivation of the cane,
;
or the system of tying the leaves round the stem, or the

existence of its antagonist the haria Barberi fungus. The
'
small borer,' or scolytid beetle, and the red smut,' or Collcto- '
trichiim falcatnm fungus, are the greatest enemies of the

Godavari canes. These two pests go hand in handj and it
cannot as yet be said which prepares the cane for the ravages
of the other. The fungus manifests itself inside the cane in
'well marked blotches with a characteristic white centre.'
It can attach itself to any abrasion on the surface of the cane,
even to the scar left by a fallen leaf, and thence makes its
entry into the tissues of the plant. It is very slow in its
progress. The conidia of the fungus are found at the base of
the black tufts of hair in the holes left by old dead roots, and
as an incrustation on the surface of the dead and dried up
canes below the origin of the leaf. If a cane infested with
the small borer' is opened, the surface is found to be covered
'
with a mass of small dark beetles about one-twelfth of an

inch in length, which are seen busily emerging from and
re-entering their small burrows. strong vinous odour of A
fermented juice the air, and the infested canes are
fills
entirely useless for sugar. The evil acts very quickly. In

the West Indian islands whole fields have been completely
destroyed by it.
7^ GODAVARI.
CHAP. IV. The infection of the fungus can be carried by the air; but
Wet itseems likely that water, either flowing from infected fields
Cultiva-
tion. or into which diseased canes and refuse have been thrown, is
the chief agent for its diffusion. The water-logged condition
of the ground, the lack of rotation, and the consequent exhaus-
tion of the soil, are among other contributing causes.
A number of interesting results bearing upon defects in the
present methods of sugar-cane cultivation have been obtained
at the Samalkot farm by employing different manures, growing
different varieties and raising selected canes under different
systems. These are detailed in G.O. No. 1020, Revenue, dated
14th September 1904, pp. 20 ff. The chief conclusions arrived
at are briefly (l) that it is important to tread in the cuttings
:
properly, that they should be planted in rows so as to

(2)
facilitate weeding, supervision and irrigation, (3) that they are
best put out in trenches, (4) that the use of a rake to supple-
ment two thorough weedings with the tolika would be easier
and much less expensive than the use of the tolika throughout,
(5) that green dressing is good, but that the plants usually
employed by the ryots are leguminous and suffer from insect
and other pests, and (6) that the use of cane trash as a mulch
in the first instance and its burial in the fields after the canals
are reopened has several advantages.
Other matters are under investigation ; among them the
best number ofcuttings per acre, the quantityof water required,
the abolition of the expensive bamboo supports, the advantages
of ratooning, and the improvement of the methods of making
jaggery.
Dry The commonest dry crops are gingelly (nugn or nuvvu),
CULTIV.V- cholam ( jonna), horse-gram (ulava), ragi (tsodi), green gram
TION.
(pesara), sunn hemp ( jannmu), castor (dmtida), cambu (gantc),
black gram (mimunii), tobacco (pogdkii), and Bengal gram
(salaga or saiiaga). Gingelly, horse-gram and ragi are most
widely grown in Peddapuram and Rajahmundry. Cholam is
chiefly raised in Bhadrachalam in the Agency, in all the
upland taluks and in Amalapuram in the delta. Castor is
popular in Polavaram; cambu in Peddapuram; Bengal gram
in Amalapuram, Peddapuram and Ramachandrapuram and ;
sunn hemp in Amalapuram, Nagaram and Cocanada. Tobacco

grows best in the Godavari lankas and in Yellavaram.
Seasons, etc. The two seasons of dry cultivation are known respectively
as the tolakari or piindsn pant a and the sitakattu or payini pant a.
The former begins any time between May and July inclusive,
and the between the beginning of September and the
latter
middle of December. With local exceptions, ragi, gingelly
and cambu are grown in the first season and horse-gram, ;
cholam, castor, and black, green and Bengal gram in the CHAP. IV.
second. No
regular rotations are observed. In Bhadra- Dry
chalam the ryots say vaguely that they vary the crop when it Cultiva-
tion.
begins to fail for want of a change. In Peddapuram, Tuni,
Amalapuram and Polavaram they profess to change the crop
every year and say that castor and Bengal gram require
intervals of three and seven years respectively before they
are repeated on the same land.
The place of rotation is tosome extent taken by mixing
the crops, a system which is usual everywhere. Typical and
common combinations are horse-gram or black gram with
ragi ; with ragi, samai or gingelly black |gram and
dhall ;
beans (annmulu) with cholam and cambu with samai or;
korra. The principal advantage of the system is that it

economises space, a small or slow-growing crop being raised
in the intervals between spreading or quickly-maturing plants.
In the delta and the Agency, manuring is rare; but it is Cultivation

frequent elsewhere. Ragi, tobacco and gingelly are thought
to require it more than other crops. Fields are ploughed
'
from four to six times, but twice is considered enough for

horse-gram. Tobacco and onions seem to be always trans-
planted and cambu and ragi generally so. The seedlings are
laid in a furrow and covered by ploughing another furrow
alongside the first. Most of the other dry crops are sown
broadcast, but castor and Bengal gram are sown seed by
seed in a furrow, and in places a drill is used. The seed is
covered by dragging a leafy branch across the field or
ploughing again. Weeding of any kind appears to be the
exception.
There appear to be four kinds of cholam in this district, Cholam.
namely two varieties (the mudda and the ralla) of yellow
( parJm) c\\o\'dm, white cholam (tella jonna or man joniia), and
'
hill cholam (konda jo>i/iaJ. The white variety is peculiar to
'
Bhadrachalam and the hill cholam to podii cultivation.

'
'
Yellow cholam is generally sown mixed with green gram.

The seed is covered as usual. Six or eight weeks afterwards
the field is lightly ploughed, which is believed to strengthen
the young plants. In Polavaram the ryots first weed the crop
and loosen the soil with a gorni, a log of wood provided with
iron or wooden teeth, which is drawn by bullocks. The crop
is sown in October or November and is on the ground for
three or four months.

—
There are two varieties of tobacco lanka and pati. The Tobacco
former, which is much the superior, is grown on the alluvial
soils of the lankas and banks of the Godavari, which require
no manure owing to their being covered with silt by the river
78 GODAVARI.
every year. The latter is raised in fields near the villages.

Dry The crop is always transplanted. The seed is sown in
Cultiva-
tion. seed-beds in the piibba kdrti (first half of September) and
transplantation takes place after the iittara kdrti (at the end
of that month), when the floods in the river have subsided,
and sometimes as late as December. Great care is taken in
the preparation of the seed-beds, the land being ploughed
many times and plantifuUy manured with cattle-dung and
ashes. Sheep-dung is usually considered hot and injurious,
but is employed in Nagaram. Before sowing, the seed is
mixed in the proportion of one to sixteen with sand, so as to
enable it to be thinly scattered. It is sometimes soaked and
kept for four or five days (like paddy) in a damp place until
it germinates. The seed-bed is kept moist by daily (or even
more frequent) sprinklings of water, and is also weeded
almost daily. When the seedlings are from one and a half
to two and a half months old they are transplanted at inter-
vals from half a yard to a yard apart. They are frequently
watered for three or four weeks, but not after that. The
plants blossom in some six or eight weeks, and then their
buds and tops are cut off to strengthen the eight or ten leaves'
which remain. All lateral shoots are also cut off from time
to time and so, at length, are the bottom two or three of the
eight or ten leaves.
The crop on the ground for five and a half months from
is
the time sown. It is harvested at midday and the leaves

it is ;
are left in the sun for two hours and then hung from strings
in the shade for a fortnight. They are next pressed under
weights for a month, after which water is sprinkled on them
and they are fit for use.
Attempts are being made to improve the quality of the
tobacco grown in the district. Messrs. T. H. Barry & Co. of
Cocanada have established a tobacco factory in that town
and foreign seed has been imported by Government for
experimental cultivation in the lankas leased to Mr. T. H.
Barry. The chief defect of the existing tobacco is the exces-
sive thickness and dark colour of the leaf. It is sold in
other parts of India and Burma and, to a limited extent, in

Mauritius, Bourbon and London.
The majority of the hill Reddis and the Koyas in the
Agency carry on shifting cultivation, called/?r;V///, by burning
clearings in the forests. The conflict between their interests

and those of forest reservation are referred to in Chapter V.
Two methods prevail the ordinary (or chalaka) podii, and the
:
hill (or koinla) The former consists in cultivating

podii.
certain recognized clearings for a year or two at a time,
liauiacUuudrapuialu Si.if
R
GODAVARI DELTA
SH~t7
;
allowing the forest to grow again for a few years, and then qhap. IV
again burning and i:ultivating them while under the latter
; dry
the clearing is not returned to for a much longer period and Cultiva-
is sometimes deserted for ever. The latter is in fashion in '
the more hilly and wilder parts, while the former is a step
towards civilization.
In February or March the jungle trees and bushes are cut
down and spread evenly over the portion to be cultivated
and, when the hot weather comes on, they are burnt. The
ashes act as a manure, and the cultivators also think that the
mere heat of the burning makes the ground productive. The
land is ploughed once or twice in chalaka podus before and
after sowing, but not at all in konda podus. The seed is
sown in June in the mrigasira kdrti. Hill cholam and samai
are the commonest crops. The former is dibbled into the
ground.
Grain is usually stored in regular granaries (kottii) or in storage of
thatched bamboo receptacles built on a raised foundation and grain,
called gddi. These are not found in Bhadrachalam or the

central delta, where the piiri (a high, round receptacle made
of twisted straw) is used. Grain is also stored, as elsewhere,
in pits.
The chief irrigation source of the district is the Godavari, Irrigation.

the channels from which protect 240,800 acres in all seasons. Protected
Some 4,600 acres of this are in Rajahmundry, and the rest area
in the delta taluks of Ramachandrapuram, Cocanada, Amala-

puram and Nagaram. Tanks and channels from smaller
rivers safeguard 31,800 acres in all seasons and 53,800 acres
in ordinary seasons. Wells irrigate a very small area. Only
in Amalapuram taluk does the extent protected by them rise
above TOO acres.
The Godavari water isrendered available by the great The
anicut at Dowlaishweram and the immense system of canals Godavari
Anicut.
and channels leading off from it. Those in this district are
shown in the accompanying map, and there are yet others in
Kistna.
This anicut was the first of any real magnitude to be built
by Europeans in this Presidency (the Cauvery system was an
elaboration of native enterprize) and is one of the greatest
triumphs of engineering skill in all India. Its history is of
the greatest interest. Not only were the physical difficulties
encountered in damming up so huge a river enormous, but
the opposition of those who doubted the possibility and
financial prospects of the work had to be overcome. Both
were met by the engineers in charge of the project with
indomitable perseverance and fortitude.
8o GODAVARI.
CHAP. IV. The project consists of a dam across the Godavari at

The Dowlaishweram (where the river is nearly four miles wide)
godavari
Anicut.
and a net work of canals covering almost every part of the
delta. Some of these canals are navigable, and the traffic
^
Origin of the
along them is referred to in Chapter VII. The conception of
idea.
the scheme was due to the genius of Sir Arthur Cotton. The
idea of an anicut across the river originated as far back as -
1789 with Mr. Topping, an astronomer in the service of the

Madras Government who was appointed to survey the coast
of the district in that year. It was revived in 1844 by Sir
Henry Montgomery,"' who had been appointed (see p. 167)
Special Commissioner to report on the best means of improving
the then unhappy condition of the district. As a result of
his recommendations. Sir Arthur (then Captain) Cotton of the
Madras Engineers was ordered in 1845 to report profession-
ally on the possibility of building an anicut on the river. He
pronounced in favour of the idea his representations were ;
earnestly backed by the then Governor of Madras, the Marquis

of^Tweeddale and the Court of Directors, in a despatch dated
;
December 23rd, 1846, sanctioned the project.

First Sir Arthur Cotton's first idea had been to build a dam
estimates.
above Rajahmundry similar to the two anicuts on the
Coleroon which had been recently constructed under his
supervision. But he eventually recommended that the work
should be constructed just below Dowlaishweram, at the head
of the delta. The breadth of the river was much greater
there than above Rajahmundry, but a great portion of the
width was occupied by islands, and the site had the great
advantage of being close to a hill of coarse, strong sandstone
'of a degree of hardness exactly suited to the case; neither
too hard to be expensive in working nor yet soft enough to
be unfit for the purpose.' Round this hill, also, lay several
hundred thousand tons of broken stone, the accumulations of
years of native quarryings, which would be of great value for
rubble work. The cost of constructing the anicut itself Sir
Arthur estimated at only 4% lakhs, and that of the subsidiary
works as 7^^ lakhs, or only twelve lakhs in all. At the same
time he indulged in the most sanguine hopes of increased
irrigation and revenue, and of a rich return upon this
'absurdly small' sum. It will be seen immediately that he
very greatly under-estimated the cost of both dam and project.
^ The following brief sketch has been for the most part abstracted from the
graphic account, in The Engineering works of the Godavari delta, by
Mr. G. T. Walch, late Chief Engineer for Irrigation, Madras, published by the
Government Press in 1896.
- Urst report of the Public Works Commission at .Madras, 1852, ]). 100.
^ His report dated i8th March 1844, para. 40.
Dowlaishweram branch
82 GODAVARI.
CHAP. IV. rough-Stone talus was necessary, and at the present time it
The is from three to six times as wide as it originally was, and
godavari its thickness has been greatly increased by the enormous
Anicut.
quantities of stone thrown in to make good the sinkage which
has from time to time taken place. In the first twenty years
of the anicut's existence over 500,000 tons of stone were used
for this purpose, and vast quantities more have been used
since. Nowadays very little is required, and that only at
certain places.
Another considerable change in the original design was
the adoption of the plan of founding the anicut on the sand
confined between its face wall and the retaining wall at the
toe of the apron, instead of upon a mass of loosely deposited
stone. The Rali branch alone was constructed on the latter
method and its foundations were the only ones which gave
any trouble. They allowed the water to pass through in great
quantities.
Three sets of under-sluices of fifteen vents each were built,
one near the head-sluice of each of the main canals of the
three sections of the delta. Three locks were also built, one
at the head of each of those canals. Three head-sluices were
also ultimately necessary.
Progress of
constructiijn.
The sanction of the Court of Directors to the execution of
the work was received early in 1847. In April of that year
operations were vigorously commenced. Adetachment of
Sappers and Miners was posted to Dowlaishweram, and a
Sub-Collector (Mr. H. Forbes) was appointed to superintend
the recruitment and payment of labourers and to procure the
necessary supplies. His exertions (it may here be noted)
were more than once acknowledged to have contributed
largely to the success of the work (Sir Arthur said his vigorous
'
and active measures have roused this district to a degree that

could not have been expected') and he was specially thanked
in the Government order reviewing the completion of the
project. Before July had arrived, as many as 10,200 labourers,
500 carpenters and the same number of smiths had been
collected to put in hand preliminary preparations. Boats
were built, railway waggons constructed, the quarry opened
and two double lines of rail ran from it to different points on
the river banks, and the embankments on the islands put in
hand.
In the working season of 1848 the actual construction of
the dam was begun, and the Dowlaishweram and Maddur
sections were both built to the height of nine feet, and good
deal of work was also done to the Dowlaishweram and
Vijesvaram sluices. In the middle of 1848 Sir Arthur Cotton
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION. S3
had to go on leave exhausted by unremitting work and chap. IV

Home '
anxiety and for the next two years his place was taken by
' ;
^The
Captain (afterwards General) C. A. Orr, R.E., who had from Godavari
Anicui.
the first been his most successful lieutenant and to whom much
of the credit for the completion of the undertaking is due.
Next year (1849) the whole of the Vijesvaram section was
built to a height of nine feet under circumstances of great
difficulty. The work could not be begun until February lOth
owing to want of funds. During its progress a sudden rise in
the river breached it, and extensive temporary dams had to be
erected to turn the river away from it. It was completed by
the end of May. The season's operations also included the
repair of 80 yards of the Maddur section, the raising of the
whole section by one and a half feet, the completion of the
head and under-sluices and locks both at Dowlaishweram and
Vijesvaram, of the under-sluice and wing walls of the Rail
section and of about 50 yards at each end of this section, and
the lengthening of the Dowlaishweram section by some 250
yards.
At the beginning of the following year (1850) the only
outlet for thewhole stream of the Godavari was down the Rali
branch, the section across which alone remained to be com-
pleted. A temporary dam of loose stone had been made
across this in 1848 and strengthened in 1849 to prevent the
stream from cutting too deep a channel in the bed of the river ;
but the water escaped both through and over this, and it
became necessary to make it water-tight and high enough to
turn the stream down the Dowlaishweram and Vijesvaram
branches, and through the head and under-sluices in them.
This would have been no easy matter at any time, but now
considerably more water than usual was passing down owing
to heavy rain in Hyderabad and Nagpore.
An exciting struggle with the river ensued. In February
about 50 yards of the temporary dam was swept away, and
no sooner was the damage repaired than 80 yards more was
washed down stream. This branch was nearly closed when
the river asserted itself and widened it to 80 yards again,
surging through the narrow opening between 20 and 30 feet
deep. With immense difficulty this breach was at length
closed and the river turned aside on the 23rd April, and before
the end of the next month the Rali section was completed to
a height of loi feet. The head-sluice and lock on this section
were built the same year, and the great anicut was thus at
last an accomplished fact.
Though the battle was now won, the difficulties were far Subsequent
difficulties.
from over. On the 9th June 1850 the river began to rise
84 GODAVARi.
CHAP. IV. Steadily, It was passed through the Dowlaishweram and

The Rail under-sluices, but the apron behind the latter was only
godavari
25 feet wide, and on the l/th June it began to sink. The
Anicut.
sluices were .'closed and an attempt was made to replace the
apron'; ^when suddenly the great head of water forced the
sand from beneath the foundation of the sluices into the
hollow formed by the sinking of the apron, and a portion of
the sluices fell in. Seven out of fourteen piers collapsed but ;
fortunately the massive masonry formed a dam preventing any

great rush of water and gave time for measures to be taken to
check the extension of the damage.
In the working season of 1851 and the early part of 1852
these under-sluices were rebuilt and the finishing touches were
put to the anicut and head-works. Their virtual completion
may be considered to have been achieved by March 31st, 1852.
Alterations Large repairs and alterations in the dam have been carried
since eftected.
out since its first construction. The constant additions to the
rough-stone aprons have already been alluded to, and another
important improvement has been the raising of the crest of
the work. Even before it was finished in 1852, its height was
found insufficient to secure an adequate supply of water to the
canals at all seasons and cast-iron grooved posts, fitted with
;
horizontal planks to hold up when necessary an additional

two feet of water, were fixed along its crest. This was still
insufficient and between 1862 and 1867 the masonry itself
;
was raised two feet at a cost of nearly three lakhs, and the
iron posts and planks were replaced on the top of the new
work. In 1897-99 the crest was raised an additional nine
inches with Portland cement concrete, and on this were fitted
self-acting cast-iron shutters, two feet high, which fall auto-
matically when the water rises to six inches above their tops.
The only serious accident to the anicut itself happened
in 1857. On the 14th November of that year, the when
season for floods was over and the water was comparatively
low, the eastern end of the Maddur branch suddenly subsided
into a deep scour-hole below it, and a breach was formed
through which the river poured with such depth and volume
that it was impossible to stop it. The disaster was met by
damming up the river (with great difficulty) some way above
the anicut and then rebuilding the fallen portion. The
operation cost half a lakh.
The three sets of head-locks, head-sluices and under-
sluices, have all been altered or replaced at various times,
and of the original constructions only one head-sluice and
the three sets of under-sluices now survive. The original
Vijesvaram head-lock was destroyed in the floods of 1852. It
—
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION. IS!;
was rebuiltnext year, but was eventually converted into CHAP. IV.
sluices and the present head-lock was built in 1891. The
;
THE
original Vijesvaram head-sluices fell in 1853 were rebuilt in
;
Godavari
Anicut.
1854; and are still in use. The central delta head-sluices fell
in 1878 in a high flood, and great difficulty was experienced
in preventing damage to the canal below. The head-lock
beside them became so shaky that in 1889-90 it was replaced
by a new one. Of the eastern delta works, the head-lock
toppled over in 1886, when there was 14/^ feet of water on the
anient. It carried the lock gates with it and left a gap into
the canal fifteen feet wide, through which the water poured.
The river continued to rise, and in two days reached the then
unprecedented height of 17 feet above the anicut, so that the
breach was only stopped with great difficulty. A new lock
in a rather better position was built next year and opened
on Jubilee day.
A gradually increasing shoal which has been forming on
the of the Godavari river above the Dowlaishweram
left side
branch of the anicut has been for some time past a source
of anxiety and of inconvenience to navigation. The old
Dowlaishweram under-sluices not being sufficiently powerful
towards the head-sluice, it
to arrest the progress of this shoal
was considered necessary to build more powerful substitutes
for them. An estimate was sanctioned in 1903 and the work
is now in progress. The new under-sluices are to consist of
ten vents 20 feet wide and 10 feet high, regulated by iron lift
shutters and with their sill four feet below that of the head-
sluice. —
The shutters are to be in two tiers the upper
measuring 20 feet by 6 feet and the lower 20 feet by 4 feet
are to be constructed of half inch plates stiffened with rolled
steel beams I2 feet by 6 feet, and are to be worked by chain
gearing arrangements.
Simultaneously with the construction of the head-works, Distributary
works.
arrangements were made for carrying to the various parts of
the delta the water they rendered available. Even before the
building of the anicut, certain portions of the delta had been
irrigated. Sir Henry Montgomery's report of 1846 already
mentioned deplored the neglect with which the then existing
channels had been treated, and Sir Arthur Cotton described
them as partial works of small extent not kept in an effective
state. They were merely inundation channels, the heads of
which were 12 or 1 5 feet above the deep bed of the river, and
they received a supply only during floods, or for about 50 days
in the year. Some of them lay on the western side of the
river in the present Kistna district the central delta contained
;
none worth mention but on the eastern side of the river four
:
86 GODAVARI.
CHAP. IV. considerable channels were in existence. One of these, called

The the Tulya Bhaga, led off from near the site of the anicut and
godavari ran in a fairly straight line to Cocanada, terminating in the
Anicut.
salt creek there. In 1846 a branch was taken from it to
Samalkot from near Dowlaishweram. These two channels
were connected with the head-works of the eastern delta.
At the end of 1849 a start was made with the new
distributary works, sanction being obtained to the cutting of
the main canals in the eastern and central deltas, the first of
which (see the map) leads along the river bank nearly as far
as Yanam and the second runs past Rali. In April 1851 the
western delta main canal (now in the Kistna district) was
sanctioned, and in February 1852 considerable extensions of
the eastern main canal and large distributary works in the
central delta, including the great Gannavaram aqueduct, were
agreed to.
The Ganna- This aqueduct carries a large canal across a branch of the
varam
aqueduct. Godavari to the Nagaram island, which is surrounded by the
sea and two arms of the river and to which water can only be
taken in this way. The aqueduct may be roughly described
as an arched bridge of brick thrown across the branch of the
river, upon which, in the place where the roadway of an ordi-
nary bridge is laid, runs a channel from 22 to 24 feet broad
and some four feet deep. Its total length between abutments
is 2,248 feet, and it consists of 49 arches with 40 feet waterway
and 48 piers 6 feet thick. Ordinarily, the water of the branch
of the river across which it is thrown flows through the arches
of the aqueduct, but in times of high flood it completely
submerges the whole work and pours over the top of it. It
was impossible to make the aqueduct higher, because of the
expense and danger involved in raising the embankments of
the channels connected with it to a corresponding height
above the level of the surrounding country. The work had
therefore to be made of sufficient strength to resist floods
sweeping over it.
The most noteworthy fact about the work is the wonderfully
short period within which it was built. The estimate was
submitted by Sir Arthur Cotton in August 1851 but was not
sanctioned till February 14th 1852. It was considered of para-
mount importance to finish the work before the floods of that
year came down, and, to effect this, extraordinary efforts were
necessary. Between the first preparation of the materials for
the work and the completion of all its 49 arches only four
months elapsed, and in another four it was ready for its work.
'
In any part of the world,' says Mr. Walch in his book already
cited, '
this would have been a noteworthy achievement ; in an
out-of-the-way part of the Madras Presidency, where CHAP. IV.

machinery was almost unobtainable and most of the skilled The
labour had to be trained as the work went on, it was an godavari
Anicut.
extraordinary feat.' The construction was under the charge
of Lieutenant (afterwards General) G. T. Haig, R.E., and his
energy and skill are commended in the highest terms by Sir
Arthur Cotton 'That a single officer with two or three over-
:
seers should have managed about 5,000 workmen, and with

the help of only one or two efficient workmen, is one of the
most surprising things I have met with. Every time I visited
the work I was astonished at the energy and admirable
arrangement of this young officer. I cannot say less than that
I think him the most effective officer I have ever had attached
to me, I have never yet seen such energy displayed by any

other man.' It is, in truth, difficult to realize, as one views this
imposing work, that it was actually completed in one working
season.
Money for further extensions of the distributary works was Completion
of distriliu-
at firstgrudged by Government, who were sceptical of the taries.
prospects of the scheme and aghast at the enormous excess
over the original estimates of expenditure which had been
incurred. '
The records teem with remonstrances from Colonel
Cotton and with minutes,' notes and letters by Governors,
* ' '
Members of Council, Boards and Secretaries, now wrathful and

now penned more in sorrow than in anger, on the subject of
the surprises which Colonel Cotton was springing on them in
his demands for what they considered unexpected develop-
ments of the original scheme, or to cover expenditure incurred
on work which had not been sanctioned or had been much
altered or largely exceeded in execution. On the one
. . .
hand was the enthusiast whose genius and special knowledge

enabled him to see clearly that what he proposed to do was
in the best interests of Government as well as of the people,
and who was impatient of delay on the other hand were the
;
controlling powers who held the purse strings and whose dutv
it was to check too hurried an advance along a path the issue
from which to them was obscure.' ^ It was not till 1853 that
the success of the project became so apparent that funds were
granted readily for its development. From that time onwards
the canals and channels were rapidly pushed forward. At
the present time there are in the Godavari district (not
counting the works in Kistna, on the western bank of the river)
287 miles of canal (nearly all of which are navigable) and
1,047 miles of distributaries.
1 Mr. Walch, op. cit., p. 89.

GODAVARI.
CHAP. IV, The total capital outlay on the whole scheme up to the end
The of 1904-05 is returned as Rs. 1,36,93,000, the gross receipts of
godavari that year at Rs. 35,58,000, the annual working expenses at
Anicut.
Rs. 9,10,000, and the net revenue at Rs. 26,48,000 or 19*34 Per
Financial cent, on the capital outlay. The benefits and increase of
results of the
scheme. wealth which the project has conferred upon the people of the
district are incalculable. The misery it has prevented may be
gauged from a perusal of Chapter VIII below, where the
ghastly sufferings from famine which the people endured
before its construction are faintly indicated.
Possible Mr. Walch considers that it may be assumed that there is
'
extensions
land available for an extension of irrigation of at least 100,000
of it.
acres exclusive of the considerable areas in the Coringa and
;
Polaram islands, to both of which anicut water could be taken

without any very serious engineering difficulty to the former ;
by a tunnel or articulated pipes and to the latter by an

aqueduct across the Vriddha Gautami.' Whether, however,
sufficient water can be rendered available for any such exten-
sion is another matter. For some three months in every year
vastly more water comes down the river than is required for
the area at present irrigated, and this excess pours uselessly
over the anicut and down to the sea. But in almost every
season the period of superabundance is followed by one of
scarcity, the water barely sufficing for the present area of
wet crops. Either therefore the duty of the water must be
' '
increased (no easy matter) or some method of storage must

be resorted to. It has been suggested ^ that reservoirs
might perhaps be formed on the Saveri or one of its larger
tributaries.
Its admin- The administration works of the central
of the irrigation
islration.
and eastern deltas maintenance
in this district involves the
of a large establishment. An Executive Engineer and two
Assistant Engineers are in charge of them exclusively, the
rest of the district being administered by another Executive
Engineer with an Assistant Engineer subordinate to him and ;
under their orders are the anicut superintendent and sub-

overseers, who
supervise the distribution of the water, the
conservancy establishment in charge of the locks and river
embankments, and the navigation establishment referred to in
Chapter VII. A
new division for the conservancy of the river
bed is being organized.
The embankments give much trouble in times of high
freshes, and the country is not yet adequately protected from
the effects of abnormal floods. In 1886, 1892 and 1900 the
^ Mr. II. E. Clerk's Preliminary Report for the Irrigation Commission
(1902), 3, 50-
embankments breached and serious inundations were caused. CHAP. IV.

Most of them have been raised since 1900. Drainage, though Other
not so burning a question as in the Tanjore delta, is a matter ^sourSs.^
of great difficulty near the coast, where the fall of the land is
very gradual. Large tracts there are liable to be flooded by
a heavy north-east monsoon.
As above remarked, the district contains 31,800 acres pro- Mionr
^""^
tected in all seasons by minor channels and tanks, and 533oo ["jj^^jj'g"^'^
acres safeguarded in ordinary seasons. Of this extent, the
greater part lies in Rajahmundry (20,300 and 27,300 acres
respectively) and Peddapuram (18,400 acres in ordinary
seasons). In Polavaram, Cocanada and Bhadrachalam only
2,800 acres, 1,300 acres and lOO acres respectively are pro-
tected by these sources in all seasons, and in ordinary seasons
2,800 acres in Yellavaram, TOO acres in Chodavaram and an
additional 1,700 acres in Polavaram. Tanks occur in all these
tracts. The largest in the district is at Lingamparti in
Peddapuram taluk, which irrigates 4,686 acres. Other con-
siderable reservoirs are the Kottapalli tank (970 acres), the
Kapavaram tank (823 acres), and the Ganapavaram tank
(686 acres), all in Rajahmundry. The only considerable
minor channels are those from the Yeleru, which irrigate
some 8,000 acres in Peddapuram taluk and a further extent in
the Pithapuram zamindari. A small area in Peddapuram is
also irrigated from the Ravutulapudi stream.
Irrigation from wells is very rare in the uplands and the Wells.
Agency, and the only taluk in the district in which over lOO
acres is so watered is Amalapuram. Cheap temporary wells
are sunk in small numbers in parts of Peddapuram, Tuni,
Cocanada and Ramachandrapuram. In the two latter they
are only used for about two months in each year, average
12 feet in depth, and hold some six feet of water. In Cocanada
they are called doriivu wells. In Tuni they last much longer
and more labour is expended on them. On the Yalesvaram
river shallow wells are dug which last for five or six years.
It is only in Nagaram and Amalapuram taluks that permanent
revetted wells are found. They are very large, from 18 to

24 feet deep, hold from six to twelve feet of water, are revetted
with bricks and are said to be very ancient- They are some-
times called Jain wells, and are supposed to date from the
' '
days when the Jain faith prevailed in the country; * in

Amalapuram they are sometimes called Reddis' wells.' '
They are largely used for the irrigation of areca and cocoanut
palm plantations, and the supply in them is said to be practi-
cally perennial. The ordinary water-lift employed in the
' See Chapter III, p, 39.
12
90 GODAVARI.
CHAP. IV. central delta is the kapila or motu worked by bullocks, but
Other the picottah (called tokkiidii yetham) is usual elsewhere.
Irrigation
Sources. Apeculiarity of the district is its artesian wells. The
existence of an artesian supply was accidentally discovered
Artesian
wells.
while digging an ordinary well in the railway-station com-
pound at Samalkot in 1892-93, the water being encountered at
a depth of about eighty feet. Since then several other artesian
wells have been sunk namely, a second in the station com-
;
pound, two in 1904 in the sugar refinery at the same place

(water being reached at some lio feet), and a fifth in the
railway-station yard at Cocanada Port, where the water was
nearly 300 feet below ground level. Artesian water has
also been found on the Polavaram and Yernagudem border
during the recent explorations for coal in that neighbourhood
but borings at Pithapuram have been unsuccessful.
Economic In the zamindaris the ryots have usually no admitted occu-
Condition
OF Agricui.- pancy right. They pay money rents fixed each year. In the
turists. Agency, the tenants of the muttadars are apparently protected
from 'rack-renting and eviction by the scarcity of cultivators
and the consequent desire of each landholder to keep those
he has.
In Government land, fields are frequently sub-let by the
pattadars, the consideration being either a share of the actual
crop (samgoru) or, much more commonly, a fixed payment in
money or grain called sist.
The sharing system seems to be chiefly restricted to inferior
wet land, and under it the crop is everywhere divided equally
between the landholder and the tenant. The latter usually
finds the seed, the cattle and the labour, but in Rhadrachalam
a landholder will often let his permanent farm-servants culti-
vate a piece of his land with his cattle and seed on condition
of receiving half the crop resulting.
Fixed rents are only paid in grain in the case of wet land.
Grain rents are usually rather lower than money rents, as
there is less chance of evading payment of them. The tenant,
as before, finds seed, cattle and labour but in Pithapuram a
;
variant called the backyard (peradii) system prevails under

which the landholder lends the cattle. Agricultural labourers
are either farm-servants engaged by the year (pdlikdpu) or
coolies hired by the day or job. The former usually engage
themselves for the whole year to some landholder, who then
has the exclusive right to their services. Accounts are settled,
and fresh engagements made, on the eleventh day of the bright
fortnight of the month Ashadha (July-August), which is well
known throughout the district under the name of 'the initial
ekadasi' {toll ekddasi). Then, as the proverb significantly
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION. Î
says, the pdlikdpus are companions to their master's sons-in- CHAP. IV.
'
law,' they remind him of his petty tyrannies during the past Economic
It 1 ^1 f iu 1 „ •
year and haggle over the renewal oi their agreements.

4.
Condition
^^ agricul-
The rates of wages for pdlikdpus, which are always fixed turists.
"
by the year and (except in Bhadrachalam) in paddy, vary,

when commuted into money at the usual rate of 10 kunchams
per rupee, from Rs. 24 (or one anna a day) in Polavaram
to Rs. 60 (two annas, eight pies a day) in Peddapuram,
Pithapuram, Rajahmundry and Ramachandrapuram. These
labourers are also given a small varying quantity of straw and
unthreshed paddy at the end of the year, a new cloth, some
tobacco and a palmyra tree, or, if the master has no palmyras,
a gift of one rupee. They also get advances of their wages
free of interest. In Amalapuram various different customs
prevail. These rates of wages are said to have increased by
one-third or one-half in the last ten or fifteen years. Payment
is usually made at the end of the year.
The day labourer is paid from two to four annas a day,

women getting half these rates. The rates of wages were
only about half these sums a few years ago. Labour, however,
is not really scarce. The great immigration from Vizagapatam
(p. 38) has done much to supplement it, and there is no
'
labour problem as in some places, the Tanjore delta, for
'
example. The rates of interest on loans are much the same as

usual, 12 to 24 per cent, being common. Loans are often
made on the security of standing crops on the condition that
they shall be sold to the sowcar at less than the market price,
an arrangement which is known as Xhe jatti ?,ysX&ra.
— ;
92 GODAVARI.
CHAPTER V.
FORESTS.
Early Operations— Progress of reservation. Settlement— Proprietary

rights— Susceptibilities of the jungle inhes—Podu cultivation. Adminis-
tration — In Rampa— In the rest of the Agency — River transit rules—
Fire-protection — Artificial reproduction casuarina — Mangrove— Introduc-
;
tion of exotics, etc. General Character of the Forests— On the

—
coast— In the uplands In Polavaram and Yellavaram— In Rampa In —
—
Bhadrachalam Timber and the market for it — Minor forest produce
Forest revenue.
CHAP. V. The
best forests in the district are those in the Agency, and
Early trade in their timber, facilitated as it is by the waterway
Operations, provided by the Godavari river, has flourished from the
earliesttimes. The Committee of Circuit (see p. 162) refer
to as far back as 1786 and it was still in existence when
it
the Government recently began forest conservancy. The

Bhadrachalam and Rekapalle country was the chief centre.
Dealers from the plains employed theKoyasand hill Reddis
to cut timber at so much a log, or bamboos at so much a
thousand, and to drag them to the riverside, where they were
made into rafts and floated down stream to the markets ^
nearer the coast.

Progress of Forest conservancy was first begun in the Bhadrachalam
reservation, taluk,which was transferred to the district from the Central
Provinces in 1874. Soon after the transfer, the Madras Gov-
ernment threw open its forests to exploitation on the permit
system, and annually netted a very fair revenue from them.^
In 1876-77 reserves amounting to 138 square miles (subse-
quently reduced to 68 square miles) were selected in the taluk
by Mr. Boileau, the Deputy Conservator of Forests who had
been sent to the district for the purpose but the hill tribes
;
were permitted to cut whatever wood they chose for their own
use, and complaints were frequently made that they sold
timber and other produce to outside dealers. Although only
four guards were sanctioned for the protection of these
reserves, yet the average annual revenue between 1874 ^nd
1882 was Rs. 21,000, while the expenditure averaged only
Rs. 3,800. In the latter of these two years Mr. Boileau
reported very unfavourably on the condition of the forests
and Dr. (afterwards Sir Dietrich) Brandis, who was then
1 B.P. No. 1992 (Forest No. 372), dated 7lh July 1885, p. II.
^ B.P. Forest No. 222, dated 30lh July 1902.
FORESTS, 03
in Madras advising the Government regarding its future forest CHAP. V.

policy, recommended that conservancy in this takik should Early
be abandoned unless Government was prepared to introduce Operations.
the Forest Act and to sanction the reservation of large
compact blocks, capable of subsequent extension, and stated
that it was the unanimous opinion of the local officers that
grazing, fires, indiscriminate cutting and the clearings made
by the hill men for their shifting cultivation were ruining the
forests.
The Government accordingly directed Mr. J. S. Gamble,
the Conservator of the Northern Division, to inspect the taluk
and report on Sir Dietrich Brandis' proposals, and his detailed
account of the forests ^ finally dispelled any doubt as to their
importance. Mr. Gamble rearranged Mr. Boileau's reserves
and proposed new ones which brought up the forest area to
530 square miles. Most of this tract was notified under the
Forest Act between 1889 and 1891 but the large Rekapalle
;
hills reserve of 93,500 acres was not notified till 1896.
Reservation was soon begun in other taluks also. By 1893

large areas had been notified in the Peddapuram taluk and
Yellavaram division, but the major portion of the large
Polavaram forests were not reserved till 1899, and it was not
until 1901 that the forests of the district as a whole attained
their present proportions.
The marginal figures show
square miles the area of the
in
and reserved land in
reserves
Amalapuram
each taluk or division and in
the district as a whole. They
do not include Rampa, which
though containing large areas
of jungle, has for political
reasons been excluded from
the operations, and yet it will
be noticed that 737 square miles of the total of 942 square
miles is situated in the agency divisions.
The rights of Government over the forests in the Agency
have been established in different ways in different tracts.
In Rampa, the muttadars at one time claimed the right to ^Proprietary
lease out the forests, and large quantities of timber were

removed by the lessees they appointed. But it was eventually
ruled that Government stood in the exact place of the former
mansabdar of Rampa and that consequently neither the
muttadars nor the mokhasadars had any right to lease out the
jungle or fell timber for sale, and that the Rampa forests were
94 GODAVARI.
CHAP. V. the property of the State/ As however these subordinate

Settle- proprietors had hitherto been enjoying a considerable forest
revenue of which it seemed harsh to deprive them absolutely,
it was resolved in December 1892 to pay them an annual
allowance amounting to half the net average of this revenue
during the previous three years, on the understanding that
they would assist Government in the future administration of
the forest. In the Yellavaram and Polavaram divisions, no
such difficulty occurred in settling the rights of proprietors.
In the Bhadrachalam taluk the Government of the Central
Provinces had adopted, in their permanent settlement with
the zamindars, a policy regarding forests which differs from
that traditional in this Presidency. The forests and waste
lands in zamindari estates were not handed over to the zamin-
dars, but, after a liberal deduction from them (called the dupati
land) had been made round each village to allow for the
possible extension of cultivation, were declared to be State
property."
Susceptibi- Reservation was complicated not only by claims to the
lities of the
proprietary ownership of the forests, but also by the unusual
jungle tribes.
habits and susceptibilities of the hill tribes who dwelt among
them. These people, though possessing few sustainable
rights over the jungle, had from time immemorial enjoyed and
abused a general freedom to fell or burn whatever growth
they chose. The Koyas and hill Reddis lived in villages
situated on the borders of, and even within, the proposed
reserves, and for political reasons great care was considered
necessary in dealing with them. Dissatisfaction with the new
forest rules in Rekapalle was apparently the reason which had
led the Koyas of that taluk to join in the Rampa rebellion of
1879.
Podu cultiva- Both the Koyas and the Reddis lived by the shifting (podu)
tion. cultivation described in the last chapter (p. 78), making
clearings in the heart of the forest by felling and burning the
trees, cultivating them for a year or two until their first
fertility was exhausted, and then moving on to new ground.
Not only were acres of valuable forest thus felled, but the fires
lit for burning these patches spread over enormous areas. On
the other hand, reservation, to be thorough, necessitated the
exclusion of this class of cultivation from the reserved blocks
and meant a considerable curtailment of the old privileges of
the hill men, who had been accustomed to wander and burn
wherever they liked.
*See B.P., Forest No. 128, dated 6th March 1890 and G.O. No. 1280,
Revenue, dated 21st December 1892.
* See Chapter XI, p. 176.
FORESTS. 95
In the earlier stages of the forest settlement in Polavaram CHAP. V.

and Yellavaram the officers in charge of the Agency held Settle-
that reservation had been too wholesale and that the allow-
ance of jungle left in the neighbourhood of villages to provide
for the extension or rotation of cultivation and for the supply
of timber for implements and other domestic purposes was
inadequate. Mr. (now Sir A. T.) Arundel, then a Member of
the Board of Revenue, consequently visited the district in
October 1893 î^d enquired into the matter on the spot. He
came to the conclusion that the habits of the hill men had
not received adequate consideration, and it was accordingly
ordered that the Assistant Agent and the District Forest
Officer should personally investigate the complaints and see
that equitable claims were satisfied. Without laying down
hard-and-fast rules it was indicated that podus which had
long been abandoned and were covered with jungle need not
necessarily be excluded from reservation, but that well-
recognized podiis should be excluded and handed over to the
cultivators; and that for the rotation and extension of culti-
vation a sufficient extent (eight times the existing area
annually under cultivation as a maximum) should be set aside.
In Bhadrachalam the settlement was completed without
controversy. The hill men of that taluk had long been
accustomed to the idea of reservation, and considerable
leniency was shown in the provision of areas for cultivation.
It is however only in the last few years that podu cultivation
in the reserves there has been completely stopped.

Rampa, the scene of a violent rebellion as recently as
In
1879, was considered better not to run any risk of arousing
it
discontent by attempts at reservation, and the forests there

were never demarcated at all. They are still administered
on a system different from that followed in the rest of the
district.
The susceptibilities of the hill men led to cautious systems Adminis-
of forest administration throughout the Agency, all orders tration.
being issued through the Agent or his Special Assistant, but In Rampa
in Rampa methods adopted were quite distinct.
the The
country was exempted from the operation of all but section 26
of Chapter III, and Chapters V, VII, IX and X of the Forest
Act. These rendered it possible to regulate the cutting and
transit of timber, and special rules were drawn up regarding
those matters. The people were allowed to cut timber for
their own use except tamarind, jack, ippa, soap-nut, gall-nut
and mango trees but any one desirous of exporting any wood
;
had to take out a permit before doing so, to pay certain fees,
and to cart it by one or other of certain prescribed routes,
96 GODAVARI.
CHAP. V. along which inspection tanahs under the management of the

Adminis- Forest department were placed to check the exports with the
tration.
permits. These regulations still remain in force.
Minor forest produce for their own use may be collected by
the Rampa people free of all charge; but on any which is
exported, seigniorage is levied generally at the weekly markets
outside Rampa where the produce is brought for sale, and
from the traders and not from the hill men. The same proce-
dure is adopted in the case of minor produce brought out of
the Yellavaram division.
The Rampa people are also allowed to graze their own
cattle in the forest free. But owners of foreign cattle driven
to Rampa to graze have to take out permits and pay fees,^ and
the cattle have to be produced for check at the tanah speci-
fied in the permit. In 1900-OI the forest revenue from all
these sources amounted to Rs. 5,500; in 1901-02 to Rs. 9,400;
in 1902-03 to Rs. 10,800 and in 1903-04 to Rs. 6,700.
;
In the of
rest
In the Agency outside the Rampa country the forests are
the Agenc)'.
either wholly or partially reserved. In the latter, timber, as
in Rampa, may
be felled for agricultural and domestic
purposes except that certain trees must not be touched.
free,
In Polavaram nineteen species have been thus excepted, in
Yellavaram fifteen, and in Bhadrachalam nine while in this ;
last taluk Koyas and hill Reddis are allowed to fell any trees
except teak and Diospyros melanoxylon. In unsurveyed
villages any trees may be felled to prepare land for perma-
nent cultivation and any except certain species (specified in
each division) to clear it for podii. In surveyed villages the
rules usual elsewhere are in force.
Minor produce (except rela and tangcdu bark, for which

permits are required) may be gathered free for domestic use
in this class of forests in Yellavaram, and in Bhadrachalam
by Koyas and hill Reddis. Seigniorage is collected, as in
Rampa, at the weekly markets from the traders on any which
is collected for export. In Polavaram the revenue is collected
on the permit system in both classes of forest.
The grazing rules differ in the different divisions of the
Agency but in ; of them Koyas and Reddis are allowed to
all
graze their cattle free, and in all of them except Bhadrachalam
(whither cattle are seldom driven on account of its remoteness
^ This system was not insticuled till 1899, when it was found that the hill
muttadars were levying fees of this kind without authority. See the correspond-
ence in B.Ps., Forest Nos. 318, dated 28th July 1897 and 264, dated 22nd June
1899. For the subsequent raising of the fees see B.Ps., Forest Nos. 89, dated ist
March 1901 and 19, dated 28th January 1904.
FORESTS. 97
foreign cattle are charged full rates. People other than CHAP. V.
Koyas and Reddis are charged one-quarter the full rates in Adminis-
tration.
Bhadrachalam, one-half in Polavaram and one anna a head
in Yellavaram.
The game rules are in force in the Papikonda hill (Bison
hill)reserve of the Polavaram division, in order to protect the
bison there, which are rapidly disappearing. It is in contem-
plation to extend the rules in course of time to the adjoining
Kopalli and Kovvada blocks.
The Godavari (and, in a lesser degree, the Saveri) are River transit
important waterways for floating timber from forests belong- rules.
ing to other administrations. Native States, zamindars, and

private individuals outside the district. But they also flow
for many miles through the forests of this Collectorate, and
this renders much care necessary to prevent them from being
used for the illicit removal of tim'ber from the forests of this
district under the pretence that it comes from elsewhere.
Inspection tanahs have accordingly been established at which
all timber floated down these rivers is checked. Timber
brought from forests other than those in this district belonging
to Government has to be covered by vouchers signed by the
owners of the forests or responsible authorities, and the wood
is checked with these.
Fire-protection, always a difficult problem, is rendered Fire

protection.
doubly troublesome in the Agency owing to the prevalence
of the habit ofsmoking and the existence of podu cultivation
close alongside the reserves. Formerly patrols used to be
employed during the fire-season, but during the past two
years the money allotted for fire-protection has been spent in
inducing the hill folk themselves to co-operate in checking
annual rewards being granted to the people of villages
fires,
the reserves next which escaped damage from this cause.
Villages are allotted certain limits within which they are
expected to check fires by cutting lines, appointing patrols,
and observing and enforcing prohibitions against burning
podus within 100 yards of any forest boundary line, burning
the grass under ippa trees to facilitate the collection of the
flowers when they fall, and throwing down live cheroot ends.
If within the limits thus fixed a fire occurs, the villagers
concerned lose their reward. The plan has met with a fair
measure of success.
The only artificial reproduction of forests which has been Artificial re-
production
attempted is in the casuarina plantations near the coast. ;
casuarina.
Two large blocks of this tree exist, in which over 85 acres are
annually planted up. In the Kandikuppa block, in which the
rotation has been fixed at fifteen years, the planting is at
13
98 GODAVARI.
CHAP. V. intervals of six feet by six, the object being to produce long,
Adminis- straight poles for the river protection works of the Public
tration.
Works department. In the Bendamurlanka block, where the
rotation ten years, the seedlings are put out at an interval
is
of nine feet by nine. In both areas thinnings are made after

the fifth year to admit light to induce increase in girth and ;
in both of them the method of reproduction employed is clear

felling and replanting.
Mangrove. The artificial regeneration of the mangrove has been
undertaken during the past three years in the Coringa reserve,
a valuable swamp forest about twelve miles from the
important fire wood market at Cocanada. Natural reproduc-
tion is hindered by the unsuitability of the ground under the
trees, which, being raised year after year by silt, becomes
hard and dry during the season (the north-east monsoon)
when the seed falls, and allows the seed to be carried away
by the tide before it can take root. The higher and drier
portions give very little hope of ever being restocked with
anything except inferior species of tilla (ExccEcaria Agallocha)
which coppices freely. The mangrove itself gives poor result
from coppicing, and consequently, in the lower and softer
portions of the swamp, sowing and dibbling have been largely
resorted to. The seed is sown broad cast wherever the sea
recedes enough to leave the ground bare and the latter is soft
enough for the seed to sink in while where the surface is
;
hard or permanently covered by water, the slower and more

costlymethod of dibbling in the seed is followed. About 600
acres have been sown in three years at an average cost of
twelve and a half annas per acre.
Introduction Experiments made with exotics and foreign varieties have
of exotics,
elc.
Log-wood plants raised from
not given satisfactory results.
seed imported from Jamaica have been put down in the
Coringa swamp forests in different localities, but without
Success. Attempts have also been made to re-stock elevated
parts of the same marsh with dry-land species, but owing to
want of rain the result was very disheartening. In the Pegha
reserve in Bhadrachalam taluk some 25 acres; were sown with
teak seed from Coimbatore in August 1903, but a year later
only 500 seedlings were to be found.
General The character of the forests of the district naturally differs
Character widely in different localities. Along the tidal creeks of the
OF THE Godavari river near the coast runs a mangrove jungle which
Forests.
extends southwards from Coringa for a distance of about 35
On the coast.
miles with an average width of five miles. About one-third
of this area belongs to zamindars and the rest to Government.
The zamindari portion is mere scrub jungle, having been
FORESTS. 99
repeatedly cut over, and much of it is a waste plain contain- CHAP. V.

ing no growth whatever. The Government portion is the main General
source of the fuel-supply of Cocanada. The species found in Character
OF THE
this forest consist chiefly of four varieties of Aviceiniias, and Forests.
of Rhizophorce, Lumnitzeras, Ceriops, and other
JEgiceras,
inferior trees. Ceriops Candolleana yields a bark {' gedara
bark') which the villagers use for colouring fishing-nets.
The barks of the other mangrove species, although said to be
good tanning materials, are not used as such, probably
because they contain a large percentage of colouring matter.
The forest is useful only for the fuel it yields.
Mangrove wood is inferior as fuel to the ordinary upland
jungle species, but Liimnitzera racemosa (though scarce) is
extremely hard and burns excellently, and the Ceriops shrub
burns even when green if the bark is removed. Sonneratia
apetala (kalingi) is a soft wood which is useful in brick-kilns
when newly cut, but rapidly rots. The worst fuel of all is the
tilla, a pithy wood full of an acrid juice which smokes more
than it burns.
Besides these natural jungles, the coast forests comprise
the two large plantations of casuarina already mentioned,
which yield firewood and poles or piles for the river-protection
works of the Public Works department. The Kandikuppa
plantation (532 acres in extent and only partially planted
at present) lies on the coast about 30 miles from Cocanada
and has direct water communication with that town. The
Bendamurlanka block (470 acres in extent) is 30 miles
further down the coast, and is nearly planted up, but has only
indirect and tortuous water communication with Cocanada.
Proceeding northward from the coast, scattered blocks of In the
uplands.
forest are met with in the Rajahmundry and Peddapuram
ranges. These chiefly contain wood fit only for fuel, though
stunted specimens of timber-yielding trees are scattered here
and there and provide small timber for building huts and so
forth. Among these latter are Terminalia to/nentosa, Diospyros
melanoxylon, Pterocarpiis Marsnpiion, Anogeissns latifolia, Lager-
stroemia parviflora, Adina cordifolia, Chloroxylon Swietenia, Lebe-
dieropsis orbicularis, Soymida febrifiiga, and a sprinkling of
young Xylia and some patches of bamboo.
dolabriformis
The Polavaram and Yellavaram are of a better
forests of In Polavaram
and Yella-
character. In Yellavaram there are 47 square miles of good
varam.
forest in which fairly large timber (three to five feet in girth)
is found, and some 96 square miles containing trees (one
and half to three feet in girth) providing timber of a smaller
kind. The principal timber species are the Xylia, Terminalia,
100 GODAVARI.
CHAP. V. Pterocarpus, Anogeissus, Chloroxylon, LagerstrcBtnia and Adina

General already mentioned as occurring further south. In the Pola-
Character
OF THE varam division, besides the above, teak (which never occurs
Forests. inYellavaram) is also met with. It may be said generally,
however, that although these forests contain large timber
trees, these are usually either in inacces-
unsound or situated
sible places. The bulk of the crop consists of small growth
which, owing to its distance from a market, is valueless either
as fuel or timber.
chief fruit-trees are the tamarind, gall-nut and ippa,
The
and these forests also contain a quantity of the thin kind of
bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictiis) which is largely used for
sugar-cane props.
In Rampa* The Rampa forests, being unreserved, have been less
studied than the others. They are in a worse condition than
those of Yellavaram and Polavaram, since unrestricted
fellings are permitted for podu cultivation, and their remote-
ness renders the extraction of any timber both difficult and
costly. Small quantities are removed on permits by con-
sumers on their borders, and the bamboos in them, which
include quantities of both Bamhusa and Dendrocalamus, are
also utilized similarly.
In Bhadra- The forests in Bhadrachalam may be divided into (l) the
cbalam. the Marrigiidem or teak range,
Rekapalle or Xylia range, (2)
and the Bhadrachalam range, of which three-quarters

(3)
consists mainly of teak and one-quarter of Hardwickia hinata.
Besides these predominant and more valuable species, large
quantities of other timber trees are found, among which are the
Termiiiaia, Pterocarpus, Adina, Anogeissus and Lagerstrcemia
already mentioned above, and likewise Dalbergia latifolia and
Terminallia Arjuna. In the Bhadrachalam and Marrigudem
ranges, the teak, Xylia and Hardwickia are either comparatively
young oj unsound, the best trees having been felled in past
years. The same is true of the less valuable species.
The
best forest left is that in the inaccessible Rekapalle
hills.For this a working plan' has been recently framed.
The examination of the growth made in connection with this
showed that over a fifth (sometimes nearly one-half) of the
crop consisted of Xylia, that Hardwickia was very rare, that,
among the inferior timber trees Lehedieropsis orbicularis was
prominent, and that the rest of the forest was mainly made up
of the trees already mentioned as prevalent in this part of
the district, together with Albizzia odoraiissima and A. procera.
^ See B.P., Forest No. 222, dated 30th July 1903.

FORESTS. lot
The found on the plateaus and in elevated CHAP. V.

finest stock is
and the size of the trees increases as one General
situations generally,
Character
goes northwards; but the growth along the western edge and OF THE
near enclosures has greatly deteriorated from having been Forests.
subjected to excessive podii cultivation. Great difficulty is
experienced in putting the working plan into practice, owing
to the difficulty in extracting the produce from the more
remote parts of these hills.
At present the Bhadrachalam forests give no large timber. Timber and
the market
Teak is rarely obtained in logs more than 30 inches in girth for it.
and 25 feet long, and even then crooked, unsound, knotty
is
and fibrous, and, except for boat-building, is unable to compete

in the markets with Burma teak. That from Marrigudem,
however, is prettily grained and suitable for furniture.
Tertninnlia tomentosa (nalla maddi) is procurable in about the
same sizes and is useful for building Dalhergia latifolia ;
(iruguduchava) is usually in shorter logs and is poor, unsound

in the centre, and chiefly employed for furniture; and t^tero-
carpus Marsupium (yegisij is procurable from 10 to 1 5 feet in
length and from 4 to 5 feet in girth and is much used for
planking, ceiling-boards and the like.
The chief markets for timber are Rajahmundry and
Cocanada. Of these, the first is much the more important,
and the timber is taken thence to Cocanada, Bezwada,
Masulipatam and Ellore, as well as to smaller depots at
Narasapur, Amalapuram and Ramachandrapuram.
The bulk of the marketable minor forest produce comes Minor forest
from the Rampa and Yellavaram forests, Bhadrachalam and produce.
Polavaram producing very little. Tamarind, gall-nuts, mix

vomica, honey, wax, soap-nut, sikdy, platter leaves and skins and
horns are the chief items, and the bulk of the revenue under
this head is derived from tamarind and gall-nuts. The chief
markets are again at Rajahmundry and Cocanada, whence
the produce is distributed to many parts of India, Ceylon and
Europe. Large quantities of nux vomica and gall-nuts are
sent to London and Hamburg wax goes to London, Colombo,
;
Calcutta and Bombay horns to London and France skins

; ;
to Madras ;and sikdy to Madras, Cuddalore and Tuticorin.

Most of the other produce is consumed locally.
The total revenue from the forests of the district amounted Forest
revenue.
in 1904-05 to nearly two lakhs, of which Rs. 56,000 were
derived from the sale of bamboos, Rs. 43,000 from minor
forest produce, Rs, 35,000 from timber, Rs. 27,000 from fire-
wood and charcoal, and Rs. l6,000 from grazing-fees and the
sale of grass for fodder.
—
102 GODAVARI.
CHAPTER VI.
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE.
Arts and Industries — —

Silk-weavers Cotton-weavers their numbers Their
; —
— — —
methods Tape-weaving Gunny-weaving Cotton-dyeing Chintz-stamping —
— — — —
Mats and tattis Metal-work Painting Pith-work Musical instruments —
— — — —
Wood and stone carving Ropes Oils Tanning Shoes Baskets — —
—
Bangles Pottery — Country —
sugar - Mercury House-building Printing- —
—
presses Rice-mills — —
Indigo factories Ship-building— Do wlaishweram work-
—
shops District Board Workshops at Cocanada— Samalkot distillery and
sugar-factory —Dummagiidem lace. —
Trade Markets Grain-dealing —
— — —
Exports Imports Trade of Cocanada The harbour Port conser\-ancy —
European business houses at Cocanada — European Chamber of Commerce
Steamers visiting the port —Amount of trade — Character of trade.
Weights and Measures — Goldsmiths' weights — Commercial weights
Measures of capacity — Miscellaneous commercial notations— Lineal measures
— Land measures — Measures of time — Local monetary terms.
CHAP. VI. As in other districts, agriculture and the tending of flocks
Arts and and herds employ the very large majority of the population.
Industries. This is especially the case in the Agency. Precise statistics
are not available for the district as it stands at present, as
the census of 1901 was taken before its limits were altered.
Agricultural methods have been referred to in Chapter IV
above, and the breeds of cattle and sheep in Chapter I. Of
the arts and industries, weaving employs a larger number of
hands than any other.
Silk-weavers. The weaving of silk is done on only the smallest scale.
Silk borders are often given to cotton cloths, but the pure silk
cloths worn in the district are imported. The best come from
Benares and Calcutta, but commoner kinds are brought from
Ganjam and elsewhere by local merchants and pedlars.
Silk is rarely employed for ordinary wear, but is very
commonly used by the higher castes for what are called madi
cloths, that is, the ceremonially pure garments which are worn
at home at meal times. The only silk fabrics made locally
are the turbans and kerchiefs made by a few Devangas and
Karnabattus at Peddapuram. These seldom sell for more
than Rs- 10. The silk is obtained from Calcutta and Bombay
and is dyed locally with violet, red, green and yellow aniline
dyes. These colours are popular; and, since the cloths are
not often washed, the fugitive character of the aniline pig-
ment does not matter. This industry is a small one, and does
not appear to be increasing.
;
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE. 103
Though silk-weaving is rare, the manufacture of cotton CHAP. VI.

cloths largely carried on. Almost every other village in
is Arts and
Industries.
the plains contains a few weavers, and a fair number of them
possess a large contingent. In Rajahmundry some 400 house- Cotton-
holds are so employed, in Jagannapeta (Nagaram taluk) 300, weavers;
their
and in Tuni, Peddapuram, Bandarulanka (Amalapuram), numbers.
Uppada and Kottapalli (Pithapuram division) about 200
households. Four other villages each contain 100 weavers
and in about twenty other places the number of the craft is
considerable. In the days of the East India Company, the
exportation of cloth from the district was very large. Some
seven lakhs of rupees were paid annually by the Company
for local fabrics, and in some years the figure rose above ten
lakhs, and in one year touched fourteen. The abolition of
the Company's cloth trade had a most prejudicial effect on
the weaving industry, and so on the prosperity of the district
as a whole. The value of the piece-goods exported in 1825-26
was over fourteen lakhs in 1842-43 it was less than two. In
;
the import of cotton fabrics from Europe which followed,

Godavari shared to a much less extent than some other
districts. English calicoes and longcloths are not now more
popular there than the country fabrics, nor cheaper, and the
use of them is very limited.
Most of the locally-woven cloths are white, and a visitor Their
from the south cannot fail to be struck with the rarity of inethods.
colour in the dress of the women. The men's cloths are

often red, but the dye is applied after, and not before, the
weaving. Of recent years the manufacture of coloured cotton
tartans (lungis) for Muhammadans has been taken up by
some of the weavers in a few centres. The white cloths worn
by the women sometimes have coloured borders, but these are
generally of the simplest kinds. They are very rarely of silk,
but not uncommonly of lace,' that is, gold or silver thread
'
and the borders at the ends are sometimes embroidered with

simple patterns in lace. This class of work is done at
Uppada, Kottapalli and Mulapeta in Pithapuram, at Totara-
mudi in Amalapuram and by a few weavers in Tuni and
Rajahmundry.
The texture of the local work is often exceedingly fine.
In Kottapalli and Mulapeta the weavers use counts as high as
200s, and lOOs, 130s and 150s are employed in a good many
places. The Kottapalli and Mulapeta fabrics are locally
called Uppada cloths, and under that name are well known
as far south as Tanjore, and are said to be sent even to
Calcutta and Bombay. Their prices run up to Rs. 10.
104 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VI. There is hardly anything worthy of mention in the

Arts and methods of the local weavers. These are extraordinarily
Industries.
simple everywhere, and form a remarkable contrast to the
complications entailed by the more elaborate work done in
the great weaving centres of the south. Where special
patterns are embroidered on the loom, the warp is given the
necessary changes by the laborious method of picking out
with the hand, at each passing of the shuttle, the threads
which have to be lowered or raised. The great majority of
the weavers are Devangas by caste. In Kottapalli and
Mulapeta Pattu Sales monopolize the work while there are a
;
few Padma Sales in Cocanada taluk, some Sales in Samalkot

and Peddapuram, and some Karnabattus in the last-named
place.
Tape- Tape for the cots so universally used in the district is
weaving.
largely manufactured, both in a number of scattered villages
and in the Rajahmundry jail. It is woven from white cotton,
and is of from half an inch to three inches in breadth. The
work is usually done by Devangas, but in the central delta
Bogams (the dancing-girl caste), and elsewhere a few men of
the Singam sub-caste of the Sales are also engaged in it.
Gunny- Gunny-bags are woven from hemp by a few Perikes in
u caving. Vangalapudi and Singavaram in the Rajahmundry taluk.
Cotton- The dyed cloths for men already mentioned are sold in
dyeing.
quantities in the district and are also exported by the
Cocanada merchants to Bombay, Calcutta and Rangoon.
The places best known for this dyeing industry are Golla-
palaiyam (in Cocanada taluk), where some 70 men are
employed, and Cocanada and Samalkot, where the number of
workers is about 30. Most of them are Kapus, and the next
most largely represented caste are the Tsakalas, or washer-
men. A few Rangaris and Velamas also assist. None of
them weave the cloths themselves.
The most popular colours are red, dark blue, and pink, or
'
rose as it is called. There are three shades of red, two of
'
blue, and several of pink. Aniline and alizarine dyes,

bought in packets or casks, are always used. In Cocanada
chay-root (siriveru) was employed until recently for red, but
was abandoned because it involved more trouble and expense
than the imported dyes. Black is still made sometimes with
iron filings.
The methods of dyeing are much the same as elsewhere,
the cloth being treated with oil emulsified with the ashes of
certain pungent plants, soaked in a mordant (generally a
solution of gall-nuts or alum) and then boiled in a pot of dye
to which the dried leaves of sundry jungle shrubs, believed CHAP. vi.
to brighten the colour, have been added. Arts xhd
The same castes which do this dyeing also engage in the ^^^^^f^'^^-
stamping of chintzes. Only two colours, red and dark blue. Chintz.
are used- The former is made with imported dyes and the *^^'"P^°e-
latter sometimes from iron or from copper sulphate. The

processes are again the same as elsewhere. The pattern
desired is stamped with a pattern-block which is pressed on
a pad soaked in a mixture of alum and gum. The fabric is
afterwards immersed in boiling dye and then washed in clean
water. The dye only takes where the alum mordant has
affected the cloth, and washes out of the other parts. Some-
times the whole cloth is soaked in the mordant and then
stamped with the dye itself. White spots on a coloured
ground are produced as follows: The spots are stamped
on the cloth with a pattern-block dipped in hot wax, and the
whole cloth is then dipped into the dye-tub. The dye does
not act where the cloth is protected by the wax spots, and the
parts under these latter come out white. The wax is then
removed by boiling the cloth.
Mats of grass are seldom made, the small demand being Mats and
'^"'^'
supplied from Madras and Bastar State. Plaited mats of
palmyra, date and cocoanut leaves, and of split bamboo, are
largely manufactured. Those of cocoanut leaves are chiefly
made in the central delta, and the others everywhere in the
plains. The date mats are generally used for packing, the
cocoanut mats for tattis, and the palmyra mats for covering
floors or, by the lower classes, for sleeping on. The first are
made by Idigas and Yerukalas the second by Malas and
; ;
the last by Madigas and (more rarely) by Idigas split bamboo

;
work is done by Medaras.

Some 25 Malas weave kas-kas tattis at Samalkot. These
are made of a scented grass called vettt verii, found in some of
the tank beds, and supply the local demand at Rajahmundry
and Cocanada.
Metal vessels for household use are only manufactured Metai-Mork.
on a very small scale. Kamsalas have a monopoly of the

industry, which stagnant, if not declining. Brass or bell-
is
metal vessels are made by a few families in Cocanada, Golla-

mamidada (in Cocanada taluk), Tuni, Ragampeta (in Pedda-
puram taluk), Pithapuram, Dowlaishweram, Rajahmundry and
Peddapuram. At Marripiidi in the Peddapuram taluk ten or
twelve men make bells of bell-metal. Copper is worked only
by the Kamsalas of Cocanada. Vessels of lead and silver are
made in that town and Amalapuram and lead vessels by a
;
few men in Rajahmundry and Peddapuram. Metal-work of

14
io6 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VI. all sorts is imported in large quantities from the Vizagapatam
Arts and district, especially from Anakapalle and Yellamanchili, and
Industries.
hawked for sale at all the important festivals.
Of the local manufactures, the brass-work of Peddapuram
and the bell-metal work of Pithapuram and Rajahmundry are
of good quality and well known. The bell-metal vessels are
always cast, but the brass ones are made of three or more
pieces soldered together. The lead-work is cast at Rajah-
mundry, but everywhere else both lead and silver vessels are
hammered out of one piece.
Besides the manufacture of household vessels, a little
ornamental metal-work is done at Rajahmundry, Cocanada,
and Peddapuram. At the two former places brass and copper
armour and canopies are made for idols, and at Peddapuram
and Dowlaishweram idols of copper are made. In both cases
the work is first cast, and then finished with the chisel.
Painting. A little painting of a rude kind is done in the district. At

Gollapalaiyam (eight miles south-south-west of Cocanada) a
family of Kapus paint Hindu gods on curtains and punkah
frills with a good deal of skill. Their only tool is a short
sharp stick with a piece of cloth tied near the end; the point
is used for drawing the outlines and the cloth for applying
the colours, which are imported from Europe. Their work
was considered worthy of being sent to the Delhi Durbar
Exhibition, and they say that it is in demand in China,
whither it is exported from Yanam. Two Muchis execute
frescoes on walls at Rajahmundry, and one of them paints on
cloth. A Muchi of Antarvedi in Nagaram taluk also paints
figures on cloth gummed on to wood.
Pith-work. A little inferior pith-work is done by a few Muhammadans
at Nagaram and Jagannapeta. They make flowers and
images out of sola pith.
Musical Tamburas and vinas are made (by one Kamsala at each
instruments. Pithapuram and Rajahmundry, and also at Rajavolu,
place) at
Sivakodu and Tatipaka in Nagaram taluk. The sounding-
boards are carved out of solid blocks of wood. Teak and
jack are used, but preferably the latter. The work done at
Sivakodu is good.
Wood and Wood-carving of excellent quality is done in a number of
stone
carving.
places. considerable villages there are a few
In almost all
Muchis or Kamsalas who can carve furniture and door-frames,
and make the vdhanams, or carved platforms on which gods
are carried. The work at Cocanada, Draksharamam, Rajah-
mundry, Dowlaishweram and Sivakodu is especially note-
worthy.
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE. 10/
A few stone-carvers are to be found at Rajahmundry, CHAP. VI.
Jegurupadu in the same taluk, Venkatayyapalaiyam in Rama- Arts and

chandrapuram, and Vubalanka in Amalapuram. They chiefly
make images of the gods. The Jegurupadu work is well
known in most parts of the district.
Ropes are made from the fibre of the cocoanut and palmyra Ropes,
palms and the sunn hemp and jute (gogu) plants. The
'
'
coir ropes are mostly made in the central delta, especially at

Bendamurlanka, Ambajipeta and Peruru. Large amounts of
hemp, palmyra and date fibre are also sent to Europe from
Cocanada.
Very large quantities of gingelly, castor and cocoanut oils Oils.
are manufactured. The castor oil is generally made in iron

mills in regular factories. There are twelve or thirteen of
such factories at Cocanada, four or five at Rajahmundry and
Peddapuram, and others at Pithapuram, Tuni and Dowlaish-
weram. Gingelly oil is made in a factory at Tuni but every- ;
where else both it and cocoanut oil are made in the ordinary
wooden mills. These are much smaller than those of the
southern districts, are put up in the back-yards of houses, and
are worked by a single bullock which is usually blindfolded
to prevent its getting giddy from going round in such a small
circle. Cocoanut oil is made in large quantities at Ambaji-
peta,Bodasakurru, Peruru and Munjavarapukottu in the
Amalapuram taluk. The oil-making castes are the Telukulas
(who correspond to the Vaniyans of the south), Kapus and
Idigas. Gingelly oil is commonly used for cooking and oil
baths, cocoanut oil for the same purposes (especially in the
central delta) and as a hair-oil, and castor oil for lighting.
This being ousted by kerosine, and considerable quan-
last is
tities of it are exported. Castor and cocoanut cake are used
as manures, especially for sugar-cane, and the former is
exported to Cochin and Colombo for use on tea and coffee
estates. Gingelly cake is given to cattle and is also used in
curries. Curry made with it is a favourite dish with both rich
and poor and is even off'ered to the village goddesses.
Coarse leather for the manufacture of country shoes is made Tanning.
by the Madigas all over the low country. Their method of
tanning it is very elementary. The hides and skins are
soaked in a solution of chunam to remove the hair, then in
clean water for a day, next for ten days in a decoction of the
bark of the babul (Acacia arabica) tree, and finally they are
stitched into bags, which are filled with babul bark and
soaked for a week in water.
In Rajahmundry three tanneries, owned by Labbais from
the Tamil country, work in a less primitive fashion. The
io8 GODAVARI.
CHAP. hides and skins are first soaked in clean water for a night,
VI.
Arts and then in chunam and water for twelve days so that the hair
Industries.
may be easily scraped off, next in clean water for two
days, then for two more days in chunam and water, next
in a decoction of tangedu (Cassia auriailata) bark for a fort-
night, and finally in a solution of gall-nut for three days.
They are then rubbed with gingelly oil and are smoothened
by being scraped with a blunt copper tool. Most of the
leather thus produced is exported to Madras.
Shoes. Rough shoes of home-tanned leather are made by Madigas
in almost the low-country villages. Those produced in
all
Siripalli in the Amalapuram taluk are well known. Sana-
palli-lanka in the same taluk had formerly a name for this
industry. Good boots and slippers, excellent native shoes
and Muhammadan slippers (saddvu) are manufactured ini
several centres. The common work is done by Madigas, and

the better class by Miichis, who ornament the Muhammadan
slippers with elaborate designs in silk and bits of metal. The
handiwork of the latter is exported to Hyderabad and Ran-
goon through the local Muhammadan merchants. Cocanada
and Rajahmundry are the chief centres of the industry, but
the work at Peddapuram is good, and some is done at Samal-
kot, Tuni, Pithapuram and Dowlaishweram. Good boots
and slippers are also made at the Rajahmundry jail.
Baskets. Baskets are made from date fibre, palmyra leaves and
split bamboo by Yerukalas, Madigas and Medaras respect-
ively, and from rattan by Yerukalas in parts of Pithapuram
taluk.
Bajigles. Black glass bangles are made in several villages, notably
' '
by a few Linga Balijas in Sitarampuram and Hamsavaram in

the Tuni division and at Ragampeta in Peddapuram and by
some Kapus in Duppalapudi in Rajahmundry. At Ragampeta
the Linga Balijas also blow simple flasks or retorts of this
'
glass,' which are used in making sublimate of mercury (see
below) in the neighbouring village of Jagammapeta. The
'
glass is imported from Nellore or Madras, and is manufac-
'
tured by lixiviating alkaline earth, allowing the salts to crys-

tallize out in the sun, and heating them in a crucible for some
hours with flint and bits of broken bangles. The vitreous
mass so produced is melted in this district in circular furnaces
and the bangles are made by taking a small quantity of the
molten glass on the point of an iron rod, which is then
'
'
twirled rapidly round until the glass assumes a roughly

annular shape. This ring is transferred, while still glowing,
to a heated conical clay mould, which the workman twists
rapidly round with one hand while with the other he shapes
the ring into a bangle with a resembling an ordi- CHAP. VI.

tool
nary awl. The finished article decorated with a Arts and
is often
Industries.
coating of lac, and into this are sometimes stuck bits of
tinsel or looking-glass. Better class bangles are all imported,
many of them from Bombay.
Ordinary earthen pots are made everywhere, and a few Pottery,
potters at Rajahmundry make good water-bottles (gujas) out

of a mixture of white alkaline earth (suddamannu) and ordinary
potter's clay. The earth is said to be brought by Gollas from
Punyakshetram in the same taluk.
a village called
At Rajahmundry a few families of Devangas make sugar- Country
sugar.
candy and soft sugar. White crj'stallized sugar is made in
the Deccan Sugar and Abkari Company's factory at Samalkot
referred to below. Natives of the district are said to have
some prejudice against this sugar because it is clarified with
bone charcoal, but the prejudice disappears if it is converted
into sugar-candy or soft sugar (hura). The factory sugar is
' '
therefore boiled in water, with the addition of a little milk,

until it attains a treacly consistency, and is then poured into
shallow plates, where it is left for ten days. It crystallizes in
these into sugar-candy, and the liquid which remains among
the crystals is again boiled with the addition of a little water,
and is then well stirred with a wooden instrument until it
turns into soft sugar. A
precisely similar industry exists at
Hindupur in Anantapur district, and no doubt elsewhere.
Some five or six persons, mostly Devangas, make white Mercury.
sublimate of mercury at Jagammapeta in the Peddapuram
taluk. Four variellies are made, namely hasmam (a white
crust), a white solid substance called kdrpuram, and a red
powder of two kinds, one called sindiiram and the other
shadgimam. The hasmam is made by heating salt and quick-
silver in the proportion of one to five for fifteen or sixteen hours,
with a pot inverted over the mixture. The fumes form a crust
on the inverted pot, which is the basmam. This is then put in
retorts of bangle glass '
which are coated with mud, and
'
heated for the same period, when it turns into kdrpuram.

Sinduram is obtained by mixing quicksilver, sulphur, and
ardhalam (mineral arsenic) in the proportion of one, one-half,
and one thirty-second, and heating them for one and a half
hours. The resultant matter is pounded in a mortar, and
then heated in a retort like the hasmam. For sliadgu/iam,
quicksilver and sulphur are taken in the proportion of two to
one and are pounded in a mortar; the mixture is then heated
in a retort like the hasmam, only for a longer period. The
quicksilver is got from Bombay and Calcutta. The existence
of a large supply of cheap wood fuel in the neighbourhood is
no GODAVARI.
CHAP. VI. a great advantage in this industry, and is not improbably the
Arts and cause of its existence here.
Industries.
The house-building is much studied in the district.
art of
House- In every largetown there are professional architects. Those
building.
of Rajahmundry and Dowlaishweram are well known and are
employed in all the low-country taluks.
Printing- There are five printing-presses at Cocanada and the same
presses.
number at Rajahmundry. Except two of those at Cocanada,
namely the Sujana Ranjani press and Messrs. Hall, Wilson
& Co.'s press, both of which employ about 25 men, these
are very small affairs.In the former of the two, vernacular
books and two Telugu periodicals, one weekly and one
monthly, are printed and the latter carries on a general
;
business. Another monthly Telugu newspaper is printed at

another press at Cocanada, and two more at Rajahmundry.
At the latter town a weekly and a fortnightly paper are
printed in English.
Rice-mills. Several large rice-husking mills are at work in the district.
The most important is that owned by the Coringa Rice Mills
Company at Georgepet near Coringa, which employs a hun-
dred men. There are also three more in Cocanada and four
in Rajahmundry, two of which are not now working Another
at Amalapuram has also stopped work for the present. The
mills buy the paddy outright and export the husked rice, and
do not husk paddy for payment, as is sometimes done.
Indigo There are several indigo factories in the Amalapuram
factories. taluk, of which seven employ 30 men or more in the
season. Those at Velanakapalli and Ayinavalli employ 75
and 150 hands respectively.
Ship- At one time a large ship-building industry was carried on
building. in Tallarevu on the Coringa river. Some two generations
ago, it is said, about a hundred big ships used to be built, and
four times that number repaired, every year and boats came
;
for repairs even from Negapatam and Chittagong. What

with the increasing use of steam, and the silting up of the
Corirga river, the industry is now almost dead. As recently
as 25 years ago, it is said, ten or fifteen sea-going boats were
built every year and some fifty repaired, but in 1903 only five
were built, in 1904 only one, and in 1905 none at all, while only
two ships were repaired in 1903 and in 1904. The boats built
and repaired were native brigs of a hundred tons or so.
Dowlaish- Of the enterprises managed by European capital, the most
weram important are the Public Works workshops at Dowlaish-
workshops.
weram, which comprise a foundry, and carpenters', fitters' and
smiths' shops. They employ a daily average of 145 men, and
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE. Ill
during the calendar year 1904 turned out work to the value of CHAP, VI.
Rs. 1,63,600. The output consists chiefly of wood and iron- Arts and
work and furniture for buildings constructed by the depart- Industries.
ment; wooden and iron punts and staff boats for use on the
canals repairs to steamers and other floating plant lock gates,
; ;
sluice shutters and gearings and repairs to engine boilers

;
and machinery belonging to the department-. The shops also

undertake work for other departments, municipalities, and
private persons. These are charged ten per cent, on the cost
of the raw materials plus fifteen per cent, on the total cost
of the work.
The District Board also has workshops of its own. These District
are at Cocanada, and the work done in them consists of such Board work-
shops at
items as the construction of iron and wooden ferry boats Cocanada.
and ballacuts, small iron bridges, doors
and windows, office
furniture and iron sheds for markets (of which latter a large
number have been made), and of repairs to tools and plant,
including the steam road-rollers and the two steam ferry-
steamers owned by the District Board. The shops are in
charge of an overseer, subject to the control of the District
Board Engineer, and all the hands are temporary men on daily
wages. The value of the work turned out in 1903-04 was
approximately Rs. 30,000, inclusive of materials.
An important industrial undertaking exists at Samalkot in Samalkot
the works of the Deccan Sugar and Abkari Company, Limited, distillery and
sugar-
established in I897 and at present under the management of factory.
Messrs. Parry & Co., Madras. Excellent plant and buildings
have been erected about half a mile south-west of the railway-
station, and the capital of the company is ten lakhs. The
manufacture of both refined sugar and spirit is carried on, and
about 400 men are employed daily. Sugar is extracted from
jaggery by the usual process, and the final residue molasses
form the staple material of the distillery. Both palmyra and
cane jaggery are used, the bulk of them being obtained in
this and the surrounding districts. Three kinds of sugar are
manufactured ; namely, a white granulated, a soft, and a
brown sugar, and the total output in 1903 was 8,6oo tons. In
the distillery two stills and a rectificator are in use, and the
usual method of spirit manufacture is employed. During
1903, 198,000 gallons of proof spirit were manufactured.
Arrack is supplied from the distillery to this district and
Kistna, Nellore and Cuddapah, for the supply of which the
company hold the contract. Two artesian wells have been
recently sunk in the company's compound.^
I See Chapter IV, p, 90.

112 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VI. The wife of the Rev, J. Cain, the missionary at Dumma-
Arts and gudem, has started a lace-work industry at that station which
Industries.
is known even outside India. Lace-making was originally
Dumma- taught at the Church Missionary Society's boarding-school
giidem lace.
for girls and during the famine of 1896-97 Mrs. Cain
;
encouraged the young women who had learnt the art in the
school to take it up as a means of livelihood. From that time
forth, the industry spread among the wives of the natives
round, and there are now 1 10 workers, most of whom are
Christians. Mrs. Cain pays them for their work (Rs. 70 or
Rs. 80 a week are expended in wages) and sells it in
India, England and Australia. The lace is not the pillow '
lace made elsewhere in South India, but what is called

'
'
darned net work,' which somewhat resembles Limerick lace
in appearance.
Trade. Fairs or markets are common in Godavari. There are as
Markets. many as 40 under the control of the taluk boards, and the
right of collecting the usual fees at them sold in 19O4-05 for
over Rs. 2i,6oo. Those which fetched the highest bids were
the great cattle-markets at Draksharamam and Pithapuram,
which were leased for Rs. 3,165 and Rs. 2,500 respectively;
the Tuni market, which fetched Rs. 2,010 and the Ambajipeta ;
cattle-market, which sold The markets which

for Rs. 1,625.
chiefly serve the Agency are those of Yelesvaram in Pedda-
puram taluk and G6kavaram in Rajahmundry. To these resort
the petty traders who have direct dealings with the hill men
in the interior, and, to some extent, the hill men themselves.
Grain- There are one or two centres in each taluk in which live the
dealing.
local merchants who collect grain from the ryots and either
export it themselves or sell it to other and larger merchants.
The money-lenders are generally also^ grain dealers, as their
loans are often paid in kind. A
common system, known as
that by which a ryot borrows money on the security of
jatti, is
his crops and undertakes to sell these when harvested to the
money-lender at less than the market price. Another usual
arrangement, called the vdrakam or pattiihadi system, is for a
ryot to keep a sort of running account with the money-lender,
getting small loans from time to time and clearing off the
debt, principal and interest, at harvest. Here, again, the
grain is sold at less than the market price, the difference
being about ten rupees per garce. The ryot is also expected
to graze his creditor's cattle and to supply him with vegetables
when called upon.
Exports. Almost the only of export from
noteworthy article
Godavari is its produce, but a fair
surplus agricultural
quantity of the locally woven, dyed, or stamped cotton goods
and so are the hides and skins

are sold outside the district, chap. vi.
from the tanneries of Rajahmundry. The distillery and Tuade.
sugar-factory at Samalkot also sends large quantities of its
sugar and arrack to other parts of India. Of the agricultural
products exported, rice is the largest item. Pulses, oils,
fibres of various kinds and hemp are also shipped in great
quantities.
The chief imports into the district include metal vessels, imporis.
kerosine oil, iron. European and other piece-goods, leather

and cattle.
The only considerableseaport in Godavari is the flourish- Trade of
o'^^"^
ing town of Cocanada, which serves not only the district
itself, but its neighbours to the north and south and an
extensive hinterland which includes parts of the Nizam's
Dominions.
The port of Cocanada is situated in the south-west corner The harbour.
of Coringa bay, a large but shallow sheet of water, five miles

by lying at the northernmost angle of the delta.
five in extent,
The bay something the shape of a horse-shoe and is only
is
open from the north-east. The most northerly mouth of the

Godavari flows into it on the south, where it is gradually
silting it up, and the everlengthening arm of Cape Godavari,
which is estimated to be advancing seawards at the rate of a
mile in 20 years, encloses it on the east. The rapid shallowing
of the bay has rendered it necessary for large ships to anchor
five miles from the shore to the north-east of Cocanada town,
but the anchorage is well-protected and exceptionally safe.
Goods have to be landed in cargo boats, but the channel
leading from the anchorage to the harbour itself is deep
enough to allow boats of lOO tons burden, and drawing as
much as five feet of water, to reach Cocanada at certain states
of the tide. The harbour creek which
consists of a tidal
receives the surplus of the Cocanada and Samalkot canals
and the discharge of the Bikkavolu drain and the Yeleru
river, which together enter the Samalkot branch of the creek
just below the last lock of the Samalkot canal. The harbour
shows a tendency to silt owing to deposits brought from
above; and its mouth is also with difficulty kept clear of the
sand and mud which is swept into the Coringa bay from the
Godavari on the south, from a drainage creek entering the bay
just to the north of the harbour, and in stormy weather, from
the open sea on the north-east. Two dredgers are therefore
kept constantly at work, and it has also been found necessary
to extend the mouth of the harbour by long groins. The
harbour is revetted from the bridge leading to Jaganriatha-
puram, and the revetment is continued along the groins, its
IS
114 GODAVARL
CHAP. VI. total length being 3,68o yards on the north and 3,780 yards on
Trade. the south side. Of this extent 2,700 yards of revetment and
87 yards of groin on the north and 2,500 and 260 yards of
revetment and groin respectively on the south had been
erected as early as 1855; and the groins were extended
considerably in 1887 and very largely about 1893. The chief
difficulty is experienced from the mud creek which, as just
mentioned, flows into the bay just north of the harbour mouth.
Its course and mouth have altered with the foreshore, going
further and further towards the east. This is the result of its
own action combined with the construction of the groins.
The northern wall crosses its mouth, with the result that the
silt it brings down has formed a solid sand bank along the
groin. This bank has extended with each extension of the
groin and now threatens to choke the harbour's mouth. The
groins have been given a turn to the north to endeavour to
counteract this tendency, but without success. Further means
of dealing with the difficulty are now being considered.
The port had originally four light-houses and two port

lights. The stand on the ends of the two groins,
latter still
but two of the former are no longer in use. The light-house
at Cocanada itself has not been used since 1877 (though it has
been left standing as a landmark) and the Hope Island light-
house, on what was once the most north-easterly extremity of
the delta, was abandoned in 1902. There are now revolving
lights at Vakalapudi, some five miles to the north of Cocanada,
and on the Sacramento shoal, over twenty miles south of the
present Point Godavari, to warn vessels off the point and
shoal.
Port Cocanada possesses a Port Officer, and he and his
conservancy,
establishment are paid in the usual way from port funds
chiefly derived from dues on vessels visiting the place.
'Landing and shipping dues' are also collected from the
local merchants at certain fixed rates on all cargo landed and
shipped and this money, with the rent of certain ground
;
within port limits, is devoted, as elsewhere, to meeting all

expenditure involved in the improvement of the port, such as
the maintenance of dredgers, groins and the foreshore. The
fund so constituted is administered primarily by the Cocanada
Port Conservancy Board, of which the chairman is the
Collector and the vice-chairman one of the members of the
European Chamber of Commerce. This body fixes the rates
of dues to be paid, looks after the ordinary measures of port
conservancy, and initiates measures for the improvement of
the port. Its expenditure is, as usual, under the control of the
Presidency Port Officer and ultimately of Government.
—
Several of the leading mercantile houses in the Presidency CHAP. VI.

have agents in Cocanada (among them Messrs. Ralli Bros., Tkade.
Messrs. Gordon, Woodroffe & Co., Messrs. Volkart Bros.,
European
Messrs. Wilson & Co., Messrs. Ripley & Co. and Messrs. Best business
& Co.) and in addition the head-quarters of houses at
the place is
Cocanada.
several other substantial who are engaged in
European firms,
general trade and own local undertakings of various kinds.
Messrs. Simson & Co. own a rice-mill and act as agents for
the Asiatic Steam Navigation Company Messrs. Hall, ;
Wilson & Co. are agents for the British India line and were
part-owners and local managers of the Oriental Salt Company,
which until recently was working the salt-factory at Jagan-
nathapuram Messrs. Innes & Co. are managers of the Coringa
;
Rice Mills and Messrs. Barry & Co. have a cheroot-

Company ;
factory where cheroots are made for export to Burma. There

are also a great number of native m.erchants in the town.
Indeed the mercantile importance of the place is so consider-
able that the Bank of Madras has a branch there under a
European Agent, and both native and European Chambers of
Commerce have been constituted.
The European chamber at Cocanada was established as European
long ago as 1868. Representatives of the leading European Chamber of
Commerce.
firms and the local Agent Bank
of the of Madras are members.
Its objects are '
to watch over and protect the interests of
trade, to collect information on matters bearing thereon, to
communicate with authorities and individuals upon the
removal of grievances and abuses, to decide on matters of
customs and usage and to form a code of practice
. . .
whereby the transaction of business may be facilitated,' and

it has displayed much activity in all these directions. The
practice of annually printing its chief proceedings, which was
inaugurated in 1903, is to be continued. The native Chamber
of Commerce is theoretically quite independent of the other;
but generally the two bodies work hand in hand.
The port is visited by the British India steamers, as many Steamers
as six or seven of which often call in a week by the Asiatic visiting the
;
^"'^'"
Steam Navigation Company's boats, two of which call every
fortnight and by the Clan Line steamers, three or four of
;
which come every month. The Austrian Lloyd steamers and

those of a Venetian company call occasionally.
1902-03 (see the figures in the separate Appendix to Amount
In of
this volume) the total value of the export trade of Cocanada 'âde.
amounted, in round figures, to Rs. i, 22,80,000 and that of
the imports to Rs. 25,10,000, making up a total trade of
Rs. 1,47,90,000 or £986,000. In the statistics of that year the
port takes the fifth place among those of this Presidency
Il6 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VI. being passed only by Madras (total trade 1,406 lakhs),
Trade. Tuticorin (388 lakhs), Cochin (320 lakhs) and Calicut (192
—
lakhs) and the twelfth place among the ports of British
India. The trade has naturally varied considerably in
^
different years but in only three out of the 2/ immediately

;
preceding 1902 03 did it rise above 200 lakhs in total value.

These were 1889-90 (201 lakhs), 1896-97 (216 lakhs) and
1892-93 (239 lakhs). In 1878-79 it fell below 75 lakhs, but in
no other year was the figure less than lOO lakhs. In 1903-04
the imports were valued at Rs. 38,73,000 and the exports at
Rs. 1,67,31,000, making a total of Rs. 2,06,04,000. The exports
have always been largely in excess of the imports. The
proportion in 1903-04 is fairly typical of other years.
In that year, out of a total export trade of 167 lakhs, goods
to the value of 84 lakhs were sent to ports outside India
(including Burma) and the rest to Indian ports of the latter, ;
II lakhs went to the ports of this Presidency. The foreign

export trade has generally been equal to or larger than the
Indian export trade, and often much larger. The trade with
the rest of the Presidency has always been small, and it has
very largely decreased in the last seven years, probably
owing to the competition of the railway.
In 1903-04 the foreign imports made up rather more than
half of the total import trade but the figures of that year are
;
rather exceptional, as the imports from abroad are usually

nothing like so large as those from India and Burma. In
former years the imports from other ports in this Presidency
were considerable and averaged in value about one quarter of
the total imports but, like the exports to other places in
;
the Presidency, they have much decreased in the last six

years.
Character of Of
a total foreign export trade in 1903-04 of Rs. 84,04,000,
trade.
the exports of cotton were valued at Rs. 33,93,000 of rice and ;
paddy (chiefly the latter) at Rs. 29,90,000; and of oil-seeds

(castor and gingelly) at Rs. 9,25,000. Thus these commodities
made up 73 out of the total of 84 lakhs. Food-grains
accounted for Rs. 2,02,000, oil-cake for Rs. 1,69,000, fibre - for
brushes for Rs. 1,56,000, and castor oil for Rs. 97,000. The
cotton is sent to France (Rs. 9,06,000), Holland
chiefly
(Rs. 6,42,000) and Britain (Rs. 3,32,000) as well as to several
other European countries and Japan. Rice and paddy is
> The larger ports outside this Presidency were Bombay (11,172 lakhs'),
Calcutta (10,381 lakhs), Rangoon (2,868 lakhs), Karachi (1,929 lakhs), Moul-
mein (440 lakhs\ Chittagong (283 lakhs) and Akyab (240 lakhs).
2 Chiefly palmyra fibre extracted from the thick stem of the leaf. This item
has much increased in the last year or two.
—
chiefly taken by Ceylon (Rs. 8,67,000), Reunion (Rs. 6,63,000) CHAP. VI.
the Straits Settlements (Rs. 5,23,000), Mauritius (Rs. 4,88,000) Trade.
and Japan (Rs, 2,76,000). Gingelly oil goes chiefly to Ceylon
and France, and castor oil to Britain and Russia. The fibres
and the oil-cake go almost entirely to Ceylon. An import-
ant item is tobacco, which is sent unmanufactured in large
quantities to Burma to be made up into cheroots.
Nearly the whole of the foreign import trade of 1903-04
was made up of unrefined sugar (Rs. 9,69,000), kerosine oil
(Rs. 7,47,000) and various kinds of metal and metalware
(Rs. 1,40,000). The sugar all came from Java, and the kerosine
oil from Russia (Rs. 3,32,000), the United States (Rs. 2,6l,000)
and Sumatra (Rs. 1,53,000). The metalware was chiefly from
the United Kingdom.
The coastwise import trade is small. The largest items
were gunny-bags from Calcutta (nearly five lakhs), cotton
twist and yarn principally from Bombay (some three lakhs),
kerosine oil chiefly from Rangoon (two and a half lakhs),
ground-nut oil from Madras ports and cotton piece-goods from
Bombay (each about a lakh), and cocoanut oil, also from
Madras ports, Rs. 84,000.
The coastwise export trade included thirty-six lakhs' worth

of grain and pulse of various sorts, of which five-sixths was
rice and the greater part was sent to Bombay. Nearly sixteen
lakhs' worth of tobacco leaf was sent to Burma, and gingelly
worth nine lakhs (of which two-thirds went to Burma) and
castor seeds worth two lakhs (nearly all of which went to
Calcutta) were other considerable items.
Outside the remoter parts of the Agency, where regular Weights
tables are little used, the following are the ordinary weights AND
Measures.
and measures in the district. The table employed by gold-
smiths is generally :
— Goldsmiths'
weights.
4 ^'/âi'Wi' (grains of paddy) ... = i patika.

2 pcdikas ... ... ... = I addiga.
2 addigas ... ... ... = i chtnnam.
30 chinnanis ... ... ... = i tola (180 grains.)
The ordinary table of commercial weights is as follows: Commercial

weights.
2 p ampus I ycbulam.
2 yebulams I padaJatn,
2 padalams I viss ( =5 seers, or 120
tolas).
2 visses I yettedu.
4 yetiedus I maund (of 25 lb.).

20 maunds I putti (or candy).
— —
Ii8 godavarl
CHAP. VI. In Polavaram, between the maund and the putti, come the
Weights yediimu of 5 maunds, and the pa)idiimu of 10 maunds. These
AND words are respectively corruptions of aidii tumulu, five turns '
'
Measures-
and padi tumulu, ten turns.' Wholesale merchants also buy
'
and sell in terms of bags (basthas) supposed to weigh l66 lb.
Oil and ghee are sold retail by weight in the shops, and
wholesale or retail by measure by the Telukulas and Gollas ;
milk and curds always by measure long chillies by weight, ;
and short ones by measure, though at Rajahmundry and

Polavaram both kinds are said to be sold by weight. Jaggery
and tamarind are described in kantlams in addition to the
above weights one kantlam being equivalent to nine maunds
;
everywhere in the district except at Peddapuram, where it is

ten and a half maunds. Tape is sold by weight in terms of
yettus and its submultiples (half, quarter, etc.). Fuel in large
towns is sold by the following table :
5 maunds ... ... = i Mvadi, y'edumu or pattii,
4 kdvadis ... ... = i putti.
Weights below a pattu are described in submultiples of

that weight.
The Bhadrachalam is quite different. That
table used in
taluk is and no doubt the influ-
situated above the Ghats,
ence of the Nizam's Dominions and the Central Provinces
predominates. The weights are :—
2 chataks I pavu sir.
2 pavu sirs I ardha sir (= \ seer).

2 ardha sirs I seer (= 24 tolas).
5 seers I viss.
8 visses I maund.
2o maunds I putti.
Peculiar to this taluk the selling of oil retail by weight.

is
At Polavaram Danish steel-yard is

a balance resembling the
used. One end of a longish stick is marked with notches
denoting different weights. The article to be weighed is hung
from this end of it, and the stick and article are lifted by a
string loop which fits into the notches and is tried in one after
the other of them until the stick hangs horizontally. The
notch in which the loop then lies indicates the weight of the
article.
Measures of The following table of measures is recognized, with one or

capacity.
two exceptions, in all the taluks outside the Agency :
5 tolas weight of rice ... = i gidda.
4 giddas ... ... ... = I sola.
2 solas ... ... ... = I tavva.

—
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE. IIP
2 tawas ... ... ... = I manika or seer (holds 80

tolas weight of rice).
2 manikas ... ... ... = i adda.
2 addas ... ... ... = i kunchatn (320 tolas
weight of rice).
20 kunchams ... ... = i yediimu or kdvadi.
2 yedufnus ... ... = i pandumu.
2 pandumus ... ... = i palle-putti (= 80 kun-
chams).
l\ palle-puttis ... ... = i garce {garisa) of 600
kunchams or 192,000
tolas weight of rice.
The palle-putti of 80 kunchams

is only found in the north-east
of the district, Cocanada, Peddapuram, Pithapuram and

i.e., in
Tuni. In the other parts of the district the malaka putti of 200
kunchams (three of which go to the garce) is used, but not the
yedumu or pandumu.
In Polavaram the measures used are
5 tolas weight c
;
120 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VI. It will be noticed that the Bhadrachalam gidda and tavva
Weights are twice as large as those elsewhere, and the Bhadrachalam
AND
Measures. kuncham two and a half times as large.
Ghee and oil, as already stated, are sold wholesale by
measure. The largest measure used for oil is the kuncham, and
for ghee the seer. Butter-milk and curd are measured in
small pots called miDithas. It is the practice in this district to
set milk for curd in a number of these small pots, instead of
in one large pot as is done in some southern districts, and the
pots are sold separately. There are four usual sizes of them
namely, the quarter anna, half anna, three-quarter anna and
anna munthas, so called according to the price (and so the
capacity) of each. An anna miintha holds about half a seer.
Milk is sold by the seer and its submultiples. Large quantities
of milk are sometimes spoken of in terms of the kadava or
kdvadi, which hold 20 and 40 seers respectively. Popular
phrases to denote capacity are the closed handful, called
guppedu or pidikedu, the open handful or chdredu, and the double
handful or dosed 11.
Miscel- Fruits {e.g., mangoes, plantains, cocoanuts and guavas),
laneous
commercial
palmyra leaves, and dung cakes are sold by hands,' one hand '
notations. or cheyyi being equivalent to five. Twenty cheyyis make one

salaga, and for every salaga one cheyyi extra is thrown in as
kosani or for luck.' Kosarn means bargaining.' Betel leaves
' '
are sold wholesale by the nwda. This is a varying quantity

equivalent generally to 200 or 300 leaves according to their
thickness. It is supposed to be the quantity that can be held
in the two hands, when the hands are pressed together at the
wrist, as when catching a cricket ball. The leaves are sold
retail by the katta, which contains lOO leaves.
Lineal The old native scale of measures is in use alongside with

measures
the English inch, foot and yard. The native scale is :—
I angida ... ... ... = the breadth of a man's
thumb, or f inch.
12 ... ... = I y'tt/zfl (span).
= I mura (cubit).
= I hara (fathom).
= I kbss {7\ miles).
1= I nmada (about nine
miles).
6 kosscs ... ... ... = 1 majlH (march, or halt-
ing place ; about i;;
miles).
Besides these, there are the betta, or the breadth of four

fingers placed together, and the loditha, or half span, made by
extending the thumb and forefinger as far apart as possible. CHAP. VI.
The the distance between the tips of the fingers of the
bcira is Weights
two hands when the arms are both stretched out horizontally AND
Measures.
to their greatest extent. In describing heights and depths
above five feet or so, natives always use the terms niluvii and
ara (half) niliivu. The niluvu is equivalent to the height of an
average adult person. In the Agency chalaka and mancha,
which (see below) are really square measures, are used to
denote distances. They each represent about JO yards.
Some of these measures of length are used much more
frequently than the English standards. Thus Xhe jdna a-nd.
the miira are very commonly used for measuring cloth, and
the miira and bdra for measuring ropes. Again the koss and
the dmada are in very common use for long distances, and the
majili is not rare.
Acres and cents are only of recent introduction, and are Land
less familiar to the natives than the English lineal feet and ""^^sures
inches. The native table of land measures is the same
throughout the district except in Tuni, Bhadrachalam, Yella-
varam, Chodavaram and the wilder parts of Polavaram, and
is based on the quantity of seed required to cultivate a given
area of land. Thus a mdnadu is the quantity of land that can
be sown with a mdnika or seer of seed, and is equivalent to
about two and half cents. An addedu is five cents, a kunchedu
ten cents, an iddiimu neresa is an acre, an yedumu two acres, a
pandumu four acres, and a putti eight acres. A different and
vaguer terminology is used in Tuni. There wet land is spoken
—
of in terms of the out turn of paddy or in garces and dry
'
'
;
land in terms of the number of days it would take a pair of

—
bullocks to plough it namely in yellu or ploughs. Thus one
yeru or 'plough of dry land is the quantity of land that a
'
pair of bullocks can plough in one day, or about half an acre.

A garce of wet land is said to be about two acres.
' '
There appears to be no precise table of land measure known

in Bhadrachalam, perhaps because there is no need for one
among the inhabitants of those uncivilized parts. The
zamindars' accounts are said to be kept in acres and cents.
In the wilder tracts of this taluk and of Polavaram, and
throughout the Agency, areas are described in terms of
chalakas, maiichas and kattipodu. 7l/a«c//a is the raised bamboo
platform put up in the middle of a field, on which the watcher
sits to scare away birds and animals. The term is used to
describe the amount of land which can be commanded by one
watcher, or about two acres. The chalaka is the same as the
mancha in extent. It literally means a piece.' Kattipodu has a
'
reference to podu cultivation, and denotes as much land as

l6
— a
'''
122 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VI. can be cleared in one day by one katti or billhook. This
Weights extent is said to be about an acre.
AND
Measures. English minutes and hours are well understood and are
used equally with the native measures of time. The latter
are :
Measures 60 vigadiyas ... I gadlya (or 24 minutes.)

of time.
2 2
gadlyas I ganta (or English hour).
3 gafitas I jamu (or watch).
Of rarely, if ever, used, the term

these, the vigadiya is
being only known to the educated. Periods shorter than

twenty-four minutes are generally expressed in English
minutes or in terms of fractions of the gadiya.
In telling the time of day or night a native calculates the
number of gadiyas ov jdmiis that have elapsed since 6 A.M., or
6 P.M., as the case may be. Thus 7 12 o'clock, whether A.M.
or P.M., would be three gadiyas,' and 9 o'clock would be one
' '
jdmu or seven and a half gadiyas.'

' '
There are also, however, in this as in every other district,

a number of expressions in common use which denote various
times of the day. Those which occur most frequently here
are the rising of the star Venus
'
(tsiikka podichetappudu), '
which is of course variable the time when the first cock ;

'
crows (3 A.M.)' the time when the second cock crows

;
'
(4 A.M.) the time to begin ploughing (6 A.M.)

;
'
cock-crow '
;
'
time'; the time to sprinkle cow-dung-water' and the time

' '
to make butter-milk,' both of which indicate 6 A.M.; 'the

time to milk the cows (7 A.M.) the shepherds' breakfast '
;
'
time (9 or 10 A.M.); 'the time to let the cattle out to graze,'

'
which is very variable the time when the feet burn ;

'
(midday) muppoddu vela, when three jdmtis have passed

;
'
(about 3 P.M.) time to begin cooking' (4 P.M.); sanda jdtnu,'

;
'
'
about three hours after nightfall, from sanda, evening and ;
'
the thief time or midnight. variation of the last, found
'
A
in the Agency, is the time when the cock crows at the thief.'
'
The Agency people also use the phrase jdva vein, or kanji '
time.' for 10 A.M. or breakfast time and sometimes call it ;
muntlia vela, or 'porringer time,' from the vessel in which

they eat it.
Local mone- Besides the ordinary currency, cowries (gavvalu) are very
tary terms.
commonly used in making small purchases throughout the low
country, except in Pithapuram and Tuni. They are imported
from Bombay and sold by weight. Ninety-six cowries make
one three-pie piece but there are a number of terms denoting ;
smaller numbers. Thus 4 cowries = I punjam ; 3 pimjams =

I toli ; 2 tolis = I dammidi (three-quarters of a pie); 2 dammi-
dis = egdni (or 1 5^ pies); 2 egdnis — I dabbu, kdni, or kott
ddbbu, which are the ordinary names for a three-pie piece. CHAP. VI.
The value of a cowry, punjam and toli are not absolutely Weights
AND
constant, but vary slightly with the market price of cowries. Measures.
The dahhu is also a term of varying application. In Pitha-
puram, Tuni, and the Agency it means four pies, and is
synonymous with a pdta dabbu (' old dabbu ')• In this case an
egdrii means two pies and a dammidi one pie but the kdni and ;
the kotta dabbu (' new dabbu ') still denote three pies.
For sums above an anna a variety of curious terms are
used. Thus,
4 koiâ dabbus ... ... = I anna.
2 annas ... ... ... = I beda.
2 bedas ... ... ... = I pdvula or dulam (:=4 annas).
16 pata dabbus ... ... = tankamu (or 5 as. 4 ps.).
2 pavulas ... ... = half rupee or chavulam.
3 pavulas ... ... = niuppavula (12 annas),

I pdvu ... ... ... = rupee,
I mdda ... ... ... = rupees,
I vardha (pagoda) or punjl=. rupees.
I pulivardha ... ... =
rupees. r
I vanda ... ... ... = 100 rupees.

In Tuni, and perhaps elsewhere, the didam (4 annas),
chavidam (8 annas), pdvu (rupee), mdda (2 rupees) and punji,
or pagoda of 4 rupees, are used to denote percentages. Thus
if a man wants to say he is giving 6%, 12^, 25 or 50 per cent,
he will say he is giving a dulam (one-sixteenth of a pagoda),
chavulam (one-eighth), a pdvu (one-quarter) or a ?ndda (one-half)
respectively. No doubt the use of the pagoda as a unit of
reference is the cause of the name pdvu for a rupee, the word
literally meaning *
a quarter.'
In Bhadrachalam, besides the usual British Indian coins,
those of the Nizam's Dominions are also in common use.
—
124 GODAVARI.
CHAPTER VII.
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
Roads — Their length and condition — Quarries — Maintenance, establishment and

allotments — Bridges — Ferries. Water Carriage — The rivers— Upper Goda-
vari project — Navigable canals; their history — Expenditure and traffic
Nature of — Conflicting interests of irrigation and navigation. Madras
traffic
Railway. Accommodation for travellers— Bungalows — Chattrams.
CHAP. VII. There are just under 850 miles of road in the Godavari
Roads. district, most of which are shaded by fine avenues. Of these,
Their lenj th 580 miles are metalled or gravelled, chiefly the former. The
and condi long lead from the quarries which has in most cases to be
tion.
paid for, makes it the best economy to carry the best material
available, and latterly gravel has for that reason been dis-
carded. The rest of the roads are repaired with earth and
sand. Nearly four-fifths of these earth roads are in the Agency
divisions of Polavaram and Bhadrachalam, the former of
which possesses less than thirty, and the latter only six,
miles of metalled road. On a good metalled road a cart will
carry 1,500 lb. at about two miles an hour; on an earth road
the load is about 1,000 lb. and the distance traversed in an
hour about one and a half miles. The metalled roads in the
uplands are generally good, and so are some of those in the
delta but the latter have great difhculties to contend with.
;
They have usually to be made on a rich alluvial soil saturated

by irrigation water for many months in the year, and the lead
for metal is nearly always long, and in some cases amounts
to as many as 40 miles. The numerous navigable canals
enable this metal to be transported at less cost than usual,
but it often has to be carted by road for four, five and even
six miles from the canal-side depots to the places where it is
required. Moreover, floods occasionally submerge the country
and do a great deal of damage, and against these it is
impossible to provide entirely except at enormous expense.
Finally the material available is not of the best, being only
laterite of fair quality.
Quarries. The metal used is obtained from the laterite
in the delta
quarries of Kadayam and
Samalkot. The uplands are as well
supplied with quarries as most other districts, and some of
those recently opened yield very good metal. Ordinarily the
only material available is laterite and sandstone of poor
quality.
—
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. 125
On the earth roads a hard surface crust is made by mixing CHAP. VII.
sand and earth with water and then tamping the mixture with Roads.
rammers. On the metalled roads the consolidation is done by Maintenance,
the District Board's two six-ton steam rollers or by hand rollers establishment
and allot-
of from two to three tons. Material is supplied, and generally
ments.
spread, by contract, but the latter work is not popular and is
only taken up as a necessary adjunct of a contract to supply.
Petty repairs are done departmentally. Road maistries are
posted to every sixteen miles of road and daily labour is
obtained when necessary. Gang coolies are not employed.
Avenue coolies are entertained to tend the nurseries and the
young trees by the road-sides. The superior establishment
consists of the District Board Engineer, two Assistant
Engineers, five overseers and nine sub-overseers.
The usual grant for the maintenance of the roads is some
Rs. 85,000. The minimum and maximum allotments per mile
are Rs. 50 and Rs. 300 respectively and the average for ;
metalled roads is about Rs. 1 10. The above figures include

Bhadrachalam but that taluk has since been excluded from
;
the operation of the Local Boards Act, and in future its roads
will be managed by the Divisional Officer at Bhadrachalam.
few bridges. This fact, and the

In the delta there are Bridges.
reason for it, by Mr. Walch
are referred to as follows ^ :
'There is probably no artificial irrigation and navigation

system, except perhaps the neighbouring one of the Kistna, in
which the provision of bridges per mile of canal and channel
is so small as in the Godavari delta.^ This has arisen from
the fact that when the works were commenced, and for long
after, there was not a single made road in the delta, and
the people were accustomed to wade through the streams
and water-courses which crossed their path-ways, or when
the water was too deep for wading to use dug-outs or rafts
. . Bridges have however been provided over the tail-
. .
bays of almost all the locks, and of late years a few have
been constructed at other places at the expense, or partly so,
of local funds.'
Matters have been considerably improved recently. In the
delta,on the main roads, bridges have now been built over all
waterways except the actual branches of the Godavari. The
minor roads, however, have received much less attention.
Outside the delta, also, some have been built
fine bridges
in recent years. Of these, that at Yerravaram, which carries
• The Engineerinî works of the Godavari Delta (Madras, 1896), p. 135.

* A very remarkable contrast is presented by the Tanjore delta, where fine
bridges are very plentiful.
126 GODAVARl.
CHAP. VII, the great northern trunk-road over the Yelera river, was
KoADs. constructed by the late Mr. P. H. Brown, M.I.C.E., District Board
Engineer,^ and was opened for traffic in 1887. It consists
of sixteen spans of 32 feet with segmental brick arches on
first-class coursed rubble piers and abutments. The bridge
over the Tuni river at Tuni, on the same road and at the north-
eastern extremity of the district, has ten spans of 30 feet. It
was built over 30 years ago by the Public Works department.
A fine bascule bridge crosses the Godavari at Coringa. It is
an iron construction 250 feet long with a 50-foot drawbridge

in the middle, and is built on solid iron piles four to five
inches in diameter and screwed down to from 30 to 45 feet
below mean sea level. This also was designed and erected
(in 1901) by Mr, Brown. The drawbridge consists of two
bascules which when raised afford an opening of 50 feet for
sailing ships. There has been no difficulty in passing through
it the largest ships which can enter the river, which run up to
500 to 600 tons. As originally constructed, it took eight men

to open and close the bascules, but recent improvements
designed and carried out by the present District Board Engi-
neer Mr. C. J. Lowry, enable each span to be easily opened
and closed by one man- The flooring is of steel trough plates
except over the drawbridge, which is floored with teak.
The only bridge across the Godavari is that at Rajah-
mundry which carries the Madras Railway and is described
below. Foot passengers are allowed to cross it. There is no
separate footway, but it is floored and provided with a hand-
rail, and there are refuges on every pier where people can
wait for a train to pass.
Ferries. The deficiency of bridges both over the Godavari and over
the many channels in the delta is supplied by ferries. The
three steam ferry-boats which at present ply on the Godavari
are referred to below. Besides these there are 34 ferries
under the control of the local boards, and eight more in the
Bhadrachalam taluk. The local fund ferries are equipped
with boats constructed by the local boards or by the Public
Works department the former contributing half the cost in
;
the case of all natural waterways. Of these boats, fourteen

are first-class, and the same number second-class, iron
ballacuts.^ A ballacut is a platform with hand-rails laid on
'
To this officer, who was the first District Board Engineer and held that post
from 1880 to 1901, the district owes the construction of most of its roads and of
many minor bridges, as well as the planting of miles of fine avenues. He also
erected the building now occupied by the branch of the Bank of Madras and St.
Thomas' Church in Cocanada, as well as a number of other public buildings,
2 Telugu balla, a plank and kattu, to tie hence *a platform.'
;
a broad-beamed punt, and is ordinarily of sufficient length CHAP. vii.

and breadth to take a cart and its bullocks. The bigger river Roads.
ferry-boats are large flats which will hold three or four carts
with their bullocks. Long boats are used at some of the lesser
ferries, and rafts laid on hollowed-out palmyra trunks (called
sangadis) at a few insignificant ones. The round boats made
of hides stretched over a bamboo framework which are
used on some of the rivers of the Presidency {e.g., the
Tungabhadra, Cauvery and Bhavani) are not employed in this
district. Across narrow waterways the boats are propelled
by poles, or, more rarely, are pulled across with the help of
a rope tied from bank to bank. For crossing the wider and
deeper channels, oars or (as sometimes on the Godavari itself)
sails are used.
Thirty-four of the local fund ferries are leased out by
auction by the taluk boards concerned to contractors, who are
allowed to charge certain fixed fees. In 1904-05 the sums paid
for the right to work these ferries amounted in round figures
to Rs. 23,300. The eight ferries of Bhadrachalam fetched
some Rs. 700 in the same year. The ferry across the
Vasishta Godavari at Kotipalli was leased for Rs. 4,020 and
that across the Vainateyam at Bodasakurru for Rs. 2,300. All
the steam ferries were sold for large amounts.
All the other local fund ferries are allowed to be used
by the public free of charge. They are managed by the
villagers, who arrange for some one to work each of them
and remunerate him themselves. For some of them the boat
or ballacut is supplied by the District Board, and in that
case the village headman is held responsible for its proper
treatment.
The Godavari river is largely used as a waterway. The Water
fhree steam ferry-boats mentioned above do much passenger Carriage.
traffic. One of them, a stern-wheel boat with compound The rivers.
engines, plies between Rajavolu (Razole) and Narasapur ;
another, a large boat with an upper deck, of the usual river-

steamer type, travels between Rajahmundry, Dowlaishweram,
Bobbarlanka, Vijesvaram and Kovvur and the third, another
;
stern-wheeler, touches at all the ferry stations on both sides

of the Godavari between Rajahmundry and Polavaram and
has recently been run experimentally as far up as Kunna-
varam, to provide communication with Bhadrachalam' These
boats are worked by crews paid by the District Board, but
are generally managed by contractors who find the fuel, etc.,
1 These are Kovviir, Arikarevala, Kumaradevam, Tallapudi, Sitanagaram

and Gutala,
128 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VII. take the passengers' fees, and pay rent tc the District Board.
Water They are inspected by the District Board Engineer from
time to time to ensure that they are maintained in a safe and
proper condition. The Public Works department has one or
two steamers at Dowlaishweram which are used by officials
for inspections or journeys on the river.
A great deal of goods and passenger traffic is also carried
on the river in native sailing-boats. These are generally
'
dhonis,' which run up to 35 tons capacity. They go up by
the Dummagudem canal referred to below when there is
enough water in the river and the canal is open (usually
from June to January), and travel a long way above Dumma-
gudem. Going up stream they sail when the wind is
favourable, and, when it is not, pole or, when possible,
tow. Coming down stream they either sail or row, or drift
with the current, rowing just enough to keep on steerage
way. Rafts of timber (see below) come down the Upper
Godavari from December to May.
Upper The project of opening up the navigation of the Upper
Godavari
project.
Godavari was first urged
° on the attention of Government in
1851. A vast amount of money was expended on it but it ;
was eventually pronounced too expensive to be remunerative,

and was abandoned.
Sir Arthur Cotton, a vigorous advocate and promoter of
water carriage, was the first to broach the subject. He
hoped that it might be possible to provide 'still-water steam
navigation from the sea to Berar,' which would be, he said,
'the cheapest line of communication in the world.' It was
decided in 1853 to investigate the project; and careful and
repeated examinations of the river were carried out.^ The
great difficulty to be overcome was the existence of three
remarkable barriers of rock, forming rapids which are only
navigable during floods. The first of these, which is nine
miles long, begins near Dummagudem, at a distance of 143
miles from the sea the second at Enchampalli, just below
;
the junction with the Indravati and 220 miles from the river's
mouth and the third, called the Dewalamurry barrier, at a
;
point 310 miles from the sea. These barriers excepted, it was
estimated that there was sufficient water in the river during
nine months in the year for steamers drawing from two to four
feet of water, according to the state of the river. The fall of
the river is moderate; and during half the year the current
was estimated to be only a mile and a half per hour, and rarely
' Among the fruits of these is Lieut. F.T. Haig's Report on tlie Navigability
of the River Godavery (Madras, 1S56), which contains ehiborate plans and
diagrams and a fund of information on the ways of the river.
—
to rise above three miles an hour. It was proposed to evade CHAP.

vii.
the obstruction caused by the barriers by cutting canals
water
provided with locks along the side of the river past the Carriage.
impassable points.
The was warmly accepted by Government, arid, on
project
their strong recommendation, was sanctioned by the Court of
Directors. It was however never completed. The estimated
cost of the whole scheme, which was designed to render the
river navigable for 473 miles above the anient for four or five
months of the year, and to open out to traffic 300 miles of its
tributaries, was £292,000. Up to 1861 £20,000 had been laid
out in preliminary surveys, etc. In 1863, when Sir Richard
Temple inspected the works, no less than £700,000 had been
spent. He recommended that the works at the first and second
barriers and up to the foot of the third barrier should be
proceeded with at an estimated cost of £255,000, so that
navigation might be opened so far; but in October 1871, at
the request of the Government of India, the whole scheme
was abandoned on the ground that it involved an expenditure
which did not give promise of any adequate return.^
It has never been revived. There is a fine lock and anicut
at Dummagudem and a canal (two miles in length) which is
still used. Cargo boats can as a rule pass through it between
June and January, and small boats throughout the year,
except when it is closed for repairs. At the second barrier
at Enchampalli, are a partly-completed anicut and the remains
of unfinished locks and excavations. The Dummagudem
works were damaged in the flood of 1900, and estimates,
amounting to Rs. 1,26,800, for repairing them were sanctioned
in 1905 and are now being carried out. It would be a great
help to navigation if the canal there could be carried down
to Bhadrachalam but the work would be difficult and costly,

;
as the excavation would be largely in solid rock.

When the Godavari anicut was being built, it was Navigable
proposed that the canals taking off from it should be so con- '^^".ais;
, , ,1
1 r •
1,
• their historv,
structed that they would serve tor navigation as well as
irrigation. Mr. Walch writes as follows on the subject - :
"Even when sending in his first general estimate with his second
report Major Cotton had said that one of the results to be expected
'
from the works which he contemplated would be that a complete '
^ Statement exhibiting the Material and Moral Progress of India during

1872-73. P 79-
2 Chapter XI of The Engineering works of the Goddz'a ri /êlta (Ma.dTa.s,
1896).
5 Dated April 17th, 1S45.
17
130 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VII. system of internal navigation intersecting the whole delta would be
Water established throughout the year.' And besides the head-locks the ' '
Carriage,
ggîjâte included a provision of one Ukh for sluices, locks, and '
other small masonry works.' The smallness of this provision, which

could not have been intended for more than half-a-dozen i or so of
even the small and inexpensive locks originally proposed, shows that
there was but a very imperfect perception on the part of Major
Cotton himself of what would be required to make the main irrigation
arteriesof the system into really efficient lines of communication.
It is not therefore to be wondered at that when the detailed estimates
for the various canals came in with large sums set down for locks and
special arrangements for navigation, the Government should have
regarded the provisions for that purpose as almost a new development
of the original intentions to which sanction had been given. The
Governor of the day, Sir Henry Pottinger, even went so far as to
'
say I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that this is an entirely novel
scheme which, so far as I recollect, had no existence in the original
project for an anicut across the Godavari.'
" But Colonel Cotton was determined that his chief canals should
be made navigable ..... and so he went on with steady
insistence, loyally backed up by the officers who followed him on the
delta works, till at last opposition to his views on the subject was
broken down, and there are now in the Godavari system alone nearly
500 miles of canals which, besides carrying water for irrigation, are
excellent lines of communication. Nor is this all from the Godavari ;
system, navigation can at three places pass into the Kistna system
with its 300 miles of navigable canals, and from it again into the
Buckingham Canal, which runs along the coast for 196 miles from the
end of the Kistna system to Madras, and for 65 miles further south.
From Cocanada to the south end of the Buckingham Canal the length
of canal navigation is 450 miles.
" There cannot be the slightest doubt that the provision for cheap
carriage, not only in and about the district itself but also to the
neighbouring districts and to an excellent sea-port, contributed
largely to the rapidity with which the Godavari irrigation developed

and the district sprang into prosperity. In this way the cost of the
works specially required for navigation has been repaid over and
over again, quite irrespective of the direct returns from boat licenses,
tolls and so on."
Expenditure The development of canal traffic has indeed been enor-
and traffic.
^^^^^^ j^^^^mr CottoH wfote in 1852, 'I should not be
g.^.
surprised if, after a few years, the district be Mêll managed

and the canals kept in good order, the traffic were to average
^ In his letter No. 184, dated 3rd August 1849, Captain Orr gives the number
required as 10. There are now 54, exclusive of head-locks.
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. I3I
50 tons a day.' The 1 893 94 amounted

traffic in to 393,725 chap. vil.
tons, or over 1,000 tons a day
and by 1902-03 it had risen to
; Water
576,643 tons, or nearly 1,680 tons a day, that is, more than Carriage.
33 times as much as that anticipated by the founder of the
canal system.
was not till 1863 that tolls were levied for the use of the
It
canals. Nowadays a considerable annual income is derived

from them. The total receipts in iqo2-03 were Rs. 85,600^
and the total maintenance charges Rs. 63,900, leaving a net

profit of Rs. 21,700. A
navigation establishment (chiefly lock
superintendents) costing Rs. 448 per mensem is kept up for
the central and eastern deltas belonging to this district. In
1902-03 fees were paid on 458,000 tons of displacement and ;
cargoes worth 230 lakhs and over 345,000 passengers were

transported on the canals. Timber rafts with a displacement
of nearly 119,000 tons also used these waterways.
The passenger traffic is carried in what are called rddhdri Nature of
traffic.
boats, long covered craft holding from 40 to 70 passengers
and entirely owned and directed by private enterprise. They
are towed by regular staffs of coolies paid monthly wages
and posted at stages of from ten to twelve miles in length.
These boats also carry produce, and are patronized for this
purpose when time is an object, as their pace averages
three miles an hour. They all start from Rajahmundry or
Dowlaishweram, and they constitute a regular boat service.
The cargo boats are numerous and range from 7 to 40 tons
displacement. They all carry sails. Their charges for cargo
are about four pies a ton a mile on the average. They are
worked by crews of two or three men and one or two small
boys, who tow, pole, or row the boats as convenient. On still
water they can sail five miles an hour. Otherwise their pace
is about three miles an hour down stream and one and a half
up stream.
The timber rafts consist mostly of logs and bamboos from
the forests of the Upper Godavari, which are lashed together
and floated down between December and May for export.
Bamboos come down in December, but timber not until
January. Of a total transported tonnage of 118,632 tons, only
418 tons were taken up stream.
The canals are used to a small extent by house-boats.
These are nearly all Government boats employed by officials,
but there are one or two private house-boats also. The only
^ These, and except where otherwise stated the following, figures are for the
whole delta system, including the part in Kistna district.
— a
132 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VII. Steamers on the canals at present are the inspection boats of
Watkr the Public Works department. Mr. Walch ^ says that :
Carriage.
'
The introduction of steam power for the transportation of freight
along the canals has often been considered, and it has to some extent
been tried without success. It cannot compete with manual labour
unless that becomes far less plentiful and cheap than it now is, and
unless canals along the chief lines of communication be maintained
along their whole lengths and at all points to a depth greater than is
now That steam or perhaps electricity will eventually

the case.
supersede towing coolies on the Godavari canals is most probable,
but this will not be for many a long day.'
Conflicting The combination of irrigation and navigation in these

interests of
irrigation and canals not entirely without its drawbacks. Their require-
is
navigation. ments are necessarily to some extent conflicting.
For irrigation, large quantities of water and consequently ot silt
'
have to be taken into a canal, and therefore the slope of the surface
must be considerable for navigation the less water taken into the
;
canal the better, and its surface should have no slope. For irrigation,
there are times when the canal should be kept low so that large
quantities of water may not have to be passed into the drainages
when they are already filled by rain-water ; for navigation the canal
should always be kept up to its full level. For irrigation, even when
the river or other source of supply is low, it is often necessary to go
on letting as much water as possible out of the canal to supply crops,
thereby reducing the level and the depth in the canal, especially at
its end ; for navigation at such times the water should be kept in the
canal so as to maintain as nearly as possible its full depth.'
These have been experienced in the Godavari

difficulties
system. On the EUore canal, which is the through line of
communication to the Kistna river system, the silting was
found to impede traffic, and the necessity of keeping enough
water in the canal for navigation caused much tempting
extension of irrigation to be abandoned. These facts were
adduced in l888 as arguments for the necessity of lightening
that canal of some of its traffic and in support of a proposal
for a railway between the Kistna and Godavari rivers —
proposal which has since developed into the North-east line
of the Madras Railway. As far as the present district is
concerned, navigation is always subordinated to irrigation,
and though every attempt is made to keep the canals full,
navigation has to take its chance when water is scarce.
Madras The only railway which traverses the district is that which
Railway. was originally called the East Coast Railway but is now
op, cit., p. 152.
known officially as the North-east line of the Madras Railway. CHAP. vii.
It enters the district from the south at Rajahmundry over a Madras
fine bridge across the Godavari, and, skirting the north- Railway.
western edge of the delta, finally runs from Samalkot parallel
with the coast till it passes out of the district at Tuni. From
Samalkot a branch runs to Cocanada, the inhabitants of
which have always protested vigorously against the chief
commercial centre on the section being thus left off the main
line. The bridge over the Godavari at Rajahmundry is one
of the finest in the Presidency. It is built of steel girders
laid on masonry piers which are sunk from 48 to as much
as 100 feet below low water level and stand over 44 feet above
that level. It has a total length of no less than 9,000 feet, or
over 1 5^ miles, between abutments, and consists of 56 spans

of 150 feet each. It was opened to goods traffic in 1900.
The railway was opened from Rajahmundry to Waltair (in
the Vizagapatam district) in 1893 and the Cocanada branch
in the same year.
In 1904 therewere altogether IIO travellers' bungalows in ACCOMMODA-
the which 79 were maintained from local funds, TION FOR
district, of
TRAVEL-
21 by the Forest department, and ten by the Public Works LERS.
department. A detailed list is given in the separate Appendix. Bungahvws.
Of the local fund bungalows, nine were in Bhadrachalam
taluk, and, since the Local Boards Act has been recently
withdrawn from operation in that tract, are now managed by
the Revenue department. Those maintained by the Forest
department are designed primarily for the use of its own
officers, but are also available for private individuals on pay-
ment of fees. Nineteen of them are in Bhadrachalam. That
taluk contains 29 rest-houses in all, and Chodavaram eleven.
These buildings are necessarily numerous in the Agency,
where only short marches are possible and tents can only be
carried with difficulty. Tuni and Pithapuram divisions only
contain three and four bungalows respectively. The accom-
modation in the travellers' bungalows ranges from furnished
and terraced buildings to empty thatched sheds, the latter
predominating. With a few exceptions, the local fund
bungalows are of an inferior type.
There are eight endowed chattrams under the management
Chattrams.
of the local boards, six of which have considerable incomes.
Their total annual revenues are some Rs. l8,000. They were
all bequeathed by private individuals to the taluk boards.
The largest is the Nallacheruvu choultry in Peddapuram taluk,
the income of which is Rs. 5,500. There, and at two other
large institutions at Peddapuram and Kottipudi, people of all
134 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VII. castes are fed. At two other considerable chattrams Brah-
AccoMMODA- mans are fed. Three insignificant choultries are maintained
TRA\Ei°^
by the municipality at Rajahmundry.
LERs. Private chattrams appear to exist in large numbers^ in this
district,and they are much less exclusively devoted to the
needs of Brahmans than is the case in some places. Indeed
at several of them food (though not accommodation) is
provided even for Malas. At many of them all Sudra castes
are fed. Most of them, it seems, are supported by private
liberality without regular endowments. Some are of a con-
siderable size. Those at Cocanada (maintained by a Komati),
Samalkot (by a rich Reddi merchant), Pithapuram (by the
zamindar) and Kotipalli (by the Polavaram proprietor) are
worthy of particular mention. The largest of all is supported
by a Komati at Rajahmundry. Another large one in that
town, called the <:^««^« ('subscription ') choultry, is kept up
-
•
by subscriptions from the local merchants, who set aside
a percentage of their daily profits for the purpose.
'
The Collector's office estimates the number of these institutions at 71.
—
RAINFALL AND SEASONS. 135
CHAPTER VIII.
RAINFALL AND SEASONS.
Rainfall. Famine — The conditions existing —Famine in 1791— The '

Guntur
— —
famine' of 1833 Distress in 1835-38 Disasters of 1839-41 Improvement —
resulting from the anicut —
Scarcity in the Agency, 1897. Inundations by
THE sea — About 1706 — In 1787 — Its extent and effects — The accompanying
— The landholders'
hurricane losses — Inundation of 1839. Cyclones.
Floods — In 1614— In 1S75, 1878, 1882, 1883 and 1884— Great flood of
1886— Floods of 1887 and 1892— Of 1895-96— Of 1900.
The following table shows the average rainfall in certain CHAP. viii.
seasons of the year in the various taluks and in the district as Ra infa ll.
a whole. The seasons selected correspond roughly with what
may be called the dry weather, the hot weather, the south-
west monsoon and the north-east monsoon. The figures
shown are the averages of a series of years. As will be seen,
records have been kept at most of the stations for more than
thirty years. Those where figures for only a few years are
available have been entered separately and not included in
the district average :
; ;
136 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VIII, It will be noticed that the first three months of the year are
Rainfall. practically rainless. April is almost as dry. In May, showers
herald in the south-west monsoon, which begins in the middle
of June and brings nearly two-thirds of the total yearly fall.
It is naturally heavier in the Bhadrachalam taluk beyond the
Ghats than in the rest of the district. Conversely, the north-

east monsoon is hardly felt in that taluk. The latter current
is much weaker in this district than in many other parts of
the east coast. The rain it brings generally consists of a very

heavy downpour on its first arrival, and after the 15th
November rain worth mentioning rarely appears. The delta
benefits more from this north-east monsoon than the uplands
whereas the latter get more rain in the hot weather than the
former. The annual average the whole district (40*26
fall for
inches) is moderately high for this Presidency. In only eight
other districts is the amount greater. Vizagapatam on the
north gets rather more rain, and Ganjam a good deal more ;
but Kistna on the south receives much less.

The highest fall Chodavaram in 1893,
on record is that at
which amounted Twenty-two inches fell in
to 86'02 inches.
September, over twelve in June, August and October, and
over nine more in July and November. In the same year
Ss'Ss inches of rain were registered at Amalapuram. The
lowest fall recorded for any station is 13*40 inches at Tuni in
1876. No rain was received from January to April or from
October to December, inclusive, in that year.
Famine. The major part of the district is, humanly speaking, safe
The from anything in the nature of a famine. The Godavari
conditions draws its water from vast and distant tracts and is not
existing.
affected by any local failure of rain and from the time that
;
the anicut first made this river's supplies regularly available

for cultivation, the delta has never felt the want of water. In
the upland and hill tracts, however, the crops are precarious,
and in the Agency the danger is aggravated by the improvi-
dence of the inhabitants. The people there, on the other
hand, are accustomed to eking out a livelihood in bad seasons
on toddy, gruel made from the pulp of tamarind, jack and
mango seeds, and jungle roots. The delta produces vast
quantities more food than is required for the subsistence of its
own inhabitants, and also provides a constant field for labour
so that no one in the uplands need ever starve for want of
work if he will make up his mind to travel so far.
Before the construction of the anicut, however, the whole
districtsuffered cruelly on several occasions from terrible
famines due to drought. It was the recollection and the
effects of these visitations which suggested the idea of chap. Vlli.

constructing the anient^ and induced the Government to face famine.
the expense which that project involved. Inundations from
the sea have also caused much loss of life and property in the
past, and so have cyclones, though no serious damage caused
by either has been experienced for many years and a fourth ;
variety of natural disaster to which the delta is particularly

subject is floods in the Godavari river, which have not only
been common in past years, but even nowadays, in spite of
the utmost efforts, frequently cause considerable loss and
hardship. The various occasions on which serious disaster or
suffering has been experienced from these four different
causes will now be shortly referred to.
Except for vague references by native historians, there is. Famine in
as usual, no record of the famines which doubtless occurred i79i-
before the days of British occupation. The first visitation of
which particulars survive is that which desolated the Northern
Circars in 1791-92. In January of the latter year the Board of
Revenue said that the extreme drought had caused a large
diminution of revenue and that though every alleviation in
'
our power has been afforded by the suspension of duties on

grain as well as on all necessaries of life, and every exertion
is making by the Collectors to discover and distribute for the
general consumption such grain as may be hoarded up by

individuals for their private advantage, yet many of the
poorer class of inhabitants are perishing from want.' Appli-
was made to the Government to sanction the importation
cation
of rice from Bengal, and every effort seems to have been
'
made by Government and individuals for affording temporary

means of subsistence to the poorer class of people,' but in
April 1792 the sufferings of the inhabitants still continued
*
with little prospect of immediate relief.' Numbers had died
and numbers more had emigrated; and the Board feared
that the decrease of population and cultivation would long
be felt.
At that time a large sum was due to pensioners in the

zamindaris of Masulipatam and Government ordered that
;
any balance of this which remained unclaimed at the end of a

month from the date of notice to that effect, should be devoted
to relieving distress. Over 35,000 pagodas (Rs. 1,40,000)^
were applied to this purpose, and the children of the poorer
families were collected and fed at the public expense. Large
remissions were also granted to the zamindars and extensions
of their leases were sanctioned.
^ See Chapter IV, p. 80.

' It is assumed that the pagoda was the local pagoda of four rupees.
iS
'
138 GODAVARl.
CHAP. VIII. The famine appears to have lasted from November I/QOto
Famine. November 1792.^ Its effect on the people was terrible. It was
computed that one-fourth of them either emigrated or fell
victims to starvation."
The '
Guntur In 1833 a succession of unfavourable seasons culminated
famine '
of
1833-
in the great Guntur famine.' Though this did not affect
'
Godavari so severely as the neighbouring district of Guntur

after which it was named (where it covered the country with
*
human bones from Ongole to Masulipatam ^) yet so deeply '
did the remembrance of it enter into the hearts of the people

that afterwards became an era from which they reckoned
it
dates. The author of the original Manual of this district, who

knew the country well, says 'I have frequently asked a man
'^
his age, and he has been unable to state it but he was quite ;
ready to answer the question how old were you at the time
of the Great Famine ?
The hardships appear to have begun with a hurricane in
May 1832, which destroyed much produce stored, a large
'
number of cattle, and many cocoa, palmyra and betel nut

trees.' ^ This was followed by a failure of rain in western
India and a consequent lack of freshes in the Godavari, so
that the paddy crop usually grown along the banks of that
river was lost. A temporary rise of the river in the early part
of the season had induced the ryots to commence this cultiva-
tion ; and their disappointment was thus the more bitter.
Godavari, however, did not suffer either so soon or so severely
as the districts to the south of the river. As late as April
1833 the Collector was able to report that though a great
influx of distressed people had taken place from Masulipatam
and Guntur, and great distress prevailed on account of the
high price of grain yet the miserable creatures that
;
'
everywhere meet the eye are principally other than the local
inhabitants.'
But from that time forward matters gradually became
worse. The contributions cheerfully given by the wealthier
Europeans and natives were quite inadequate to the needs of
the case. From March 1833 to the end of July private sub-
scriptions enabled about 3,000 people to be fed every day, and
it was hoped that a good monsoon might render Government
relief unnecessary. But these hopes were disappointed, and

assistance had at length to be demanded from the State.
^ Mr. Benson's Statistical Atlas (Madras, 1895), p. 62.
2 General reports of the Board of Revenue (Madras, 1871), ii, 130, 143, 145
iii, 2, 22, 31, 53, 73.
^ Statistical Atlas, p. 84.
* P. 288.
» Sir Henry Montgomery's report, dated i8th March 1844, para. 30,
Relief-works, chiefly the digging of tanks, were opened in CHAP. vill.

August, but gratuitous relief was prohibited, and many of the Famine.
higher castes preferred to starve rather than demean them-
selves by doing earth-work. The relief afforded seems in
any case to have been quite inadequate to the distress.
Thousands of persons emigrated to Madras and to other more
fortunate districts. 'A stream of pilgrims flowed night and
day towards the south ....
The great northern road
soon became one long graveyard. It was often most difficult
to distinguish between the dying and the dead.' ^ Young
girls were sold and sent away to Hyderabad; the scarcity of
water added the torments of thirst to those of hunger; and
grain could not be transported without armed escorts, since
the villagers turned out en masse when they heard of the
approach of grain merchants with a convoy of food, and tried
to obtain possession of it by force. Happily the famine did
not last more than a year, and seems to have come to an end
before the beginning of 1834.
The two following seasons were favourable, but there was Distress in
^^'^
a general failure of the monsoons between 1835 and 1838. In
'
^
the first of these years the early rains were deficient and yet
many of the crops were destroyed by inundations in the ;
next there was continued drought, and in 1837-38 the early

showers again failed and the later rainfall was excessive.^
The year 1838-39 is described in the report of Sir Henry
Montgomery, who based his statements on his own observa-'
tions, and enquiries from persons of all classes, confirmed by

the periodical reports of the different Collectors,' as one of
'
extreme distress little less than famine, equal if not exceed-
ing in calamities that of 1832-33.' This however seems to
have been an over-statement of the case. Want of sufficient
rain ruined the white paddy crop and though in December
' '
;
a few showers saved the cholam harvest near Rajahmundry,

in the north of the district that crop was lost too. Small
relief-works (the deepening of tanks) were started by private
philanthropy in Rajahmundry and these were taken over by
;
Government in February 1839, in which month 450 persons

were daily employed upon them. Relief-works were also
started at Samalkot in March. In June, good rain put a stop
to the sufferings of the people. Altogether only Rs. 6,156
were spent on public relief, so the scarcity appears to have
been far from severe. Two factors united to prevent more
serious results the area affected was not large, and the price
:
of grain was kept down by liberal importations by sea.
^ District Manual, p. 289.

2 Sir Henry Montgomery's report already quoted, para. 30.
140 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VIII- The season of 1839-40 began propitiously but towards the ;
Famine. middle of the year the district was visited by the disastrous
cyclone and inundation referred to below. In 1840-41 the '
Disasters of
r839-4l. early rains were again wanting, the north-east monsoon
failed, and sickness was prevalent.'
Improvement This unfortunate cycle had thus lasted twelve years, and
resulting
Sir Henry Montgomery summed up the case by saying that of
from the
anicut. these twelve five were marked by peculiar distress and three
'
were bad.' The population, which in 1821 had amounted to

738,308, had decreased by 1839-40 to 533,836. Godavari fell
into a state even more miserable than that of the Northern
Circars generally at that time, and at length Sir Henry
Montgomery was deputed to take charge of the district as
Special Commissioner ^ and to report what could be done to
raise it from its lamentable state of depression. His report,
as has already (p. 80) been seen, resulted in the construction
of the anicut at Dowlaish weram, which changed the whole face
of the delta and delivered it from any future fear of famine.
No general distress has been experienced since it was built.
Even the great famine of 1876-78 did not seriously affect this
district, and men and cattle fled to it then in large numbers
from the famine-stricken tracts in Kurnool, Bellary and
Nellore.2
Scarcity in monsoons caused a good deal of

In 1896-98 failure of the
the Agency, Agency, especially in Bhadrachalam
suffering throughout the
1897.
and Polavaram. Indeed the jungle people were perhaps
harder hit by this famine than by that of 1833. The Rev.
J.Cain of Dummagudem describes a conversation with an old
man who remembered the latter, and who compared the two
by saying, There were fewer of us then, and the forests had
'
not been cut down, and there were plenty of roots.'

In 1896 Bhadrachalam and Yellavaram suffered from short
rainfall,but a remission of 50 per cent, of the dry assessment
was enable the ryots to last out till the end of the
sufficient to
year 1896-97, and no relief was necessary.
Things were much worse in the following year. The south-
west monsoon stopped on the l8th June, and distress amount-
ing to famine in Bhadrachalam, and verging upon famine in
Polavaram, was the result. Yellavaram and Chodavaram
had rather more and in these all that was needed was to
rain,
few aged or infirm people, who could
assist for a short time a
not support themselves and had no one to maintain them. In
Polavaram and Bhadrachalam it was necessary to open
^ See Chapter XI, p, 167.

2 B.P. (Rev. Sett., L.R. and Agri.), No. 431, dated 12th March 1896, p. 12.
relief-works. Matters were made worse by the fact that, acting chap. viii.
on a general belief (encouraged by the astrologers) that Famine.
three whole years of famine were impending, the sowcars
refused to give the hill people the usual advances on the
security of their crops upon which they generally subsist in
the interval between sowing and harvest.
Relief-works were opened, but, except in Bhadrachalam,
the hill men absolutely refused to come to them. In Polavaram
they preferred to help themselves in their own lawless manner
by plundering their richer neighbours. Collecting in gangs,
they looted no less than 39 villages in seven days; and, as
the local police were afraid to act, order was not restored till
the District Superintendent of Police arrived with the Reserve,
and marched a number of the rioters off to prison. The
villagers had not resisted the robbers, so no blood had been
spilt, but it was estimated that property worth Rs. 10,000 had
been stolen during these riots. Meanwhile in Bhadrachalam
works were opened in May 1897 and a fair number of Koyas
attended them.
Gratuitous relief was given on a large scale in this taluk,
but to a less extent in the rest of the Agency where either the
distress was not so acute, or the hill men had helped them-
selves by robbery. In Bhadrachalam nearly Rs. 12,000 were
distributed in this way, and nearly Rs. 17,000 were spent from
charitable funds when the distress was at an end in buying
seed-grain, cattle, etc. and
selling them at low rates to the
impoverished people enable them to start cultivating again.
to
It was not in the Agency alone that the pinch of these
years was felt. Test works had to be opened in Rajahmun-

dry and Cocanada taluks and in EUore, then a part of this
district; and nearly Rs. 7,000 were spent on works in these
three areas. A little gratuitous relief was also given in
Rajahmundry, and a poor-house was established at Cocanada.
Inundations of the coast by the sea occurred fairly fre- inunda-
quently in former times, and Mr. Topping, the astronomer, tions by
^"^ ^^^'
when making enquiries about them in 1789, found that they
were so well known as to have a definite name, being called
tippena}
The earliest of which any record survives occurred in About 1706.
December about the year 1706, but all that is known of it is

derived from the oral testimony of a very old man some
eighty-three years later. The wind had been blowing very
hard from the east for two days and the sea burst upon the
' Selections from the Records of the Madras Government, No. XIX
(Madras, 1855), 23.
—
142 GODAVARL
CHAP. 7III. land during the night. A few lives were lost in the neigh-
Inunda- bourhood of Coringa, innumerable trees were blown down,
tions BY
THE SEA.
the paddy was ruined, the springs of fresh-water were spoiled
and quantities of salt were deposited upon the flooded ground.^
In 1787. next inundation which occurred was that of May
The
20, 1787. This was so extraordinary in its violence that it
was commonly supposed to have been due to an earthquake,
but Mr. Topping ~ ascribed it firstly to a violent and long- '
continued gale ^ from the North-East at a time when the South-

West Monsoon should prevail, and had actually set in many
weeks previous to it, checking the Northerly current and
forcing the waters back upon the coast secondly to the '
;
'
configuration of the coast itself, peculiarly favourable to

such an accident at such a crisis,' in particular the sudden '
projection of Point Gardewar (Godavari) and the situation of

Coringa in the recess or cul-de-sac of a bay and finally to '
;
the fact that the inundation occurred at the spring tides

of the new moon. In short there happened at that fatal
'
juncture a union of almost every cause that could have a

tendency to elevate the waters of the Sea.'
Its extent havoc wrought by this hurricane and
Pitiable details of the
and effects.
flood are to be correspondence from the then
found in the
Chief and Council of Masulipatam.^ Coringa island and the
country near Injaram were flooded, and so was Narasapur.
The hurricane raged with increasing violence from the l6th
of May onwards. On the 20th about ten in the morning,' '
writes the Resident of Injaram on the 22nd and 23rd May ;
'
The sea rushed in upon us and inundated everything. On the
morning of the 21st everything was desolation. The whole town of
Coringa and all the little villages about, with the inhabitants, (were)
carried away. Nellapillee is in notmuch better state. As yet I cannot
ascertain what loss the Hon'ble Company may have sustained but ;
I suppose proportion to the loss of individuals, which in fact

it is in
amounts to everything we possessed The poor black

people are now running up and down crying and lamenting the loss
of relations from the inundation The all around
springs and wells
are choked with salt water, depend on the heav-
and we have only to
ens for a supplv of fresh water. Cattle, grain and everything carried
away. . I now request in the most earnest manner that you will
.
with the utmost despatch send to this place by don/s or any other sea
conveyance what quantity of grain you may be able to collect.
Selections from
^
the Records of the Madras Government, No. XIX
(Madras, 1855), 23.
2 Ibid., p. 29.
' This blew for six days without intermission.
* See Extracts from the Public Consultations, i^p. 1152-59 and 1202-10.
The remaining part of the black inhabitants, who escaped from the CH.\P. VIII.
inundationof the sea, are now dying by dozens for want of food ; and, Inunda-
if wedo not receive supplies very soon, very soon there will not be a TIONS BY
THE SEA.
native alive in the Nillapillce havelly.'
His letters also contain a distressing account'of the suffer-

ings of the European men and women in the place, all of
whom, however, escaped with their lives. Five hundred bags
of rice and other provisions were despatched to Injaram from
Madras before the end of the month, and this terminated the
immediate sufferings of the natives. Further down the coast,
the inundation was much less felt and the reports from
;
Narasapur complain less of it than of the hurricane.

This hurricane not only wrecked a great number of ships The accom-
along'^ the coast but was also felt far inland. As far north as hurricane.
P^">;'"S
Yernagudem (now in the Kistna district) the camp of a

detachment of sepoys was completely wrecked. The trees '
under which the tents were, fell upon them and tore them to
pieces,' writes an officer on IVlay 23rd. 'With the greatest
exertion the ammunition was saved. The men were flying
about like footballs endeavouring to find the village. Lieuten-
ant Cuningham and I very nearly lost our lives in the
same attempt. .When we reached the village (we) found
.
nothing but the walls of the houses and the greatest misery
among the inhabitants.' A similar story is told of the effects
of the storm at Samalkot. '
This dreadful hurricane has not
left a roof standing even to the Commanding Officer's house.
A range of barracks for two battalions, the guard-room and
several other buildings are level with the ground.' So great
was the force of the wind that near Yernagudem scarcely a
tree was left standing, and at Narasapur for some time no one
could stand upright.
The zamindars suffered very considerably from this visit- The land-
ation, but they seem all to have much overstated their losses holders'
in order to support extravagant demands for remissions of
revenue, and the real amount of these seems never to have
been even approximately ascertained. An officer who was
directed to enquire into their extent in this district assessed
them at over sixteen lakhs but his data were of a very doubt-
;
ful character, and both the Council of Masulipatam and the

Board of Revenue considered his estimate 'entirely inadmis-
sible.' In the end no remissions were given, but forbearance
was shown in the collection of the kists.
In 1839 a cyclone raged all along the coast from Vizaga- Inundation
^^"
patam to Narasapur- was accompanied by a tidal wave
It ° '
which burst upon the shore and inundated Cocanada and

Coringa. Much of the shipping was driven on shore, some of
144 GODAVARI.
CHAP. VIII. ^Y^Q wrecked vessels being carried, it was said, four miles
INUNDA- inland. The and property was very great. The
loss of life
TIONS BY
THE SEA. merchants' storehouses at Coringa and Injaram were ruined ;
cattle and crops were destroyed; large tracts of land were

rendered unfit for cultivation by the salt water and the tanks
;
and wells were rendered brackish from the same cause. The
force of the wind was also most destructive. Very many of the
native houses in Samalkot were blown down, all the European
houses except two were unroofed, and even in Rajahmundry
some of the houses were nearly dismantled by the violence of
the storm.
Since then no serious inundations from the sea have

occurred in this district. The destructive tidal wave which
desolated Masulipatam just a quarter of a century later did
not affect Godavari.
Cyclones. just described were usually accompanied

The -inundations
(ifnot caused) by violent storms, and some of these were
doubtless cyclonic in nature. In more recent times, four
cyclones occurred in the ten years preceding 1878, all in the
months between September and December. In November and
December 1878, two others arrived which caused the sea to
rise dangerously at Cocanada, destroyed a good deal of culti-
vation there, submerged some of the huts near the creek, blew
down a number of mud houses and trees, and killed many
cattle. In October 1904 a cyclone swept across the whole
country levelling many trees in the Agency and thousands of
cocoa and areca palms in the coast taluks. So universal was
the damage to plantain gardens that plantains had actually
to be imported from Tanjore. Since that year no violent
cyclone has visited the district, but the barometer is always
carefully watched in the months (September-December) when
they are most to be expected.
Floods, The fury of the Godavari in full flood has always excited
the wonder of those who have seen it. The irresistible torrent
which pours through the deep gorges in the hills through
which it forces its way has been referred to on p. 5. Sir Henry
Montgomery, when pressing for the construction of an anicut
across the river, could not deny that the Godavari, when
'
filled as it was in the early part of the present season (1843-44),

is a fearful stream, overflowing the country through which it
passes and carrying before it all impediments to its course.'

Before the anicut was built and attempts to control the river
were begun, destructive floods seem to have been constant,
and even now, as has been more than once said, they occur
every now and again,
The earliest of which any record is extant happened in and CHAP. viii.
about Narasapur in 1614. The account of an English mer- Floods.
chant, quoted in Sir H. Montgomery's report, says In August ^^ jg
:
'
there happened a greater overflow than had been seen in

twenty-nine years. The whole Salt Hills, Towns, and Rice
were drove away and many thousand men and cattle were
drowned; the Water rising three Yards above the high way.'
The damage done by floods in later years to various parts In 1875, 1878,
of the anicut system has already been briefly noticed in
amUSS^^^ '^'
Chapter IV.
The flood of July 1875, 'the greatest fresh that has occur-
red in the Godavery since the extraordinary floods of 1862 and
1863,' did no great damage to the crops, though there were
three breaches in the embankment of the Vasishta Godavari.
That of August 1878, however, breached the head-sluice of
the Bobbarlanka canal and submerged a large extent of land
in the Amalapuram taluk. That taluk was mostly flooded and
'
was at one time in imminent danger, so much so that it was

considered advisable to remove the people to the high lands.
But the timely action taken by the Department of Public
Works saved the people and their property.' The crops
much
sufl'ered less than was expected, and only Rs. 8,000 had
to be remitted.
In June 1882 a destructive flood in the river inundated a
large tract of country in Amalapuram and Nagaram, and did
much harm to villages and crops. In Nagaram six villages
were entirely, and eight partly, submerged. On the Kistna
side of the river the damage was even greater. The engi-
neers again exerted themselves to the utmost to save life and
property, and the loss of crop was not very large.
In August 1883 a breach in the Vasishta Godavari caused
considerable damage to the crops in Narasapur.
A dangerous flood occurred in the Gautami Godavari in
August 1884. Some 300 houses valued at Rs. 11,500 were
washed away other property worth Rs. l8,200 was destroyed
;
in the villages of Pillanka and Mallavaram in the Ramachan-

drapuram taluk and 23 villages were submerged between
;
the river and the Injaram canal. The damage to crops was
estimated at Rs. 30,000, and serious breaches were made in the
Kotipalli road.
The highest flood on record occurred in August 1886. The ^/^g^^g""'^
riverwas 14*5 feet deep on the anicut on the night of the 19th.
By noon it had risen to l6'2, and by 5 A.M. on the
of the 20th
above the anicut, or iH feet higher than any
2lst to l6'9 feet,
previously recorded flood. By 10 that night it had fallen to
l6'5, by 6 A.M. on the 22nd to 16, and to I4'6 on the following
19
146 GODAVARI.
CHAP. vill. morning. The outer wall of the Dowlaishweram lock was
Floods. carried away, and a breach 250 yards long was made in the
bank of the main canal, which resulted in the whole of the
south-eastern corner of the Rajahmundry taluk being sub-
merged. Many breaches also occurred in the central delta,
the worst being in the Gannavaram canal, and whole tracts of
country were under water. Fortunately, the inhabitants, with
very few exceptions, succeeded in making their escape to
natural eminences and the river and canal banks. The river
also breached its bank near Polavaram, flooded Polavaram,
and did a great deal of damage there and in Tallapudi and

some other villages.
The loss of crop was again nothing like so great as at one
time seemed likely. It was estimated that the damage in
Amalapuram and Ramachandrapuram was Rs. 48,000, and
that houses in those taluks and Rajahmundry had suffered to
about the same extent. In the district as it was then con-
stituted Rs. 16,500 of land revenue and Rs. 45,000 of water-tax
were remitted, and damage estimated at Rs. 15,000 was done
to the flood-banks, canals and channels.
Floods of jn July of the next year a high flood lasted for about twelve
1892.^" days. The river was 1 5'8 feet above the anicut on the 19th.
A number of breaches occurred in the left bank of the Vasishta
and a large one in the Vainateyam, and some 2,200 acres of
wet crop were lost. This was mostly replanted again and the
remission of revenue on account of the submersion of crops
amounted to only Rs. 6,400.
On October 3rd, 1891, the river attained the unparalleled
height of l6"9 feet above the anicut but no breaches occurred.
;
A flood of only 12*9 feet in September of the following year

breached the Cocanada and Samalkot canals (the latter in
thirteen places) as well as the river flood-banks above the
anicut. Scarcely any harm was done to the crops; but the
budget allotment for repairs to the delta works had to be
increased by Rs. 30,000, chiefly on account of the repairs
rendered necessary on the Samalkot canal.
Of 1895-96. The crops inAmalapuram and Ramachandrapuram suffered
from floods in1895; but this was owing to excessive local
rainfall, and not to the action of the river. Twenty inches of
rain fell in 24 hours in Amalapuram on the 6th September,
Remissions of revenue amounting to Rs. 10,000 were granted
for submersion in these and the Rajahmundry taluks, and
roads and trees suffered much more than the crops.
More serious damage was done by the river next year.
Rising to I3"8 feet above the anicut on the 2nd August, the
water made a large number of breaches in the canal and river
banks, and rising again to 137 on the l6th much increased CHAP. viii.
the harm already done. Floods.
The last of this long list of calamities occurred in 1900. of 1900.
Before daylight on the 14th August the river overtopped the
lock and canal banks at Dummagudem and completely flooded
out that village, driving the inhabitants to the higher ground
and drowning a few women and children. It breached its
bank near the Vijesvaram anicut and did great damage to the
works of the western delta in the present Kistna district and
;
the central delta was inundated through numerous breaches

in the Gautami, Vasishta and Vainateyam. Little harm was
done to the eastern delta, though parts of Rajahmundry taluk
were inundated by a breach in the flood-bank. The repairs
to the breaches had not been finished before a slightly higher
flood on the 22nd September (l5'8 feet over the anicut) opened
many of them again. The damage done to the delta and
Dummagudem works was estimated at Rs. 10 lakhs. Only
about Rs. 40,000 had to be remitted for submerged crop in the
present district. The taluk worst affected was Amalapuram,
where 4,000 houses were destroyed and some 70,000 acres of
land were more or less damaged.
—
148 GODAVARI.
CHAPTER IX.
PUBLIC HEALTH.
Prevalent Diseases — Malaria ; in the Agency — In the uplands — In the delta

Cholera — Small-pox — Other diseases — Sanitation. Medical Institutions
— Public and dispensaries
hospitals — Mission institutions— Institutions in
Cocanada— Rajahmundry hospital
CHAP. IX. The most noticeable of the diseases which afflict the district
Prevalent ismalaria. This is worst in the Agency. The Ghats there
Diseases.
are densely wooded and the valleys are filled with a tangle of
Malaria in
;
the Agency.
damp jungle, so that during the rains the country is eminently
suited to the propagation of the malaria-bearing mosquito.
Beyond the Ghats, the lower parts of Bhadrachalam appear
to be equally malarious, the villages along the valley of the
Saveri river and those lying between it and the Rekapalle hills
being the worst parts of the taluk.
Even the Koyas, who have resided for untold generations
in the Agency, are not immune to malaria. The disease is said
to be chronic among them, and its effects are particularly
noticeable in the case of the children. People from the
plains suffer far more severely, however; and from the earliest
times up to the present day the country has retained a most
unenviable reputation for its unhealthiness. The Board of
Revenue referred 'putrid fever' as far back as 1794
to its ;
and of the party of 25 men who were recently engaged in

inspecting the forests of Rekapalle preparatory to the pre-
paration of the working-plan for their exploitation, almost all
subsequently suffered from low fever of a malignant and
lingering type, several were dangerously ill, and as many as
one-fourth died. It is characteristic of this malaria that it
does not as a rule show itself when the victim is in the hill
country, but appears in all its virulence as soon as he descends
to the plains. One explanation of this fact avers that the
system is braced to resist the disease by the cooler air of
the hills, but as soon as the patient reaches the hotter plains
becomes relaxed, and allows the latent malaria to obtain the
upper hand. The agency malaria is generally said to be more
prevalent in the cold than in the hot weather, but no season
of the year is free from it.
PUBLIC HEALTH. 149
The upland taluks adjoining the Agency also suffer, though CHAP. IX.
to amuch less extent, from malarial fever. In 1869-70, before Prevalent
Diseases.
the advent of the theory that all malaria is conveyed by the
anopheles mosquito, elaborate enquiries were made as to the In the
prevalence and causes of the disease in these parts of the dis- "P^*^'*^-
trict, and the Sanitary Commissioner arrived at the conclusion
that the fever in the plains was due to the northerly winds
which sweep over the malarious forests of the hill tracts. He
pointed out that the taluks which were most open to breezes
from the sea had the least fever, while those which were most
exposed to wind blowing across unhealthy jungles had the
highest ratios of sickness and death from malaria.
The question had also been raised at that time whether the ^°^ 'he delta.
great increase of irrigation under the recently-constructed

anicut was in any way responsible for the insalubrity of the
district. It was known that in some places (the Punjab, for
example) irrigation was invariably accompanied by malaria.

Enquiries were therefore directed at the same time to the
elucidation of this point. The conclusion arrived at was
that the irrigation had had no effect upon the prevalence of
malaria. The result of five years' registration of vital statis-
tics demonstrates in a very clear manner that the intensity of
'
fever in any taluk has no relation to the extent of irrigation of

the land, but is solely due to its geographical position and its
exposure to malarious winds during the north-east monsoon.'
The irrigated taluks were in fact found to suffer in very vary-
ing degrees. For five years the death-rate in Ramachandra-
puram taluk had been II'9 per thousand, while in Amala-
puram and Narasapur it was 6'5 and 4*6 per thousand respect-
ively. The difference was attributed entirely to the position
of the taluks, the former being exposed to winds from the north,
while the latter are swept by sea-breezes.^ Theories regard-
ing the dissemination of malaria have doubtless changed
since those days, and vital statistics in rural areas are seldom
sufficiently accurate to afford a firm foundation for debatable
propositions but the fact remains that the delta taluks (unlike
;
irrigated areas in some places in this Presidency the valley —

of the Tungabhadra, for example) are not greatly subject to
malaria and are, in fact, the part of the district in which it is
least prevalent.
Cholera, however, is endemic throughout the delta. It is Cholera,
chieflyconveyed from place to place along the lines of com-

munication, that is, by the movement of persons affected with
1 Proceedings of the Madras Government, Public Department, June 14, 1871
nd G,0. No. 143, dated 30th December 1872.
150 CrODAVARI.
CHAP. IX. it, and by the irrigation channels, which are used for drinking
Prevalent purposes. At times the disease has broken out in a very
Diseases.
serious manner. In 1892 as many as 13,600 persons died of it
in the Godavari district as then constituted, and in 1878, 1879
and 1889 its victims numbered between nine and ten thousand.
But such visitations have been rare and, though in nearly
;
every one of the last 35 years cholera has claimed some victims,
the number of these has, as a rule, been less than that even in
less populous districts. It exceeded one thousand in 17 of the
32 years between 1871 and 1902 inclusive, but on only four

occasions was it higher than in any other district.
Small-pox. The ravages of small-pox have on the whole been less
serious than those of cholera, but on more than one occasion
they have been very grave. In 1878 over l8,000 persons died
of the disease in the district as then constituted, and in 1884
over 11,300. In six of the 32 years between 1871 and 1902
more deaths occurred from small-pox in this district than in
any other in fifteen of these years the mortality exceeded
;
one thousand and in only one year did it fall below one
;
hundred.
A serious epidemic of the disease broke out in the delta
taluks and the Tuni division in 1900, and after that compul-
sory vaccination was extended to a number of the unions. It
is now in force in the municipalities of Rajahmundry and
Cocanada and the unions of Dowlaishweram, Amalapuram,

Kottapeta, Peddapuram, Ramachandrapuram, Pithapuram and
Tuni.
Other Certain other less virulent diseases are common in Goda-
diseases. vari. Dysentery and diarrhoea are frequent, but perhaps not
more so than elsewhere. Elephantiasis and hydrocele are also
prevalent, and the town of Peddapuram has a bad name for
the former. Guinea-worm is rare. A few cases of black-water
fever have occurred in the Bhadrachalam taluk. A
peculiarity
of the district is the prevalence of beri-beri, the Telugu name
for which is iibbu vayuvii. Though endemic in many loca-
frequently epidemic, and it is commonest along the
lities, it is
coast. It is said to confine its attacks to males and to be most
frequent among the middle-aged.

Sanitation. A good deal has been done in the municipalities to
improve sanitation, and with satisfactory results. In rural
matters are still backward and
villages, as in other districts,
even the state of the unions leaves much to be desired. The
difficulties are greatest in the delta, where the pressure of
cultivation leaves waste land round the village sites and
little
the population is thickest. Drinking-water is also usually

PUBLIC HEALTH. 151
obtained there from the irrigation canals, which are liable CHAP. IX.
to pollution. The water-works recently constructed in Prevalent.
Diseases.
Cocanada municipality are referred to in Chapter XIV.
The public medical institutions in the district comprise Medical
Institu-
seven hospitals and seventeen dispensaries. Of these, two tions.
hospitals and a dispensary are maintained by the munici- Public
palities, and the rest by the local boards. Statistics regarding hospitals and
dispensaries.
all of them will be found in the separate Appendix to this
volume.
Mission
Besides the above, the missions maintain several medical
institutions.
institutions.The American Lutheran Mission at Rajah-
mundry keeps up a dispensary for women and children in
which some 3,000 cases are treated annually. Connected
with the dispensary is a small hospital, and the erection of a
larger one has been resolved upon. The Canadian Baptist
Mission manages, and in part maintains, the Kellock Home
for lepers at Ramachandrapuram, which was founded in 1899
by the liberality of Mrs. Kellock, the widow of Dr. Kellock, a
Canadian Baptist. At the end of 1904 the patients attending
it numbered 94. It contains three large wards for men and a
smaller one for women, and is owned, and largely supported,

by the Mission to Lepers in the East. At a distance of a mile
from it, is the Phillips Memorial Home for the untainted
children of the lepers, which was erected from the subscrip-
tions of the children attending Sunday schools in Great Britain
in memory of the first Secretary of the Indian Sunday School
Union. The Canadian Baptist Mission also has a dispensary
at Ramachandrapuram, and is erecting at Pithapuram a
hospital to contain 21 beds.
The medical institutions in Cocanada town comprise a Institutions
hospital, a branch dispensary and a dispensary for women in Cocanada.
and children.
The first of these is situated in the suburb of Jagannatha-
puram. It was founded in 1856 and has 32 beds for male, and
14 for female, patients ; in the out-patient department is aVoom
with six beds set apart for Europeans. The main block is
well ventilated and lighted but there are no caste, or special
;
contagious, wards. The hospital is jointly maintained from

Provincial, local, and municipal funds. It is in charge of a
Commissioned Medical Officer aided by an Assistant Surgeon
and two hospital assistants, and is under the general control
of the municipal council.
The branch dispensary in the same town was founded in
1888 and is maintained by the municipality. It treats over
20,000 patients annually. The building, was erected in
memory of M.R.Ry. Kommireddi Narasinga Rao by his son.
152 GODAVARI.
CHAP. IX. The dispensary for women and children at Cocanada was
Medical established in 1895 ^nd the attendance is over 11,000 annually.
Institu-
tions. Its expenditure is nearly all met from local funds and it is
under the control of the District Board.
Rajahmundry The Rajahmundry hospital has been in existence since
hospital. 1854. Itcontains twenty beds for men and twelve for women.
The attendance is larger than that at any other medical
institution in the district, and compares favourably with the
figures for most of the mufassal institutions in the Presidency.
Its expenditure is met from municipal and local funds ; it
possesses an invested capital of Rs. 5,560; is under the

general control of the municipality ; and is managed by a
Civil Surgeon and two hospital assistants.
EDUCATION. 153
CHAPTER X.
EDUCATION.
Census Statistics— By taluks— By religions. Educational Institutions

— —
Early beginnings— Schools now existing The Government college, Rajah-
—
mundry— The Government training college, Rajahmundry The Pithapuram
Raja's college.
Seventy-seven in every thousand of the male, and 7 per CHAP. X.

mille of the female, population of the district can read and Census
Statistics.
write. The figures are greatly reduced by the inclusion of the
Agency, where education is at a discount and only 30 per By taluks.
mille of the males and three per mille of the other sex are
literate. Excluding this tract, they come to 83 and 8 per mille
of the two sexes respectively, or about equal to the average
in the plains of the east coast districts taken as a whole.
Taking the statistics for the taluks separately, it is found that
the highest figures in the lowlands are those of Rajahmundry
(105 and 15) and Cocanada (103 and 12), while the lowest are
those of Peddapuram, namely 51 and 3. In the Agency all
the figures are very low, but Bhadrachalam and Polavaram
take a far higher position than Chodavaram and Yellavaram.
In this last only II per mille of the males and I per mille of the
females can read and write.
If the statistics of literacy among the adherents of the By religinos.
chief religions are examined, it will be found that both the

Muhammadans and Christians are far better educated than the
Hindus. Among the Hindus, the literate persons per mille of
the male and female population, respectively, number 74 and
6; among the Musalmans, 180 and 20 and among the
;
Christians, 400 and 317. It will be noticed that these last are
the only people whose girls have received an education in any
way equal to that given to the boys.
Godavari was the pioneer among the Madras districts in Educa-
tional
educational matters. As far back as 1826 the Collector,
Institu-
Mr. Bayard, under instructions from Government, established tions.
schools at both Rajahmundry and Cocanada but these were
; Early
beginnings.
both abolished after a short life of ten years. In 1854, the
year when the Court of Directors issued its memorable des-
patch about education, Mr. George Noble Taylor, who was
the Sub-Collector of the district as it then existed, and
154 GODaVARI.
CHAP. X. resided at Narasapur, formed a society at that town for the

Educa- purpose of advancing education, and established schools in
tional Narasapur (the nucleus of the existing Noble high school) and
Institu-
TIONS- three others of the chief towns of his charge, all of which
were supported by local subscriptions. His system spread
throughout his subdivision, largely owing to the interest taken
in the matter by the ryots themselves. Attracted by the
novelty of the institutions already established, they applied to
Mr. Taylor to open primary vernacular schools in a number
of villages, and proposed to defray the cost by a fixed annual
addition to the revenue demand of each village at the time of
the annual settlement, which should form a permanent fund
to be applied solely to educational purposes. The movement
was brought to the notice of Sir Walter Elliott, then Com-
missioner ^ of the Northern Circars, who recommended it
warmly to the attention of Government and a scheme was ;
ultimately sanctioned by which this addition to the revenue

demand was levied in the three taluks of Mogalturru, Tanuku
and Undi (all now in the Kistna district) and schools were
maintained from the proceeds.-
Schools now The higher educational institutions now in existence in
existing.
the district comprise three colleges (namely the Government
arts and training colleges at Rajahmundry and the Pitha-
puram Raja's college at Cocanada) seven upper secondary
;
schools for boys and 53 lower secondary schools, of which

;
eighteen provide ordinary instruction for boys, fifteen similar

instruction for girls, and twenty are Sanskrit schools for
boys. There is only one district in the Presidency (Tanjore)
in which there are more colleges, and only four where there
are more lower secondary schools. The number of pupils
under instruction in these two grades, and also in the upper
secondary schools, is also very much above the average.
Primary education, on the other hand, both in the number of
institutions and of pupils, is considerably below the average
of other districts. Detailed statistics regarding the subject
will be found in the separate Appendix to this volume.
The Govern- The most important educational institution in the district is
ment college.
Rajah-
the Government college at Rajahmundry. This was originally
mundry. established by Government in 1853 as a Zilla school for impart-
ing instruction to the children of the four districts of the
Northern Circars up to the present secondary standard. In
1868 it was raised to the rank of a Provincial school, but owing
^ See Chapter XT, p. 169.
2 The correspondence will be found in Selections from the Records of the
Madras Qoyernment No. XXV U
EDUCATION. 155
to various unfortunate circumstances it remained in effect a CHAP. X.

Zilla school till 1873, when an F.A. class was started. A Educa-
B.A. class was formed in 1877 and the Provincial school tional
Institu-
became a first-grade college. It is now one of the three first- tions.
grade colleges in the Presidency which are Government
institutions, the other two being the Presidency college and
the college at Kumbakonam. The high-school classes were
discontinued in 1885. The college was affiliated to the
University in 1891 in mathematics, physical science and
mental and moral philosophy.
The institution is entirely supported from fees and
Provincial funds. It is managed by a European Principal
(an officer of the Indian Educational Service), who is under the
control of the Director of Public Instruction, and its assistant
staff consists of three lecturers, all officers of the Provincial
Educational Service, six assistant lecturers, three munshis for
Telugu, Sanskrit and Hindustani, and a gymnastic instructor.
A carpentry class is also attached to it, where the students
work out of college hours under the guidance of a qualified
mechanic. Its total strength is about 230, of whom some 160
are reading in the F.A., and 70 in the B.A., classes. The fees
are Rs. 40 each term for the B.A. course, and Rs. 32 for the
F.A. Over 200 of the boys are Brahmans.
A hostel, rented from private persons,
is attached to the
college, and in this Brahman students
are boarded and
lodged. It is under the direct control of the Principal,
assisted by a Superintendent and two members of the college
committee, and has a manager who attends to the details of
its working. The boarding fees vary from Rs. 7 to Rs. 9 a
month, according to the market price of rations, and the
building accommodates fifty boys. Arrangements are being
made for the construction in the college compound of a hostel
for all classes. The students in the college come from the
four districts of the Northern Circars, but the majority belong
to Godavari.
Thecollege is endowed with three annual prizes founded
in honour of, and called after, respectively, the late Mr.
B. H. Young, formerly Executive Engineer of the district, and
two former head-lecturers of the college, the late M.R.Rys.
Sundara Rao and Subrahmanya Aiyar. Two scholarships
are given by M.R.Ry. G. V. Subbarayadu Sastri, at present
Assistant Inspector of -Schools, Guntiir Division, in memory
of the late M.R.Ry. B. Gavara Razu, B.A., of this college, after
whom they are named. Their value is respectively Rs. 60
and Rs. 30 per annum, and they are given, on the result of
—
156 GODAVARI.
CHAP. X. a competitive examination held every alternate year, to

Educa- necessitous students of the Junior B.A. and Junior F.A. classes
t[onal
respectively.
f J
Institu-
TioNs. The training college at Rajahmundry was originally
Ihe Govern- established as an elementary normal school by the Godavari
ment training District Board in 1883. Its status was raised in 1890 to that
college, q|- ^ second-grade normal school. In 1892 it was taken over
mundry. by Government and in February 1894 it was raised to
collegiate rank with the Union high school, transferred to
Government by the managing committee, as its practising
school. In May 1904 it was affiliated to the University of
Madras for the degree of Licentiate in Teaching. Its aim is
twofold to supply the educational institutions of the Northern
:
Circars and Ceded Districts (Cuddapah excepted) with

trained Telugu teachers, the want of whom has long been
a bar to education in those districts and to work (as a
;
practising school) a large and efficient high school at Rajah-

mundry with classes as large as the needs of the town and
the neighbourhood require.
The college is maintained from Provincial funds and the
general management is in the hands of the Principal of the
Rajahmundry college. The teaching staff consists of a Vice-
Principal — a member of the Provincial Educational Service
eleven Licentiates in Teaching, two matriculates, a drawing-
master, an agricultural instructor (who holds a diploma in
agriculture), two pandits and a gymnastic instructor.
When transferring the Union high school to Government
with all its properties, the managing committee also handed
over a site, measuring two and a third acres, purchased by
them in the heart of the town. On this, the Government
began in 1897 to construct a building at a cost of about
Rs. 65,000 and, on its completion in 1899, it was occupied by
;
the training college classes, which had been before located

partly in the arts college and partly in a rented building.
With a view to providing a recreation ground for the boys of
the practising school and the students of the training college,
and to secure healthy surroundings for the latter, the author-
itiesnegotiated with the Rajahmundry municipality for the
acquisition of the whole of the Potter's tank, situated in front
of the college, and in 1895 submitted proposals for its acqui-
sition. The scheme however fell through then owing to its
prohibitive cost. In 1901 the subject was re-opened and in ;
the following year a portion of the Potter's tank and the

house-sites in front of the college were acquired, and this
area was reclaimed and enclosed within a compound wall at
EDUCATION. 157
a cost of about Rs. 18,500. In 1902 proposals estimated to chap. x.

cost Rs. 12,000 were submitted for the extension of the build- educa-
ing at its northern end and the carrying out of certain inst^tu-
alterations in the existing structure. These were sanctioned, tions.
and the work is now proceeding. No hostel is attached to
this college. The fees in the practising section range from
Rs. 19-6 to Rs. 7-6 a term, and the rates of stipends to
students under training from Rs. 5 to Rs. 15.
The arts college possesses certain endowments for the
benefit of Muhammadan students and when it contains no
;
boys of that faith who are eligible for these, they are given to
Muhammadan pupils in the practising section. They consist
of two Yeomiah scholarships,' each of the annual value of
'
Rs. 46, constituted from the funds of an ancient yeomiah

which lapsed to Government. The interest on Rs. 7,200,
being the amount of a boarding-house fund collected by the
late Saiyid Ali Sahib Bahadur, a retired Deputy Collector,
supplemented by a grant from Government, is also devoted
to forming Muhammadan scholarships open to poor Muham-
madan pupils, and ranging in value from Rs. 3 to Rs. 7 per
mensem according to the class in which the pupil is reading.
The Pithapuram Raja's college at Cocanada was founded The Pitha-
in 1852, as a general English and vernacular school, through P^^^^^ Raja's
the exertions of the then Collector, Mr. Prendergast, and
his sheristadar, M.R.Ry. Tulasinga Chettiyar. It depended
entirely on private subscriptions, gradually declined, and
ultimately collapsed for a time in 1862. In the following
year, however, through the efforts of the Collector, Mr. Purvis,
whose bust is now placed in a prominent position in the
northern block of buildings in memory of his interest in the
institution, the school was resuscitated and was formally
re-opened on the 28th October 1863. Government made a
monthly contribution of Rs. 70 towards its expenses, and the
late Raja of Pithapuram, who had been one of its earliest
pupils, added a further sum of Rs. lOO a month.
It was located in a rented building till 1865, when the
increasing attendance rendered it necessary to provide better

quarters for it. The late Raja of Pithapuram again showed
his interest in the promotion of education by presenting the
institution with a munificent endowment of Rs. 28,000, the
extensive and valuable site which it now owns, and a sum of
Rs. 3,700 for the building and its furniture. Further contribu-
tions were collected and a building grant of Rs. 5,000 was
obtained from Government, and with these and the Raja's
donation the northern block of buildings was constructed.
158 GODAVARI.
CHAP. X. This was soon found insufficient, and shortly afterwards

Educa- the western block was erected and was Linton
called the '
tional Memorial School ' inmemory of the Mr. Linton, an

late
Institu-
tions. Assistant Collector who had evinced great interest in the
welfare of the institution. This block cost Rs. 7,000, of which
one half was contributed by Government and the other by
the public.
The necessity of additional buildings was felt again in
1882, and a two-storied house was erected at a cost of
Rs. 12,000, of which a moiety was contributed by the late
M.R.Ry. Pydah Ramakrishnayya, another of the earliest
students of the school, and a moiety by Government. The
building was opened by the then Governor, Sir Mountstuart
Grant Duff, on March 3rd, 1883.
1897 a hall was constructed from college funds, at a
In
cost of Rs. 6,000, and in IQ02 a hostel was completed at a cost
of Rs. 7,550, of which Rs. 2,500 was given by Government.
The latter is divided into two blocks (containing six rooms
each) which are called respectively the Brodie and Sweet
Homes, after Messrs. V. A. Brodie and H. Sweet, a Collector
and a Superintendent of Police of the district who took much
interest in the improvement of the college.
'
Theschool taught up to the middle school standard
'
(corresponding to the present lower secondary course) till

1866, when it was raised to the matriculation standard. In
January 1884 the school committee opened an F.A. class, and
the institution was duly affiliated to the Madras University and
styled the Pithapur Raja's College in honour of its liberal
' '
patron. In order to place the institution on a satisfactory

financial basis, the committee registered itself on the 29th
August 1892 under the Indian Companies Act under the name
of The Pithapur Raja's College, Limited.'
'
The institution is managed by a council of which the

Collector of the district, the Chairman of the municipal
council, a representative of the Raja of Pithapuram, the
Inspector of Schools and the Principal of the college are ex-
members.
officio A separate committee of seven disposes of all
matters not expressly reserved for the decision of the council.
The college is supported mainly by school fees, which in
1903-04 amounted to nearly Rs. 15,000. Other important
items of income are the interest (Rs. 1,400) on certain Govern-
ment pro-notes and a mortgage loan of Rs. 400 and a ;
monthly grant from Government of Rs. 90. The college is

generally self-supporting, but is sometimes worked at a small
loss. The deficit in 1903-04, for example, was Rs. 370.
EDUCATION. 159
The establishment consists of a Principal and sixteen CHAP. X.

assistant masters ; two Sanskrit, and two Telugu, pandits ;
Educa-
two gymnastic instructors and copy, drawing and music
;
tional
Institu-
masters. The attendance, according to recent figures, tions.
amounts to 487, of whom 39 are reading in the senior, and
twelve in the junior, F.A. class. The fees paid vary, according
to the class in which the boy is reading, from Rs. 60 per
annum for the F.A. classes to Rs. 14 for the first class. The
boys come mostly from the adjacent taluks of Cocanada,
Ramachandrapuram, Peddapuram and Pithapuram. The
hostel buildings completed in 1902 will accommodate 24 boys,
who pay twelve annas each per mensem for the use of them.
They have not yet boarded there, but a kitchen has recently
been built at a cost of Rs. 1,000 to enable them to do so.
Liberal scholarships are given in the college. They
amount in all to Rs.492 a year and vary from Rs. 40 to Rs. 5
per annum according to the class to which they are open.
They are tenable for terms varying from two to four years,
and are awarded by competitive examinations. They are only
open to boys who are too poor to prosecute their studies
without pecuniary help and entrance to the examinations is
;
also subject to certain age limits.

—
i6o GODAVARI.
CHAPTER XL
LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION.
Early History— The — —

zamindars Their administration— The /laz*?'/? land Com-
mittee of Circuit, 1785-87 —
Settlement with the zamindars in 1789— Abolition
of the Chiefs and Councils, 1794— Collectors of the havili land. The
Permanent Settlement, 1^02-03— Its failure— Its effect on the ryots
Special Commissioner appointed, 1843. Ryotwari Settlements — Before
1865 — Settlement of 1865-66— Its scope— (Jrouping of villages — Classifica-
— Standard crops, grain outturns, commutation prices — Cultivation
tion of soils
expenses and money rates — Financial results — Water-rate in the delta — The
existing settlement scope — Reclassification of delta soils — Water-rate
; its
problems — Settlement of wild tracts — Financial results — }5hadrachalam taluk

Proprietary rights — Fixing of the peshkash — Settlement of 1890 in Bhadra-
chalam— Agency tracts and rented villages. District and Divisional
Limits. Vill.vge Establishments — Ke-organized in 1866 — Revised in
1885. INAMS.
CHAP. XI. As has already been mentioned on p. 34 above, the district,

Early when it was at length definitely acquired in 1768, was not at
History.
once administered directly by the Company but was leased out
to native renters called zamindars, over whom was a head
renter named Hussain Ali Khan. The latter's lease expired
in 1769 and the newly-acquired territory was then placed
under the direct administration of the servants of the Company.
The agents of the old factories and their subordinates were
converted into Provincial Chiefs and Councils, and the
Rajahmundry and Ellore Circars were put under the Chief
and Council of Masulipatam, who for the next 25 years
controlled the entire political, civil and revenue administration.
They found that the land of the district was of two classes ;
namely, the havili (' havelly ') land, which consisted of house-
hold estates, situated round the chief towns, which had been
appropriated by the Musalmans to the upkeep of their
numerous garrisons and establishments and administered
directly by them and the zamindari land, the collection of
;
the revenue in which was leased out on a commission to

zamindars.
The These zamindars, in theory, were merely agents of the
zamindars.
Musalmans,^ created for the sole purpose of collecting the
* See Higginbotham's reprint (Madras, 1883) of the Fifth Report on the
ajfairs of the East India Company (1812) and Mr. Grant's Political Survey
thereto, both of which have been freely
of the Northern Circars appended
utilized in the following pages.
LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION. I6l
revenue. Theoretically, they were removable at pleasure but ; CHAP. xi.

they were generally permitted to remain for generation after Early
Hi stor y.
generation in possession of their estates. They were often
charged with the raising of local troops, who were conse-
quently devoted to them, and during the lax administration
of the later years of Musalman rule they had become so
powerful that they had usurped hereditary rights and come
to regard themselves as the legal owners of the soil. They
maintained the semblance of state, residing in mud forts in
which their palaces were situated, moving abroad only on
elephants or in gorgeous palanquins, and being accompanied
on their excursions by a rabble of armed peons and a posse
of relatives and followers mounted on horses or borne in
palanquins. Their practice was to exact by force or fraud all
the revenue they could, to pay a certain fixed sum to the
Government, and to appropriate the balance themselves. The
Chief and Council of Masulipatam treated these zamindars as
the owners of their estates, subject to the payment of a money
peshkash to Government which was settled from time to time
on what was called the ;«(7/«/// jamabandi, i.e., a customary sum
assessed on no scientific basis. The havili land was kept
under direct management as in the time of the Musalmans.
The zamindars undoubtedly oppressed their ryots. The Their admin-
istration.
'
ancient established custom of collecting the revenue in the
'
zamindari land was by a division of the crop (dsard), but

in practice several different modes were adopted by the
zamindars.^ In some cases the crop was shared; in others,
particularly on the more fertile soils producing paddy, there
was a fixed rent and garden land, or land producing tobacco,
;
cotton, betel, sugar-cane, oilseeds, palmyra or fruit trees, was

assessed on special principles. Where the paddy crop was
divided between the zamindar and the ryot, the division was
theoretically supposed to leave the cultivator 40, 50 or 60 per
cent, of the crop, the higher rates being allowed to Brahmans
and other favoured classes. But as a matter of fact the
cultivator's share rarely exceeded 20 or 25 per cent. The
fixed rents were also maintained at an oppressively high
level.
The havili land appears to have been managed on a some- The /iaf»7f
land.
what similar system, a renter being substituted for a zamindar.
Division of the crop was more common, but arbitrary
assessments called sist and malavati were in some places
substituted in its stead. Here again however it was the
^ See the reports of 1786 and 1787 of the Committee of Circuit referred to
below.
21
^62 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XI. practice rather than the theory which was of essential
Early importance to the ryot. In the division of crops the propor-
tions theoretically allowed to the cultivator were the same as
in the case of paddy in zamindari land but many after
;
'
collections were made, and the renter usually exacted a higher

price for his proportion than that of the market, which reduces
the ryot's share to a fourth or even a fifth part of the produce.'
The cultivators, in fact, were as much under the thumb of the
renters as of the zamindars. They had no right in the soil,
and the renter let the land to the highest bidder. Bad as was
the condition of the zamindari ryots, their fields were better
cultivated than the havili farms immediately dependent on the
Company.^
Committee The Chief and Council Masulipatam did little or nothing
at
1785-S7'
'
to check and oppression, and in 1775
this maladministration
the Court of Directors, aware of the evils of the existing
system, and anxious both to protect the ryots and to secure a
more adequate revenue from the zamindars, ordered that a
Committee of Circuit, to be composed of five Members of the
Council of Fort St. George, should be appointed 'to inquire
into the state of the Northern Circars by ascertaining with all
possible exactness the produce of the country, the number of
inhabitants, . the gross amount of the revenues, the
. .
articles from which they arose, the mode by which they were
collected and the charges of collection.' The Directors further
ordered that enquiries should be made into the military
strength and financial position of the zamindars ; and inti-
mated, that, while not desirous of depriving these latter of
their revenue, they were determined to protect the ryots from
violence and oppression.
Hardly, however, had this Committee begun its labours
than its work was interrupted by the intervention of the new
Governor of Madras, Sir Thomas Rumbold, who in 1778
decided to summon the zamindars to Madras and himself make
a settlement with them there. The arrangement made accord-
ingly was for five years at a rate 12^ per cent, above the
*
mdmul jamabandi,' i.e., the amounts the zamindars had
hitherto been paying.
Sir Thomas Rumbold ceased to be Governor in 1780 and in
1783 the Committee of Circuit was reappointed. It conducted
a lengthy enquiry into the resources of the district and the
other points referred to in its instructions, and its reports on
the havili and zamindari lands dated respectively December
18, 1786 and February 15, 1787 contain a full and valuable
1 Circuit Committee's Report, dated February 15, 1787, para. 4j.

LAND REVENUE: ADMINISTRATION. 1 63
description of the country. The immediate effect of its CHAP. XI.

enquiry was that the increment of 12%. per cent, imposed by Early
stor y.
Sir Thomas Rumbold on the zamindars was confirmed, and in
i
1786 his settlement was extended for a period of three years

till 1789; so that it was actually in force for eleven years.
In I^SgtheChief and Council reported that a just assessment Seuiement

on the zamindaris would be two-thirds of their gross revenue. ^Vmiadars in
The Board of Revenue (which had been established in 1786) 1789.
and the Government agreed, and settlement was made
a
on these terms except in the case of the zamindari of Pitha-
puram, the lease of which had not expired and which was
then being administered by renters.
In 1791, however, famine
devastated the country,^ the
zamindars large remissions were granted them,
fell into arrears,
and their settlements were extended from three to five years
wherever the shorter of these terms had been fixed.
The Chief and Council Masulipatam had distinguished

at Abolition of
themselves by their knowledge

during this trying time neither ^^^^ Co\mdis
of the conditions of their charge, nor by their loyalty to 1794.
superior authority the reports of the Committee of Circuit

;
had also proved the inefficiency of their administration; and

in 1794 they and the other Chiefs and Councils in the Northern
Circars were abolished, and the country was divided into
Collectorates. At first, three Collectorates were formed with
head-quarters at Cocanada, Rajahmundry and Mogalturru,
now in Kistna; but shortly afterwards the greater part of the
present district was placed under one Collector at Rajahmun-
d,vy and was named the Rajahmundry district.
Collectors had already been appointed in 1787 for the Collectors of

'''
management of the havili land. they were independ-
Till 1792 |||^^^'''^"
land.
ent of the Chiefs in Council, but from that year till 1794
were subordinated to them. They introduced much-needed
improvements, reducing the size of the areas leased to renters,
and in some cases dealing directly with the ryots by sharing
the actual crop with them in fixed proportions without the
intervention of middlemen. The latter practice, though a
great improvement on the system it succeeded, had many
drawbacks, as it involved, among other things, the mainten-
ance of a large establishment of native officers who generally
combined with the inhabitants to defraud the State.
From land which fell under the immediate manage-
1794,
ment of Government was leased out in appropriate farms
on joint rents to the leading ryots, the rents being fixed
1 See Chapter VIII, p. 137.

1 64 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XI. in grain and commuted into money at the market price or the
Early average price for a number of years. This plan, however,
History.
still left much to be desired, since no precautions were taken
to prevent the head ryots from oppressing their poorer neigh-

—
bours the besetting evil of all joint rent systems. Moreover
the famine of 1791 had denuded the country of cultivators, and
though much land had thus gone out of cultivation the ryots
had to pay for it just as if it had yielded a crop.
The Meanwhile the Court of Directors and the Government of

Permanent India had been pressing the Madras Government to introduce
Settle-
ment, permanent settlement which had been adopted in Bengal in
1802-03.
1793 and which was supposed to provide a solution of the
vexed questions of the amounts which the zamindars should
receive from their ryots and should pay to Government. The
system was introduced in the Rajahmundry district in 1802-03.
The estates of the existing zamindars were confirmed to them
in perpetuity on a peshkash which was generally fixed at
two-thirds of the average gross collections of land revenue in
preceding years, the period of calculation varying from eight
to thirteen years according as accounts were available. The
havili land was divided into proprietary estates (or 'muttas')
of convenient size yielding from Rs. 3,500 to Rs. 17,500, and
these were sold in public auction to the highest bidders on
permanent tenure subject to the payment of a peshkash
calculated on the best available data. In both cases the
rights of the under-tenants were protected by a legislative
enactment (Regulation XXX of 1802) which enforced the
grant of pattas and the observance of customary rights. The
land-customs, salt, abkari and other miscellaneous sources
of revenue, which had been included in former assessments,
were resumed by Government and excluded from the assets
of the new estates.
Twenty-seven muttas and thirteen ancient zamindaris

were thus formed. Two other small zamindaris ^ were subse-
quently added to this number. The hilly and thinly populated
estates of Rampa, Totapalli, and Jaddangi, whose owners
were called mansabdars and whose revenues were trifling,
were not brought under the permanent settlement like the
other parts of the district, and their existence was in fact
almost ignored.
The greater part of the district was included in the
Peddapuram estate, which was assessed with a peshkash of
nearly seven lakhs. Large areas were also included in the
Vilasa, and Jampalli and Bantumilli.

LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION. 165
Pithapuram, Polavaram and Kota Ramachandrapuram zamin- chap. xi.

daris, which were assessed respectively at two and a half The
lakhs, one lakh, and one and a quarter lakhs. The other settle-
properties were inconsiderable in extent. There were in all ment.
fourteen ancient zamindaris and twelve muttas in those parts
of the present Godavari district which were then included in
the district of Rajahmundry.^
The Pithapuram zamindari is the only large property which
retains anything like its old proportions. Much of the Pedda-
puram estate has been bought in by Government for arrears,
and what remains of it has been divided into nine small
zamindaris which altogether pay a peshkash of less than one
and a half lakhs. The whole of the Kota Ramachandrapuram
estate was bought in by Government in 1846, and Polavaram
has been reduced by sales for arrears to a petty estate paying
a peshkash of less than Rs. 7,000. The other properties have
suffered similarly from sales and subdivisions. Excluding the
agency hill muttas and Bhadrachalam, eighteen zamindaris
and eleven muttas are still in existence.
This permanent settlement was a dismal failure. Both the its failure.
ancient zamindaris and the newly-created proprietary estates
were speedily involved in financial difficulties. In the case
of the former this appears to have been less the eff'ect of
over-assessment than of extravagance and mismanagement.
Indeed the most lightly-assessed of them all was the first to
collapse. The newly-created proprietors not only imitated
the extravagance of the ancient zamindars, but had also to
struggle against over-assessment. Their estates quickly began
to be put up to sale in satisfaction of arrears of peshkash, and
usually passed at first into the hands of speculators who event-
ually came same end. In 1813-14 the first of them
to the
was purchased on behalf of Government at auction by the
Collector, and thenceforward, as the figures in the margin
show,* an ever-increasing
No. of Government area came, by the same
Year. villages.
process, under the direct
1813 10 administration of Govern-
1817 59
1820 133
ment. Though the proprie-
1832 150 tary estates were the first
1840 361
580
to fall, several of the an-
1844
1851 876 cient zamindaris eventually
shared their fate.
1 These Bhadrachalam and parts of Yellavaram, which were

figures exclude
not added to the later.
district tillThe figures of peshkash include areas which
have since been handed over to Kistna, and are only roughly correct.
— '
1 66 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XI. The political results of the permanent settlement were

The equally disastrous. In l822, Sir Thomas Munro, then Governor
Permanent
Settle- of Madras, examined in a characteristic minute the causes of
ment. the frequent disturbances of the peace which occurred, and
attributed much of the disorder to the attempts of Government
to enforce the rights of traders and other speculators who had
lent money to the zamindars and proprietors on the security
of their estates. He wrote :
They are not

'
dishonoured, they think, by their possessions
falHng into the hands of Government, but they consider themselves
disgraced by seeing the abodes of their ancestors become the prop-
erty of a low trader. As the Regulations now stand, we must, when-
ever a sowcar obtains a decree against a zamindar for a part or the
whole of the zamindari, support him by force both in getting and
maintaining possession of it and hence we are every day liable to be
;
dragged into a petty warfare among unhealthy hills, where an enemy is

hardly ever seen, where numbers of valuable lives are lost from the
climate, and where we often lose but never gain reputation.'
He was
emphatically of opinion, none the less, that the
great hope for the future lay in the gradual extension of the
area of the Government land. 'No zamindari once forfeited
for rebellion should ever be restored. All estates falling in
should invariably be kept and annexed to the Circar lands.'
Its effect on Nor did the permanent settlement bring peace and plenty
the ryots.
to the cultivators. Few of the zamindars interested them-
selves personally in the management of their estates; they
entrusted everything to the care of managers, whose policy it
was to render their masters entirely dependent on them and
to prevent their interfering in the administration. There was
no system of management the only object was to extort from
;
the ryots the utmost possible amount of revenue. A second

middleman was often introduced by renting villages annually
or for a term of years, preference being given to such proposals
as ensured the highest amount of rent and afforded security
for its punctual payment, and little regard being had to the
class of persons tendering or the influence rack-rents must
have on the resources of the villages. In adverse seasons all
that could be taken of the ryots' produce was claimed on the
part of the zamindar, and in ordinary years the demand
purposely exceeded their means. The deficiencies of bad
years were made up in good ones, and in both the ryot was
leftonly a bare subsistence.
inherent evils of this system were soon exaggerated by
The
a succession of natural calamities which is described in more
^ Arbuthnot's Munro (London, i8Si), i, zv-
LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION. 1 6/
detail inChapter VIII. An unfavourable season in 1831-32' chap. xi.

culminating in a destructive hurricane in May of the latter The
year, was followed by the disastrous famine of 1833 the Permanent ;
three years 1835-38 were far from prosperous, the scarcity in

the last of them almost amounting to famine in 1839 a
;
ment.
—
cyclone did great damage all along the coast and far inland ;
while the season of 1840-41 was almost equally calamitous.

Moreover a great decline in the weaving trade had taken
place owing to the abolition of the Government factories.
The value of piece-goods exported decreased from 14 lakhs in
1825 to less than 2 lakhs in 1842. Numbers of people were
thus thrown out of work.
The impoverishment of the district and the decline in its Special
revenue at length, in 1843, led Government to send Sir Henry Commis-
Montgomery, Bart., an able member of the Civil Service, to ap°pohited
make enquiries. His report, dated March 18, 1844, dealt fully 1843.
with the evils of the existing system. He attributed them

chiefly to the inefficient management of the zamindars and
proprietors, and the consequent rack-renting and impoverish-
ment of the villages. He also lamented the want of adequate
—
means of irrigation especially the neglect of the Godavari
—
water and the disrepair of the existing works and his ;
report led to the enquiries which ultimately resulted in the

construction of the great anient at Dowlaishweram and the
transformation of the delta of the Godavari consequent
thereon.
The most important part of his report, however, was that R\ot\vari
devoted to a consideration of the revenue policy which should Settle-
be adopted in the constantly increasing area which, as has Before 1865.
been seen, was coming under the direct administration of
Government.
The first villages which came (in 1813-14) into Govern-
ment hands were rented out to the principal inhabitants
jointly, on the system approved by the Board of Revenue in
1794. In 1817 that plan was relinquished, and for a number
of years the Government land was administered under the
dsard system of sharing the crops or the visahadi system of
annual or periodical rents. In both cases the settlement was
made with the ryots directly and without the intervention of
a middleman ;and the Collector was only authorized to rent
the villages in the event of the inhabitants refusing to come
to reasonable terms.
The dsard was simply the conversion
or sharing system
into money of Government share, ascertained by estimate
the
or by actual measurement of the grain, of the actual crop
i68 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XI. harvested each year. It was apparently almost universal
Ryotwari on wet land. Its drawbacks, as already mentioned, were
Settle-
ments. that it involved the entertainment of a large native staff
who cheated the Government and bullied the ryots-
Under thevisabadi system, which was generally applied
to dry land, the assessment on the village as a whole was
fixed annually by the Collector with reference to the probable
prospects of the harvest, but was frequently revised at the
jamabandi in accordance with the actual state of the season.
This lump assessment was distributed among the different
fields by the ryots themselves, individual agreements being
taken by the Collector from each ryot for the rent apportioned
to his holding.
The fairness of this distribution was in theory maintained
by the introduction of the peculiar system of challenging,' '
under which any ryot who considered that his own holding
was over-assessed and that of his neighbour too leniently
rated could demand that the latter should be made over to
him an increased rate which he named. If the ryot in
at
possession consented to pay the enhanced demand he could
retain the land, and in that case a proportionate reduction
was made the assessment of the fields held by the ryot
in
who challenged. If, however, the ryot in possession refused
to agree to the increased rate, he was compelled to give up
the land to the challenger, who took it on the higher terms he
had himself named.
This challenging necessarily rendered occupation insecure,
and it moreover failed to meet every case of unfairness, since
the unit of challenging was the entire holding and not a

particular field and a small ryot whose one or two fields
;
were over-assessed could not afford to challenge a wealthy

cultivator with a large holding, however sure he might be
that the latter was too leniently rated. 'Accordingly,' wrote
the Collector in 1825, the substantial ryots invariably con-
'
trived that their own lands should be lightly assessed and the
burden thrown on those of the poorer ryots.'
This apportionment of the lump village assessment among
the different holdings was made either annually or period-
ically. If the latter, it was generally accompanied by
a redis-
tribution of the fields among
the various villagers every three,
four or five years (according to the custom of each village),
somewhat in the same way as under the karaiyidu form of the
mirasi tenure in Tanjore, of which relics even now survive.
This was done chiefly to prevent the land held by the smaller
ryots from being exhausted by continual poor farming, but
also to counteract the frequent changes of possession rendered CHAP. xi.

possible by the challenging system. Ryot WAR I
The visahadi leases did not work Arrears

satisfactorily. Settle-
ments.
usually accumulated owing to the inability of the poorer
classes to pay their rents, and then alterations were made
in the total amount of the lump assessment but apparently ;
nothing was done to render its incidence more fair.

Both the dsard and the visabadi systems therefore had their
drawbacks, and more than one Collector proposed a return to
the renting methods. This was indeed authorized in 1839,
though it was not actually carried out.
Sir Henry Montgomery's report of 1844 already referred

to recorded the opinion that the only satisfactory way of
dealing with the Government land was by a survey and
scientific settlement. Meanwhile, as a temporary measure,
he advocated a system of joint village rents, and this was
introduced a year or two later and remained in force for some
20 years. The challenging system, curiously enough, was
retained, and the main modifications introduced were the
abolition of the dsard system and the insistence of the joint
responsibility of the village community as a whole for the
default of any of its members. Sir Henry Montgomery's
view was that these joint village rents would afford protection
to the poorer ryots in so far as their interests were mixed up
with those of the richer, and he was also anxious to remove
the obnoxious interference of Government servants which was
an essential part of the dsard system, and had also grown
up round the visabadi system owing to the ryots being
unable themselves to arrange the apportionment of the lump
assessments among the different holdings.
Meanwhile notable changes had been effected
in the
administration of the district. 1849 a Special Commis-
In
sioner with the powers of a Board of Revenue was appointed
to the charge of it, and the post was continued until 1855. In
1859 the Rajahmundry, Masulipatam and Guntur Collect-
orates were formed into the two districts of Godavari (with
Cocanada as head-quarters) and Kistna, the boundary
between which followed the course of the Upputeru and
Tamaleru rivers. The anicut across the Godavari had also
been completed in 1853.
Proposals for the first scientific settlement of the taluks Settlement of
comprising the new Godavari district were submitted by 1865-66.
Mr. R. E. Master, Deputy Director of Revenue Settlement, in

two schemes, one in i860 dealing with the western delta, and
the other in 1861 relating to the rest of the district.^ The two
1 Printed in No XXII of the Selections from the Madras Records.

11
— ;
I/O GODAVARI.
CHAP. XI. schemes, with certain modifications, were introduced in

Ryotwari 1862-63 and 1866-67 respectively.
Settle- or settle the
ments. It was not considered desirable, to survey
whole of the villages belonging to Government. The scheme

did not deal with 148 Government villages in the Agency and
Its scope.
elsewhere in which patches of land were only cleared for

temporary cultivation and abandoned after a year or two for
fresh ones. These were left to be settled from year to year.
Waste land, even in surveyed villages, was often left unclassi-
fied on the ground that it was not likely to be soon occupied
and many of the lankas in the Godavari were omitted from the
scheme, because their limits were continually fluctuating, and
were ordered to be leased out annually by auction— a system
which still obtains.
Grouping of The remaining area was divided into the upland and the
' '
'delta,' according as it lay outside or within the influence of

villages.
the Godavari irrigation. In each of these tracts the villages

were grouped into classes with reference to their general
fertility and the quality of their irrigation sources. All the
delta land was classed as dry, a uniform water-rate of Rs. 3
per acre being imposed on irrigated fields in addition to the
dry assessment.
Classificatiitn The were grouped into fourteen classes,^ the arenace-
soils
of soils. ous series amounting to four per cent, of the whole, the
alluvial to six, the red ferruginous varieties to 29 and the regar
to 59 per cent. There was also an exceptional class, making
up two per cent, of the whole, in which were placed the lankas
in the G6davari and the land irrigated by the Yeleru river in
Peddapuram taluk.
Standard The grain values of each of the sorts into which these
' '
crops, grain
classes were subdivided were ascertained by experiment.
outturns,
commutation The crops taken as the standard for each class were as
prices.
under :
Lankas.
1/2 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XI. wet land to Rs. 41,000, while in the upland dry land the
Ryotwari decrease was Rs. 14,000. The net increase in this tract was
Settle-
ments. thus some Rs. 1,26,000. The water-rate in the delta was
raised almost immediately (1865) from Rs. 3 to Rs. 4 per acre,
and eventually in 1894 to Rs. 5 and this resulted in a further
;
increase.
Water-rate This separate water-rate on regularly irrigated wet land
in the delta.
was quite exceptional, the method usual in other districts
being to charge such land a consolidated wet assessment. It
was introduced under the orders of the then Secretary of
State, Sir Charles Wood. His idea appears to have been
that, though Government was selling the water, it had no
concern with the use made of it, and was only required to fix
a fair commercial value for it.
'
But to some land the water
'
was worth much more than to others (since fields which grew
excellent dry crops did not always do well when irrigated),
and in effect the greatest inequalities of assessment grew
up among the delta fields.' These considerations led the
Government to reclassify the delta land when the present
settlement was introduced.
The existing The settlement continued in force for 30 years and in 1896
settlement
its scope.
;
proposals for its revision were made. The chief factors
calling for consideration ^ were the enormous increase in
prices (they had more than doubled in most cases), and the
great improvement in means of communication, which had
occnrred since the last settlement. The anomalies caused by
the vater-rate system in the delta also called loudly for
removal. In the uplands no reclassification of soils was con-
'
sidered necessary, and the chief change was an all round

enhancement of the existing rates by one-third, so that
Government might share in the profits resulting from the
great increase in prices.
wet and dry land soils were
In the delta, however, both
reclassified and wet assessment was substi-
a consolidated
tuted for the existing dry assessment plus water-rate.
Reclassifica- In reclassifying these soils three series (alluvial, regar and
tion of delta arenaceous) were adopted, the containing two classes
first
soils.
and each of the two latter three. Each class was subdivided
into sorts.' The standard crops taken for wet and dry land
'
were white and black paddy respectively. For the former

the grain outturns which had been arrived at for the same
classes of soils in Tanjore were adopted they were rather ;
* See G.O.No. 623, Rev., dated 27th August 1894 and B.P. (Rev. Sett.),
No. 16, dated 29lh January 1895, p. i.
2 See the exhaustive report in B.P. (Rev. Sett.), No. 43, dated 12th March
than those worked out at the

less firstsettlement. For black CHAP. XI.
paddy the outturns adopted were also rather below those cal- Ryot WAR I
Settle-
culated at the earlier settlement. For vicissitudes of season ments.
and unprofitable areas allowances of 10 per cent, were made
in wet, and 20 per cent, in dry, land. The delta crops never
fail and the ryots there obtain very high prices for their crops
in famine years but their assessment was not enhanced on
;
that account. The estimated cost of cultivation was raised,

the maxima for wet and dry crops being Rs. 14 and Rs. 8
against Rs, 5-8-0 and Rs. 4 respectively under the old settle-
ment. The commutation prices were taken at Rs. 118 and
Rs. 96 per garce for black and white paddy respectively.
The average prices of the last twenty non-famine years were
actually much higher than these figures, but fifteen per cent,
was deducted from the averages to allow for merchants'
profits. Half the net annual money value of the outturn of
each field as thus ascertained was taken as the Government
share and rounded off to the nearest standard rate of assess-
ment. The result was the marginally-
Wet noted * fourteen rates for dry, and twelve
rates for wet, lands. The two highest
dry rates were only applied to lanka
or padiigai (river bank) lands, which are
of exceptional fertility- For purposes of
dry assessment, the villages were divided
into two groups with reference to their
means of communication and their proxi-
mity to markets while wet land was
;
grouped in blocks (irrespective of village

boundaries) into four classes
' with '
reference to the quality of the irrigation

and drainage. When the rates of assess-
ment were applied to particular fields,
they were modified according to the groups and classes in
which the fields were included.
The general result of the settlement was that in the whole
of the — including those portions since trans-
Godavari delta
ferred to Kistna district — there was a gross increase in the
assessment of Rs. 2,35,000, or eight per cent.
The change from the system of water-rate to a consoli-
dated wet assessment caused some difficulties. The first
doubt which arose was as to what land should be assessed as
wet and what as dry, since under the former system the ryot
had been able to please himself as to whether he would grow
dry crops or wet. It was eventually decided that all land which
had been continuously under wet cultivation for the five years
m GODAVARI.
CHAP. XI. 1893-99 (but excepting 1895-96), or from which Government

Ryotwari water could not be excluded, should be classed as wet. The
Settle-
ments. next question was what water-rate should be imposed on the
remaining delta fields when they were irrigated. In the case
of this land the option of using or refusing the water was
continued, and, in consideration of this concession, the water-
rate was fixed at one rupee per acre more than the difference
between the wet and dry assessment. No land was classed
as permanent double-crop land. The charge for a second
crop on wet land was fixed at half the wet assessment, and
specific rules were made for the charges for irrigated dry
crops and second wet crops on dry land.
The levy of water-rate in zamindari and inam land occa-
sioned some discussion. A
ruling of the High Court had
raised a doubt as to the right of Government to levy the rate
on land of these two classes from which water could not be
excluded, and this had to be removed by legislation (Act of V
1900) and; the rate was eventually fixed at the old uniform
figure of Rs. 5 per acre.
Settlement Besides reassessing the areas dealt with at the former
of wild tracts.
settlement, the existing settlement assessed to revenue many
villages which either did not then belong to Government or
had been left out of account owing to their jungly nature.
Some 41 proprietary villages had been resumed by Govern-
ment^ since the original settlement, and many jungle villages
had so far advanced in civilization as to justify their assess-
ment. The large areas of waste land in the surveyed villages
of the upland taluks, which at the original settlement had
been left unassessed on the ground that they were not likely
to be brought under cultivation within a reasonable period,
were now brought into line with the fields adjoining them-
Financial On
the whole, then, 320,000 acres which had been settled
results.
in 1866 and assessed at Rs. 11,38,000 were charged Rs.
18,36,000 in the new settlement of 1900 19,000 acres which
;
had come newly under cultivation between the two settle-

ments, and had been provisionally assessed at Rs. l6,000, were
now charged Rs. 23,000 and some 42,000 acres were assessed
;
for the first time in 1900 at Rs. 34,000.
Bhadra- The Bhadrachalam beyond the Ghats

existing taluk of
chalam became and till 1874 was adminis-
British territory in i860,
taluk.
tered as part of the Upper Godavari district of the Central
Provinces. It is made up of the old Bhadrachalam and
Rekapalle taluks. In 1874 it was decided, in view of its
racial and geographical affinities to the Godavari district of
^ Thirty -seven villages of the Totapalli estate in 1881 and four of the Rampa
estate in 1882.
this Presidency, to transfer the taluk to this latter. Its revenue chap. xi.
history is therefore distinct from that of the rest of the Ryotwari
district. S-J-;
Bhadrachalam is large zamindari estate
a portion of a -—
which is said to have been in the possession of the present ^jgh?"^'^'^-^
family since 1324, and the rest of which remained, at the time
of the cession in i860, a part of the Nizam's Dominions. The
possession of the property by the present owners has on
several occasions been seriously, though not permanently,
interrupted by feuds with a rival family. Rekapalle, which
was formerly a separate taluk but is now embodied in Bhad-
rachalam, was leased out in 1815 by the proprietors of the
latter estate to renters who subsequently set at nought their
authority and even rose in arms against them. These people
were accordingly registered as inferior proprietors at the
settlement which followed the cession in i860. Another class
of inferior proprietors were the Doras,' to whom the owners
'
of the estate had been wont to rent out certain areas on short
leases on a commission of from 20 to 40 per cent, of the gross
produce. Their position was also defined at the settlement.
Besides fixing the position of the superior and inferior
proprietors, this settlement also determined the status of the
ryots. Some of these possessed varying degrees of occupancy
right in the soil,^ but the rest were tenants-at-will. The occu-
pancy rights conferred ranged from a conditional right (in the
case of those who had held their land for twelve years) to
an absolute right, and in all cases the proprietors were prohi-
bited from raising the ryots' rents during the currency of the
settlement.
The assessment of the peshkash to be paid by the pro- Fixing of the
'^^
was calculated by regular settlement operations. The
prietors
villages were grouped for purposes of assessment into chuks
(subdivisions) with reference to their fertility and locality, and
the land was surveyed and thesoils classified field by field.
The which each class of soil in each chiik might be
rental
assumed to be able to pay was then calculated with reference
to the money rents actually paid dunng the last five years, and
to the value of rents paid in kind. Of the assumed rental
thus arrived at, one half was taken as the peshkash.
The Doras above referred to had to pay the superior
proprietors the whole of the peshkash so fixed on each village,
together with road and school cesses each amounting to two
per cent, on the peshkash, a dak cess of a half per cent., and
^ These are clearly set out in the papers printed with Ci.O. No. 122, Revenue,
dated 29th January 1SS5, pp. 4 and 5.
176 godavari.
CHAP. XI. a tribute of from 10 to 40 per cent, called malikhdua. The

Ryotwari amount and description of rent due from the cultivators to the
Settle-
ments. proprietors was also prescribed, even in the case of the
tenants-at-will upon whom no permanent arrangement was
binding. Waste lands and forests were declared to belong
to Government, after a liberal deduction of waste (from 100
to 200 per cent, of the cultivated area and called the dupati
land) had been set apart round each village for the extension
of cultivation, firewood and grazing purposes. The abkari
revenue was also resumed, and the rani of Bhadrachalam was
granted a deduction of Rs. 4,428 from her peshkash as com-
pensation for the loss she suffered through the resumption of
this and the forests. This settlement was thus altogether
different in principle from those carried out in zamindaris in
this Presidency.
Besides the occupied proprietary tracts, the country con-
tained a vast extent of waste land and small area of occupied
land the proprietary right in which was vested in Government.
The latter consisted of a number of small and neglected
villages in the heart of the forest, in which only shifting
cultivation ( podu) was practised. The ryots in these were given
occupancy rights over all fields which they could prove to
have been continuously held by them, and a small assessment
— apparently four annas on the extent culturable with one
axe, about three acres —was levied.
Settlement After Bhadrachalam became part of the Godavari district,
of 1890 in
Bhadra-
the question of its re-settlement arose. The original settle-
chalam. ment had been far less favourable to the proprietor than those
carried out in this Presidency, and the proprietor pressed for
a reduction of his peshkash and the restoration of his former
rights to the revenue from abkari and the forests. The
general lines upon which the re-settlement should proceed
were ultimately laid down in 1885 but it was not carried out
;
till 1888-89 nor introduced till 1890. The inferior tenures were
not interfered with —indeed ryots with provisional occupancy
tenures were granted absolute occupancy rights. The average
rates on Government wet and dry land were put at 8 annas
and 4 annas respectively, and cultivation is now measured up
annually. The peshkash was fixed at two-thirds of the various
superior and inferior proprietors' assets, ascertained by a scru-
tiny of their accounts, subject to the proviso that no curtailment
exceeding 15 per cent, should be effected in any proprietor's
income. The abkari and forest revenue were again retained
in the hands of Government, but as an act of grace an
allowance of Rs. 4,000 a year was made to the zamindar of
Bhadrachalam as compensation therefor, the deduction from
—
the rani's peshkash above referred to having lapsed at her CHAP. XI.
death. The cost of the village establishment was deducted Ryotwari
from the assets on which the peshkash was calculated. The Settle-
ments.
malikfidnas were fixed at a uniform rate of 10 per cent, on
the peshkash. The road and other cesses were continued and
formed into a fund called the Bhadrachalam Road Fund,
which was to be administered by the Collector.
The net result of this settlement was a loss to Government
of just over Rs. 1,000 annually.
The present Agency tracts of Godavari consist of the Agency
whole of the old mansabs (estates) of Rampa and Jaddangi, tracts and
rented
the more hilly parts of the old Peddapuram and Polavaram villages.
zamindaris, the Dutcharti and Guditeru muttas of the Golgonda
Agency transferred from Vizagapatam in i881 and the
Bhadrachalam taluk transferred from the Central Provinces.
As has already been seen, the mansabs were disregarded, as
being unimportant, both at the permanent settlement in
1802-03, and at the settlement of 1861--66, and since that time
they have all been resumed in circumstances described in the
account of each in Chapter XV the land which formerly
;
belonged to the two zamindaris of Peddapuram and Polava-

ram is held either by muttadars or direct from Government ;
and the revenue system in Bhadrachalam has just been

described.
The Government villages, generally speaking, have not
been surveyed or settled, but are rented out from year to year
to the highest suitable bidder, who is debarred by the terms
of his annual patta from raising the rents of the ryots. The
auction is merely a form, as there is seldom any competition.
Some of these villages are being surveyed and it is proposed
to introduce an experimental settlement direct with the ryots
on the basis of existing rents. The muttadars pay a small
quit-rent. They hold their land ^ on a service tenure of the
same nature as that of the former mansabdar (i.e., kdvalgdri
or watch and ward) for any breach of which they are answer-
able to the Government. The holders of the muttas trans-
ferred from Vizagapatam are onsomewhat similar ground,
their tenure being conditioned for service and defeasible at
the will of Government. Government can remove them and
can appoint whom
they choose as their successors. The
Agency few mokhasa villages granted by
also includes a
Government on favourable terms for services performed
generally during the Rampa rebellion.
^ G.O. No. 103, Revenue, dated 3rd February 1S90

23
—
178 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XI. It has already been mentioned that the area which now
District makes up the Godavari district was originally placed under
AND
Divisional the Chief and Council at Masulipatam was divided in 17Q4
;
Limits. into the Collectorates of Cocanada and Rajahmundry was ;
included in 1802 in the new Rajahmundry district formed

;
part of the Godavari district first formed in 1859; and was

increased by the addition of Bhadrachalam taluk in 1874 and
two muttas of Golgonda Agency in 1881.
The district thus constituted increased enormously in
wealth, population and importance when the irrigation from
the Godavari anicut took full effect, and became a heavier
charge than one Collector could efficiently administer.
Accordingly in 1904 the portion of it which lay south and
west of the Godavari river (with the single exception of the
Polavaram division) was transferred to the Kistna district,
which latter in its turn was lightened by the formation of the
new district of Guntur. The existing divisional charges are
as under :
Division.
Village
Establish-
ments.
Reorganized
in 1866.
LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION. 1 79
was decided in 1866^ that this cess should be levied under the chap. xi.
recent Village Service Cess Act of 1864 at the rate of 8 pies in Village
every rupee of the land revenue on Government lands and of establish-
water-rate on inams. It was ordered that the inam lands which '
had up to then formed part of the remuneration of the village

servants should be enfranchised (i.e., surrendered to the then
holders) at a quit-rent of five-eighths of the land revenue assess-
ment which would have been charged upon them had they not
been inams. The proceeds of the cess and the quit-rents on
the inams were set aside to constitute a fund (since abolished)
for the future payment of the village establishments.
Before these changes were introduced, the existing estab-
lishments were revised. The number of villages was greatly
reduced by clubbing small ones with larger ones adjoining,
and the establishments were greatly modified, being in every
case much reduced, A
munsif, a karnam, a talaiyari (called
nayak) and one or more vettis (according to the
in this district a
amount of the revenue demand) were allowed to each village ;
an additional talaiyari was sanctioned for 29 large villages ;
and nirgantis (distributors of irrigation water) were largely

increased in number, but were only employed for tanks in
upland villages in which the ryots applied for them, and
were not allowed in delta villages. The payment of munsifs
and karnams varied, with the revenue demand of the village,
from Rs, l/^ to Rs. 12, and from Rs. 5 to Rs. 20 a month,
respectively. The lower rates for munsifs (Rs. ij^, Rs. 2,
Rs. 3 and Rs. 4) were confined to villages where the revenue
demand was small and the work of the headman consequently
light. The pay of the talaiyaris, nirgantis and vettis was
fixed at a uniform rate of Rs. 4 a month. The old village
shroffs were abolished.
Village barbers and Chamars (leather-workers) had also
been formerly remunerated with land inams. These were not
enfranchised, but were left to their holders to be enjoyed as
service inams on condition that the holders rendered to the
villagers the services, as barbers and leather-workers, which
had been customarily required of them. Specific services
were usually specially paid for in grain by the villagers, and
these payments formed an addition to the income obtained
from the inams.
In 1885 a new scheme of village establishments was Revised
sanctioned. The essential alterations effected by this were ^" *^^5-
the increase of the munsifs' pay and the appointment of
monigars to help them the appointment of assistant
;
^ See G.O. No, 1237, Revenue, dated 23rd May 1866, and also Nos. 963,
dated 29th June 1870, and 1097, dated 26th July 1885.
—
i8o GODAVARI.
jCHAP.XI. karnams a moderate increase in the number of the talaiyaris

;
Village and nirgantis and a decrease in that of the vettis and the ;
Establish-
ments. payment of those village officers in whole inam villages and
zamindaris who did work for Government. Villages were
graded into six classes, and the pay of munsifs and karnams
varied between Rs. 5 and Rs. I2 and Rs. 8 and Rs. 20 respect-
ively. In some cases the munsifs were paid as much as
Rs. 15. The number of villages was altered by regrouping
and by making provision for some resumed villages in the
Rampa and Totapalli mansabs, and the net result was that
the total was reduced by ten. Subsequent to the reforms of
1885 the number of monigars was slightly reduced by regroup-
ing; and finally in 1898 the minimum pay of karnams was
''
^
raised to Rs. 8.
InGovernment villages in Bhadrachalam an establishment

of headmen (patels), karnams (patwaris) and talaiyaris is paid
from a fund constituted from a deduction of one anna in the
rupee on the land revenue collections in those villages.
INAMS, The inams of the district were settled by the Inam Commis-
sioner between i860 and 1870. One peculiar class of inam
then dealt with was the ferry inams, which had been granted
to remunerate the boatmen who worked ferries on the
Godavari. The enfranchisement at a quit-rent of two-thirds
of the assessment, of such of these as had been rendered
unnecessary by other ferrying agency was ordered in 1865.^
Ferry inams still exist, notably in zamindari villages. As has
been said, the village service inams in Government villages
were enfranchised at a quit-rent of five-eighths of the assess-
ment, and the inams of the quasi-private servants of the
—
villagers in such villages the barbers and the chucklers
were not interfered with.*
Since 1902 a special ofificer has been engaged upon the
enfranchisement of the village service inams proper in the
proprietary estates. The principles followed differ in two
important particulars from those adopted in the case of village
service inams in ryotwari villages. The enfranchisement is
at a quit-rent equal to the full assessment leviable on such
lands, instead of at five-eighths of this amount and the
;
enfranchised lands are liable to re-assessment at the re-

settlement of the district. The work is practically completed
and the revised village establishments nearly all introduced.
^ G.O. No. 691, Revenue, dated 25th August 1890.
2 G.O. No. 207, Revenue, dated 15th April 1898.
^ Proceedings of Government, dated 21st February 1865, para. 21.
^ Seethe correspondence ending with G.O. No. 541, Revenue, dated 3rd
April 1872.
SALT, ABKARI AND MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE. l8l
CHAPTER XII.
SALT, ABKARI AND MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE.
Salt— The systems of administration - Methods of manufacture — Markets — Salt

for Vanam — Fish-curing yards — Contraband sail-earth. Abkari and Opium
—
—Arrack —Arrack in the Agency Toddy- Toddy in the Agency — Foreign
li(luor — Opium and hemp-drugs — In the Agency. Customs — Land-customs
— Sea-customs. Income-tax. Stamps.
Three systems of administering the Government salt mon- chap. XI.

opoly are in force in the Godavari district namely, the excise Salt.
system, the monopoly system and the modified excise system.
TT, ^ ^ r ^ ,,--rforce in the
;
• , r
_,
The
—
systcms
Under the first of these, which is in factory at of adminis-
Jagannathapuram (Jagannaikpur) and the major part of that at tration.
Penuguduru (these are the only two factories in the district),

the salt is manufactured by licensees who are allowed, subject
to certain restrictions, to make any quantity they choose, and
dispose of it how and when they like, after they have paid to
Government the excise duty on it, plus a small cess per maund
to cover interest on the capital cost of permanent works con-
nected with storage and manufacture which have been carried
out by Government. This system was introduced into the dis-
trict in 1885-86. It has two drawbacks namely, that the quan- ;
tity manufactured by the licensees may be inadequate to the

demand, and that by manipulating the market the licensees
(or outside capitalists) may unduly raise the price of salt.
The former of these disadvantages is met by the provision of
penalties for neglect to manufacture, and the latter by the
retention of a part of the Penugudiiru factory under the old
monopoly system, the second of the two systems above
referred to.
Under this, the pans are worked by license-holders who

are required to hand over all the salt they make to Govern-
ment, and are paid for it a stated rate per garce called the
kudivdram (' cultivator's share ') which is calculated to cover
all expenses of manufacture and leave the license-holder a
reasonable profit.
Of late years the third of the above systems, the modified

excise system, has been introduced in an extension of the
Penuguduru factory- Under this, the Board of Revenue
announce, before the manufacturing season begins, what
quantity (if any) Government is prepared to buy, and the
licensees are bound to make and deliver this quantity.
l82 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XII. Having done so, they are allowed to manufacture on their
Salt. own account in the same manner as under the excise system.
Methods of
The figures in the margin show the extent in the two
manufac- Acres Cents. factorieswhich is worked
ture.
Jagannathapuram, excise 127 8 under each of these three
Penugudiiru, excise ... 669 Sj systems. The Jaganna-
Do. , monopoly 77 8
thapuram factory is with-
Do. modified excise 8S 18
'n Cocanada municipality
,
and that Penuguduru is near that town. In both of them,

at
the salt is made by the ordinary methods. The pans are
supplied with brine from channels connecting with the sea or
tidal creeks, and not from brinepits- At Jagannathapuram a
steam pump is used for lifting the brine, and, at Penuguduru,
picottahs. Penuguduru is nearly all of a clayey
The soil at
description, and is sandy in only a very few parts. The result
is that the salt made there is dark in colour and rather dirty.
That made at Jagannathapuram is also darker than usual.

In both places, however, the quality is good and the salt has
the commercial advantage of being rather light, which, since
salt is bought wholesale at the factories by weight and retailed
in the bazaars by measure, renders it popular with the dealers.
The Jagannathapuram factory used to be worked entirely by
the Oriental Salt Company, Limited, which endeavoured, by
the use of certain patent processes, to purify the local product
so as to enable it to compete in the Calcutta market with
'Liverpool salt. The attempt failed and the company was
'
voluntarily wound up at the end of 1904. The factory is now

worked, under a lease running for 20 years from January
1889, by Messrs. Hall, Wilson & Co., who have been recog-
nized as receivers on behalf of the debenture-holders in the
company.
Markets. The salt made in the two factories is largely consumed
within the district itself. Out of 780,000 maunds of salt
manufactured there in 1905-06, nearly half was consumed
within it. The balance was sent to Vizagapatam, Kistna, the
Central Provinces and Orissa. The exports by sea used
formerly to include large quantities sent to Rangoon but in ;
recent years cheap salt, mostly from Germany, has reached

that town and reduced prices to a stage which leaves no
profiton this trade. When the stock of Bombay salt is short,
salt sometimes exported from Cocanada to Calcutta, In
is
1903-04 about 126,000 maunds were sent there; but this figure
is quite exceptional, and the exports by sea rarely exceed
50,000 maunds in all-
Salt for The supply of salt to the French Settlement of Yanam is

Yanam. governed by the rules which apply to the other French
SALT, ABKARI AND MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE, 183
Settlements in this Presidency. Under a treaty of 1815 CHAP. xil.

between France and England, modified by two subsequent Salt.
conventions entered into in 1818 and 1837 between the Govern-
ments of Madras and the French Possessions,^ it was agreed
that the French, in consideration of an annual payment, should
undertake to manufacture no salt in their territories, that the
Madras Government should supply them with such salt as they
required for domestic use and consumption at cost price,
' '
and that they should retail this at nearly the same price as
' '
itfetches in adjoining British territory.

In Godavari, as elsewhere, fish-curing yards have been Fish-curing
^^' ^'
established in which salt is sold at a little over cost price for
use in the curing of fish caught in the sea. There are four of
these; namely, at Coringa, Gudarugunta (near Cocanada),
Uppada (near Pithapuram) and Konappapeta, further north up
the coast. At least three-quarters of the fish cured are small.
The larger kinds chiefly include mango fish, sharks and
skates. The demand for salted fish is great and exceeds the
supply, though the method of curing is primitive if not inade-
quate. Prices, however, are kept down by the merchants, who
make the fishermen advances and so have them in their power.
Salt-earth is at present declared to be contraband only in Contraband
the Pithapuram and Tuni divisions, certain villages in the

Totapalli zamindari in Peddapuram taluk, the Cocanada and
Nagaram taluks, and the Amalapuram taluk less the division
under the deputy tahsildar of Kottapeta. Elsewhere the
saline soils are neither plentiful enough nor rich enough in
salt to constitute a danger to the revenue. The Salt Act is
not in force in the Agency, but no saline earths exist there
and the supply of salt is all obtained from the low country.
No saltpetre is made in the district, either crude or refined.
The abkari revenue consists of that derived from arrack, abka'ri and
Opium.
toddy, foreign liquor and hemp-drugs. Statistics regarding
each of these items, and also concerning opium, will be found
in the separate Appendix.
The arrack revenue is managed on what is known as the Arrack,
contract distillery supply system, under which the contract

for the exclusive privilege of the manufacture and supply of
country spirit in the district is disposed of by tender, an
excise duty is levied on the spirit issued from the contractor's
distillery or warehouse, and the right of retail sale in licensed
shops is sold separately by auction every year. Wholesale
vend depots are opened by the contractor at places fixed by
the Collector, and the number of retail shops is definitely
limited. The rates at which the spirit should be sold to the
1 The first two of these papers are printed in extenso in Aitchison's
Treaties, etc. (1892), viii, 214-22.
1 84 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XII. retail vendors are fixed by Government and embodied in the
Abkari and terms of the contract. The contract is held at present by
Opium.
Messrs. Parry & Co., Managers of the Deccan Sugar and
Abkari Co.'s distillery at Samalkot,^ who make the spirit at
that distillery from molasses.
The consumption of arrack in Godavari, when compared
with that in other districts in which the still-head duty is the
same (Rs. 4-6 per gallon of proof spirit), is moderate. In
1903-04 the average incidence of the arrack revenue per head
of population in the district as formerly constituted was
as. 2-7 against as. 3-11 in the then Kistna district, as. 2-1 in
Nellore, and 3 annas in the Presidency as a whole.
Up to [900 the arrack consumed in the district was made
from toddy and on the out-still system. The change to the
spirit made from molasses in the distillery, which was dearer
than the other and had a less popular flavour, caused a fall in
the consumption and revenue (which however was more than
counterbalanced by a rise in the revenue from toddy) and also
offered a strong temptation to illicit distillation. The con-
sumption of the molasses arrack, however, is now steadily
increasing, and it would seem that the vigilance of the
protective staff of the Salt and Abkari department has resulted
in the transition from the one system to the other being safely
tided over.
Arrack in the In the Agency, the arrack revenue is differently adminis-
Agency.
tered. Three systems are in force namely, the ordinary
;
excise system, the nominal fee system, and the out-still and
shop system.
The Abkari Act I of 1886 has been extended to 47 villages
in Yellavaram, Chodavaram and Polavaram — chiefly the more
civilized villages near the plains —
and the excise system has
—
been introduced into 30 of these two in Yellavaram, four in
Chodavaram and 24 in Polavaram.
In the rest of the Agency only the old Abkari Act (III of
^864) is in operation, and the abkari administration is in the
hands of the Revenue officials. Outside Chodavaram, the
second of the two systems above mentioned is in force in the
Koya and Reddi villages, the inhabitants of which are allowed
to make arrack for their own consumption on payment of a
nominal fee of two annas a head per annum for every male
over fourteen years of age. The rules require that the village
headman should take out the license and make and supply
arrack to the Koya and Reddi residents, but in practice no
actual license is granted. In Chodavaram little abkari
revenue is derived from the muttas, since a toddy tax (chiguni-
pannu) is supposed to be included in the quit-rent levied from
'
See Chapter VI, p. iii.
SALT, ABKARl AND MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE. 1 85
the muttadars but the out-still system is in force in some of CHAP. XII.
;
the muttas. Abkari and

Opium.
In all parts of the Agency in which neither of the afore-
mentioned systems is in force, the arrack revenue is managed
on the out-still system, whereby the right both to make and to
sell arrack in licensed premises is sold annually by auction.
In Bhadrachalam the arrack is distilled from the flowers of

the ippa (Bassia latifolia) tree, but elsewhere in the Agency
from toddy.
In the plains, the toddy revenue is now managed on the Toddy.
usual tree-tax system, under which a tax is levied on every
tree tapped and the right to open retail shops is sold every
year to the highest bidder. The toddy is nearly all drawn
from date and palmyra palms, the number of each of these
which is tapped being about equal. Date toddy is used from
October to the end of January and from July to September,
when palmyra toddy is scarce. The toddy-drawers are
generally of the Idiga and Gamalla castes.
A fair number of trees are tapped for sweet juice in the
delta taluks, since the demand for jaggery at the Samalkot
distillery and sugar factory is very large. Many more are
tapped in the western delta lately transferred to the Kistna
district. Licenses have to be taken out for tapping for sweet
juice. The low price of jaggery formerly retarded the
industry but recently (probably owing to the effect of the
;
countervailing duties on sugar) the price has risen from Rs. 14

per candy of 500 lb. to Rs. 21 or Rs. 22, and this may result in
an extension of sweet-juice tapping. The tappers, however,
are very usually in debt to capitalists from whom they have
received advances, and are perhaps not likely to benefit much
themselves.
In the Agency, the tree-tax system is in force in the 30 Toddy in the
Agency.
villages already mentioned where the excise system of arrack
administration has been introduced, but elsewhere no separate
revenue is derived from toddy. Toddy is drawn by the hill
people from date, palmyra and sago (Caryota iircns) palm trees.
Six taverns have been opened in Rajahmundry and Coca- Foreign
liquor.
nada for the sale of foreign liquor to be consumed on the
premises. The right to sell in them is disposed of annually
by auction. In the Agency, a few shops have been opened on
payment of fixed fees.
The sale of opium, preparations of the hemp plant and Opium and
hemp -drugs.
poppy-heads is controlled under the system usual elsewhere.
Supplies are obtained from the Government storehouses.
There is an opium storehouse at Rajahmundry, the only one
in the Presidency outside Madras. Licenses for wholesale
24
i86 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XII. vend depots are issued by the Collector on payment of a fee
Abkaki and of Rs. 15 per annum, and retail shops are sold annually by
Opium.
auction. The retail price of opium is fixed by Government at
2^ tolas for a rupee.
The amount of opium consumed is very large. In the old
Godavari district the average consumption per head of the
population in 1903-04 was '619 tola against *o82 tola in the
Presidency as a whole, and the incidence of the revenue was
2 as. 2 ps. per head against 4 ps. for the whole Presidency. It
has been suggested that smuggling to Burma (most difficult to
prevent) is responsible for much of this abnormal consumption.
Parcels of opium sent by post from this district were seized
in Rangoon in 1902-03 and previous years, and the many
emigrants who goto Rangoon from Cocanada are believed to
smuggle the drug with them. The Rangoon authorities have
been particularly on the alert recently. Another explanation
is that opium is used in the district as a prophylactic against
malaria but against this is the fact that the drug is not
;
consumed more largely in the malarious than in the healthy

taluks.
The consumption of hemp-drugs per head of the population
issmaller in Godavari than usual. In 1903-04 the incidence
of revenue in the old Godavari district per head per annum
was one pie against two pies in the Presidency as a whole.
In the In the Agency, the villages to which Act I of 1886 has been
Agency. applied are supplied with ganja from two shops in Polavaram
which get their stock from the plains. Elsewhere there are
no restrictions on the cultivation of ganja but as a fact it is;
little grown There are a few opium shops.

or consumed.
They are supplied from Rajahmundry and are managed in
the ordinary manner, but by the Revenue department instead
of by the abkari authorities.
Customs. Under native rule, and even in the early years of British
Land- administration, land-customs were levied at frequent stations
customs.
along the main lines of communication, and had the most
baneful effects upon trade. In their report of 1787, the Circuit
Committee ^ wrote :—
Numerous chowkis are placed on all the roads, where, besides the
'
zamindars' dues, many russooms are exacted, which is the cause of

much vexation and inconvenience to the trader. The enormous
duties exacted on teak deserve particular notice. From Polavaram
to Yanam they amount to 200
per cent. That carried by the Narasa-
pur liranch pays 250 per cent, at nine places. Hence teak timber is
frequently brought from Pegu at a cheaper rate than can be afforded
to Rekapalle,'
by the merchants who trade in this article
1 See Chapter XI, p. 162.
SALT, ABKARI AND MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE. 1 87
The only land-customs now collected are those on goods CHAP. XTI.
passing into the district from the French Settlement of Customs.
Yanam. These are levied at two stations (chowkis) estab-
lished at Nilapalli and Injaram, on the east and west
frontiers of the Yanam Settlement. The tariff of rates in
force is the same as that for sea-borne imports from foreign
countries. The only articles which are ever charged an
export duty in this Presidency are paddy and rice and by ;
an arrangement entered into many years ago the export of

these to Yanam, in quantities sufficient for the consumption of
its inhabitants, is permitted free of duty.
There is only one considerable port in the district, that of Sea-customs.
Cocanada, and there a regular sea-customs etablishment is

maintained. Coringa is also open to foreign trade, but the
business done is very small. The sea-customs work is super-
vised by the ordinary establishment of the Salt, Abkari and
Customs department. The small sub-ports of Uppada and
Bendamurlanka are open only to coasting trade.
The Income-tax Act does not apply to the Agency tracts. Income-tax.
Figures for the rest of the district will be found in the
separate Appendix to this volume. The incidence of the tax
per head of the population in the present district in the trien-
nium ending 1904-05 was as high as one anna six pies,
against 10/^ pies in the mufassal districts as a whole. Madura
and the exceptional case of the Nilgiris were the only areas
in which the figure was higher. Of the various taluks, the
incidence was highest in Tuni, Cocanada and Rajahmundry,
and lowest in Pithapuram and Ramachandrapuram. The
great wealth of the delta taluks comes from agricultural
pursuits, the income from which is not liable to tax, and the
incidence in several of these is low.
The revenue from stamps is very large in proportion to the Stamps.
population, the receipts per mille of the inhabitants from
judicial stamps being higher in only two other districts and
those from non-judicial stamps in only four others. Of the
total stamp revenue, by far the largest amount is paid by the
Cocanada and Rajahmundry taluks, owing no doubt to the
existence of the Judge's and Sub-Judge's courts at their
head-quarters. Considerable contributions are also made by
Amalapuram and Peddapuram, and, to a less extent, by
Ramachandrapuram. In the Agency, the revenue from
stamps is exceedingly small, especially in Yellavaram and
Chodavaram. The Collector (and, during his absence from
head-quarters, the Treasury Deputy Collector) have been
empowered to affix impressed labels to documents presented
by the public.
—
GODAVARI.
CHAPTER XIII.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
Early Methods — Under — Under the Chiefs and Councils. The

native rule
Present System — In — In the Agency. Civil Justice — Exist-
the plains
ing Courts— Amount of litigation — Registration. Criminal Justice —The
various Courts— Crime — The Yanadis or Nakkalas — Other criminal classes.
Police — J'ormer systems— The existing force, jails.
CHAP. XIII. Under native rule, and also in the early days of British
Early administration, the regular courts of justice were few. The
Methods. Committee of Circuits,^ in its report of December 1/86,
describes as follows the system which was in force:
Under native
'
During the Mogul Government there were courts of justice
rule. established at Rajahmundry and Ellore, where Kazis administered
justice according to Muhammadan law. The Foujidars - reserved
punishments and the determina-
to themselves the infliction of capital
tion on causes of considerable property. There was also at each
place a Cutval (kotwal) with an establishment of peons to superintend
the police, and a Nurkee whose duty it was to regulate the price of
provisions.
'
Of these nothing but the names remain, and the inhabitants are
without any Courts of Justice. Trifling disputes are settled by the
Karnams and head inhabitants. Matters of greater consequence are
referred to the Renter or the Chiefand Council but the distance at ;
which some of the farms are from the seat of Government renders an
appeal to the latter troublesome and expensive. For heinous crimes
(which are seldom perpetrated) the only imprisonment at present
inflicted by cur Government is confinement of the culprit's person.'
Under the In the early days of British rule the only civil court having
Chiefs and any jurisdiction within the district was that of the Chief and
Councils.
Council at Masulipatam, and the activities of this were con-
fined almost exclusively to the limits of Masulipatam town
and factory. Of criminal jurisdiction there was none.
'
There was no law providing for the infliction of death or

any other penalty. The Chiefs in Council had very
. . .
little authority in their districts and of course every zamin- ;
dar could interfere in the direct administration of justice.'

A brief but vivid picture of the lawlessness which naturally
1 See Chapter XI, p. 162.

^ I.e.y The Faujdars, sometimes called also Nawabs, who were in charge of
each of the five Northern Circars.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 189
resulted from this state of things is afforded by a contempo- CHAP. XIII.

rary account of the condition in 1789 of the port of Coringa, Early
Methods.
then a busy place. There, owing to the number of ships and
and the general want of police,'
sailors that visited the port '
fighting, thefts and murder were common. When any '
wrong is done the injured party has no one of sufficient

authority to apply to for redress. Every one here is judge
of his own cause. The Honorable Company's Resident lives
at Comprapollam (Sunkarpalaiyam near Injaram), eight miles
off; and when applied to on such occasions urges want of
due authority to remedy abuses and to take cognizance of
^
offences.'
The beginning of the last century witnessed a salutary The
Present
change in the state of things. The supine Chiefs and System.
Councils had been replaced in 1794 by Collectors and in ;
In the
1802 Lord Cornwallis' system of judicial administration was plains.
introduced into this Presidency and a Zilla Court was estab-

lished at Rajahmundry. It was subordinate to a peripatetic
Provincial Court at Masulipatam, the judges of which used to

come on circuit from time to time and hold criminal sessions.
In the same year (1802) native commissioners were appointed
to hear petty civil suits. A
few years later they received the
designation of district munsifs, which, though their powers
have been much increased, they still bear. In 1827 Auxiliary
Courts were established and native judges (later called
Principal Sudder Amins) were appointed with extensive
authority. In 1843 the Zilla and Provincial Courts were
abolished and a Civil and a Subordinate Court were created
in their stead at Rajahmundry. The latter was abolished in
1859; but in 1873, when the existing District Courts Act
became law, the name of Subordinate Courts was given, as
elsewhere, to the courts of the Principal Sudder Amins, and
the chief court in the district was designated the District
and Sessions Court. The Sub-Court at Rajahmundry was
temporarily abolished in 1877.
In the Agency,
both civil and criminal justice are In the
Agency,
differently administered- This tract consists of the deputy
tahsildars' divisions of Polavaram, Yellavaram and Choda-
varam and the taluk of Bhadrachalam, all of which are
remote tracts covered with hill and jungle, sparsely provided
with communications, shunned by the dwellers in the plains,
and inhabited by backward tribes who are most illiterate
and ignorant of the ways of the world, and yet ready to go
out on the warpath if once any of their many peculiar
' Selections from the Records of tlic Madras Govcrnvient (Madras, 1855),
xix, 24.
;
190 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XIII. susceptibilities are wounded. In country, and to people, such

"^"^
as these, much of the ordinary law of the land is unsuited,
SvsTEM. and a special system has consequently been introduced.
A precedent
existed in the case of the Agencies of Vizaga-
patam and Ganjam, In consequence of the unceasing
turbulence in them which led at length to the appointment,
in 1832, of a Special Commissioner, with special powers, to
restore order, these tracts were excluded, by Act XXIV
two
of 1839, from the operation of much of the ordinary law and
were placed under the direct administration of the Collectors
of those districts, who were endowed with special and extra-
ordinary powers within them in their capacity as Agents to '
the Governor.'
Asimilar method of administration was extended to the
greater part of the present Godavari Agency in 1879, advant-
age being taken of the Scheduled Districts Act (India Act
XIV of 1874) to constitute an Agency in the then Bhadrachalam
and Rekapalle taluks, which make up the present Bhadra-
chalam taluk, and 'the Rampa country,' which is practically
the presentChodavaram division.
The Agency thus formed has been three times extended
namely, in 1881, when the muttas of Dutcharti and Guditeru
(now in Yellavaram division) were transferred to it from the
Vizagapatam Agency in 1883,^ when the villages of the
;
resumed mansab of Jaddangi and large portions of the

Polavaram division were added and in 1891,- when the Pola-
;
varam and Yellavaram divisions attained substantially their

present shape.
Agency thus constituted the Collector of the district,
In the
in hiscapacity as Government Agent, is both District
Magistrate and District and Sessions Judge; the tahsildar
and deputy tahsildars have minor civil jurisdiction within
their respective charges, corresponding (with certain modifi-
cations) to that of district munsifs and the Agency Deputy
;
Collector of Polavaram and the Divisional Officer at Bhadra-

chalam, in their capacity as Assistant Agents, hear appeals
from them and have powers similar to those of Subordinate
Judges. The tahsildars and deputy tahsildars (and the taluk
sarishtadar at Bhadrachalam) are second-class magistrates,
and the Divisional Officers, as elsewhere, are first-clags
magistrates but appeals from the decisions of the latter
;
lie to the Collector as Agency Sessions Judge. The village

munsifs have the ordinary crimmal, but no civil, powers. The
See notification in the Gazette of India for 1883, i, 265.

2 See notification in the Gazette of India for 1891, i, 248.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. I9I
procedure in civil suits is not governed by the usual Civil chap. Xlii.
Procedure Code, but by a simpler set of rules framed under The
section 6 of the Scheduled Districts Act. Rules under this sysTj^y
same enactment have also been drawn up for the guidance of
the Agent in other branches of the administration.
Outside the Agency, the civil tribunals of the district are Civil
III ST I P F*
of the usual four grades namely, the courts of village and
;
Existing
district munsifs, the Sub-Court and the District Court. Courts.
District munsifs' courts have been established at Rajah-

mundry, Cocanada, Peddapuram and Amalapuram. That at
Amalapuram has a heavier file than any of the others.
The Sub-Court is stationed at Cocanada. It was estab-
lished in 1874. Another Sub-Court was in existence at
Rajahmundry few months in 1895 began regularly
for a ;
working there but was abolished in 1905.

in 1903 ;
The District Court is held at Rajahmundry. Before the

district was reduced in size by the transfer to Kistna of the
taluks south of the Godavari, the file of this court was very
heavy. In 1902 the number of suits instituted in, and of
appeals disposed of by, it was greater than in any other
District Court in the Presidency.
As in other wealthy districts, the amount of litigation in Amount of

^^^g^^^'o'^-
Godavari is In 1902, in the district as then constituted
great.
but excluding the Agency, more suits were instituted per unit
of the population than in any other in the Presidency excepting
Tanjore, North Malabar and Tinnevelly. In the Agency, on
the other hand, litigation is rarer than in any other tract in
Madras except the Agencies of Vizagapatam and Ganjam.
The registration of assurances is effected in the usual Registration,
manner. A District Registrar Cocanada and

is stationed at
Rajahmundry at Amala-
sixteen sub-registrars are located at ;
puram, Kottapeta and Mummidivaram in Amalapuram taluk ;
at Razole in Nagaram at Peddapuram and Prattipadu in

;
Peddapuram at Ramachandrapuram, Draksharamam, Alamur

;
and Bikkavolu in Ramachandrapuram; at Cocanada and

Coringa in Cocanada taluk and at Polavaram, Pithapuram
;
and Tuni. There are no sub-registrars in the Chodavaram or

Yellavaram Agency tracts but in Bhadrachalam the Registra-
tion Act was extended to certain villages in 1906 and the
taluk sheristadar acts as sub-registrar.
The criminal tribunals are of the same classes as elsewhere. Criminal
The village magistrates have the usual powers, both within Justice.
and outside the Agency.

•=
Bench Courts, invested with third- The
-'
'
various
Courts. .
class powers to try offences under the Towns Nuisances Act,

the Municipalities Act and the conservancy clauses of the
192 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XIII. Police Act, have been established at Rajahmundry and

Criminal Cocanada. The latter also tries cases of assault and volun-
JUSTICE.
tarily causing hurt under the Penal Code.
All the tahsildars and deputy tahsildars in the district have
second-class magisterial powers, but in Amalapuram, Coca-
nada, Peddapuram, Rajahmundry and Ramachandrapuram
there are stationary sub-magistrates, and the tahsildars of
these taluks hear few cases. At Bhadrachalam, also, there is
a second-class magistrate in addition to the tahsildar. Deputy
tahsildars with second-class magisterial powers are stationed
at Kottapeta in Amalapuram taluk, Coringa in Cocanada taluk,
Prattipadu in Peddapuram taluk and Alamur in Ramachan-
drapuram and independent deputy tahsildars with similar
authority at Pithapuram and Tuni. As elsewhere, appeals
from the second-class magistrates, and practically the whole of
the first-class cases arising in the district, are decided by the
who are severally stationed at Cocanada,
Divisional Officers,
Peddapuram, Rajahmundry, Polavaram, and Bhadrachalam.
The District Magistrate and the Sessions Judge have the
usual jurisdiction, except that, as already mentioned, the
latter has no powers in the Agency, his place in that area
being taken by the District Magistrate.
Crime.
Godavari occupies a rather unenviable position among the
Madras districts in respect of the total amount of registered
crime which occurs within it, but a very large proportion of
the offences committed are common thefts, and another con-
siderable percentage are simple house-breakings. In crime
—
of the graver kinds robberies, dacoities and murders its —
position is not exceptional, and indeed dacoities are rare
outside Polavaram.
The Yanadis The nearest approach to a criminal tribe is afforded by the

or Nakkalas, Yanadis or Nakkalas. These people are called indifferently
by either of these two names, though they themselves resent
the appellation Nakkala. This word seems to be derived
from nakka, a jackal, since the tribe is expert in catching these
animals and eats them. The Nakkalas are generally of slight
physique, dark of complexion and very dirty in their habits.
At Pithapuram there are some of them who are more strongly
built and perhaps spring from a different strain. On the
register of criminal gangs kept by the police there are at the
present time 114 men, 121 women and 236 children belonging
to this caste. The most troublesome sections of them are
those in the Ramachandrapuram and Peddapuram taluks.
The Nakkalas are by nature wanderers and dwellers in
fields and scrub jungle, who make a scanty living by catching
jackals, hares, rats and tortoises, by gathering honey, and by
finding the caches of grain stored up by field-mice. To CHAP. XIII.

people with such slender means of subsistence the gains of Criminal
JUSTICE.
petty pilfering offer a strong temptation but the Nakkalas
;
seldom commit any of the bolder kinds of crime, though now

and again they have been known to rise to burglary, more
rarely to robbery, and sometimes even to dacoity. Of late
years most of them have settled down permanently in villages.
They live in very small huts made of palmyra-leaves. They
add to their earnings from their hereditary occupations the
wages to be earned by light cooly work in the villages, and
are consequently looked upon by the rest of the community
as rather an acquisition when cheap labour is in demand.
They are sometimes employed as horse-keepers by subordi-
nate officials and their women are very useful as sweepers,
;
since, though they are exceedingly dirty in their persons, they

are not considered to carry ceremonial pollution. If treated
well, they live in this hand-to-mouth fashion and 'give no
trouble to the authorities, and their present unfortunate noto-
riety as a criminal tribe is largely due to the performances of
one notorious gang of them in Ramachandrapuram taluk.
This gang, led first by one well-known criminal and later by
another, consisted of about fifteen men and lived an entirely
nomadic life, subsisting on the proceeds of its thefts and
burglaries. It has now been broken up, ten of its members
being in jail (most of them on long sentences) and the others,
with one exception, being in hiding and probably the crimi-
;
nal propensities of the Nakkalas will henceforth be less in

evidence.
Three other classes of people, namely, some of the Malas, Other
the 'Pachayappas,' and the 'Peddinti Gollas,' have pronounced criminal
criminal tendencies. Two small sets of Malas in the central
delta (one in the limits of Kottapeta station, and the other in
those of Nagaram station) have a decided turn for burglary.
A number of convictions are on record against them. The
Pachayappas consist of six wandering gangs, containing 68
registered male members, who are constantly on the move
and are under police supervision. They originally came from
the direction of Guntiir. They ostensibly live by begging,
but there is little doubt that the proceeds of crime contribute
to maintain the men in the robust condition they exhibit and
to support the crowd of children who belong to them. Cases
are from time to time established against them, and some of
them have been convicted of burglary and theft. The Ped-
dinti Gollas comprise four gangs who appeared in the district
in 1902. They are said to have come from Kurnool, and to
25
194 godAvarl
CHAP. XIII. have committed a large dacoity in Kistna. Only thirteen
Criminal male members of these now remain.
Justice.
Up permanent settlement in l802, such
to the time of the
Police.
police as existed were under the orders of the renters and
Former
systems.
zamindars, and were in some cases remunerated by grants
of land on favourable tenure. In the larger towns kotwals
with separate establishments were maintained. At the per-
manent settlement, the zamindars' control over the police was
withdrawn, and Government assumed the responsibility of
enforcing law and order. In the hill country, which was
excluded from the permanent settlement, the muttadars were,
however, still expected to keep order within their muttas,
and this responsibility is even now insisted upon. The
muttadars of Chodavaram and Yellavaram are bound by
their sanads to afford every assistance to the Sircar in main-
'
taining quiet and order, by giving timely information of any

disturbance or offence against the laws, and apprehending
and delivering up to the authorities robbers, rebels and other
bad characters.' ^ As a matter of fact they perform this
service indifferently, and are of little use in suppressing or
detecting crime.
The existing The existing police force, which like that in other districts
force.
was constituted by Act XXIV of 1859, is in charge of a District
Superintendent stationed at Rajahmundry, aided by an
Assistant Superintendent at Bhadrachalam who has immediate
control over the police in the Agency.
Statistics of the force, and of its distribution among the
various taluks, will be found in the separate Appendix. A
reserve about one hundred strong under an inspector and two
sergeants is maintained at Rajahmundry, and consists of
picked men, better armed and drilled than the others, who are
qualified to deal with disturbances. As a rule the inspectors'
divisions are included within the limits of only one taluk or
revenue division, but a few unimportant exceptions occur.
Dowlaishweram in Rajahmundry taluk, for example, is includ-
ed in the limits of the Alamur station, and Pithapuram lies
entirely in the Siiriyaraopeta (Cocanada) police division.
Besides the regular police, there are 477 talaiyaris or rural
constables, who, as in other districts, are required to afford
help to the police, especially by reporting the presence of
suspects within their villages and the occurrence of crime, and
by aiding in the detection of offences committed within their
limits. They are reported to be of little real assistance.
^ See Chapter XI, p. 177.
At Chodavaram is located the Special Hill Reserve, who CHAP, xiil

are armed with Martini-Henry rifles and are kept up primarily Police.
to cope with any overt disturbances which may occur in the
wild Agency country. They number about 40 men, are in
charge of the divisional inspector, and perform the ordinary
duties of the station.
At Rajahmundry is one of the eight Central Jails of the Jails
Presidency. It was established in 1864, is constructed on the
radiating principle, and will hold 1,089 criminal, and 20 civil,
prisoners. Cellular accommodation has been provided for 400
convicts, and the rest are kept in wards. The convicts are
employed in a variety of industries, manufacturing, among
other articles, carpets, coarse woollen blankets, sandals, tin
and brass work, furniture of various kinds, and fabrics woven
from cotton, such as sheeting, rugs, table-cloths, napkins,
etc. Fly shuttles are used in some of the looms. They enable
double the ordinary quantity of work to be accomplished, but
have not yet been rendered suitable for the finer fabrics.
Thirteen sub-jails exist in the district namely, one at
;
each of the taluk head-quarters and at the deputy tahsil-

dars' stations of Alamur (Ramachandrapuram taluk), Kotta-
peta (Amalapuram), Prattipadu (Peddapuram), Pithapuram,
Tuni and Polavaram. These have accommodation for 1 86
prisoners in all.
196 GODAVARI.
CHAPTER XIV.
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT.
The Local Boards— The —

Unions Finances of the Boards. The Two Muni-
—
cipalities — Cocanada municipality Rajahmundry municipality.
CHAP. XIV Outside the two municipalities of Cocanada and Rajah-

The Local mundry referred to below, and excluding Bhadrachalam taluk
Boards.
in the Agency, local affairs (roads, hospitals, schools and
sanitation) are in the hands of the District Board and four
taluk boards subordinate to it. The areas in charge of these
latter have been changed from time to time, and the most
recent alteration was effected in April 1905. The four boards
are now those of Cocanada, in charge of the Cocanada taluk
and the Pithapuram and Tuni divisions Peddapuram, with;
jurisdiction over the taluks of Peddapuram and Ramachandra-

puram Rajahmundry, comprising the Rajahmundry, Amala-
;
puram and Nagaram taluks and Polavaram, which adminis-

;
ters matters in the Agency divisions of Polavaram, Choda-

varam and Yellavaram.
Prior to 1902 none of the Agency tracts were included
within the operation of the Local Boards Act, and the roads,
educational and medical institutions, and sanitation within
them were in charge of the Revenue authorities, aided by
advice from the Public Works and other expert departments.
In 1902 the whole of the Agency as it then existed was
brought under the Act but in 19O5 Bhadrachalam was with-
;
'
drawn again from its operation and is to be managed hence-

forth on the same system as was in force before 1902. The
taluk is remote, thinly-populated and covered with jungle and ;
the income derivable within it from the ordinary sources of

taxation provided for by the Local Boards Act is quite insuffi-
cient to meet the expenditure which is necessary. Heavy
contributions towards its local needs have consequently always
been made from Provincial funds. The same state of things
exists in the three Agency divisions which make up the charge
of the present Polavaram taluk board, and a similar contri-
bution to its exchequer has been necessary to save it from
insolvency.
^
See G.O. No. 227 L., dated 27th February 1905.
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 197
Fifteen of the larger towns in the district have been consti- CHAP. XIV.
tuted unions with the usual powers and functions. These are The Local
Boards.
Dowlaishweram, Amalapuram and Kottapeta under the
Rajahmundry taluk board; Peddapuram, Jagapatinagaram, The Unions,
Yelesvaram, Jaggampeta, Ramachandrapuram, Drakshara-
mam, Mandapeta and Bikkavolu under the Peddapuram board ;
and Gollamamidada, Samalkot, Pithapuram and Tuni under

the taluk board of Cocanada. The chief item in their receipts
is (as elsewhere) the house-tax, which is everywhere levied at
the maximum rates. The average tax per house for 1905-06
is estimated to work out to As. I2-L
The separate Appendix to this volume contains statistics Finances of

the Boards.
of the receipts and expenditure of the various local boards.
The chief source of income is, as usual, the land cess, which
is levied at the ordinary rate of one anna in every rupee of the
land assessment. The chief item of expenditure is the upkeep

of the roads and the medical and educational institutions.
These have already been referred to in Chapters VII, IX, and
X respectively.
The only two municipal towns are Cocanada and Rajah- The Two
Munici-
mundry. In the separate Appendix appear particulars of the palities.
receipts and expenditure of their councils.
Cocanada was one of the municipalities established under Cocanada
municipality.
the first regular municipal act (Madras Act X of 1865) and the
council was constituted in 1866. It now consists of twenty
members of whom eight are nominated and twelve elected.
The privilege of electing its own chairman was conferred
upon the council in 1886, was withdrawn in 1893, but was
restored again in 1897. The appointment of a paid secretary
was sanctioned in 1899. He is by the municipal
selected
council subject to the approval of Government.
Several considerable permanent improvements have been
effected in the town by the municipality. First in importance
come the Victoria water-works, which were completed in June
1903. The water is obtained from the Samalkot canal, and a
large reservoir to contain two months' supply has been exca-
vated in the water-works premises. The scheme was designed
to supply 400,000 gallons of water per diem (at the rate of 10
gallons per head of the population of the town) and the supply
is expected to be perennial. The waterdrawn from the
is
reservoir just mentioned through beds into a second
filter
reservoir, and is thence distributed throughout the town by
cast-iron pipes and fountains. Three Worthington engines
of 10 horse power each are employed in the works. The cost
of the scheme was estimated at Rs. 4,66,200, but actually
198 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XIV. amounted to only Rs. 4,44,800. Of this sum Rs. 1,44,500 were
The Two lent by Government. The scheme was carried out by the
Munici-
palities. Public Works department.
Other permanent improvements effected by the council are
the construction, at an outlay of Rs. 18,137, of the bridge across
the Yeleru the revetting of the harbour creek for a length of
;
some 270 yards at a cost of Rs. 8,000 in 1902-03 and the recla-
mation and laying out of a considerable strip of ground
formerly covered by the creek the building of three public
;
markets, the two larger of which cost Rs. 15,000; and the
erection of two slaughter-houses costing Rs. 4,000 and of three
municipal school-houses at an average cost of some Rs. 1,500
apiece. The clock tower near the bridge was constructed by
a private gentleman some 20 years ago, but the municipality
contributed Rs. 1,000 to its erection and it now has charge of
the building.
No drainage scheme has yet been prepared for Cocanada,
but a portion of the town is served by the main sewer leading
into the harbour creek which was constructed by the Public
Works department at a cost of Rs. 10,000 out of Provincial
funds some years ago. Some smaller branch drains lead into
this, and the municipality has kept both these and the main
sewer in repair at considerable cost.
The council's chief contributions to the medical and educa-
tional institutions within the town include the aiding of ten
primary schools, the management of a lower secondary and
twelve more primary schools, and the upkeep of a hospital
and dispensary.
Rajahmun- The municipality at Rajahmundry was also founded
dry munici-
pality.
in 1866. The council originally consisted of ten members,
but since 1895 the number has been eighteen. The right of
electing some of the members was granted in 1884, and
twelve councillors and the chairman are now appointed by
election. A paid secretary was first entertained in 1897-98.
He is selected by the council, subject to the approval of
Government.
Very few permanent improvements of any magnitude
have been executed by the municipality. Drinking-water is
obtained from the Godavari river and the Kambala tank, and
nothing of note has been done from municipal funds to
improve the supply. Similarly no considerable improvement
in the drainage has been eifected or worked out. Three
markets have been constructed and two slaughter-houses. A
choultry founded in 1873 by Mr. H. Morris, a former Judge,
and called by his name was completed by the municipality
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 199
in 1874 at a cost of Rs. 1,500, A rest-house for homeless chaP- XIV.

poor has been constructed at an outlay of Rs. 500, and The two
Municipali-
" made to it in order to accommodate lepers
additions are being ^ TIES-
and persons suffering from other incurable diseases.
The council has partly supported the hospital in the town
since 1871, and keeps up four upper primary, four lower pri-
mary, and one lower secondary school. It also maintains the
Morris choultry, two other small institutions called the
Kambham and Durbha choultries, and a travellers' bungalow.
Government have sanctioned Rs. l6,000 for revetting the
river bank to prevent further erosion, which was becoming
alarming, and a bund to protect the town from inundation
during heavy floods is in contemplation.
—
200 GODAVARI.
CHAPTER XV.
GAZETTEER.
Amai.apuram Taluk — Ainalapuram — Ambajipeta— Ayinavalli — Band^rulanka

Bendamurlanka — Gaiinavaram — Kesanakurru — Mandapalli — Muramalla —
Palivela— Peniru — Rali — Vadapalli — Vanapalli — Vyagresvarapuram. CocA-
Nada taluk— Bhimavaram— Chollangi — Cocanada — Coringa — Gollapalai-
yam — Injaram — Nilapalli — Samalkot — Sarpavaram — Tallarevu — Yanam.
N AGAR AM TALUK— Antarvedi — Jagannapeta— Kadali — Nagaram— Rajavolu—
Sivakodu — Tatipaka. PeddapuRam taluk — Annavaram — Dharamallapuram
—Jagammapeta — Kandrakota — Kattipudi — Kirlampiidi — Peddapuram —
Prattipadu — Ragampeta — Rangampeta — Talluru — Totapalli — Viravaram —
Yelesvaram. Pithapuram division — Chandurti — Koitapalli — Mulapeta
Pithapuram — Ponnada — Uppada. Rajahmundry taluk — Dowlaishweram
Gokavaram — Korukonda — Kottapalli — Rajahmundry. Ramachandrapuram
TALUK — Bikkavolu — Draksharamam — Gangavaram — Kotipalli— Maredipaka
— Ramachandrapuram— Ramaghattalu — Vegayammapeta. TuNi division —
Eendapiidi — Hamsavaram — Kottapalli — Talluru — Tatipaka — Tetagunta —
Tuni. Bhadrachalam taluk — Bhadrachalam — Dummagudem — Gundala
— Kumarasvamigudem— Kunnavaram — Parnasala — Rekapalle — Sri Ramagiri.
Chodavaram division — Bandapalli — Birampalli — Boduluru — Bolagonda
Chavala — Chidugiiru— Chodavaram — Chopakonda — Dandangi — Dorachinta-
lapalem— Geddada — Kakuru— Kondamodalu — Kundada — Marrivada — Musu-
rumilli — Nadunuru — Nimmalapalem — Palem -Pamuleru — Peta — Rampa
Sirigindalapadu— Tadapelli — Tunnuru — Vadapalli — Velagapalli — Valamuru
— Vemulakonda. PoLAVARAM DIVISION — Gangolu - Giitala — Jangareddi-
giidem — Pata Pattisam — Polavaram — Taduvayi. Yellavaram division —
Addatigela — Anigeru — Dutcharti — Gurtedu — Jaddangi — Kota — Mohana-
puram — Nelipudi — Pandrapole — Ramavaram — N'irabhadrapuram.
AMALAPURAM TALUK.
CHAP. XV. AMALAPURAM taluk is a triangular island enclosed between

Amalapu- the Vasishta, Vainateyam and Gautami^ branches of the
^^ Godavari and the sea. With the smaller Nagaram island,
which is similarly bounded, it comprises the whole of the
central delta of the Godavari river. Statistics regarding it
will be found in the separate Appendix to this volume. It is

the most populous taluk in the district and the density of its
inhabitants to the square mile (548) is well above the average
of the plain taluks. Most of the wet land is irrigated by the
central delta canal, but the area under wells, though not
considerable, is far greater than in any other taluk Jn the
district.^ Of the classified area, 87 per cent, is made up of
1 See Chapter IV, p. 89.
GAZETTEER, 201
alluvial earth and the rest of arenaceous soils. The average CHAP. XV.
rainfall is the highest in the district, namely 44'88 inches in amala-
the year. pukam.
The an agricultural area, and boasts few^ other

taluk is
industries. Devangas weave white cloths in fair quantities in
several villages, but the industry has greatly declined since
the days when Bendamurlanka was a busy port and one
of the outlets for the great trade of the East India Company
in cotton piece-goods. A large cattle-fair, known beyond the
district, takes place at Ambajipeta. number of places A
of local religious interest exist; but only two of these, namely
Vanapalli and Vadapalli, are known much beyond the limits
of the taluk. Periiru is the home of a class of Brahmans who
have immigrated from the Tamil country and are called Kona
Sima Dravidas. Relics of the Jains are found at Nedunuru
and Atreyapuram and the large wells so common in the taluk
;
are popularly ascribed to the followers of that creed.
Amalapuram, the head-quarters of the taluk and a union, Amaiapuram.

is main canal of the central delta 38 miles
situated on the
south-east of Rajahmundry. Population 9,510. It contains
the offices of a tahsildar, sub-registrar, stationary sub-magis-
trate and district munsif, a travellers' bungalow, a coronation
rest-house for natives, a local fund hospital (founded 1880) and
high school, and a police-station.
Popular legends say that Amalapuram was the capital of
the king of Panchala, the father-in-law of the Pandava
brothers and the taluk is known throughout the district as
;
the Panchala country.' Another name for it is the Kona Sima,

'
or the end country.

'
The town contains two temples of local
'
repute. One was built for an idol of Venkatasvami which

was found there some years ago by a man of the place, who,
as usual, stated that he was told of its existence in a dream ;
the other is a shrine to the serpent god, Subbarayudu, the

festival at which, held in Margasiram (December-January)
is fairly attended. A
little weaving of white cloths goes on,
counts as fine as 150s being used for the best work, and a
little wood-carving of a good class.
Ambajipeta A hamlet of Machavaram (poi)ulation 5)66l)

: Ambajipeta.
which lies five miles west by north of Amalapuram. Contains

a police-station and is famous for its large cattle-fair, which
is held every Wednesday and is visited even by buyers from
other districts. The place is a centre for the manufacture of

cocoanut ropes and oil, and a large number of general traders
live there.
26
202 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. Ayinavalli Eight miles north of Amalapuram, population

:
Amala- 3,363. Its temple to the belly-god Siddhi Vinayaka is well

PURAM-
known to the people of this and adjoining districts, and vows
Ayinavalli, are frequently made therein, scarcely a day passing when
pilgrims do not visit it to discharge their obligations by
breaking cocoanuts before the god. The temple is supposed
to have been built to propitiate the belly-god by Daksha, the
father-in-law of Siva, before he performed the famous ydgafn
at Draksharamam referred to in the account of that place on
p. 250 below. Ayinavalli is also well known to natives as the
"
birth-place of two famous Sanskrit pandits, Bulusu Achayya

and his son Papayya Sastri, who died not long ago.
It has a hamlet called Muktesvaram ('the place of
beatitude') or Kshana Muktesvaram (' the place of instan-
taneous beatitude ') and the names are accounted for by a
local legend. The wife of a sage, says this story, was
seduced by some celestial being and cursed in consequence
by her husband. She purified herself by a bath in the
Godavari and took to a life of contemplation. Rama, when
returning from Lanka, took compassion on her forlorn state
and persuaded Siva to give her mtikti or beatitude,
Bandaru- Bandarulanka Four miles west by north of Amalapuram.
:
lanka. Population 2,796. The village is known for the manufacture

of excellent white cloths. Some 200 Devanga houses are
engaged in the industry, and use thread of the finer counts,
up to 130s.
Bendamur- Bendamiirlanka Twelve miles by road south-south-west
:
ianka.
of Amalapuram. It is a hamlet of Komaragiripatnam (popu-
lation 5,757) and contains a police-station, a travellers'
bungalow and a vernacular lower secondary school for girls.
It is situated at the mouth of the Vainateyam branch of the
Godavari, and was selected as the site of an English factory

in 1751. This was seized without resistance by Bussy in 1757,
but was recovered after the battle of Condore, It was once
an important centre for the trade with Europe in cotton

piece-goods. Bendamiirlanka is still technically a port but ;
has no harbour and has not been visited by any ships for a
long time.
Gannavarani.
Gannavaram Nine miles west by north of Amalapuram.
:
Population 2,101. Contains a small market and a travellers'

bungalow. It gives its name to the fine aqueduct which crosses
the Vainateyam Godavari there and is described in Chapter
IV. According to the local legend, it was at Gannavaram
that the sage Vainateya stole some of the water of the Vasishta
Godavari to make the river of his own which goes by his
GAZETTEER. 203
name. the Vainateyam, and a bath chap. xv.

The sage Vasishta cursed
in it only sanctifying if taken on a Sunday. The lingam
is Amala-
in the Siva temple is said to have been brought from the ;
Nerbudda river by the kite Garuda, and the supposed marks

of the bird's claws are pointed out on it.
Kesanakurru Eleven miles north-east
: of Amalapuram in a Kesanakurru.
straight line. Population 3,556. A bath in its tank is supposed
to confer religious merit. The sage Vyasa, who (see p. 250)
is said to have founded Draksharamam, once, say the local
legends, intended to establish a second Benares at Kesana-
kurru but heard a voice saying Kasi nakuru,' do not make
;
' '
a Benares.' He accordingly founded Draksharamam instead;

but Kesanakurru was named after the words of the divine
warning, which have since become corrupted to their present
form.
Mandapalli Fourteen miles north-west of Amalapuram.
: Mandapaiii.
Population 542. The god at the Siva temple here, Mande-
svara, is bathed in oil every Saturday and a common form of
;
vow consists in a promise to provide the oil for this bath.

Saturdays coinciding with the second day before full-moon
day are particularly propitious for the fulfilment of this vow-
Muramalla Thirteen miles north-east of Amalapuram.
: Muramaiia.
Population The Siva temple here is visited by nume-
1,448.
rous pilgrims, and the usual vow taken by the devout is a
promise to celebrate the marriage of the god. Hardly a day,
it is said, passes without this ceremony being performed and ;
there is a proverb to the effect that at Muramalla there is a

marriage every day and the garlands are always green. The
temple is rich, and is said to have been founded and endowed
'
about 500 years ago by the widow of a Kona Sima Dravida
'
Brahman.
Palivela : Twelve miles north-west of Amalapuram. Popu- PaliTela.
lation 7,509- The Koppesvara temple here contains a number

of inscriptions, some of which have been copied by the Gov-
ernment Epigraphist (Nos. 498 to 505 of 1893). The oldest
records a gift by a minister of one of the Velanandu family
and is dated 1 172 A.D. None of the others are earlier than
the fourteenth century. One on the east wall of the shrine
belongs to the time of the great Kakatiya king Pratapa Rudra,
and is dated in 1317, or not long before his fall.^ The nandi
in front of the temple is popularly declared to have been
mutilated by order of Aurangzeb.
In former times dancing-girls used to sleep three nights at
the commencement of their career in the inner shrine, so as to
'^
See Government Epigraphist's Annual Report for 1894, pp. 22 and 23.
204 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. be embraced by the god. But one of them, it is said, dis-
Amala- appeared one night, and the practice has ceased. The funeral
PURAM.
pyre of every girl of the dancing-girl (Sani) caste dying in
the village should be lit with fire brought from the temple.
The same practice is found in the Srirangam temple near
Trichinopoly.
Palivela forms part of the union of Kottapeta (population
10,369), in which Vadapalaiyam and Kammareddipalaiyam
are also included.Kottapeta contains the offices of a sub-
and sub-magistrate, a local fund
registrar, a deputy-tahsildar
dispensary (founded 1892), a police-station, a small market,
and an English lower secondary school for boys The travel-
lers' bungalow is in Palivela itself.
Periiru.
PcrtiruFive miles south-west of Amalapuram. Popula-
:
tion 5,864. Contains a Sanskrit school. The place is note-

worthy as being the home of a colony of Tamil Brahmans,
called Kona Sima Dravidas, who came, at some date un-
known, from Valangiman near Kumbakonam in Tanjore
district. The story of their emigration is recounted (with
impossible details) in the village itself and is also known
in Madras. They no longer speak Tamil, but their village,
both in appearance and in general arrangement, is so like
a village of the south that it is popularly declared that if
a Tanjore man could be suddenly transported thither and
set down in the middle of it, he would think he was in his
native country.
The original emigrants are said to have been fifteen
families of twelve gotras, seven of which belonged to the
Vadama, and five to the Brahacharnam, subdivision of the
Tamil Brahmans.
They first settled at Rali, but difficulties arising, they
eventually obtained from a raja a grant of as much land as an
elephant could traverse in a given space of time. Thus they
secured possession of the village of Peruru. They increased
and and many of them emigrated to Ganjam and
multiplied,
Vizagapatam, where they call themselves Peruru Dravi-
'
das.' They are not popular in the district, and stories in

disparagement of them are common. The part they play in
the festival at Antarvedi in Nagaram taluk is referred to
in the account of that place below.
Peruru, like Amalapuram, is connected by legend with the
Mahabharata, for it is believed that the tank in the hamlet of
Chindadu Garuvu is the identical sheet of water in which
Arjuna saw the reflection of the flying fish which he shot in
order to win the hand of Draupadi. A
bath in this tank on
GAZETTEER. 205
the four Sundays succeeding the New Year's day is considered chap. xv.
to have a sanctifying effect. amala-
Numbers of large and ancient revetted wells exist in the __ll'
village, and are known as the Reddis' wells. The story goes
that a Brahman who had the philosopher's stone was murdered
by a Reddi, and that his ghost haunted the murderer and
gave him no peace until he built a number of large wells at
which it might quench its thirst.
The village is a centre of the export of cocoanuts and
cocoaunt oil. One family of Muchis does some good wood-
carving.
Rali : Twenty miles north-west of Amalapuram, population Raii.
4,045. Contains a travellers' bungalow. A section of the

Dowlaishweram anicut was originally called the Rali anient,
and the name occurs frequently in the early accounts of the
work. The village was once the head-quarters of a taluk. It
is also said to have been one of the halting-places of the
first
Kona Sima Dravida Brahmans There is a
just referred to.
'
Tamil street (Arava vidi) in it even now. The image of
'
Vishnu in the local temple is represented as half male and

half female, and the legend connects this fact with the well-
known story of how the asuras and devatas churned the sea to
obtain the nectar of immortality. When the nectar rose to
the top, Vishnu appeared in the form of a beautiful woman,
so a'fe to divert the attention of the asuras, was seen by Siva
and was pursued by him as far as Rali.
Vadapalli Three miles north by east of Rali. Population
: Vadapaiii.
915. It is known for its temple to Venkata or Venkanna,

well
which is considered by the people of this neighbourhood to be
almost as sacred as the famous shrine of the same god at
Tirupati in North Arcot. The festival to commemorate the
marriage of the deity lasts for five days in Chaitra (April-
May), is very largely attended, and is a great occasion for the
performance of vows.
Vanapalli Eight miles north-north-west of Amalapuram.
:
Vanapaiii.
Population 4,686. A large festival in honour ,of the village

goddess Pallalamma takes place there every year. Marvel-
lous stories are told about this deity the size and age of her
:
image alter according to the size and age of the worshipper ;
it sweats profusely and its clothes have to be wrung out every
morning; an engineer officer' (name unknown) was turned

'
blind some 40 years ago for entertaining the idea of demolish-

ing the temple to make room for a canal and the stone jackal ;
in the shrine is one which used to defile the holy precincts

every night, and was petrified in consequence.
206 g6davari.
CHAP. XV. At the great festival, which lasts for a week in the month
Amala- of Chaitra (April-May), a hook-swinging takes place, but now-
PURAM.
adays the man is swung in a basket, or by a hook run through
his belt. The festival is a great occasion with the jungle
'
Chentzus,' who go there to celebrate their marriages and
settle their caste disputes.
Vyagresvara- Vyagrcsvarapuram : Ten miles north-north-west of Ama-
puram.
lapuram. A hamlet of Pulletikurru, the population of which
is 3,516. The name means the place of the tiger god.' It is
'
explained by a legend to the effect that a Brahman, being

pursued by a tiger, climbed a sacred bilva tree and thence;
addressed the animal with mantrams and prayers, which so

affected its feelings that it turned into the stone lingam which
is still worshipped under the name of Vyagresvara.
A fairly large festival takes place in the village on the

Sankranti {i.e. Pongal) day, when some fifteen of the neigh-
bouring gods come to visit this deity.
GAZETTEER. 207
COCANADA TALUK.
COCANADA lies on the coast north of the Godavari, and all chap. xv.
but the northern portion of it is included within the delta of Coc-vnada.
that river. Over 86 per cent, of the soil is consequently
alluvial, and most of it is irrigated. Statistics regarding these
and other points will be found in the separate Appendix.
The taluk is one of the most densely populated in the district
and the average revenue payable on each holding is over
Rs. 40, or higher than in any other.
Most of the taluk belongs to Pithapuram zamindari. It is
well supplied with means of communication. The Madras
Railway crosses the north of it, and a branch runs through the
heart of it to its head-quarters, the busy sea-port of Cocanada.
This town and the old port of Coringa are connected with the
interior by good waterways. Roads are plentiful and, on the
whole, good. Trade is consequently large, and many import-
ant firms are located at Cocanada, but industries are few.
Rice-milling at Cocanada and sugar-refining at Samalkot
are the only considerable undertakings, and the indigenous
industries are of an elementary kind. Coarse weaving goes
on at several places chintzes are largely stamped at GoUa-
;
palaiyam, Cocanada and Samalkot and metal vessels are

;
made at Cocanada, Gollamamidada and Peddada. The

taluk contains several temples of no small local reputation.
These are referred to below.
Bhimavaram is now a portion of Samalkot, but it has a Bhimavaram.
character of own. The full name of the place as given in
its
inscriptions is Chalukya Bhimavaram. Under the Mughals it
appears to have been called Mruthyujanagar.^ The Bhime-
svara temple is locally famous both for its architectural beauty
and for its sanctity. It possesses a huge lingam which is said
to be similar to those in Draksharamam (in the Ramachandra-
puram taluk), Amaravati (or Amara-rama) in the Guntur
district, Palakollu (also called Kshira-rama) in the Kistna
and Kumara-rama/ a place not identified. The story
district '
goes that the god Subrahmanya killed a demon named

Tarakasura who was wearing a huge lingam round his neck,
and that this was broken into five pieces, one of which fell at
each of these villages. The place is sacred on this account,
and a bath in the Bhimagundum tank in front of the temple
is believed to confer holiness.
^ Mackenzie MSS., Local Records, i, pp. 496-98,

208 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. There are a number of ancient inscriptions in both the

CocANADA. Bhimesvara and Narayanasvami temples in the village.
Thirty of these have been copied by the Government Epigra-
phist (Nos. 460 to 489 of 1893). Some others, mostly of a
private nature, are given in one of the Mackenzie MSS.^ The
most ancient is one among the former dated 1087 A.D. A
few of them mention members of the Reddi dynasty. The
Mackenzie MS. gives what purports to be a copy of a copper-
plate grant of Katama Vema Reddi to the Narayanasvami
temple dated 1393 A.D.
Choilangi. Chollangi : Lies six miles south of Cocanada, near the
coast, and on one of the traditional seven holy mouths of the
Godavari. It is the first place visited by those who are making
the 'pilgrimage of the seven mouths.'^ The branch of the
river which has its mouth here is said to have been brought
down by the sage Tulya, and is accordingly called the Tulya-
sagara-sangam. It is really nothing but the Tulya Bhaga
drain. The village is otherwise quite insignificant, and its
population is only 577.
Cocanada, Cocanada, the head-quarters of the taluk and district, is
a municipality of 48,096 inhabitants and one of the busiest
sea-ports in the Presidency- It is situated on the western side
of the Coringa bay, and is connected by a branch with the
North-east line of the Madras Pailway. Its trade has been
referred to in some detail on pp. 1 13-7- It is the head-quarters
of the Collector (the Judge resides at Rajahmundry), the
District Forest Officer, Local Fund Engineer, Assistant
Commissioner of Salt, Abkari and Customs, District Medical
and Sanitary Officer, District Registrar, head-quarters Divi-
sional Officer (either a Deputy Collector or an Assistant
Collector) and Government Chaplain, and of the Port Officer
in charge of the harbour and port. The minor officials
stationed there are the tahsildar, district munsif and stationary
sub-magistrate. The place is also the head-quarters of a
company of the East Coast Rifle Volunteers, and contains a
municipal hospital (founded 1856), a dispensary (founded 1888),
a women and children's dispensary (founded 1895), two police-
stations, a travellers' bungalow, a large private choultry, a
private native rest-house, the Pithapuram Raja's college, an
English lower secondary school for boys, and two English,
and four vernacular, lower secondary schools for girls. Its
medical and educational institutions have been referred to
in Chapters IX and Xrespectively, and the doings of its
^ Local Records, ii, 213-30.

2 See Chapter I, p. 6.
GAZETTEER. 209
municipal council in Chapter XIV. The salt factories in the CHAP. XV.
suburb of Jagannathapuram and Penuguduru are mentioned Cocanada.
in Chapter XII. The town is situated in the Pithapuram
zamindari.
Jagannathapuram, which lies south of the harbour, is the
only part of the place which possesses any historical interest.
was the site of a Dutch Factory which, with Bimlipatam
It
in Vizagapatam and PalakoUu in Kistna, were represented to '
be held under Fermans granted by the Nizam and confirmed

by the Mogul or Emperor of Delhi, bearing various dates from
A.D. 1628 to A.D. 1713 and by a Cowle granted by Hajee
Houssun in A.D. 1734 and A.D. 1752 by Jaffur Ally Khan.
The two last mentioned persons were Naibs or deputies of the
Nizam in the Circars. The Dutch are stated to have first
occupied these factories about the year A.D. 1628.' ^ Their
factory included the dependent villages of Gollapalem and
Gundavaram and they had a mint, at which were made the
coins issued from Bimlipatam.^
war broke out between the English and the Dutch,
In 1781
and Coromandel coast were
the settlements of the latter on the
seized. Jagannathapuram was in that year a place of some '
consequence. The factory house, fortified I believe,^ and all

the public buildings were demolished in that year.'*
1784 peace was declared, and their factories were
In
handed back to the Dutch in the following year. During the
wars of the French Revolution (1789-95) the settlements were
again captured by the English, but were once more handed
back in 1818 by a convention of 1814. They were finally
made over to the English Company in 1825, with the other
Dutch possessions in India, under the operation of a treaty of
1824 between Holland and England.
The Dutch factory played a small part in the campaign of
1758-59 by which the Northern Circars were taken by the
English from the French. French officers wounded at the
battle of Condore were permitted to go to Jagannathapuram
on parole. In 1759 a small force of Frenchmen landed at
Cocanada to intrigue with Jagapati Razu at Samalkot but, as ;
has been mentioned in Chapter II, they were driven by the

English to take refuge, in the Dutch fort, and their surrender
was enforced under protest from the Dutch.
' Hodgson's report on the Dutch Settlements, quoted in Mr. Rea's Monu-
mental remains of the Dutch East India Co. (Madras, 1897), 52.
* Mr. Rea's book, 65, 66.
^ Apparently by rude ramparts of earth, Pinkerton's Collection of Travels,
xi> 303-
* Hodgson's report. ,
27
210 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. The first impetus to the town of Cocanada was given by
COCANADA. the silting up of Coringa bay and the consequent decline of
Coringa as a port and dockyard. Cocanada gradually took
its place. A
second impulse was given during the American
Civil War (l86l), when the town suddenly rose into great
importance as a place of shipment for the cotton pressed at
Guntiir.
Cocanada is the head-quarters of the Canadian Baptist
Mission and contains a Roman Catholic church and convent.
In the Protestant church is perhaps the finest organ in the
Presidency outside Madras City. It was built from private
subscriptions, of which a large portion was given by Messrs.
Simson Bros., about twenty years ago. A cemetery near the
Collector's house contains some old European tombs, the
earliest of which is dated 1825 and a list of which is in the
Collector's office. In the Jagannathapuram cemetery are
many more graves, the oldest of which is a monument to a
Dutch family the members of which were buried between
1775 and 1778, From the latter of these years up to 1859 the
churchyard does not seem to have been used, but from that
year onwards the burials have been numerous.
Of the industrial concerns in the town, the Local Fund
workshops (near the Collector's office) have been referred to
in Chapter VI. The town also contains three rice mills and
five printing presses. Of the latter, only two (one called the
Sujana Ranjani press and one managed by Messrs. Hall,
Wilson & Co.) are of any importance. The latter prints
general matter and the former Telugu books, and a weekly
newspaper and a monthly magazine called respectively the
Ravi and Savitri. In another press a monthly magazine
called Sarasvati is printed. There are also about a dozen
native factories which each employ several handpresses for
making castor oil.
The vernacular name of the town, Kakinada, is supposed to
have some connection with the phenomenal number of crows
which live in it. A merchant recently opened his rice
godowns to trap these marauding birds, and then, closing the
doors, had the intruders killed. No fewer than 978 were
accounted for in one morning in this way, but without sensible
diminution of the nuisance.
Coringa. Coringa (vernacular Korangi) Nearly ten miles south of
:
Cocanada. Population 4,258. It contains a travellers' bunga-

low, a native rest-house, a police-station and the offices of a
deputy tahsildar who is also a sub-registrar. It was once
one of the greatest ports and ship-building centres on this
coast but, owing to the silting up of the channel which leads
;
GAZETTEER. 211
to it, it of no commercial importance. Coringa appears chap. xv.

is now
in Pliny's pages as the name of a cape, but the village is now Cocanada.
several miles from the sea. It was for long the residence of
British merchants, but little now remains to call them to mind.
There are a few old tombs in the graveyard some dating —
back to l8l6^ — and
portions of a few bungalows survive.
One forms the present deputy tahsildar's office. Two others,
one of which must have been a fine building, belonged to a
certain Mr. Graham, whose name is still well known. The
latest date in the churchyard is 1857, and apparently English
merchants did not live in the place long after that.
An interesting account of the town as it was in its
busiest days was given by Mr. Topping, an astronomer in the
service of the Madras Government, who visited it in 1789.
He deplored in particular the want of police, which he said
were badly needed owing to the number of ships English, —
French, Dutch and Portuguese that anchored in the road —
and the many disorderly people that landed from them.
'
Nothing is more common,' he said, than night broils and '
frays among people under the influence of intoxication.

Frequent thefts and even attempts to assassinate happened
during my short stay, which induced me to apply for a guard
of sepoys, to protect myself and the Company's property
from violence and rapine.' A curious contrast, this, to the
quiet country village of to-day !
It appears that the present town of Coringa, which is on

the east of the river, was built about 1759 by Mr. Westcot,
'
'
a resident of Injaram while what is known as old Coringa,'

;
'
on the western bank, is older than this." The bulk of the

inhabitants and the deputy tahsildar live in the former, but
there are a few good houses in the latter. The village suffered
severely from the hurricane of 1839, and has twice (in 1787
and 1832) been nearly swept away by tidal waves. The old
village was also damaged by the tidal wave of 1706.
The place is indeed a shadow of its former self. Its sea-
borne trade was valued in 1877-78 at Rs. 8,22,000, and in
1880-81 at Rs. 3,20,000 but by 1884-85 it had fallen to
;
Rs. 33,000 and since 1898-99 it has ceased altogether.

;
Moreover the neighbouring village of Tallarevu has now

monopolised the ship-building that was formerly the pride of
Coringa. In l802 Mr. Ebenezer Roebuck, a private gentleman
residing at Coringa, constructed at a great cost a dock near
^ See the list in the Collector's office.

* Selections from the Records of the Madras Government (Madras,
1855), xix, p. 24.
212 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. the old town capacious enough to receive any ship of the
COCANADA. Royal Navy not drawing more than fourteen feet. H.M.S.
Albatross and other ships were repaired in this. It was 155
feet long, and its breadth was 51 feet at the bottom, and
76 feet at the^top. The masonry at the bottom was five feet
thick. It used to be pumped dry, after a ship had been
admitted, by two steam engines in a few hours. Now it is
choked to the level of the ground with earth, and nothing is
to be seen of it but the tops of the brick walls surrounding
it. No one seems to remember its being used. Till quite
recently, however, ships were repaired in mud docks at old
Coringa.
The silting up of the port has progressed very rapidly in
recent years. Between 1806 and 1861 the anchorage for big
ships had to be moved five or six miles to the north. At the
beginning of the last century a frigate drawing thirteen and
a half feet was got over the bar and a report to Government
;
written in 1805 records the opinion that any ship not drawing
'
more than twelve and a half feet of water may easily enter
the mouth of the river in two springs at any time of the
year.' Nowadays, however, it is only with great difficulty
that a ship drawing six feet can be got over the bar, and it
takes a month to warp a vessel of that size up the river.
Coringa is of some religious importance, since the neigh-
bouring village of Masakapalli is one of the places at which
pilgrims bathe when performing the sapta-sdgara-ydtrd or
'
pilgrimage of the seven mouths,' already referred to. The
river Coringa is said to have been brought to the sea by the
sage Atri, and the bathing place is called the Atreya-sagara-
sangam. It is also believed that the demon Maricha, who
was sent by Ravana in the form of a golden deer to Rama,
when he and Sita were at Parnasala, was killed by Rama at
this place. Rama is supposed to have founded the Siva
temple of Korangesvarasvami.
Gollapalai- Gollapalaiyam (eight miles south-south-west of Cocanada,
yam.
population 1,817) is of interest as the home of the cloth-
painting described in Chapter VI. Some seventy households
are also engaged in the stamping and dyeing of chintzes, and
a little weaving of fair quality is carried on. There are some
Jain remains in the neighbouring village of Ariyavattam.^
Injaram. Injaram : A
zamindari village near Yanam, fifteen miles
south by west of Cocanada. Population 2,042. factory, A
an offshoot of the settlement at Vizagapatam, was founded
* For others, see Chapter III. p. 39.
—
GAZETTEER. 213
there by the East India Company in 1708, was soon after- CHAP. XV.
wards abandoned, but was re-established in 1722. It was Cocanada.
—
captured by the French under Bussy in 1757 the garrison
numbered only twenty men and no resistance was offered
but it was ceded by the Nizam to the English in 1759
after the battle of Condore. It continued as a mercantile
establishment of the East India Company till 1829. Its two
great qualifications as a factory were that it was situated
near one of the principal mouths of the Godavari and that
very good cloth was made there. Indeed Captain Hamilton,
who visited India at the beginning of the eighteenth century,
stated that it produced the best and finest longcloth in all
India. With the abolition of the Company's factory the
prosperity of Injaram declined. It has now no sea-borne
trade whatever. No traces, it is said, exist of the European
settlement.
Injaram is the head-quarters of a small zamindari estate
containing three villages and paying a peshkash of Rs. 2,832.
It was part of the old Peddapuram zamindari and was
acquired by sale by the present holders' family in 1845.
Nilapalli An old sea-port near Yanam, on the eastern
: NUapaiii.
bank of the Coringa river where it joins the Gautami Goda-

vari. Its population is 3,936 and it contains a vernacular
lower secondary school for girls. The Company established
a factory here in 1751, but it was captured by Bussy in 1757.
A quantity of good cloth was formerly manufactured in the
neighbourhood, and a considerable sea-borne trade existed ;
but now the place is of little importance commercially and

has no sea-borne trade at all. In it are the remains of several
old bungalows once occupied by English merchants, and four
English tombs ranging in date from 1807 to 1865.
Its hamlet of Georgepet, which was clearly so named by
Englishmen, contains a large mill belonging to the Coringa
Rice Mills Company, where about one hundred men are
employed and which is in charge of two European superin-
tendents. The rice is sent in boats to be shipped from
Cocanada. The mill is said to have been started by a French
engineer from Karaikkal in 1854. Before that time the
buildings are said to have been used as an indigo factory.
Nilapalli is the only remaining village of the old Nilapalli
proprietary mutta (created in 1802-03) which formerly con-
tained nine other villages and paid a peshkash of Rs. 6,300.
The peshkash is now only Rs. 480.
Samalkot (vernacular Clidmdrlakdta): Seven miles north of Samalkot/
Cocanada, and the junction between the branch line from
214 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. that place and the North-east line of the Madras Railway.
CocANADA. connected by canal with both Rajahmundry and Coca-
It is
nada. Its population was 16,015 in 1901. It contains a
police-station, a small market, a travellers' bungalow and a

fine private choultrynear the railway-station. Its educational
institutions comprise the Canadian Baptist Mission seminary,^
a vernacular lower secondary school for girls and a Sanskrit
school. The town is a union, and comprises the villages of
Bhimavaram and Jaggammagaripeta.
Samalkot is included in the Pithapuram estate, was the
original residence of the family of sirdarswho founded that
property, was apparently the first capital of the zamindari,
was deserted in favour of Pithapuram for a time, but became
the capital once more in the eighteenth century. Its fort
was the scene of some exciting by-play in the great drama
enacted by the English, French and Muhammadans in 1759,
and seems to have more than once changed hands. Further
particulars will be found in the account of Pithapuram below.
In the latter half of the eighteenth century the place was
made a sanitarium for the British troops in the district. Bar-
racks were built in 1/86, and it was at that time the principal '
garrison of the English in the Circarof Rajahmundry.'^ The

fort was demolished in 1838 and the place was abandoned as
a military station in 1868. Owing however to the Rampa
disturbances of 1879, two companies under a British officer
were afterwards stationed there, and they were only with-
drawn in 1893. Samalkot is now of some commercial
importance owing to the establishment within it, in 1899, of
the large sugar-refinery and distillery which is described in
Chapter VI. A
large number of Devangas in the town weave
plain cotton cloths, and a few make cotton cloths with lace
borders. A
little chintz-stamping and dyeing, and manu-
facture of kas-kas tattis also goes on. Government A
experimental agricultural f arm ^ was started in the place
in 1902 and has recentl}' been made into a permanent
institution.
Sarpavaram. Sarpavarani (snake town) lies 4^4 miles north of Cocanada
and contains 1, 681 inhabitants. It is locally famous for its
sanctity. The temple is known by the name of Narada
Kshetram after the rishi Narada, who is supposed to have
* See Chapter III, p. 41.

Grant's Political Survey of the 'Northern Circars appended to the Fifth
-'
J?eport of the Select Committee on the affairs of the East India Co., 1812
(Madras reprint, 1883), p. 215.
3 See Chapter IV, p.
75.
GAZETTEER. 215
founded it. This sage was turned into a woman by Vishnu CHAP. XV.
and married a Pithapuram Raja who was killed in battle COCANADA.
with all his children. Thereupon Vishnu pitied him and
turned him back into a man. Both transformations were
effected by bathing in tanks at Sarpavaram, the former in
the Narada Gundam, the latter in the Muktika Sarasu tank.
To bathe in the Narada Gundam is considered a holy act.
The name of the town is locally said to be derived from
the fact that it was in this place that, as the Mahabharata
relates, Parikshit the son of Arjuna was bitten by a snake
and died. His son performed the sarpa ydgain (serpent
sacrifice) to effect the destruction of all those reptiles, but
one snake was spared by Indra's mercy.
The temple is a plain building of no beauty. A late Raja
of Pithapuram built its gopuram at a great cost. Eight
inscriptions in it (Nos. 452-59 of 1893) have been copied by the
Government Epigraphist. The oldest of these, on a pillar in
the mantapam in front of it, is in Tamil and is dated in the
—
46th year of Kulottunga Chola Deva apparently Kulottunga I
(A.D. 1070-1118)— or 1 1 16 A.D. One, dated A.D. 1414, is a
record of Vema Reddi, and several others of the early part of
the thirteenth century are grants of a Vishnuvardhana Maha-
raja, who is probably the same person as the local chieftain
Mallapa III.
Tallarcvu: Two miles south of Coringa on the east bank Tallarevu
of the river of that name. This village, like so many on this
river, appears to have once been an important trading centre.
It is now only interesting as the scene of a small indigenous
ship-building industry.
Yanam (French, Yanaon)
is a small French Settlement Yanam.
which is by British territory. It is situated
entirely surrounded
about twelve miles from the mouth of the Gautami Godavari,
at the point where the Coringa river branches off from the
main stream. The Settlement extends along the banks of
these rivers for seven or eight miles, and its area is returned
at 2,258 acres. Besides Yanam, it includes the four hamlets
of Adivipalem, Kanakalapeta, Mettakuru, and Kursammapeta.
Its population in 1901 was 5,005 against 5,327 in 1891. The
town contains a few handsome European buildings, including
a fine church and there is a spacious walled parade on the
:
south side facing the Godavari.

Yanam is a comparatively modern town, and was not in
existence in 1706. The French established a factory there
about 1750, and the place was formally ceded to them in 1752.
It shared the vicissitudes of their other possessions on this
2I6 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. coast; and from 1793 onwards, save for a short period in
CocANADA. 1802-03, was in the occupation of the English till the treaties
of 1815 restored it to its former owners. It was then finally
handed back in 1817. In 1839 the town was laid waste by
a hurricane which was accompanied by an inundation of
the sea.
Subject to the control of the Governor of the French
Possessions at Pondicherry, Yanam is administered by an
official called the Administrateiir who is assisted by a local
elective Council of six members. The Admijiistrateur is the
head of the magistracy and police and president of the
criminal court. Local affairs are managed by a communal
council, also elective, of twelve members. Two free schools,
one for boys and the other for girls, having an attendance of
202 and 248 respectively, are maintained in the town. The
area of cultivated land in the Settlement in 1903 was 664
hectares or about 1,000 acres. Land is held in absolute owner-
ship subject to the payment of an assessment of Rs. 37-8 per
candy (about 4^^ acres) for cultivated land, and Rs. 5 for
pasture land. Water is supplied free of cost from the British
canal which passes through Yanam. Little trade is now
carried on at the place, and in 1903 the exports were valued
at only Rs. 22,300 and the imports at Rs. 53,625. The sea-
borne trade is carried northwards down the Coringa river into
the Cocanada bay, as the mouth of the Gautami Godavari is
much silted up.
The special arrangements connected with customs and salt
which are necessitated by the existence of the Settlement are
referred to in Chapter XII above.
GAZETTEER. 21/
NAGARAM TALUK.
Nagaram taluk consists of the small island of that name chap. xv.
which in the south-west corner of the delta and is
lies
surrounded by the Vainateyam and Vasishta branches of the —
Nagaram.
Godavari and by the sea on the east. It is sometimes known

as the Tatipaka Sima (' country '), after the village of that
name within it. It is called after the unimportant village of
Nagaram, but its head-quarters is Rajavclu. Till October 1st
1904 it was part of the Narasapur taluk, and the usual statis-
tics are not always available for it. Certain figures appear in
the separate Appendix, however. It is now the charge of a
temporary tahsildar. It is the smallest and the most densely
peopled taluk in the district. It is particularly fertile and is
irrigated entirely by means of the great Gannavaram aqueduct
referred to on p. 86.
Nagaram contains an important centre of pilgrimage in the
Vaishnavite temple at Antarvedi, and several other places
of religious interest. A fair amount of weaving is done in
Jagannapeta, Mori, Sivakodu and Tatipaka and the work ;
of the first of these is well known. Tatipaka has a certain

historical interest.
The whole of the taluk belongs to Government with the
exception of Lankala Gannavaram village, which forms a
part of the Palivela thdna of the Pithapuram estate, and the
whole inam village of Gudumulakhandrika. This originally
belonged to the old Peddapuram zamindari, was purchased at
a sale for arrears, and, after one more sale, was left by will to
the late zamindar of Pithapuram.
Antarvedi Lies in the south-west corner of the taluk at
:
Antarvedi.
the mouth of the Vasishta Godavari. Population 6,583. It is
the last and the most important of the sacred bathing-places
comprised in the sapta-sdgara-ydtrd already referred to, and has
other distinct claims to sanctity which are widely recognized.
The god of the place is Lakshminarasimha-svami, an incar-
nation of Vishnu, who at the prayer of the sage Vasishta and
with the help of a local goddess killed another giant called
Rakta Vilochana. The local goddess' name was Asvarudamba
or Gurralakka a small stone image of her, mounted on a horse,
;
is to be seen in the village. Lakshminarasimha-svami was

entreated by Vasishta to remain in the locality, and he
accordingly concealed himself in an ant-hill, where the exist-
ing image of him was found. This was originally enshrined
28
2l8 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. in a shed by a shepherd, who had miraculously discovered it

Nagaram by the extraordinary insight of one of his cows and one of
;
its earliest devotees was a Sri Vaishnavite pilgrim who spent
his life worshipping it, and from whom the Sri Vaishnavites
of Antarvedi claim to be descended. The present temple, as
is mentioned in an inscription within it, was built in 1823 by
a pious Palli of Bendamurlanka.
A well-known festival occurs in the village in Makha (Feb-
ruary-March), and at this the marriage of the god is celebrated.
It lasts about a week, and is the largest in the district, as
many as 8o,000 people sometimes attending it. The car is

dragged round on the second day and on the last the god is
;
taken down to the sea-shore, where his bronze quoit (chakram)

is laid on the head of each of the pilgrims, who afterwards
bathe in the sea.
A curious feature of this festival is the importance accorded
thereat to the Kona Sima Dravidas of Peruru mentioned in the
account of that place above. When the marriage of the god
is performed they represent his bride's relations, and they are
also allowed to go to considerable lengths in making fun of

the Sri Vaishnavite Brahmans of Antarvedi, who are the
leading religious party in the place and represent the god
himself at the marriage. On the last day but one of the
festival they put on Vaishnavite sect-marks and sing abusive
songs about the Vaishnavites, who show no resentment. The
reason for all this is said to be the fact that long ago the
chakram of the god was lost in the sea, and that one of the
Tamil Brahmans of Peruru earned the everlasting gratitude
of the people of Antarvedi by getting it back by the use of
powerful charms (mantrams). It is even believed that the car
cannot be drawn without the help of one of these privileged
'
persons. It is solemnly asserted that in the year Vijaya

'
(1893-94) the villagers could not move the car in spite of all
their efforts,because no one from Peruru was pulling. Some
men from there were sought out and prevailed upon to touch
the ropes, and the car at once started and nowadays they
;
take care to have some one from Peruru to help pull. The
temple is a handsome building with a number of gopurams,
but it is not of any great size. It is endowed with some 800
acres of land and receives an annual tasdik allowance of
about Rs. 3,000.
Antarvedi is of no industrial importance. The painting
done there is referred to in Chapter VI.
Jagannapeta Four miles north-north-east of Rajavolu.
:
Jagannapeta.
Hamlet of Mogalikuduru, the population of which is 2,524. The
place is noted for its weaving, which, though now said to be
GAZETTEER. 219
declining, still employs some 300 families of Devangas. CHAP. XV.

They weave white cotton turbans and cloths, ornamented Nagaram.
with cotton or lace borders and sometimes with simple
embroidery. They work with counts as fine as 150s, and
their fabrics are noted for the closeness of the weaving.
KadaliThree and a half miles east-south-east of Raja-
:
Kadaii.
volu. Population 3,687. Contains a small local fund market.

The god of the place is named Kapotisvaradu and is said to
have been first recognized by a certain hermit, who, with his
wife, used to worship him in the form of a kapota bird. One
day the hermit was mistaken by a shikari for a real bird and
shot while at his prayers- He fell into the pool called the
Kapota gimdnm at this place, and his wife flung herself in
after him. It is considered a holy act to bathe in this pool
on Sundays.
The village is known as 'the place of the five K's (Kakdra '
panchakam), from five names of local importance which begin

with that letter; namely, those of the god, of the village itself
and of three families (the Kadambri family of Niyogi
Brahmans, the Kasibhatlu family of Vaidiki Brahmans,
and the Katika-reddi family of Kapus) which are largely
represented in the village.
Nagaram Five miles north-east of Rajavolu. Population Nagaram.
:
2,241, of whom about a quarter are Muhammadans. Contains

a police-station and a small local fund market. It was presum-
ably once of importance, as for at least the last 120 years it
has given its name to the Nagaram island, but now, except
that it does a certain amount of local trade, it possesses hardly
any features of interest. It contains the remains of an old
fort which is said to have been built by the Muhammadans.^
Rajavolu (commonly called Razole by Europeans) has Rajavolu.
been the head-quarters of the Nagaram taluk since it was
split off from Narasapur in 1904. It contains 2,553 inhabit-
ants, a police-station, a sub-registrar's office, 'a local fund

dispensary (opened in 1881) and a local fund choultry.
Sivakodu Two miles south-east of Rajavolu. Population
: Sivakodu.
3,541. Contains a travellers' bungalow and an English lower
secondary school for boys. The Siva temple, like that at
Ramesvaram still supposed to have been
further south-east, is
built by Rama on his return from Ceylon in expiation of his

sin of killing king Ravana, who was a Brahman. It is
supposed to be the very last one he made for this purpose,

and to have completed the crore (koti) of temples the construc-
tion of which was needed to cleanse him thoroughly of his
^ Sewell's Lists of Antiquities, i, 41.

220 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. sin. The name Sivakodu is supposed to mean *

the crore of
Nagaram. Siva and to be derived from this fact.
'
There are about 50 Devangas in the village who weave

plain cloths, using thread of counts as fine as 150s. local A
carpenter carves wooden figures, bed-steads and door-frames
well,and also makes musical instruments of fair quality.
Tatipaka. Tatipaka Three miles north-north-east of Rajavolu-
:
Population 2,838. A small local fund market is held there.

In one of the streets is a Jain image, buried up to its neck,
the head of which is more than life size. Several large wells
in the neighbourhood are called Jain wells.' The place is
'
a centre of trade and of the jaggery industry. Some 50

Devanga families weave plain cloths.
Tatipaka seems at one time to have been a place of some
importance, since the local name for the Nagaram island
(Tatipaka Sima) is derived from it. It is referred to in the
accounts of the Muhammadan invasion of 1 562-64. It was
then held by a powerful zamindar, Narasinga Rao, and was
strongly fortified and protected by a deep moat. The
Muhammadans were detained a month in front of the walls
and were finally driven to raise the siege. The place was
attacked next year when the rains were over, and was then
captured.
GAZETTEER. 221
PEDDAPURAM TALUK.
PEDDAPURAM taluk lies in the north-east of the district, south CHAP. XV.
of the Yellavaram Agency and west of Pithapuram andTuni. Pedda-
puram.
The northern part of it is very like the Agency in character,
and isi in particular, exceedingly malarious. The greater
part of the taluk, as well as the Pithapuram country, is known
to the natives as the Porlunadu. Very little of Peddapuram
is irrigated. More than half thewet area is under the Yeleru
river, and over 4,600 acres under the large Lingamparti
tank. Eighty per cent, of the soil is red ferruginous, eleven
per cent, black regar, and only six per cent, alluvial. The
average rainfall is 36'8o inches a year. The comparative
barrenness of the taluk results in many contrasts to the delta
tracts the incidence of the land revenue, for example, is only
:
Rs. I-13-7 per head the density of the population (331 per
;
square mile) is unusually low for this district education is ;
more backward than in any other taluk on the plains; and

only 5 per cent, of the male population can read and write.
Of the few industries in the taluk, the most important
is the manufacture of jaggery, which is exported in large
quantites to the refinery at Samalkot.
The taluk was originally a part of the large zamindari of
Peddapuram, the history of which is sketched below. It is
now nearly all Government land. The small estates of
Kirlampudi, Viravaram, Dontamuru and Rayavaram, one
village of the Pithapuram zamindari and the Jagammapeta
estate are the only areas that are still zamindari land.
Annavaram Twenty-five
: miles north-east of Peddapuram. Annavaram.
Population 605. Possesses a small choultry and a temple of
some local fame. The latter contains an image of Satya
Narayanasvami which was discovered on a hill near by as
the result of a vision seen in a dream by a local Brahman,
and many people, especially those desirous of children, go on
pilgrimages to it.
Dharamallapuram Forty miles north by east of Pedda-

:
Dharamalla-
puram among the hills. Population 86. Contains the ruins puram.
of an old mud fort, oval in shape and half a mile in diameter,
which is declared by local tradition to have been built by
Bussy after his expedition against Bobbili.
222 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. Jagammapeta Eight miles north-west of Peddapuram

: ;
Pedda- population 4,638. Chief village of a union which also com-

PURAM. prises Kotturu, Ragampeta and Ramavaram. Contains a
Jagamma- police-station, two travellers' bungalows (one for natives and
peta.
the other for Europeans), a small choultry, a small local fund
market, and a lower secondary school for boys. The sub-
limate of mercury made in it is referred to in Chapter VI.
One or two Kamsalas make brass vessels.
Jagammapeta is the chief village of the zamindari of the
same name, which consists of 28 villages and pays a pesh-
kash of Rs. 33,062. Along with the Dontamuru estate (one
village, peshkash Rs. 3,267) and the Rayavaram estate (two
villages, peshkash Rs. 1,998) this zamindari was purchased
from the Peddapuram estate by the Raja of Pithapuram. He
gave them to a certain Rao Venkata Rao, and the present
holder is the widow of the latter's grandson.
Kandrakota.
Kandrakota, north of Peddapuram, population
six miles
2,664, is celebrated for its festival to the village goddess
Nukalamma, which lasts for a month and end with the last
new-moon day before the Telugu New Year's Day in March
or April. Many pilgrims visit the place on this occasion and
vows of many kinds are made to the goddess, generally, it is
said, to secure alleviation from disease. A
buffalo is
sacrificed, a wound being first made in its throat and the
blood caught in a pot, and its head being then cut off.
Kattipudi. Kattipudi Seventeen and a half miles north-east of
:
Peddapuram. Population 1,470. Contains a police-station, a

travellers' bungalow and a large choultry with an income of
Rs. 3,000 from land bequeathed to the taluk board, which is
devoted to feeding travellers of all classes.
Kirlampudi Kirlampudi Nine miles north-north-east of Peddapuram.

:
Population 4,316. Has a small market. Is included in the

Jagapatinagaram union. Chief village of a small estate,
consisting of ten villages paying a peshkash of Rs. 23,186,
which was purchased from the old Peddapuram zamindari at
a sale for arrears. It has changed hands since then and is
now held in shares by two brothers. One share has been
sold to the Maharaja of Bobbili.
Peddapuram. Peddapuram, the head-quarters of the taluk, lies three
miles from Samalkot railway-station and contains a popula-
tion of 12,609. In it are the offices of a Deputy Collector, a
tahsildar, a district munsif, a sub-registrar, and a stationary
sub-magistrate, and also a local fund dispensary (established
1881), a fair-sized market, a police-station and a fine taluk
board choultry where Brahmans and Sudras are fed. This
GAZETTEER. 223
last is of Rs. 3,400 from land, and

endowed with an income CHAP. xv.
was bequeathed to the taluk board. The town also contains ^f °^f;
PURAM.
a high school belonging to the American mission and a
vernacular lower secondary school for girls.
It was for nearly three centuries the capital of a great

zamindari estate which seems at one time to have extended
from north of Totapalli to Nagaram island. About 1785 it
'
comprised nearly one-half of the whole Circar of Rajahmun-
^
dry, both in extent and value, and contained 585 villages.'
The old zamindars of Peddapuram are said to be descended
from Vachchavaya Musali, the perfidious minister of Vidiadri,
the last Gajapati ruler of Rajahmundry, whose treachery is
said to have been one of the factors which facilitated the
Muhammadan conquest in 1571. The line of descent was
unbroken till 1734, when the estate was apparently in the
hands of a woman, the zamindarni Vachchavaya Ragamma
who was defeated near Peddapuram by the Muhammadans
for joining in the rebellion of the chiefs of Ellore, Mogalturru
and Pithapuram. ^
The Muhammadan general then enticed
the sons of Ragamma into his camp and tortured them to
death '
by drizzling with brushes.' ^
on them hot-boiled oil
Ragamma burnt herself alive when she heard the news.

'
Challa Peddy, a faithful servant, made haste to the palace
and took permission from the Ranee to set the palace on fire
to prevent the ladies being maltreated by the barbarous
soldiers of the Sirlushkar.' * Her grandson was sent for safety
to Vizianagram. In 1749 the family was re-established by
the amildar, Nimat AH, who for a bribe of Rs. 90,000 appointed
one Rayappa Razu, a grandson of Ragamma, as zamindar.
Rayappa Razu, like most of the other zamindars, hated the
Vizianagram Raja and so opposed the English in their
advance in 1758. He was either killed at Condore,' or was
deposed by Ananda Razu of Vizianagram in the following
year, and his son Timma Razu, then a boy only seven years
old, succeeded to the estate. Timma Razu ruled till 1/97 ^nd
was followed by Raya Jagapati Razu, with whom the perma-
nent settlement was made. He died in 1804 without issue,
and left the estate to a minor child adopted by him.**'
1 Grant's Political Survey of the Northern Circars already several times
cited.
2 See p. 235.
•*
MS. history of Pithapuram (Cocaiiada, i8Si), p. 30.
» Ibid.
5 Grant's Political Survey.
^ Selections from the Records of the Godavari district (Cocanada, 1891) ; Mr.
Hodgson's report, dated 23rd November 1805, para. 3.
224 GODAVARI.
CHA-P. XV. The estate was eventually sold for arrears of revenue in
pedda- 1847. Much of it is now Government property, but parts of it
puRAjvi.
went to make up nine small estates which are still in existence.
These are Kottam, Viravaram, Kirlampudi, Dontamuru,
:
Jagammapeta, Rayavaram, Gollaprolu, Palivela and Injaram.

The ancient line of zamindars still maintain something of
their former position in the Kottam zamindari, which was
split off from that of Peddapuram in 1810.
Peddapuram town is an important centre of the jaggery
trade and sends large quantities- of that commodity to the
factory at Samalkot. A
little silk-weaving is also carried on
there some 200 households are employed in weaving cotton

;
cloths with lace borders a few families stamp and dye cotton
;
cloths a fair amount of metal-work is done and a little good

; ;
shoe-making. The town has a bad name for elephantiasis.

The and parts of the walls of the old fort are still to
ditch
be seen. was built of stone, was oval in shape and about
It
three-quarters of a mile across. The land inside the walls is

now under cultivation.
A the neighbourhood, called the Pdndavulametta (' the
hill in
Pandavas' hill '), contains a cave which is supposed to be the
mouth of an underground passage leading to Rajahmundry.
It is popularly supposed that the Pandavas used to haunt this
hillock and goto Rajahmundry through this passage,

rrattipadu. Prattipadu Eleven miles north-north-east of Peddapuram,
:
Population 2,100. Contains the offices of a sub-registrar and

a deputy tahsildar, a police-station and a native travellers'
bungalow. It is the chief village of the Jagapatinagaram
union which comprises also Kirlampudi, Simhadripuram, Jaga-
patinagaram, Chillangi, Ramakrishnapuram and Velanka,
and the total population of which amounts to 11,329. It enjoys
considerable local celebrity owing to its possession of an idol
of Ramalingasvami, which was recently found on a neigh-
bouring by a Kamsala who had been told in a dream that
hill
it was A cobra is said to have been shading the idol
there.
with its hood. About two miles from Prattipadu on the road
to Jagammapeta are two idols under a cluster of trees which
are known in the neighbourhood as Pathalamma (the foot
goddess). These are visited by large numbers of pilgrims
who in satisfaction of vows sacrifice fowls and animals to the
goddess and hang up the victims' heads in front of her. A
number of stories are told about the malignant powers of this
goddess a Local Fund Engineer (name not specified) who
:
ventured to cut down one of the trees near by some twenty

years ago was thrown from his horse in consequence another ;
GAZETTEER. 225
man who committed the same offence was at once seized with CHAP. XV.
fever and died within the week and some ryots of Yerra-
;
Pedda-
varam who removed one of the idols to their village were *
struck with blindness.

Ragampeta Eight miles north-west of Peddapuram Ragam-
: ;
population 865. included in the Jagammapeta union. Some P^'^-

Is
ten Linga Balijas make bangles and glass bottles here, an '
'
industry not common in this district. Brass vessels are made

by a few Kamsalas.
Rangampcta Ten miles west of Peddapuram, population Rangam-
:
2,017. Contains a large choultry called the Nallacheruvu P^ta.

choultry (from the tank on the bank of which it is situated)
which has an income of Rs. 5,500 from land, and in which
travellers of all classes are fed. There is a travellers'
bungalow close to it.
Talluru Eleven miles north-west of Peddapuram; popula-

:
Talluru.
tion 1,768, called Taidoor in old maps. The present Vaish-

Is
navite temple in the village is said to have been originally
built above a rock-cut cave, by a saint called Bhargava, as a
shrine to Siva. The local chief, a Dudeku named Sitab Khan,
who was a Saivite, was afterwards converted to the Vaishna-
vite faith by the famous Ramanujachari, and in consequence
overthrew the Saivite lingams (which now lie buried in a
mound known as the lingala dibba) and turned the temple into
a Vaishnava place of worship.
Totapalli, eighteen miles north-east of Peddapuram, popu- Totapalli.

lation 94,was the former capital of one of the three ancient
mansabdaris of the Godavari district. The original holder of
this was a mokhasadar under the zamindar of Peddapuram,
who was bound to pay his suzerain a quit-rent of 1,000
pagodas and attend on him when required with a body
a year
of 700 peons. It was this military service which caused him
to be denominated a mansabdar.^
His estate comprised lOO villages, of which 37 were held by
inferior mokhasadars." Mr. Grant (writing about 1785) speaks
of the property as a region of tigers,' and mentions that in
'
1771, at the instigation of the Peddapuram zamindar, this '
little territory, with the sacrifice of almost the whole detach-

ment to the unhealthiness of the climate, was reduced by the
English to pay a future tribute to the zamindar.' ^ As this
quit-rentwas not punctually paid, the Peddapuram zamindar
in later times resumed certain of the Totapalli villages. The
1 G.O. No. 559, Judicial, dated 19th March 1881.
* G.O, No. 2425, Judicial, dated 23rd Novemljer 1881,
' Political Survey of the Northern Circars, 214.
29
226 godavari.
CHAP. XV. quit-rent of 1,000 pagodas on the property was one of the
/
Pedda- assets of the Peddapuram zamindari on which the peshkash

PURAM.
payable to the Company was assessed at the permanent
settlement. That settlement did not recognize the mansabdar
save as a subordinate of the Peddapuram zamindar, nor deal
with him direct. In 1847 the Peddapuram zamindari was sold
for arrears of peshkash and bought in on behalf of Govern-
ment, and from that date the feudal service of the mansabdar
was due to Government and was occasionally demanded. In
1859 a money payment of Rs. 6,500 per annum, being one-
fourth of the assumed rental of the villages, was substituted
for this service. The estate thus became an unenfranchised
inam from which no service was required. Subsequently the
mansabdar ran into debt and alienated a number of his
villages. Government accordingly decided in iBSl to assess '
the whole estate fully and take it under their own manage-
ment, and, while remitting the demand fixed in substitution
of the former military service, to pay the mansabdar annually
the difference between the estimated cost of that service and
the estimated value of the estate, or Rs. 19,500. The ruins of
the mansabdar's fort still exist in Totapalli. It was built of
mud and stone, was oval in shape, and covered some 200 acres.
The land inside it is now under cultivation.
Viravaram. Viravaram :Eight miles north of Peddapuram. The chief
village of a small estate which previously formed part of the
Peddapuram zamindari and was purchased at a sale for arrears
by a certain Rao Bhanayyamma, from whom the present
holder has inherited it. It contains eleven villages and pays
a peshkash of Rs. 26,759.
Yelesvaram. Yelesvaram Fifteen miles north of Peddapuram on the
:
border of the Yellavaram division. Population 5,180. It is the

chief village of a union which also includes Appanapalaiyam,
Rayavaram, Lingamparti and Narayanapatnam, and the
population of which is 8,531. The village contains a local
fund dispensary (established 1882), a travellers' bungalow and
a local fund market. This last is much used by the hill tribes,
and the village has been appropriately called the gate of the
'
Agency.' It is the scene of a large festival in honour of the

village goddess Nukalamma in Vaisaka (May-June), which is
also largely attended by the agency people.
•
G.O. No. 559, Judicial, dated 19th March 1881.
GAZETTEER. 2^;^
PITHAPURAM DIVISION.
The Pithapuram division lies along the coast, north of the chap. XV.
Godavari delta, and, except Nagaram, is the smallest in the PlTHA-
district. Most of it is included in the Pithapuram zamindari. PURAM.
Though it adjoins the delta, where the rainfall is heavy, it
receives only 34'46 inches annually on an average, the lowest
figure in the district. Part of it, however, benefits from
the excellent irrigation provided by the Yeleru river. The
head-quarter town is of much historical and archsological
interest. Good weaving is done at Mulapeta, Uppada
and Kottapalli, and excellent bronze-work at Pithapuram.
Chandurti was the scene of the great battle of Condore.' '
Chandurti: Seven miles north by east of Pithapuram.

Chandurti.
Population 1,087. It is called Condore by Orme, and has
given this name to the decisive battle which took place near
it on the ninth of December 1758, which resulted in the
wresting of the sovereignty of the Northern Circars from the
French by the English. The battle is described in detail by
Orme,^ and in somewhat different terms by Cambridge'-^ and
Malleson.-' A very precise local tradition survives in the
village to this day as to the locality in which it was fought,
and old swords, bullets, cannon-balls, remains of pewter
vessels, and elephants' bones have been found in quantities
in the neighbourhood by the villagers while cultivating their
fields. The account given by Orme is more detailed than the
others and agrees more closely with the local tradition.
When the English under Colonel Forde entered the
Pithapuram division they found the French under M. Conflans
encamped at GoUaprolu,* some four miles north-east of
Pithapuram on the main road. This was on December 3rd.
The French force consisted of 500 Europeans, 500 native
cavalry, 6,000 sepoys and a great number of local levies.^
* Orme (Madras, 1861), ii, 378 ff.

' The IVar in India (London, 1761), 204 ff.
*Decisive battles of India, 80-87.

* Cambridge says 'near Tallapool' {i.e., Tatiparti) and local tradition
;
places the French camp at the now deserted village of Vodulapenta. The latter
may refer to the temporary occupation of that village by the Pênch on the
morning of the battle.
« Orme says • a great number of the troops of the country, of which 500 were
horse and 6,000 sepoys ;
' Cambridge says 8,000 sepoys and a great many of the
'
country powers.'
228 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. They had had 36 pieces of cannon and some mortars, in fact,
PlTHA- many more pieces of cannon than they could use at once.'
'
PURAM.
The English force consisted of 470 Europeans and 1,900
sepoys while their ally, the Raja of Vizianagram, had with
;
him SOO paltry horse and 5,000 foot, some with awkward
'
firearms, the rest with pikes and bows,' as well as a small

force of 40 Europeans in charge of four guns, who, in the
event, proved of more assistance than all the rest put
together.
The French move from GoUaprolu, and on the
did not
sixth the English occupied Chebrolu, which was also on the
main road and lay about three miles north of GoUaprolu.
For the next thr-ee days the two armies remained in their
respective camps but on the early morning of the tenth
;
they both made a movement. Forde desiring to draw the

enemy from their camp to a general action, and to lead them
to ground where their cavalry would not be of much assist-
ance to them, marched off at 4 A.M., followed at some distance
by the Vizianagram forces, who were not ready to start at the
proper time, and at about eight in the morning took posses-
sion of Chandurti, which lay some two miles north-west of
Chebrolu and well off the road. Meanwhile Conflans had
been induced by an intelligent deserter, who had told him
that the English force was raw and undisciplined and who
had noticed a spot from which their camp could be com-
manded, to send off six guns the same night to cannonade
Chebrolu and he followed with the rest of his army and
;
artillery to support them. The advance detachment of the

French army came across the Vizianagram troops as they
were leaving Chebrolu about daybreak, and fired upon them
for some little time, but apparently without doing much harm.
When Conflans came up he imagined that the English
intended to take possession of the now deserted village of
Vodulapenta, which lay midway between GoUaprolu and
Chandurti and some two miles nearly due west of Chebrolu,
and would have afforded them a strong advanced post in
any attack upon GoUaprolu. He at once marched across
the plain to prevent this, and had no difficulty in doing it, as
Forde remained at Chandurti, two miles north of Vodula-
penta, resolved to regulate his future movements by the
'
enemy's.' Conflans imputed this inactivity to fear, and

supposing that, with the advanced post in the enemy's hands,
the English would now return to their camp at Chebrolu, he
hurried forward to cut them off. Forde, nothing loth,
advanced to meet him about nine o'clock, and the two armies
came face to face about a mile south-south-west of Chandurti.
—
GAZETTEER. 229
The spot which tradition identifies as the scene of the battle cHAP. XV
which followed is locally known
as Angleyulapadu, the '
Pitha-
pi^Ram-
place of the English,' and is at present covered by a small
tope of babul trees. It is a little to the east and north of a
small pool which lies about equidistant from Chandurti and
Vannipudi, is due east of the latter, and about one and a half
miles north-north-east of Tatiparti--^
Orme gives the following account of the battle which
ensued :
The French
*
Battalion of Europeans was in the centre of the line,
with 13 field-pieces, divided on their flanks, the horse, 500, were on
the left of the battalion 3,000 sepoys formed the right wing, and the
;
same number the left, and with each wing were five or six pieces
of cumbrous cannon. The English army drew up with their Euro-
peans in the centre, the six field-pieces divided on their flanks the ;
1,800 sepoys were likewise equally divided on the wings. Colonel

Forde placed no reliance on the Rajah's infantry or horse, and ordered
them to form aloof, and extend on each flank of the sepoys all this :
rabble kept behind, but the renegade Europeans under Bristol, who
managed the four field-pieces belonging to the Rajah, advanced, and
formed with the division of artillery" on the left of the English
battalion. The line having had time, were in exact order, and had
advanced a mile in front of the village of Condore [Chandurti J,
during which, the enemy cannonaded hotly from all their guns. At
length the impetuosity of the enemy's approach, who came on, out-
marching their cannon, obliged the English line to halt for action ;
and it chanced that the whole of their battalion stopped near and
opposite to a field of Indian corn, which was grown so tall that it
entirely intercepted them from the enemy but the sepoys on the ;
wings were free in the plain on each hand. For what reason is not
known, Colonel Forde had ordered his sepoys to furl their colours,
which, besides the principal flag, are several small banners to a
company, and to let them lay on the ground during the action.
The sepoys and horse of the enemy's wings greatly outstretched
the wings of the English line, and came on each in a curve to gain
their flanks ;
the French battalion in the centre, instead of advancing
parallel where by the wings they might judge the centre of the
to
English line would be, inclined obliquely to theright, which brought
them beyond the field of Indian corn, opposite to the English sepoys
on the left wing ;
whom from their red jackets,^ and the want of their
usual banners, they from the first approach mistook for the English
battalion ; respecting them as such, they halted to dress their ranks
1 Mr. B. McCormack, Kn^nnecr of the I'ithapuram estate, has kindly given

much assistance in locating the site.
- They were from Bengal and wore red ; the Madras sepoys' tunics were
usually white.
^30 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. before they engaged, and then began to fire in platoons advancing,
PiTHA- but at the distance of 200 yards. Nevertheless, this was sufficient;
|-Qj. ^j^g sepoys, seeing themselves attacked without cover by Europeans
puRANi.
in front, and the horse and multitude of the enemy's sepoys

gaining
their rear, or coming down on their flank, scarcely preserved courage

to give their fire, hurried, scattered, and without command ;
and then
immediately broke and ran away to shelter themselves in the village
of Chambole (Chebrolu), and were followed by the nearest of the
enemy's horse. This success was greater than even the confidence of
the enemy expected ; and several platoons of the French battalion
were setting pursue them likewise, when they saw a line of men
off to
with shouldered arms marching fast and firm from behind the field of
Indian corn across their way, to occupy the ground which the sepoys
had abandoned.
Colonel Forde had been with the sepoys before their flight,
encouraging them to resolution but saw, by the usual symptoms of
;
trepidation, that they would not stand the shock, which prepared him
to order the judicious movement which the officers were now per-
forming with so much steadiness and spirit. Captain Adnet,
commanding on the left, led the line, and as soon as the last files
were got clear of the corn the word was given, when the whole
halted, and faced at once in full front of the enemy. This motion
was quickly executed for the foremost man had not more than 300
;
yards to march, and the field-pieces were left behind. During this
short interval, the French battalion were endeavouring with much
bustle to get into order again for some of their platoons had advanced
;
a considerable distance before others and thus the fire of the

;
English line commenced before the enemy's was ready it was given ;
in divisions, that is, and began

the whole battalion divided into five,
from Captain Adnet's on the left, which was within pistol shot, and
brought down half the enemy's grenadiers the fire ran on, and before
;
the time came for Adnet's division to repeat theirs, the whole of the
enemy's line were in confusion, and went about running fast to
regain their guns, which they had left half a mile behind them on
the plain.
The ardour of the English battalion to pursue was so great, that
Colonel Forde judged it best to indulge it in the instant, although not
certain of the success of the sepoys on the right, but concluding that
the enemy's sepoys who were to attack them, would not continue long,
if they saw their Europeans completely routed. The order was given
march on in following divisions, the left leading.
for the battalion to
Nothing could repress their eagerness. All marched too fast to keep
their rank, excepting the fourth division commanded by Captain
Yorke, who to have a reserve for the whole battalion, if broken, as
the enemy had been, by their own impetuosity, obliged his men to
advance in strict order. The French battalion rallied at their guns,
which were 13 in number, spread in different brigades, or sets, as
GAZETTEER. 231
they chanced when left by the troops advancing to the

to stand CHAP. XV.
action. This began to fire as soon as the ground was clear
artillery PiTHA-
PURAM.
of their own troops, and killed some men, which only quickened the
approach of the divisions to close in with the guns, of which several
'fired when the first division was within pistol shot, and Adnet fell
mortally wounded but his men rushing on drove the enemy from the
;
guns they attacked, and the other divisions following with the same
spirit, obliged them to abandon all the others.
The day, if not completely victorious, was at least secured from

reverse by the possession of all the enemy's field artillery fit for quick
firing ;
but their camp [at Gollaprolu], to which they were retiring,
remained to be attacked and Colonel Forde halted until joined
still ;
by his sepoys, and, if they would come, by the Rajah's troops.

The sepoys and horse of the enemy's right wing were in their
turn panick-struck by the fire of the English battalion routing their
own, and all turned to gain the rear of the guns, keeping aloof to the
left of the English divisions and then went off again with the
;
French battalion to the camp. Their left wing of sepoys behaved

better, advancing to the use of musketry against the English sepoys
of the left, with whom the battalion, oppose the when filing off to
French, left the three and the sepoys,
field-pieces of their right ;
encouraged by this assistance, the ardour of the Europeons marching

off, and the spirit of their own commander Captain Knox, maintained
their ground, facing and firing in various directions behind the banks
of the rice fields in which they had drawn up. The enemy's wing
nevertheless continued the distant fire, until they saw their battalion of
Europeans quitting their guns, and the sepoys and horse of the right
retreating with them to the camp; when they went off likewise;
stretching round to the left of the English battalion halting at the
guns, and keeping out of their reach. Captain Knox then advanced
to join the battalion with his own sepoys, and the six field-pieces, and
had collected most of the fugitives of the other wing. Messages had
been continually sent to the Raja's horse to advance, but they could
not be prevailed upon to quit the shelter of a large tank,i at this time
dry, in which they, his foot, and himself in the midst of them, had
remained cowering from the beginning of the action.
As soon as the sepoys joined, and all the necessary dispositions
were made, which took an hour, Colonel Forde advanced to attack the
enemy's camp
but, not to retard the march, left the field-pieces to
;
follow. A
deep hollow way passed along the skirt of the camp,
behind which appeared a considerable number of Europeans regularly
drawn up, as if to defend the passage of the hollow way, and several
shot were fired from heavy cannon planted to defend the approach.
Just as the English troops came near, and the first division of the
Europeans stept out to give their fire, the field-pieces were arrived
» The Chandurti t^nk.

232 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. within shot on which all the enemy went to the right-about, aban-
;
PlTHA- doned camp, and retreated, seemingly every man as he listed, in

their
• PURAM. but the English battalion crossing after them,
the utmost confusion ;
many threw down their arms, and surrendered themselves prisoners.

Mr. Conflans had previously sent away four of the smallest field-
pieces and the money of the military chest, laden for expedition on
•
two camels. The spoil of the field and camp was 30 pieces of cannon,
most of which were brass 50 tumbrels, and other carriages laden
;
with ammunition; seven mortars from thirteen to eight inches, with a

large provision of shells 1,000 draught bullocks and all the tents of
;
the French battalion. Three of their officers were killed in the field,
and three died of their wounds the same evening 70 of their rank ;
and file were likewise killed, or mortally wounded six officers and 50:
rank and file were taken prisoners, and the same number of wounded
were supposed to have escaped. Of the English battalion. Captain
Adnet and 15 rank and file were killed Mr. Macguire, the paymaster,
;
and Mr. Johnstone, the commissary, who joined the grenadiers, two
officers, and 20 of the rank and file were wounded the sepoys had ;
100 killed and more wounded. No victory could be more complete ;
Mr. Conflans, the commander of the French army, changing horses,

arrived on the full gallop at Rajahmundrum before midnight, although
the distance is 40 miles from the field on which the battle was
lost ; the troops took various routes, but most of them towards
Rajahmundrum.'
Kottapalli.
Kottapalli Five miles east-south-east of Pithapuram,
:
Population 1,203. Good muslins are woven here by 200 house-

holds of Pattu Sales. The work is referred to in Chapter VI.
Mulapeta.
Mulapeta : Seven miles east of Pithapuram. Population
2,002, About
100 households of Pattu Sales weave good
cotton cloths in the village. The Mondi Jaganna temple there
is widely known. There are two gods and a goddess in the
temple, namely Bala Rama, Jagannatha, and his sister
Subadra. All the images are of wood and are without hands
or feet and are therefore called mondi, or crippled Whence '
'.
the name of the temple. Popular tradition says the images

were washed ashore in the village. It is said that the idols in
the great Jagannatha temple at Puri in Orissa are changed
once a year, the old ones being thrown into the sea, and that
these are a set of the old ones from that place. In Phalguna
(March-April) a five-days' festival takes place at the temple
and the pilgrims bathe in the sea on the newmoon day. It is
declared that married women of the lower classes who are
desirous of children are permitted, without discredit attaching
to them, to indulge in promiscuous intercourse at this feast,
and respectable people consequently resent being asked
whether they attended it. A
curious feature of the worship is
GAZETTEER. 233
that suppliants do not clasp their hands before the deities in CHAP. XV.
the conventional Hindu form of reverence, but salaam to them Pithv-
as in the Muhammadan fashion of greeting. Nor do they
'
address the usual praises to them, but actually insult them

with the most vulgar abuse. No reasons are forthcoming
for these customs.
Pithapuram : A
union of 13,220 inhabitants. The head- Pithdpuram,
quarters of the great Pithapuram zamindari, of a deputy
tahsildar and of a sub-registrar. It contains a police-station,
a large choultry maintained by the Raja, another kept up from
local funds, a local fund hospital (founded 1879), an upper
secondary school for boys, an English loMrer secondary school
for boys, a Government lower secondary school for girls and
a large cattle market. The Raja owns a bungalow near the
station which is generally placed at the disposal of travellers.
Close by are his experimental farm and veterinary dispensary,
Pithapuram is mentioned as a sovereign city in very early Its antiquity.
times. In the Allahabad pillar inscription of the Gupta king

Samudragupta, which belongs to the middle of the fourth
century A.D., the chieftain Mahendra of Pistapuram is
mentioned along with the kings of Conjeeveram and Vengi.
He was almost undoubtedly a Pallava chief and a semi-
independent feudatory of the Pallava king Vishnugopa of
Conjeeveram. Again the strong fortress of Pishtapura is
' '
one of the places mentioned in the Aihole inscription of the

Eastern Chalukya emperor Pulakesin II as having been subdued
by him when he conquered the Vengi country. But from this
period onwards a wide gap occurs in the history of the place.
Inscriptions ranging from 1 186 to 1391 A.D. and belonging to
the Velanandu chiefs, the Konas, Mallapa's Eastern Chalukya
line, and Reddi kings are found in it ; but they throw no light
on its history.
In comparatively modern times Pithapuram reappears as
the head-quarters of an important zamindari. Mr. Grant, in
his Political Survey of the Nortliern Circars already quoted, states
that the ancestors of the Raja of this estate were established
as renters of part of it as early as 1 571, but that the family
was involved in the general proscription of Indian landholders
under the rule of Rustum Khan until in 1749 one of its
members obtained a sanad for the zamindari from the amildar
Nimat Ali.
A detailed history of the estate has recently been published History of the
at Cocanada by order of the Raja. Up to the end of the ^^^^^P""^^"^
eighteenth century, this consists entirely of a translation of one
of theMackenzie MSS. The dates and names (especially the
former) in this are evidently confused, but it may be relied on
30
234 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. where it refers to events in the latter half of the eighteenth
PlTHA- century. Further materials for a historical sketch of the

puram.
estate are provided by the appointments and title-deeds given
to the family by successive Muhammadan rulers which are
preserved in
still its archives, and by an old genealogical tree
kept there.
Origin of the is of the Velama stock and its ordinary titles
The family
Pithapuram
(like those of the Kalahasti zamindars) are Rao or Raya-
famiiy.
Nimgar. It claims descent from one Anupotama Nayudu,
about whom some remarkable stories are told. His existence
is proved by orders of the Bahmani kings one of Ala-ud-din —
(1435-58) dated 1454, 'pardoning him for his misbehaviour'
and granting him and his brother Madhava certain lands, and
the other by the son of Muhammad Shah II (1463-82) dated
1464-65 and confirming or modifying the former grant but —
these do not connect him with Pithapuram. The grants
confer villages in the Nizam's Dominions, and the former
directs him to come to the court of the Sultan. The 'mis-
behaviour perhaps consisted of the exploits (mentioned in
'
the MS. history) of his son, who collected a large army and
conquered forts in the west, which were afterwards held by
the family as a jaghir. The names of two of these forts are
given in the MS. as Kailasa and Metukur, and a Metukur
ismentioned in the grant. Anupotama's brother, Madhava
Nayudu, is said in the MS. to have founded the family of
Venkatagiri in Nellore. The family were afterwards ousted
from their jaghir by some Delhi sirdars but one of them,
'
',
Ranga Rao (of the third generation after Anupotama

Nayudu), won back Metukur and Kailasa by force of arms and
his son and grandson ruled them more or less independently.
The sons were ousted again and served the
of the latter
king of Golconda as sirdars. This must have been about
the end of the sixteenth century.
Grant of the It is from Madhava Rao, one of these sirdars, that the
zamindari,
circa 1684.
Pithapuram family is descended. His sons lived for a long '
time at Samalkot,' and one of them, Tenugu Rao, was

appointed Sirdar of the Rajahmundry Circar at the head of
4,000 troops with Anaparti (in Ramachandrapuram taluk) as
a jaghir.' He is said to have been appointed by king Abu
Hassan of Golconda (1672-88), who was undoubtedly well
disposed to his family. He had seven sons. One of them,
Jaga Rao, was made a sirdar over 350 men and the letter of
The Pithapuram MS. professes to quote an inscription from Anaparti

1-
confirming this appointment, and dated 1598. But this date must be too early,
and the list of Muhammadan rulers in the Rajahmundry MS. referred to below
does not support the appointment.
GAZETTEER. 235
appointment, dated 1676-77, is still kept at Pithapuram. Both CHAP. XV.

the MS. history and the genealogical tree agree in saying Pitha-
that the nucleus of the present zamindari of Pithapuram was *
given to another son named Ramachandra Rao the former ;
ascribes the gift to king Abu Hassan, but the latter gives the
date as 1647. The sanad then granted is not forthcoming,
but the MS. gives what purports to be a copy of it. Accord-
ing to this, the grant included the pergunnas of Cocanada,
' '
Selapaka (7 miles south of Cocanada) and Porlunadu {i.e.,

apparently, Pithapuram).^ Samalkot and two other villages
were also given as mokhasa.
The MS. goes on to describe the fortunes of Tenugu Rao's
children in some detail. Two more of his sons, Krishna Rao
and Rangasayi Rao, were intimates of king Abu Hassan,
being particularly good chess-players. The latter killed
himself in the presence of the king rather than survive the
insults which that ruler, being out of humour, one day heaped
upon him.
Various descendants of the seven sons of Tenugu Rao held iêbeliion of
the estate for some years. One of them, Venkata Krishna j^^^q^j /^^s?
Raya-Nimgar, at length obtained an exemption from the
payment of peshkash and 'ruled over the estate as if it were
independent.' Certain zamindars of the country having
failed to pay their revenues, an expedition was sent by the
Muhammadans under Rustum Khan,^ the subordinate of
Anwar-ud-din, about 1733 to suppress them. The zamindars
of Mogalturru and Ellore were defeated at EUore and called
in the help of Venkata Krishna Raya-Nimgar and the zamin-
darni of Peddapuram. The united forces of the zamindars
fought the Muhammadans twice near Peddapuram, but were
defeated and driven into exile. The Raja of Pithapuram
'
lived for some time among the hills of Totapalli on predatory
excursions.' His cousin Bachchanna was captured with the
remnants of the army by Rustum Khan and he and his
followers were beheaded at Pithapuram.
Venkata Krishna Raya himself is said in the MS. to have m^ restora-
died of jungle fever in Totapalli. But this is apparently tion about
^'^^°'
wrong. The genealogical tree makes him rule till 1759, and
his existence in 1754-55 is proved by nine Muhammadan
^ Porlunadu is nowadays used to designate those parts of the Cocanada,

Peddapuram and Pithapuram country which are watered by the Yeleru. The word •
is mean the land of floods,' horn porlu, to overflow.'

locally explained to ' '
2 Called in the MS. Haji Hussain,' but evidently identical with Rustum
'
Khan. The Rajahmundry MS. represents him as Nawab of Rajahmundry from

1730 to 1737, and Mr. Grant (p. 208) gives the date of the defeat of the Mogal-
turru zamindar as 1733.
236 GODAVARi.
CHAP. XV. grants to him, ranging from 1749-50 to 1754-55, which are
PlTHA- stillkept at Pithapuram.^ His estates and jaghirs were
apparentl)' regranted to him in the first of these years by
Nimat who was Nawab of Rajahmundry from 1749-50 to
Ali,
1751-52. The gap between 1734, when he was defeated by
the Musalmans, and 1749, when he was restored, is hard to
fill, Anwar-ud-din had quieted the country, and the people
were in enjoyment of peace of mind and freedom from pre-
'
datory incursions.' Rustum Khan had been killed by his own

son, Nur-ud-din, and the latter was beheaded by Anwar-ud-
din. But whether Venkata Krishna Raya was allowed to
return to his estate before 1749 and, if not, who ruled the
property in the interim, is not clear.
The estate The authorities do not say what happened to the estate
during
the Anglo- while the French held the Northern Circars, but when the
French war. Vizianagram Raja induced the English to invade the country
in 1758-59, the Pithapuram zamindar, like the other chiefs of
this district, suspected that he wished to extend his dominions
at their expense, and accordingly opposed the invasion. He
apparently took no part in the battle of Condore but hearing ;
that the English were advancing against Samalkot with the

Vizianagram Raja he obtained the help of the Dutch of
Cocanada to resist them. The MS. says that the Samalkot
fort held out for three months, but then submitted. Very
shortly afterwards, however, the French landed some troops
at Cocanada and these were received into the fort at Samalkot,
and were joined there by Jagapati Razu, a relative and enemy
of the Vizianagram Raja. This coalition fought an action at
Undur with the Vizianagram forces, but was defeated.
Samalkot was re-taken by the English and the French were
driven to Cocanada. All this must have taken place in 1759.
The Raja of Pithapuram took refuge in Raghavapuram, but,
on the death of the Vizianagram Raja soon afterwards of
small-pox, he returned to Pithapuram.
Meanwhile the Nizam had again become possessed of the
district, and about 1761 the zamindar was re-established in
his property.
Subsequent Who held the property during the next few years is not
history.
clear, and there seems to have been some fighting over the
successions. In 1765 the then Raja, Kumara Mahipati, died,
and his uncle Niladri succeeded. He seems to have been a
man of character and to have taken a strong line in the
disturbances of the preceding years.
1Four of these Ijear the seal of the Mughal emperor Ahmad Shdh (1748-54)
and one of Alamgir II (1754-59)-
GAZETTEER. 237
The next zamindar of any interest is Kumara Venkata CHAP. XV.

Mahipati Rao (1786-93), of whom we are told that he did
^ PlTHA- '
away with the peshkash and ruled over the estate as if he

were an independent ruler without any disturbance and in
the enjoyment of the greatest delights.' This was too much
for the 'Nawab of Masulipatam (the Chief of the English
'
Council there) who summoned the zamindar to appear before

him. The zamindarstarted for Masulipatam but on his way ;
he halted Nallacheruvu and uttered the following native

at
soliloquy: 'It is not proper to proceed any further; for if the
Nawab were to question me why I did not remit the peshkash
and I could not give him satisfactory answer; then it would
be very difficult to say what steps the Nawab might take.'
So he retired to the hills by way of Rampa where, the '
climate of the place being unsuited to him, he was attacked

'
by jungle fever and died prematurely there.'

*
The story is confirmed by the general report of the Board

of Revenue of that day. The Board recommended that the
late zamindar's young cousin, Venkata Niladri, should succeed
him, and it was with this man that the permanent settlement
was made in 1803. From his death, which occurred in 1828,
till 1841 the estate was under the Court of Wards and it was ;
again under management from 1850 till 1861, when it was

handed over to the then owner Venkata Mahipati Gangadhara
Rama Rao with a balance of four lakhs. This zamindar died
in 1890, and, with a brief interval, the estate continued under
the Court of Wards until October 1906, when it was handed
over to its present proprietor.
The estate is a remarkably fine one. In the early years of The estate
present.
at
British administration it was no doubt overshadowed by the

more important zamindari of Peddapuram but while the ;
latter has ceased to exist Pithapuram has greatly extended.

Not only does it now comprise nearly the whole of the
Pithapuram division and the Cocanada taluk, but it also owns
fourteen villages in Amalapuram, twelve in Tuni, nine in
Rajahmundry, eight in Ramachandrapuram and four in
Chodavaram, as well as others in North Arcot and other
districts. Its total area is 383 square miles and its income in
1903-04 was Rs. 9,14,000, and the peshkash Rs. 2,44,000.

For purposes of administration the estate is divided into
each under a thdnaddr. The cultivators have no
six thdnas,
admitted occupancy right in their holdings, though they
have shown a tendency to claim this, and until recently what
^ This is the Mahipati mentioned by the Committee of Circuit, 1787.
238 GODAVARl.
CHAP. XV. is known as the vantavdradi system of land tenure has been
PlTHA- enforced by the estate. This is, in eifect, the joint-rent
PURAM.
system in vogue in ryotwari lands prior to l856 and described
in Chapter XI. It included the challenging there referred
' '
to. This undesirable method was practically abandoned

under the Court of Wards. Rentals were fixed, whenever
complaints were made about them, by holding a kind of public
auction and giving the land to the man who offered the
highest figure. When once thus settled, they were not altered
until the holding changed hands by succession or otherwise,
and the successful bidder was not interfered with in his
possession. The estate has now been surveyed and it may ;
be hoped that the Raja will introduce a regular settlement on

the basis of the survey.
The town. The town of Pithapuram is one of the least attractive
places imaginable. The winding, uneven
streets are narrow,
and dusty, and the houses are poor in appearance. The
Raja's residence is in striking contrast, being an imposing
building of great size.
The town possesses some religious and archaeological

interest. known throughout the Northern Circars as a
It is
place of pilgrimage. The particular point of sanctity is the

pdda gaya pool in front of the Kukkutesvara-svami temple.
According to the legend, a giant named Gayasura, who was
so big that when he lay down his body stretched from Gaya
to Pithapuram, once ruled southern India. He was killed by
Siva while his feet were resting in Pithapuram near this pool.
The pool is accordingly called the pdda (' foot ') gaya. The
local Hindus speak of three gayas, where different parts of the
dead giant were found. One of these is the place of that
name in Bengal, and it is held throughout this district that
any one who bathes there ought also to bathe in the pdda gaya
pool at Pithapuram. Three large images of Buddhist or Jain
origin, sitting cross-legged in the usual contemplative attitude,
stand at the side of one of the main streets of the town.
They are known as sanydsi deviiln ('ascetic gods') and a
festival is held in honour of them in times of drought by ;
which means, it is supposed, they are induced to send rain.

Four interesting inscriptions have been found in the Kunti-
madhava temple. These give some historical information
and the genealogies of three lines of chieftains who ruled in
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.^ A
small mosque in the
bazaar street has evidently been built with the materials of
^ See Government Epigraphist's annual report for 1S94, pp. 2 fl"., and
inscriptions Nos. 490 to 493 of 1893.
GAZETTEER. 239
an old Hindu shrine. It is locally supposed that the pillars chap. XV.
came from the Kuntimadhava temple. There are some Pitha-
inscriptions on the pillars. puram.
One of the largest cattle markets in the district takes place

in the town every Saturday. The sale of the right to collect
the fees at this fetches over Rs. 3,000 annually. The excellent
bell-metal work done in the place is referred to in Chapter
VI. About fifty households of Devangas weave plain but fine
cloths and about the same number of Senapatis make coarser
stuffs.
Ponnada Lies near the sea coast eight miles east by Ponnada.
:
north of Pithapuram. Population 2,927. Its ancient import-

ance is attested by the fact that three spots in Pithapuram
town, namely, one of the fort gates, a well, and a cattle-stand,
bear its name. A building erected round a banyan tree in the
village is held sacred both by the Muhammadans and the
Hindus of the locality. The legend says that long ago a
Muhammadan widow wished to be buried with her husband,
was prevented, but was permitted to live in this building,
which was erected over his tomb. After her death the
entrances to the building were closed.
Uppada Seven miles east-south-east of Pithapuram Uppada.
:
;
population 3,912. Contains a police-station. The travellers'

bungalow recently collapsed owing to the encroachments of
the sea. It is noted for its muslins, which are known through-
out a large part of the Presidency. They are referred to
in Chapter VI. About 200 Devangas are engaged in this
industry.
The village gives its name to a small zamindari estate with
an income of Rs. 2,700 and a peshkash of Rs. 660. This was
given by the late Raja of Pithapuram to his sister.
The erosion of the coast and the existence of a submerged
town here have been referred to in Chapter I.
240 GODAVARI.
RAJAHMUNDRY TALUK.
CHAP. XV. RAJAHMUNDRY taluk lies along the left bank of the Godavari
Rajah- just above the head of the delta. Most of it is not a particu-
larly fertile upland, as much as 71 per cent, of the soil is
and
ferruginous. Nearly all the rest is regar. The taluk is irri-
gated chiefly by tanks, of which 28 of fair size are in charge
of the Public Works department. The largest are those at
Kottapalli (ayacut 970 acres) and Kapavaram (823 acres).
Rice is the most widely grown crop, but the areas under
tobacco and castor are considerable. Nine per cent, of the
cultivable land is unoccupied, and the incidence of the land
revenue per head is only Rs. I-IO-II. The number of educa-
tional institutions in Rajahmundry town results in the people
being more literate than in any other taluk, and over ten per
cent, of the male population can read and write. The
industries of Rajahmundry town and Dowlaishweram are
referred to below. At Rajanagaram and Kateru a fair amount
of weaving is done, at Duppalapudi black bangles are made
by twenty Kapus, and the stone-carving of Jegurupadu is well
known. Large taluk board chattrams have been established
at Rajanagaram and Dowlaishweram.
Nearly the whole of the taluk is Government land. It
includes nine villages of the Pithapuram zamindari and also
nine other small proprietary estates, but of these latter
all but one consist of only one village. The exception is
Vangalapudi, which comprises three villages.
Dowlaish- Dowlaishweram Four and a half miles south of Rajah-
:
weram.
mundry. Population 10,304. It appears to have been a place
of importance during the early struggles between the Hindus
and Muhammadans and is now widely known as the site of
Sir Arthur Cotton's great anient across the Godavari, referred
to in Chapter IV, is the head-quarters of two Executive
Engineers, and contains the Public Works department's
workshops mentioned in Chapter VI. The town is a union
and contains a local fund dispensary (established 1892), a
large local fund choultry, a fair-sized market, an English
lower secondary school for boys, and a Sanskrit school. The
choultry (called, after the house-name of the donor, the
Kruttivantivari choultry) is endowed with land bringing in an
income of Rs. 2,100 annually, and was bequeathed to the taluk
board. The income is devoted to feeding Brahmans. There
GAZETTEER. 24I
area small European church and cemetery in the village. CHAP. xv.
What looks like a town wall and is pierced by the road Rajah-
MUNDRY.
entering the place is really only the bank of the old railway
constructed to bring materials from the quarry to the river for
the building of the anicut.
Dowlaishweram possesses considerable religious interest
for Hindus. The name Dowlaishweram is derived from that
of the neighbouring hill Daulagiri. There, it is said, a saint
named Narada used to live and he is credited with the
;
foundation of the Vaishnavite temple of Janardhanasvami on

the hill, as well as of many other shrines to the same god in
the villages on the river bank in this and the Ramachandra-
puram taluk. That in Dowlaishweram has an annual festival
lasting six days in February or March. A
cave on the side
of the hill is supposed to be the mouth of a subterranean
passage leading to Benares. In it is a stone image called
Konda Nivdsudii or Santdna Gopdlasvdmi, which is visited by
women who desire to have children. The temple of Anjaneya
contains two rdvi trees said to have been planted by Rama
and Si'ta respectively and there are two footsteps in the rock
;
there which are supposed to be those of these two deities.

Dowlaishweram is in consequence sometimes called Rdma
pdda kshetram, the holy place of Rama's feet.' The sanctity
'
of the village is also enhanced by the fact that it is the last

place at which the waters of the Godavari flow down united
and undiminished, and by a fanciful legend that 108 Siva
temples lie buried somewhere or other in the neighbourhood.
The result is that Dowlaishweram is one of the holiest of the
bathing-places along this holy river, and is thronged by
pilgrims during the piishkaram festival.^
A feast to the village goddess Mutyalamma is held in the
village once every three years. A
buffalo is sacrificed and
afterwards votive offerings of pots of buttermilk are presented
to the goddess, she is taken outside the village, and the pots
are emptied there. The head of the buffalo and a pot of its
blood are also carried round the village by a Mala, and a pig
is sacrificed in an unusual and cruel manner. It is buried up
to its neck and cattle are driven over it until it is trampled to
death. This is supposed to ensure the health of men and
cattle in the ensuing year.
A few industries flourish in the place. Two Kamsalas
make brass and bronze vessels, and about 25 persons of
various castes do really good wood-carving. The place is
also known for its architects, who are said to be employed
^ See Chapter I, p. 6.
31
242 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. throughout the plain taluks of the district when houses are
Rajah- built.
MUNDRY.
Gokavaram Nineteen miles north-north-east of Rajah-
:
Gokavaram.
mundry. Population 2,425. Contains a local fund rest-house
and a large weekly market to which the hill people bring the
produce of the Rampa country for sale.
Korukonda. Korukonda : Eleven
north-north-east of Rajah-
miles
mundry. Population Contains a police-station. A
3,952.
travellers' bungalow is kept up in the neighbouring village of
Gonagudem. A pilgrimage to the temple of Narasimhasvami
at Korukonda is supposed to be of unrivalled efficacy in
granting offspring to childless women, and the place is often
thronged with suppliants of this class. Rumour avers that
the Brahmans of the place take a personal and direct share
in ensuring that their prayers shall not be fruitless, and
the belief has passed into a proverb. A festival which lasts
for fifteen days takes place at the temple in the months of
January and February.
Korukonda and its neighbour Koti ^ appear once to have
been of some political importance. One of the Mackenzie
MSS. which deals with the ancient history of the district -
gives some account of their early fortunes. It says that Koti
and lOl Siva temples were founded by king Rajaraja of the
Eastern Chalukya line, who reigned from 1022 to 1063 and is
prominent in the traditional history of Rajahmundry, and
that about two hundred years later a fort was built in Koti by
an early Reddi chief named Annala Deva. The MS. goes on
to quote a local inscription of 1322-23, apparently still in
existence at the end of the eighteenth century, which recorded
the revenue arrangements made in the village by the Kakatiya
king, Pratapa Rudra, who reigned till 1324. The Korukonda
fort was built some time afterwards by Kuna Reddi, a good '
Sudra who became ruler of the adjoining country,' and who

governed wisely and well. He was succeeded by his son
Mummidi Reddi, one of whose servants erected the Lakshmi-
narasimha temple. The date of this event is given both in
the MS. and in an inscription quoted by Mr. Sewell as 1353.'
Mummidi Reddi's three immediate successors ruled for the
next 40 years. One of them rebuilt the Ranganathasvami
temple in 1394-95 A.D.
^ Said to be short for Kotilingam {' a crore of lingams ') and to be derived
from the number of Saivite emblems about the place.

^ Local Records, vol. ii, p. 231 and vol. xix, p. 75. See also Chapter II,
p. 25.
' Lists 0/ Antiquities, i, 21. The MS. only gives the cycle ye^r.
GAZETTEER. 243
From this point until Muhammadan times are reached, the chap. xv.
MS. is silent, but it gives details of the lessees of the place Rajah-
under the Musalmans, The fort was apparently destroyed m undr y.
by the vigorous and cruel Rustum Khan (1730-37) referred
to on pp. 29-30. Its ruins are still to be seen, and there is
another ruined fortress at Koti. On the Pandava hill west
of Korukonda are two rock-cut caves. The MS. says that the
Pandavas lived in them during their exile.
Kottapalli Twenty-two miles north-north-east of Rajah- Kottaoaiii
:
mundry. Population 3,900. Contains a travellers' bungalow

and a large tank which irrigates some 970 acres. The village
gave its name to one of the pergunnas of the old Polavaram
' '
zamindari. For many years this was divided from the rest of
that estate and managed by a diwan but in 1781 it was ;
reannexed to it and shortly afterwards was placed under

Narasimha, a brother of the Polavaram zamindar. During
the fighting in 1785 at Gutala, described in the account of
Polavaram, two usurpers wrested Kottapalli from Narasimha
and the Government troops had to interfere. They captured
the place and put Narasimha over it once more. He stood
aloof from the disturbance of 1790 referred to in the account
of Polavaram, but joined in the more considerable rebellion
of Mangapati at the close of the century. Kottapalli was
then occupied by a company of sepoys to keep the hill people
of Rampa in check, and the young zamindar was ultimately
captured and deposed. His estate was then again united
with Polavaram. It was however once more separated from
it afterwards, and its 36 villages were sold in 1808 for arrears
of revenue. The purchaser himself fell into arrears in 1829,

and the estate was attached and remained under management
till 1841, in which year it was put up to auction and purchased
by Government. The village now belongs to Government.

It was formerly the head-quarters of a deputy tahsildar.
Rajahmundry, the head-quarters of the taluk, stands on Rajah-

"^"""^"^y-
the left bank of the Godavari at the head of the great railway
bridge (see p. 133) which carries the Madras Railway across
that river. It is a municipality of 36,408 inhabitants, and the
second most important town in the district.
The earliest mention of Rajahmundry
in any extant
Telugu translation of
literature is in the introduction to the
the Mahabharata, which was composed by Nannayabhatta in
the reign of the Eastern Chalukya king Rajaraja (1022-62)
who is known to popular tradition as Rajaraja Narendra. In
town is called Rajamahendrapattanam (' the city of
this the
Rajamahendra ') and is referred to as the capital of the Eastern
244 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. Chalukya kingdom and the central gem of the Vengi country.'
'
Rajah-
MUNDRY.
Rajamahendra was a title borne by two of Rajaraja's predeces-
sors, namely, Amma I (918-25) and Amma 11 (945-70), and the
town was perhaps founded by and called after one or other of
these kings. But one of the Mackenzie MSS. attributes its
foundation to an earlier king named Vijayaditya Mahendra.
The extension of the Eastern Chalukya dominions into the
kingdom of Kalinga on the north must have rendered Rajah-
mundry an important strategical point. It is described in
comparatively recent times as the barrier and key to the
'
Vizagapatam country'.^ On the downfall of the Kakatiya

dynasty of Warangal before the armies of the Muhammadans
in 1323, the conquerors made their way as far as Rajahmundry,
and the Royal masjid there contains an inscription dated
' '
1323-24 which mentions Muhammad Tughlak of Delhi. Local

tradition says that this building was formerly a Hindu temple
and was converted to its present use by these Musalmans-
Rajahmundry next comes into prominence as the capital
of one of the lines of Reddi kings. ^ Its first independent
sovereign of that line has left inscriptions in it the dates of
which range from 1385 By 1458-59 a minister of
to 1422.
the Gajapati king Kapilesvara was ruling at Rajahmundry ;
and in 1470-71 the town was captured by the armies of the

Muhammadan Sultan of Kulbarga. About 1478 the Hindus
revolted and the Muhammadan garrison was besieged and
perhaps reduced. The Vijayanagar chieftain Narasimha
seems to have occupied the town at this time and to have been
driven thence by a relieving force from Kulbarga. In any
case the Muhammadans soon recaptured Rajahmundry and
king Muhammad of Kulbarga made the town his head-quarters
for some three years (1478-80).
Soon after, during the dissensions among the Musalman
powers in the Deccan, Rajahmundry was taken by the king of
Orissa. About 1515, however, the town was captured by
Krishna Deva, the king of Vijayanagar, in the course of his
campaign against the Orissa dynasty.
By 1543 Rajahmundry was the frontier town of the Orissa
country and lay on the borders of the new Muhammadan
conquests south and west of the Godavari river. It was ruled
by a prince of the Gajapati house, one Vidiadri, who seems to
have affected independence. He was ill-advised enough to
upon his Muhammadan neighbours some time
join in an attack
between 1550 and 1564, and paid a heavy penalty. Defeated in
* Cambridge's War in India (London, 1761), 207.
« Ep. Ind., iv, 319.
GAZETTEER. 24^
the field, he was shut up in Rajahmunclry. The Muhammadan chap. xv.

powers of the Deccan then combined to deal a death-blow Rajah-
MUNDRY.
to the Vijayanagar kingdom, and he obtained a short respite.
But on the return of the Musalman invaders he was again
defeated outside the walls of Rajahmundry. At their first
onset in this battle his troops broke the right wing of the
enemy, but, on their reserve coming up, the fugitives rallied
and drove their assailants inside the fort. Vidiadri was
besieged there for four months, and at last (1571-72) was
compelled to surrender. The fire of the heavy artillery of
the Musalmans had made a breach nearly fifty paces in length
in the curtain of the fort, and further resistance seemed useless.
Vidiadri was permitted to go unharmed and Rajahmundry
was never again a Hindu possession.
The neighbourhood was the scene of a stubborn battle a
few years later, when the Muhammadan governor defeated the
insurgent raja of Kasimkota. The fate of the day hung long
in the balance and victory was only secured by a charge of
Muhammadan cavalry which had turned the flank of the
Hindu army.
On the disruption of Aurangzeb's empire, Rajahmundry
became the head-quarters of a Nawabship of the province of
Golconda. The names of the Nawabs, and indeed of all the
Musalman governors of the town from is/'J to 1769, are given
in the Mackenzie MS. referred to above.
After the cession of the Northern Circars to the French in
1753, Rajahmundry, on account of its central position, was
chosen by Bussy as his head-quarters in preference to Masuli-
patam. It remained the French capital till the English
invasion of 1758. On the evening after the battle of Condore,
a force of 1,500 sepoys was sent on by Colonel Forde to occupy
the town. They arrived on the following evening (December
lOth 1758) and found the French, who imagined the whole
English force to be upon them, in the act of evacuating the
fort. One boat laden with several Europeans was in the
middle of the Godavari river, and some others with a few
small field-pieces had just reached the opposite bank, when
the English arrived. The English sepoys opened ifire on them
from the walls of the fort, and this deterred them from carrying
off their guns, or remaining in the vicinity. Fifteen French-
men were taken prisoners in the fort, and also a quantity of
ammunition and stores. The town was shortly afterwards,
however, retaken by the French. When Colonel Forde
advanced southwards against Masulipatam in February 1759,
only a small garrison, some sick and wounded, and some
246 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. treasure had been left there ; and a detached French force
Rajah- made a dash for the place and captured it. The
easily
*
Commandant had only just time to send his treasure to
Cocanada and his able-bodied men in retreat towards Vizaga-
patam before the French arrived. The latter, however, did
not attempt to hold the place.
During the few years thereafter in which the district was
again in the hands of the Nizam, Rajahmundry was the head-
quarters of his local representative, Hussain Ali Khan. The
latter's position was precario is, and an English force of 200
sepoys and twelve artillery men under Lieutenant (afterwards
Sir Henry) Cosby was sent to Rajahmundry to support him.
Two rival claimants were at that time competing for the
position of Nawab. A
near relative of one of them was
commandant Rajahmundry, and had 500 Araos,
of the fort at
ready for any mischief, under him. He had entered into a
conspiracy to take the town and hold it for his relative, but
his design was defeated by the vigour and promptitude of
Cosby, who, despite the insignificance of his force, took him
prisoner. Reinforcements were soon received from Masuli-
patam, and Cosby maintained his position at Rajahmundry
till the country was ceded to the English.
Though Masulipatam then became the centre of the

administration, troops appear to have been stationed at
Rajahmundry for many years. When, in 1794, the Chief and
Council at Masulipatam were replaced by Collectors, one of
the latter was stationed at Rajahmundry. When the Rajah- '
mundry district ' was constituted, the Collector did not live in
the town which gave his charge its name, though from the
very first this had contained the court of the Zilla Judge
appointed in l802,^ and it was not until 1867 that even the
Sub-Collector was stationed there. The Sub-Collector, the
District and Sessions Judge and the District Superintendent
of Police are stationed there now. The place moreover
contains the usual taluk offices, a sub-registrar and a district
munsif. It is the head-quarters of the American Evangelical
Lutheran Mission, which keeps up a high school there, a
station of the Roman Catholic Mission, and contains several
Christian churches and two European cemeteries. The older
of the latter is near the old Civil Court, and the tombs in it
go back to 1771. The other contains a large number of graves
dating from 1862 down to the present day.
The town also contains two travellers' bungalows, one
belonging to the municipal council and the other to the taluk
1 Chapter XIII, p. 189.
GAZETTEER. 247
board ; several private chattrams, two of which are import- chap. xv.
ant institutions two police-stations, a police school and a
;
Rajah-
^'" ndr y.
large Special Police Reserve; a municipal hospital and a
mission dispensary; a first-grade college, a training college,
two high schools, three English lower secondary schools for
boys, one English and three vernacular lower secondary
schools for girls, and a Sanskrit school. The choultries are
referred to in Chapter VII, the chief medical and educational
institutions in Chapters IX and X respectively and the
municipal council and its doings in Chapter XIV.
Rajahmundry is not only of interest historically and as an
administrative centre, but is also of importance to Hindus
from a religious point of view. It is held that all pilgrims
going from this district to Benares should also visit Rajah-
mundry, and most of these people bathe in the river there on
their way back from the holy city. They also observe the
curious custom of emptying half the contents of the pots of
Ganges water they bring back with them into the Godavari,
and fill them up again from the latter river. It is believed
that if this is not done, the Ganges water will quickly dry up in
the pot. The sanctifying effect of a bath in the Godavari at
Rajahmundry is placed so high that'people come by train all
the way from Madras for the purpose, often going back the
next day. The bathing place is called the Kotilingam (' crore
of lingams ') ghat. The name is explained by a story that
the Brahman sages at one time wanted to make the place as
sacred as Benares, where there are supposed to be a crore of
lingams, and therefore set themselves to found the same
number here in a single night. Unfortunately the day
dawned before the last one was made. The lingams are
supposed to lie buried in the bed of the Godavari opposite
the ghat. The river is held to be particularly sacred at
Rajahmundry (and Dowlaishweram) because, like the Cauvery
above the delta, it is still undiminished by division into
many branches. It is called the Aganda entire Godavari,
(' ')
just as the other is called the Aganda Cauvery. The Rajah-

mundry ghat is one of the centres of the great pushkaram
festival, which takes place once in thirteen years.^
The place is also noted for the worship of a very widely
known village goddess called Chamalamma, whose image
reposes under a tree about a mile away. fortnight's A
festival in her honour is celebrated in the last month of the
Telugu year (March-April), and at this a mud pot which her
spirit is supposed to enter is taken round the town every day
I
See Chapter I, p. 6,
;
248 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. and worshipped. Various peculiar performed at the

rites are
Rajah- festival. The buffalo which is not killed outright
sacrificed is
MUNDRY.
1^^^^ ^ wound is first made in its neck and a potful of its
blood is collected. Ahook-swinging is conducted, but a

sheep is the victim, and not a man, and it is swung by a rope
tied round its body. The ordinary offerings of sheep, fowls,
buffaloes, etc., are also made in fulfilment of vows. Another
local deity is called Kannamma Perantalu (' housewife
Kannamma '). Reddi woman. She, her husband,
She was a
and her six sons all died on one day of cholera about 40
years ago, and her soul appeared to one of her relatives and
said she had been deified. Ever since then she has been
worshipped by all the non-Brahman Hindus of the place,
who offer her sheep, fowls, cloths, etc. Her shrine is an
unpretentious tiled house.
The industries of the place are of some note. Some 400
households of Devangas weave coloured cloths for men and
women, and some of them can do simple embroidery. A few
Rangaris stamp chintzes^ and some thirty Kamsalas make
vessels of brass, bell-metal and lead. One or two Muchis
are said to paint with skill, and thirty Kamsala and Odde
carpenters do excellent wood-carving. Three fair-sized tan-
neries, managed by Labbais, are at work, and good shoes
are made by Madigas and Godaras. A
few potters make
good gujas.
GAZETTEER. 249
RAMACHANDRAPURAM TALUK.
RaMACHANDRAPURAM taluk lies along the left bank of the CHAP. XV.
Gautami Godavari just below the head of the delta. Ramachan.
Almost all its soil (91 per cent.) is alluvial, it is irrigated drapuram-
by the Godavari water, nearly the whole of it is cultivated,
and the density of its population is second only to that of
Nagaram island. Paddy is naturally the chief crop, but
tobacco is grown in fair quantities, and the area under sugar-
cane is greater than in any other taluk in the district.
Detailed statistics regarding the crops and other matters will
be found in the separate Appendix.
Local industries are few. Kotipalli and Draksharamam
are sacred places, and tne temple in the latter contains many
ancient inscriptions.
Nearly the whole of the taluk is now Government land.
Eight villages belong to the Pithapuram zamindari, eight
others to the Vegayammapeta estate, and five more each
make up a small estate.
Bikkavolu : Nine north of Ramachandrapuram.
miles Bikkavolu.
Population 7,994. It union, and containts a sub-

is a
registrar's office and a small local fund market. Two Miichi
wood-carvers do good work. The village is said in one of
the Mackenzie MSS.^ to have been the capital of the earlier
Eastern Chalukya kings before they moved to Rajahmundry.
It is said to contain extensive ruins and some deserted
temples.^
The place is now famous as a centre of snake-worship.
The snake-god Subbarayadu has a three days' festival there in

the sasliti (sixth day) following the new moon in Margasira
(December-January), which goes by the name of the Sub-
hardyadi sashti. People attend this in the hope of obtaining
relief from small bodily ailments (such as boils and pains in
the ears, eyes, etc.) and in order to get children. Childless
women spend a night fasting in the temple clothed in a
particular kind of cloth (called ndgula kokalii) in which the
colours are mixed in a peculiar way. All castes appear to
resort to the temple for the purpose. In former times a cobra
was supposed to come out and show itself on one of the days
of the festival.
1 Wilson's, Catalogue, p. 397, No. 12, 4.
- Sewell's Lists, i, 25.
250 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. Draksharamam Four miles south by east of Rama-

:
Ramachan- chandrapuram population 11,213. Contains a private

;
drapuram.
chattram for feeding Brahmans, a police-station, a sub-
Drakshara- registrar's office and a large cattle-market. The union of which
mam.
it is the chief village also includes Velamapalaiyam, Totapeta,
Jagannayakulapalaiyam and Vegayammapeta. Two Muchi

wood-carvers do particularly good work, and a little weaving
of tape and cloths is carried on.
The village is noted for its fine temple and for its sanctity.
Its name is said to be more correctly Daksharama and to' '
mean the Garden of Daksha.' According to the well-known

'
story in the Sivapurdiiam, this Daksha was a Brahman, the

father-in-law of Siva. Thinking that he had not been
properly treated by that god, he performed a ydgam (sacrifice)
without inviting him to be present. His daughter attended
uninvited, he treated her discourteously, and she accordingly
plunged into the fire of the sacrifice. Siva burst into a sweat
on hearing the news, and from this perspiration was born
Virabhadra, who went and killed Daksha. Orthodox
Brahmans will not perform a ydgam inside the village, as it is
held to be an ill-omened place.
The real centre of the religious interest of Draksharamam
isthe temple of Bhimesvara-svami, It contains a particularly
big lingam, some fourteen or fifteen feet high. This is
supposed to be part of a lingam which broke into five pieces
and fell at five holy places, namely at Bhimavaram or Bhima-
rama in Cocanada, Palakollu or Kshira-rama in Kistna,
Amaravati or Amara-rama in the Guntur district, and
Kumara-rama, which is not identified. It is supposed to have
been erected by the sun and worshipped by the seven sages
who made the seven mouths of the Godavari.^ So it is
sufficiently holy. The seven sages are supposed to have each
brought water from their respective rivers underground to
the tank at Draksharamam, which is called the sapta
Goddvari, seven Godavaris,' There is a sacred bathing ghat
'
in this tank which confers in a condensed form all the

sanctity which is to be obtained by separate baths in each
of the seven rivers.
Like many other holy places in this and other districts,
the town is called the southern Benares. It is supposed to
have been founded by the sage Vyasa, and a rdvi tree and a
lingam planted by him are still shown. So great is its
sanctity that a night's halt in it is believed by some to render
I Chapter I, p. 6.
GAZETTEER. 251
future births unnecessary. A

festival is held in honour of chap. xv.
the god every Makha (February-March), and lasts for five rXmachan-
days beginning on the eleventh day after the new moon day. drapuram.
The temple is a rather handsome two-storeyed building.
Its erection is ascribed by popular tradition to an unknown
Chola king. In the porch round the shrine in the upper storey
are black granite Chalukyan pillars, a great rarity in this
district. The lower porch is also of black granite. On the
northern side of the temple a figure of a Jain tirthankara,
sitting cross-legged, is carved on a stone slab. The stone
Naudi (bull) and Hanuman in the temple have had their
heads knocked off, and it is said that this was done by the
Maratha marauders ^ when hunting for treasure. In the
temple is a curious well, the mouth of which is the shape of
a strung bow. It is called the nidra tirtam, and a bath in it
is holy. The lingam at the side of the western gate is
supposed to go to Benares everj' night.
The temple has an annual allowance of Rs. 1,000 from
Government, and some of the servants in it have inam lands.
But it is a large building and is not in particularly good
repair. It contains a great number of ancient inscriptions.
No less than 271 of these have been transcribed by the
Government Epigraphist (Nos. 181 to 451 of 1893). The
earliest appears to be No. 185, which is dated in A.D. I055» or
during the reign of the Rajaraja whose capital was at Rajah-
mundry. The latest appears to be No. 426, which belongs to
the Reddis' times, and is dated in the year corresponding to
1447 A.D.
Draksharamam is sacred to Muhammadans also. The
mosque and tomb of a saint called Saiyid Shah Bhaji Aulia are
much revered by the Muhammadans of the neighbourhood, who
are often buried within their precincts. This saint is said to
have been a contemporary of the famous Mira Sahib of Nagore
near Negapatam, and, like that rather shadowy personality,
to have lived some five hundred years ago. He was born, it
is said, at 'Gardez,' near Medina, and visited Draksharamam
with four disciples. Being hungry, the visitors slaughtered
the bull belonging to a math of the local Saivite priests. In
the disputes which ensued the comparative holiness of the
Muhammadan and the Saivite head-priest was called in
saint
question ; and lingam was thrown into a
to test the matter a
pond (the Lingdla cheruvii) and each was told to charm it back
again. The saint succeeded, was given the math to live in,
and turned it into a mosque. A very similar tale is related
^ See Chapter II, p. 30.
252 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. of the Babayya darga at Penukonda.^ The saint had a

Ramachan- daughter, and her descendants are still living. They are
drapuram.
said to receive an endowment from the Nizam of Hyderabad.
In former times a festival of some importance used to be
held at the mosque, but of recent years it has ceased to be
observed.
Two Dutch tombs stand in the village on what is called
the Ollandu dibha ('the Holland mound'). They are dated
1675 and 1728 respectively and are covered with the
sculptured slabs which are characteristic of Dutch tombs in
this Presidency.
Gangavaram. Gangavaram Seven miles south of Ramachandrapuram.
:
Population 1,532. The name is supposed to mean Ganges *
blessing and to explain it a legend has been invented to the

; '
effect that the Gautami Godavari blessed the Ganges at this

place. Defiled by the sins of the many wicked people who
bathed in her, the latter river used to come every day in the
form of a crow to be purified by the Gautami, and used to
return in the form of a hamsa bird. At last the Gautami took
pity on her and blessed her, and now she can purify herself.
Kotipalli. Kotipalli Nine and three-quarter miles south of Rama-
:
chandrapuram. Population 2,476. It contains a travellers'

bungalow and a large private choultry maintained by the
proprietor of Polavaram, at which travellers are fed. Tape
and kusa mats are manufactured on a small scale in the
village. Its correct name seems to be Kodipaili, which
Dr. Macleane translates border village,' apparently from the
'
Tamil kodi. It is also sometimes called Kotipali, which means

'
a crore of benefits and is explained by the assertion that
'
the value of a good deed done there is' increased one crore-
fold by the sanctity of the The place is in fact held
place.
very sacred by Hindus. A
bath in the Godavari here has
virtue to expiate the most terrible of sins, even incest with a
mother, and the bathing-ghat is called mdtrigamandghahdri
for this reason. A story is told of a Brahman who inadvert-
ently committed this sin, and was in consequence turned into
a leper until he bathed here.
The temple is dedicated to Somesvara, 'the moon god,'
and is supposed to have been built by him to expiate his sin
of having seduced the wife of his teacher Brahaspati. The
injured husband cursed the moon and caused it to loose its
brightness. In the same precincts is a shrine to Kotisvaradu,
'
the god of crores.' This was built, it is declared, by Indra
' Anantapur District Gazetteer, 193.

GAZETTEER. 253
to atone for his seduction of the wife of Gautama. The CHAP. XV.
erringgod brought crores of waters' underground to the Ramachan-
'
Godavari at this place andt he deity of the temple took his drapuram.
;
name from this act. There is a local festival there every year
on the Sivaratri day. The great piishkaram festival held once
in every thirteen years is celebrated here with great eclat.
Kotipalli forms a proprietary estate which pays a peshkash
of Rs. 5,831. It belongs to the Raja of Vizianagram.
Marcdipaka Seven miles west by north of Ramachandra- Maredipaka
:
puram. Population 1,005. Some Singams do a little tape-

weaving there. After Kandrakota in Peddapuram taluk, this
is the greatest centre for the worship of the village deities in
the district. The goddess of this village is called Mavul-

lamma. She was originally a mortal maiden who was
persecuted by her mother. Unable to bear the latter's cruelty,
she hid in a cave by a mango tree, and disappeared for ever.
Some days later she was seen in a dream by her parents, and
informed them that she had become one with the divine, and
must henceforth be worshipped as a goddess. This has been
done, and the priests at her temple are supposed to belong to
her family. The annual festival in her honour, which lasts
for a fortnight, attracts many pilgrims. One peculiar feature
of the ceremonies is that the blood of the sacrificed buffalo
is left in the temple all night, with various kinds of grain
scattered around it, and the door secured and sealed. In the
morning, it is said, a foot-step is seen in the temple, and some
of the grain found thrown into the pot. This is considered
is
to afford a forecast of thecoming season those grains being

;
expected to do well which are found in the pot.

Ramachandrapuram Head-quarters of the taluk, and Rama-
:
chandra-
once the chief village of a large ancient zamindari which was puram.
eventually bought in by Government. The place is a union
of 10,692 inhabitants, the other component villages being
Pasalapudi and Mutsumilli, and contains a travellers' bunga-
low, a local fund rest-house for natives, a police-station, an
English lower secondary school for boys and a local fund
hospital founded in 1876. A tahsildar, stationary sub-magis-
trate and sub-registrar are stationed there. Some 25 Devanga
households weave cloths of a fair quality. The village is a
centre of trade in local produce.
Ramaghattalu Four miles east of Kotipalli. It is a Rama-
:
hamlet of the village of Masakapalli, the population of which ghattalu.

is 2,244. It contains one of the many temples supposed to
have been founded by Rama to expiate the sin of having

killed the Brahman king Ravana. Rama's foot-steps are said
254 GODAVARI.
CHAP. xV. to be visible on a rock there. A bath at this place on the

Ramachan- Sundays in the month of Makham (February-March) is
drapuram.
considered holy.
Vegayamma-
peia.
Vegayammapcta Five miles south-south-east of Rama-
:
chandrapuram and part of Draksharamam union. Population

2,004. Contains a lower secondary school for boys. It is the
chief village of an ancient zamindari, which comprises ten
villages and pays a peshkash of Rs. 8,055. The present
holder says that the estate was originally given by'Haidar
—
Badshah '—apparently the Nizam of Hyderabad to one of his
ancestors for his literary ability. It was permanently settled
in 1802 on a peshkash of Rs. 8,750. The estate was dimin-
ished by a partition in 1809, and in 1879 a suit about it went
up as far as the Privy Council. The present zamindarni says
that she is the eleventh in descent from the original founder.
GAZETTEER. 255
TUNI DIVISION.
TUNI division lies in the north-east corner of the district. It CHAP. XV.
isthe most sparsely populated tract in the district outside the Tuni.
Agency, and education is very backwârd in it.
It is a hilly tract and contains little irrigated land. One
large tank waters nearly 2,000 acres near Hamsavaram, and
a few channels take off from the Tandananadi river. The
local rainfall averages only 35*79 inches, which is low for this
district. The incidence of land revenue per head of the
population is only seven and a half annas. The weaving at
Tuni is good as is to be found anywhere in the district, and
as
a considerable manufacture of oil is carried on at the same
place. Bangles are made at Hamsavaram and Kottapalli.
The division contains the whole of the Kottam or Tuni
estate and twelve villages belonging to the Pithapuram
estate.
Bendaptidi Twelve and a half miles south-west of Tuni. Bendapudi.
:
Population 1,477. It contains the ruins of what must at one

time have been a very large fort. Old copper coins (and,
more rarely, gold ones) are found there after rain. People
believe that the philosopher's stone (parsavedi) is also to be
found there. The ruins include many dilapidated temples.
Popular legend ascribes the building of the fort to the
Kakatiya king Pratapa Rudra, and the same a(;count of it is
given in one of the Mackenzie MSS.^ called the Korukonda '
kyfeat' which gives a description of that place. The fort at

Bendapudi is said in this to have been founded by two
brothers, Pedda Malla Razu and Chinna Malla Razu, who
ruled the country under Pratapa Rudra. They were an
effeminate and tyrannical couple, if the account is to be
credited. They drew upon themselves the vengeance of the
king of Cuttack by abducting the bride of one of his relatives,
who was passing through the district. An. army came from
Cuttack to exact vengeance, and the fort was besieged. It fell
after a siege of six years, the water-supplies being cut off.
The affair is described in some detail in the manuscript.
In the hamlet of Tirupati Agraharam is a temple to Venka-
tesvarasvami, in honour of which a five days' festival is held
every year in Chaitra (April-May). This is largely attended
and is well known to people living north of Cocanada,
* Wilson's Catalogue, 396, 8 (3).
2S6 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. Hamsavaram : Six miles south-south-west of Tuni. Popu-
TUNI. lation 1,909- Lime is collected there in large quantities and
Hamsa- taken to Tuni to be burnt, and glass bangles are made there.
varam.
Kottapalli : Nine miles south-west of Tuni. Also called
Kottapalli
Ayyapparazu Kottapalli. Population 2,449. There is a mound
by the roadside near the village, which is known as the tomb
of one Mala Bucchamma, a Mala woman who is said to have
burnt herself to death many years ago, no one knows why.
People of all castes make prayers and vows at this tomb.
In the hamlet of Sitarampuram glass bangles are made.
Tallurii.
Talluru Two miles west-north-west of Tuni, Population
:
248. A cave in a hill there contains the image of Talupu-

lamma (' door mother '), a goddess very much revered in this
division. The adjoining valley is called Talupulamma lova.
From the hill a perennial spring flows down into the jungle.
This is a very favourite bathing-place, and the local people
pretend that they do not know where the stream goes to.
They declare that the torrent shrinks or widens in pro-
portion to the number of people bathing in it The goddess !
is especially appealed to in time of drought, her favourite

days being Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. She is
worshipped with the usual animal sacrifices.
Tatipaka.
Tatipaka: Six miles north-north-west of Tuni. Also called
Tatipaka-Jagannathanagaram, Population, 346. A tomb there
is called the gundam (pit) of Lakshmamma, a woman who is
supposed to have committed reverenced
sati at this spot. It is
by the people of the locality, and a small festival is held there

in February or March.
Tetagunta.
Tetagunta Seven and a half miles south-west of Tuni.
:
Population 2,600. A hill there called the Parnasdla konda is

supposed to have been inhabited by the Pandava brothers.
It contains a large cave about a hundred yards in length and
consisting of two compartments.

Tuni.
Tuni: Head-quarters of the division, and the chief town
of the Tuni or Kottam estate. Besides the offices of the deputy
tahsildar and a sub-registrar, the town contains a police-
station, a travellers' bungalow, a private choultry for feeding
Brahmans and Sudras, a large local fund market, a local fund
dispensary (established 1879), and the zamindar's high school
for boys. It has been constituted a union and has a population
of 8,842. Good weaving of the same kind and quality as in

Uppada is done there by about 200 Devangas a few Kapus ;
do simple dyeing and chintz-stamping; five or six black-

smiths make ordinary household vessels of brass a large ;
manufacture of castor and [gingelly oil is carried on, and

GAZETTEER. 257
there are two factories for the purpose ; and the place is a chap, xv,
considerable trading centre. Tuni.
The Kottam estate is interesting as being the only remnant

of the old Peddapuram zamindari which remains in the hands
of the original family. It was created in 1810. A claim was
advanced in that year to the zamindari of Peddapuram by a
relation of the then zamindar and, in settlement of that
;
claim, the Kottam estate, till then a portion of the Peddapuram

zamindari, was severed from the rest of the property and made
over to the claimant's father, Vatsavaya Siirappa Razu. The
two estates were once again for a short time under the same
proprietor. In 1838 one Surya Narayana, grandson of
Vatsavaya Surappa Razu, was recognized as proprietor of the
Kottam mitta and soon afterwards succeeded also to the
Peddapuram zamindari but the latter estate had been held
;
for but a short time by him when it was sold for arrears of
revenue. The present zamindar. Raja Vatsavaya Venkata
Simhadri Jagapati Razu, is the second son of Surya Narayana,
and succeeded to the estate after the death of his elder
brother in 1879. He is now (1906) fifty-two years old. The
property consists of 38 villages situated within a radius of
twelve miles of Tuni. It pays a peshkash of Rs. 26,219.
33
;
258 GODAVARI.
BHADRACHALAM TALUK.
CHAP. XV. BHADRACHALAM taluk runs along the left bank of the Goda-
Bhadra vari above the Ghats, by which it is cut off from the rest of
CHALAM.
the district. It is intersected by the Saveri, an important
tributary joining the Godavari at Kunnavaram. Owing to its
position beyond the Ghats its climatic conditions are rather
different from those of most of the district. The variations
and the rainfall, which is almost
in temperature are greater,
allbrought by the south-west monsoon, is 43 '39 inches at
Bhadrachalam, a high record for this district, and probably
much greater in other parts of the taluk. The officer who
drew up the working-plans for the Rekapalle forests inferred
'from an examination of the undergrowth and the general
factors of that locality that 70 inches would be a closer
estimate of the annual rainfall among them. The taluk is
'
for the most part covered with low hills and forest. Some
high hills rise to the west of the Saveri river adjoining the
Ghats, and a smaller cluster stands some way from the
Godavari and to the east of the Saveri near Bodugudem in
the centre of the taluk. The whole of the taluk is malarious,
especially the villages along and to the east of the Saveri
river,but the scope for irrigation is considerable, and with
more energetic ryots and a better land system cultivation
might be largely extended.
Cholam is the staple crop of the country, though paddy
and a little tobacco are grown along the river banks. The
taluk appears to contain no indigenous industries whatever.
The lace-work of the Dummagudem mission is referred to in
Chapter VI.
The taluk is of interest in several unusual directions. The
curious Koya people (see p. 60) make up a large proportion of
its inhabitants its revenue system, inherited from the Central
;
Provinces administration, is in most respects (p. 174) unusual
in this Presidency coal has been mined for at Gauridevipeta

;
(sixteen miles east of Bhadrachalam), albeit (p. 10) without

much success, and plumbago has been worked at Pedakonda
garnets, rock-crystal, sapphires and gold are found the;
country possesses many legendary associations with the story

told in the Ramayana of Ravana's stealing Sita, the wife of
Rama and ; in it, from fifteen miles below Bhadrachalam
GAZETTEER. 259
to four miles north of Dummagudem, are a number of CHAP. XV.

rude stone monuments. No weapons have yet been found Bhadra-
in these, but they contain half-burnt pottery, charred
bones, and beads of ivory and glass. From the position of
skeletons around them it would appear that human sacrifices
accompanied the funeral ceremonies.^ Forts ascribed to the
Reddi dynasty are found at Nallapalli, four miles north-east
of Dummagudem, and at Vaddigiidem near Rekapalle. There
are also the remains of a fine stone fort at Devarapalli, nine
miles east of Bhadrachalam but it was largely demolished
;
by the engineers engaged in the Upper Godavari navigation

works.
As is mentioned in Chapter XI, the zamindar of Bhadra-
chalam has a semi-proprietary right over the whole of the
taluk. Beneath him, but still recognized by Government, are
a number of other proprietors of larger or smaller estates. The
only one of these which is of any size is Rekapalle, which
was for some time independent of its suzerain, and the history
of which is sketched below. The others only contain a village
or two apiece. The largest are those of Nandigama, which
contains ten villages and pays a peshkash of Rs. 1,308, and
Tripurapantavidu, with seven villages and a peshkash of
Rs. 1,195. No other inferior proprietor pays as much as
Rs. 400 peshkash.
Bhadrachalam Head-quarters of the taluk and of the
:
Bhadra-
Head Assistant Collector. Population 1,783. It is the chief chalam.
town of the zamindari of the same name. The original holder

of this is said to have been one Anapa Ashwa Rao, who
received it in free jaghir from the Emperor of Delhi in A.D.
1324 on condition of keeping up a body of 500 foot for service,
and it is stated that the property has remained almost ever
since in the families of the founder or his kinsmen. The taluk
formed part of a large estate which is called by Captain
Glasfurd ^the Hussanabad Sankaragiri zamindari, and is also
spoken of as the Palavancha estate, from the town of that
name in the Nizam's Dominions in which a large portion of
it lay. The zamindar of Bhadrachalam is zamindar of
Palavancha also.
In 1769 one of the Nizam's officers put the then zamindar
to death and took the estate under management till his own
death in 1778, when it reverted to the founder's family. In
1809 an adoption, said to have been the first in the family,
was made. This was the cause of a great deal of disturbance
1 Sewell's Lists, i, 20.
•^
See his settlemeat report oq this taluk (Nagpur, 1869), para. 41.
260 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. and even bloodshed. The adopting zamindar belonged to the
Bhadra- Damara Ashwa Rao family, and selected boy of as his heir a
CHALAM.
^j^g Kundemulla family. This choice was resented and
resisted by another family, called by Captain Glasfurd the
Setpilly Ashwa Raos, who thought one of their members
ought to have been selected. The struggle between the
members of these families went on for more than forty years.
The Setpillys were at first victorious but their representative
;
made a raid into British territory and was taken prisoner and
carried off to Hyderabad in l8ll. The Damara adoptee was
now appointed zamindar by the Nizam but he was so harassed
;
by the Setpillys that in 1819 a European officer (Mr. Ralph)

was sent with a body of local troops to Palavancha, where he
remained to keep order for three years. The Nizam soon
intervened again, this time granting a small portion of the
estate to the Setpillys and one village to the Damaras, and
taking the rest under his own management. The Setpillys
defied the local authorities in 1844 and seized the greatej- part
of the estate but their representative died in 1851 and, after
; ;
a little disturbance and some negotiation the property was

handed over finally to the Damaras on a decision being passed
in their favour (in 1852) by an influential panchayat of
zamindars. The Damara appointed in 1852 was succeeded by
his mother in 1859, who was followed before her death in 1874
by her daughter's son, Parthasarathi Appa Rao, who is the
present zamindar. The estate at one time (see p. 175) also
included the present Rekapalle zamindari.
Until the taluk was handed over to the British Government
by the Nizam in l86otheBhadrachalam zamindar always kept
up a troop of Rohillas, who received very little pay for their
services and lived chiefly by looting the country round. The
taluk was divided into ten saniutiis, each of which theoretically
contained twenty-five Koya villages and each of which had
to supply for a month, without pay orbatta, a hundred Koyas
to carry burdens, fetch supplies, etc., for the Rohillas, and a
hundred Madigas to act as horse-keepers- The whole country
appears to have been at the mercy of these undisciplined
Rohillas. 'All was grist,' writes Mr. Cain,^ 'that came to
their mill, even the clothes of the poor Koi women, who were
frequently stripped and then regarded as objects of ridicule.
The Kois have frequently told me that they never could lie
down to rest at night without feeling that before morning
their slumbers might be rudely disturbed, their houses burnt
and their property carried off. As a rule they hid their grain
^ Ind. Ant., v, 303.
GAZETTEER. . 26l
in caves and holes of large trees .... The last great CHAP. XV.
plundering took place in 1859 not far from Parnasala.' Bhadra-
CHALAM.
The present position of the Bhadrachalam zamindar is in
many respects unlike that of most other zamindars in this
Presidency owing to his estate having been first settled by
the Central Provinces Government. The point is referred to
in Chapter XI.
Bhadrachalam is considered a holy spot, since Rama is
supposed to have lived there for some time after the abduc-
tion of Sita. The name means 'the hill of Bhadra,' and is
said to be derived from the fact that a saint of that name was
living there at the time of Rama's sojourn. Rama promised
to return when he had found Sita, and did so after many years,
and gave the saint salvation. The temple in the village,
which is built on the top of a small hillock and is not remark-
able architecturally, is supported by an endowment from the
treasury of the Nizam of Hyderabad, which amounts to
Rs. 19,000 a year but small sums from which are diverted to
the upkeep of the temple at Parnasala and those in Hyderabad
territory at Motigadda and Viruvandi opposite Chintalagudem
and Turubaka in this taluk. Legend says that the first
beginnings of the Bhadrachalam shrine were made by a
hairdgi who took up his abode there, built a small temple and
carved a rude image of Rama. More authenticated history
commences about 1725, when Rama Das, an official of the
Nizam's government, was sent to collect the revenues of this
taluk. Instead of transmitting the money, he spent it in
enlarging the shrine and building the gopuram- His superiors
at last objected to this, and sent a number of Rohillas who
carried him to Hyderabad, where he died after an imprisonment
of twelve years. Tradition, however, declares that he was
miraculously ransomed by Rama and Lakshmana (who
appeared before the then Nizam in person) and returned to
Bhadrachalam, where he disappeared and became one with
the god. His adventures are the subject of a book of Telugu
poems, called the Rama Das kirtana, which is widely known
throughout the country. The poems in this are often sung by
the Telugu bards {bhdgavatas) who are in such favour at social
gatherings throughout south India.
Rama Das was succeeded in his office by a certain Tumu
Lakshminarasimha Rao who, wiser than his predecessor,
annually despatched part of the tribute and devoted the rest
to finishing the work the latter had begun. He also com-
menced another temple. While he was thus engaged a wealthy
man from Madras, named Varadarama Das, brought two lakhs
262 GOD AVAR I.
CHAP. XV. of rupees Bhadrachalam and agreed to help him to complete

to
Bhadra- the work. Before this could be done, however, the Nizam's
c HALA M.
government, dissatisfied with the small amount of revenue
received, sent a number of sowars to take Lakshminarasimha
Rao to Hyderabad. He bribed the sowars to give him a
little grace, promising to follow them shortly to Hyderabad.
The rich man from Madras died soon after their departure ;
and Lakshminarasimha Rao embarked on rafts to cross the

river, taking with him the dead man, his widow and mother,
his own mother and a number of servants- Half way across
he threw the corpse into the river and plunged in himself,
followed by the widow, her mother-in-law and most of their
followers.
The Nizam endowed the temple with a lakh of
originally
rupees, but the endowment was gradually reduced till in
1840-41 it was fixed at Rs. 19,125, for which a sanad was
given. An important festival takes place at the temple in the
month of Chaitra (March-April) and is said to be attended by
as many as 20,000 people from all parts of India, in spite of
the difficulties of the journey thither. A
common object of
the pilgrimage is to obtain children the childless women
;
sleep behind the temple and draw an augury of the future

from their dreams.
Dumma- Dummagudem : Thirteen miles north of Bhadrachalam.
gudem.
Population 2,556. It was the head-quarters of the old Upper
Godavari Navigation project referred to in Chapter VII.
Operations on this were discontinued in 1871, but while they
were in progress Dummagudem was a busy town. It is now
an insignificant village. The anient is in good condition and
a large lock stands close to the village and a canal runs
parallel with the river there for two miles. The lock is in
fair condition, but was much damaged by the floods of 1900.
The village is also the head-quarters of the Church Missionary
Society in the district (see p. 41) and the centre (p. 112) of a
lace-making industry fostered by this. A number of roughly
carved idols have been dug up near the place.
Gundaia. Gundala Four and a half miles east of Bhadrachalam.
:
Population 359. This (like Sarpavaram in the Cocanada taluk)

is said to be the place where king Janamejaya, the son of
Parikshit, performed the sacrifice described in the Maha-
bharata because his father had been bitten by a snake. A
hot spring in the bed of the Godavari near by is pointed out
as the pit {giindam) where the sacrifice was performed.
Pilgrims to Bhadrachalam bathe in this, and the name
Gundala is supposed to be derived from it.
GAZETTEER. 263
Kumarasvamigudem Twenty-six miles south-east of chap. xv.

:
Bhadrachalam. Population 1 10. Contains a very old and Bhadra-

sacred temple to Kumarasvami, son of Siva. He was devoted chalam.
to the fair sex more than was seemly, and his father cured Kumara-
him by contriving that any woman he looked upon should at svamigiidem.
once assume the shape of his mother, Parvati. The first
occasion on which this happened was at Kumarasvamigudem,
and Kumarasvami induced Siva to direct that a bath in the
Godavari at that spot should have great sanctifying virtue.
The temple has no income and is very much out of repair.
Kunravaram: Stands at the junction of the Saveri and Kunnavaram.
Godavari rivers; population 1,107. Formerly the station of
the Special AssistantAgent and now the head-quarters of the
District Forest Officer,Upper Godavari. It is an important
point for the river-borne trade, as it is beyond the Ghats
and the unbridged Saveri and carts can travel from it to
Bhadrachalam.
Parnasala Twenty-two miles by road north of Bhadra-
: Pamasaia.
chalam. Population 276. It is widely believed in the district
that this is the spot on the banks of the Godavari described
in the Ramayana where Ravana carried off Sita.
In a stream bed near the village the people show the stone
on which Sita is supposed to have sat while bathing. Certain
marks on a rock resemble foot-prints, and these are therefore
called Sita's foot-prints,and are revered accordingly. On
another rock are yellow stains which are attributed to the
yellow dye from Sita's clothes when they were laid out to dry,
or, according to another account, to the saffron she used to
adorn herself withal. The black stain left by Rama's sash
when put out to dry is also shown on another rock. The
Nalugu gutta hill on the opposite side of the river is supposed
to have been formed by an accumulation of nalugu (a kind of
soap) left by Sita after her daily bath. Behind the Vishnu
temple is a hollow which is pointed out as the exact place
where Sita was seized some of the earth is said to have
;
been carried off with her. There is also a Siva temple in the
neighbourhood where, it is said, Ravana used to pretend to
worship, disguised as a mendicant.
A small festival is held at Parnasala in Chaitra (March-
April) at the same time as the Bhadrachalam festival, and
those who visit the latter place go on to Parnasala.
Rekapalle Twenty-eight miles east-south-east of Bhadra-
: Rekapaile.
chalam, and below the junction of the Godavari and Saveri

rivers. Population 617. The name means 'wing village'
and is explained as referring to the abduction of Sita which
264 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. tradition locates in this taluk. It is supposed that the wings
Bhadra- of the bird Jatayu, who tried to oppose Ravana's flight but
CHALAM.
^^g j.jjjg^j ^y j^.^^ jgjj j^g^g^
Rekapalle is still important as the chief village of the most

considerable of the inferior proprietors of this part of the
country. The Rekapalle estate formed only a part of the
large possessions of the Ashwa Raos of Palavancha and
Bhadrachalam referred to in the account of the latter place
above, and it was leased in 1574 to a family of Korukonda
(in Rajahmundry taluk) who enjoyed it for nearly two and a
half centuries. In 1814 the then holder was murdered by his
four diwans, who seem to have enjoyed the estate thereafter
either jointly or successively. Three of the four having died,
the survivor, Venkayya, became for a time the sole proprie-
tor; but in 1857 he was compelled to hand over a portion of
the estate, then known as the Marrigudem taluk, to one
Rajaji, the son of one of his deceased accomplices. Rajaji
misconducted himself, and his share was given over to the
Bhadrachalam zamindar's direct control by the Central Pro-
vinces Government in 1862. The present proprietor of
Rekapalle is the son of Venkayya. The relations of the
inferior to the superior proprietors in this taluk are referred to
in Chapter XL Rekapalle was formerly the head-quarters of
a taluk which comprised that part of the Bhadrachalam taluk
which lies to the east of a line running due north from a point
a little to the east of Gaurldevipeta.
This country joined in the Rampa rebellion of 1879, and at
one time gave a great deal of trouble to the authorities. The
causes of the rising were quite difl'erent from those which
operated in Rampa. Under the Central Provinces administra-
tion, podii cultivation had been almost unrestricted, and the
assessment on it had been only four annas an axe. The
Madras Government almost trebled the assessment, excluded
the cultivators from certain tracts, and levied a tax on the
felling of certain species of reserved trees. These new taxes
and restrictions were considered a grievance, and it was for
this reason that the Rampa leaders found adherents in the
Rekapalle country. On the tenth of July some Rampa
insurgents under Ambul Reddi, aided by a number of
Rekapalle people, attacked the Vaddigudem police-station.
They were driven back, and a party of armed police was
directed to proceed up to the river from Rajahmundry in
a steamer and launch. The steamer which was without a
guard or arms, incautiously went on ahead, was attacked a
little above the gorge, and was taken by the insurgents. A
GAZETTEER. 265
force of 125 sepoys was then sent up the river, the Godavari CHAP. XV.
and Saveri were by steamers, and posts were
patrolled Bhadra-
established along their banks. By September the people had chalam.
resumed their ordinary occupations and quiet was restored.
The Rekapalle country was again disturbed by an incursion
of Tamman Dora in October 1880. He looted a few defence-
less villages, but his stay in this quarter did not last long.
Sri Ramagiri (' holy Rama's hill ') forty-four miles
lies Sri Ramagiri.
south by east of Bhadrachalam. It is supposed to have been

here that the bird Jatayu, who had tried to hinder Ravana's
abduction of Sita but been mortally wounded in the attempt,
told the news of the abduction with his dying breath to Rama
as he passed that way. The grateful Rama performed the
funeral rites of the faithful bird at Sri Ramagiri. The god is
known as Kulasa (' the joyful ') Rama, because he here had
news of his lost wife while the Rama at Parnasala is Soka
;
(' the sorrowful '), because his bereavement occurred there.

The temple is supported by the zamindar of Rekapalle, who
devotes to its maintenance the net income derived from the
village of Kunnavaram, which ordinarily amounts to about
Rs. 800 a year.
The neighbouring hill called Vali Sugriva is so named
from the legend that it was there that Rama obtained further
news of Sita from Sugriva, the brother of Vali and king of the
monkeys.
34
266 GODAVARI.
CHODAVARAM DIVISION.
CHAP. XV. The Chodavaram division comprises most of what was in

CHODA- former times known as 'the Rampa country,' from the village
VARAM.
of that name which stands just north of Chodavaram village.
Its history is sketched in the account of Rampa below.
Almost all the division is occupied by the Eastern Ghats, and
four-fifths of it consists of forest. The density of the popula-
tion is as low as 32 persons to the square mile. There is only
one metalled road in the division, namely that from the head-
quarters to Rajahmundry, but the road from the former to
Devipatam is partially maintained.
Only one village in the division is on ryotwari tenure, four
are held as mokhasas direct from Government, 50 belong to
zamindaris, and the rest, some 300 in number, consists of hill
muttas held on the kdval tenure referred to in Chapter XL
The zamindari villages are said to have belonged long ago
to some Reddi chiefs called the Reddi Razus, and to have
been sold by them, apparently before the permanent settle-
ment of 1802-03, to various lowland zamindars. At present
20 villages belong to the Polavaram estate, four to Pithapuram,
and two to Gutala while the independent estates of Dandangi
;
and Toyyeru and the disputed mokhasa estate of Konda-

modalu contain respectively twelve, eight and four villages.
The hill muttas are 24 in number and often have a separate
history of their own. A brief description of them will be
found below.
As there is only one Government village in the division,
the ordinary and cultivation are not avail-
statistics of soils
able. The chief crops are said to be paddy, pulses, ragi,
cambu and maize. In the hills, podu cultivation is the rule.
Bandapalli. Bandapalli Four miles east-north-east of Chodavaram.
:
Population 223. It is the head village of a hill mutta compris-

ing thirteen villages. In the fitiiri of 1840 the then muttadar
and his eldest son took a prominent part among the
insurgents. A reward was offered for their capture, but they
disappeared and were never seen again. The mansabdar of
Rampa, on coming into power in 1848, annexed the mutta on
the plea that there were no heirs to it, though the vanished
muttadar had left an infant son. In the settlement of 1879,
made by Mr. Sullivan at the end of the Rampa rebellion, this
son was given a sanad and his quit-rent was fixed at Rs. 42.
GAZETTEER. 2^
Birampalli Head village of a hill mutta of eleven villages. CHAP. xv.
:
Lies seven miles south-east of Chodavaram, and contains l66 Choda-

varam.
inhabitants. The people of this mutta joined the rebellion
of 1879; but they seem to have been driven to this act by the Birampalli.
rapacity of a renter to whom the muttadar had sub-let the
property. This renter admitted having made Rs. 300 a year
out of it, though the quit-rent was only Rs. 40. At the
settlement of 1879 no punishment was imposed upon the
people for having joined the late rebellion, as it was conceded
that they had some excuse for their action, but the muttadar
was deposed for maladministration and the property was
given to his brother on a quit-rent of Rs, 42.
Boduliiru Head village of a hill mutta of the Rampa
; Boduluru.
country, containing 36 villages and paying a quit-rent of
Rs. 60. It lies 25 miles north by west of Chodavaram, and
contains 90 inhabitants. The muttadar joined in the Rampa
rebellion, and had not 'come in at the time of Mr. Sullivan's
'
settlement. His quit-rent was accordingly raised from Rs. 40

to Rs. 60.
Bolagonda: Head village of a hill mutta; lies eight miles Bolagonda.

north-east of Chodavarampopulation 2l8. The mansabdar
;
of Rampa obtained possession of this estate in 1867 by means

of a forged document purporting to be a deed of resignation
by the muttadar. He obtained an income of Rs. 306 out of
the property, though the quit-rent was only Rs. 40. The
mutta was restored in 1 879 to its former owner, but as he had
joined in the fituri of 1858, and in the 1879 rebellion had
been constantly seen with the notorious Tamman Dora and
only escaped arrest owing to the absence of direct evidence
to connect him with the atrocities committed, his quit-rent
was raised to Rs. 60, and the mutta was reduced by granting
the village of Vadapalli as a reward to a loyal munsif.
Chavala An uninhabited village forty-two miles north

:
Chavaia.
by west of Chodavaram, Gives its name to a hill mutta,

though the chief village of this is now Jajilanka, population
23. The mutta contains 13 villages and pays a quit-rent of
Rs. 50. The muttadar joined in the Rampa rebellion and
had not come in at the time of Mr. Sullivan's settlement.
' '
Chidugiiru Uninhabited village ten miles north-west of

: Chiduguru.
Chodavaram, which gives its name to a hill mutta containing
36 villages and paying a quit-rent of Rs. 40, the chief village
of which is Badagunta. For participation in the rising of
1838-40, the then muttadar was hanged and was succeeded
by his brother. In 1872, the Rampa mansabdar took posses-
sion of the property on the plea that it had been relinquished
268 GUDAVARI.
CHAP. XV. by the owner, but in 1879 a descendant of the man who had
Choda- been hanged was appointed muttadar.
VARAM.
Chodavaram Head-quarters of the division. Population
:
Ch6davaram. It contains a local fund dispensary (established in

377.
1902), and a police-station garrisoned by a Special Hill
Reserve 40 strong, The siege it underwent at the beginning
of the 1879 rebellion is briefly described in the account of
Rampa below. Chodavaram was strongly held by troops
throughout the greater part of the rebellion. It is situated on
one side of an extensive plateau.
Chopakonda. Chopakonda Eight miles south-west of Chodavaram.
:
Population Chief place in a hill mutta paying a quit-rent

67.
of Rs. 21 and containing six villages. In 1849 the mansabdar
of Rampa obtained possession of this on the ground that the
muttadar has disappeared, and by a village settlement
obtained an income of Rs. 1 16 per annum from it. In 1879 the
real muttadar, who had been alive all the time and was well
known to the hill people, was restored.
Dandangi. Dandangi : Twelve miles south-south-west of Chodavaram.

Population 161. Is the head-quarter village of a zamindari
estate consisting of ten villages and paying a peshkash of
Rs. 565. The estate forms part of a property of 26 villages
which was sold by the Reddi Razus, apparently before the
permanent settlement, to the then zamindar of Nuzvi'd.
This passed by sale in later years to the ancestors of the
present owners of the Gutala zamindari, and from them (some
time before 1855) to the ancestors of the present zamindars of
Dandangi.
Dorachinta Dorachintalapalcm Fourteen miles north-east of Choda-
:
lapalem.
varam. Population Gives its name to a hill mutta of
27.
fourteen villages the chief place in which is Narasapuram.
In 1871 the then muttadar died without legitimate issue and
the mansabdar of R.ampa at once annexed the property. An
illegitimate son of the late owner accordingly took a promi-
nent part in the rebellion of 1879 and would not come in at the
;
time of the settlement. The villagers were allowed to elect

one of their own number as muttadar, and the quit-rent was
raised from Rs. 50 to Rs. 70.
Gedddda.
Gcddada Four miles north-west of Chodavaram. Popu-
:
lation 275. Chief village of a hill mutta of the old Rampa

estate, containing nine villages and paying a rent of Rs. 21.
Kdkuru.
Kakiiru Twenty-eight miles north of Chodavaram.
:
Population Chief village of a hill mutta of the Rampa

78.
country, which pays a quit-rent of Rs. 40 and contains eight
villages. The muttadar joined in the Rampa rebellion and
GAZETTEER. 269
had not come in at the time of Mr. Sullivan's settlement. CHAP. XV. t
Choda-
His mutta was settled by Mr. Carmichael in 1881. varam.
Kondamodalu Twenty-seven miles west of Chodavaram. Kondamo-
:
Population 332. The head-quarters of a mokhasa estate at dalu.

the entrance to the gorge on the Godavari. The present
owner is the grandson of the Linga Reddi who assisted
Government in the Rampa rebellion.
'The Government are aware,' wrote Mr. Sullivan in 1879,
*
Linga Reddi has from the very commencement of the
that
rising shown himself a most loyal adherent of the Govern-
ment. Not only has he supplied information and messengers,
but he has brought into the field 50 or 60 well-trained
matchlockmen who have been of great use as scouts and
envoys. With his following he himself on more than one
occasion accompanied parties of troops and police .
and has done everything he could to render assistance. It

was he who at the commencement of the outbreak surprised
and brought in Jangam Pulicanta Sambiah.'
His services were rewarded by the grant, as a mokhasa, of
the village of Ravilanka, which is held on the condition
that the grantee attends the Collector with peons when
required to do so,^ and pays a quit-rent of Rs. 300. Linga
Reddi had previously, in 1858, been granted an allowance of
Rs. 50 a month to compensate him for the withdrawal of his
right of collecting fees on goods passing up and down the
Godavari. This grant is conditional on good behaviour.
Linga Reddi had just then earned the gratitude of Govern-
ment by holding aloof from the fitiiri of his partner Subba
Reddi.'
Kondamodalu comprises four villages and pays Rs. 1 10
annually to the zamindarof Polavaram. Its precise relations
with the latter are at present the subject of a law suit.
Kundada Eighteen miles north-west by north of Choda- Kundada.
:
varam. Population 1 29. Chief village of a hill mutta

belonging to the old Rampa estate, containing eight villages
and paying a quit-rent of Rs. 21. The muttadar was loyal
during the 1879 rebellion, and his village was plundered and
burnt by the insurgents.
Marrivida.
Marrivada Three miles east of Chodavaram, which gives
:
its name to a hill mutta containing three villages of the old

Rampa mutta. This was granted to the family of one Karam
Dhulu Dora, who during the first few months of the Rampa
rebellion was of the greatest service to the authorities. '
He
A G.O. No. 2297, Judicial, dated iith November 1881.
' G.O. No. 1240, Revenue, dated lith September 1858.
iyo GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. was always with me,' wrote the Sub-Collector, giving such '
Choda- assistance as guide, etc., as was in his power.' The grant

VARAM.
imposed a quit-rent of Rs. 15, but not the service conditions
attached to most of the other hill muttas. This same family
were also given, free of rent, the mokhasa village of Dari-
madugula in the Bandapalli mutta, which had formerly been
their property but had been taken from them by the
mansabdar of Rampa.
Musurumilli. Musurumilli Five miles south of Chodavaram. Popula-
:
tion 188. the chief place in a hill mutta of 18 villages.

Is
The people of this behaved well during the 1879 rebellion,
and it was settled on the old quit-rent of Rs. 42.
N^dunuru. Nedunuru An uninhabited village nine miles north-west

:
of Chodavaram which gives its name to a hill mutta of the

Rampa country, the chief place in which is Devarapalli and
which pays a quit-rent of Rs. 42 and contains eleven villages.
The muttadar joined in the Rampa rebellion and had not
come in at the time of Mr. Sullivan's settlement. The mutta
was settled in 1886.
Nimmalapa- Nimmalapalcm Twelve miles north-east of Chodavaram.
:
lem. Population 170. A mokhasa village which the present holder

says was given to his ancestor about 1858 by the muttadar of
Geddada, to whom he was related. It was confirmed free of
quit-rent in the possession of the holder at the settlement
of 1879.
Pal em. Palem Six miles south-west of Chodavaram. Population
:
319. Gives its name to a hill mutta containing nine villages

and paying a quit-rent of Rs. 21. See also Velagapalli.
Pdmuleru. Pamuleru Twenty-four miles north by west of Choda-
:
varam. Population
15. Gives its name to a hill mutta of the
old Rampa country, containing eleven villages and paying a
quit-rent of Rs. 40, the chief place in which is Kutruvada.
This surrendered to the Rampa mansabdar about 1874, and
was sub-let by him to an outsider who was arrested as a
ringleader in the rebellion of 1879. In the settlement of that
year, however, no one else was willing to take the property and
it was given to his son on a quit-rent of Rs. 50. The quit-rent
was reduced to Rs. 40 again about ten years ago.
Peta. Pcta Twenty miles south of Chodavaram. Population
:
728. Chief place in a small zamindari estate containing two

villages and paying a peshkash of Rs. 546, Its history,
miitato nomine, is precisely the same as that of the Dandangi
estate.
Rampa. Rampa : A little hill village just north of Chodavaram.
Population 177. Near it, beside a waterfall about 25 feet
GAZETTEER, 2/1
high,a shrine formed of three huge boulders, two of which CHAP. XV.
is
make
a kind of roof, and fitted with a doorway and one Choda-
VARAM.
side-wall of cut stone. The water of the fall pours conti-
nually between the boulders. A
rough lingam and other holy
emblems have been carved out of the rock.
Rampa was once the chief place in the small mutta of the
same name and the residence of its muttadar. This man was
chieftain over the whole of the old Rampa country and
controlled the other muttadars there, and the rebellion in
this which occurred in 1879 and is referred to below was ip
consequence called the '
Rampa rebellion.' '
In the earliest records which mention him, the zamindar,

mansabdar, or raja of Rampa is described as an independent
ruler. Mr. Grant, in his Political Survey of the Northern Circars
already several times referred to, calls him as independent as
the raja of Bastar and the Committee of Circuit, writing in
;
1787, said that, though the zamindari of Rampa belonged to

the Circar of Rajahmunclry, yet neither the Company nor
the Nizam's government received any tribute from it.
The country,' said this body, 'is represented to be extremely

'
mountainous and full of jungle, the natives rude and unculti-

vated, frequently making incursions on the adjacent countries*
plundering the villages during the harvest, and driving off
the cattle.'
At
the time of the permanent settlement of 1802-03 the
Rampa country was as entirely disregarded as if it had not
existed, and no settlement of any part of it was made. During
the disorders which arose in this district early in the nine-
teenth century, the mansabdar, Rambhupati Devu, descended
with an armed force from the hills and took forcible possession
of some villages in the plains. He was driven out of these and
submitted, offering to acknowledge for ever the sovereignty '
of the Company-'
Then (1813) for the first time a settlement was made with
him. The villages he had taken were restored to him as
mokhasas and, along with his ancestral possessions in the
hills, were confirmed to him free of peshkash on condition
that he maintained order in them and prevented incursions
into thelow country.- He appears to have leased his villages
to certain subordinate hill chiefs or muttadars, whom he
' The following give accounts of the early history of Kampa, the causes of
the rebellion and its course : G.Os., Judl., Nos. 1036, dated 5th May 1879; 755,
dated 3rd April 1879; ^^'^ 109, dated l6th January 1880. Also the report of
Mr. D.F. Carmichael, when Special Commissioner, dated November ist, 1881;
and the Presidency Administration Reports for 1879-80 and 1880-81.
' G.O. No. 1036, Judicial, dated 5th May 1879, appendix, p. 11.
2/2 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. required to keep order in their own charges and from whom
Choda- he received an income of Rs. 8,750 per annum.' These were
VARAM.
the ancestors of the present muttadars.
He
died in 1835 leaving a daughter and an illegitimate son
named Sri Madhuvati Rambhupati Devu, and the former was
recognized by the muttadars as heiress to the zamindari. She
declined to marry, declaring her intention of following the
example of a former zamindarni of the country who had
remained unwedded all her life.^ Some time afterwards,
however, her chastity was suspected, and she and her brother,
both of whom were apparently detested, were driven out of
the country.
They were maintained by the Government, and in l840the
estate was placed under the Court of Wards. Grave disturb-
ances followed (a police force was but by
cut up in 1840) ^
1845 the more turbulent of the muttadars had been appre-

hended or driven to flight. The zamindarni surrendered the
estate in favour of her illegitimate brother* and in 1848, after ;
protracted negotiations, the muttadars agreed to accept this

man as mansabdar and to perform their old police duties, on
condition that their united quit-rents should not exceed
Rs. 1,000 and that the mansabdar should never attempt to
exact more from them.
The mansabdar agreed to this, but quickly broke his
promise. His confiscations of muttas and oppressions of the
people resulted in risings against his authority in 1858 and
1861 and such was the hatred he inspired that when, in 1862,
;
he attempted to go and reside in his property an insurrection

arose which had to be put down by a strong force of police.
He continued his depredations, however, and by 1879 had
succeeded in getting eight muttas into his own enjoyment,
had doubled the quit-rent in several others, and was deriving
a considerable revenue from taxes on fuel and grazing and
other unauthorized cesses.
succeeded in doing this largely by making it appear,
He
sometimes by disgraceful devices, that all his actions had the
sanction of Government and unfortunately the officers of
;
Government neither adequately realized what was going on

in his country nor made sufficient endeavours to protect the
muttadars.^ They forgot that the agreement of 1848 was
made under the authority of Government and some of the ;
'
G.O. No. 109, Judicial, dated i6th January 1880, p. 75.
2 G O. No. 1036, Judicial, dated 5th May 1879, appendix, p. 3.
' Ibid., appendix, p. 5.
* Ibid., p. II.
^ G.O. No. 109, Judicial, dated i6th January 1880, p. 8,
GAZETTEER. 273
muttadars who complained of the mansabdar's exactions were CHAP. XV.

referred to the Civil Courts, though the hill men are notorious Choda-
for their dread of the plains. The growing discontent among '
the people was increased by new

abkari regulations prevent-
ing the drawing of toddy for domestic purposes and leasing
the toddy revenue to renters. These renters demanded that
the muttadars should pay fees (called chigiirupannu) for the
right to tap toddy, and the mansabdar threatened to levy an
additional tax, called /nodalupannu, at the rate of one-half or
two-thirds of the chigiirupannu.
This was the last straw, and was the immediate cause
of the '
Rampa rebellion The unpopularity of the
'
of 1879.
police, who had assisted new toddy rules
in introducing the
and also oppressed the people on their own account, was a
contributory cause. The people said that they could not *
stand all the taxes that were being imposed that three years ;
ago came the chigiirupannu ; that this year the mansabdar was
dtvc\3.nd\ng modalupannu ; that the constables were extorting
fowls and that, as they could not live, they might as well
;
kill the constables and die.' ^ The operation of the civil law
of the country was an additional grievance. Traders from
the low country had taken advantage of the simplicity of the
hill men, who would much sooner walk into a tiger's den
'
than put in an appearance in the Rajahmundry court,' to

make unfair contracts with them, and then, if these were not
fulfilledaccording to the traders' own interpretation, to file
suits against them, obtain ex parte decrees, and distrain as
much of their property as they could lay hands on. In satis-
faction of a debt of Rs. 5, cattle and produce worth Rs. lOO
had. been sometimes carried off in this manner, and sometimes,
it was said, the formality of a suit was dispensed with, and
the trader, accompanied by a friend personating an officer of

the court, made the distraint without any authority whatever.
The hill people laid the blame for all this injustice on Govern-
ment and Government rules and regulations, and thought that
their only remedy lay in rising against the authorities.
On the 9th March 1879 the police inspector of Rampa
reported that there was reason to apprehend a disturbance.
The Collector had gone to Bhadrachalam, so the Sub-Collector
and Superintendent of Police set out for the hills with a small
body of police. At Gokavaram they met one of the muttadars
who was suspected of disaffection, but he tried to allay their
suspicions and accompanied them to Chodavaram. The next
day, however, two policemen were stopped near that place by
' G.O, No. 109, Judicial, dated i6th January 1880, p. 10.
35
274 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. a body of armed men, and news was received of the capture
Choda- by some insurgents of a body of police near Boduluru. Early
on the 13th March a large party of hill men came close to
Chodavaram and stated their grievances to the Sub-Collector,
who went out unarmed to meet them. He attempted to reassure
them and they expressed themselves satisfied but a few
;
minutes later they called out that they could not trust the
Sircar's promises, and began firing on the camp. No particular
harm was done by their fire, but the Sub-Collector's party,
which consisted of 39 police of all ranks with 32 carbines,
was now cut off. They had no difficulty in holding out at
Chodavaram until reinforcements came up, and by the 17th
the force in the village amounted to 149 men. Some 400
officers and men of the 39th Native Infantry had also been
landed at Cocanada on the l6th and were moving up the
country. Meanwhile, however, at Rampa two captured con-
stables were solemnly sacrificed before the chief shrine by the
insurgents, the leaders of the latter announced that rebellion
was their only hope, and the whole of the Rampa country was
speedily ablaze.
In the next month
(April) the disturbance spread to the
Golgonda Vizagapatam, and in July to the Rekapalle
hills of
country in Bhadrachalam; but the causes of the disaffection
there (which are mentioned in the accounts of Rekapalle and
Dutcharti) were essentially different from those operating in
Rampa itself.
The disturbed area now comprised over 5)000 square miles

of wooded and hilly country. The operations of the troops
were much hampered by the nature of the ground, and the
malcontents took advantage of their superior knowledge of
the country to maintain a harassing guerilla warfare, avoid-
ing all direct encounters with the troops, but attacking isolated
police-stations and burning or looting the villages of those
who assisted the authorities. Troops were hastened up to
the country, and by the end of 1879 the Government forces
included, besides several hundred police drafted from neigh-
bouring districts, as many as six regiments of Madras Infantry,
two companies of Sappers and Miners, and a squadron
of cavalry and a wing of infantry from the Hyderabad
Contingent.
The chief leaders of the insurgents were four notorious
characters named Chandrayya, Sirdar Jangam Pulicanta
Sambayya, Tamman Dora, and Ambul Reddi of Boduluru.
The second of these was arrested as early as April 29th, 1879.
Chandrayya, however, scored many successes in the
GAZETTEER. 275
Yellavaram division at the beginning of May, and succeeded CHAP. XV.

in burning Addatigela police-station. He was nearly captured Choda-
in the middle of that month, but in June he shut up a party of VARAM.
police under a European officer for some days in Addatigela.
The spread of the disaffection to Rekapalle and Dutcharti,
and the fear that the hill tribes of Polavaram division might
join the insurgents, led to strenuous efforts on the part
of the authorities, and troops were moved up from all sides.
The northern and eastern frontiers of the Rampa country
were occupied by strong detachments of sepoys, and military
posts were established along the banks of the Godavari and
Saveri. At the same time Mr. Member of the
Sullivan, First
Board of Revenue, was appointed July 1879) to visit the
(in
district and ascertain the real causes of the trouble and
suggest remedies for it. The steps he took, which included
the deposition of the mansabdar and a promise that the
muttadars should thenceforth deal directly with Government,
did much to allay the excitement, and before the end of
August 1879 as many as 70 of Chandrayya's men had been
'captured, and Rampa was comparatively quiet.
Rekapalle was also pacified about the same time, and the
apprehended rising in Polavaram did not take place. The
remaining rebels were now driven north to the hills of Gol-
gonda and Jeypore. Ambul Reddi was captured in Novem-
ber 1879 and Chandrayya was killed in February 1880. Their
removal broke the back of the trouble. Disturbances went on
in a desultory fashion in the Vizagapatam district, and in
October 1880 Tamman Dora made a brief incursion into that
part of the country. But by November 1880 quiet was finally
and everywhere restored.
The most deadly foe of the police and troops engaged in
suppressing the outbreak had been the malaria which infests
this part of the country. At the end of the March 1880, out of
2,400 men employed, no less than 590 were on the sick list.
Many deaths occurred,and in many other cases those attacked
were months before they completely recovered.
The mansabdar of Rampa, as has been said, was deposed.
As the Government order put it, for gross misconduct and
'
oppression the Government have cancelled absolutely and for

ever the mansabdari tenure of Rampa and the mokhasa tenure
of the villages of the plain.' The mutta held by the mansab-
dar was also cancelled, and he himself was detained as a State
prisoner at Berhampore. Most of the muttadars were either
reappointed or replaced, and their position was defined. As
early as September 1879 Mr. Sullivan had held a durbar at
276 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. which the new sanads were distributed. With four excep-
Choda- tions, the settlement was made with the muttadar actually in
VARAM.
undisputed possession or, where the mutta had been annexed
by the mansabdar, with the heir of the former muttadar. In
arranging the terms of the tenure of each mutta, the loyalty
or disloyalty of its owner in the recent disturbances was
considered and the quit-rent was raised or reduced in accord-
ance therewith. Generally, however, the muttas were granted
on the same terms as in 1848. The sanads contained two
conditions firstly, that a stipulated annual quit-rent, including
;
an abkari tax and a local fund cess, should be paid annually

to Government and, secondly, that the muttadar should
;
conduct himself loyally and peaceably, and should give every

assistance to the Government in maintaining quiet and order.
A warning was added that if the muttadar failed in his duties
his mutta was liable to be resumed. The decision of Govern-
ment as to the rights of the muttadars over the forests will be
found in Chapter V.
The Rampa mutta had always been in the personal enjoy-
ment of the mansabdar, and was resumed by Government. It
had formerly consisted of thirteen villages. Ten of these,
with the title of muttadar of Rampai were given to the munsif
of Chodavaram, who had given the greatest assistance to
Government throughout the outbreak, had been their channel
of communication with the muttadars, had obtained informa-
tion regarding the movements of the rebels, and had got
together a body of armed men to co-operate with the police
and the troops. The grant was made free of quit-rent, and
was conditional on the grantee's being of good behaviour,
paying the local fund cess, and presenting to the Collector
every year, in token of his allegiance, a bow and three arrows.
The other three villages of the Rampa mutta were given to the
muttadar of Marrivada, who had also shown his loyalty during
the rebellion.
Sirigiadala- Sirigindalapadu One mile south-east of Chodavaram.
:
padu.
Population 75. The village used to belong to the Bandapalli
mutta but at the settlement of 1879 it was given at the request
;
of the muttadar to a relative of his, who was going to assist

him in the management of the mutta, and who had shown
himself loyal in the recent rebellion. It pays no quit-rent.
Tadapelii. Tadapclli Fourteen miles north-west by north of Choda-
:
varam. Population 466. Chief village of a hill mutta contain-

ing nine villages. The quit-rent fixed in 1848 was Rs. 40, but
it was illegally raised by the mansabdar to Rs. lOO in 1862.
The muttadar did not take part in the insurrection of 1879

GAZETTEER. ^n
but many of his people did, and he himself not only assisted CHAP. XV.
the insurgents with supplies but also concealed himself from Choda-
the officers of Government and gave them no help whatever- varan
In consideration of the fact however that his mutta is an
isolated and rugged tract, right in the path taken by the rebels
in their raids, it was considered at the settlement of 1879 that
his conduct was more due to fear of the rebels than disloyalty
to Government, and his quit-rent was only raised to Rs. 63.
Ten miles north-west of Chodavaram. Popula-
Tunnuru : Tunnuru.
tion 80, its name to a hill mutta containing 16 villages
Gives
and paying a quit-rent of Rs. 35. This was returned as
deserted at the settlement of Rampa in 1848, but by 1879 it
had been reoccupied, and a sanad was accordingly given to a
descendant of a former muttadar.
Vadapalli Twelve miles south-west of Chodavaram.
: Vadapalli.
Population 193. It was given to an ancestor of the present
holder by Government in recognition of his services in the
Rampa rebellion, on a quit-rent of Rs. 15.
Vclagapalli : Eight miles south-south-west of Chodavaram. Velagapalli.
Population 50. The chief place in a mutta containing six
villages and paying a quit-rent of Rs. 21. In 1848 it also
included the Palem mutta; but at the settlement of 1879 it
was found that these had been divided, and separate sanads
were accordingly given to the respective owners in that year.
Valamuru: Twenty miles west-north-west of Chodavaram. Valamuru.
Population 35. Gives its name
mutta containing 22
to a
villages and paying a quit-rent of Rs. 42. This was one of the
old Rampa muttas, but behaved well in the 1879 rebellion.
At the settlement of that year there was a dispute about the
succession which is described in Mr. Sullivan's report.
Vemulakonda Ten miles north-west of Chodavaram. Vemula-
:
Population 95.Chief place in a mutta containing ten villages konda.

and paying a quit-rent of Rs. 26. The then muttadar joined
in the rebellion of 1858, but the people took no part in the
rising of 1879.
2/8 GODAVARI.
POLAVARAM DIVISION.
CHAP. XV. The Polavaram division is the south-westernmost portion of

PoLAVARAM. the Godavari Agency, and is the only part of the district
which lies on the right bank of the river. The density of its
population {103 to the square mile) is far above that of any
of the other agency tracts. At the permanent settlement of
1802-03 it was all included in the Polavaram estate. At
present only 24 of its villages are zamindari land, of which
twelve belong to the so-called Polavaram and Pattisam estates,
which are really one property in the possession of the present
Polavaram proprietor five belong to the Gutala estate and
;
four to the estate of Gangolu and one village belongs to each

;
of the muttas of Bayyanagiidem, Billumilli and Jangareddi-

gudem, which three form one estate. The fortunes of these
various properties are referred to below.
Polavaram is more fertile and more civilized than the
other parts of the Agency. On the west and south it is as flat
as the adjacent Yernagudem taluk, though more covered with
jungle. It possesses no industries worth mention. The
attempts made to discover coal at Bedadanuru, the mica and
plumbago of the division, and the chances of finding gold
in its south-west corner, are referred to in Chapter I.
The Pattisam and Taduvayi temples are well known in the
surrounding country.
Gang6lu. Gangolu Eight miles west-south-west of Polavaram.
:
Population 1,784. Its hamlet Hukumpeta is the head-quarters

of a zamindari which was acquired from the Gutala estate by
purchase about 40 years ago, and is still held by the descend-
ants of the purchasers. It comprises four villages and pays a
peshkash of Rs. 1,240.
Gutala. Gutala Five miles south of Polavaram.

: Population
3,300. Contains a vernacular lower secondary school for boys
and a Sanskrit school. It was once the chief place of one
of the pergunnas of the ancient Polavaram zamindari, and
' '
its history is sketched in the account of this latter below. In

the circumstances there narrated, it was put up to auction in
1810. In 1812 and 1813 it was sold for arrears of revenue, and
in 1827 passed by private sale to one Maniyam Venkata-
it
ratnam, an ancestor of the present holder. Since then various

purchases and sales have much modified the extent of the
GAZETTEER. 279
estate. The most important of these were the purchase of 74 CHAP. xv.
hamlets of the old Nagavaram mutta and the sale of the Polavaram.
Gangolu mutta some 40 years ago. The estate now comprises
Polavaram division (including Nagavaram
five villages in the
and its hamlets) and five villages elsewhere. It pays a
peshkash of Rs. 6,721.
Jangareddigiidem Thirty miles south-west of Polavaram.
: Jangareddi-
Population 1,918. Head-quarters of a small estate consisting S^"^^"-
of this village, Billumilli and Bayyanagiidem, and paying a

peshkash of Rs. 3,008. In 1832 Jangareddigiidem was sub-
divided from the Polavaram estate in circumstances referred
to in the account of that property below. It was subsequently
bought (along with the other two villages) by the grandfather

of the present holder some 50 years ago.
Pata Pattisam A hamlet of this, called Pattisam Nidhi,
:
Pata Patti-
forms a picturesque and rocky island in the Godavari, three sam.
miles south of Polavaram. The population of the whole

village is 2,002. It is called Pata (old) Pattisam to distinguish
it from Kotta (new) Pattisam, a hamlet of Gutala. A division
of the old Polavaram estate, containing five villages and
paying a peshkash of Rs, 5,209, is called the Pattisam
division, but this was never held separately from Polavaram
proper.
The village is the scene of a well attended festival at
Sivaratri. The local sthala piirdnam says that the Pattisam
hill went to the Himalayas to attend a conference of
mountains, but, not being shown proper consideration, left the
others and went and did penance by itself. By means of this
penance it induced the Siva of the Himalayas to leave that
range and come to Pattisam, where he now resides in the
Virabhadra temple. This temple also contains two stone
images of women, called Aniswari and Puniswari, one of
whom is represented as being in childbed. These are much
worshipped by childless women desirous of offspring. The
suppliant places her foot on a platform in front of the figures,
and vows that if a child like a pearl or like coral is born to
her, she will present a pearl or a piece of coral to the images.
In another part of the same temple
are figures of Durga and
Mahishasuramardhani, the form
adopted by the goddess
Parvati when she killed the demon Mahishasura. Sheep and
fowls are sacrificed before these idols, though they are inside
the precincts of the temple. The spilling of blood is not as a
rule permitted inside Brahmanical shrines. The Virabhadra
temple has two villages attached to it, which bring in an
annual income of about Rs. 2,000.
28o GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. Another sacred place on the Pattisam island is the
POLAVARAM. Bhadrakaligundam, a pit in the bed of the which is
river
a favourite bathing-place. The Mahanandisvaram temple
on another small island four miles up the river is also
fairly well known. It is supposed to be the residence of the
bull (nandi) which belongs to the Pattisam temple. It has
one agrahdram village as an endowment, and this brings in

Rs. 800 a year. On the island is a cave which is popularly
supposed to be the entrance of an underground passage to
Benares.
P61avaram. Polavaram Head-quarters of the Agency Deputy Collector

:
(who, however, is temporarily located at Rajahmundry) and

the deputy tahsildar. Population 4,455. It also contains the
office of a sub-registrar, a local fund dispensary (established
by Government in 1880), a police-station, a travellers' bunga-
low, a Government girls' school and an English lower
secondary school for boys. It was formerly the chief place
in the important zamindari of the same name, which formerly
embraced the whole of this division and much of Yernagiidem
and Rajahmundry taluks, but now comprises only twelve
villages paying a peshkash of Rs. 6,713.
This estate was long under the independent rule of an
ancient Hindu family who derived their authority from the
Gajapati kings of Orissa, and are said to have been descended
from that line. Little is known of the estate previous to the
British occupation of the country, but the names of three of
its zamindars, Venkatapati, Jagannatha, and Venkatarama,
have been preserved. It was then divided into the three

estates of Polavaram, Gutala and Kottapalli, and subordinate
to it was the small hill zamindari of Nagavaram.
In 1780 the zamindar, Lakshminarayana Devu, died leaving
three sons named Mangapati Devu, Narasimha Devu and
Vijayagopala Devu, of whom the last was the only son of his
second wife. Mangapati was the eldest of the three and
succeeded to the zamindari. In 1781 Kottapalli, which had
been temporarily in charge of another holder, was restored to
the estate, and Mangapati was thus in possession of all three
of the subdivisions of the property. As he was a minor, his
diwan managed the estate for him. This man was the brother
of Vijayagopala's mother, and he induced the Chief at
Masulipatam to recommend (1782) that the estate should
make a provision for each of
be divided into three so as to
the three This
brothers. was done, and Polavaram fell
to Mangapati, Gutala to Vijayagopala, and Kottapalli to
Narasimha.
GAZETTEER. 28l
In 1785 Dasu Reddi, the zamindar of Nagavaram, pretend- chap, xv

ing that Vijayagopala's diwan was not managing the Gutala polavakam.
estate properly, captured that town and took the young Raja
and hismother prisoners. He was perhaps egged on to do
this by Mangapati, between whom and Vijayagopala's
mother there was no love lost. A force of seven companies
of sepoys marched up to liberate the prisoners and restore
order. The Nagavaram zamindar then moved his prisoners
to his own estate and the English force accordingly marched
as far as Anantapalli. The zamindar then returned to
Gutala, and the English force, supposing he would release
the prisoners, retired. He still however refused to do so, and
Gutala was accordingly captured. Two sepoys were wounded
and about eighty peons killed and wounded on both sides
during the attack. Dasu Reddi was sent to Masulipatam and
Vijayagopala was restored to Gutala.
Similar disturbances took place in 1786-87, when the hill
people, who were mostly adherents of Dasu Reddi's, were
driven out of the Company's territory by a detachment of
sepoys. In 1788 peace was for the time restored, and the
jealousy between the branches of the Polavaram family
appeased, by placing the whole of the estate under one diwan.
This diwan managed the property efficiently till his death
in 1790. A successor was then appointed with the apparent
consent of the three brothers. The mother of Vijayagopala
refused however to acquiesce in the new arrangement, and
made herself supreme in Gutala. The Company's troops
marched up to Gutala to bring her to order, and when they
arrived she was discovered with her son in a room in the
palace in which were two large open vessels of gunpowder.
She threatened that if she was touched she would destroy
herself and all that were near, and the Company's officer
prudently retired. The lady was ultimately pacified, and
surrendered quietly. She was taken to Masulipatam, Vijaya-
gopala was detained at Rajahmundry, and Mangapati was
recognized as zamindar of the united estates of Gutala and
Polavaram. Narasimha remained in charge of Kottapalli.
Thus far the disturbances in the estate had been due to
private family feuds rather than to disloyalty to Government.
The firmer revenue administration of the new Collectors
appointed in 1794 however caused a real rebellion of the
whole family. Mangapati gave a great deal of trouble to the
authorities, failing to pay his peshkash and withholding the
accounts which were necessary to ascertain how far he had
suffered from the recent famine and what remissions should be
granted him on that account. So obstinate was he, that the
36
282 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. Board of Revenue directed that he should be taken prisoner.

He was accordingly seized and confined and his estate
POLAVARAM.
attached; but he was afterwards liberated on his agreeing
to discharge the arrears in two years, to give security for the
current revenue as it fell due, and to make an immediate
payment of sixteen thousand pagodas.
At this juncture Vijayagopala escaped from Rajahmundry
and took refuge with Linga Reddi, a hill chief whose estate
lay on the east bank of the Godavari above Polavaram. He
was induced by his host and a fugitive revenue defaulter
(who had plundered Undi in 1798) to join them in a rebellion,
and their combined parties commenced a jituri by plundering
two villages in the Polavaram estate.
His brother's revolt encouraged Mangapati to give further
trouble about his revenue. He claimed indulgence, which
was refused. He promised to pay, but still delayed. His
conduct became refractory and turbulent and he made an
;
exorbitant claim for a remission of over fifty thousand

pagodas, and showed that he was prepared to back this up
by force. Negotiations ensued while both the zamindar and
the Government collected their forces for the expected
struggle. The zamindar's demand was finally refused, and a
military detachment moved rapidly up the country and
captured Polavaram. The zamindar however escaped, and
the principal object of the officer in command, who had
hoped to end the affair by seizing his person, was frustrated.
A reward was offered for his apprehension and the country
was placed under martial law. Mangapati first fled to the
Nizam's Dominions, but returned when the coast was clear.
A carefully planned attempt to capture him at Siruvaka (21
miles north of Polavaram) was unsuccessful, but he fled and
was apparently never heard of again. It is supposed he took
refuge in the Rampa country.
Meanwhile the outbreak started by Linga Reddi and
Vijayagopala had been joined by the Rampa people, and
sepoys had to be stationed both atKottapalli and Indukurpeta
to keep them in check. In August iSoo they attacked
Indukurpeta, from which they were easily beaten back, and
three days later a band of insurgents advanced as far as
Purushottapatnam opposite Polavaram and, within sight of
;
the troops stationed there, seized the boats on that side of the
river so as to cut off communication. Vijayagopala, whose
heart had never apparently been in the rebellion, however
surrendered; Narasimha, the zamindar of Kottapalli, who
had also joined in the outbreak, was captured; and peace
was gradually restored. The Polavaram estate was given
GAZETTEER. 283
to a cousin named Lakshminarayana Devu, with whom the CHAP. XV.

permanent settlement was made.^ Polavaram.
Since that time subdivisions and revenue sales have played
havoc with this ancient property. The first alteration in its
limits occurred in 1808, when, in consequence of the accrual
of large arrears of revenue, it was divided into the three
muttas of Giitala, Polavaram and Kottapalli, and the last of
these (comprising 39 villages) was sold in auction. Giitala
and Polavaram remained under the old family, but next year
the zamindar (Narasimha Devu) broke into rebellion and they
were both put up to auction, and the ancient line of the
Polavaram zamindars came to an end.
The Polavaram mutta, of portions of which the present
Polavaram is made up, was purchased at this sale by one
Bavayamma. In 1812 it was sold again for arrears and was
purchased by Bahu Balendra Razu, and in the following year
it was sold yet once more and was bought by Kocharla Kota
Jaggayya, an ancestor of the present zamindar. On his death

in 1832, the estate was subdivided by Government and given
to different members of the family, and the only parts of it
which remained to Ramachandra Venkatakrishna Rao, the
son of Jaggayya and the grandfather of the present zamindar,
were the two properties of Polavaram and Pattisam which
(with the addition of the Nallamillipadu estate purchased by
the proprietrix who held the property from 1858 to 1888) from
the present zamindari. Of the other portions which were
subdivided off in 1832, the only village which has not since
been purchased by Government is the Jangareddigiidem
already referred to above. The Polavaram estate was under
the Court of Wards in the years 1832-35, 1846-54 and 1856-58.
Polavaram village contains some tombs which are locally
stated to be those of European soldiers who fell in the fituri
of Mangapati Devu at the end of the eighteenth century.
They bear no inscriptions. Another grim relic of the old
disorders in these parts which existed here till recently was
the gallows on which Subba Reddi and Kommi Reddi, the
ringleaders of the fituri of 1858, were hanged. This was
carried away by the floods of 1900.
Taduvayi Thirty-seven miles west by south of Polavaram.
:
Taduvayi.
Population 1,627. It is well known in this part of the country
for its Siva temple, to which many pilgrims go at Sivaratri.
The village contains a travellers' bungalow.
1 This account of these disturbances has been abridged from Mr, Morris'
description in the original District Manual. The authorities on which he relied,
which consist of MS. official records and printed reports, are quoted by him on
p. 275 thereof.
284 GODAVARI.
YELLAVARAM DIVISION.
CHAP. XV. The Yellavaram division of the Agency occupies the north-
Yella- easternmost corner of the district. The whole of it is hilly,
\ARANi.
though considerable areas of level land lie among the hills,
and, except for fifteen villages adjoining the plains, is
covered by forest it is also very malarious the soil is poor
; ;
and in the summer months water is always scarce there are ;
only 24 miles of metalled road in the whole of it and the ;
inhabitants are mostly Koyas and hill Reddis. Consequently

it is very backward and sparsely populated, and contains
only 31 persons to the square mile. Some little irrigation
is provided by a few tanks. The chief cereals are paddy,
pulses and oil-seeds but the hill men depend mostly on the
;
produce of the tamarind trees, which grow to a great size.

There are no industries worthy of the name in the division,
except a very little basket making. There are five weekly
markets.
Large areas which formerly belonged to the old Jaddangi
estate are now Government land, but considerable tracts are
held by the various hill muttadars referred to below. Round
Jaddangi considerable tracts of forest have been reserved and
the Forest department has opened up these with roads.
Addatigeia. Addatigela Head-quarters of the division.
: Population
459. Contains a police-station, a travellers' bungalow, a local
fund dispensary (established 1901) and one of the four weekly
markets of the division. It is an insignificant place and
little suited to be the head-quarters of a division, being
unhealthy and surrounded with jungle.
The village was the scene of some stirring events during
the Rampa rebellion referred to in the account of Rampa
above. Almost the first act of the insurgent leader Chand-
rayya was to burn down the police-station there. This
occurred at the end of April 1879. The station was rebuilt
and re-garrisoned, but in June was again attacked by Chand-
rayya. On the twelfth of that month some police under a
European officer were attacked by Chandrayya in this
neighbourhood, kept under fire for four and a half hours, and
finally driven to take refuge in the station. There they were
attacked three days later. They had to unroof the thatched
station buildings for fear of fire a reinforcement of 20 men
;
sent to their rescue was driven back by Chandrayya and a ;

GAZETTEER. 285
sortie of theirswas also repulsed by him. Detachments were CHAF. XV.

then hurried up from various quarters, and the station was Yella-
varam.
relieved (without opposition) on the 25th of June.
AnigeruTwo miles north-east
: of Addatigela. Popula- Anigeru.
tion 211. the chief village of a

Is mutta consisting of six
villages and paying a quit-rent of Rs. 80. The muttadar's
family is descended from the old mansabdar of Jaddangi
who (see the account of that place below) was deposed in
1846. His infant son had in later years immense influence
with hill people and at the time of the Rampa rebellion he
;
exerted it entirely in the favour of Government and materially

to their advantage. It was decided to reward him by giving
him the six villages of this mutta. They had formerly

belonged to Dutcharti but the holder of that mutta had not
;
behaved well in the disturbances, and deserved no considera-

tion. The grantee was succeeded by his son in 1887 and the
latter was followed by his mother, who died in 1904.
Dutcharti : Ten miles nearly north of Addatigela ;

popula- Dutcharti,
tion 308. the chief village of the hill mutta of the same
It is
name which pays a quit-rent of Rs. 1,200. Till 1881 this was
a part of the Golgonda taluk of Vizagapatam district. It was
originally held on service tenure under the old Golgonda

zamindar. His estate was sold for arrears and bought in by
Government in 1837 and the muttadars under him thus
;
became direct holders under Government on a service tenure.

This seriously lowered their status, as they were directly
subject to the surveillance of the Collector's native dmin ;
and several disturbances followed.^
At the time of the outbreak of the Rampa rebellion of
1879 in this district the Golgonda muttadars had no such
grievances against Government as existed in Rampa but ;
they still fretted against the restrictions which had been

placed upon their powers, and the more daring spirits among
them were moved by solicitations from across the border, by
a hunger for loot, and by a desire to pay ofi" old scores against
the police.
The chief of the malcontents was Chekka Venkan Dora,
muttadar of Dutcharti, whose grandfather had been manager
of that mutta, and, on the death of his master without issue,
had obtained a sanad for it himself. The first outbreak was
caused by the action of one Dwarabandham Chandrayya,
a man of some substance, who afterwards became one of
the chief leaders of the rebellion. His house was searched,
1 These are referred to in the account of Golgonda taluk in the Vizagapatam

Gazetteer.
286 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. during his absence, by the police in connection with a dacoity.
Yella- Furious that such a thing should have been done when only
N'ARAM.
his womenfolk were present, he collected all the budmashes
in the surrounding villages, descended into Dutcharti and
burnt the police-station of Addatigela. This was at the end
of April 1879. Numerous parties of insurgents who were
beating up recruits, flying for shelter, or levying black-mail
now resorted to this country and, though no further open
;
outrages were committed, troops had to be sent up into

these hills.
Chekka Venkan Dora, muttadar of Dutcharti, had avoided
any overt act of rebellion. But it was the belief of all the
officers, civil and military, who served in those hills, that he
had encouraged Chandrayya on the understanding that his
own villages should be spared from plunder. It was beyond
doubt both that his villages were not plundered and that he
could, if he liked, have crushed the outbreak there and pre-
vented the destruction of Addatigela. When, therefore, the
rebellion was over, it was decided to remove Chekka Venkan
Dora from his mutta. His brother, the present muttadar, was
appointed in 1881. At the same time the six villages which
now constitute the mutta of Anigeru (g.v.) were taken from
Dutcharti to reward the loyalty of another influential hill
chief. The muttas of Dutcharti and Guditeru, which were
thought to be more accessible to the officers of this district,
were also transferred from the Vizagapatam to the Godavari
Agency in the same year.-^
Gurtedu. Gurtedu, or Guditeru, is a village of 300 inhabitants and
containing a travellers' bungalow, which gives its name to a
mutta in the extreme north-east of the division. Like Dut-
charti, it formed till 1881 a part of the Golgonda taluk of the
Vizagapatam district. It pays Rs. 70 quit-rent. It is quite
isolated from the rest of the Yellavaram division by the Dum-
konda hill and can only be reached by the Yeduvampula pass
through the Vizagapatam district or from Chodavaram via
Boduluru. Horses cannot get across this pass, and elephants
have to be lightly laden. Along it may be seen the remains
of the sangars built by the hill men during the Rampa
rebellion.
Jaddan'. JaddangiNine miles east by north of Addatigela popu-
:
;
lation 537contains a travellers' bungalow. Was once the

;
head-quarters of a mansab which was formerly held on service

^ Notification No. 217, Judicial, dated 29ih June 1881. For these troubles
inGolgonda, see the minute, dated November ist, 18S1, of Mr. D. F. Carmichael,
Member of Council, who was appointed as Special Commissioner to arrange
a seltlemenl.
GAZETTEER. 287
tenure under the old zamindar of Peddapuram. When that CHAP. XV.
zamindari fell into the hands of Government, the muttadar Yella-
varam.
held on the same tenure directly under the new owners. He
rebelled in 1845 and the mutta was accordingly resumed. It
contained 80 villages.
At Jaddangi is held one of the few markets in Yellavaram.
Near the village is a cave containing the image of the well-
known Brahman saint Mandavya Mahamuni, who is supposed
by the local people to have lived in the cave. The river

Maderu is said to have been called after him.
Kota : Twelvemiles north-north-west of Addatigela. Kota.
Population Contains a police-station, and is the chief
105.
village of the hill mutta of the same name, but is a petty
collection of huts. It is said to have originally formed a part
of the Rampa mansabdar's estate, under which it was prop-

erly held on service tenure. Under the muttadar there are
five sub-muttas namely, those of Yerragonda, Yarlagedda,
;
Pasaraginni, Nulakamaddi, and Samagedda. Of these the

first named pays a kattubadi to the muttadar of Rs. 80 a
year, and the others each Rs. 50. The muttadar himself pays
Government an annual quit-rent of Rs. 210.
The police-station seems to have been taken by the insur-
gents at the commencement of the Rampa rebellion, and an
attempt made on March 17th 1879 by a force of police to reach
and hold it was unsuccessful. It was however soon re-occupied,
and resisted several attacks during April. It is now the most
unpopular station in the district.
Mohanapuram Seven miles north-west of Addatigela. Mohana-
:
Population 138. It is the chief village of a hill mutta which puram.

was formerly under the mansabdar of Rampa, and since 1879
has been held on service tenure direct from Government.
The quit-rent is Rs. 25.
Ncllipiidi Twenty miles south-south-west of Addatigela.
: Nellipudi-
Population 835. Contains a travellers' bungalow and a weekly
market. The village is held on mokhasa tenure. It was given
to the father of the late mokhasadar, who died in 1906, in
recognition of his services to Government. The village was
formerly part of the Rampa mansabdar's property. The
(juit-rent is Rs. 350.
Pandrapole Eight miles north-west of Addatigela. Popu-
: Pandrap('>le,
lation 87. Another of the old Rampa muttas. The father of

the present muttadar, who is also the muttadar of Kota, was
confirmed in 1879 on a quit-rent of Rs. 70.
possession in
Ramavaram Seventeen miles north-west of Addatigela and Ramavaram.

:
included in the Kota mutta. Contains a travellers' bungalow.

Qn a hill near this village is a small cave in which are four
288 GODAVARI.
CHAP. XV. idols. From the rock above hang stalactites from which water
Yella- drips on to the figures below. The temple of Visvanatha in
VARAM.
this village is worshipped by the Saivites in the neighbouring
hills every Sivaratri. The god is considered especially potent
in granting prayers for children.
Virabhadra- Virabhadrapuram Three and a half miles east by south of
:
puram.
Addatigela; population 225. On the Devudu Pinjari hill close
by is a small cave in which is an idol called Virabhadrasvami.
This is worshipped every Sivaratri by the neighbouring hill
people.
;
289
INDEX
Anakapalle, 106.
Anantapalli, 281.
Abkari revenue, 183-185. Anapa Ashwa Rao, 259.
Abu riassan, 234, 235. Anaparti, 234.
Adama Razu, 64. Andhra Brahmans, 51.
AdJiinki, 25. Andhras, 17, 18.
Adda,tigela, 135, 275, 284. Angleyulapadu, 229.
Adivipalem, 215. Anicuts on the Godavari, 79-89, 262.
Administration, of land revenue, 160-180 ; Anigeru, village and mutta, 285, 286.
of salt, abkari, etc., revenue, 181-187; Animists, 42.
of justice, 188-195. Anna Reddi, 24, 25, 242.
Adnet, Captain, 230, 231, 232. Annavaram, 221.
Agency tracts, described, 2 ; Musalmans Antarvedi, 106, 217.
tew in, 38 ; houses in, 43 ; food in, 45, Antelope, 16.
136 ; witchcraft believed in, 46 ; shift- Anupotama Nayudu, 234.
ing cultivation in, jS ; forests in, 92- A^nwar-ud-din, 235, 236.
lOl 'passim ; rest-houses in, 133 ; Appanapalaiyam, 226.
scarcity in, 140 cyclone in,
; 144 Arama Brahmans, 51.
malaria 148; education in, 153 ;
in,
Areca palms, 72, 89.
revenue system of, 174-8; extent of,
Arikarevala, 127.
177 ; Salt Act not extended to, 183 ;
arrack revenue in, 184 ; liquor shops in, Ariyavattam, 39, 212.
185; toddy revenue in, 185; opium Arrack, 113, 183.
and hemp drugs in, 186 ; Income-tax Artesian wells, 90, in.
Act not extended to, 187; stamp revenue Arts and industries, 102-112.
in, 187; administration of justice in, Arundel, Sir A. T., 95.
189; alterations in the limits of, 190 Asard system of revenue, 167.
litigation in, 191 local boards in, 196,
; Asiatic Steam Navigation Company, 115.
Agricultural farm, 75, 76, 233. Asoka inscriptions, 17.
Agriculture, 68-79.
Atreyapuram, 39, 201.
Agriculturists, economic condition of, 90.
Attivarman, Fallava king, 18.
Aihole inscription, 19, 233. Aurangzeb, 29, 203.
Alamiir, 135, 191, 192. Austrian Lloyd steamers,' 115.
Ala-ud-din (^Bahmani king), 234. Avenues, 124.
Alexander, Rev. F. W. N ., 66. Ayinavalli, no, 202.
Allada Reddi, 26. Ayyaparazu-Kottapalli, 256.
Allahabad inscription, 18, 233.
Allaya Vema Reddi, 26.
Alluvium of the delta, 9. B
Alpa Khan,26.
Amalapuram taluk, 200-206. Bachchanna, 235.
Amalapuram town, timber depflt at, lOI ;
Badagunta village, 267.
lead and silver work at, 105 ; riê mill Bagavalas, 60.
in, no; rainfall at, 135; vaccination Bahu Balendra Razu, 283.
compulsory in, 150; district munsif at, Ballacuts, 126.
191 ; sub-registrar in, 191 ; union, 197 ;
Bamboo, 5, 105, 108, 131.
described, 201. Bandapalli mutta, 266,
Amaravati, 17, 207, 250. Bandarulanka, 103, 202.
Ambajipeta, 15, 107, 112, 201. Bangle-making, 108, 225, 240, 255.
Ambul Reddi, 264, 274, 275. Bank of Madras, 115
American Evangelical Lutheran Mission, Bantumilli estate, 164.
39. 223. Baptist Mission, 40, 151, 210, 214.
Amma I, 24, 244. Barakar rocks, 9.
Amma II, 244. Barber, Mr. C. A., 75.
Amusements, 45, 64, 67. Barry & k.o., Messrs. T. H., j'6, 115.
37
290 INDEX
Basa GoUas, 6l. Boduluru village and mutta, 267, 274, 286.
Baskets, io8, 284. Bo gams, 58, 104.
Bassia lati/olia, 62. Boileau, Mr., 92.
Baslar slate, 60-62, 63, 105. Bolagonda mutta, 267.
Bathing places, 6. Botany, 12.
Bavayamma, 283. Boundaries of the district, i.
Bayard, Mr., 153. Brahmans, dress of, 44 food ; of, 45 ; de-
Bayyanagudem, 279. scribed, 51 ; number
of students among,
Bears, 15, 71, 77. 155 Tamil section of, 204.
;
Bedadanuru, 9, 10. Brandis, Sir D., 92.

Bell-metal work, 105. Brass work, 105, 222, 225.
Bench courts, 191. Bride price, 49.
Bendamurlanka, mouth uf the Godavari Bridges, 125, 243.
near, 6 ; English factory at, 29 ; taken British India Steam Navigation Company,
by the French, 31 ; forest block, 98, 115-
99 ; rope made at, 107 coasting trade ; Brodie, Mr. V. A., 158.
of, 187 ; E.I. Co.'s trade at, 201 de- ; Brown, Mr. J'. H., 126.
scriVjed, 202 ; temple built by a Palli of, Buckingham canal, 130.
218. Buddhism, 17, 20.
Bendapudi, 24, 25, 255. Buffaloes, 13 ; sacrifice of, 48, 222, 241,
Bengal gram, 71, 76, 77. 248, 253.
Beri-beri, 150. Building stone, 11.
Best & Co., Messrs., 115 Bulusu Achayya, 202.
Betel, 3, 72. Burma, 186.
Bezwada, 9, lOl. Bussy, M., Northern Circars ceded to, 30 ;
Bhadrachalam estate, 259. takes Bendamurlanka, 202; Nilapalli
Bhadrachalam taluk, Christian mission in, and Injaram, 213; fort built by, 221 ;
42 paddy seasons in, 68
;
forests in, ; at Rajahmundry, 245.
92, 94, 95? 100 weights and measures ;
Buttayagiidem, 36.
in, 1 1 8- 1 19, 121 ; ferries in, I2t, 127 ;
travellers" bungalows in, 133; fever in,
150 ; settlement of, 174-177 Registra-;
tion Act extended to, 191 Local Boards

;
Cain, Rev. J 42, 55, 60, 140, 260.
,
Act withdrawn from, 196; described, Cain, Mrs., J., 1 12.

258-265. Calliaud, General, 33.
Bhadrachalam town, gold and rock crys- Cambu, 45, 71, 76, 77.
tals found near, 11 Mogalturru family ; Caaadian Baptist Mission, 40, 151, 210,
fled to, 35 ; rainfall at, 135 ; Assistant 214.
Superintendent of Police at, 194 ;
Cape Coringa, 211.
described, 259. Cape Godavari, 113.
Bhadrakaligundam, 280. Carmichael, Mr., 269.
Bhanayyamma, 226. Carpentry, 155.
Bhatrazus, 54. Caryota iircKS. See Sago Palm
Bhimanij, 15. Caste deities, 47,
Bhimavaram, 207, 214, 250. Castes, 50-67, 192-194.
Bikkavolu, drain, 8, 113; village, 191, Castor, 76, 77, 107, 116.
197, 249. Casuarina plantations, 98, 99.
Billumilli, 279. Cattle, 13, 14, 15; fairs for, 15, 117, 201,
Bimlipatam, 209. 239-
Biraiya, 3, 5. Cemeteries atCocanada, 210 Coringa, ;
15iraiya Konda, 3. 211 Dowlaishweram, 241

; Drakshari- ;
Birampalli mutta, 267. mam, 252; Nilapalli, 213; Polavaram,

Bison. 15. 283 and Rajahmundrv, 246.
;
Bison Hill, 3, 13, 67, 97. Ceriops Candolleana, 99.

Black-buck, 15. Chagallu, 35.
Black-gram, 71, 76, 77. Challa Peddy, 223.
Black-water fever, 150. Chaiukya Bhimavaram, 207.
Blanford, Mr. W. T., 10. Chalukyas, 18-20, 249.
Blood feuds among Ivoyas, 62. Chamarlakota, 214.
Boats, 127, 131. Chambers of Commerce, 114.
Bobbarlanka, 81, 127. Cha idhavolu, 23, 24.
Bobbarlanka canal, 145. Chandrayya, 274. 275, 284, 285.
Bobbili, Maharaja of, 222. Chandurti, 32, 227.
Bodasakurru, 107, 127. Chattrams, 133, 19S, 199, 240.
Bodugudem hills, 3, 258. Chavala mutta, 267.
INDEX, 291
Chebrolu, 23, 24, 228 230. family, 235 ; Dutch at, 236 ; French
Chekka Venkan Dora, 2t>5» 286. driven to, 236.
Chenlzus, 59, 206. Cock-fighting, 45.
Cherla Raja, 46. Cocoanut palm, 3, 72, 89, 205 ; fibre
Cheroot factory, 115. ropes, 107, 201 ; leaf mats, 105 ; oil,
Chettis, 57. 107, 117, 205 ; oil-cake, 107.
Chiduguru mutta, 267. Coir ropes, 107.
ChiûrupauHH, 185, 272, 273. Colleges, 154-159.
Chillangi, 224. Commercial weights, 117.
Chindadu Garuvu, 204. Committee of circuit, 162, 188.
Chinna Malla Razu, 24, 255. Comprapollam, 189.
Chintz-stamping, 105 in Cocanada taUik, ; Condore, battle of, 31, 209, 223, 227-232.
207 ; Gollapalaiyam, 212 Samalkot, ; Contlans, Manjuis de, 31, 227, 228, 232.
214; Peddapuram, 224; Rajahmundry, Conjeeveram, 18, 19, 35.
248 ; Tuni, 256. Contract distillery supply system, 183.
Choda, 22, 23. Copper work, 105.
Chodavaram division, 266, 277. Coringa island, 88.
Chodavaram town, rainfall at, 135 ; special Coringa Rice Mills Co., no, 115, 213.
Hill Police Reserve at, 125 ; described, Coringa river, 6.
268 attack on, 273
; grant to ;
the Coringa town, fishing near, 16 forest ;
munsif of, 276 pass from, 286.;

reserve near, 98 ; bascule bridge at, 126 ;
Cholarn, 45, 76, 77, 79. rainfall at, 135 ; inundations by the sea
Cholas, 19, 20. at, 142 ; tidal wave in, 143 ; fish curing
Cholera, 149. at, 1S3 ; foreign trade of, 187; lawless-
ChoUangi, 208. ness (in 1789) in, 189; sub-registrar at,
Chopakonda mutta, 26S. 191 ; deputy tahsildar at, 192 ; decline
Choultries, 133, 198, 199, 240. of the port of, 210 ; described, 210.
Chowkis, 187. Cosby, Sir Henry, 33, 246.
Christiaa Missions, 39, 151, 246. Cotton, dyeing of, 104; weaving of, 103;
Christians, 39, 153. trade in, 116, 117, 210. See also Weav-
Church Missionary Society, 41, 262. ing.
Clan Line Steamers, 115. Cotton, Sir Arthur, 41, 80, 86, 128.
Climate, il. Cotton and Randall, Messrs., 74.
Clive Lord, 31, 33. Courts, 189, 191.
Coal, 9, 10. Cows, 13.
Cocanada canal, 113, 146. Crime, 67, 192.
Cocanada taluk, 207-216. Crocodiles, 15.
Cocanada taluk board, 196. Cuddalore sandstone, 9.
Cocanada town, meteorological observa- Cultivation expenses, 171, 173.
tions made at, 12; fishing near, 16; Cunningham, Lieutenant, 143.
Dutch factory at, 29 ; French forces in, Customs, 186, 187.
32, 33 Christian missions in, 41, 42 ;
;
Cut-stone, 1 1.
tobacco-factory in, 78 salt creek at, ; Cyclones, 12, 144.
85 artesian well in, 90
;
firewood ;
market in, 98, 99 timber market in, ; D

lOl cotton dyeing in, 104
;
metal work ;
wood-carving at, 106;

in, 105, 106, 207 ; Daksha, sacrifice of, 202.
oil factories in, rope exported107 ; Dalberîa laiifolia, 100, lOl.
from, 107; shoe-making in, 108 print- ;
Dancing, 65.
ing presses in, no ; rice mills in, no ;
Dancing girls, 44, 58, 203, 204,
workshops in. III ; trade of, 1 13, 213 ;
Dandangi estate, 268.
harbour at, 113; navigation system Darimadugiila, 270.
from, 130 ; chaltram at, 134 rainfall ; Dasu Reddi, 281.
at, 135 poor-house at, 141
;
tidal wave ; Date palm, 105, 108, 185.
in, 143 ; cyclone at, 144 ; vaccination Daulagiri, 24I.
compulsory in, 150 ; medical institutions Deccan Sugar and Abkari Co., 109, m,
in, 151 ; school first established at, 184.
153 ; college at, 157 ; Collector's head- Deer, spotted, 15.
quarters at, 163; salt factory in, 181, Dekkalas, 60.
182 ; fish-curing near, 183 taverns in, ; Delhi Durbar Exhibition, ro6.
185 ;
port courts in, 191 ;
of, 187 ; Density of the population, 38.
district and sub-registrars in, 191 ; Deputy tahsildars, 192.
bench court at, 192 municipality, 197 ; ; Devangas, 102, 104, 109.
chintz stamping in, 207 described, ;
Devarapalli, 259, 270.
208-210 ;
granted to Pithapuram Devudu Pinjari hill, 288.
;;
292 INDEX.
Dewalamurry barrier, 128. Ellore, reduced by Pulakesin, II, 19
Dhall, ^^. chieftains of, 24 ; siege of, 28
Dharamallapuram, 221. plundered by Ifdl Keddis, 28 ; Marathas
Dharanikota, 18. march through, 30 attacked by Colonel
;
Dholes, 15. Forde, 32 ; timber sent to, loi ; Musal-

Diseases, 48, 63, 67, 148-150. man court at, 188 ; defeat of the
Dispensaries, 151, 152. zamindar of, 235.
Distillery and sugar factory at Samalkot, Enchampalli, 128, 129.
III, 184, 185. Excise system of salt administration, 181.
District Board, 196. Exports, 1 12, 182.
District Court, 191.
District munsifs, 189, 191.
Divili Brahmans, 51.
Divisional charges, 178. Factories, at Cocanada, 210 ; of the East
Divorce, 49. India Company, 212, 213.
Dogs, wild, 15. Family deities, 47.
Donlamuru estate, 222, 224. Famines, 136-141, 163, 164, 167.
Dorachintalapalem miitta, 268. Farm (agricultural), at Samalkot, 214.
Doras, 175. Fauna, 13.
Double crop land, 174. Ferishta, 24.
Dowlaishvveram anient, 15, 74, 79, 146. Ferries, 126.
Dowlaishweram tosvn, description of the Ferry inams, 180.
Godavari at, 5 ; Roman Catholic chapel Fire protection in forests, 97.
at, 42 ; metal work at, 105 ; wood- Fischer, Captain, 32.
carving at, 106 ; idols made at, 106 ;
Fish, 15.
oil factories in, 107 ; shoe-making in, Fish-curing yards, 183.
108; workshops at, no; architects in, Fishing-nets, 99.
no boat service to, 127, 131 vaccina-
; ;
Fitiiris, 34-37.
tion compulsory in, 150 police station ;
Floods, 7, 144-147, 167.
for, 194; union, 197; described, 240. Flora, 12.
Drainage, 198. Floncan, 15.
Draksharamam, cattle fair at, 1 5, 1 17; Food, 45.
inscription at, 24, 26 Jain relics in, ;
Forbes, JVIr. IE, 82.
39 mosque at, 39
;
wood-carving at, ; Forde, Col., 31, 227-231, 245.
106 sub-registrar in, 191
;
union, 197 ; ;
Foreign liquor, 185.
huge lingam at, 207 described, 250. ;
Forests, 92-101,
Drawing. 159. Forts at Bandapudi, 255; Devarapalli,
Dress, 44. 259 ; Dharamallapuram, 221 Koru- ;
Dry cultivation, 76-79. konda, 25; Nagaram, 219 ; Nallapalli,

Duck, 15. 259 Peddapuram, 224; Totapalli, 226;
;
Di'idekus, 39. and Vaddigiidem, 259.

Dumkonda hill, 3, 286. Foxes, 16.
Dummagudeni anicut, 4, 129, I47. French, the, 29, 30, 31.
Dummagiidem canal, 12S, 129. Fruit trees, 100.
Dummagudem village, formation of rocks Funerals, 50.
near, 9, 128 ; Christian mission at, 41,
42 ; human sacrifices near, 63 Koya ;
festival near, 65; lace work at, 112;

described, 262. Gabriel, Rev, Thomas, 40.
Dupati \7\.-aA^ 94, 176. Gajapatis of Orissa, 26.
Duppalapudi, 108, 240. Gall-nuts, loi,
Dutch, the, 29, 209, 236, 252, Gamallas, 48, 57, iS5,
Dutcharli mutta, 285. Gamble, iMr. J. S., 93.
Game, 15.
Game rules, 97.
Ganapati (Kakatiya), 24,
Ganapavaram tank, 89.
Earth goddess, festival of, 65. Gangavaram, 252.
Earth-salt, 183. Gangolu mutta, 27S.
East Coast Railway, 132. Ganja, 186.
Economic condition of agriculturists, 90. Gannavaram aqueduct, 86 ; canal, 146 ;
Education, 153-159. village, 202.

Elephantiasis, 150, 224. Garnets, li.
Elliott, Sir Walter, 154. Gaur, 15.
Ellore canal, 132. Gauridevipeta, 9, 10, II.
INDEX 293
Gaulami Godavari river, 5, 6, 145, 147. Haihiya chiefs, 23.

Gavara Razu, M.R.Ry. B., 155. Hajee Houssum, 209.
Gavuda Jettis, 57. Haji Hussain, 29,
Gedara bark, 99. Hall, Wilson & Co., Messrs.. 115, iSa,
Geddada mutta, 268, 270. 210.
Geese, wild, 15, Hamilton, Captain, 213.
Geolog>', 8-10. Hamsavaram, ro8, 255, 256.
Georgepet, no, 213. Hardwickia biMata^ lOO.
Gingelly, 71, 76, ^^, 107, 116. Hares, 15, 45.
Glasfurd, Captain, 260. Harichandana, 28.
Glass, bangles, 108 ; bottles, 225. Harper, Rev. J. H., 40.
Gneiss, 8. Havelly land, 160.
Goats, 14. Havili land, i6o, 161, 163.
Godaras, 248. Hemp-drugs, 185, 186.
Godavari Coal Co., Ltd., 10, 11. Hides and skins, 107, 113.
Godavari river, origin of the name of, Hill cholam, 79.
I ; described, 4-7 ; small game and Hill Reddis, 66, 94, 96, 97.
fish in, 15 ; irrigation from, 79 ; timber Hills, 3.
floated down, 97 ; bridges over, 126, Hindus, 42-67, 153.
243 ; ferries across, 126, 127 ; sanctity History of the district, 17-37.
of, 247. Hiuen Tsiang, 19, 20.
Gokavaram, 112, 242, 273. Hook-swinging, 205, 248.
Gold, II. Hope Island, 114.
Goldsmiths' weights, 117. Horse-gram, 71, 76, ^^.
Gollamamidada, 105, 197, 207. Hospitals, 151.
Gollapalaiyam, 104, 106, 207, 212. House-boats, 131.
Gollapalem, 209. House-building, no.
GoUaprolu, 31, 224, 227, 228, 231. House-tax, 197.
GoUas, 109, 193. Houses, 43.
Gonagudem, 242. Hukumpeta, 278.
Gondwana rocks, Lower, 9. Human sacrifices,
63
Gonka I, 22, Hurricanes, 143, 211, 216.
Gonka II, 23. Hussain Ali Khan, 33, 160, 246.
Gonka III, 23. Hussanabad Sankaragiri zamindari, 259.
Gordon, Woodroffe & Co., Messrs., 115.
Gorikanadi river, 8.
Gotamiputra, 18. I
Goverrmient Agent, 190.
Govinda III, 20. Idigas, shikaris, 16 ; caste goddess of, 48 ;
Govinda Deva, 28. described, 57 ; mats made by, 105 ; oil-
Graham, Mr., 211. making of, 107 ; profession of, 185.
Grain, stores of, 79 ; trade in, 112. Imports, 1x3.
Grant, Mr., 225, 233. Inams, 179, 180.
Grant Duff, Sir M. E., 158. Income-tax, 187.
Graphite, il. indigo factories, no, 213.
Green gram, 71, 76, 77. Indras, 57.
Ground-nut oil, 117. Indravati river, 4.
Gudarugunta, 183. Indukiirpeta, 282.
Guditeru, village and mutta, 286. Industries, 102-U2, 210.
Gudumulakhandrika, 217. Injaram estate, 213, 224.
Guinea-worm, 150. Injarani village, on the Gautami Gudavari,
Gullapudi, II. 5, 6 English factory at, 29 ; taken by
;
Gundala, 262. the French, 31 inundation by the sea

;
Gundavaram, 209. at, 142 loss by floods in, 144; land

;
Gunny-bag, 56, 104, 117. cumstoms station at, 187; described, 212.
Guntur famine, 138. Innes &
Co., Messrs., 115.
Gurtedu, village and mutta, 286. Inscriptions at Aihole, 19, 233 Allahabad, ;
Gutala, estate, 55, 278, 280 ; village, 5, 18, 233 Amaravati, 17

; A itarvedi, ;
127, 281. 218 ; Bhimavaram, 208 Chandhavolu, ;
Gutinadevi, 6 note. 24 Chebrolu, 23, 24

; Draksharamam, ;
24, 26, 251 Nanaghat, 18

; PalakoUu, ;
H 26 ;Palivela, 24, 26, 203 Pitha- ;
puram, 233, 238 Rajahmundry, 25,;
Haidar Ali, 34. 244; Sarpavaram, 215; and Simha-

Haig, Major-General, 41, 87. chalam, 26.
38
; .
294 INDEX
As6ka, Kailasa
Inscriptions of AUada Reddi, 26 ;
fort, 234.
17 • Attivannan, 18 ;
Ganapati, 24 Kakara panchakain^ 219.
Gotamiputra, 18 ; Kataya Vema Reddi,
Kakatiyas of VVarangal, 23, 24. 203.
Mal- Kakinada, 210.
26 308, 215 Kul6ttunga I, 215
;
;
Kakiiru mutta, 268.

lappa 111, 215 Pratapa Rudra, 24, 203
; ;
Pulakesin II, 19, 233 Kalinga kingdom, 17, 22.

Prithiviniula, 18 ; ;
Samudra- Kalingi wood, 99.

Raiaraja (Chalukya), 251 ;
gupta 233 Yishnuvardhana Maharaja,

;
Kammamet, 35
Kammareddipalaiyam, 204.
215 of Andhras, 18 Chalukyas, 233
• ; ;
Haihiyas, 23 Kakatiyas, 203

;
Konas, ;
Kammas, 55.
Nadendlas, 23 Pallavas, 18 Kamsalas, their dress, 44 food, 45 caste ; ;
233 • ; ;
Velanandu goddess, 48 metal-work, 1C5, 222, 225,

Reddis, 208, 233, 244, 251 ;
;
chiefs, 203, 233.

241, 248 wood-carving,
; 106 and ;
musical instruments, 106.

IhU peridn, 49.
Kamlhi
sea, 141- rocks, 9.
Inundations by the
Kanakalapeta, 215.
Ippa tree, 62, 185.
Kandikuppa, forest block, 07, 99.
Iron, II.
Kandrakota, 48, 222, 253.
Irrigation, 79-9°, 132. I49
6. Kapavaram tank, 89, 240.
Islands in the Godavari river,
Kapilesvara, 26, 244.
Kapus, shikaris, 16 ; described, 55 ; cotton
dyed by, 104 painting of, 106 ; oil-
;
making of, 107 ; bangles made by, 108,

Jackals, 16, 45. ^ o
and
.
village, 164, 2S4, 240 ; dyeing and chintz-stamping of,

Jaddangi, estate
256.
285, 286.
Karam Dhulu Dhora, 269.
Jafar Ali, 30.
Karnabattus, 48, 58, 102, 104.
Jatfur Ally Khan, 209.
Kas-kas tatties, 214.
Jaga RaoNayudu, 234. Katama Reddi,
Jagammapeta union, 108, 109, 222, 225 ; 25.
Kataya Vema Reddi, 26, 208.
zamindari, 222. 224.
Kateru, 240.
Jagannaikpur. See Jagannathapuram.
Katikapus, 59.
Jagannapela, 103, 106, 217, 218.
Kattipudi, 222.
Tagannatha of Polavaram, 2b0.
Kazuliiru, 39.
jagannathapuram, Dutch factory at, 29;
salt factory, 181, Kellock Leper Home, 151.
hospital at, 151;
cemetery Kerosine oil, 107, 113, 117
182 hamlet of Cocanada, 209
;
;
Kesanakurru, 203.
at, 210.
Kinarsani river, 1 1
Jagannayakulapalaiyam, 250.
King, Dr, 5, 11.
lagapati Razu, 32, 33, 209, 236
Kirlamptidi, 222, 224.
"jagapatinagaram union, 197. 222, 224.
Kistna canal system, 130.
"jaggammagaripela, 214.
Knox, Captain, 231.
Jaggamptta, 197.
Kocharla Kota Jaggayya, 283.
Jaggery, 74. i^S. 220, 224.
Komaragiripatnam, 202.
Tails, 195.
Komatis, 44, 45, 48, 54.
Iain wells, 30, 80.
220, 2^S. Kommi Reddi, 283.
jains, 38 relics of, 39. 201, 212,
;
K6n-i Reddi, 25.
jajilanka village, 267.
Kona Sima, i note, 201.
Jalluru, 39.
Kona Sima Dravidas, 204, 205, 21S.
Tampalli estate, 164.
Sirdar, 209, Konappapeta, 183.
jangam Pulicanla Sambayya,
Konas, 233.
274- Q
Jangareddigudeni estate, 279, 26^.
Konda Reddis, 66.
Kondamodalu estate, 269.
/a«"V system, 91, 112.
Kondamudi, 18.
Jegurup^du, 1C7, 240.
Kondapalle, 26, 27, 28.
jilugumilli, 36
Kondavid, 25, 26, 27, 28.
Johnstone, Mr V32. ,
169. Kopalli forest block, 97.

joint rent system, 163, 167,
Korra, Tj.
Jungle-fowl, 15.
Korukonda, 24, 25, 242, 264.
Jungle sheep, 15.
of, ib^-195. Kota, village and mutta, 287.
justice, administration
Kota Ramachandrapuram estate, 165.
Jute ropes, IC7. Koti, 242.
Kotipalli estate, 253, 280* village, 6, 127,
K
134, 252.
Kadali, 219.
laterite (luarnes of, 124.
Kotta Paitisam, 279.
Kadayam,
INDEX 295
Kottam estate, 224, 256. Linton Memorial Schuo i5«-

Koitapalli village, in I'ithapuram division, Litjuid measures, 118.
103, 104, 232 ; in Kajahmundry taluk, Liquor, 69
35, 8q, 240, 243, 282 ;in Tuni division, Litigation in the district, 191
255, 256. Local Boards, 196.
Kottapeta, rainfall at, 135 ; vaccination Local self-governnienl, 196.
compulsory in, 150; sub-registrar at, Log-wood plants, 98.
191 deputy tahsildar at, 192
; union, ; Lowry, Mr. C, J., 126.
197, 204. Lumnilzera racemosa, 99.
Kottipudi, 133. Lutheran Mission, 39, 151,
Kottiiru, 222.
Kotwiils, 194.
Kovvada forest block, 97. M
Kovvur, 3, 127.
Koyas, cattle raised by, 13 ; keen sports- Macguire, Mr., 232.
men, 16 ; assisted Subba Reddi, 36 ;
Machavaram, 201.
described, 60 forest privileges of, 94, 96,
; Mackenzie AISS., 24, 25, 233.
97 not immune from malaria, 14S
;
;
Madapollam, 6, 29, 31.
arrack manufacture of, 184. Maddiir lanka, 81.
Krishna Deva Raya, 27, 244. Maderu river, 287.
Krishna Rao Nayudu, 235. Madhava Nayudu, 234.
Kshana Muktesvaram, 202. Madhuvati Rambhupati Devu, Sri, 271.
Kiuiivaram, in salt factories, iSi. Madigas, cattle poisoned by, 15 dress of, ;
Kulottunga Choda Gonka, 23. 44 ; food of, 45 caste goddess of, 48 ;

;
Kulottunga Choia I, 21, 215. take away animals ofl'ered to Mari-

Kumara Mahipati, 236. damma, 48 funeral rites of, 50 ; their
;
Kumara rama, 250. connection with Komatis, 54 customs ;
Kumara Venkata Mahipati Rao, 237. of, 59; described, 60 mats made by, ;
Ivumaradevam, 127. 105 ; leather work of, 107, 108 liaskets ;
Kumaragiri Reddi, 26. made by, 108 ; shoes made by, 248.
Kumarasvamigudem, 263. Madras Railway, 132.
Kuna Reddi, 25, 242. Magazines, pulilishedat Cocanada, 210.
Kunavaram, 127, 258, 263, 265. Mahanandisvaram, 5, 280.
Kundada mutta, 269. Mahendra, chieftain of Pistapuram, 233.
Kursammapeta, 215. Mahendragiri, 20.
Kutruvada, 270. Mahseer, 15.
Mailaris, 55.
Mala Kucchamma, 256.
Malaria, 148, 186, 275.
Malas, shikaris, 16 their dress, 44 ; food,
;
Labbais, 107, 248. 45 ; rain-making practices, 47 ; and

Lace work, 112. caste goddess, 48 ; take away animals
Laflamme, Rev, H. F., 41. offered to Maridamma, 48 funeral rites ;
Lakshminarasimha Rao, Tumu, 261, 262. of, 50 ; their connection with Velamas,
Lakshminarayana Devu (two persons), 280, 55 ; described, 58 ; mats and catties
283. made by, 105 ; crime of, 193 ; share in
Lally, Count de, 31. buffalo sacrifice at Dowlaishweram, 241.
Lambadis, cattle brought by, r3. Malavati, 161.
Land-cess, 197. Malik Ahmed, 27.
Land-customs, 186, 187. Malik Kafur, 25.
Land measures, 120. MdlikhdHa, I76, 177.
Land Revenue Administration, 160-180. Mallapa III, 24, 215.
Languages spoken, 38. Mallavaram, 145.
Lankala tiannavaram, 217. Mandapalli, 203.
Lankas,6, 15, 78, 170, 173. Mandapeta, 197.
Laterite, 124. Mangapati Devu, 243, 280, 281, 282.
Lead vessels, 105. Mangrove, 98, 99.
Lepers, 151, 199. Mansabdars, 164, 225.
Lighthouse, 114. Manures, 70, 73, yj, j?,, 107.
Lime, 256. Marathas, 30.
Lineal measures, 120. Maredipaka, 48, 253.
Linga Balijas, 108, 225. Markets, 1 17, 182, 198.
Linga Reddi (two persons), 269, 282. Marriage rules and ceremonies, 49,
Lingam parti, 89, 226. Marriage by capture, 65, 67.
Lingams, 207. Marrigudem, forests, 100 ; taluk, 264.
39
296 INDEX
Marripudi, 105. administration of justice during the rule
Marrivada mutta, 269, 276. of, 18S
Masakapalli, 212, 253. Music, 159.
Mashtigas, 59. Musical instruments, 106, 220
Master, Mr. K. E., 169. Musurumilli mutta, 270.
Mastidis, 60. Mutrachas, 1 6.
Masulipatam, English settlement at, 29 ;
Mutsumilii, 253.
taken by Colonel Forde, 32 ; chief and Muttadar system in the Agency, 177.
council of, 34 ; timber sent to, loi ;
Muttas, 164.
early British court at, 188 ; later Pro-
vincial court at, 189 Polavaram zamin-; N
darni confined in, 2S1,
Mats, 105, 252. Nadendia, chiefs of, 23.
Mayidavolu, 18. Nagaram, island, 5, 217-220 ; taiuk, 217-
McLaurin, Rev. John, 40. 220 ; village, 106, 219.
Means of communication, 124-134. Nagavaram mutta, 35, 279, 280.
Measures and weights, 1 17-123. Nakkalas, 16, 45, 192.
Medaras, mats made by, 105, X08. Nailacheruvu, 237.
Medical institutions, 151. Naliacheruvu choultry, 133, 225.
Menarikam, 49. Nallamillipadu estate, 283.
Mercury, 109. Nallapalli, 259.
Metal work, 105, 207, 224, 241, 248. Nalugu gutta hill, 263.
Mettakuru, 215. Nanaghat, 18.
Metukiir, 234. NandidX Palivela, 203.
Mica, II. Nandigama estate, 259.
Mina, pied, 15. Nandivarman, 20.
Minerals, 10. Nannayabhatta, 243.
Minor forest produce, 96, lOi. Narasapur, encroachments of the Goda-
Mint (Dutch) at Bimlipatam, 209. vari at, 7English factory near, 29
; ;
Modalpica null;273, taken by Colonel Forde, 32 timber ;
Mogalikuduru, 218. depot at, loi steam boat service to, 127
; ;
Mogalturru, 35, 163, 235. floods in, 142, 143, I45 head-quarters;
Mohanapuram, 287. of the Sub-Collector, 153 school estab-;
Molasses, arrack made from, 1S4. lished at, 154.

Monetary terms, 122. Narasapuram village, 268.
Money rates, 171, 173. Narasimha Devu, 243, 2S0, 28 1, 282.
Monopoly svstem of salt administration, Narasimha of Vijayanagar, 244.
181. Narasinga Rao, Kommireddi, 152,
Montgomery, Sir Henry, 80, 140, 167. Narasinga Rao of Tatipaka, 220.
Moracin, M., 30, 32. Narayanapatnam, 226.
Mori, 217. Natural divisions, 3.
Morris, Mr. H., 198. Navigable canals, 129.
Mosques, 238, 244, 251. Nawabs of Rajahmundry, 245.
Motigadda, 261. Nedunuru, mutta, 270 village, 39, 201.
;
Mruthyujanagar, 207. Nellipudi, 287.

Muchis, wood-carving of, 106, 205, 249, Nerbudda river, 203.
250; painting of, 106, 248 leather work ;

Newspaper, 210,
of, I08» Neyret, Bishop, 42.
Muhammad Shah of Kulbarga, 27, 234, Nidadavolu, 29.
244. Niladri of i'ithajjuram, 236.
Muhammad Tughlak, 25, 244. Nilapalli mutta, 213 village, ; 5, 187, 213.
Muhammadaas. See Musalmans.
• Nilgai, 15.
Muktesvaram, 202. Nimat Ali, 223, 233, 236.
Mulapeta, 103, I04, 227, 232. Nimmalapalem village, 270.
Mummidi Nayak, 25. Nizam of Hyderabad, 29.
Mummidi Reddi, 25, 242. Noble High School, 154.
Mummidivaram, 135, IQI. Northern Circars, 29, 33.
Munjavarajnikottu, 107. Nulakamaddi, 287.
Munro, Sir Thomas, 166. Nur-ud-din, 236.
Muramalla, 203.
Musalmans, shikaris, 16; their conquest o
of the district, 25, 26, 27 ; rule of, 28-34 ;
described, 39 ; weaving of cloths for, Occupations, 102-112.
103 pith-work of, 106
;
; education Oddes, wood-carving of, 248.
among, 153 endowments ; for, 157 ;
Oil manufacture, 107, 201, 210, 255, 256.
'
INDEX 297
Onions, 71, ^^. Peddinti Gollas, 193.

Opium, 45, 185, 186. Pegha forest reserve, 98.
Ordeals, 64. Penugonda, 54.
Oriental Salt Co., 115, 1S2. Penuguduru, 181, 182.
Ornamental metal work, 106. People, 38-67.
Orr, General C. A., 83. Perikes, 44, 56, 104.
Permanent settlement, 36, 164-167.
Peruru, 107, 204.
Peta estate, 270.
Phillips Memorial Home, 151.
Pachayappas, 193. Physical description, 1-16.
Paddy, 68-72, 116, 187. Pichchiguntas, 56.
Padma Sales, 104. Pichika-lanka 81.
Painganga river, 4. Pig, 15, 241.
Painting, 106, 24S. pigeon, imperial, 15.
Palakollu, cattle fair at, 15; inscriptions Pillanka, 145.
at, 26 ; huge lingam in, 207 ; Dutch Pistapuram, 233.
factory in, 209 shrine at, 250.
; Pith work, 106.
Paiavancha estate, 259. Pithapuram division, 227-239.
Palem mutta, 270, 277. Pithapuram estate, chief of, 18 ; college
Palivela, estate, 217, 224 village, 24, 26, ; supported from, 157-159; administered
203. by renters, 163 ; history of, 165 ;
Pal lavas, iS, 233. villages purchased by the Raja of, 222 ;
Pallis, 55, 218. described, 233 8.

Palmyras, 3, 1015, 107, l~8, 1S5. Pithapuram town, cattle fair at, 15 ;
Pambalas, 59. reduced by Pulakesin H, 19; Jain

Pamuleru mutta, 270. relics in, 39 ; metal work at, 105, 106 ;
Panchala country, 201. musical instruments made at, 106 oil ;
Pdndavulanietta, 224. factories in, 107 ; shoemaking in, 108 ;
Pandrapole, 287. cattle market at, 112 chattram in, 134 ;

;
Panniltru, 15. rainfall at, 135 vaccination compulsory

;
Panthers, 15. in, 150 mission hospital at, 151

; Raja's ;
Papayya Sastri, 202. college at, 157 159; fish-curing near,

Papikonda, 3, 67, 97. 183 ; sub-registrar at, 191 deputy ;
Parent tongue, 38. tahsildar at, 192 Nakkalas of, 192

;
;
Parnasala, 212, 261, 263. police station for, 194 union, 197 ;
;
Parry & Co., Messrs., iii, 184. described, 233, 238-239,

Parthasarathi Appa Rao, 260. Plantains, 3, 72.
Partridge, 15. Pliny, 9, 18, 211.
Pasalajjudi 253. Plumbago, li, 258.
Pasaraginni, 287. Podti cultivation, 78, 94, 264.
Pata Pattisam estate, 279. Point Godavari, 5, 9.
Pattisam, 5. Point Narasapur, 5.
Pattisam Nidhi island, 279. Polaram island, 88.
Pattu Sales, 104, 232. Polavaram division, 278-283.
Paitudadi s,yst(tm, 112. Polavaram estate, 35, 164, 165, 252, 280
Peapowl, 15. Polavaram taluk board, 196.
Pedakonda, 11, 67, 258 Polavaram town, Godavari river flows by,
Pedda Malla Razu, 24, 255. 5 ;fish caught near, 15 steam boat to, ;
Pedda Vegi, 19. 127 rainfall at, 135

;
floods in, 146 ; ;
Peddada, 207. ganja shops in, 186 sub-registrar in, ;
Peddapuram estate, 164, 165, 222, 223. 191 ; described, 280-283 ; capture of,
Peddapuram taluk, 221-226. 282.
Peddapuram taluk board, 196. Police, 194, 211.
Peddapuram town, building stone at, 11 ; Ponnada, 239.
taken by the Musalmans, 28 Lutheran, ; Popvdation, 38-67.
Mission High School at, 40 Baptist ; Porlunadu, 221, 235.
Mission at, 41 weawing at, 102, 103,
; Port Conservancy Board, 1 14.
104 ;metal work at, 105, 106 oil ; Potnuru, 27.
factories in, 107 shoe-making in, 108
; ; Potters, 248.
chattram at, 133 rainfall at, ; 135 ; Potter's tank at Rajahmundry, 156.
elephantiasis in, 150 ; vaccination Pottery, 109.
compulsory in, 150; district munsif and Pottinger, Sir Henry, 130.
sub-registrar in, 191 union, 197 ; ; Pranhita river, 4.
described, 222 ; fighting near, 235. Pratapa Rudra, 24, 27, 203, 242, 255.
298 INDEX
Prattipadu, 135, 191, I92, 224. established at, 153 ; colleges in, 154-
Prendergast, Mr., 157. 157; Collector's head-quarter at, 163;
Prices, 171, 172, 173. taverns in, 185 opium storehouse at,
;
Principal Sudder Amins, 189. 185 Musalman court at, 188 zilla court
; ;
Printing-presses, no, 210. established at, 189 existing civil courts

;
Prithisvara, 23. in, 189, 191 ; sub-re;? istrar at, 191 ;

Pritbivimula, Pallava king, iS. bench court at, 192 ; Superintendeiit of
Proprietary estates, 164. Police at, 194 ; police reserve at, 194 ;
Pterocarpus Marsiipium, 99, 100, loi. municipality, 198 ; described, 243 ;
Public health, 148, 152. armed police sent during Rampa
Pulakesin II, 19, 233. rebellion from, 264; Vijayagopala
Pulletikurru, 206, detained at, 281 ; and escaped from,
Punyakshetram, 109. 282.
Puppet shows, 45. Rajaji, 264.
Purushottama Gajapati, 26. Rajanagaram, 28, 240.
Purushottapatnam, 282. Rajaraja I, 20.
Purvis, Mr., 157. Rajaraja II, 22.
Pushkaram festival, 6, 24 1. Rajaraja (Chalukya), 21, 242, 243, 2i;i.
Rajaraja Choda Ganga, 22.
Rajaraja Narendra, 244.
Rajavolu, sugar factory near, 74 musical ;
instruments made at, 106 steam boat to ;
Quail, 15. Narasapur from, 127 ; rainfall at, 135 ;

Qutb Shah of Golconda, 27. sub-registrar in, 191 ; described, 219.
Rajendra Chola, 20.
Rali, anicut, 205 ; village, 86, 204, 205.
R Ralli Bros., Messrs., 115.
Ralph, Mr., 260.
Ragampeta, 105, 108, 222, 225. Rama Das, 261.
Raghavapuram, 236. Ramachandra Rao Nayudu, 235.
Ragi, 45, 71, 76, n- Ramachandra Venkatakrishna Rao, 283.
Raichur, 26. Ramachandrapuram taluk, 249-254.
Railway, 132 Ramachanclrapuram town. Baptist mission
Rainfall, 135. at, 41 ; timber depot at, loi ; rainfall
Raja Vatsavaya Venkata Simhadri ^t, 135 ; vaccination compulsory in,
Jagapati Razu, 257. 150 mission dispensary and leper home
;
Rajahmundry district, 1 63. at, 151 sub. registrar in, 191

; union, ;
Rajahmundry taluk, 24O-248. 197 ; described, 253.

Rajahmundry taluk board, 196. Ramaghattalu, 253.
Rajahmundry town, width of the Godavari Ramakrishnapuram, 224.
at, 5 snipe-shooting near, 1 5
;
Chalukya ; Ramakrishnayya, M.R.Ry. Pydah, 158.
caiiital, 21 ;
independence of the king of, Ramavaram, 222, 287.
24 ; Muhammad TuL^hlak's expedition Rambhupati Uevu, 271.
against, 25 ; Reddi chiefs of, 25 capital ; Ramesvaram, 6 note.
of Kondavid Reddis, 26 ; under the Rampa disturbances, nature (.f, 36 ; fight-
Gajapatis of Orissa, 26 ceded to the ;
ing near Kota during, 227 Rekapalle ;
Bahmani king, 26 ; Muhammad Shah's proprietor joined in, 264 ; described,

stay at, 27 ; fighting with the Musalmans 273 fighting near Addatigela, 284 ; and
;
near, 28 ; the French at, 31, 32, 232 ;

in Dutcharti estate, 285 ; help rendered
occupied by Colonel Forde, 32 English ; by Anigeru muttadar during, 285.
force posted at, 33 ; its Christian Rampa estate, 164, 174, 242, 271.
missions, 39, 40, 42 village goddess, 48 ;
;
Rampa forests, 93, 95, 100.
timber market, loi ; weaving, 103, 104 ;
Rampa village, 270.
Jail, 104, ic8, 195 ; metal work, 105, Ranga Rao Nayudu, 234.
106 ; wood and stone carving, 106 ; Rangampeta, 225.
musical instruments, 106 ; painting, 106 ;
Rangaris, 104, 248.
tanneries, 107 ; oil-factories, 107 ; shoe- Rangasayi Rao Nayudu, 235.
making, 108 ; sugar-candy and soft Rangoon, 182.
sugar, 109 giijas,; 109 rice mills, ;
Rashtraki'itas of Miilkhed, 20, 21.
IIO; architects, iio; and printing Rattan baskets, 108.
presses, lio; Godavari bridge at, 126, Riivilanka, 269.
133 ; boat service to, 127, 131 chattrams ;
Ravutalapudi stream, 89.
in, 134 rainfall at, 135
;
storm at, 144 ; ;
Ka3'a Jagapati Razu, 223.
vaccination compulsory in, 150 hospital ;
Rayapjia Razu, 223.
and dispensary at, 151, 152 school first ; Rayavaram estate, 222, 224, 226.
INDEX 299
Razole. See Rajavolu. Samantakurni, 6 note.

Razus, 16, 53. Sanibur, 15.
Reddi dynasty, 25, 208, 233, 244, 251. Samudragujita, inscription of, 233.
Reddis' wells, 89, 205. Sanads, for the Rampa muttadars, 275.
Reddis (Kapus), 55. Sanapalli-lanka, 108.
Reddis (Hill), 16, 28, 66, 184. Sand -grouse, 15.
Registration, 191. Sandstone, 11, 124.
Rekapalle estate, 260, 264. Sanis, 58, 204.
Rekapaile hills, 3, 4, 7, 100. Sanitarium, at Samalkot, 214.
Rekapalle village, 264. Sanitation, 150.
Religions, 153. Sapphires, 11.
Reserved forests, 93. Sa'pta-sagara-ydtrd, 6, 212, 217.
Revenue administration, 24, 160-1S0. Sarpavaram, 214.
Revenue settlements, 160-177. Saveri river, described, 7 ; fish in, 15 ;
Rice, 44, 113, 116, 187. timber Hoated down, 97 ; malaria in the
Rice mills, no, 210. valley of, 148 ; intersects the Bhadra-
Ripley & Co., Messrs., 115. chalam taluk, 258.
River transit rules, 97. Schools, 154.
Rivers, 4-8. Sea-customs, 187.
Road fund, 177. Seasons, unfavourable, 167.
Roads, 124-127. Second-crop cultivation, 71.
Rock-crjstals, il. Selapaka, 235.
Rock-cut caves, 243. Senapatis, 239.
Roebuck, Mr, Ebenezer, 2II. Serpent god, 201.
Rohillas, 260. Serpent sacrifice, 215.
Roman Catholics, 42, 210. Settlement of Land Revenue, 160-177.
Ropes, 107. Sheep, 14.
Roxburgh, 13. Shifting cultivation, 78.
Kudra Deva, 24. Shikaris, 16.
Rumbold, Sir Thomas, 162. Ship-building, no, 211, 215.
Rustum Khan, 29, 233, 235, 236, 243. Shoes, 108, 224, 248.
Ryotwari settlements, 167-174. Sila, 39.
Sileru river, 7.
Silk-weaving, 102, 224.
Silver vessels, 105.
Simhachalam temple, 23, 26.
Sabari river, 4. Simhadripuram, 224.
Sacramento shoal, II4. Simson & Co., Messrs., 115, 210.
Sago palm, toddy drawn from, 185. Simuka, Andhra king, 18.
Saiyid Ali Sahib Bahadur, 157. Singam Sales, 104, 253.
Saiyid Shah Bhaji Aulia, tomb of, 251. Singavaram, 104.
Saktivarman, 2 3. Sirigindalapridu mutta, 276.
Salabat Jang, 30, 32. Siripalli, 108.
Sales, 104. Sironcha, 4.
Sail, 181-183. Siruvaka, 282.
Saltpetre, 183. Sist, 161.
Samagedda, 287. Sitab Khan, 225.
Samai, -JT 79.
,
Sitanagaram, 63, 127.
Samalkot canal, 7,85, 113, 146, 197. Sitarampuram, 108, 256.
Samalkot town, Roxburgh resided at, 13 ;
Sivakodu, ic6, 135, 217, 220.
itsBaptist Mission, 41 Roman Catholic
; Small-pox, 150.
chapel, 42 agricultural farm, 75, 76;
; Smoking, 45.
artesian well, 90 ; cotton dyeing, IC4 ;
Snake-worship, 249.
weaving, 104 ; tattis, 105 shoe-making,
; Snipe, 15.
108 ; sugar factory and distillery, 109, Soils, 8, 170, 172.
III, 184, 185 ; and laterite quarries, Sottwratia apetala, 99.
124 ; branch railway to Cocanada from, South Indian Export Co., il.
133 ; chattram in, 134 ; relief-works Sri Ramagiri, 265.

started in, 139 ; storm in, 143, 144 : Sri Vaishnavites, 21S.
union, 197 ; chintz-stamping in, 207 ; Srikakulam, 18.
Bhimavaram hamlet of, 207 ; the French Srirangam temple, 204.
intrigue with Jagapati Razu at, 209 ; Srisailam, 24.
described, 214 ; its connection with the Stamps, 187.
Pithapuram famil)', 234, 235 ; taken Steam ferr)' boats, 127.
from the Pithapuram Raja, 236. Steamers, 115.
300 INDEX
Slone-carving, lo6, 240. Tilla wood, 99.
Stone monuments, 258. Timber-floating, 7.
Sub-jails, 195. Timber rafts, 92, 128, 131.
Sub-registrars, 191. Time measures, 122.
Subadar of the Deccan, 29. Timma Razu, 223.
Subba Reddi, 36, 283. Timpany, Rev. A. V., 41.
Subbarayadu Sastri, M.R Ry. G. V., 155. Tirtalamondi, 6 note.
Subrahmanya Ayyar, M.R.Ry., 155. Tirupati, 205.
Sugalis, 13, 15. Tirupati Agraharam, 255.
Sugar, 109, 113, 117. Tirupati sandstones, 9.
Sugar-candy, 109. Tissot, Bishop, 42.
Sugar-cane, 72-76, 171. Tobacco, grown on the iankas, 6 ; cultiva-
Sullivan, Mr., 266-ZTJ passim. tion of, 76, JJ, 78 export of, 1 17 ; ;
Sundara Rao, M.R.Ry., 155. cultivation expenses of, 1 71.

Sunkarpalaiyam, 189. Toddy, 184, 185.
Sunn hemp, 14, 71, 76, 1C7. Toddv-drawers, 57, 1S5.
Superstitions, 46. Tolls,' 131.
Survey and settlement of the district, Topping, Mr., 80, 141, 142, 211.
169-174. Totapafli, 164, 174, 225, 235.
Siirya Narayana Razu, 256. Totapeta, 250.
Sweet, Mr. H., 158. Totaramudi, 103.
Sweet juice, 185. Totemisni, 54, 55, 56.
Sweet potato, 72. Towns, chief, 2.
Trade, 112-I17, 182, 211, 216,
Trap, 9, II.
Travellers' bungalows, 133.
Tree-tax system, 185.
Tadapelli mutta, 276. Tributaries of the Godavari river, 7.
Taduvayi, 283. Tripurapantavidu estate, 259.

Tahsildars, 192. Troops at Samalkot, 214.
Taidoor, 225. Tsakalas, 104.
Talaiyaris, 194. Tulasinga Chettiyar, M.R.Ry., 157.
Talchir rocks, 9. Tulya Bhaga drain, 6, 86, 208.
Talikota, battle of, 28. Tummapala, 15.
Talismans, 46. Tuni division, 255-257 ; estate, 256 ;
Tallapudi, 7, 127, 146. river, 126.

Tallarevu, no, 211, 215. Tuni town, Baptist Mission at, 40, 41 ;
Talluru, 225, 256. Razus in, 53 its weaving, 103

;
metal ;
Taluk boards, 196. work, 105 oil factories,

; 107 ; shoe-
Taluks in the district, i. making, 108; cattle market, II2|
Tamarind, loi, 284. bridge, 126 and rainfall, 135
;
vaccina- ;
Tamman Dora, 265, 274, 275. tion compulsory in, 150; sub-registrar
Tanks, 89. at, 191 deputy tahsildar at, 192
; ;
Tanning, 107, 248. union, 197 ; described, 256.

Tape-weaving, 104. Tunnuru mutta, 277.
Tappitas, 60. Turmeric, 72.
Tatipaka, in Nagaram island, 25, 39, 106, Tweeddale, Marquis of, So.
217, 220 in Tuni division, 25, 256.

;
Tatipaka siina, i note, 217, 220.

Tatiparli, 227 note, 229.
Taitis, 105. u
Tattooing, 44, 66.
Taylor, Mr. G. N., 153, 154. Udayachandra, 20.
Teak, 100, loi. Udayagiri, 27.
Teal, 15. Undi, 35, 282.
Telagas, 55. Undur, 236.
Telukulas, 107. Unions, 150, 197.
Temperature, 12. Uppada estate, 239.
Temple, Sir Richard, 129. Uppada village, mouth of the Veleru near,
Tenugu Rao, 234. 8 encroachment of the sea at, 10 ;
;
7 erwiiialia, 99, 100, lOI. weaving at, 103, 227 fish-curing at, ;
Tetagunta, 256. 183 ; coasting trade of, 187 ;

described,
Tidal creek at Cocanada, 113. 239-
Tidal waves, I43, 21 1. Uppetia, 141.
Tigers, 15. Upper Godavari Project, 12S.
,
INDEX, 301
Vilasa estate, 164.

Village deiiies, 47, 48, 63, 67 ; at Antar-
Vaccination, 150. vedi, 217 ; Dowlaishweram, 241 ; Kan-
Vachchavaya ^Jusali, 223. drakota, 222 Maredipaka, 253 I'ralli-
; ;
V'achchavaya Rajamma, 223. padu, 224 ; Rajahmundry, 247 ; Talliiru,

Vadapalaiyam, 204. 256; Talipaka, 256; Vanapalli, 205;
Vadapalli (Amalapuram taluk), 205. and V'elesvaram, 226,
Vadapalli (Chodavarani di\isi(jii), 267, 277. Village establishments, 1 78-180.
Vaddigudeni, 25Q, 264. Village magistrates, 191,
\'ainatt:yam Godavari river, described, 5, Village service inams, 179, 180.
6 ; ferry acro^^s, 127 Hoods in, 146,
; Villages, 42, 66, 67.
147 origin of name, 202, 203.
; Vimaladilya, 20.
Vakalapudi, 114. Vipravinodis, 53.
Valamuru niutta, 277. Vira Chola, 22.
\'alangiman, 204. Virabhadra Reddi, 26.
Valette, Rev. L. M., 39. Virabhadrapuram, 288.
Vali Sugriva hill, 265. Viramushtis, 55.
Viinapalli, 205. Viravaram, 7, 224, 226.
Vangalapudi, 104. Viruvandi, 261.
Vannipudi, 229. V'lsabadi system of revenue, 167.
Vantarlus, 55. Vishnugopa of Conjeeveram, 233.
Vantavaradi system, 238. Vishnu vardhana (two Eastern Chalukya
Varadarama Das, 261. kings), 19, 20, 54, 55.
Varakam system, 112. Vishnuvardhana Maharaja, 215
Varugu Bhattas, 56. Vizagapatam, 31.
Vasishta Godavari river, described, 5, 6 ;
Vizianagram, Raja of, 30, 31, 253.
ferries across, 127 ; floods in, 145, 146, Vodulapenta, 227 note, 228.
147 ; Vainateyam Godavari formed from, Volkart Bros., Messrs., 115.
202. Volunteers, company at Cocanada, 208.
Vatsavaya Surappa Razn, 256. Vows, among Malas, 59 at Annavaram, ;
Vedura, 23. 221; Ayinavilli, 202; Bhadrachalam

Vegayammapeta, 250, 253. 262 Bikkavolu, 249 ; Kandrakota, 222;
;
Velagapalli, 277.
1 1, Korukonda, 242 ; Kottapalli, 256 Man- ;
Velamapalaiyam, 250. dapalli, 203 Muramalla, 203 ; Pata

;
Velamas, 55, 104. Pattisam, 279; Prattipadu, 224; Rajah-

Velanakapalli, no. mundry, 248 Ramavaram, 288 ; and ;
Velaniindu family, 23, 24, 203, 233. Talluru, 256.

Velanka, 224. Vriddha Gautami, 88.
Velpus, 62,. Vubalanka, 107.
Vema Reddi, 26, 215. Vyagresvarapuram, 206.
Vemulakonda mutta, 277.
Vengi, 19, 233.
Venkata Krishna Raya Nimgar, 235.
w
Venkata Mahipati Gangadhara Rama Rao, Wages, 91.
237- Wainganga river, 4,
Venkata Niladri of Pithapuram, 237. Walch, Mr., 86, 125, 129.
Venkata Rao, 222. Warangal, 25. See also Kakatiyas.
Venkatagiri Zamindari, 234. Wardha river, 4.
Venkatapati of Polavaram, 280. Water carriage, 127.
Venkatarama of Polavaram, 28c. Wa;er-rate in the delta, 172, 173.
Venkataratnam, Maniyani, 278. Weaving, 102-104; in Amalapuram, 201 ;
Venkatayyapalaiyam, 107. Bandarula,d-;a, 202 ; Cocanada taluk,
Venkayya of Rekapalle, 264. 207 Draksharamam, 250 Gollapalai-
; ;
Venkayya, Kai Bahadur V., 2. yam, 212; Jagannapeta, 217; Kotipalli,

Veterinary dispensary, 233. 252 ; Kottapalli, 232; Maredipaka, 253 ;
Vidiadri Gajapati of Rajahmundry, 28, Nagaram taluk, 217 ; Peddapuram,
223, 244. 224; Pithapuram, 239; Rajahmundry
Vijayaditya Mahendra, 244. taluk, 240 Rajahmundry, 248; Rama-
;
Vijayaditya II, 2C. chandrapuram, 253 Samalkot, 214 ; ;

Vijayaditya VII, 21 Sivakodu, 220 Tatipaka, 220 ; ; Tuni,
Vijayagopala Devu, 280, 281, 282. 255, 256 and Uppada, 239.
;
Vijayanagar kingdom, 27. Weights and measures, 1 17-123.
Vijesvaram, 127, 147. Wells, 79, 89, 200, 201, 204.

Vikrama Chola, 22. Westcot, Mr., 211.
Vikramaditya VI, 21, 22. Wet cultivation, 68-76.
302 INDEX,
Widow re-marriage, 49. Yeduvampula pass, 286.
Wilson & Co., Messrs., 115. Yeleru river, described, 7 irrigation from,
;
Wind, 12. 89,^170, 171 ; mouth of, II3; bridge

Witchcraft, 64, 67. over, 126, 198
Wood, Sir Charles, 172, Yeiesvaram, 112, 197, 226.
Wood-carving, 106 at Amalapuram, 201 ;
; Yellaman chili, 106.
Bikkavolu, 25c; Dowlaishweram, 241 ; \'ellavaram division, 284-288.
Draksharamam, 250 ; Periiru, 205 ;
Yellavaram village, 7.
Kajahnumdry, 248 and Sivakodu, 220.
;
\'endamuru, 39.
Working plans for forests, 100. Yeniitis, 57.
Yeomiah scholarships, 157.
Yernagiidem, 35, 36, 143.
Yerra Kalwa, 11.
Xylia forests, 100. Yerragonda, 287.
Yerrametla, II.
Yerravaram, 125, 225.
Yerukalas, 6, 46, 105, 108.
Yanadis, 192. Yorke, Captain, 230.
Vanam, on the Gautami (lodavari, 5 ;
Young, Mr. B. PL, 155.
French factory at, 29 ; Roman Catholic
mission at 42 canal to, 86
; salt for,
;
182 ; land-customs on goods from, 187 ;

described, 215.
Yanaon, ^15. Zamindari land, 160.
Yarlagedda, 287. Zamindars, 29, 30, 34, 160, 164.
/^
University of California
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m 1^ ^'^
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4 1915
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V^i]'

AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF MADRAS GOVERNMENT

Thacker & Co. (Ltd.), Bombay.

[Price, 2 rupees.] [3 shillings.]

This Gazetteer has been prepared on the plan prescribed by

be revised decennially. The original District Manual was '

written by Mr. H. Morris of the Madras Civil Service in

I have gratefully to return thanks for help from many

Eussy at length obtains possession, 1757 (31) — Forde's expedition against

AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION.

of — Shifting cultivation in the Agency— Storage of grain (79).

Irrigation — Protected area. Thk Godavari Anicut — Origin of the idea

market for it (loi)— Minor forest produce— Forest revenue 92-101

OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE.

their numbers — Their methods — Tape-weaving (104) — Gunny-weaving

xii TABLE OF CONTENTS.

LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION.

tion of delta soils — Water-rate problems (173) — Settlement of wild tracts

SALT, ABKARI AND MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE.

TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiii

Kondamodalu (269) — Kundada — Marrivada —Musurumilli (270) — Xedunuru

General description — Chief towns— Etymology of the name— Natural

by the same district and the Bastar State of the Central

tahsildars' divisions namely, the taluks of Nagaram,^ Amala-

puram, Ramachandrapuram and Cocanada, which make up

General Yellavaram, Chodavaram and Polavaram the taluk of ;

dari deputy tahsildars' divisions of Pithapuram and Tuni in

special powers in his capacity of Government Agent.' They

are consequently always known as the Agency or the

Besides the tahsildars' stations, both Samalkot in the Coca-

most fertile portion. Rai Bahadur V. Venkayya, M.A., the

Government Epigraphist, considers that the word means cHAP. i.

fying power of the river. The local and popular etymology

cow,' and a well-known story relates how the rishi Gautama

lating taluk of Bhadrachalam above the Eastern Ghats; the

Thedelta presents a vast expanse of rice fields dotted

forest-clad hills and the Bhadrachalam taluk above the

ghats resembles the uplands except that its undulations are

sparsely inhabited. Rivers.

break a number of cocoanuts at the mouth of the gorge to

at Dowlaishweram, at the head of the delta, it is crossed by

and the seven branches by which it is traditionally supposed

The Vainateyam is not one of these traditional mouths, but is

ments. temporary islands and modifies old ones. Islands liable to

is spoken of by the name of the Ganges in ancient writings.

^ The traditional Bharadvaja mouih is located at Tirtalamondi, a hamlet of

Guttinadevi, and the Kausika mouth in Ramesvaram, a hamlet of Samantakurru,

more than one place. At Tallapudi above Rajahmundry it CHAP. i.

feet per second.

referred to in Chapter VII.

where Bastar, Vizagapatam and Godavari meet, is joined by

uppermost throughout Bhadrachalam, Chodavaram and the CHAP. I.

eastern portion of Polavaram, and, in the form of what is Geology.

After the gneiss, the next most ancient formation is three

Barakar group occurs in small and scattered areas in two

CHAP. I. mile in 20 years and is gradually enclosing the Coringa bay;

'Just below Bhadrachalam the Godavari traverses a small

resulted only in the discovery of some thin seams of very poor

^ Records, Geol. Surv., India, iv, 59 fol'.

is about five and a quarter square miles in extent and is CHAP. I.