Gódávari/Gazetteer/Peddápuram Taluk
Peddápuram taluk.
Peddápuram taluk lies in the north-east of the district, south of the Yellavaram Agency and west of Pithápuram and Tuni. The northern part of it is very like the Agency in character, and is, in particular, exceedingly malarious. The greater part of the taluk, as well as the Pithápuram country, is known to the natives as the Porlunádu. Very little of Peddápuram is irrigated. More than half the wet area is under the Yeléru 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 80 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. 1-13-7 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 Peddápuram, the history of which is sketched below. It is now nearly all Government land. The small estates of Kirlampúdi, Víravaram, Dontamúru and Ráyavaram, one village of the Pithápuram zamindari and the Jagammapéta estate are the only areas that are still zamindari land.
Annavaram: Twenty-five miles north-east of Peddápuram. Population 605. Possesses a small choultry and a temple of some local fame. The latter contains an image of Satya Náráyanasvámi 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.
Dháramallápuram: Forty miles north by east of Peddápuram among the hills. Population 86. Contains the ruins 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. Jagammapéta : Eight miles north-west of Peddapuram ; population 4,638. Chief village of a union which also comprises Kotturu, Ragampeta and Ramavaram. Contains a police-station, two travellers' bungalows (one for natives and the other for Europeans), a small choultry, a small local fund market, and a lower secondary school for boys. The sublimate of mercury made in it is referred to in Chapter VI. One or two Kamsalas make brass vessels.
Jagammapéta is the chief village of the zamindari of the same name, which consists of 28 villages and pays a peshkash 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.
Kándrakóta, six miles north of Peddapuram, population 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.
Kattipúdi : 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.
Kirlampúdi : 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.
Peddápuram, the head-quarters of the taluk, lies three miles from Samalkot railway-station and contains a population 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 last is endowed with an income of Rs. 3,400 from land, and was bequeathed to the taluk board. The town also contains 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 Tótapalli to Nagaram island. About 1785 it 'comprised nearly one-half of the whole Circar of Rajahmundry, both in extent and value, and contained 585 villages.'1[1]
The old zamindars of Peddápuram are said to be descended from Vachchavaya Musali, the perfidious minister of Vidiádri, 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 Rágamma who was defeated near Peddápuram by the Muhammadans for joining in the rebellion of the chiefs of Ellore, Mogalturru and Pithápuram. 2[2] The Muhammadan general then enticed the sons of Rágamma into his camp and tortured them to death 'by drizzling on them hot-boiled oil with brushes.'3[3] Rágamma 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.'4[4] Her grandson was sent for safety to Vizianagram. In 1749 the family was re-established by the amildar, Nimat Ali, who for a bribe of Rs. 90,000 appointed one Ráyappa Rázu, a grandson of Rágamma, as zamindar. Ráyappa Rázu, like most of the other zamindars, hated the Vizianagram Rája and so opposed the English in their advance in 1758. He was either killed at Condore,' 5[5] or was deposed by Ananda Rázu of Vizianagram in the following year, and his son Timma Rázu, then a boy only seven years old, succeeded to the estate. Timma Rázu ruled till 1797 and was followed by Ráya Jagapati Rázu, with whom the permanent settlement was made. He died in 1804 without issue, and left the estate to a minor child adopted by him.6[6] The estate was eventually sold for arrears of revenue in 1847. Much of it is now Government property, but parts of it went to make up nine small estates which are still in existence. These are: Kottam, Víravaram, Kirlampúdi, Dontamúru, Jagammapéta, Ráyavaram, Gollaprólu, 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 Peddápuram in 1810.
Peddápuram 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 ditch and parts of the walls of the old fort are still to be seen. It was built of stone, was oval in shape and about three-quarters of a mile across. The land inside the walls is now under cultivation.
A hill in the neighbourhood, called the Pándavulametta ('the Pándavas' hill'), contains a cave which is supposed to be the mouth of an underground passage leading to Rajahmundry. It is popularly supposed that the Pándavas used to haunt this hillock and go to Rajahmundry through this passage.
Prattipadu: Eleven miles north-east of Peddápuram, 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 Kirlampúdi, Simhádripuram, Jagapatinagaram, Chillangi, Rámakrishnápuram and Vélanka, and the total population of which amounts to 11,329. It enjoys considerable local celebrity owing to its possession of an idol of Rámalingasvámi, which was recently found on a neighbouring hill by a Kamsala who had been told in a dream that it was there. A cobra is said to have been shading the idol with its hood. About two miles from Prattipádu on the road to Jagammapéta are two idols under a cluster of trees which are known in the neighbourhood as Páthalamma (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 man who committed the same offence was at once seized with fever and died within the week ; and some ryots of Yerravaram who removed one of the idols to their village were struck with blindness.
Ragampeta : Eight miles north-west of Peddapuram ; population 865. Is included in the Jagammapeta union. Some ten Linga Balijas make bangles and ' glass ' bottles here, an industry not common in this district. Brass vessels are made by a few Kamsalas.
Rangampeta : Ten miles west of Peddapuram, population 2,017. Contains a large choultry called the Nallacheruvu 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; population 1,768, Is called Taidoor in old maps. The present Vaishnavite 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 Vaishnavite 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, population 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 a year and attend on him when required with a body of 700 peons. It was this military service which caused him to be denominated a mansabdar.1[7]
His estate comprised lOO villages, of which 37 were held by inferior mokhasadars.2[8] 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 detachment to the unhealthiness of the climate, was reduced by the English to pay a future tribute to the zamindar.3[9] As this quit-rent was not punctually paid, the Peddapuram zamindar in later times resumed certain of the Totapalli villages. The quit-rent of 1,000 pagodas on the property was one of the assets of the Peddáápuram zamindari on which the peshkash payable to the Company was assessed at the permanent settlement. That settlement did not recognize the mansabdar save as a subordinate of the Peddápuram zamindar, nor deal with him direct. In 1847 the Peddápuram zamindari was sold for arrears of peshkash and bought in on behalf of Government, 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 1881 1[10] to assess the whole estate fully and take it under their own management, 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 Tótapalli. It was built of mud and stone, was oval in shape, and covered some 200 acres. The land inside it is now under cultivation.
Víravaram: Eight miles north of Peddápuram. The chief village of a small estate which previously formed part of the Peddápuram 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.
Yelésvaram: Fifteen miles north of Peddápuram on the border of the Yellavaram division. Population 5,180. It is the chief village of a union which also includes Appanapálaiyam, Ráyavaram, Lingamparti and Náráyanapatnam, 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 Núkálamma in Vaisáka (May-June), which is also largely attended by the agency people.
- ↑ 1 Grant's Political Survey of the Northern Circars already several times cited.
- ↑ 2 See p. 235.
- ↑ 3 MS. history of Pithápuram (Cocanada, 1851), p. 30.
- ↑ 4 Ibid.
- ↑ 5 Grant's Political Survey.
- ↑ 6 Selections from the Records of the Gódávari district (Cocanada, 1891); Mr. Hodgson's report, dated 23rd November 1805, para. 3.
- ↑ 1 G.O. No. 559, Judicial, dated 19th March 1881.
- ↑ 2 G.O. No. 2425, Judicial, dated 23rd November 1881.
- ↑ 3 Political Survey of the Northern Circars, 214.
- ↑ 1 G.O. No. 559, Judicial, dated 19th March 1881.