Gódávari/Gazetteer/Tuni Division
TUNI DIVISION.
TUNI division lies in the north-east corner of the district. It is the most sparsely populated tract in the district outside the Agency, and education is very backward 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 as good as is to be found anywhere in the district, and 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 Pithápuram estate.
Bendapúdi : Twelve and a half miles south-west of Tuni. 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 (parsavédi) is also to be found there. The ruins include many dilapidated temples. Popular legend ascribes the building of the fort to the Kákatiya king Pratápa Rudra, and the same account of it is given in one of the Mackenzie MSS.1[1] called the 'Kórukonda kyfeatwhich gives a description of that place. The fort at Bendapúdi is said in this to have been founded by two brothers, Pedda Malla Rázu and Chinna Malla Rázu, who ruled the country under Pratápa 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 Agraháram is a temple to Venkatésvarasvámi, 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. Hamsavaram: Six miles south-south-west of Tuni. Population 1,909. Lime is collected there in large quantities and taken to Tuni to be burnt, and glass bangles are made there.
Kottapalli: Nine miles south-west of Tuni. Also called Ayyapparázu Kottapalli. Population 2,449. There is a mound by the roadside near the village, which is known as the tomb of one Mála Bucchamma, a Mála 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 Sítarámpuram glass bangles are made.
Tallúru: Two miles west-north-west of Tuni, Population 248. A cave in a hill there contains the image of Talupulamma ('door mother'), a goddess very much revered in this division. The adjoining valley is called Talupulamma lóva. 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 proportion 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.
Tátipáka: Six miles north-north-west of Tuni. Also called Tátipáka-Jagannáthanagaram, Population, 346. A tomb there is called the gundam (pit) of Lakshmamma, a woman who is supposed to have committed sati at this spot. It is reverenced by the people of the locality, and a small festival is held there in February or March.
Tétagunta: Seven and a half miles south-west of Tuni. Population 2,600. A hill there called the Parnasála konda is supposed to have been inhabited by the Pándava brothers. It contains a large cave about a hundred yards in length and consisting of two compartments.
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 Bráhmans and Súdras, 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 Uppáda is done there by about 200 Dévángas; a few Kápus 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 there are two factories for the purpose; and the place is a considerable trading centre.
The Kottam estate is interesting as being the only remnant of the old Peddápuram 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 Peddápuram by a relation of the then zamindar; and, in settlement of that claim, the Kottam estate, till then a portion of the Peddápuram zamindari, was severed from the rest of the property and made over to the claimant's father, Vatsavaya Súrappa Rázu. The two estates were once again for a short time under the same proprietor. In 1838 one Súrya Náráyana, grandson of Vatsavaya Súrappa Rázu, was recognized as proprietor of the Kottam mitta and soon afterwards succeeded also to the Peddápuram 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. Rája Vatsavaya Venkata Simhadri Jagapati Rázu, is the second son of Súrya Náráyana, 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.
- ↑ 1 Wilson's Catalogue, 396, 8 (3).