in grain and commuted into money at the market price or the average price for a number of years. This plan, however, still left much to be desired, since no precautions were taken to prevent the head ryots from oppressing their poorer neighbours — 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.
Meanwhile the Court of Directors and the Government of India had been pressing the Madras Government to introduce permanent settlement which had been adopted in Bengal in 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, abkári 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 zamindaris1[1] were subsequently added to this number. The hilly and thinly populated estates of Rampa, Tótapalli, 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 Peddápuram estate, which was assessed with a peshkash of nearly seven lakhs. Large areas were also included in the
- ↑ 1 Vilasa, and Jampalli and Bantumilli.
