Pithápuram, Pólavaram and Kóta Rámachandrapuram zamindaris, which were assessed respectively at two and a half lakhs, one lakh, and one and a quarter lakhs. The other properties were inconsiderable in extent. There were in all fourteen ancient zamindaris and twelve muttas in those parts of the present Gódávari district which were then included in the district of Rajahmundry.1[1]
The Pithápuram zamindari is the only large property which retains anything like its old proportions. Much of the Peddápuram 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 Kóta Rámachandrapuram estate was bought in by Government in 1846, and Pólavaram 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 Bhadráchalam, eighteen zamindaris and eleven muttas are still in existence.
This permanent settlement was a dismal failure. Both the 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 effect 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 eventually came to the same end. In 1813-14 the first of them was purchased on behalf of Government at auction by the Collector, and thenceforward, as the figures in the margin show, an ever-increasing area came, by the same process, under the direct administration of Government. Though the proprietary estates were the first to fall, several of the ancient zamindaris eventually shared their fate.
| Year. | No. of Government villages. |
|---|---|
| 1813 | 10 |
| 1817 | 59 |
| 1820 | 133 |
| 1832 | 150 |
| 1840 | 361 |
| 1844 | 580 |
| 1851 | 876 |
- ↑ 1 These figures exclude Bhadráchalam and parts of Yellavaram, which were not added to the district till later. The figures of peshkash include areas which have since been handed over to Kistna, and are only roughly correct.
