of the Bábayya darga at Penukonda.1[1] The saint had a daughter, and her descendants are still living. They are 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 dibba ('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: Seven miles south of Rámachandrapuram. 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 Gódávari 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.
Kótipalli: Nine and three-quarter miles south of Rámachandrapuram. Population 2,476. It contains a travellers' bungalow and a large private choultry maintained by the proprietor of Pólavaram, at which travellers are fed. Tape and kusa mats are manufactured on a small scale in the village. Its correct name seems to be Kódipaili, which Dr. Macleane translates ' border village,' apparently from the Tamil kódi. It is also sometimes called Kótipali, which means 'a crore of benefits' and is explained by the assertion that the value of a good deed done there is' increased one crorefold by the sanctity of the place. The place is in fact held very sacred by Hindus. A bath in the Gódávari here has virtue to expiate the most terrible of sins, even incest with a mother, and the bathing-ghat is called mátrigamanághahári for this reason. A story is told of a Bráhman who inadvertently committed this sin, and was in consequence turned into a leper until he bathed here.
The temple is dedicated to Sómésvara, '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 Kótisvaradu, 'the god of crores.' This was built, it is declared, by Indra
- ↑ 1 Anantapur District Gazetteer, 193.
