to four miles north of Dummagúdem, are a number of rude stone monuments. No weapons have yet been found in these, but they contain half-burnt pottery, charred bones, and beads of ivory and glass. From the position of skeletons around them it would appear that human sacrifices accompanied the funeral ceremonies.1[1] Forts ascribed to the Reddi dynasty are found at Nallapalli, four miles north-east of Dummagúdem, and at Vaddigúdem near Rékapalle. There are also the remains of a fine stone fort at Dévarapalli, nine miles east of Bhadráchalam; but it was largely demolished by the engineers engaged in the Upper Gódávari navigation works.
As is mentioned in Chapter XI, the zamindar of Bhadráchalam has a semi-proprietary right over the whole of the taluk. Beneath him, but still recognized by Government, are a number of other proprietors of larger or smaller estates. The only one of these which is of any size is Rékapalle, which was for some time independent of its suzerain, and the history of which is sketched below. The others only contain a village or two apiece. The largest are those of Nandigáma, which contains ten villages and pays a peshkash of Rs. 1,308, and Tripurapantavídu, with seven villages and a peshkash of Rs. 1,195. No other inferior proprietor pays as much as Rs. 400 peshkash.
Bhadráchalam: Head-quarters of the taluk and of the Head Assistant Collector. Population 1,783. It is the chief town of the zamindari of the same name. The original holder of this is said to have been one Anapa Ashwa Rao, who received it in free jaghir from the Emperor of Delhi in A.D. 1324 on condition of keeping up a body of 500 foot for service, and it is stated that the property has remained almost ever since in the families of the founder or his kinsmen. The taluk formed part of a large estate which is called by Captain Glasfurd 2[2] the Hussanabad Sankaragiri zamindari, and is also spoken of as the Palavancha estate, from the town of that name in the Nizam's Dominions in which a large portion of it lay. The zamindar of Bhadráchalam is zamindar of Palavancha also.
In 1769 one of the Nizam's officers put the then zamindar to death and took the estate under management till his own death in 1778, when it reverted to the founder's family. In 1809 an adoption, said to have been the first in the family, was made. This was the cause of a great deal of disturbance
