CHODAVARAM DIVISION.
The Chódavaram division comprises most of what was in former times known as 'the Rampa country,' from the village of that name which stands just north of Chódavaram village. Its history is sketched in the account of Rampa below. Almost all the division is occupied by the Eastern Gháts, and four-fifths of it consists of forest. The density of the population is as low as 32 persons to the square mile. There is only one metalled road in the division, namely that from the headquarters to Rajahmundry, but the road from the former to Dévipatam is partially maintained.
Only one village in the division is on ryotwari tenure, four are held as mokhásas direct from Government, 50 belong to zamindaris, and the rest, some 300 in number, consists of hill muttas held on the kával tenure referred to in Chapter XI. The zamindari villages are said to have belonged long ago to some Reddi chiefs called the Reddi Rázus, and to have been sold by them, apparently before the permanent settlement of 1802-03, to various lowland zamindars. At present 20 villages belong to the Pólavaram estate, four to Pithápuram, and two to Gútála; while the independent estates of Dandangi and Toyyéru and the disputed mokhása estate of Kondamodalu contain respectively twelve, eight and four villages. The hill muttas are 24 in number and often have a separate history of their own. A brief description of them will be found below.
As there is only one Government village in the division, the ordinary statistics of soils and cultivation are not available. The chief crops are said to be paddy, pulses, ragi, cambu and maize. In the hills, pódu cultivation is the rule.
Bandapalli : Four miles east-north-east of Chódavaram. Population 223. It is the head village of a hill mutta comprising thirteen villages. In the fitúri of 1840 the then muttadar and his eldest son took a prominent part among the insurgents. A reward was offered for their capture, but they disappeared and were never seen again. The mansabdar of Rampa, on coming into power in 1848, annexed the mutta on the plea that there were no heirs to it, though the vanished muttadar had left an infant son. In the settlement of 1879, made by Mr. Sullivan at the end of the Rampa rebellion, this son was given a sanad and his quit-rent was fixed at Rs. 42.
