Page:Gódávari.djvu/312

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
286
GODAVARI.

during his absence, by the police in connection with a dacoity. Furious that such a thing should have been done when only his womenfolk were present, he collected all the budmashes in the surrounding villages, descended into Dutcharti and burnt the police-station of Addatígela. This was at the end of April 1879. Numerous parties of insurgents who were beating up recruits, flying for shelter, or levying black-mail now resorted to this country; and, though no further open outrages were committed, troops had to be sent up into these hills.

Chekka Venkan Dora, muttadar of Dutcharti, had avoided any overt act of rebellion. But it was the belief of all the officers, civil and military, who served in those hills, that he had encouraged Chandrayya on the understanding that his own villages should be spared from plunder. It was beyond doubt both that his villages were not plundered and that he could, if he liked, have crushed the outbreak there and prevented the destruction of Addatígela. When, therefore, the rebellion was over, it was decided to remove Chekka Venkan Dora from his mutta. His brother, the present muttadar, was appointed in 1881. At the same time the six villages which now constitute the mutta of Anigéru (q.v.) were taken from Dutcharti to reward the loyalty of another influential hill chief. The muttas of Dutcharti and Guditéru, which were thought to be more accessible to the officers of this district, were also transferred from the Vizagapatam to the Gódávari Agency in the same year.1[1]

Gurtédu, or Guditéru, is a village of 300 inhabitants and containing a travellers' bungalow, which gives its name to a mutta in the extreme north-east of the division. Like Dutcharti, it formed till 1881 a part of the Golgonda taluk of the Vizagapatam district. It pays Rs. 70 quit-rent. It is quite isolated from the rest of the Yellavaram division by the Dumkonda hill and can only be reached by the Yeduvampula pass through the Vizagapatam district or from Chódavaram viá Bódulúru. Horses cannot get across this pass, and elephants have to be lightly laden. Along it may be seen the remains of the sangars built by the hill men during the Rampa rebellion.

Jaddangi: Nine miles east by north of Addatígela; population 537; contains a travellers' bungalow. Was once the head-quarters of a mansab which was formerly held on service

  1. 1 Notification No. 217, Judicial, dated 29th June 1881. For these troubles in Golgonda, see the minute, dated November 1st, 1881, of Mr. D. F. Carmichael, Member of Council, who was appointed as Special Commissioner to arrange a settlement.