Page:The Aristocracy of Southern India.djvu/156

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The Aristocracy of Southern India.

him. He dug a number of tanks, cleared up numerous jungle tracts, and brought many waste lands under the plough. It is gratifying to observe that the revenue of the estate tripled itself in his time. He married Sri Sowbhagyavathi Patta Mahadevi Garu and the fruit of their union is the noble subject of this memoir.

He purchased the Zemindari of Chemudu, and also several agraharam villages and inam lands, besides investing a large sum of money on the mortgaging of many neighbouring agraharams and mokasas. He has immortalized his name by establishing a new town called "Suryanarayana Raju Puram." He was very religious all through his life. He built two temples, one dedicated to Siva, and the other to Vishnu, with an endowment of lands for their upkeep. In spite of his numerous charities, there was found in his treasury, after his demise, a cash balance of a large sum of money.

When we review his life, we cannot but admire in him the great qualities which distinguished him throughout his long and successful career and made him one of the greatest men of his race. He died in January 1891, leaving behind him many friends and relations to bemoan his loss, and carrying with him the good will of his subjects.

Sri Raja Veerabhadra Raju Bahadur Garu was born on the 6th September 1877. As the only male child of the Vairicherla family he was the pet of his parents and of everybody else connected with him. While a boy, his precocious intelligence and quiet habits were admired by all. His father was mindful of his duty towards the bringing up of his son, both on English