Page:The Aristocracy of Southern India.djvu/210

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SRI RAJAH K. R. V. KRISHNA RAO BAHADUR, B. A.,

ZEMINDAR OF POLAVARAM

(GODAVARI DISTRICT).



Sri Rajah K. R. V. Krishna Rao Bahadur, b. a., Zemindar of Polavaram, who has a bold and enterprising spirit, and the most remarkable versatility of genius, is the only graduate of the aristocracy in Northern Circars. He has become a very prominent figure in Southern India, by the initiative he invariably takes in almost all public movements, and has acquired a good reputation for his untiring energy and unflagging zeal in any matter of importance that he sets his heart upon.

The family from which Sri Rajah Krishna Rao Bahadur has sprung is of great antiquity, wealth, and influence. One of the members of the family, Mr. Venkata Razu Garu, held the important and respectable post of Sheristadar in the Krishna and the Godavari Districts. He had four sons, viz., Venkatarayaningar, Ramanna Garu, Pedda Subbarayaningar, and Chinna Subbarayaningar. The family being undivided, all the brothers lived together. The father, Mr. Venkata Razu Garu, out of the money he had laid by, bought a small estate in the Krishna District, and his eldest son, Venkatarayaningar, a man of much influence and tact, acquired large estates, and in course of time his fame for charity, large heartedness, and generous instincts was spread far and wide. He constructed choultries at stated intervals from Rajahmundry, his head quarters, to Benares; and it would appear that he twice distributed