VIZAGAPATAM
Lammasingi Pátavidi was resumed after the 1886 fitúri. Lótugedda was also attached in 1895, the muttadar resigning his position.1[1] Antáda mutta has just been resumed for mismanagement and violations of the sanad.2[2] The remaining five (Lammasingi-Kottavídi, Mákáram, Gúdem Pátavídi, Gúdem Kottavídi and Dárakonda) are still held by their muttadars. Parts of the resumed muttas are managed on the ryotwari system by village establishments under a revenue inspector. In the rest of them and in the unresumed muttas, joint-renting is in vogue, each village paying to Government or the muttadar a lump sum assessed on the number of houses (or of ploughs) ,within it, which is collected by the village head at customary rates and seldom varies.
The chief places of interest in the taluk — plains as well as hills — are the following : —
Balighattam: A small village two miles south-west of Narasapatam on the bank of the Varáhanadi. It is known throughout the district for its temple to Brahmalingésvara, which stands at the foot of a small hill on the other side of the river and at which there is a large festival at Sivarátri. The shrine,like that of Visvésvara at Benares, faces west, instead of east as usual, and this peculiarity and the fact that the river for a short distance here flows north and south have led to the spot being considered peculiarly sacred. The local pandits quote with unction the sloka which says ' where a lingam faces west and a river runs north, that place is equal to Kási (Benares), and there one will surely obtain celestial bliss.'
The shrine is almost all quite modern and is not interesting architecturally. It is supposed to have been built by Brahma; the river is declared to have been made by Vishnu, during his incarnation as a boar (varáha) — whence its name; and some deposits of white clay in the river bank are supposed to be the ashes of a sacrifice performed here by Bali, the demon-king from whom the village takes its name.
Gúdem: A village of 501 inhabitants 43 miles by the hill paths north-west of Narasapatam among the Golgonda hills. It was once one of the chief places of the Golgonda Bhúpatis and the Golgonda hills are often called 'the Gúdem hills.' It stands 2,580 feet above the sea on one side of an open valley and is divided into Kottavídi and Patavídi (new and old streets) between which lie the remains of a rude fort. One of the hills above it,
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