of followers near Víraghattam, and began collecting the revenue and plundering. A brigade and two guns were sent after him and he escaped across the hills to the Nagpur country.1[1]
In 1828 Venkatapati Rázu quarrelled with his díwán and had him and his brother murdered at Pálkonda. The police there consisted of only five men and did nothing, and the District Magistrate reported that as there was no clear proof of guilt he 'did not consider it advisable to attempt the seizure of a powerful zamindar in possession of an extensive hill country, almost inaccessible to the inhabitants of the plains, fatally noted for the insalubrity of its air and inhabited by a turbulent race of the zamindar's own dependents.' He contented himself with sending a clerk of his office 'to discover, if possible, some clue to the mysterious circumstances with which the murder was attended.' Nothing, of course, came of this, and in October !828 Venkatapati died.
He was succeeded by his eldest son Kúrma Rázu, who, though illegitimate, was recognized by the late zamindar's widows — he had left no less than eight — as the rightful heir. The lad being a minor, the estate was managed by one of the widows. Each of these ladies (the ablest of whom was Pedda Jagayya, a dancing-girl) had however a factious following of her own among the mokhásadárs and leaders of the hill men, and a party had also formed to oust Kúrma Rázu in favour of his younger brother, Viziaráma Rázu. The rivalries of these factions resulted in endless disturbances and even in the plundering and burning of villages within three or four miles of Pálkonda itself. At the expiration of the minority in 1831 the arrears of peshkash were Rs. 93,000 and the Collector reported that the turbulence of the zamindari was of so serious a nature as to render it necessary for him to continue the management. Among other outrages, a party of sibbandis at Búrja had been attacked in broad daylight, two of them being killed and seven wounded, ten muskets being captured and the village plundered. The young zamindar was by this time entirely under the influence of Pedda Jagayya the dancing-girl.
In January 1833 — or only a few weeks after Mr. Russell, the Special Commissioner (see p. 57), had arrived in the district — the insurgents had the audacity to make an attack on the ámin's office in Pálkonda to rescue a notorious offender kept in custody there. It failed, and to procure the release of the prisoners taken by the Government's men on that occasion, a very extensive plan of operations was organized. The rebels
- ↑ 1 Wilson's History of the Madras Army, iii, 322.
