It is the head-quarters of the inalienable and impartible ancient zamindari of the same name. This comprises the agency portion of the taluk, which in consequence is often called 'Hill Mádgole.' The Mádgole zamindars claim to be descended from the rulers of Matsya Désa ('the fish country', cf. p. 28). They are installed at Pádéru on a stone throne shaped like a fish, display a fish on their banners, use a figure of a fish as their signature, and zealously protect from harm the mahseer in the Matsya gundam ('fish pool') referred to on p. 285 above. Some of their dependents wear earrings shaped like a fish. Other accounts say that they came to this country with the founder of the Jeypore family, whose cousins they were, who gave them the Mádgole country as a fief, and the title of Bhúpati ('lord of the earth') which they still bear.
No details of their history survive until 1770, when, says Mr. Carmichael, Linga Bhúpati, the then zamindar, joined in the general revolt against the power of Vizianagram (p. 46), was dispossessed by Sítaráma Rázu with the aid of the Company's troops, and fled with his family to Jeypore, where he eventually died. Sítaráma is said to have made the oblong brick fort with five bastions at Maágole within which is the present residence of the zamindars. The Circuit Committee (p. 167) said in 1784 that it had been constructed after the European model by bricklayers from Madras and was then garrisoned with a battalion, about 1,000 strong, dressed and armed in the European manner.
After the Rája of Vizianagram was slain at Padmanábham in 1794 (p. 53), the Collector recalled the Mádgole family from their exile at Jeypore and gave the estate to Jagannátha, the paternal nephew of the Linga Bhúpati mentioned above. His title was contested by Appála Bhúpati, an illegitimate son of his uncle; the claim was rejected; but the pretender managed to collect the revenue of the hill villages and to give a great deal of trouble. In 1803 the permanent settlement was made with Jagannátha Bhúpati.
In 1813 the estate was sold for arrears and bought for Rs. 5,000 by one Chintalapati Rázu, who transferred it in the next year to Chinchiláda Venkata Rázu. In 1814 this man sold the Chidikáda subdivision (which however returned to the estate in 1821) and in 1817 he transferred the rest of the property to Linga Bhúpati, eldest son of Jagannátha. Linga Bhúpati was succeeded in 1831 by his eldest wife, Rámayya, who in the following year transferred the estate to her husband's half brother, Harihara, who died the same year and was followed by
