Pithapuram Estate
Pithapuram Estate, 1908
A permanently settled zamindari estate in Godavari District, Madras, with an area of 383 square miles, of which the greater part lies in the zamindari tahsil of Pithapuram and the Cocanada taluk. The estate contains 168 towns and villages, and has 1 Lora is a Pashtii word signifying a channel cairying flood-water, as distinguished from rud, a perennial stream. a population (1901) of 280,317. The total demand on account of land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to 4 lakhs.
After the subjugation of the present Godavari District by the Sultan of Golconda (circa 1572), the parganas of Selapaka, Cocanada, and Prolunadu (as the country round Pithapuram was then called) were constituted a revenue farm. These parganas were the nucleus of the existing Pithapuram estate. In 1647 they were transferred, apparently because the holder had fallen into arrears, to Ravu Chandra Rayanam, a court favourite. This Rayanam was of the Velama caste, and from him the family still holding the estate traces its descent. As a special mark of favour he was allowed to repair and occupy the fort at Pithapuram, which henceforward became the residence of the family.
For the next few years the history of the estate was uneventful ; but, like its neighbours, Pithapuram took advantage of the struggle for power in the Deccan to withhold the peshkash, or tribute. It shared their fate when Asaf Jah, Nizam-ul-mulk, proved victorious (1724); and under the stern rule of his Sarlashkar, Rustam Khan, the recal- citrant zamlnddrs were ousted and their estates brought under direct management. After Rustam Khan's death his successors for some time pursued the same policy, but about 1742 the estates were restored to the families of the former owners.
Pithapuram took little part in the conflict between the French and the English. Some acts of hostility in conjunction with the neigh- bouring zamindari of Peddapuram led, however, to the seizure and occupation of Samalkot fort by the Company's troops in 1764. Other- wise the estate emerged intact from this troubled period, and in 1787 was described as one of the most fruitful and best cultivated zamln- daris under the Company. The zamindari collected the land customs, and also claimed the sole right of manufacturing and vending salt in the Rajahmundry sarkar. The military force maintained was small and merely sufficed for the collection of the revenue, which was paid almost entirely in cash an unusual circumstance.
In 1802 the estate was permanently settled, when the revenue was estimated at about 4 lakhs and a peshkash of 2-6 lakhs was imposed. Up to 1827 considerable additions were made. In that year, owing to the minority of the holder, it came under the Court of Wards and, in common with similar estates in Godavari District, passed through a period of depression. In 1844 it was heavily in arrears. To restore the financial position most of the recently acquired portions were relinquished, and the ancient zamidari was handed over free of encumbrances to the proprietor. The estate is now again under the management of the Court of Wards, owing to the minority of the present holder.
The zamindari is very fertile. Much of it is watered by the Go- davari irrigation system, while the remainder is supplied by the small river Yeleru or by tanks. An engineering establishment is maintained to supervise the estate works in connexion with the Yeleru irrigation, which are numerous. The chief crops, as elsewhere in the District, are rice, other cereals, and oilseeds. Until quite recently the prevailing system of land tenure was the vantu varadi. Under this, each village was assessed for a term of years in a lump sum. The amount to be levied from each holding was then settled by a committee of the ryots themselves. Any person dissatisfied with the assessment imposed on his holding had the right to challenge the owner of a similar holding which he considered under-assessed. The latter had then to submit to an enhancement of his assessment, in which case the challenger received a corresponding diminution, or to exchange holdings. This system, owing to its manifold disadvantages, has now been generally abandoned, and in most cases the highest rent offered is assumed to be the proper rent of a holding, the leases being sold by auction. A field survey, to be followed by a regular settlement, is in progress, and the revenue system will probably in course of time be assimilated to that in Government land. The average rates paid for wet' and 'dry' land are Rs. 7-0-2 and Rs. 3-15 per acre respectively. The total income of the estate is 10 1/2- lakhs, of which the land revenue brings in 9 1/2 lakhs.
Among the places of importance within the zamindari are the towns of COCANADA, the District head-quarters, SAMALKOT, and PITHAPURAM. CORINGA, which also belongs to it, was once a well- known port, but its trade has now altogether disappeared.
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
