to a cousin named Lakshmináráyana Dévu, with whom the permanent settlement was made.1[1]
Since that time subdivisions and revenue sales have played havoc with this ancient property. The first alteration in its limits occurred in 1808, when, in consequence of the accrual of large arrears of revenue, it was divided into the three muttas of Gútála, Pólavaram and Kottapalli, and the last of these (comprising 39 villages) was sold in auction. Gútála and Pólavaram remained under the old family, but next year the zamindar (Narasimha Dévu) broke into rebellion and they were both put up to auction, and the ancient line of the Pólavaram zamindars came to an end.
The Pólavaram mutta, of portions of which the present Pólavaram is made up, was purchased at this sale by one Báváyamma. In 1812 it was sold again for arrears and was purchased by Báhu Baléndra Rázu, and in the following year it was sold yet once more and was bought by Kócharla Kóta Jaggayya, an ancestor of the present zamindar. On his death in 1832, the estate was subdivided by Government and given to different members of the family, and the only parts of it which remained to Rámachandra Venkatakrishna Rao, the son of Jaggayya and the grandfather of the present zamindar, were the two properties of Pólavaram and Pattisam which (with the addition of the Nallamillipádu estate purchased by the proprietrix who held the property from 1858 to 1888) from the present zamindari. Of the other portions which were subdivided off in 1832, the only village which has not since been purchased by Government is the Jangareddigúdem already referred to above. The Pólavaram estate was under the Court of Wards in the years 1832-35, 1846-54 and 1856-58.
Pólavaram village contains some tombs which are locally stated to be those of European soldiers who fell in the fitúri of Mangapati Dévu at the end of the eighteenth century. They bear no inscriptions. Another grim relic of the old disorders in these parts which existed here till recently was the gallows on which Subba Reddi and Kommi Reddi, the ringleaders of the fitúri of 1858, were hanged. This was carried away by the floods of 1900.
Táduvayi: Thirty-seven miles west by south of Pólavaram. Population 1,627. It is well known in this part of the country for its Siva temple, to which many pilgrims go at Sivarátri. The village contains a travellers' bungalow.
- ↑ 1 This account of these disturbances has been abridged from Mr, Morris' description in the original District Manual. The authorities on which he relied, which consist of MS. official records and printed reports, are quoted by him on p. 275 thereof.
