# Vizagapatam/Chapter 2

CHAPTER II.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
Early History—Formed part of the kingdom of Kalinga—Antiquity of this—Its conquest by Asoka, 250 B.C.—A long gap in its history—The Ganga kings—Attacked by their neiglibours, tenth century—The later Gangas of Trikalinga—Anantavarman-Choda Ganga, 1078—Invaded by the Cholas, eleventh century—The Matsyas—Decline of the Gangas, 1431 —The Gajapatis of Orissa—Defeated by Krishna Deva of Vijayanagar, 1515—End of the dynasty, 1541. Muhammadan Period, 1568— Aurangzeb overthrows Golconda, 1587—The Subadar of the Deccan becomes independent, 1724—Cedes the Northern Circars to the French, 1753—Difficulties of the French thereafter—Bussy at length obtains possession, 1757—Forde's expedition against the French, 1758—The French expelled from the Circars-The Circars ceded to the English, 17G5. English Period—Foundation of Vizagapatam settlement, 1682—Its early progress—The cowle granted in 1685—The factory sacked by the Musalmans, 1689—Mr. Holcombe becomes Chief, 1692—Hidden treasure in Bobbili—Local disturbances, 1694—Extravagance at Vizagapatam—More local disturbances, 1697—Brighter prospects, 1698—Vizagapatam besieged, 1711—The defences strengthened—Waltair first occupied, 1727—Further strengthening of the defences, 1741-45—The place surrenders to Bussy, 1757—Is recovered and becomes the capital of the district, 1769—Growth of the power of the Vizianagram Raja—And of his diwan Sitarama Razu-Sepoy mutiny at Vizagapatam, 1780—Proposed cession of the Circars, 1781—Maladministration by the Vizianagram Raja—Dangerous growth of his power—Ordered to reduce his troops, 1788—Falls into heavy arrears with his peshkash, 1793—His estate is sequestrated—And he is ordered to leave the district, 1794—He resists this order—And is killed at Padmanabham—His son is given the estate—Which is greatly curtailed—The Permanent Settlement, 1802—Its unfortunate effects—Mr. Russell's Commission, 1833—Subsequent outbreaks.
So far, no traces have been discovered in Vizagapatam of the CHAP. II. Early History.1 prehistoric peoples whose burial places are so common in other districts.
The earliest extant accounts of the country speak of it as part of the famous kingdom of Kalinga, which (though its exact boundaries were vague and constantly changing) Formed part of the kingdom of Kalinga. stretched perhaps from the Mahanadi river on the north to the Godavari on the south.
The antiquity of this principality is amply established. It is referred to in Brahmanical and Buddhist literature assigned by Professors Macdonell and Rhys Davids to the fifth and sixth Antiquity of this. ​centuries, respectively, before Christ; chap. II. Early History. by the Sanskrit grammarians Kátyáyana and Pánini, who flourished in the fourth century B.C.; and in the Rámáyana and Mahábhárata. The Buddhist chronicles refer to its forests and the settlement on its coast to which the left canine tooth of Buddha was brought in state immediately after his death; but the Bráhmanical writings speak scornfully of it, saying that 'he commits sin through his feet, who travels to the country of the Kalingas' and prescribing the purification necessary to expiate such an act. Megasthenes (302 B.C.) however writes of the Kalingas as a civilized people divided into classes which followed widely different occupations (among them the study of philosophy and the taming of wild elephants) and mentions their capital, where 60,000 foot-Soldiers, 1,000 horsemen and 700 elephants kept watch and ward over their king.
In 260 B.C. Asóka, the great emperor of the Buddhist Mauryan realms (the capital of which was at Pátaliputra, the modern Patna), Its conquest by Asoka, 260 B.C. attacked and conquered Kalinga. One of his famous rock-edicts shows clearly that it was the remorse he felt for the horrors of this campaign which led him in the same year to espouse the Buddhist religion which he afterwards spread throughout India and Ceylon. Says the edict 1:—
One hundred and fifty thousand persons were carried away captive (from Kalinga), one hundred thousand were there slain, and many times that number perished. ..... His Majesty feels remorse on account of the conquest of the Kalingas, because, during the subjugation of a previously unconquered country, slaughter, death, and taking away captive of the people necessarily occur, whereat His Majesty feels profound sorrow and regret. There is, however, another reason for His Majesty feeling still more regret, inasmuch as in such a country dwell Bráhmans and ascetics, men of different sects, and householders, who all practise obedience to elders, obedience to father and mother, obedience to teachers, proper treatment of friends, acquaintances, comrades, relatives, slaves and servants, with fidelity of devotion. To such people dwelling in that country happen violence, slaughter, and separation from those they love.'
The terms of this inscription further show that Kalinga at that time was capable of offering considerable resistance even to so powerful an emperor as Asóka, and that its people were a civilized race. The Buddhist remains near Anakápalle referred to on p. 223 below probably belong to this period.
A long gap in its history. For several centuries thereafter the history of Kalinga is almost a blank. Pliny (first century A.D.) mentions the country and ​describes it as consisting of three divisions, which may have given rise to the name Trikalinga under which it is referred to later. Isolated references to scattered kings of the territory occur elsewhere, but they cannot be combined into any connected account.
Inscriptions show that in the sixth century A.D., Kalinga was conquered by the Chalukyas of Bádámi in Bombay and in the seventh by their offshoot the Eastern Chálukyas. A result of this latter campaign was the establishment of the Vengi kingdom (the ruins of the capital of which still stand at Pedda Végi, six miles north of Ellore) under the Eastern Chálukya king Vishnuvardhana I (615-33 A.D.). Copper grants of this monarch found at Chipurupalle in this district show that he once ruled as far north as that village.
The chronicles are continued by the grants of a series of kings who describe themselves as of the Ganga family, lords of Kalinga, and worshippers of the Gókarnasvámi (Siva) on the Mahéndragiri hill in Ganjám (where the ruins of cyclopean shrines still stand), and as ruling from Kalinganagara, which has been identified with Mukhalingam on the bank of the Vamsadhára in Ganjám, where notable temples and inscriptions yet survive.
The period when this dynasty flourished is doubtful, as their grants are all dated in an era the initial point of which has yet to be determined. The names of eleven of them are known, and their inscriptions have been found in several places in Ganjám and at Álamanda and Vizagapatam in this district, but the material at present available supplies no connected account of the doings of any of them.
The Eastern Chálukyas of Vengi appear to have constantly interfered in the affairs of Kalinga, and Vimaláditya of that line seems to have conquered much of it, since an inscription on Mahéndragiri states that the Chóla king Rájarája I of Tanjore overthrew him in 999-1000 and set up a pillar of victory on that hill.
Kalinga was apparently further attacked from the north, for the kings of Kósala in that direction, who have been tentatively assigned to this same eleventh century, claim to have made themselves 'lords of Trikalinga.'
The Gangas were followed by a later line of the same name who, as they also worshipped the Gókarnasvámi on Mahéndragiri and ruled from Kalinganagara, were apparently of the same family. Calculations from dates in copper grants show that they ​were in power from the end of the ninth century. One of them, Rájarája, ascended the throne in 1070--71 and reigned eight years, during which time he says he helped the Vengi kings against the Chólas, and afterwards defeated both of them and also the ruler of Utkala (Orissa) and other monarchs.
Under his son, Anantavarman-Chóda-Ganga, who ruled from 1078 for no less than 72 years, this family reached the zenith of its power. Many copper grants and inscriptions of this monarch have been found in Ganjám and Vizagapatam, and these state that he replaced on their thrones the fallen kings of Vengi and Orissa, engaged in wars extending from the Ganges in the north to the Gódávari in the south, and built the famous temple of Jagannátha at Puri. An inscription on copper belonging to his reign shows that, after the manner of many who have suddenly got up in the world, he desired a lofty ancestry. This record traces the origin of his family back to Brahma, and says that the name Ganga was derived from the fact that the fourth in descent from Brahma begot a son by propitiating the Ganges.
The Chólas of Tanjore seem twice to have invaded the south of Trikalinga during his reign. Inscriptions of Kulóttunga I of that dynasty refer to his subjugation of the kingdom at a date previous to 1095, and again in 1114. The existence of a Tamil record of his, dated 1089, in the Simháchalam temple goes to confirm the success of the former of these incursions, and various circumstances seem to indicate that Anantavarman-Chóda-Ganga took less interest in the Vizagapatam district than in the north of his kingdom.
He married at least five queens and had by them four sons who ruled after him. Of them and their immediate successors little but their names is known. Inscriptions of theirs occur in the district, but the country eventually fell again to the Eastern Chálukyas of Vengi and their feudatories, the queen of one of the latter of whom is recorded to have covered with gold the image of Vishnu at Simháchalam. The Yádavas of Dévagiri (the modern Daulatábád) and the Kákatiyas of Warangal claim, moreover, to have humbled Kalinga at this period.
At Simháchalam occur several inscriptions of a line of chiefs called the Matsyas of Oddavádi. Copper grants found at Dibbida agraháram in this district say that the founder of the family was descended from a fish (Matsya means fish), married a daughter of the king of Orissa, and was appointed to rule over 'the Oddavádi country.' The Matsyas seem to have become independent there in the thirteenth century. It is perhaps worth noting in ​this connection that (see p. 320) the Mádgole zamindars venerate fish, being installed on a fish-shaped throne and using as their signature a symbol representing a fish; that they claim to be descended from 'the rulers of Matsya Désa' and bear the title of 'chiefs of Vaddádi'; that Vaddádi (just south of Mádgole) is locally derived from Odda-Vádi, meaning 'the beginning of the Uriya land'; and that in the country round Mádgole legends are still recounted of a line of local Golla chieftains who gave their name to Golgonda and built the forts of which traces still survive in those parts.
The Simháchalam temple contains inscriptions of several of the later Ganga kings, but few details regarding them survive. In 1267-68 one of them, Narasimha I, built the central shrine, mukhamandapam, nátyamandapam, and enclosing arcade of that temple (see p. 324) in black stone. Their power, however, was on the wane. Narasimha I and two of his successors are mentioned as having had to resist attacks from the Muhammadans of Bengal and Delhi. Firoz Shah of Delhi (1351-88) invaded Orissa; other Musalman raids into that country took place; the Reddi kings of Kondavídu in Guntúr district penetrated to Simháchalam (where stands an inscription of one of them dated 1385-86); and on the death of the Ganga king Bánudéva IV, his minister usurped the throne and in 1434-35 founded the Gajapati ('lords of elephants')dynasty of Orissa under the title of Pratápa Kapilésvara.
His capital was at Cuttack, and he expanded his dominions until they stretched from the Ganges to the Kistna. His whole reign was spent in warring with the Hindu kings of Vijayanagar in the Bellary district, who by now were extremely powerful in the south, or with the Musalman Báhmani dynasty of the Deccan.
His son Parushóttama reigned from 1469-70 to 1496-97. He is declared to have conquered Vijayanagar, to have brought thence a jewelled throne which he presented to the Puri temple and to have led an expedition against Conjeeveram.
In the time of his successor, Pratápa Rudra (1496-97 to about 1539-40), Orissa was raided by the Bengal Musalmans, who sacked Puri and destroyed many temples.
Pratápa Rudra also suffered reverses at the hands of the Vijayanagar king Krishna Déva, the greatest of his line. In 1515 that monarch seized Udayagiri in Nellore, Kondavídu (taking prisoner Pratápa Rudra's son), Kondapalli in Kistna, Rajahmundry and other fortresses, halted at Simhádri (Simháchalam) and set up the pillar of victory at Potnúru referred to in the account of that place on p. 230 below. The Simháchalam ​temple still contains inscriptions recounting his successes and relating how he and his queens presented the god with a necklace of 991 pearls and other costly gifts. A picturesque 'account of this expedition by the Portuguese chronicler Nuniz will be found in Mr.R. Sewell's A Forgotten Empire ( Vijayanagar)* and this states that, furious with the hesitating tactics of Pratápa Rudra, Krishna Déva Ráya caused an inscription to be cut in the temple† saying: 'Perhaps when these letters are decayed, the king of Orya (Orissa) will give battle to the king of Bisnaga (Vijayanagar). If the king of Orya erases them, his wife shall be given to the smiths who shoe the horses of the king of Bisnaga,' If this insulting threat was really ever inscribed, it is not likely to have been allowed to remain on record a moment after it could be safely deleted, and it is not now to be found at Simháchalam. The war ended in the humiliation of Pratápa Rudra, who was forced to make a treaty with the conqueror and give him his daughter in marriage, but Krishna Déva (perhaps in a fear of a flank attack from the Musalmans of the Deccan) forebore to hold the country permanently and retired to the south.
Of Pratápa Rudra's sons, two reigned one after the other for a short period but were murdered by a minister named Góvinda Déva, who became king about 1541 and ruled for seven years. Three of this man's sons held the kingdom until 1559-60, when Mukunda Harichandana, a Telugu by birth, raised a revolt, had two of them assassinated, and seized the throne. He reigned till about 1568, when his territories were seized by the Musalman king of Golconda. ‡This ruler was one of the confederacy of Musalman kings of the Deccan who had overthrown Vijayanagar at the great battle of Talikóta three years before, and he had risen to great power in consequence.
The kings of Golconda were nominally subject to the Mughal emperors at Delhi, but they paid them little real allegiance at any time and eventually became virtually independent. Few details of their rule survive. Their chief local officer was the ​Faujdar of Chicacole, who was in charge of Ganjám and Vizagapatam. He seems to have governed through local chiefs or zamindars, to whom the collection of the revenue of the various divisions of the country was delegated on a commission of ten per cent, (see p. 165) and who were expected to keep their charges quiet. Two of these chiefs were the ancestors of the present Mahárája of Bobbili and Rája of Vizianagram, who entered the district in the train of Shér Muhammad Khán (name-father of Shérmuhammadpuram near Chicacole), who was Faujdar in 1652. The Muhammadan sway seems to have been weak, and revolts of the zamindars were common.
In 1686 Aurangzeb, the emperor of Delhi, marched down to reduce the south to obedience; and by the next year he had wiped the kingdom of Golconda out of existence and brought the whole country under his direct rule. He appointed to the charge of it an officer called the Subadar of the Deccan and afterwards commonly known as the Nizam of Hyderabad under whom were a number of local subordinates in immediate control of the various smaller divisions of territory. The five 'Northern Circars' of Guntúr, Kondapalli, Ellore, Rajahmundry and Chicacole had Masulipatam for their chief town, and the northernmost of them, Chicacole, which included the present districts of Ganjám and Vizagapatam, continued to be ruled in the same manner as before by a Faujdar residing at the town after which it was named. Revolts by the local Rájas went on as merrily as ever under his government.1
Meanwhile, in circumstances which will be related immediately, the English had effected a settlement at Vizagapatam town. The Dutch had likewise established a factory at Bimlipatam. The latter however (see p. 226) had no influence on the political destinies of the district and the former was of small importance until 1767; neither need therefore be further referred to for the present.
Aurangzeb died in 1707 and his death was followed by great disorder in his southern possessions. In 1724 the Subadar of the Deccan, though still continuing nominally subject to the authority of Delhi, made himself virtually independent and began appointing his own officers. His first Faujdar of Chicacole was the Anwar-ud-dín who afterwards became so famous in the wars of the Carnatic and is the ancestor of the present Prince of Arcot. His firm but kindly rule was gratefully remembered for many years afterwards. ​This Subadar of the Deccan died in 1748 and the French and English took opposite sides in the disputed succession which followed. The events of this struggle belong rather to the 'history of the southern districts of the Presidency than to that of Vizagapatam, and it is enough to mention here that eventually a French protégé, Salábat Jang, secured the post of Subadar, and that Bussy, the French general, obtained from him in 1753 the cession of four of the Northern Circars (not Guntúr) for the support of his troops. Masulipatam and the country adjacent had been already ceded to the French in 1750; and Bussy sent M. Moracin, the French officer in charge there, instructions to take possession of the new acquisitions.
The Faujdar of Chicacole, Jaf ar Ali, was extremely disinclined to give up his charge to the French, and he persuaded Gajapati Viziaráma Rázu, head of the Vizianagram family and the most powerful of the local renter-chieftains who had come into being during the Musalman rule, to join him in opposing M. Moracin's entry. The latter, however, seduced Viziaráma Rázu from this compact by promising to lease him the Rajahmundry and Chicacole Circars at a rate much below their value. Finding himself deserted, Jafar Ali called in the help of the Maráthas of Nagpur, who crossed the hills by the ghát at Páchipenta (under the guidance of the zamindar of that place); devastated the two Circars from end to end plundered and burnt the Dutch factory at Bimlipatam (but spared the Vizagapatam settlement of the English, whose friendship Jafar Ali courted and who had encouraged him in his revolt); defeated Viziaráma Rázu near Vizianagram; fought an irregular action against the combined forces of that chief and M. Moracin at Tummapála near Anakápalle; and then suddenly decamped south, crossed the Gódávari by a ford they had discovered, and regained their own country with an immense booty. Having secured the loot, they troubled no further about Jafar Ali's aspirations, and that gentleman was obliged to submit.
In July 1754 Bussy went in person to Masulipatam and Rajahmundry, settled affairs in the Circars, and appointed one Ibráhím Khán as Fanjdar of Chicacole. Soon afterwards, however, relations between him and the Subadar of the Deccan became strained, at last an open rupture occurred, and for several weeks in the summer of 1756 he was obliged to entrench himself against attack in the gardens of Charmál near Hyderabad. The authorities at Madras were only prevented from joining the Subadar against him by the necessity of sending every available ​man to Bengal to recover Calcutta and avenge the massacre of the Black Hole.
His officers in the Circars, Ibráhím Khán included, now disavowed his authority and refused to pay their tribute. Viziaráma Rázu was the only man there who had the foresight to stand by him.
'He ordered his agents at Hyderabad to assure M. Bussy of his fidelity and the regular payment of his tributes; and one night, when little expected and most wanted, a man came to Charmál, and, being permitted to speak in private with M. Bussy, delivered with the message of Viziaráma Rázu a sum of gold, as much as he could carry under his garments. It was sufficient for the present want, and the same man afterwards furnished more as necessary.' 1
Bussy was eventually relieved by reinforcements from Masulipatam and received back into the Subadar's favour; and at the end of 1756 he marched into the Circars to restore his fallen authority there.
Ibráhím Khán fled in terror at his approach; but Viziaráma Rázu, confident in the proofs of attachment he had given, went to meet him with a body of troops, belonging to himself and others of the local chiefs, which numbered 10,000 men. He was graciously received and employed the favour in which he stood to gratify a long-standing animosity against his bitterest enemy, the chief of Bobbili. He persuaded Bussy that Bobbili was contumacious and must be repressed; and Bussy at length agreed to attack that chief's fort. The details of the horrible tragedy which followed are given on pp.237-241 below. Bobbili defended himself to the utmost, and then, when he saw that further resistance was hopeless, had all the women and children in his fort put to death and, with the remnant of his garrison, died fighting to the last. Three nights afterwards, Viziaráma Rázu was killed in his tent by some of Bobbili's adherents. He was succeeded by Ananda Rázu, the son of a first cousin.
From Bobbili, Bussy marched on into Ganjám, receiving the submission of the various local chiefs and zamindars as he went; sent a body of troops from Masulipatam to capture the English factories at Injaram, Madapollam and Bandamúrlanka in Gódávari (all of which surrendered at once); and then turned back to attack the Vizagapatam settlement in person. This (see p, 44 below) was in a wretched state of defence and also surrendered immediately. Bussy proceeded southwards again and returned eventually to Hyderabad. In July of the next year (1758) he ​received an unwise summons from Lally, the new Governor of the French at Pondicherry, to join him, with all the troops he could spare, to help in the war in the Carnatic and the siege of Madras.
Ananda Rázu, the new head of the Vizianagram family 'dissatisfied with the arrangements made by M. Bussy on the death of his predecessor, had waited,' says Orme, 'an opportunity to take his revenge,' As soon as Bussy was summoned south, he captured Vizagapatam from the French garrison which was holding it, sent news of the event to Madras, and invited the English there to join him in expelling the French from the Northern Circars. The Madras authorities, however, had their hands too full with affairs in the south, so Ananda Rázu repeated his offer to the English in Bengal. 'The project seemed delusive or chimerical to all but Clive,' but eventually, in spite of the protests of the other Members of the Calcutta Council, Colonel Forde was despatched by Clive to Vizagapatam by sea with a force of 500 Europeans (including artillery), 2,000 sepoys and 100 lascars, and arrived on the 20th October 1758. Mr. John Johnstone had been sent in advance to arrange matters with Ananda Rázu and had been put in possession of the Vizagapatam factory on the 12th September. The Madras authorities sent up Mr. Andrews and several assistants to help him in re-establishing the settlement and also despatched an officer to act under Colonel Forde.
The force moved out of Vizagapatam on the 1st November, and on the third joined Ananda Rázu at Kasimkóta. Progress southwards was at first very slow. Orme says —
'Various excuses were employed by the Rajah to extenuate this delay; but the real cause was his repugnance to furnish the money which Colonel Forde demanded, who was not a little offended at his evasions. Mr. Andrews, who, having been chief of Madapollam, had long been personally known to the Rajah, adjusted their differences by a treaty, which stipulated that all plunder should be equally divided; that all the countries which might be conquered should be delivered to the Rajah, who was to collect the revenues; but that the seaports and towns at the mouths of the rivers should belong to the company, with the revenues of the districts annexed to them; that no treaty for the disposal or restitution, whether of the Rajah's or the English possessions, should be made without the consent of both parties; that the Rajah should supply 50,000 rupees a month for the expences of the army, and 6,000, to commence from their arrival at Vizagapatam, for the particular expences of the officers. He held out likewise other proposals of future alliance, which he had not yet authority to ratify.' ​The united forces now moved south in earnest. The Rája's levies, however, were of the wretchedest, consisting of '500 paltry horse and 5,000 foot, some with awkward fire-arms, the rest with pikes and bows: but he had collected 40 Europeans, who managed four field-pieces under the command of Mr. Bristol; besides which his own troops had some useless cannon.'
On the 9th December, near Condore, about 35 miles east-north-east of Rajahmundry, an action was fought with the French which ranks as one of the decisive battles of India and in which the French were utterly routed. The day was won by the European part of Colonel Forde's force. His sepoys broke and ran at an early stage, and even when the enemy was in full retreat the Rája's horse 'could not be prevailed upon to quit the shelter of a large tank, at this time dry, in which they, his foot, and himself in the midst of them, had remained cowering from the beginning of the action.'1 Forde pushed on to Rajahmundry next day without the Rája's rabble, and shortly afterwards took Masulipatam by a most brilliant assault. Salábat Jang, the Subadar of the Deccan, who had advanced within fifteen miles of the place to assist his protégés the French, changed sides at once and on the 14th May 1759 made a treaty 2 with the English, granting them the country round Masulipatam, renouncing all friendship with the French, and prohibiting the latter from ever again settling in the Northern Circars.
Except the tract then ceded to the Company, the rest of the Northern Circars thus fell once more with dramatic suddenness under the sway of the Subadar of the Deccan. His rule, however, extended to it in little but name. 'For seven succeeding years, the completest anarchy recorded in the history of Hindustan prevailed over all the Northern Circars. The forms, may even the remembrance, of civil government seemed to be wholly lost.'3
In 1765 Clive obtained from the Mughal emperor at Delhi a firman granting the Company the five Northern Circars. This recites the cession of the country to the French by the Subadar Salábat Jang without authority from Delhi, and the expulsion of the French therefrom by the emperor's faithful sepoy sirdars, the English Company, and then states that in consideration of the fidelity and good wishes of the said Company 4 we have, from our ​throne, the basis of the world, given them the aforementioned Circars, by way of enam or free gift without the least participation of any person whatever in the same.'
The Subadar, however, was in no way pleased at this cession of territory which he regarded as his own, and threatened to retaliate by an irruption into the Carnatic. In November 1766 a treaty 1 was accordingly hastily and weakly concluded with him by which the English agreed to pay nine lakhs annually for the territory that had already been granted them as a free gift. Soon afterwards the Subadar was defeated by the English in one or two actions, became more accommodating in consequence, and in February 1768 agreed to a new treaty by which the tribute was reduced.2 The new acquisitions were at first governed from Masulipatam, but in 1769 Mr, John Andrews, then Chief at that place, was sent to Vizagapatam and made the first Chief in Council of that district.
We may now go back and shortly trace the fortunes of the English settlement at Vizagapatam from its inception until it thus became the capital of the district.
The settlement was founded in 1682.3 In February of that year the Directors wrote to Fort St. George that an 'interloper (un-authorized trader) was designed for Metchlepatam or Gyngerlee' (i.e., Masulipatam or Vizagapatam 4) and left it to the Madras authorities to decide whether a factory should not be established at the latter place. The Madras Consultations of the 1st August 1682 say that 'The Comp having resolved to make some Investments this year at Gingerly & given order to y* Agent &c* to send down some psons to further the same, as likewise to hinder and defeat any Interlopers that shall come there, 'tis ​resolved that M. George Ramsden doe proceed for this year as Chiefe 1 there,' his Second in Council being one Clément du Jardin. Thus it is clear that it was largely fear of the rivalry of the ubiquitous interloper which led the Company to first settle in Vizagapatam. Thirteen days later the first official letter was sent from Fort St. George to 'Vizagapatam' and thereafter correspondence with the factory appears regularly in the records.
Messrs. Ramsden and du Jardin did not let the grass grow under their feet. In October of the same year they wrote that in spite of the bitter hostility of the Dutch at Bimlipatam they had made a respectable investment; had obtained a cowle from the 'Seir Lascar' (apparently the same as the Faujdar) of Chicacole giving them liberties' throughout the Carlingae (Kalinga) country farr greater than ever was granted to the Dutch, notwithstanding they have bin settled in these pts for these 20 years, which is a very great heartburning'; had arranged to bribe the Kasimkóta chief ('a very powerful pson') not to molest their customers; had patched up for their quarters an old house standing on the piece of ground given them by the Seer Lascar ; had engaged six 'Rashboots' (Rájputs) as a guard; and had searched in vain for interlopers but in accordance with orders had hung the King's proclamation and the printed rules and orders concerning those gentry round their dyeing room, 'which God knows is scarce bigg enough to hould them.' They earnestly beg a reconsideration of orders which had been passed directing them to go to Masulipatam at the end of the year, pointing out how disappointed the Seer Lascar would be, and how triumphant the Dutch; and this request was evidently granted.
The next year, however, these two pioneers fell out; and Ramsden was temporarily suspended and du Jardin recalled. The latter was eventually dismissed, in spite of the protests of Fort St.George, by the Directors, who pronounced him 'a huffing, swaggering, ignorant, avaritious, prodigall person'; but his subsequent doings in Sumatra 2 showed that he was of the stuff of which successful merchant adventurers are made, being endowed with restless energy, a clear head, and a way with natives that carried them with him. As the Madras Council sorrowfully put it when lie died in Sumatra in 1687, he was 'a fitting active man among those people.'
The records of 1684 show that the settlement was still very small then, the monthly expenses being only 100 pagodas (Rs. 350), ​but that it possessed the right to collect dues in the town. The annual rent paid to the Seer Lascar was Rs. 4,500. At the end of that year the Madras Council, desirous of obtaining less limited privileges, resolved to send the new Chief (Mr. Browne) to the Seer Lascar with a big retinue hired for the purpose.
The mission was crowned with success. After having presented 'His Excellency' with many gifts, including a silver trunk,a case of spirits, fifteen maunds of sandalwood, a chest of rosewater, and some scarlet cloth and gunpowder, the Chief obtained a new cowle which exempted the Company's goods from land customs, granted privileges over Vizagapatam and permission to build a factory there, and brought the settlement into a position 'as good as we injoy in any part of India.'1 In 1685 the friendship with the Seer Lascar was further cemented by a present of saltpetre, powder and lead, which he earnestly desired owing to the imminence of a war with his northern neighbours, but which the Dutch at Bimlipatam had steadfastly refused to supply. In July 1688 Mr. Browne was charged with private trading, resigned in consequence, and was succeeded by Mr.John Stables.
In 1689 the footing in the country which had been won with such determination was suddenly lost. The Company fell out with Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor at Delhi, and the latter issued orders that the English should be driven from his dominions and all their property seized. On the 13th September, therefore, the Seer Lascar sent his 'Rashwar' (Telugu, Rájáváru, the honorific form of 'Rája') to the Vizagapatam factory —
'In order to seize and bring away the English and all their concerne. The said Rashwar with his forces coming high the town in the night, where he had pitched his Tent, etc., about nine did surround the Factory with his men, and acquainted the English with the Seer Lascar's orders. To which was replied, they could not go up without their Master's orders. Then, as the first Rashwar was taking the Chief by the hand to pluck him out of the house, Mr. Hall fires his blunderbuss and kills three of their men; upon which they murdered Mr. Stables, Mr, Hall and Mr. Croke, taking the rest prisoners, and seizing upon all the Right Honourable Company's Concerns.'2
In 1690, however, peace was made with Aurangzeb 3 and the Seer Lascar released his prisoners and restored the Company's ​property. Mr. Dubois was sent to set the factory on its legs again. During his time the place was attacked and looted by 'thieves and poligars,' and the Company accordingly asked leave to fortify it. The new Chief was afterwards found guilty of frauds and errors and ' severall considerable wrongs done to the Hon. Company,' and in 1692 was dismissed and replaced by Mr. Simon Holcombe with Mr. Charles Barwell as Second in Council.
They had rather a stormy entry. They arrived by sea and were met at the landing-place by Mr. Dubois and others and conducted to the factory. On their entering this, one of the peons spat in the new Chief's face and abused him in language 'not fit to be mentioned;' whereon swords were drawn and some blood was spilt. Mr. Dubois and the others, being asked for their books and registers, brought Mr. Holcombe only 'a few torne old dirty papers, saying y$^e$ rest were lost and consumed by y$^e$ Mogull's people in the late unhappy times.'1
Mutual recriminations and other unpleasantnesses continue subsequently to fill many pages of the records. The head of the weavers also became contumacious, declining to sign his contracts when given the usual 'tasherilfs' (presents) and demanding in addition a coat with gold buttons and a gold bracelet. These latter were at length promised, as were also ' all further ceremonies of Hon$^r$,as fireing off Gruns &ca. and being carried to his house in y$^e$ Comp$^a$ Pallankeen with y$^e$ Musick &ca. attendance.'
The records of 1693 2 mention a curious incident: — 'Rangarow, a neighbouring Raja [clearly the Rája of Bobbili], upon clearing a Tank in his Country found a vast Treasure buried in earthen pote with a small p$^s$ of Copper in each pot mentioning w$^t$ contained therein and by whom buried, by which it appeared to belong to y$^e$ ffamily of y$^e$ Sumberdues [the Rájas of Jeypore] and to be buried by y great grandfather of y present Raja, which has made a great contest between y$^e$ neighbouring Rajas and impeeded all commerce in those parts, Rangarow claiming its because took up in his Government and Sumberdue asserting a right to it by y$^e$ Copper plates with specific it to be buried by his ancestors who formerly had y Government of those parts. Y$^e$ event we must leave to time, but 'tis conjectured and not without reason y$^t$ upon y$^e$- Sier Lascar's return from Metchlepatam he will soon decide y$^e$ matter to y$^e$ dissatisfaction of both Parties by condemning itt all to y$^e$ king's and his own p͏̄ticular Treasure.' ​In 1694 the Seer Lascar had his hands full with revolts by the local Rájas, among whom the Rája of 'Potnore' (Potnúru) and 'Samba Deo' (the Rája of Jeypore) were prominent, and at length had to 'condescend to dishonourable terms.' The malcontents had made two attempts to plunder the factory at Vizagapatam (and also the Dutch settlement at Bimlipatam) and Mr. Holcombe accordingly seized the opportunity to begin fortifications there at the expense of the inhabitants. The Seer Lascar approved at the time, but afterwards demanded the destruction of the new walls. The Chief, however, stood firm and they were not touched.
This Chief, who was a man of good birth, had a 'lavish way of living and fond affectation of appearing great in the eyes of the Country Government,' to which the Directors strongly objected. They said, 'The extravigantcy of Vizagapatam under the managm: * of Mr. Holcombe by theire last books, is insufferable, for 3 or 4 ffactors at most to spend 3902 Pagodas in one yeare whereof 1034 is for their servants. Wee know no necessity for their two horses and them of so great a value as 250 Pagodas; they must be better Husbands, and keep within bounds, and not give 40 Pagodas for a Saddle, etc' The Directors strictly limited the Chief in future to 600 pagodas (Rs. 2,100) per annum to defray the charges of dyers, factors, provisions, servants' wages, stores and garden, exclusive of 100 pagodas for presents.
In October 1697 Jeypore ('Somberdu') and other Rájas again revolted ' and took and slew the Seer Lascar and the greatest part of his army.' His successor (' Rustundill Khan ') was severe to all the friends of his predecessor, and the Madras authorities warned the Vizagapatam Council not to proceed, without his express approval, with certain additional fortifications which had been begun, but to level their foundations with the ground and cover them up until a more favourable opportunity. They also ordered the Chief to hold himself in readiness to abandon the factory immediately if the Seer Lascar should attack it, instructing him to embark everything he could and to leave a notice on the factory gate setting out the cost of the buildings, the reason for quitting them, and the items of property still remaining in them. These timid orders were partly due to the fear that resistance in Vizagapatam might light a general conflagration in the south,partly to the decline in the trade at Vizagapatam which had followed the numerous internal commotions there, and partly to the impossibility of carrying on the factory within the limit of expenditure which the Directors had prescribed and to which, in spite of protests from Madras, they for long vehemently adhered. ​In May 1698, however, another and friendlier Seer Lascar ('Fakera' or 'Pakerla Khan,' apparently Fakir-ulláh Khán) was appointed, and the prospect looked brighter. In February 1700 this potentate 'did our Chief great Honour, Setting him on his own Pallakeen, comeing to his house to Vissit him, and giveing him a rich suite of cloths, an Elephant, and two Horses, and making all demonstrations of love possible.' In the next month he was succeeded by a new Seer Lascar who tried to impose new taxes and thus kindled yet another revolt by the local Rájas. The latter defeated his troops on every occasion, burnt and plundered most of the country, shut the Seer Lascar up in Chicacole and threatened to attack that place, captured Kasimkóta and plundered the Dutch at Bimlipatam. Peace at length ensued and the people returned from the woods in which they had taken refuge; but in 1702 the flames broke out again and the Faujdar had to pay the Rájas a lakh of rupees to keep quiet.
'Rustundill Khan' was soon afterwards reappointed as Seer Lascar and showed symptoms of again giving the factory trouble. The Madras authorities said nothing about withdrawal this time,but sent to Vizagapatam twelve Portuguese and six English soldiers and fifteen candies of powder. The Seer Lascar came and camped in the Company's garden at Vizagapatam with 40,000 men and the factory had an anxious time. But at length judicious presents softened his heart and he granted a cowle for the place. Mr. Holcombe died in May 1705, after having been Chief for thirteen exciting years, and lies buried in the old cemetery at Vizagapatam which is usually erroneously called 'the Dutch cemetery.' He was succeeded by Mr. Stephen Trewen, Who died within a year and was followed by Mr. Francis Hastings, afterwards provisional Governor of Madras.
In this Chief's time serious trouble occurred with Fakir-ulláh Khán, who had been reappointed Seer Lascar. About 1698 Mr. Holcombe had rashly borrowed 44,000 pagodas of Fakírulláh, then Seer Lascar, and lent it to Ananda Rázu, chief of Vizianagram, and Páyaka Rao of Páyakaraopeta (p. 312). At the time of his death (notwithstanding several threatening letters from Fakír-ulláh, who warned him that his money was 'like bread as hard as iron, and so not easily digested' and would be recovered by fair means or foul), Mr. Holcombe still owed 6,500 pagodas of the principal, while with interest the debt amounted to over 20,000 pagodas. Mr. Holcombe had still more rashly affixed the Company's seal to his bond, and Fakír-ulláh accordingly called upon the Chief and Council to pay up the amount. ​They naturally hesitated about doing so, and unwisely further exasperated Fakír-ulláh by acknowledging the claims of a rival candidate for the post of Seer Lascar. At length, on the 8th December 1710, Fakír-ulláh came to enforce his demand and encamped on the sand-hill north of the town with 7,000 foot and 800 horse (other accounts say 3,500 and 500, respectively) and the next night fired into the factory^s outposts. The garrison, however, returned the fire and obliged the enemy to turn the siege into a blockade.
Captain Hamilton, who was there at the time, gives a description 1 of the defence. The garrison at first numbered only nineteen Europeans, 20 topasses (Portuguese) and 280 natives, most of the last of whom were fishermen. They fortified the low rocks between the sand-hills and the factory, drew Captain Hamilton's ship within pistol-shot of the shore,placed eight minion guns to scour the sands in case the enemy tried to come that way, and held out for six weeks until reinforcements from Madras, which included twelve guns and some soldiers under Lieutenant Dixon (afterwards killed during the operations), at length arrived. Captain Hamilton then left, but the blockade went on for three months more until the end of April. Fakír-ulláh erected new batteries on the sand-hill and the Dolphin's Nose headland (which even then went by that name) and the factory sent urgent appeals to Madras for lead and stores to maintain the defence and for 'more shells for our mortar, and if possible another mortar and shells, and also shells for the cohorns and great and small granados, with shot, iron and stone of all sorts and sizes, and for God's sake fresh provisions.' At last the Company paid the 20,000 pagodas demanded and the siege was raised.
Captain Hamilton says, however, that the Seer Lascar tried soon afterwards to take the place by surprise: —
He came into the Town one Day with 100 Horse, and some Foot, without advertising of his coming, as was usual, at the Town-gate, and before the Chief could have Notice, he was got into the Factory, with twenty or thirty of his Attendants. The Alarm being given, a resolute bold young Gentleman, a Factor in the Company's Service, called Mr. Richard Horden, came running down Stairs, with his Fuzee in his Hand, and his Bayonet screwed on its Muzzle and, presenting it to the Nabob's Breast, told him in the Gentow Language, (which he was Master of) that the Nabob was welcome, but if any of his Attendants offered the least Incivility, his Life should answer for it. ​The Nabob was surprisingly astonished at the Resolution and Bravery of the young Gentleman, and sat down to consider a little, Mr. Horden keeping the Muzzle of his Piece still at his Breast, and one of the Nabob's Servants standing all the while beliind Mr. Horden with a Dagger's Point close to his Back. So they had a Conference of half an Hour long, in those above mentioned Postures, and then the Nabob thought fit to be gone again, full of wonder and Admiration of so daring a Courage.'
At this time the Company were paying the Musalman government Rs. 4,862 annually for the town and the other villages rented from them and received in return the privileges of making and selling- salt, arrack, betel- leaf, tobacco and other commodities, and the right to collect land and sea customs. The small factory at Injaram, on the Gódávari coast, was subordinate to Vizagapatam, and the Second in Council at one time resided there.
The records of the next few years are full of accounts of the fighting between the Faujdar (now Habid Khán, Fakír-ulláh's rival) and the local Rájas here and in Ganjám. In 1712 Ananda Rázu of Vizianagram with 10,000 men was actually plundering and destroying without hindrance within sight of Chicacole. These constant alarms not only prevented the reduction of the garrison collected to repulse Fakír-ulláh, but on the contrary led to its increase and to the construction of more defences. No plan of these survives, but the records speak of the flagstaff, southern and western bastions, northern point, and curtain facing the river (all of which were built of stone), the eastern curtain facing the sea, the fort gate and mainguard, and the back gate. By 1726 the garrison numbered 85 men, and outworks (see the map facing p. 44) had been built to protect the native town. In 1729 further disturbances resulted in the despatch from Madras of a sergeant and some more guns.
In 1727 the first move was made towards Waltair, which had long been included in the cowles, the cloth-washers and their families being established there in consequence of the discovery of 'a vein of very good water which cured and whitened cloth much better than the washermen's tanks formerly made use of.' In 1731 (and again in 1753) the question of the desirability of coining copper dubs at Vizagapatam was raised, but the See Lascar refused the necessary permission and no mint appears to have been established. In 1739 a building to the west of the fort was bought as a 'Garden House' for the reception of guests. It was irretrievably damaged by the great flood of 1752. Frequent references also occur throughout the early records to ​the Company's mango garden somewhere near by, which was a favourite place for strangers to camp in. It was apparently near the present Dábá Gardens.
In 1741 the Chief (Mr. John Stratton) earnestly invited the attention of the Madras authorities to the necessity of strengthen- ing the Vizagapatam defences. He said —
'The Buildings and Fortifications at this Place are in so ruinous a Condition that in case any Disturbances should happen here we are but ill provided to resist only a small Body of Men. It's true we have 61 pieces of Ordnance mounted in this Garrison, but the carriages are so farr fallen to decay that they will not bear 2ce firing before they must fall to pieces. We are also in great want of fire Arms for the Military, for those now in use have been here so long that they are not to be depended on.'
The next year a threatened inroad of Maráthas led him to entertain 100 extra peons and a like number of lascars and to ask for 75 barrels of powder and more men and arms. The whole coast was in a panic, the Dutch at Masulipatam, Cocanada and Bimlipatam and the French at Yanam having embarked all their property ready for instant flight, the small factories at Injaram and Uppáda making similar preparations, and the people of the country ' retiring to the hills with all expedition possible.' Madras sent up 21 Europeans, fifteen barrels of powder and five candies of lead, and the Chief set to work to make 'a Palisado of Timbers from Flag Staff Hill to the sea-side, which is 216 yards.' This flagstaff hill, on which there was then a battery, is apparently the low outcrop of dark rock which stands in the quarter of Vizagapatam still known as Buruzupéta, or 'Bastion hamlet,' and which was afterwards called 'the Black Rock.' It was then (see the map facing p. 44) quite outside the town. Mr. Stratton, who was clearly a Chief of determination, was confident of being able to beat off the enemy, and the local Rájas all sent their families to Vizagapatam for protection.
The trouble, however, blew over temporarily and the only real work done on the defences seems to have been the construction of 'Benyon's battery and Middle Point, with a very small addition to Martin's Point.' The disappearance of all the plans of this period from the Madras records renders it impossible to identify these posts with certainty, but the map seems to show that Benyon's battery was the work on the Black Rock already referred to, the Mettah gate the opening on the low ground west of it, Middle Point the small bastion next west again and Martin's Point the outwork adjoining on the edge of the backwater just north of the town. They were shortly afterwards declared to be ​of little service. It was observed that 'instead thereof if only a wall had been run from Martin's Point to the Mettah gate, another across the rock upon which Benyon's battery is built, and the platforms on each side the Mettah gate raised a proper heighth, the town would have been equally as secure.'
In 1744 the Marátha panic revived and estimates were submitted for 'building and repairing sundry fortifications' namely, 'the great battery by the seaside' (apparently the work the ruins of which still stand on the Dolphin's Nose and which is usually wrongly called 'the Dutch battery'), ' the small battery fronting the fort, the powder magazine and the guardhouse.' It was urged that the houses between the fort and the sea should be pulled down and a battery put there to command the roadstead; that a battery which had already been begun with guns sent the year before from Madras on the Black Rock should be completed so as to secure 'that part of the Mangoe Garden which lies behind a rising ground called the Sand Hill, which overlooks the town,and what the country government constantly possess themselves of upon the least Dispute with Us;' and that the magazine should be removed from the side of the backwater (or 'river,' as it was then called), which was too damp a site and too far from the fort.
The declaration of war with the French in this same year lent additional weight to these requests, and in 1745 it was ordered that a battery should be put up in front of the fort and that the 'small one near the bar' (? the 'Dutch' battery) should be repaired. Further work was stopped in 1750 on the ground that the well-known Engineer Mr. Benjamin Robins was being sent out by the Directors to examine all fortifications, and that it would be best to await his advice.
In 1753, as already narrated, the Circars were ceded to the French; and at the end of 1756 Bussy, free at last from other embarrassments, marched into them to restore his shaken authority, seized Bobbili, quieted Ganjam, captured Injaram and the other English factories in Gódávari and then marched in person against Vizagapatam. He reached that place on 24th June 1757, with the large force of 600 Europeans, 6,000 sepoys and 30 pieces of cannon.1
A river coming from the north and turning short eastward to the sea, forms an arm of land, a mile and a half in length and 600 yards in breadth. Nearly in the middle of this ground stands the fort, of which the construction by repeated mistakes was become so absurd, that it was much less defensible than many of the ancient barons' castles of Europe. The face towards the river was choked by houses. A whole town lay within 300 yards to the north, a village at the same distance to the south, and several buildings on each of these sides stood much nearer the walls; towards the sea, the esplanade was clear, excepting a saluting battery, where a lodgment might be easily made; after many injudicious additions of works round the fort, which only made it worse, it was found necessary to throw up an entrenchment to the north, beyond the town, in the shoulder of the peninsula, quite across from the river to the sea, with a battery at each extremity, and another on a hillock near the center, but this was commanded by a sand-hill directly opposite, and within point-blank. The access across the river from the south was sufficiently secured by batteries, which commanded not only the passage, but the entrance of the river itself, through which all embarkations from the sea must gain the shore, as the surf prevents even a boat from landing on the beach: indeed the whole scheme of the defences seemed to have been calculated only to oppose the attempts of pirates and polygars. The garrison consisted of 150 excellent Europeans, and 300 Sepoys; the English families in the town were 50 persons.
On the same day that the van of Mr. Bussy's army appeared in sight, the Company's ship Marlborough anchored in the road, on board of which was the chief engineer of Madrass proceeding to Bengal. He landed, and having the next morning reviewed the works with Captain Charles Campbell, who commanded the troops, both gave their opinion that the extent could not be defended, even with a much greater force; and advised that all the Europeans should be immediately embarked, and the Sepoys, with two or three officers, left to make the best capitulation they could; but all the boat and fishermen had deserted in the night, and the wind blew so strong from the sea, that none but those accustomed could manage the boats over the bar, which that of the Marlborough carrying back the engineer experienced, being twice overset and a man drowned before she got out. At noon, cannon appeared on the sand hill; soon after, the main body of the enemy, and a summons to surrender; after two or three messages, the capitulation was signed at 11 at night. All the Europeans, whether troops or inhabitants, were to be prisoners of war; the sepoys and natives free to go where they liked; the Company's effects, capture; individuals, Mr. Bussy said, should have no reason to complain: he kept his word with the utmost liberality, resigning without discussion whatsoever property any one claimed as ​his own. The Marlboroughi having auchored at the Dutch factory of Bimlipatam, 12 miles to the northward, he permitted the chief, Mr. Poreival, Captain Campbell, and several others, to proceed in her to Bengal.'
The subsequent history of the Vizagapatam settlement — its seizure from the French by the Rája of Vizianagram in 1758, the expulsion of that nation from the Circars by Colonel Forde's expedition in the next year, the eventual cession of the country to the English in 1765, and the elevation of Vizagapatam from the position of an isolated factory to that of the capital of a district in 1769 — all these events have already been shortly sketched above.
The twelve years of anarchy which followed Bussy's departure had enabled the Rája of Vizianagram to make himself more powerful than ever, and he was by far the most prominent person in the new territory. The Rája, Ananda Rázu, who had accompanied Forde's expedition died of small-pox at Rajahmundry shortly afterwards. He had no son, and the widow of his predecessor Viziaráma Rázu adopted Venkatapati Rázu, a boy of twelve and the second son of her husband's cousin Rámabhadra Rázu, and caused him to assume the name of Viziaráma Rázu by which he was afterwards so well known. This lad had a half brother, considerably older than himself, named Sitaráma Ráza, who (though the adoption of an eldest son is discouraged by Hindu law) cherished considerable resentment because of his apparent supersession. Owing to the new Rája's minority, all authority and state fell naturally into Sitaráma's hands and for very many years he succeeded in maintaining the position of superiority over his younger brother thus accorded him.
The two brothers were very powerful. They controlled almost all the district except the havíli land round about Vizagapatam, Kasimkóta and Chicacole(i.e., the old demesne or household land of the sovereign, and tracts resumed by the Musalmans and appropriated to the support of their garrisons and establishments); in 1761 they also seized by force much of the estate of Parlákimedi in Ganjám; while later, it is said, they even possessed themselves temporarily of the Rajahmundry Circar. When the English came into possession of the country they persuaded the brothers to relinquish Parlákimedi and settled a peshkash of three lakhs annually on the rest of their estate. This latter included the indefinite rights in Jeypore referred to on p. 266 below.
Soon afterwards the various zamindars formed a strong confederacy to throw off the Vizianagram yoke. Sitaráma Rázu, however, was equal to the occasion. 'He persuaded the Chief ​and Council' says Mr, Carmichael in his District Manual of Vizagapatam, 'to regard this as a chllange to their newly-constituted authority, and with the aid of the Company's troops he readily defeated the insurgents one after the other. At the close of the campaign, all the zaniindars in the district but Andra and Pálkonda, who had both kept aloof from the malcontents, were dispossessed, and their patrimony went to swell the rental of Vizianagram. The more considerable chiefs were admitted to 'towjees' or stipends while men of less note, or who were objects of special resentment, were kept in fetters in the dungeons of the fort at Vizianagram.' The manner in which the Jeypore fort was captured about this time by the combined forces of the Company and Sítaráma is recounted on p. 267 below.
'In the year 1775,' continues Mr. Carmichael, a strong faction of the leading Rásavárs (Rájputs), who had their own advantage in view, coerced Sítaráma Rázu to retire from the prominent part he had heretofore taken in his brother's affairs. He agreed to resign the office of díwán and to retire to a private possession, on Viziaráma's covenanting to acknowledge his (Sítaráma's) son, Narasimha Gajapati Rázu, as his successor. To this, Viziaráma (who was then childless) readily acceded, it being a proviso that the title of the son of Sítaráma should not be preferred to that of any male issue that might afterwards be born to Viziaráma himself.
In 1778, in the circumstances referred to on p. 167 below, the zamindars of the Northern Circars were summoned to Madras to have their peshkash settled, and the intriguing and ambitious Sítaráma succeeded by lavish bribery in obtaining, from the authorities there, orders reinstating him as díwán, instructing his brother the Rája to be reconciled to him, confirming the conditional succession of his son to the zaraindari, and directing that all future leases of land in the estate should be made in this son's name.1
On the 3rd October 1780 a serious mutiny occurred among the sepoys at Vizagapatam. To meet the invasion of the Carnatic by Haidar Ali of Mysore, the Govei-nment had ordered four companies of these troops to embark for Madras. The result is described as follows by the newswriter in Hickey's Gazette2: —
'We are informed that the Sepoy troops lately draughted at Vizagapatam, having all their arms, aceautraments, baggage, etc., ready to ​embark on board the Sartine Frigue, and some other vessels then in that harbour in order to carry them to Madras, the day of their intended departure the Governor of Vizac invited all the military officers to dine with him and the Council. The troops were to embark that afternoon. The gentlemen made a cheerful repast, drank success to the British arms, and sat in compaay with all the tranquility of mind imaginable, but were soon alarmed by an uncommon noise. They sent some of their servants out to learn the cause, and was soon informed that the troops draughted for Madras had mutinied, and was endeavouring to force those Sepoys who were to remain behind in the barracks to join them, which they refused. This account soon brought their officers out, who instantly resumed their commands, and ordered them immediately to march down to the beach and go on board. This they refused one and all. The Grenadiers levelled their pieces, took aim, discharged a volley, and killed every officer on the spot. They took the Governor prisoner and all the civil servants, set free a French spy who had been confined there for some time, and placed him at their head, at the same time put the Governor and all the civil servants in the prison from whence they took the Frenchman. They plundered the Governor's house and factory of the treasure, plate and every other valuable that night, took the civillins out the next morning, tied them, and marched them off with them, with an intent to carry their prisoners to Hyder Ally, whom themselves intended to join. After they had marched several miles from Vizac, they unty'd the Governor Mr, Casmajor and the rest of the gentlemen, and told them they might return to Vizac if they pleased. Ensign Butier, the only surviving officer on that establishment, and who very fortunately had been on a visit to a friend at some distance from the settlement, finding what had happened, drew up a detachment of the remaining troops the next morning with a few field pieces, marched at the head of them in quest of the deserters, came up with them, and discharged a few rounds of grape shot amongst them, which brought several of them to the ground. Some ran off, leaving the most part of their arms behind, and the remainder he took prisoners, marching them in the front with the field pieces in the rear.'
The zamindar of Parlákimedi, then under surveillance at Vizagapatam, was strongly suspected of having' engineered this outbreak, but he boldly claimed to have saved the lives of the other Europeans in the station and was eventually given back his estate as a reward for his doubtful services.
In 1781 the Circars were within an ace of being ceded back again to Hyderabad in return for a body of horse to be placed at he disposal of the Governor-General. Lord Macartney, who had just arrived as Governor of Madras, protested, however, with such force against the proposal that it was abandoned. ​Meanwhile the weak and corrupt administration of the Chiefs in Council, and the oppression of the ryots and the smaller zamindars by Sítaráma Rázu (who was not only de facto ruler of practically the whole of the zamindari area in the district, but also renter of the havíli land) had brought the district into a very unsatisfactory state. A Committee of Circuit consisting of five Members of Council (see p. 167) was sent to investigate matters, and reported in 1784 in the strongest terms of condemnation. It said that the havíli land was most oppressively administered by Sítaráma and was in the last stage of desolation; and as for the rest of the district, that constantly increasing taxes had resulted in a decrease of population and the ruin of several of the handicrafts; that the ryots were allowed to retain barely one-fifth of their crops; that the excessive customs duties had strangled trade; that there were no courts of justice; that the villages were 'composed of wretched hovels, the people meanly clothed and meagre through the extremes of labour and hard fare'; that ' the zamindar, converting all his gains to private purposes, and the native, destitute of all property and aiming at nothing more than a subsistence and the discharge of his assessment,' were alike indifferent to the needs of the future; that in spite of orders to reduce the number of his forces, the Rája of Vizianagram still maintained 7,760 troops of his own (including l,620 sepoys dressed and armed after the European manner)at an annual cost of nearly 5½ lakhs of rupees and had a call on even more belonging to Pálkonda, Jeypore, Golgonda, and Ándra (his 'subjected tributaries') and to Kimedi and Tekkali; and that of the zamindars he had dispossessed, some had fled to Jeypore and were living on the bounty of the Rája there, others (like Kurupám) were in receipt of a pension, and yet others (including Bobbili, Páchipenta, Kásipuram, Sálúr, and the Tát Rája of Bissamkatak) were in imprisonment at Vizianagram.
The Committee considered it necessary in the interests of the people at large that the power of Vizianagram should be curbed; and recommended that all his troops except some 2,000 sibbandis for service in the malarious hills and a body-guard of 767 peons and 50 horse should be ordered to be disbanded, the cost of their upkeep (four lakhs) being added to the peshkash (five lakhs) which the Rája now paid; suggested that the Jeypore, Pálkonda and Golgonda chiefs should be given separate cowles and rendered independent of Vizianagram, and that the imprisoned zamindars should be set at liberty; and made numerous proposals for the improvement of the revenue and other branches of the administration. ​The Rája agreed at the time to disband his troops except certain Rájputs who belonged to his own clan, and in 1788 he Was formallv ordered to reduce his forces and was granted a new lease at the enhanced peshkash of nine lakhs recommended by the Committee, his zamindari being however increased by the addition of the estates of Anakápalle, Uratla and Satyavaram. He evidently disobeyed the instructions regarding the reduction of his troops, and in comsequence had difficulty in meeting the enhanced peshkash.
His brother Sítaráma Rázu was removed from the office of diwan about 1784 and retired, it is stated, to Simháchalam, where he made the rose-garden which still stands (see p. 323) at the foot of the steps leading to the temple on the hill there. In 1790, however, he regained his post; was dismissed by his brother in November 1791; taken back again in February 1792; removed by order of Government; and required in August 1793 to reside in Madras, whither he proceeded accordingly and lived on a pension from Government of Rs. 5,000 a month.
By this time 1 the Rája's incompetent management of the estate had led to the accrual of arrears of peshkash amounting to no less than 6¼ lakhs, and the Chief and Council reported that the security of the revenue and the general welfare of the country could be ensured by no method short of the sequestration of the zamindari. The oppressions of Sítaráma had raised revolt among the lesser zamindars and very serious disturbances were apprehended unless ' a decided and immediate check and an entire change of system ' could be introduced. The Government threatened that unless all the arrears were paid the estate would be attached and the Rája removed and pensioned, and they sent to Vizagapatam a detachment of Europeans, artillery and sepoys, under Lieutenant-Colonel Prendergast, to enable them to enforce these measures.
The Rája, in this extremity, offered to pay 5½ lakhs of the arrears (which by now had grown to 8½ lakhs) in three equal instalments in a reasonable time, but the proposal was rejected by the Board of Revenue and the Government, and on 2nd August 1793 the sequestration was effected by Colonel Prendergast taking possession of the Vizianagram fort. The Rája was still, however, so powerful that no one would come forward to rent any part of the estate, and, while making every outward sign of submission, he intrigued to render impossible any management ​but his own. The sequestration therefore continued. The question of the arrears, indeed, was only one of several which were at stake. As the Board of Revenue put it in June 1794 —
'The objects we had in view and which we trusted would result from the sequestration of the Zaraindary, were, to reduce the military force which this Zamindar (notwithstanding the repeated orders, to the contrary, of the Honorable Court of Directors, within the last twenty years, and of successive Governments) had not only retained,but even increased ; to meliorate the condition of the inhabitants and families of those Zamiudars, who had been dispossessed by the most unjust and ambitious projects of the Vizianagram Zamindar; to afford relief to those who retained their countries, but who have been exposed to great oppressions; to heal the distractions, which had so long prevailed under a weak, fluctuating and improvident administration; to ascertain the real value of the different purguunahs and the extent of the improper alienations of land, whether for military services, or to Braminies and favorites; to clear off all debts (particularly to the Rajah's troops); to introduce some fixed principle of management, in order to secure tranquillity, and the realization of an adequate revenue; and, by affording the Zamindar a more intimate knowledge of the resources of his country, we hoped to provide for the punctual discharge of the Company's future demands.'
It seemed clear that as long as the Rája remained in the district the arrears would continue uncollected and the estate be unmanageable; and he was accordingly directed to proceed to Masulipatam within a stated time. He was given an allowance of Rs. 1,200 a month and the Chief made him an advance of Rs. 30,000 for the expenses of the journey. He marched out ten or twelve miles and then (11th May 1794) wrote to the Chief stating his inability to proceed further owing to the turbulence of his peons, who clamoured for their arrears of pay. These people were pacified by an assurance from the Chief that the Company would discharge their claims and the Rája was left without excuse for further non-compliance with the orders of Government. His reluctance to leave his country was however extreme. He considered the orders not only harsh and disparaging to his position, but a sure precursor of the entire extinction of his power. He seems to have hoped that a determined attitude would stave off extreme measures, and so retired with his camp to Padmanábham, a village between Vizianagram and Bimlipatam and in quite. the opposite direction to the main road to Masulipatam.
By this open movement he was now declared by the Chief and Council 'to have broken with the Company;' and intelligence was shortly received which left very little doubt of his intentions. ​It was found that he was moving' his family and effects; that some sepoys and cavalry who were in course of being paid off by the Chief at Vizagapatam had been re-called by the Rája and had actually joined him at Padmanábham; that the country peons were collecting; that promises had been made to the other zamindars for the purpose of conciliating them; and that it was imagined to be the Rája's intention to proceed to Jeypore or,further still, to the Bastar country of Nagpur. Once in the hills, a very large force of paiks would- of course be at his disposal.
On the 14th May a company of the Rája's sepoys stationed at Vizianagram marched off, without informing the commanding officers of their intentions, to join the Rája at Padmanábham, and three companies which were at Srungavarapukóta acted in the same way. Spies were sent out by the Chief and Council and returned with the news that it was the Rája's intention to resist the Company's forces to the last, and, if finally overpowered,' then to do as the Bobbili family did formerly ' when their fort was captured by Bussy. Messengers, it was added, had arrived from Sítaráma Rázu, who was then under surveillance at Madras, stating that owing to war between the English and French all the Company's troops would be required in the south, in which event the Company would only be too glad to adjust matters in a conciliating" spirit with the Rája. 'Since this report was published, Viziarama Rázu seems to appear in good spirits.'
On the 29th May, Lieutenant-Colonel Prendergast arrived at Bimlipatam from Chicacole with five companies of sepoys, and was joined by Captain Cox from Vizianagram with two and a half companies. He reported that some European gunners were coming up from Madras by sea, and indented on the arsenal at Vizagapatam for two brigades of six-pounders and one brigade of three pounders, with their full complement of ammunition.
By this time the number of fighting men who had joined the Rája amounted to four thousand men. He appeared to be aware that he was engaged in a desperate enterprize, and to shrink from the actual hostilities that were imminent. He sent for a Doctor Martin, who was with the troops at Bimlipatam and to whom he was known, on the plea that he required his professional advice. The Chief gave the doctor permission to go. He found the Rája prostrated, both in body and mind, and after prescribing for his bodily ailments, he was asked by his patient whether he could administer to a diseased mind. The doctor replied that his skill did not extend so far, but that he hoped and believed the Rája was not afflicted in that way beyond all cure. The Rája ​replied by a long' narrative of his grievances and difficulties, and ended by entrusting the doctor with a letter for the Chief, in which he attributed his disobedience to the Company's orders to the restraint laid upon him by the rabble of sibbandis and others that had gathered around him. Mr. Chamier, in reply, offered to employ force against these obstructions, but to this no answer appears to have been received.
On the tidings of these events reaching Madras, the Governor, Sir Charles Oakeley, himself addressed a letter to Viziaráma Rázu, informing him that the Company would settle every just demand of his troops, and requiring him to repair forthwith to Vizagapatam accompanied by his common attendants only. In the event of his declining compliance with this summons, he was warned that he must be considered in a state of armed and willful disobedience to the Government; that the Commanding Officer would proceed against him so soon as he might be prepared for that purpose, and use the most effectual means in his power for dispersing his people and securing his person and the persons of his principal adherents. No reply was received from Viziaráma Rázu, and on the 5th July Colonel prendergast was directed to enforce the orders of Government, after giving the Rája twenty-four hours for the necessary preparations for his departure.
On the 8th and 9th idem scouts brought the intelligence that the Rája and all his men had sworn to die, sword in hand; maháprasádam, or food that had been offered in the temple at Padmanábham, having been distributed by the Rája with due solemnity to his chiefs. Early on the morning of the 10th all was over. The following brief report from Colonel Prendergast was received at Vizagapatam the same evening: — ' I arrived at Padmanábham at half past five o'clock this morning, and finding the Rája's troops all arrived and prepared, attacked them, and after a severe conflict for about three-quarters of an hour, dispersed them. The Rája was killed, with many of his followers. Further returns tomorrow.'
The loss on the Company's side was thirteen killed and sixty-one wounded. The casualties amongst their opponents were far more numerous. No correct list of the wounded was ever procured, but no less than three hundred and nine were killed. Of these, two hundred and eight were Rájputs, and the bodies of forty Rájputs, of the first rank in the country, formed a rampart round the corpse of Viziaráma Rázu. The Dátlas, the Dantalúris, the Ságis, the Chintalapátis, the Gótimukkalas, the Vajarlas, the Pennumetsas, all left their dead on the ​field, padmanábham will long be remembered as the Flodden of the Rájputs of Vizianagram. THe Chief and Council might well deem the fight decisive, as they proceeded to the principal objects they now had in view, viz., that the settlements of revenue be made, and the business of cultivation be forwarded as expeditiously as possible.'
Matters however were very far from being at once adjusted. The late Rája had placed the ladies of his family, with his young son, Náráyana Rázu, a boy of eight years of age, at Annamarázupéta, a village about two kos from Padmanábham; and on the eve of the battle he sent the lad instructions to surrender, in the event of his own death, to the Chief and Council. It had become necessary for him to yield up his life to save his honour; but the 'Company were very just people' and would not visit their quarrel with the father on his young son. He at the same time induced his wife and mother to swear to him that they would not kill themselves on receiving the news of his death.
No sooner however was the fate of Viziaráma Rázu and his army known, than the guardians of the women and child fled precipitately with their charge to Kásipuram, at the foot of the hills. This place was at that time in the possession of one Mukki Rájabhúpala Rázu, who, claiming descent from the ancient zamindars of that portion of the district, had seized upon Kásipuram by force on the sequestration of the Vizianagram zamindari by the Government, and had continued ever since to defy the power of the Company and to resist their troops. This man received the fugitives with every attention, and shortly afterwards escorted them to Makkuva, still further to the north. From this place negotiations were opened with the other zamindars, especially with Rámachandra Deo of Jeypore, who then resided at Náráyanapatnam. The young Rája was soon surrounded with several thousand armed peons; the leaders collected the kists from the ryots, and seemed resolved to set the Company's government at defiance. Detachments of sepoys were rapidly pushed forward to the more important positions, but the Commanding Officer at the same time reported that if matters continued as they were it would not be practicable for him to hold the country without an additional force of three battalions at his disposal.
In these circumstances a temporizing policy was adopted by the Chief and Council. Letters were despatched to the chief surviving members of the late Rája's family inviting them to come in and bring Náráyana Rázu with them, since it was not ​intended to take any further notice of past proceedings. This assurance however was regarded by the parties concerned as too vague to be satisfactory.
The Governor, Sir Charles Oakeley, accordingly sent an engagement under his own hand, dated 20th August 1794, promising that Náráyana Rázu and all the late Rája's family, dependents and adherents should be taken under the Company's protection provided that they returned within thirty days, but warning them that if they still held aloof they would be ' considered to be contumacious and disobedient 'and' to have forfeited all claim to the Company's future favour or countenance.'
To this, the boy's friends replied that they would return at an early date. The more ambitious zamindars by whom he was surrounded were however by no means pleased at this decision. It was their object to protract the disturbances until they could make advantageous terms for themselves with the Company, and they consequently loudly protested against the surrender and redoubled their hostilities against the Company's detachments. Colonel Prendergast applied for a reinforcement of three battalions, but the Chief replied that it was better to negotiate than to depend upon force against people who could not be followed into their hill fastnesses; and at length the Jeypore Rája was induced to hold aloof from the insurgents and Náráyana Rázu, escaping from the other zamindars, came to Ándra on the 21st September. A proclamation calling on the other chiefs to return to their estates, and guaranteeing them possession, resulted in their also coming in; and a most difficult and dangerous situation ended happily.
The Jeypore Rája was rewarded for his behaviour with a sanad for his estate, and in 1796 cowles were granted to the other zamindars reinstating them during their good behaviour in the properties of which they had been dispossessed by Vizianagram. Náráyana Rázu was given a cowle for three years for his estate on a peshkash of six lakhs, but the property was curtailed not only by the severance from it of the zamindaris which had been restored to their original proprietors, but by the absorption into the havili land of the Anakápalle taluk and some adjacent areas.
By the Permanent Settlement of 1802 (see p. 169) all these ancient zamindaris were handed over to their owners in perpetuity on a fixed peshkash and a number of other proprietary estates were also called into being by parcelling out the havíli land into a series of properties and selling these by auction subject to the payment of a permanent, peshkash. ​Politically, this settlement was a failure. It took no account of the personal equation among the zamindars. These men had for years been treated as feudatories rather than as mere farmers of the revenue, 'rather as captains of the borders, lords of the marches chiefs of the hills, than as private landholders'; and the Government had been in part conducted through them, some of them having been entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the hill tribes in order. But under the new arrangement they were unceremoniously set aside; authority over the hill men was taken from them; their estates were declared liable to immediate attachment and sale for default in paying a single instalment of the peshkash; they were irritated by the working of the new revenue and judicial regulations; and the new police force, no longer under their control, took every opportunity, under cover of a pretence of enforcing law and order, of harassing and annoying them. Mr. Thackeray, the well-known Member of the Board of Revenue, wrote in 1819 that —
'The (police) darogahs were generally low men, such as kotwáls, turned-off writers, dubashes and butlers, the dregs of the courts and cutcherry: their peons good for nothing, batta peons, such as hang about every cutcherry and follow ever dubash. Sending such men into the zamindaris was as if the Govermnent, an hundred years ago, had sent a dozen London attorneys' clerks, with some Bow Street runners, to the highlands of Scotland, to control those proud chiefs, and establish a good police in that country.'
Owing to all these causes, the zamindars, for many years after the introduction of the permanent settlement, were in a chronic state of discontent and disaffection. Too often internal and domestic troubles accentuated their restlessness. Those of them who had been restored to their ancient patrimonies on the death of the Rája of Vizianagram in 1794 returned to them, of course, without capital or credit; and in several instances an illegitimate brother or a cousin disputed their title, got together a band of paiks, and seizing upon a portion of the estate contrived to hold it by force.
At first, troops were called out and an attempt was made to chastise these disturbers of the public peace and drive them from their fastnesses. But these expeditions were by no means uniformly successful and cost much in blood and treasure. Recourse was then had to negotiation, the only result of which was to increase the insolence of the malcontents. Fresh leaders of banditti started up in every direction, and the zamindars, believing that we were afraid to put the law in operation against them, began neglecting to pay their peshkash. ​Sir Thomas Munro, (Governor of Madras, in a minute of 7th January 1823 written at the close of a tour through the country,1 summed up the then position as under: —
The weakness of the authority of Government in the Circars is owing to our restoring the districts of the petty zamindars, who had been subdued, contrary to the opinion of the Committee of Circuit;to our erecting by the permanent settlement a new set of proprietary zamindars; to our not reserving a single village in which we could exercise direct control over the ryots; and to our transferring to these proprietors the karnams, who are the source of all information. In open countries long under the immediate authority of Government, the permanent settlement, though it tends to conceal the real state of the country, does not seriously affect the public authority by encouraging resistance or rebellion; but in mountainous unhealthy districts like the Northern Circars, the greater part of which has long been in the hands of a number of petty Rájas, some claiming independence, and all constantly ready to withhold their tribute and to raise disturbances whenever they see a favourable opportunity, the permanent settlement has the effect of weakening the authority of Government over the whole province, and of rendering the establishment of security and of good order more difficult than before .... Our system in the Circars is one of forbearance, and we are obliged to connive at irregularities which would not be tolerated in other provinces, lest we should be compelled to use force and involve ourselves in a petty warfare against banditti in a pestilential climate among hills and jungles.
The affairs of the Circars can never be well administered, nor the great body of the people protected against oppression, nor the country be secured from disturbance and the incursion of plunderers, until our Government becomes more respected in those provinces than it is at present .... No zamindari once forfeited for rebellion should ever be restored, whatever temporary evil the retention of it might occasion. All estates falling in should invariably be kept and annexed o the sirkar lands .... The gradual extension of the sirkar lands should be our main object, because it is by having the direct possession and management of landed property that we can best protect the ryots, grant them remissions of rent, assist them in agricultural improvements and attach them to our Government.'
Ten years later, at the close of 1832, the disturbances in this district and in the Parlákimedi zamindari of Ganjám became so serious that Mr. George Russell, First Member of the Board of Revenue, was sent as Special Commissioner to investigate their causes and concert measures for their suppression. He was invested with extraordinary powers, including that of proclaiming martial law if necessary, and was supported by a strong force ​of troops. In this district his attentions were chiefly devoted to Mukki Vírabhadra Rázu of Kásipuram, Páyaka Rao of Páyakaraopéta and the zamindar of Pálkonda, and the action he took against them is referred to in the account of those three places in Chapter XV below.1 The two former were captured and the estate of the third was forfeited and became the present Pálkonda taluk.
To check further disturbances of the same kind Act XXIV of 1839 was passed and (see p. 196) seven-eighths of the district was removed from the operation of much of the ordinary law and administered directly by the Collector with extraordinary powers conferred upon him in the capacity of 'Agent to the Governor.' Several of the zamindaris in the south were from time to time bought in by Government at sales for arrears of revenue, and these were formed into the taluks of Golgonda and Sarvasiddhi, but the owners of the others were quieted permanently.
Since then there have been troubles or outbreaks of the hill people ('fitúris', as they are locally called) in the Golgonda hills in 1845-48, 1857-58, 1879-80, 1886 and 1891; in the Jeypore zamindari in 1849-50 and 1855-56; among the Savaras of Gunupur taluk in 1864 and 1865; and at Korravanivalasa in Sálúr taluk in 1900. These are all referred to in the accounts of those places in Chapter XV. In 1882 the Khonds of Kálahandi State rose against the Uriyas and murdered some hundreds of them. Luckily the invitation to join them, conveyed by the circulation of the head, fingers, hair, etc., of an early victim, was not accepted by the Khonds of this district, but the Párvatipur police reserve under Mr. Prendergast 2 took a prominent part in restoring order across the frontier. The zamindars in the plains have given no trouble since Pálkonda was forfeited for rebellion.
* ↑ 1 For assistance with this section I am very greatly indebted to Rai Bahadur V. Venkayya, M.A., Government Epigraphist.
* ↑ 1 Mr. Vincent Smith's Asóka(Clarendon Press, 1901), 130.
* ↑ * Swan Sonnenschein, 1900.
* ↑ † Nuniz says the temple was at 'Symamdary' and Mr. Se well identifies this with Rajahmundry, supposing that the first syllable has been accidentally dropped, perhaps by the copyist. But Nuniz says that Symamdary was a 'hundred leagues' from Kondapalli, which suits Simháchalam better, and 'Simhádri' is still in use as a form of 'Simháchalam'. Nuniz says the place was a very large city, and he seems to refer thereby to Potnúru, which according to current tradition once extended as far as Bhógapuram, nine miles to the east, which was the quarter where its dancing girls (bhógam) resided.
* ↑ ‡ Babu Man Mohan Chakravarti's paper in J. A. S. B., Ixix, pt. 1, No. 2. This is the authority for several other statements in this section.
* ↑ 1 See the numerous instances given below in the account of the early for. tunes of the English settlement at Vizagapatam,
* ↑ 1 Orme (Madras, 1861), ii, 103.
* ↑ 1 Orme, ii, 381.
* ↑ 2 The text of it is given in Aitchison's Treaties, etc. (1892), viii, 278.
* ↑ 3 Grant's Political Survey of the Northern Circars, forming Appendix B to the Fifth Report on the Affairs of the East India Company, 1812 (Madras, 1883), p. 146.
* ↑ 4 Aitchison's Treaties, etc., viii, 278
* ↑ 1 Aitchison's Treaties, etc., viii, 280.
* ↑ 2 This reduced amount continued to be paid until 1823, when the claim was extinguished by the disbursement of a large lump sum.
* ↑ 3 Sir George Birdwood's Report on the old records of the India Office (W. H.Allen, 1891) twice (pp. 89 and 222) states that the date was 1668, but does not quote the records on which the statement is based. A personal search by the present writer (under expert guidance) among the India Office records failed to discover any papers about Vizagapatam of an earlier date than 1684 The 'interloper' Thomas Bowrey, who traded in these parts between 1669 and 1679,makes no mention of the settlement in his Countries round the Bay of Bengal (Hakluyt Society, Second Series, Vol. XII, 1905); nor is it referred to in the Fort St. George records of 1670-1681; indeed a list of factories in the latter year specifically says that Masulipatam and Madapollara were the only subordinate stations on this coast. If, therefore, a settlement was in fact made in 1668, it must have been almost immediately abolished again.
* ↑ 4. Mr. Pringle's Diary and Consultation book of the Agent Governor and, Council of Fort St. George, 1684 (Madras Government Press, 1895), 170,
* ↑ 1 A list of the Chiefs in Council and Collectors is appended to Chapter XI below.
* ↑ 2 See Mr. Pringle's Diary and Consultation book, etc., 1685, Introd., XVI.
* ↑ 1 Vizagapatam Consultations in the India Office, November 10, 1684.
* ↑ 2 Talboys Wheeler's Madras in the Olden Time (Madras, 1861), i,214.
* ↑ 3 See the cowles granted by his general Zulfikar Khán which are quoted by Talboys Wheeler, i, 245-7.
* ↑ 1 Vizagapatam Consultations at the India Office, 16th July 1692.
* ↑ 2 Ibid., December 6th, 1693.
* ↑ 1 New account of the East Indies (1744), i, 375-81.
* ↑ 1 Cambridge's War in India (London, 1761), 103.
* ↑ 1 Second and Third Reports, Committee of Secrecy, 1781.
* ↑ 2 Quoted in Mr. J. J. Cotton's Inscriptions on Madras Tombs. See also Wilson's Hist, of Madras Army, ii, 18, 19 and Mill's History, iv, 200.
* ↑ 1 The account which follows, down to tho surrender of the Rája's son, is taken from Mr. Carmichael's District Manual.
* ↑ 1 Arbuthnot's Munro (London, 1881), i, 208.
* ↑ 1 See also Mr. Russell's full report on his commission printed in No. XXIV of the Selections from the Madras Records (Madras, 1856).
* ↑ 2 See his graphic narrative of events, printed in G.O., No. 952, Judicial, dated 14th August 1882.