British Crown (Madras Presidency)

For ninety years after 1858, the British Crown governed the Telugu districts of the coast and of Rayalaseema as part of the Madras Presidency.¹² In these years Telangana belonged to the Nizam’s Hyderabad State.¹² This page follows the Crown’s government in the Telugu districts from the transfer of 1858 to independence in 1947. Hyderabad State and the Nizams after 1858 are on the Asaf Jahis page and The Nizams and the British.³⁴⁵ The movements for freedom and for an Andhra province are on Reform, freedom & people’s movements.

The Crown inherited the Presidency that the East India Company had built up by 1839, as told on the East India Company page.³⁴⁵ It ruled from Fort St. George through a Governor in Council, a Board of Revenue and the Collectors of the districts.³⁴⁵

The sources

The Madras Government described itself at length.⁶⁷⁸ C. D. Maclean’s Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency (1885) sets out each department.⁶⁷⁸ It also prints a chronology and a list of Governors.⁶⁷⁸ The district manuals ordered in 1873, and the Madras District Gazetteers of the 1900s, describe each district’s administration, settlement and famines.⁶⁷⁸ Among them are those for Godavari (Hemingway, 1907), Visakhapatnam (then Vizagapatam; Francis, 1907), Anantapur (Francis, 1905) and North Arcot (Stuart, 1895).⁶⁷⁸

The Imperial Gazetteer volume for Madras (1908) summarises the Presidency.⁹ The census reports, from 1871 to 1931, record the population and the changing districts.¹⁰

The great zamindars (holders of large estates) are described in A. Vadivelu’s Aristocracy of Southern India (1903).¹¹ They are also described in a family history of the Venkatagiri Rajas (1922), written under the Raja’s patronage.¹² Both are admiring accounts.¹¹¹² The later Governors are listed in the India Office Lists of 1939 and 1947.¹³¹⁴ These lists are cited here only for the Governors’ names and dates.¹³¹⁴

The transfer of 1858

Maclean’s chronology records that in 1858 the government of India was transferred on 2 August.¹ It passed “from the East India Company to the Crown, by Lord Stanley’s Bill, and the Government vested in a Secretary of State, and a Council of fifteen”.¹ The “Queen’s Proclamation, announcing the assumption of the Government of India” was issued on 4 November.¹ Robert Sewell’s chronology of southern India (1932) dates the transfer of the Company’s territories to the Crown to 1 November 1858.¹⁵

In Madras the Governor did not change at once.¹⁶¹ Lord Harris, Governor since April 1854, handed over to Sir Charles Trevelyan only on 28 March 1859.¹⁶¹ The same year’s entries show the new government at work:¹

• The Directors’ last orders authorised an Inam Commission for Madras.¹
• A Revenue Settlement Department was constituted.¹
• A Public Works Department was formed.¹

In 1860 Trevelyan was recalled.¹¹³ His successor, Sir Henry Ward, died of cholera in Madras within a month of taking office.¹¹³

The Council and the courts were reshaped in the next few years.¹ A new Legislative Council met at Madras for the first time on 22 January 1862.¹ On 16 August of that year the old Supreme and Sadr Courts were abolished, and the High Court of Madras opened.¹

By 1908 the Government consisted of the Governor and a Council of two members of the Indian Civil Service.⁴⁵ All were appointed by the Crown, and they did their business through a Secretariat.⁴⁵ Revenue matters went to a Board of Revenue of four members.⁴⁵ This Board was also the Court of Wards for estates whose owners were minors or otherwise unable to manage them.⁴⁵ On 1 January 1877, Maclean notes, the Queen was proclaimed Empress of India at the Imperial Assemblage at Delhi.⁶

The Telugu districts and their changes

In December 1859 the coast districts were recast under the orders of Trevelyan’s Government.¹⁷¹⁸⁷ The Company’s districts of Rajahmundry, Machilipatnam (then Masulipatam) and Guntur were made into two.¹⁷¹⁸⁷ One was Godavari, with its headquarters at Kakinada (then Cocanada).¹⁷¹⁸⁷ The other was Krishna (then Kistna).¹⁷¹⁸⁷ The boundary between them followed the Upputeru and Tamaleru rivers.¹⁷¹⁸⁷

Kurnool had been made a full Collectorate (district) in 1858.¹⁹ Three taluks of Kadapa (then Cuddapah) and the Pattikonda taluk of Bellary were added to the old Nawab’s country to form it.¹⁹

By a treaty of 26 December 1860, Maclean records, the Nizam’s debt was cancelled.¹ By the same treaty, “Bhadrachellam and Rekapully talooks are ceded by the Nizam”.¹

The Godavari gazetteer adds that this tract beyond the Ghats became British territory in 1860.²⁰²¹²² But until 1874 it was governed as part of the Upper Godavari district of the Central Provinces.²⁰²¹²² In 1874 it was transferred to Godavari “in view of its racial and geographical affinities”.²⁰²¹²² The rest of the Bhadrachalam zamindari (landholder’s estate) had stayed in the Nizam’s Dominions.²⁰²¹²²

Two hill muttas (groups of hill villages) of the Golgonda Agency were added to Godavari in 1881.²² See Bhadrachalam and Rekapalli.

In Rayalaseema, the old Bellary Collectorate had held the present Anantapur since 1808.²³²⁴ It was divided “early in 1882”.²³²⁴ Its southern taluks “were constituted a separate district”, with Anantapur as its headquarters.²³²⁴

In 1904 the growth of the delta districts led to a second redrawing on the coast.²²²⁵ The taluks of Godavari south and west of the river were moved to Krishna.²²²⁵ Krishna’s own taluks of Tenali, Guntur, Sattanapalle, Palnad, Bapatla, Narasaraopet and Vinukonda became the new Guntur District, together with the Ongole taluk of Nellore.²²²⁵

Chittoor District “was formed on 1st April 1911”.²⁶²⁷²⁸ It took in what the 1911 census calls “the then Telugu portion of North Arcot”.²⁶²⁷²⁸ It also took in the Madanapalle and Vayalpad taluks of the Deccan division.²⁶²⁷²⁸

The census of 1931 says that in 1925 two districts, Krishna and West Godavari, were formed “from the old Kistna district”.¹⁰²⁹ West Godavari was made by “the scission of seven taluks” (cutting off seven taluks).¹⁰²⁹ See Guntur, Anantapur, Chittoor and the map The Telugu districts of the Madras Presidency.

The Agency tracts

The hill country behind the coast was governed under a separate law.³⁰³¹ There had been disturbances in the Ganjam and Visakhapatnam hills.³⁰³¹ After them, Act XXIV of 1839 excluded those tracts “from the operation of much of the ordinary law”.³⁰³¹ It placed them under the Collectors, “who were endowed with special and extraordinary powers within them in their capacity as ‘Agents to the Governor’”.³⁰³¹

Under the Scheduled Districts Act of 1874, a similar Agency was formed in 1879.³⁰ It covered the Bhadrachalam and Rekapalle taluks and the Rampa country.³⁰ It was enlarged in 1881, 1883 and 1891.³⁰ Within it the Collector was both District Magistrate and Sessions Judge.³⁰ The Imperial Gazetteer notes that the ordinary civil courts had no jurisdiction (legal power) in the Agency tracts of the three northern districts.³²

The 1921 census shows these tracts separated from Ganjam, Visakhapatnam and Godavari.³³ They formed “a separate administrative unit called the Agency division”.³³ By 1931 that “short-lived Agency division” had been absorbed again into the three districts.¹⁰²⁹

Government in the districts

The unit of administration was the district, or Collectorate.⁵ Its chief executive and magisterial officer was the Collector and Magistrate.⁵ The Imperial Gazetteer says his duties “embrace almost every subject which comes within the functions of a civilized government”.⁵ They covered revenue, the magistrates, forests, irrigation, police, jails, schools, sanitation, hospitals and roads.⁵

Each district was divided into subdivisions under divisional officers.⁵³⁴ Most of these officers were Deputy Collectors recruited in India.⁵³⁴ The subdivisions were divided into taluks under tahsildars (taluk officers).⁵³⁴ The village, with its hereditary headman and accountant, remained “the ultimate unit for all fiscal and administrative purposes”.⁵³⁴

The chief judicial officer of the district was the District and Sessions Judge.⁵³⁵ By 1908 there was a District Court in every district except Anantapur, which came under the court at Bellary.⁵³⁵

Local self-government grew out of road cesses (local taxes for roads) collected from 1854.³⁶³⁷ The Madras Local Funds Act of 1871 “established the first local boards”.³⁶³⁷ The Local Boards Act of 1884 created the system that lasted:³⁶³⁷

• district boards, with the Collector as president³⁶³⁷
• taluk boards under the divisional officers³⁶³⁷
• village panchayats in unions³⁶³⁷

These bodies were paid for chiefly by a cess on land.³⁶³⁷ They spent it on roads, dispensaries, vaccination and schools.³⁶³⁷

Towns received municipal councils under the Towns Improvement Act of 1865.³⁸³⁹⁴⁰ Kakinada received one in 1866, and Anantapur in 1869.³⁹⁴⁰ From 1884 the councils came under the District Municipalities Act.³⁸³⁹⁴⁰ By 1904, 450 of the 944 municipal councillors in the Presidency were elected by the ratepayers.³⁸³⁹⁴⁰

The district police were organised in 1859 by William Robinson, under Act XXIV of that year.⁴¹⁴²⁴³ They replaced the old kaval (village watch) system, though the village watchmen (talaiyaris) were kept.⁴¹⁴²⁴³

Land revenue

Most of the Telugu country outside the zamindaris was held on the ryotwari tenure (land held by each cultivator directly from the Government).⁴⁴ Thomas Munro had made this tenure the rule in the Ceded Districts.⁴⁴ Under it, the Imperial Gazetteer explains, “the registered occupant of each field deals directly with Government”.⁴⁴ It adds: “so long as he pays the assessment he is entitled to hold the land for ever and cannot be ejected by Government”.⁴⁴

In 1855 the Madras Government found the old assessments confused and too high.⁴⁵⁴⁶ It decided “to survey the whole ryotwari area and to base the assessments on the productive power of the soil”.⁴⁵⁴⁶ In 1864 it settled that the assessment should be half the net produce, fixed in cash for thirty years.⁴⁵⁴⁶

In the Godavari district the first scientific settlement was introduced in 1862–63 and 1866–67.⁷⁴⁷²⁰ A resettlement in 1900 covered 320,000 acres settled in 1866.⁷⁴⁷²⁰ It raised the assessment on them from Rs. 11,38,000 to Rs. 18,36,000.⁷⁴⁷²⁰

A resettlement was proposed for East and West Godavari in 1926.⁴⁸⁴⁹ It “came in for much criticism in the Madras Legislative Council”.⁴⁸⁴⁹ The Council elected a committee of seven non-official members.⁴⁸⁴⁹ The committee was to inquire into the economic condition of those districts and of Krishna.⁴⁸⁴⁹ The new rates were finally sanctioned in July 1931, for thirty years.⁴⁸⁴⁹

The rent-free lands, or inams, were brought under rule by the Madras Inam Commission.⁵⁰ It was “established on the 16th November 1858 during the administration of Lord Harris”, with G. N. Taylor as Commissioner.⁵⁰ Trevelyan’s minute (official note) of 13 May 1859 laid down a rule.⁵⁰ Land held without land-tax for fifty years was to be confirmed as inam, whatever its origin.⁵⁰ The holders were offered the right to “enfranchise” their grants into private property for a moderate quit-rent (a small fixed rent).⁵⁰

The Godavari gazetteer says that the inams of that district were settled by the Inam Commissioner between 1860 and 1870.²²⁵¹⁵² The village service inams were enfranchised when the village establishments were reorganised in 1866.²²⁵¹⁵² By 1908 inams covered 7.75 million acres of the Presidency.⁵³

The zamindars

The permanently settled estates survived the Company.⁵⁴⁵³ The Imperial Gazetteer says that the zamindaris ranged “from ancient principalities and baronies to mere modern fiscal creations”.⁵⁴⁵³ It adds that “so long as they pay the peshkash (permanent assessment) they are secure in their estates as against Government”.⁵⁴⁵³ In 1908 they covered 29 per cent of the Presidency.⁵⁴⁵³

The position of their cultivators was “not everywhere clear”, and the rent law of 1865 was admitted to be imperfect.⁵³ A new law, the Madras Estates Land Act (I of 1908), followed.⁵³⁵⁵ In the Nellore district of the 1930s, the divisional officers held revenue courts under it, and the Collector heard appeals.⁵⁵

The Raja of Bobbili spoke against the Tenancy Bill in the Legislative Council, his biographer says.⁵⁶ The Venkatagiri history credits its Raja with a part in framing the Impartible Estates Act.⁵⁷

The greatest of the northern estates was Vizianagaram.⁵⁸⁵⁹ It paid a peshkash of about Rs. 5,82,000, “much more than any other in the Presidency”.⁵⁸⁵⁹ Act II of 1904 declared it inalienable and impartible (it could not be sold or divided).⁵⁸⁵⁹

Vijayarama Gajapati Raju III returned to the district in 1848, and received his estate clear of debt in 1852.⁵⁸⁵⁹ He became a member of the Viceroy’s Council, Maharaja in 1864 and K.C.S.I. in 1876.⁵⁸⁵⁹ His son Ananda Gajapati Raju sat for many years in the Madras Legislative Council.⁵⁸⁵⁹ He died without issue (children) in 1897.⁵⁸⁵⁹

The Bobbili zamindari covered about 920 square miles, with a peshkash of Rs. 95,315.¹¹⁶⁰ In 1872 it passed by adoption to a younger son of the Raja of Venkatagiri, Venkata Swetachalapati Ranga Rao.¹¹⁶⁰ His biographer says that the Government of India gave him the title of Maharaja “in the last year of the nineteenth century”.¹¹⁶⁰

Two of his brothers were adopted into Pithapuram and Jetprole.⁶¹¹² The eldest, Rajagopala Krishna Yachendra, succeeded to Venkatagiri in 1879.⁶¹¹² Pithapuram covered 383 square miles, with an income of Rs. 9,14,000 in 1903–04.⁶² It was twice under the Court of Wards in the later nineteenth century.⁶²

In the south were the Kalahasti and Karvetinagar zamindaris, held since their sanads (grants) of September 1802.⁶³⁶⁴ In Stuart’s time they paid peshkash of Rs. 1,73,140 and Rs. 1,73,911.⁶³⁶⁴ See Vizianagaram, Bobbili, Pithapuram, Venkatagiri and Srikalahasti.

Irrigation, railways and ports

The Godavari anicut (dam) at Dowlaishweram was built under Arthur Cotton from 1847.⁶⁵⁶⁶ With the Krishna anicut at Vijayawada (then Bezwada), it was the foundation of the delta districts’ wealth under the Crown.⁶⁵⁶⁶ By 1903–04 the Godavari works watered 662,000 acres through 493 miles of main canals, all navigable.⁶⁵ They returned 17 to 18 per cent on their cost.⁶⁵ The Krishna system irrigated 616,760 acres of Government land, besides a large area in zamindaris, and returned nearly 13 per cent.⁶⁶

The Godavari dam itself was raised by two feet between 1862 and 1867.⁶⁷ In 1897–99 it was raised by nine inches more, with self-acting shutters.⁶⁷ The Imperial Gazetteer calls the larger irrigation works “a product of British rule”.⁶⁸ But most of the thousands of tanks in the Presidency had been built before it.⁶⁸ See Dowlaishweram anicut, Arthur Cotton and Godavari delta works.

The Kurnool–Kadapa Canal was a different story.⁶⁹⁷⁰ It was built by the Madras Irrigation and Canal Company, “a body incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1858”.⁶⁹⁷⁰ The company was meant to bring English capital into Indian irrigation.⁶⁹⁷⁰ It ran through its guaranteed capital and Government loans, £1,600,000 in all, without finishing the canal.⁶⁹⁷⁰

The Secretary of State bought the canal in 1882.⁶⁹⁷⁰ The Imperial Gazetteer judged that “it has never been a success”, though it gave valuable protection in bad seasons.⁶⁹⁷⁰

The Buckingham Canal was a salt-water waterway running 262 miles from Pedda Ganjam in Guntur to Merkanam.⁷⁰⁷¹ It was completed as a relief work in the famine of 1876–78.⁷⁰⁷¹ It was named after the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, then Governor.⁷⁰⁷¹ It linked the Krishna and Godavari canals with Madras.⁷⁰⁷¹

Railways came late to the Telugu districts.⁷²⁷³ The East Coast line from Madras to Calcutta was worked by the Madras Railway as far as Visakhapatnam.⁷²⁷³ In the Godavari district it was opened from Rajahmundry to Waltair, with a branch to Kakinada, in 1893.⁷²⁷³ The bridge over the Godavari at Rajahmundry, 56 spans of 150 feet, was opened to goods traffic in 1900.⁷²⁷³

The Southern Mahratta line from Vijayawada to Guntakal joined “the rich deltas of the Kistna and Godavari with the infertile Deccan”.⁷⁴ In 1908 Kakinada was “the chief port on the Coromandel coast north of Madras”.³⁹⁷⁵ It shipped cotton, oilseeds and rice abroad.³⁹⁷⁵ But the railway and the silting of its bay had taken trade from it.³⁹⁷⁵

At Visakhapatnam, the census of 1931 reports a deep-water harbour being built.⁷⁶ It also reports the new line from Vizianagaram to Raipur, through which goods began to run in 1932.⁷⁶ See Kakinada, Rajahmundry and Visakhapatnam.

Famines

The Crown’s first decades were marked by famine.⁹ The Imperial Gazetteer lists these scarcities (food shortages) and famines:⁹

• scarcity in Bellary in 1865–66⁹
• the great famine of 1876–78 in the Deccan districts and Nellore⁹
• Bellary and Anantapur (1884–85)⁹
• the Deccan districts and Nellore (1891–92)⁹
• the Deccan districts, Visakhapatnam and part of Godavari (1896–97)⁹
• the Deccan districts again in 1899–1900⁹

The four Deccan districts, it says, “have suffered more consistently than any others”.⁹ In them “the rainfall is light, the soil usually infertile, and large irrigation works are few”.⁹

The great famine “lasted twenty-two months”.⁹ It “affected fourteen of the twenty-one Districts of the Presidency”, and “is calculated to have caused the death of 3½ millions of people”.⁹ It cost the state 630 lakhs of rupees in relief and 191 lakhs in lost revenue.⁹ In one week of September 1877, more than 2¼ millions were on relief.⁹ Famine had been reported in Bellary, Kadapa and Nellore on 12 October 1876.⁶

The census of 1881 found the population of the Presidency 462,897 smaller than in 1871.⁷⁷ In the districts worst affected by the famine, it was smaller by 1,751,327, or 12.8 per cent.⁷⁷ Kurnool had lost 26 per cent of its people, Bellary nearly 20, Kadapa 17 and Nellore 11.⁷⁸ The irrigated coastal districts of Godavari, Krishna and Visakhapatnam had grown.⁷⁸

The old Bellary district still included Anantapur.⁷⁹⁸⁰ There more than a fifth of the people, some 330,000, were reckoned to have died.⁷⁹⁸⁰ At the census of 1891 the population of Anantapur was still smaller than it had been in 1871.⁷⁹⁸⁰

Relief methods improved.⁸¹⁶ The railways carried grain in 1876–78, and weavers were given advances to work at their looms.⁸¹⁶ A Famine Code was published in 1883.⁸¹⁶ The Famine Commission of 1898 found that in the famine of 1896–97 “the loss of life due to the indirect results of privation was remarkably small”.⁸¹⁶

The hill country and the Rampa rebellion

In the Rampa hills of the Godavari Agency there was a hereditary mansabdar (chief), whose oppressions had provoked risings in 1858, 1861 and 1862.⁸²⁸³ By 1879 he had taken eight muttas into his own hands and doubled the quit-rents of others.⁸²⁸³ New excise rules taxed the toddy that the hill people tapped.⁸²⁸³ The exactions (unfair demands) of the police and the decrees of the plains courts made matters worse.⁸²⁸³

The Godavari gazetteer reports what the people said.⁸²⁸³ They “could not stand all the taxes that were being imposed”.⁸²⁸³ And “as they could not live, they might as well kill the constables and die”.⁸²⁸³

In March 1879 armed hill men fired on the Sub-Collector’s camp at Chodavaram.⁸³⁸⁴ Two captured constables were sacrificed at the Rampa shrine.⁸³⁸⁴ In April the rising spread to the Golgonda hills of Visakhapatnam, and in July to Rekapalle.⁸³⁸⁴ It covered some 5,000 square miles.⁸³⁸⁴

By the end of 1879, six regiments of Madras infantry, sappers and miners, and Hyderabad Contingent troops were in the field.⁸⁴⁸⁵ Their worst enemy, the gazetteer says, was malaria.⁸⁴⁸⁵

A member of the Board of Revenue, Sullivan, was sent in July 1879.⁸⁵⁸⁶⁸⁷ The mansabdar was deposed and held as a state prisoner.⁸⁵⁸⁶⁸⁷ The muttadars (heads of the muttas) were given new sanads binding them directly to the Government.⁸⁵⁸⁶⁸⁷ The leader Chandrayya, who had burnt the police station at Addatigela, was killed in February 1880.⁸⁵⁸⁶⁸⁷ By November 1880 quiet was restored.⁸⁵⁸⁶⁸⁷

The Imperial Gazetteer records that this was “the last occasion on which the employment of regular troops has been necessary” in the Presidency.³ The Agency rose again in 1922–24 under Alluri Sitarama Raju, whose rising is told on his page.⁸⁸

Schools, colleges and the press

The Government college at Rajahmundry began as a district school in 1853.⁸⁹⁹⁰⁹¹ It became a provincial school in 1868, and a first-grade college with a B.A. class in 1877.⁸⁹⁹⁰⁹¹ Its training college for Telugu teachers was raised to collegiate rank in 1894.⁸⁹⁹⁰⁹¹

The Pithapuram Raja’s College at Kakinada was founded in 1852, and endowed by the Raja of Pithapuram.⁹²⁷⁵ By 1908 there were Arts colleges also at Machilipatnam, Guntur, Ongole and Bellary.^9394959697 The one at Machilipatnam was the Noble College, founded by the missionary Robert Noble.⁹³⁹⁴⁹⁵

C. R. Reddy took office as the first Vice-Chancellor of the Andhra University in April 1926.⁹⁸⁹⁹ Viscount Goschen, the Governor, was Chancellor, and the Maharaja of Bobbili was Pro-Chancellor.⁹⁸⁹⁹ The university’s headquarters, first at Vijayawada, had moved to Visakhapatnam by 1931.¹⁰⁰

The Imperial Gazetteer counted 65 vernacular and diglot (two-language) newspapers and periodicals in the Presidency.¹⁰¹ About a fifth of them were political.¹⁰¹ Sarojini Regani dates the first Telugu political paper, the Andhra Prakasika, to 1885.¹⁰²

Banganapalle

The small state of Banganapalle, within Kurnool, was the only Telugu-country state under the Madras Government.³⁴¹ The Imperial Gazetteer says that it “was a feudal estate at the time when it was ceded by the Nizam to the Company, and its position was continued”.³⁴ In 1862 its chief received a sanad recognising the right of adoption.³⁴¹

Between 1921 and 1931, Banganapalle and the other states were taken from the control of the Madras Government.¹⁰ They were placed under an Agent to the Governor-General, so the Collector of Kurnool ceased to be its political agent.¹⁰ Its history is on the Banganapalle State page.

The national and Andhra movements

Public life in the Telugu districts is told on Reform, freedom & people’s movements. In outline:

• Telugu delegates attended the first Congress in 1885.¹⁰²
• After about 1910, Regani writes, the national movement in the Telugu districts became also a movement for a separate Andhra province.¹⁰³
• The Congress recognised Andhra as a separate circle in 1917.¹⁰⁴
• The salt campaign of 1930, led in Andhra by Konda Venkatappayya, brought arrests and police firing across the districts.¹⁰⁵
• The Quit India rising of 1942 did the same.¹⁰⁶
• In 1937 T. Prakasam joined the Congress ministry at Madras.¹⁰⁷

See also Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya and Potti Sriramulu.

The end of Crown rule

According to the India Office List of 1947, the Government of Madras had a council of ministers under T. Prakasam as Premier.¹⁴ Its Governor was Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Nye, who had taken office on 6 May 1946.¹⁴ India became independent in 1947, and the Crown’s rule of the Telugu districts ended.¹⁰⁸

The Linguistic Provinces Commission of 1948 found the demand for an Andhra province strongest in the coastal districts.¹⁰⁹ Rayalaseema was less affected and partly opposed.¹⁰⁹ See Andhra State & Andhra Pradesh for the Andhra State of 1953 and the later Andhra Pradesh.

Where the sources disagree

• The transfer. Maclean dates the Act transferring India to the Crown to 2 August 1858, and the Queen’s proclamation to 4 November.¹ Sewell dates the transfer of the Company’s territories to 1 November 1858.¹⁵
• The Krishna and Godavari districts, 1859. The Kistna manual dates the new Krishna district to December 1859.¹⁷ The Godavari gazetteer and the Imperial Gazetteer give only the year.⁷²⁵
• Bhadrachalam and Rekapalli. Maclean’s chronology records their cession among the Madras annals for 1860, as though they came to Madras then.¹ The Godavari gazetteer shows that they were governed from the Central Provinces until 1874.²⁰
• East and West Godavari. The 1931 census says that West Godavari was formed in 1925 “from the old Kistna district”, not from Godavari.²⁹ But the taluks west of the Godavari had belonged to the Godavari district until 1904.²⁵ The 1933 resettlement report lists Eluru (then Ellore), Tanuku, Bhimavaram and Narasapuram among the taluks of West Godavari.¹¹⁰
• Vizianagaram, 1878 or 1879. Maclean’s chronology puts the death of the Maharaja of Vizianagaram and the succession of Ananda Raju in 1878.⁶ Francis’s gazetteer says 1879.⁵⁹
• The great famine. The Imperial Gazetteer reckons 3½ million deaths.⁹ The census of 1881 estimates the loss to the population at 2¾ millions, including births that did not happen.⁷⁷ It adds about three-quarters of a million more for the defects of the 1871 count.⁷⁷

Footnotes

1. C. D. Maclean (ed.), Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1885), p. 266, chronological annals, 1858–1863 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²²

2. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (1956), p. 5 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

3. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 23 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 82 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

5. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 83 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷

6. Maclean, Manual of the Administration, Vol. II (1885), p. 267, chronological annals, 1864–1884 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

7. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 169 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

8. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Vizagapatam, Vol. I (1907), p. 2 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

9. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 80 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

10. Census of India, 1931, Vol. XIV: Madras, Part I, Report (1932), p. 3 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

11. A. Vadivelu, The Aristocracy of Southern India (1903), p. 33, “H. H. the Maharajah of Bobbili” (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

12. A Family History of Venkatagiri Rajas (1922), p. 123 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

13. The India Office and Burma Office List for 1939, p. 109, “Governors of Madras” (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

14. The India Office and Burma Office List 1947, p. 17, “Government of Madras” (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

15. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India and Outlines of Political History (1932), p. 317 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

16. Maclean, Manual of the Administration, Vol. II (1885), pp. 269–270, list of Governors of Fort St. George (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

17. Gordon Mackenzie, A Manual of the Kistna District (1883), p. 3 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

18. Mackenzie, Kistna District (1883), p. 86 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

19. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 409, s.v. Kurnool District (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

20. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 174 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

21. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 175 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

22. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 178 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

23. Francis, Anantapur (1905), p. 101 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

24. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 433, s.v. Bellary District (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

25. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 328, s.v. Guntur District (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

26. Madras District Gazetteers: Statistical Appendix for Chittoor District (1915), p. 25, Table XV, note (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

27. Census of India, 1911: Madras, Part I (1912), p. 88 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

28. Census of India, 1911, Vol. XII: Madras, Part I, Report (1912), p. 80 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

29. Census of India, 1931: Madras, Part I (1932), p. 12 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

30. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 190 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

31. Francis, Vizagapatam (1907), p. 196 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

32. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 86 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

33. Census of India, 1921, Vol. XIII: Madras, Part I, Report (1922), p. 7 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

34. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 84 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

35. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 87 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

36. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 108 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

37. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 109 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

38. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 110 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

39. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 293, s.v. Cocanada Town (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

40. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 488, s.v. Anantapur Town (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

41. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 114 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

42. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 115 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

43. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 194 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

44. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 94 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

45. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 95 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

46. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 96 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

47. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 170 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

48. Madras Government, Revenue Department, G.O. No. 2233, 9 December 1933, Settlement — Resettlement (East Godavari, West Godavari and Kistna) — Introduction Report, p. 4 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

49. G.O. No. 2233, Revenue (1933), p. 5 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

50. Maclean, Manual of the Administration, Vol. I (1885), p. 167, “Inam Commission” (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

51. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 179 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

52. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 180 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

53. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 101 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

54. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 100 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

55. Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938, Vol. A (1942), p. 269 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

56. Vadivelu, Aristocracy (1903), p. 61 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

57. Family History of Venkatagiri Rajas (1922), p. 130 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

58. Francis, Vizagapatam (1907), p. 338, s.v. Vizianagram (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

59. Francis, Vizagapatam (1907), p. 340 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

60. Vadivelu, Aristocracy (1903), p. 40 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

61. Vadivelu, Aristocracy (1903), p. 41 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

62. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 237, s.v. Pithapuram (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

63. Harold A. Stuart, Madras District Manuals: North Arcot, Vol. I (1895), p. 175 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

64. Stuart, North Arcot (1895), p. 176 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

65. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 165, s.v. Godavari Canals (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

66. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 168, s.v. Kistna Canals (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

67. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (1907), p. 84 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

68. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 51 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

69. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 180, s.v. Kurnool-Cuddapah Canal (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

70. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 181, s.v. Kurnool-Cuddapah Canal and Buckingham Canal (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

71. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 182, s.v. Buckingham Canal (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

72. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 75 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

73. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 133 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

74. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 76 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

75. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 294, s.v. Cocanada Town (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

76. Census of India, 1931: Madras, Part I (1932), p. 30 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

77. Imperial Census of 1881: Operations and Results in the Presidency of Madras, Vol. I (1883), p. 10 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

78. Census of 1881: Madras, Vol. I (1883), p. 18, Table No. 5 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

79. Francis, Anantapur (1905), p. 85 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

80. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Anantapur (1905), p. 25 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

81. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 81 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

82. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 272, s.v. Rampa (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

83. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 273 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

84. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 274 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

85. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 275 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

86. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 276 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

87. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 284, s.v. Addatigela (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

88. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (1956), pp. 96, 100 (1922 rising↗ (opens in a new tab), end in 1924↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

89. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 154 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

90. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 155 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

91. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 156 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

92. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 157 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

93. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 305, s.v. Kistna District (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

94. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 315, s.v. Kistna District (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

95. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 326, s.v. Masulipatam Town (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

96. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 347, s.v. Nellore District (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

97. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 455, s.v. Bellary Town (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

98. Andhra University, The Annual Register 1935–36 (1935), p. 51, “Succession Lists of Officers” (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

99. The India Office and Burma Office List 1947, p. 206, record of service of Viscount Goschen (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

100. Census of India, 1931: Madras, Part I (1932), p. 62 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

101. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 125 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

102. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (1956), pp. 19–20 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

103. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 49 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

104. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 56 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

105. Regani, Highlights (1956), pp. 114–117 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

106. Regani, Highlights (1956), pp. 150–154 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

107. Regani, Highlights (1956), pp. 141–142 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

108. Census 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Nalgonda District (1964), p. A 12. ↩

109. Report of the Linguistic Provinces Commission, 1948, p. 27 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

110. G.O. No. 2233, Revenue (1933), pp. 1–2 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩