A Revised and Enlarged Account of the Bobbili Zemindari/Chapter 11/1888
1888.
The Rajah on landing" at Madras had the honour, for the first time, of being received by an Aide-de-Camp (Lord Marsham) to H. E. the Governor and of being driven in one of the Governor's carriages, and escorted by five troopers of H. E.'s Body-Guard. He also received, on the 10th January, a return visit from H. E. Lord Connemara, the Governor, who was latterly pleased to accord to the Rajah the privilege of the Private Entree. In this year the Rajah made another extensive tour in Northern India, during which he had the honour of paying his respects to His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught, H. E. Lord Dufferin, the Viceroy, and H. E. Lord Reay, the Governor of Bombay. He also went to Gya for the second time, and performed the religious rites for his deceased adoptive mother.
On the occasion of the 69th Anniversary of the birth of Her Majesty the Queen-Empress, His Excellency the Viceroy was pleased to confer on the Rajah the title of Rajah as a personal distinction.
It is, however, a well-known fact that the Rajahs of Bobbili have been from the foundation of the Zemindari addressed as Rajahs. When the question of hereditary titles was raised, the Rajah submitted to the Government many letters, and other papers, showing that the Government had addressed his ancestors as Rajahs from the beginning of the British Rule over the Circars. H. E. the Viceroy was, on the 16th December, 1890, pleased to recognise the title of Rajah as hereditary in this family, as well as in the families of Vizianagaram, Jeypore, Venkatagiri, Kalahasti, Karvetinagar, Pittapur, and in some of the families in Malabar and latterly in the family of Ramnad.
Extract from the letter of the Collector of Viza-
gapatam, No. 1234, dated 19th May, 1888.
- "To
- The Chief Secretary to Govt.,
- Madras.
- The Chief Secretary to Govt.,
"Sir,
I have the honour to report on the subject of G.O., dated 29th October, 1886, No. 967, Political.
* * * *
"18. Bobbili is one of the three large Estates in the District, the other two being Jeypore and Vizianagaram. The Sunnud-i-Milkeut-Istimrar was issued in the name 'Rajah Rayadappa Ranga Row, Zemindar of Bobbili,' and the files in my office clearly show that the Zemindars of Bobbili have, ever since our advent into the country, been always addressed with that title. This Zemindar has responded to my call and has submitted the originals of several letters addressed to his predecessors at different periods since the year 1807, in every one of which the title appears and contends that the fact that the title was in use so early is proof of its having been in vogue under the Mahomedan Government. He adds that many hereditary titles and other honours were conferred on his ancestor Rajah Lingappa Ranga Row*[1] third in the line, but that nothing of those times was left after the now historical battle of 1757, †[2] to which allusion will be made in para. 20 below.
"19. I have seen the Kabooleats taken from all the Zemindars and Proprietors of the District at the time of the Permanent Settlement, and find that the title 'Rajah' was then prefixed to the names of the Zemindars of Jeypore, Vizianagaram and Bobbin and to none else.
"20. Bobbili is one of the oldest families in the Presidency. It exercised Regal powers until our own advent into the country. It fills a prominent place in the history of the District. Probably the historical event of the greatest importance to the British in connection with their Conquest of the Northern Circars was the great fight at Bobbili in 1757, in which Ranga Row, the then Polygar, was killed, and the Vizianagaram Rajah assassinated. This Rajah had allied himself with the French under Monsieur Bussy, but his successor sought the aid of the British and combining with Forde, despatched by Clive from Calcutta, drove out the French, and laid the foundation for our subsequent acquisition of these provinces from the Mogul Emperor. Had Pedda Viziaramaraz of Vizianagaram not been killed at Bobbili, it is probable that the Circars would have remained to this day part of the Territories of the Nizam. Orme calls the Bobbili Zemindar 'the first in rank of the Polygars, who call themselves Rajahs.'
"21. In the disturbances which raged in this district in and about the year 1832, the Bobbili Zemindar was of great service to Government in various ways, especially in apprehending Kumbera Venkatarow and his nephew, the murderers of the Palkonda Zemindar's Dewan, who had successfully eluded all efforts on the part of Government Officers to catch them and was deservedly eulogised by Mr. Russel in his reports. Sir Frederic Adam, the Governor, particularly alludes to these facts, and to his having told the Zemindar that Government entertained a high sense of the zeal and loyalty he had evinced in the assistance he had rendered to Mr. Russel as Commissioner, in para. 27 of his tour minute (p. 57, Vol. 2—Reports on the disturbances in Purlakemedy, Vizagapatam and Gumsoor); and Government in their Minutes of Consultation (p. 85) directed the Board of Revenue to instruct the Collector of Vizagapatam to convey to the Zemindar of Bobbili the approbation of Government of his conduct in such a manner as may be most gratifying to the Zemindar.
"22. In recent times, the House of Bobbili has always been distinguished for the excellent and prudent management of their Estates. They have always money in hand, and many a Zemindari has been saved from being brought to the hammer by a timely loan from the source.—(Carmichael's Manual).
"23. It has been shown above, that the Bobbili Zemindar's claim to the title of Rajah has not only been recognised uniformly ever since our acquisition of the country, but that on the authority of Orme, this title was in use long before that event. It has not been personal to any isolated nobleman in the line, but has been hereditarily enjoyed by every successive Zemindar. In the same way the title of 'Rajah,' although never specially bestowed, has been enjoyed by the Zemindars of Vizianagaram and of Jeypore, and before the higher distinction of 'Maharaja' was specially conferred on the present Zemindar of Jeypore, and on the late and present Zemindars of Vizianagaram, as a personal title, that of Rajah was inherently attached to them. And in G.O., Political Department, No. 493 of 1862, Government directed that the Zemindar of Vizianagaram should be addressed by the title of Rajah, and this direction was reiterated in G.O., Revenue Department, dated 25th November, 1879, No. 2200. The cases of Bobbili and Jeypore are analogous to that of Vizianagaram, and I beg to submit that the Zemindars of Vizianagaram and Jeypore and Bobbili hold the title of Rajah hereditarily, while the present incumbents of Vizianagaram and Jeypore also hold the title of Maharaja as a personal distinction, and I beg to suggest that this fact may be authoritatively declared once for all."
(Signed) H. G. TURNER, Collector.
(True Extract). (Signed) R. SURYA ROW, Deputy Collector.
Mr. Turner, the Governor's Agent, visited Bobbili on the 30th November, 1888, and in a Durbar which he held in the evening he presented to the Rajah a Sannad conferring on him the above personal title.
In October he married his third wife, the present Maha-Rani of Bobbili. Her eldest sister is the present wife of the Rajah of Venkatagiri. He built, about a mile and a half from the town, the Raj Mahal in Raj Mohan Bagh which he laid out. The palace is intended for the Rajah to stay in occasionally for a change, and to accommodate distinguished guests when they visit Bobbili.