HISTORY OF THE KAMADANAS--THE CHARMAHAL ZEMINDARI

This is the story of my ancestors and the chronicles end with my paternal Grandfather KVRS Prakasa Rao. 

There is one small village called Guraja in Andhra Pradesh. That village has a big story behind it. It is located in Krishna District.

The Kamadanas and Guraja are a part of the history of the Velama Doras who ruled the Telugu area at one time.

Guraja was earlier known as Char Mahal. Char Mahal means that which consists of 4 mahals.

Char Mahal estate consists of 4 paraganas- Kalidindi, Vinnakota, Gudivada and Chittarjalli.

Char Mahal was originally a part of the Nuzvid principality which consisted of 18 paraganas including Char Mahal. The rulers of Nuzvid are known as Apparaos.

The Nuzvid Apparaos and the Kamadanas of Guraja have a common ancestry and they have separated from the same family.  

There is a lot of history prior to this separation. They are Padmanayakas of the Vipparla family.  The Vipparla Padmanayakas as the commanders of the Cholas during the time of Karikala Chola have arrived to occupy the territories of the Vengi Chalukyas.

As the commanders of the Cholas they have conquered the Divi area which was impregnable and was known as Jaladurga for which they have been awarded the title of “Divi Choorakara”. Divi is an island on river Krishna.

At that time Divi was the main fort of Vengi Chalukyas. Vengi Chalukyas are those Chalukyas who made their capital as Pedavegi and ruled over a large kingdom. “Vengi Chalukya Hanyala Voruganda” is the main title earned by the ancestors of the Vipparla family.

After the Vengi kingdom declined, the Kakatiya kingdom was established. Then the Vipparla Padmanayakas have become the rulers of the Krishna Godavari Do-ab and became the important tributaries and commanders of the Kakatiyas.

The sea in the east, river Krishna on the south, Gallu on the west and Godavari on the north are the boundaries of their kingdom. This means that the present districts of Nalgonda, Khammam, Krishna and West Godavari was under the rule of the Vipparla Padmanayakas. The important titles of the Vipparala Padmanayakas at that time were “Tera samanta” and “Bara Mandalika”.

The main families of the Vipparlas-Jupallis the rulers of Nalgonda, Aswaraos the rulers of Palvancha, Bhadrachalam and Khammam, Apparaos of Nuzvid and the Kamadanas of Charmahal slowly separated. The Kamadanas and the Apparaos are more closely related.

After the decline of the Kakatiya kingdom the Recherla Padmanayakas made Rachakonda as the main capital and Devarakonda as the sub capital ruled a major part of the Telugu area for a period of 125 years with the title “Andhra Desadheeswara”. They also encountered a lot of trouble from the Reddy kings of Kondaveedu at that time.

After that the Recherlas became the tributaries of the Kalinga Gajapatis.  Later Srikrishnadevaraya campaigned till Simhachalam and merged all the other kingdoms into the Vijayanagara kingdom. The Vipparla Padmanayakas have then become the tributaries of the Vijayanagara kings.

Then came the suzerainty of the Moghuls. The Andhra area was then ruled by the nawabs of Golconda. Even during their reign the Vipparla Padmanayakas retained their importance. During that time the Nuzvid Apparaos constructed Nuzvid in “Nujelu”. Meka Appanna was victorious and won the title of “Vijaya” and the title of “Rao” and became prominent. He became famous as Vijaya Apparao and changed the royal seat to Nuzvid from Gollapalli.

The Kamadanas were at that time in Kanukollu fort of the Kalidindi area. The Kanukollu fort is historically famous. This is a fort from the time of Vengi Chalukyas. From there the Kamadanas changed their capital to Gudivada.

Vipparla Basava Dandanatha was the Commander of the guards looking after the personal security of Rudramadevi. It appears that after Konappa a descendant of Basavadandanatha, the Vipparla families’ separated  

That was the previous history. We now have the more recent history of the Kamadanas which was got compiled by Lord Mackenzie and narrated by him as follows.

It has been told in the narrative of the Nuzvidu family how the estates were preserved to that family by the exertions of a family named Kamadana, who obtained as a reward for their services the estates of Charmahal, comprising, as the name denotes, four parganas, Vinnakota, Gudivada, Kalidindi and Bhattarzalle, a compact block of about four hundred miles of fertile land on the Kolleru lake, including 260 villages.

The origin of the family can be traced to Kamadana Guruvayya, who had two sons, nine grandsons and eight great grandsons. It was two of these grandsons who exerted their influence at the Court of Hyderabad in 1738 and following years. It was two others who obtained in their own names a sanad for the Nuzvidu estates, which sanad was afterwards cancelled.

Four names of these grandsons and great grandsons appear in the sanad for the Charmahal estates granted by Venkatadri Appa Rao in 1757 and two names appear in the grants given by the French on 4th February 1759 and by Salabat Jang on May 28th 1759, while two others of the descendants of the original Guruvayya met General Caillaud at Ellore in 1765 and received grants from the English Government on 25th April 1771, other two again receiving grants from the English on 3rd May 1774 and on 25th May 1777. All these men were grandsons or great-grandsons of the original ancestor Guruvayya, and they evidently lived together, Hindu fashion, as a united family.

In 1770 Mr. Wynch, Chief at Masulipatam, began to correspond with the Charmahal Zemindars and in 1771 made a settlement of the rental for three years, Kaldindi Tirupati Razu, Zemindar of Mogultore, becoming security for the three years' peshcush. In 1774 Mr. Whitehill, Chief at Masulipatam, made another settlement of the estates and found that they were indebted to Tirupati Razu in the large sum of 84,000 Pagodas, the deficit in the Company's peshcush which had been made good by Tirupati Razu during the past three years. To enable the Mogultore Zemindar to recoup himself for this heavy loss, which was crippling his credit, the Charmahal estates were handed over to him for six years more.

In the meantime the two representative members of the Charmahal family, with whom Mr. Wynch had treated in 1771, both died. Kamadana Ankappa, great grandson of the common ancestor Guruvayya, died in July 1773 and was succeeded by his younger brother Chinna Papayya.

Kamadama Pedda Papayya, the youngest and last surviving grandson of the original Guruvayya, died in October 1774, leaving an infant son called Narasimha Rao.

When Narasimha Appa Rao of Nuzvidu went to Madras in Sir, Thomas Rumboldt's time he set forth a claim that the grant of Charmahal to the Kamadana family was an act of the Nuzvidu Zemindar and not of the ruling power, in other words that Charmahal was a fief subordinate to the Nuzvidu Raja and not a Zemindari held directly from the State.

 InMay 1780 when the six years' lease of Tirupati Razu expired, Appa Rao formally applied to be put in charge of the Charmahal estates. The Chief in Council at Masulipatam rejected the application of Appa Rao and, with the concurrence of the then Government of Madras, gave a ten years' lease of the Charmahal estates to his Head Dubashi, Condregula Venkatrayalu, but at the same time ordered that out of the revenues of Charmahal eight thousand pagodas per annum should be paid to the creditors of Appa Rao of Nuzvidu.

When it is remembered that Mr. Hodges, now Chief at Masulipatam, was himself the principal creditor of Appa Rao it must be admitted that the whole affair is more than suspicious. At the same time the guardianship of the minor Kamadana Narasimha Rao was entrusted to Narasimha Appa Rao of Nuzvidu.

The history of next year 1781 is obscure. Some members of the Kamadana family, discontented with their deprivation of the management of the estates, and Narasimha Rao created confusion in Charmahal. The youthful Narasimha Rao escaped from his guardian Appa Rao of Nuzvidu, who thereupon arrested Kamadana Subbayya and confined him in the fort at Nuzvidu. The Council at Masulipatam demanded the release of this Subbayya without avail, but he escaped from Nuzvidu to Masulipatam and there received a pension from Government until his death.

The Charmahal estates were now ravaged by Sirdar Bandaru Venkayya, one of Appa Rao's men, and the renter, Condregula Venkatrayalu, had to be supported by a military force from Masulipatam.

In 1783 Condregula Vinkatrayalu died and the lease was continued to his nephew Jaggappah, who succeeded him as Dubashi, but in 1787 this man was removed from office and the Charmahal estates were taken under the direct management of the Chief and Conucil at Masulipatam. By order of the Madras Government they were added in January 1788 to the Haveli lands under charge of Mr. Oram.

In 1783, when Narayya Appa Rao proclaimed independence the East India Company negotiated with the Kamadanas of Charmahal threatening them to alienate the Charmahal samstanam from them in case they refuse to help and also promising them the Nuzvid Jamindari after British victory. They then pressurized the Kamadanas into sending 500 soldiers for their help in fighting against Naryayya Appa Rao. At the time of battle Sardar Chelikani Ramarayanam a relation of the Kamadans who headed the troops sent by them refused to help the British. This is proved by the message sent by Captain Montgomery of the East India Company from Nuzvid to the Chief in Council  

In 1791 the Court of Directors decided that the Charmahal estates should be restored to the Kamadana family and rejected the claim of the Nuzvidu Zemindar. The Madras Government, thereupon, recognised Chinna Papayya and Narasimha Rao as Zemindars of Charmahal and allowed for their support 10,000 Pagodas per annum, but did not restore to them the estates.

This was unpalatable to Kamadana Venkata Rao, son of the Subbayya who had been imprisoned in 1781 in Nuzvidu and afterwards drew a pension in Masulipatam. This Venkata Rao was a turbulent fellow, who had assisted Ramachandra Rao of Nuzvidu in his revolts, and he now began to raise disturbances in Charmahal which were put down only with some loss of life.

In this year, 1791, the Zemindar Kamadana Chinna Papayya died leaving two sons, the eldest being called Sobhanadri. In 1792 Government restored the estates to this Sobhanadri and his cousin Narasimha Rao who thus became joint Zemindars of Charmahal. In 1793 Narasimba Rao died without issue and the Masulipatam Council reiterated their views and Government at last consented. The Board suggested that if his turbulent cousin, Venkata Rao, were recognised as his successor it would be conducive to peace, but the Government declined to purchase the submission of Venkata Rao by any such arrangement and recognised Sobhanadri as the sole Zemindar.

They also decided that Venkata Rao should reside in Masulipatam and receive five hundred Pagodas per mensem from the revenues of the estates to keep him quiet. Raja Sobhanadri Rao, who was now sole Zemindar and in charge of the estates, had to pay to Government the whole balance due when the estates were handed over in 1792, and as he had no money in hand this obligation involved him in pecuniary difficulties.

With the concurrence of Mr. Gardiner, Chief in Council, he took in 1794 a loan of 42,000 Pagodas from Qutb Mulk, eldest son of Hasan Ali Khan. The transaction was the subject of much correspondence in after years but finally Qutb Mulk was repaid his money with ten percent interest.

In 1798 Mr. Oakes, the Collector, put pressure upon Raja Sobhanadri to place his finances in a more satisfactory state, and the Zemindar furnished as his surety and took as his Divan, one Talluri Jogayya, an opulent Brahman of Kautaram vilage. The rule of this Divan appears to have been exceptionally harsh even for that period. Some of the doggerel verses of prayer to the village goddesses to interpose and rid the people of Taluri Jogayya are sung to this day in Gudivada Taluq. Many cultivators abandoned their fields, the arrears due to Government increased, and in 1801 Mr. Collector Reade placed both the Zemindar and his Dubash in confinement and assumed the charge of the Zemindari.

This was the opportunity of Kamadana Venkata Rao, who for six or seven years had been drawing his allowance in Masulipatam. He appeared at the head of a band of followers raiding in the Charmahal estates and for the next two years the records are full of the efforts made by military detachments to drive him back into the Nizam's territories and the efforts made by the Collector to extract some portion of the arrears from the Zemindar and his Divan.

In 1808 the rental was permanently fixed by the Special Commission, all arrears were remitted and Raja Sobhanadri was again placed in charge of his estates. He was still very unfortunate. The two renters to whom he entrusted his estates, Diduvani Timmayya and Bommadevara Naganna, both failed and involved him in protracted litigation, at the colse of which, in 1812, the irrepressible Venkata Rao again appeared plundering from the Nizam's territory. A military force drove him back into the Nizam's country where he was arrested and handed over to Lieutenant Vaughan. He was tried and sentenced to transportation for life, but died at Masulipatam.

Raja Sobhanadri now found himself without any rival claimant in the representation of the Kamadana family, but this relief came too late. His debts were overwhelming and there were two decrees passed against him by the provincial Court amounting to 47,000 Pagodas, while the arrears due to Government amounted to 20,000 Pagodas. Accordingly in 1813 the mutahs of Kaldindi and Bhatrazalle were put up to sale. The Zemindar of Mailavaram purchased Bhattarzalle for 7,125 Pagodas and the Bezvada Zemindar purchased Kaldindi for 3,525 Pagodas. Thus dismembered the Charmahal estates were reduced to two parganas, Gudivada and Vinnakota, which were taken under the management ot the Collector, who for seven years succeeded in paying off a portion of the Zemindar's liabilities in each year.

Raja Sobhanadri, himself, passed his time in lawsuits until his death on September 16th, 1820, leaving ten sons and six daughters. A dispute at once arose about the successinon and lasted till 1832 when the family agreed to recognise the eldest son, Papayya, as Zemindar and Government made over to him the two parganas, remitting all arrears. The terrible famine of 1833 threw Raja Papayya into embarrassments and in 1836 the estates were attached by the Government.

There was no prospect of the Zemindar freeing himself from his liabilities and his second brother filed a suit for the partition of the estate. Under these circumstances the Zemindari was brought to sale for arrears of revenue in 1843 and was purchased by Government for Rupees 3,00,000. Thus the Charmahal Zemindari came to an end 85 years after the Kamadana family had obtained it. An allowance of Rs. 500 per mensem had been made to Raja papayya and his brother since the Zemindari was attached in 1836. They now petitioned for the restoration of their estates, but the Court of Directors in their dispatch of 29th November 1848 declined to sanction the restoration of the Zemindari, observing that the extent of Raja Papayy's embarrassments and the reduced resources of the property precluded the hope that it would prove beneficial to him while it would certainly be injurious to the ryots.

An allowance of Rs. 1,000 per mensem was, however, sanctioned with retrospect from 20th November 1843. In 1850 this allowance was ordered to be paid direct to the Ex Zemindar and not in shares to his relations.

Raja Papayya Rao died on the 17th January 1876, leaving two sons and five daughters. The Board in Proceedings No. 1982, dated 5th August 1876, recommended that the allowance of Rs. 1,000 per mensem to the family be continued as follows : Rs. 600 to Raja Venkatarama Gopala Jagannadha Rao, eldest son of the deceased Raja Papayya, and Rs. 100 each to his four cousins, the eldest sons of his uncles. In other words Rs. 600 to the family left by Raja Papayya and Rs. 100 each to families left by four of his brothers.

VEGAVARAM-BORAMPALEM ESTATE.

The Kamadanas of Char Mahal were known as the Jamindars of Guraja but the Jamindari lapsed and only the titles of Raja Bahadur remained.

After the Char Mahal estate was confiscated by the British in 1836, Kamadana Paparayanam repaid debts with the compensation of Rs 3 lacs given by the British and with the remaining amount he purchased the Borampalem-Vegavaram estate in West Godavari district and retained his Jamindari status.  

The sons of Paparayanam are Venkataramagopala Jagannadha Rao and Venkatanarasimha Ramachandra Rao.

The elder son died issueless. The second son had 3 sons. The eldest was Venkata Varadaraja Sobhanadri Rao. He is known as Guraja Peda Doragaru. He is famous for Sanskrit Andhra literature, Samu Garidilu (fighting with a stick), hunting, riding, assessing the value of gemstones and the quality of horses. He is also well known for his culture and manners as per the elders.

Varadaraja Sobhanadri Rao had 5 sons and 4 daughters. The eldest of them was Suryaprakasa Rao. Suryaprakasa Rao had 3 sons. Ramakrishna Rao who is my father, Venkata Krishna Rao and Gopala Krishna Rao.

NAMES OF THE RAJAS OF CHAR MAHAL ESTATE.

1. Guravayya.
2. Subbayya.
3. Ankappa.
4. Rayanna                                                                                       1710-1740
5. Ayyanna                                                                                       1740-1759
6. Surayya                                                                                        1759-1768
7. China Papayya                                                                           1768-1791
8. Sobhanadri Rao                                                                         1791-1820
9. Papayya Rao                                                                               1820-1876
10. Venkata Ramagopala Jagannadha Sobhanadri Rao       1876-1884                 

11. Venkata Narasimha Ramachandra Rao                               1884-1911
12. Venkata Varadaraja Sobhanadri Rao                                   1911-1965                              
13. Venkatarama Surya Prakasa Rao                                          1965-1992

                                                           

TITLES OF THE KAMADANAS.

1.      Jabdatul Yekaranu( Given by the Nizam Nawab)

2.      Raja Bahadur( Given by the British)

The Kamadanas are not to be found anywhere else except in Guraja. Their allied branch has settled down at Vinagadapa.