Page:A Family History of Venkatagiri Rajas.djvu/168

 "On 1st May, 1864, he voluntarily condescended to offer Rs. 1,800 a year for feeding and clothing the patients of the Nellore Dispensary. In 1866 he was created a companion of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India." With a view to impart education to the Public, the Rajah had established two Anglo-Vernacular schools, one at Venkatagiri and the other at Nayudupet, and had them in his own management for ten years till 1872. But on the 1st April of that year, they were made over with the buildings and furniture to the Local Fund Boards, established under the Madras Act IV of 1871. The Rajah is an excellent Telugu scholar and has produced two philosophical works in Telugu prose Githartha Sangraham and Saramsa Panchakam.

A short description of the Venkatagiri Estate in general and of Venkatagiri town in particular will not be out of place in this history. This Estate is one of the oldest in