Page:A revised and enlarged account of the Bobbili zemindari.djvu/46

Rh the hereditary title of Ranga-Rao under the following circumstances:—

A son of Sher Mahammad Khan, Nawab of Chicacole, an agent to the Mogul Emperor, while out shooting, was seized and confined by a powerful Fittooridar at Rangavaka near Palasa in Ganjam. That part of the country, being covered with impenetrable clumps of bamboos, afforded no passage for the Nizam's cavalry. The Nawab, therefore, called for assistance from Rajah Lingappa Bahadur, who at once proceeded to Rangavaka with a strong force of his own, captured the Fittooridar in a single battle, rescued the boy, and restored him to his bereaved father. The result was that the Nawab commended the Zemindar to the favourable notice of the Emperor, who permitted Rajah Lingappa Bahadur to enjoy, free of peishcush, as many villages in his Zemindari as he could in one night adorn with festoons (thoranams). The villages in which he hung festoons were