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 NAGARAM TALUK.

Nagaram taluk consists of the small island of that name which lies in the south-west corner of the delta and is surrounded by the Vainatéyam and Vasishta branches of the Gódávari and by the sea on the east. It is sometimes known as the Tátipáka Síma ('country'), after the village of that name within it. It is called after the unimportant village of Nagaram, but its head-quarters is Rájavólu. Till October 1st 1904 it was part of the Narasapur taluk, and the usual statis- tics are not always available for it. Certain figures appear in the separate Appendix, however. It is now the charge of a temporary tahsildar. It is the smallest and the most densely peopled taluk in the district. It is particularly fertile and is irrigated entirely by means of the great Gannavaram aqueduct referred to on p. 86.

Nagaram contains an important centre of pilgrimage in the Vaishnavite temple at Antarvédi, and several other places of religious interest. A fair amount of weaving is done in Jagannapéta, Mori, Sivakódu and Tátipáka; and the work of the first of these is well known. Tátipáka has a certain historical interest.

The whole of the taluk belongs to Government with the exception of Lankala Gannavaram village, which forms a part of the Palivela thána of the Pithápuram estate, and the whole inam village of Gudumulakhandrika. This originally belonged to the old Peddápuram zamindari, was purchased at a sale for arrears, and, after one more sale, was left by will to the late zamindar of Pithápuram.

Antarvédi: Lies in the south-west corner of the taluk at the mouth of the Vasishta Gódávari. Population 6,583. It is the last and the most important of the sacred bathing-places comprised in the sapta-ságara-yátrá already referred to, and has other distinct claims to sanctity which are widely recognized. The god of the place is Lakshminarasimha-svámi, an incarnation of Vishnu, who at the prayer of the sage Vasishta and with the help of a local goddess killed another giant called Rakta Vilóchana. The local goddess' name was Asvarúdámba or Gurralákka; a small stone image of her, mounted on a horse, is to be seen in the village. Lakshminarasimha-svámi was entreated by Vasishta to remain in the locality, and he accordingly concealed himself in an ant-hill, where the existing image of him was found. This was originally enshrined