Page:Gódávari.djvu/305

Rh estate. The most important of these were the purchase of 74 hamlets of the old Nágavaram mutta and the sale of the Gangólu mutta some 40 years ago. The estate now comprises five villages in the Pólavaram division (including Nágavaram and its hamlets) and five villages elsewhere. It pays a peshkash of Rs. 6,721.

Jangareddigúdem: Thirty miles south-west of Pólavaram. Population 1,918. Headquarters of a small estate consisting of this village, Billumilli and Bayyanagúdem, and paying a peshkash of Rs. 3,008. In 1832 Jangareddigiidem was subdivided from the Pólavaram estate in circumstances referred to in the account of that property below. It was subsequently bought (along with the other two villages) by the grandfather of the present holder some 50 years ago.

Páta Pattisam: A hamlet of this, called Pattisam Nidhi, forms a picturesque and rocky island in the Gódávari, three miles south of Pólavaram. The population of the whole village is 2,002. It is called Páta (old) Pattisam to distinguish it from Kotta (new) Pattisam, a hamlet of Gútála. A division of the old Pólavaram estate, containing five villages and paying a peshkash of Rs, 5,209, is called the Pattisam division, but this was never held separately from Pólavaram proper. The village is the scene of a well attended festival at Sivarátri. The local sthala puránam says that the Pattisam hill went to the Himalayas to attend a conference of mountains, but, not being shown proper consideration, left the others and went and did penance by itself. By means of this penance it induced the Siva of the Himalayas to leave that range and come to Pattisam, where he now resides in the Vírabhadra temple. This temple also contains two stone images of women, called Aníswari and Puníswari, one of whom is represented as being in childbed. These are much worshipped by childless women desirous of offspring. The suppliant places her foot on a platform in front of the figures, and vows that if a child like a pearl or like coral is born to her, she will present a pearl or a piece of coral to the images. In another part of the same temple are figures of Durga and Mahishásuramardhani, the form adopted by the goddess Párvati when she killed the demon Mahishásura. Sheep and fowls are sacrificed before these idols, though they are inside the precincts of the temple. The spilling of blood is not as a rule permitted inside Bráhmanical shrines. The Vírabhadra temple has two villages attached to it, which bring in an annual income of about Rs. 2,000.