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36 The most serious outbreak of this period occurred in the Gútála and Pólavaram estates, and involved something in the nature of a campaign. It is described in the account of Pólavaram in Chapter XV. After the permanent settlement, things quieted down, and there have been few important outbreaks since. The pressure of that settlement and the enforcement of decrees against defaulting zamindars occasionally caused disturbances. It is to these that Munro refers in his minute of 1822 quoted in Chapter XI 'We are every day liable,' he wrote, 'to be dragged into a petty warfare among unhealthy hills, where an enemy is hardly ever seen, where numbers of valuable lives are lost by the climate, and where we often lose but never gain reputation.' He deplored the want of respect and loyalty to Government in the province, which he ascribed to the prevalence of the zamindari system. It was no doubt largely due to the gradual downfall of that system that the increased peace and order of the country were due.

A petty disturbance took place in 1858 among the hills north of Yernagúdem, which is of interest as having been indirectly connected with the Mutiny. It originated in a private dispute among some hill chiefs about a woman; but the leader of the affair, Subba Reddi, pleaded that he had heard that Nána Sáhib was advancing with his victorious army and that 'whoever did most against the English would be rewarded most.' At the head of a large body of Kóyas he killed the village magistrate of Buttayagúdem, who kept as his mistress a rich widow whom Subba Reddi wanted to marry to his son, plundered some villages, and successfully resisted a body of 60 or 70 peons led against him by the Head Assistant Magistrate. Two companies of Sappers and Miners were sent to Yernagúdem and thence marched against the rebels. The only place where they made a stand was Jílu- gumilli (Pólavaram taluk) but their resistance was brief and they dispersed into the jungle. They were pursued by a force of armed peons embodied for the purpose, and Subba Reddi and seven other ringleaders were ultimately captured and hanged.

The Rampa country was a continual source of trouble. The disturbances there were not generally in the nature of a revolt against supposed oppression, since no revenue was collected in the country till towards the end of the century. They were either plundering raids or internal feuds. Government became involved in the latter by championing the mansabdar against his muttadars, and it was his abuse of this support which ultimately led to the Rampa rebellion of