Page:Hyderabad in 1890 and 1891; comprising all the letters on Hyderabad affairs written to the Madras Hindu by its Hyderabad correspondent during 1890 and 1891 (IA hyderabadin1890100bangrich).pdf/42

Page 34 had been allowed, by the Revenue Secretary, to take forcible possession of two villages, Koorgul and Sangameswar, compris- ing the private estates of the Raja Sahib. The most remarkable thing in this connection was, as you will remember, that when the Raja Sahib of Anagondi appealed to Mushtak Husain as Revenue Secretary against the arbitrary proceedings which had culminated in Bansi Baja's taking forcible possession of the villages, he was referred-by Mushtak Hassan-to a civil court. Now, I shall put before you a short account of the way in which the Raja Sahib has been reduced by the powers-that-be to the position of a Raja only in name. You know that Anagondi is what has descended to the present Raja of the once powerful kingdom of Vijayanagar. The First Mysore war reduced its limits considerably, and the second Mysore war reduced them further still-and in consequence the revenue fell from 60,000 star pagodas to 8,710 star pagodas. This brings us to the time of Sri Krishna Deva Rajulu who, dying childless, was succeeded by his widow Rani Kuppamma. The Rani adopted Sri Sriranga- dava Rajulu, the present Raja in Farwardi 1297 Fasli. Recog- nizing this adoption the Nizam's Government, curiously enough, directed that Anagondi should pay an annual peisheush of H. S. Rs. 10,000. The state not having paid peishush of any kind before this, the Nizam's Government was appealed to against this new ruling-and consequently the Anagondi state was put under attachment and the Subadar of the Southern Division was sent to Anagondi to report on the State of the place. The Subadar after due enquiry, reported the inability of the Raja to pay any peisheush; and this, you would be surprised to learn, resulted in a Roobkar from the Revenue Secretary, dated the 24th Aban, 1293 Fasli, which raised the peisheush from 10,000 to 18,800 H. S. Rs. payable with retrospective effect from Fasli 1297. The Raja Sahib appealed again; and Mr. A. J. Dunlop, Inspector-General of Revenue was deputed by the Government to visit Anagondi to report thereon. Mr. Dunlop, after seeing things for himself there, recommended the imposition of a nominal peisheush of H. S. Rs. 1,000 per annum. This recom-