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 PADWA TALUK.

lies on the 3,000 feet plateau next north of Golgonda and is made up of parts of the estates of Mádgole (in the south) and Jeypore and Páchipenta (in the north and north-east). It is drained by the Machéru, which runs nearly north and south across it. In places (as between Wondragedda and Hukumpet, and from Pádéru to Gangaráz Mádgole) the jungle is thick; but most of the country consists of exceedingly bare red hills, covered with dry cultivation, coarse grass or dwarf dates, and boasting hardly a tree. The taluk contains two notable valleys, those of Aruku and Pádwa, and in these the cultivation is careful and the crops, owing to the excellent rainfall, most flourishing. Ragi four feet high is no uncommon sight; cattle are plentiful, and manure is carefully conserved. But the taluk as a whole is more sparsely peopled than any other in the district except Malkanagiri. The history of the attempts to give it an outlet to the coast through Anantagiri has been sketched on pp. 137-9 above.

The taluk was constituted in 1893, on the motion of Mr. Willock, by taking the Aruku and Pádwa country from the Pottangi taluk and adding it to the old Pádéru taluk, and then transferring the head-quarters from malarious Pádéru to Pádwa. Mr. H. G. Turner wished this country to be placed under the Narasapatam Divisional Officer, but Government did not approve.

The people somewhat resemble those of the Golgonda hills, half of them speaking Telugu and the Bagatas being numerous and influential. In the interior of the Mádgole part of the taluk 'nearly every village has its rival claimants for headship, and every village in a mutta disputes about its superiority. These disputes are often very absurd, as about the right to have the hind legs of game killed, to be carried in a palanquin, to wear anklets, etc. The people are also extremely litigious. They are not adverse to education except at Sujanakóta, where, notwithstanding frequent warnings, the Dombus have put devils into two consecutive school-masters 1

The only two places of interest in the taluk are the Borra Cave and the pool called Matsya gundam.