Page:Vizagapatam.djvu/328

 Rázu's eldest son, who died in 1801, and with whose son, another Sanyási Rázu, the permanent settlement was effected in 1803. This man died in 1830, and was succeeded in turn by his son Náráyana Rámachandra Rázu; by the latter's minor son, Sanyási Rázu (who was a ward of court until 1855) in 1846; and by this man's son (another Náráyana Rámachandra) in 1869.

Náráyana Rámachandra was a minor, and the Court of Wards managed the estate until he came of age in 1879. He was a weak individual who was totally incapable of restraining the extravagance and mismanagement of his mother, and at the end of three years he was 2½ lakhs in debt and earnestly begged Government to take over the management of the estate and get it and him out of their embarrassments. Government accordingly assumed charge at the end of 1882, but by April 1883 the zamindar had changed his mind and wanted his estate back again. It was restored accordingly. He died of leprosy on the 8th September 1894, and as his heir Sanyási Rázu, the present proprietor, was a minor, the estate once more came under the Court of Wards. It was over seven lakhs in debt, of which 5½ lakhs were due to the Mahárája of Bobbili, who had a mortgage on almost half the property. To help clear off this, Peddapenki and nine other villages were sold to Bobbili in 1897 and now form a separately-registered estate. Other subsequent alienations included the sale by public auction in the same year of Mukavalasa; the subdivision of Bhúdévipéta in 1899; the grant of Kásidhoravalasa in 1900; and the registry of Gangachollapenta and three other villages in the name of the zamindar's grand-mother. These four also now form separate estates. The zamindari was handed back to its owner on 22nd May 1906 on his attaining his majority, and by that time all but Rs. 25,000 of the debt had been cleared off.