Parlakimedi Tahsil
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
parlakimedi Tahsil
Westernmost zamlndari tahsil in Ganjam District, Madras, lying between 18 31' and 19 6' N. and 83 49' and 84 25' E., with an area of 972 square miles. The population in 1901 was 311,534, compared with 304,359 in 1891. The tahsll contains one town, PARLAKIMEUI (population, 17,336), the head-quarters; and 1,015 villages. The demand for land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 was Rs. i, 1 6,000. The tahsil consists of the PARLAKIMEDI ESTATE, which is described separately, and the Parlakimedi Maliahs. The latter are attached to the estate and are chiefly inhabited by Savaras. They have an area of 358 square miles, and contained a population in 1901 of 55,120, compared with 52,302 in 1891. They consist of the forts (as the head-quarters villages are termed) and muttahs (groups of villages) of the ten Bissoyis, or hill chiefs. Of their 348 villages, 122 are situated below the Ghats and the rest above. In 1894 the Raja of Parlakimedi brought a suit in the Agent's court to obtain possession of these Maliahs and won his case. On appeal it was held by the High Court that he had no right to any portion of them. A further appeal to the Privy Council was dismissed, and the Government has ordered the introduction of a ryotwari settlement in the 122 villages below the Ghats. The Bissoyis hold the muttahs as service inamdars, on condition of keeping order in the hill tracts and maintaining an establishment of sardars and paiks. The latter may be described as the rank and file, and the former as the titular commanders of a semi-military force which the Bissoyis employed in olden days to overawe the Savaras, and to garrison posts at the passes as a check upon their irruptions into the low country. The Bissoyis pay a quit- rent called kattubadi, and this was included in the assets on which the peshkash of the Parlakimedi zamlndari was fixed. They collect mdmuls (customary fees), which were settled and fixed in 1881, from the Savaras. The Maliahs contain considerable forests, in which is some good sal (Shorea robustd). The highest point in them is Devagiri, 4,535 feet above the sea.
