The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s3.t6: Land Reclamation
The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s3.t6
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Land Reclamation
v2.c15.s3.t6.1
Besides providing irrigation facilities for the improvement of agriculture, the Kākatīya monarchs, especially Pratāparudra, attempted to increase the extent of cultivable land by cutting down forests and bringing large tracts of fresh territory under the plough. Local tradition preserved in the *kaifiyats* of several villages in what is at present known as the Rāyalasīma refer to the deforestation of much of this country by command of Pratāparudra and to the foundation of new villages on land they reclaimed from woodland and wild jungle. When Pratāparudra reached Kochcherlakōṭa in the north of the Nellore district during the course of his campaign against the Kāyastha chief Ambadēva, he ordered Irugappa Kēti Nāyaka, one of the officers in his service, to cut down the forests which then covered the neighbouring country and to build there the village of Duppipāḍu, modern Dūpāḍu, which in the course of time became the headquarters of a district of that name; an officer of the king's suite called Śrīnātharāju of Anumakoṇḍa was placed in charge of this township. The country to the west of the Śrīśaila mountain corresponding to a large part of the existing Nandikotkur *tāluk* of the Kurnool district of to-day was also at that time covered by dense woods which were cleared at the instance of the king, and several new villages were founded in the open spaces thus created; these in like manner were placed in charge of a kshatriya chief, Siri Siṅgaḷarāja, who had migrated with his wife Siri Nāguladēvī from Kalyāṇi in the north. Viḍemu Kommaya, to whom Pratāparudra had granted the territory in the neighbourhood of Kurnool as *nāyamkara*, felled the trees and established Nāgalūṭi near Dāmēgaṭla and several other villages in that region on land thus made available. Similar accounts are related in the *kaifiyats* regarding the foundation of a large number of villages in the Cuddapah and the Kurnool districts; these all bear testimony to the real and intense interest taken by Pratāparudra in increasing the economic resources of his kingdom.
v2.c15.s3.t6.2
But the establishment of new villages in the forest clearings proved to be a hard task fraught with many difficulties. It was not always easy to find suitable settlers who would consent to be transplanted to form the new communities. The government did not itself undertake this work; it was left to the efforts of enterprising farmers chartered by the State who would visit villages in their neighbourhood and gather together bands of men eager to break loose from the entanglements of the joint family, and to set themselves up in independent homesteads. The government also encouraged such movements by granting special privileges to the emigrants. They were allowed to cultivate the land at first for a term of three years free from the payment of any rent or fiscal charges; from the fourth year onwards taxes were levied at low rates which were gradually raised year by year until they came up to the level of those obtaining in the older established villages of the vicinity.
v2.c15.s3.t6.3
After recruiting families willing to move, the selection of the village site was the next important step: a suitable place provided with a good supply of water was chosen; the presiding deity was then installed in a temple, and a festival called *urumu* was held in his or her honour. Then the houses for the new settlers were erected; the *āyakaṭ* (the extent and the details of the fields, &c.) of the village was determined, and the *āyagārs*, that is, the twelve village officers, were appointed. After this the land was parcelled out among the settlers according to the *visabadi*, and the cultivable fields were plotted. With the construction of a tank to store water for irrigating the fields, the formation of the village was finally completed.