On this coast the decisive resistance was in the hills, not the towns, and it was about land law rather than about a nation. Above the scarp the Agency was administered under a separate regulation through muttadars, and after the Forest Act of 1882 restricted podu clearing and customary forest use, a run of local risings — known here as fituris — recurred through the nineteenth century over toddy rules, forest rules, moneylending and the transfer of land to outsiders. The 1879 rising and the rebellion of 1922 to 1924 are the two that are fully documented. On the plain, the earlier resistance was that of the estates: Bobbili in 1757 and Padmanabham in 1794 were fought over tribute, succession and revenue arrears, not over any national question, and they should not be read backwards as though they were. Congress organisation reached the plain districts in the 1920s and 1930s and was thinner here than in the deltas; the coast's most visible contribution to the swadeshi decades was the fine hand-spun khadi of Ponduru, which found a national market through the khadi campaigns. This list is short because the record is, and it stops in 1947.
The storming of Bobbili24 January 1757
A French force under Bussy, allied with the neighbouring estate of Vizianagaram, attacked and destroyed the fort at Bobbili after a dispute over the transfer of the estate. The defenders were overwhelmed in a day and the raja killed; the Vizianagaram raja was killed in his camp the following night.
परिणाम: Bobbili was refounded later in the century. The episode survives chiefly as the Bobbili ballad, a sung tradition performed across the region, which is a memory rather than a record and treats the fighting as heroic.
The engagement at Padmanabham10 July 1794
The Vizianagaram raja Vijayarama Raju II refused a Company demand for arrears of about eight and a half lakh and an order to retire on a pension, and met Company troops at Padmanabham near Bheemunipatnam with about a thousand men.
परिणाम: He was killed and the force dispersed within about ninety minutes. The estate was restored to his son on revised terms and was fixed as a zamindari by the permanent settlement of 1802.
The Rampa rising of 1879March 1879 – 1880
Hill cultivators in Chodavaram and the Golconda hills rose against the exactions of the local mansabdar, the trading contracts imposed by lowland merchants, and a new prohibition and tax on tapping toddy for domestic use.
परिणाम: Six infantry regiments with cavalry and police were used to suppress it; many of those taken were transported to the Andamans. The mansabdar was arrested and his office replaced with direct administration.
The Rampa rebellion1922–1924
Beginning with raids on the police stations at Chintapalli, Krishnadevipeta and Rajavommangi between 22 and 24 August 1922, in which arms and ammunition were taken, a guerrilla campaign was fought across the Godavari and Visakhapatnam agencies over forest restrictions, podu rights and forced labour on road work. It was led by Alluri Sitarama Raju with the Koya leaders Gam Gantam Dora and Gam Mallu Dora.
परिणाम: Suppressed after nearly two years of operations by police and special forces. Raju was taken in the Chintapalli forest and shot at Koyyuru on 7 May 1924; Gam Gantam Dora was killed on 6 June 1924.