VIZIANAGRAM  , a

town of British India, in the Vizagapatam district of Madras, 17 M. from the seaport of Bimlipatam, on the East Coast railway, 522 M . N.E. of Madras . Pop . (1901) 37,270 . It has a small military cantonment . It contains the residence of a zamindar of the same name, who ranks as the first Hindu nobleman of Madras . His estate covers about 3000 sq. m., with a population of 900,000 . The estimated income is £I8o,000 , paying a permanent land revenue of £34,000 . The town possesses many fine buildings, entirely supported by the raja . It has a college and two high schools . The ruling family, which claims descent from a high official at the court of Golconda, established itself in Vizagapatam in the 17th century . In 1754 Viziarama Raz made an alliance with the French, but his son, on succeeding, fell out with them, captured Vizagapatam from them and ceded it to the Fritish in 1758 .

The next raja, another Viziarama, was entirely under the

influence of his half-brother Sita Ram, whose power, how-ever, became so great a menace that he was forced to retire in 1793 . A period of decay now set in . The raja was incompetent, and, his estate having been sequestrated for debt, revolted and was defeated and killed in 1794 . The next raja, Narayana Babu, was no more successful, and his estate had been long under the management of the British government when he died in 1845 . Viziarama Gajapati Raz, who succeeded him and took over full powers in 1852, was a man of ability, and received the titles of maharaja and K.C.S.I.; as also was his son, the maharaja Ananda Raz, G.C.I.E . He died in 1897, and was succeeded by Raja Pusapati Viziarama Gajapati Raz, during whose minority (till 1904) the estate was again under government administration .