Shermuhammadpuram
History
Before 1947, Shermuhammadpuram was an erstwhile Zamindari of the British Raj located in Madras Presidency. The zamindari was prosperous and was second only to the Vizianagaram estate in paying a high amount of peshkush to the British government. The Rajas of Shermuhammadpuram were known and respected for their genius.
Evidently, Raja Jugga Rao was an agent and interpreter of John Andrews, the chief of Machilipatnam, and moved with him to Visakhapatnam in 1769. His son and successor, Raja Surya Narayan Rao was well known in the region for his intelligence and public spirit. However, the most famous member of this aristocrat family was Raja Gode Venkat Jugga Rao. He was one of the earliest pioneers of observational astronomy in India and laid establishment of the earliest private modern astronomical observatory of India at Daba Gardens, Visakhapatnam in 1840 named after him as G.V. Juggarow Observatory. Furthermore, he had the privilege of traveling to England in 1900 and interacting with Queen Victoria and Edward VII, Prince of Wales. He was elected as the Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, Royal Meteorological Society, Royal Colonial Institute and Royal Society of Arts. On his way back to India, he received a bronze statue of Queen Victoria which is now situated in the Queen Victoria Pavilion in One Town (Visakhapatnam).
References
- ^ Sewell, Robert (1882). Lists of the Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras. E. Keys, at the Government Press (public domain material). p. 13.
- ^ The Feudatory and Zemindari India. 1922. p. 294.
- ^ Rao, N K; Vagiswari, A; Birdie, Christina (2011). "Early Pioneers of Telescopic Astronomy in India:G.V.Juggarow and His Observatory". Indian Institute of Astrophysics. arXiv:1103.5104.
- ^ Vadivelu, A. (1984). The Aristocracy of Southern India. Mittal Publications. pp. 164–166.