Kammas, Reddys, and Rajus

Abstract

Within a nation that harbours bitter memories of colonial subjugation, it is rare to discover an Englishman revered by its people, least of all someone who was very much part of the imperial establishment. The irrigation engineer Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton (1803–99) is an exception. In the fertile coastal delta tracts of Andhra Pradesh (AP) he is nothing short of a deified icon. Unlike Annie Besant, C.E Andrews, Verrier Elwin, Madeleine Slade, and others who denounced imperialism, Cotton was no renegade. And yet, amidst the endless expanse of paddy and sugarcane fields, it is not uncommon to spot busts of ‘Cotton Dora’ (the respected one) serving as valuable landmarks in remote hamlets. In West Godavari district there is a village—Cottonreddypalem—named after him. The main square of Tanuku town has an impressive bronze statue of Arthur Cotton riding a horse next to that of Nannayya Bhattaraka, the eleventh-century Aadi Kavi (the first poet) and author of Andhra Mahabharatamu, the oldest recorded Telugu literary work. Since the coming of Nandamuri Tarakarama Rao (NTR) and his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the 1980s, there has been an even more organized effort at veneration of the legendary British engineer.