Kakatiya Dynasty

               Kakatiya’s well at Warangal|Wikimedia Commons/Aravind Pakide

A famous kingdom of eastern Deccan in South India, Kakatiya dynasty rose in prominence in the 12th and 13th centuries. Ruling over an area corresponding to the modern day Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and parts of southern Odisha and eastern Karnataka, the Kakatiya dynasty produced rulers who created some exquisite pieces of temple architecture in India like the Ramappa temple and Thousand Pillar temple (Sri Rudreshwara Swamy Temple).

The Kakatiyas were at first the subordinates of the Rastrakutas and then Western Chalukyas of Kalyani. It was in or around 1163 that they threw their allegiance to them. 

Ganapati Deva (ruled 1199–1262) was the greatest ruler of the Kakatiya Dynasty. Earlier, he was imprisoned by Yadava ruler Jaitugi who had killed his father Mahadeva. Later on, Ganapati was set free by Jaitugi and ascended the Kakatiya throne in 1199. He ruled for over 60 years and proved to be a good administrator.

Ganapati Deva transferred the Kakatiya capital city from Anmakonda to Orugallu or Warangal. He had nominated his daughter Rudrama Devi to succeed him. He used to call her by the masculine name Rudradeva Maharaja. She became the first woman ruler to accede to the throne in South India. The early years of her reign were marked by rebellions of the feudatories but they were suppressed. According to K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, she was defeated by the Yadava ruler, Mahadeva. Rudrama Devi has been praised in glowing terms by the contemporary Venetian traveller Marco Polo who had visited the Kakatiya kingdom during her reign.   

There is divergence of views regarding the date of the death of Rudrama Devi. Discovery of a portrait sculpture of Rudrama Devi in 2018 in the sanctum sanctorum of Trikuta temple in Siddjipet district in Telengana reinforces the belief that she was killed by her once loyal Kayashtha chieftain Ambadeva. 

Rudrama Devi was succeeded by her grandson Prataparudra or Pratap Rudra Deva II who was the last ruler of the Kakatiya dynasty. He was defeated by Malik Kafur, the general of Khilji ruler Alauddin Khilji, in 1309-10. In 1321, Jauna Khan (later on known as Muhammad bin Tughluq) was deputed by his father Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (1320-1325) for the conquest of Kakatiya kingdom which was duly annexed to the Delhi Sultanate. Pratap Rudra Deva II was sent to Delhi and imprisoned.