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.

Amir Chand, Martyr of Hardinge Bomb Case

Born in 1869, Amir Chand was a revolutionary arrested in connection with the Delhi Conspiracy case, also known as the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy. The case refers to an alleged plot to kill the then Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge, in 1912.

Amir Chand along with Bhai Bal Mukand, Awadh Behari  and Basant Kumar Biswas was sentenced to death and hanged at Delhi Jail on May 8, 1915.

Surendranath Banerjee (1848-1925): Political Moderate

Born in 1848 in Calcutta, Surendranath Banerjee was an educationist, journalist and political leader. In 1868 he successfully competed for the Indian Civil Service but on technical grounds he was disqualified. After a court judgment that went in his favour, he was inducted into the Civil Services but not long after, was dismissed over a procedural error.

After dismissal, he became more politically active. In 1876, together with Anand Mohan Bose they formed the Indian Association of Calcutta. 

In 1879, he became editor of The Bengalee, an English language newspaper in Kolkata. 

He was a vocal critic of the partition of Bengal in 1905. 

One of the founders of the Indian National Congress, Surendranath Banerjee became its president on two occasions in 1895 at Poona and in 1902 at Ahmedabad. 

He left Congress following the emergence of Mahatma Gandhi on the Indian political scene. After accepting a knighthood from the British in 1921 he was appointed as minister of local self-government and health in the Bengal government becoming the first Indian to hold that position. His acceptance of office was met with strong protest by the nationalists.

He passed away on 6th August 1925.

Forgotten Revolutionary Kanailal Dutta (1888-1908)

 

Born in Chandan Nagar in West Bengal, Kanailal Dutta was a great revolutionary who was arrested in connection with the Muzaffarpur Conspiracy Case in 1908. He was sentenced to death for the murder of a revolutionary-turned-approver in the Alipur Conspiracy Case.  

Kanailal Dutta was hanged on November 10, 1908 inside the Alipore Jail in Kolkata.

Gopal Hari Deshmukh: A voice against women's oppression

Famous by the pen-name of ‘Lokahitawadi’, Gopal Hari Deshmukh was a social reformer from western India. Born in 1893 in Pune, Gopal Hari Deshmukh was a rational thinker who worked as a member of the Governor General's Council.

He advocated widow remarriage and opposed child marriage, caste system and slavery in any form through a Marathi monthly magazine Lokahitawadi of which he was the editor.

Gopal Hari Deshmukh started the Punarvivah Mandal (Widow Remarriage Institute) at Ahmedabad and helped to launch Marathi newspapers, Induprakash and Jnanprakash, in Bombay and Poona.

A champion of national self-reliance, Gopal Hari Deshmukh made it a point to wear handspun khadi cloth while attending the Delhi Durbar in 1877.

Gopal Hari Deshmukh died in 1892. 

Manindra Nath Banerjee: Unsung Revolutionary of India

Born on 13th January in 1907 at Varanasi, Manindra Nath Banerji was a revolutionary who had shot his maternal uncle J.N. Banerji, the Deputy Superintend of Police investigating the Kakori Conspiracy case. J.N. Banerji had played a dubious role in getting Rajendra Lahiri hanged. Rajendra Lahiri was convicted in the famous Kakori conspiracy case and hanged in the Gonda District Jail.

Manindra Nath Banerjee was arrested and sentenced to ten years of rigorous imprisonment. While demanding better treatment for the political prisoners he breathed his last on June 20  in 1934 in the Fatehgarh Central Jail in Farrukhabad district in the Uttar Pradesh after 66 days of hunger strike.

George Yule, First English President of Indian National Congress

George Yule was a Scottish entrepreneur who was the first British to serve as president of the Indian National Congress.  He was elected to that position in the fourth session of the Congress in 1888 at Allahabad. 

He served as Sheriff of Calcutta and President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce.