Rudrama Devi
Rudrama Devi, also known as Rudramadevi, reigned around 1262–1289 CE and is one of the few queens in Indian history.[18][24] Sen states she reigned from 1261-1295.[25] Sources disagree regarding whether she was the widow of Ganapati or his daughter.[26]
Marco Polo, who visited India probably some time around 1289–1293, made note of Rudrama Devi's rule and nature in flattering terms.[27][d] She continued the planned fortification of the capital, raising the height of Ganapati's wall as well as adding a second earthencurtain wall 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in diameter and with an additional 150 feet (46 m)-wide moat.[22]
Rudrama was married to Virabhadra, an Eastern Chalukyan prince of Nidadavolu who had been selected for that purpose by her father.[29] Having no son as an heir,[22] Rudrama abdicated in favour of her grandson when it became apparent that the expansionistsultan Alauddin Khilji was encroaching on the Deccan and might in due course attack the Kakatiyas.[26]
Prataparudra II
The earliest biography of Rudrama Devi's successor, Prataparudra II, is the Prataparudra Caritramu, dating from the 16th century.[15] His reign began in 1289 and ended with the demise of the dynasty in 1323.[18] Sen states his reign started in 1295.[25] It is described by Eaton as the "first chapter in a larger story" that saw the style of polity in the Deccan change from being regional kingdoms to transregionalsultanates that survived until the arrival of the British East India Company in the 18th century.[30]
Demise of the dynasty
The conquest of the Deccan by the Delhi Sultanate began in 1296 when Alauddin raided and plundered Devagiri.[31] Later in that year, he murdered his uncle, the reigning sultan Jalaluddin, and took became sultan himself.[32]
The Kakatiya kingdom attracted the attention of Alauddin because of the possibility for plunder.[33] The first foray into the Telugu kingdom was made in 1303 and was a disaster due to the resistance of the Kakatiya army in the battle at Upparapalli.[34][35] In 1309 Alauddin sent a general, Malik Kafur, in an attempt to force Prataparudra into acceptance of a position subordinate to the sultanate at Delhi. Kafur organised a month-long siege of Orugallu that ended with success in February 1310. Prataparudra was forced to make various symbolic acts of obeisance designed to demonstrate his new position as a subordinate but, as was Alauddin's plan, he was not removed as ruler of the area but rather forced thereafter to pay annual tribute to Delhi.[36] It was probably at this time that the Koh-i-Noor diamond passed from Kakatiya ownership to that of Alauddin, along with 20,000 horses and 100 elephants.[33]
In 1311, Prataparudra formed a part of the sultanate forces that attacked the Pandyan empire in the south, and he took advantage of that situation to quell some of his vassals in Nellore who had seen his reduced status as an opportunity for independence. Later, though, in 1318, he failed to provide the annual tribute to Delhi, claiming that the potential for being attacked on the journey made it impossible. Alauddin responded by sending another of his generals, Khusrau Khan, to Orugallu with a force that bristled with technology previously unknown in the area, including trebuchet-like machines. Prataparudra had to submit once more, with his obeisance on this occasion being arranged by the sultanate to include a very public display whereby he bowed towards Delhi from the ramparts of Orugallu. The amount of his annual tribute was changed, becoming 100 elephants and 12,000 horses.[37]
The new arrangements did not last long. Taking advantage of a revolution in Delhi that saw the Khilji dynasty removed and Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq installed as sultan, Prataparudra again asserted his independence in 1320. Tughlaq sent his son, Ulugh Khan, to defeat the defiant Kakatiya king in 1321. Khan's army was riven with internal dissension due to its containing factions from the Khilji and Tughluq camps. This caused the siege on this occasion to last much longer — six months, rather than the few weeks that had previously been the case. The attackers were initially repulsed and Khan's forces retreated to regroup in Devagiri. Prataparudra celebrated the apparent victory by opening up his grain stores for public feasting. Khan returned in 1323 with his revitalised and reinforced army and, with few supplies left, Prataparudra was forced into submission after a five-month siege. The unprepared and battle-weary army of Orugallu was finally defeated, and Orugallu was renamed as Sultanpur. It seems probable, from combining various contemporary and near-contemporary accounts, that Prataparudra committed suicide near to the Narmada River while being taken as a prisoner to Delhi.[38][39]
Aftermath
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Tughlaq control of the area lasted only for around a decade.[40] The fall of the Kakatiya dynasty resulted in both political and cultural disarray because of both disparate resistance to the sultanate and dissension within it.[39] The structure of the Kakatiya polity disintegrated and their lands soon fell under the control of numerous families from communities such as the Niyogis, Reddies and Velamas. Surrounded by more significant states,[41] by the 15th century these new entities had ceded to the Bahamani Sultanate and the Sangama dynasty, the latter of which evolved to become the Vijayanagara empire.[42]
A brother of Prataparudra II, Annamaraja, has been associated with ruling what eventually became the princely state of Bastar during theBritish Raj period. This appears likely to be historical revisionism, dating from a genealogy published by the ruling family in 1703, because it records only eight generations spanning almost four centuries of rule. Such revisionism and tenuous claims of connection to the Kakatiyas was not uncommon because it was perceived as legitimising the right to rule and a warrior status. Talbot notes that there is a record of a brother called Annamadeva and that:
A revisionist interpretation of Prataparudra II himself appeared much sooner, within a few years of his death, and for broadly similar reasons. As early as 1330, Prolaya Nayaka, [44] chieftain based near Orugallu, was attempting to justify his attempts to oppose the sultanate and promote Hinduism by depicting Prataparudra as a heroic symbol of righteousness and claiming that his own actions were in the same mould. However, this and similar efforts to depict Prataparudra as the most eminent ruler of the Kakatiya dynasty and to demonstrate a dichotomy between the perceived barbarian invaders and the righteous Hindu inhabitants had generally disappeared by 1420, by which time social assimilation had occurred
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