Kakatiya dynasty

Early members of Kakatiya family appear to have served as military generals of the Rashtrakutas, as indicated by a 956 CE inscription of the Vengi Chalukya prince Dānārnava.[31] The inscription suggests that an attack by the Rashtrakuta king Krishna III forced the Vengi Chalukya king Amma II to flee his kingdom, after which Dānārnava (titled Vijayaditya) ruled the kingdom as a Rashtrakuta vassal. It records Dānārnava's grant of Mangallu village to a Brahmana named Dommana, at the request of Kakatiya Gundyana. Dommana had performed a religious ceremony called Karpati-vrata for Gundyana, for which he received the village as an agrahara.[32] The inscription names Gundyana's ancestors as Gundiya-Rashtrakuta and Eriya-Rashtrakuta.[33] This suggests that Gundyana was a Rashtrakuta general, and not a Vengi Chalukya subordinate, as assumed by some earlier historians.[33]

The Bayyaram tank inscription, which records the construction of Dharma-kirti-samudra tank by Ganapati's sister Mailama (or Mailamba), provides another genealogical list.[23] The similarities of names mentioned in the Mangallu and Bayyaram inscriptions lists suggest that both of these refer to the same family:[34]

Historian P.V.P. Sastry theorizes that Betiya was the son of Eriya (alias Erra) and father of Gundyana (alias Pindi-Gunda), but may have become too insignificant to be mentioned by his descendants, because of a premature death or another reason.[36]

The significance of the suffix "Rashtrakuta" in the names of the early Kakatiya chiefs is debated. According to one theory, the suffix implies that these chiefs were Rashtrakuta subordinates. This theory is based on the fact that the phrase Rashtrakuta-kutumbinah appears in several Rashtrakuta-era copper-plate inscriptions, and refers to the officers and subjects of the Rashtrakuta kingdom.[37]

According to another theory, the suffix implies that the Kakatiyas were a branch of the Rashtrakuta family, because the term Rashtrakuta-kutumbinah was used for officers employed by the Rashtrakuta administration, not feudatory chiefs: the early records of the Kakatiya chiefs describe them as samantas (feudatory chiefs).[38] The Kazipet Darga inscription of Tribhuvanamalla Durgaraja states that the Kakatiya chief Beta was born in the family of Samanta Viṣṭi.[39] Historian P.V.P. Sastry theorises that "Viṣṭi" is a corruption of Vrishni, the name of a clan from which some Rashtrakutas claimed descent. He notes that some chiefs of Rashtrakuta origin adopted the title "Viṭṭi-narayana", which means "as great as Narayana (Krishna) of the Vitti (Vrishni) family.[40] Sastry further proposes that the term "Voddi", which appears in the phrase Voddi-kula ("Voddi family") in the Mangallu inscription may be same as "Viṣṭi".[41] Sastry also believes that the early Kakatiya chiefs followed Jainism, which was also patronized by the Rashtrakutas, thus strengthening the view that the two dynasties were connected (see Religion section below).[10]

The Kakatiyas seemed to have adopted the mythical bird Garuda as their royal insignia, as attested by the Ekamranatha temple inscription of Ganapati-deva, the Palampet inscription of the Kakatiya general Recharla Rudra, and Vidyanatha's Prataparudriya.[39] The Bayyaram tank inscription calls the Kakatiya chief Beta I (son of Gunda IV) Garudamka-Beta, and "Garuda" here appears to refer to the family's emblem.[42] In Hindu mythology, Garuda is the vahana of god Vishnu. The Rashtrakutas and some other dynsaties of Deccan claimed descent from the Vrishni clan (associated with Vishnu's avatar Krishna), and had adopted Garuda as their royal insignia.[38] According to Sastry, this corroborates the theory that the Kakatiyas were associated with the Rashtrakuta family.[2] Sastry further speculates that the Kakatiyas may have adopted the Garuda symbol because of Jain influence: the yaksha of the Jain tirthankara Shantinatha is represented by the Garuda symbol.[2]

Based on Ganapati-deva's Garavapadu inscription, which names Karikala Chola among the family's ancestors, epigraphist C.R.K. Charlu theorised that the Kakatiyas were a branch of the Telugu Cholas. However, no other Kakatiya record mentions Karikala, and unlike the Telugu Cholas, the Kakatiyas did not claim to belong to the Kashyapa-gotra. Therefore, Sastry dismisses Charlu's theory as untenable.[41]

After the decline of the Rashtrakuta power, the Kakatiyas served as vassals of the Kalyani Chalukyas. After the decline of the Chalukya power in the 12th century, they assumed sovereignty by suppressing other Chalukya subordinates in the Telangana region.[43]

The 1149 Sanigaram inscription of Prola II is the last known record of the Kakatiyas as vassals. The 1163 Anumakonda inscription of Prataparudra I is the earliest known record that describes the Kakatiyas as a sovereign power.[31]

According to Sastry, Prataparudra I reigned between around 1158 – 1195,[26] while Sircar gives the dates 1163–1195. He was also known as Rudra Deva, Kakatiya Rudradeva, Venkata, and Venkataraya[7][44] He was the son of Prola II, who had made efforts to assert greater Kakatiya influence on territories in the eastern parts of the declining Western Chalukyan empire and who died in a battle fought against the Velanati Choda ruler Gonka II around 1157/1158 while doing so.[45][46] It was during Prataparudra's reign, in 1163, that the Kakatiyas declared an end to their status as feudatory chiefs of the Chalukyas.[lower-alpha 3] It is notable that inscriptions were henceforth written using the Kakatiya chiefs' vernacular Telugu rather than the Kannada language that had prevailed until that point.[47]

Mahadeva succeeded Prataparudra I as king, reigning probably from 1195 to 1199.[26]

Ramappa Temple.

Just as the Yadava and Hoysala dynasties took control of linguistically related areas during the 13th century, so too did the Kakatiyas under the rule of Ganapati.[47] He is also known as Ganapathi Deva and, according to Sastry, reigned between 1199 and 1262; Sircar gives regnal dates of 1199–1260.[26][44] He significantly expanded Kakatiya lands during the 1230s when he launched a series of attacks outside the dynasty's traditional Telangana region and thus brought under Kakatiya control the Telugu-speaking lowland delta areas around the Godavari and Krishna rivers. The outcome in the case of all three dynasties, says historian Richard Eaton, was that they "catalysed processes of supralocal identity formation and community building".[47]

The Kakatiya capital at Orugallu, established in 1195, was not forgotten while Ganapati expanded his territory. He organised the building of a massive granite wall around the city, complete with ramps designed for ease of access to its ramparts from within. A moat and numerous bastions were also constructed.[48]

Ganapati was keen to bolster the dynasty's economy. He encouraged merchants to trade abroad, abolishing all taxes except for a fixed duty and supporting those who risked their lives to travel afar.[49] He created the man-made Pakhal Lake.

Statue of Rudrama Devi.

Rudrama Devi, also known as Rudramadevi, reigned around 1262–1289 CE (alternative dates: 1261–1295 CE) and is one of the few queens in Indian history.[26][50][51] Sources disagree regarding whether she was the widow of Ganapati or his daughter.[52]

Marco Polo, who visited India probably some time around 1289–1293, made note of Rudrama Devi's rule and nature in flattering terms.[53][lower-alpha 4] She continued the planned fortification of the capital, raising the height of Ganapati's wall as well as adding a second earthen curtain wall 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in diameter and with an additional 150 feet (46 m)-wide moat.[48]

A fragmentary Kannada language inscription also states that the Kakatiya general Bhairava defeated the Yadava army probably in or after 1263 CE, which may be a reference to his repulsion of Mahadeva's invasion. A coin of Mahadeva bears the Kakatiya emblem varaha with the Yadava symbols; this varaha may have been stuck on Mahadeva's coins to mark the Kakatiya victory.[4]

Rudrama was married to Virabhadra, an Eastern Chalukyan prince of Nidadavolu who had been selected for that purpose by her father.[54] Having no son as an heir,[48] Rudrama abdicated in favour of her grandson when it became apparent that the expansionist sultan Alauddin Khalji was encroaching on the Deccan and might in due course attack the Kakatiyas.[52]

The earliest biography of Rudrama Devi's successor, Prataparudra II, is the Prataparudra Caritramu, dating from the 16th century.[55] His reign began in 1289 (alternative date: 1295) and ended with the demise of the dynasty in 1323.[26][51] 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 transregional sultanates that survived until the arrival of the British East India Company in the 18th century.[56]

The Kakatiya base was the city of Orugallu[63] in the dry uplands of northern Telangana on the Deccan Plateau. From there they expanded their influence into Coastal Andhra, the delta between the Godavari and Krishna rivers that feed into the Bay of Bengal. According to Rao and Shulman, the latter contained a high proportion of Brahmins while the former was the haunt of "peasants, artisans and warriors".[64] Under the Kakatiyas, cultural innovation often began in the uplands, was refined in the lowlands and then recycled back into the Deccan. This bi-directional flow of cultural influences brought into being a feeling of cultural affinity between those who spoke the Telugu language where nothing of that nature had previously existed.[lower-alpha 6] The unification of the distinct upland and lowland cultures was their most significant political achievement, achieved through a process of binding many locally powerful figures in allegiance to the empire.[63]

The area of land under Kakatiya control reached its zenith around the 13th century CE during the rule of Ganapati Deva. By this time, South India and the Deccan was essentially under the aegis of four Hindu monarchies, of which the Kakatiyas were one.[lower-alpha 7] The four dynasties were in a constant state of warfare with each other, with the Kakatiyas eventually exercising control from close to Anagondi in the west to Kalyani in the north-east, and down to Kanei and Ganjam district in southern Orissa.[3]

A notable trend during the dynastic period was the construction of reservoirs for irrigation in the uplands, around 5000 of which were built by warrior families subordinate to the Kakatiyas. The dramatically altered the possibilities for development in the sparsely populated dry areas. Many of these edifices, often called "tanks", including the large examples at Pakala and Ramappa, are still used today.[65]

Another notable architectural feature of the dynasty relates to temples. Even before the arrival of the dynasty, there were large, well-established and well-endowed Hindu places of worship in the relatively populous delta areas; however, the temples of the uplands, which were smaller and less cosmopolitan in origin and funding, did not exist until the Kakatiya period. In the lowlands, where Brahmins were numerous, the temples had long benefited from a desire to build social networks for the purposes of domestic and foreign trade, as well as for obtaining grazing rights in the face of competition; in the uplands, the endowment of the buildings was often associated with the construction and continued maintenance of reservoirs and enabled a different type of networking based on political hierarchies. The strengthening of those hierarchies, which was achieved in part by donating land for the temples and then attending worship, was necessary as the inland agrarian society grew rapidly in number and location.[66]

There is a disparity between analysis of inscriptions, of which the work of Cynthia Talbot has been in the vanguard, and the traditional works of Vedic Hinduism that described pre-colonial India in terms of a reverent and static society that was subject to the strictures of the caste system. Colonial British administrators found much that appealed to them in the latter works but the Kakatiya inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh, which depict a far wider range of society and events, suggest that the reality was far more fluid and very different from the idealised image.[67]

Caste itself seems to have been of low importance as a social identifier.[68] Even the Kakatiya kings, with one exception, considered themselves to be Shudras (in the ritual varna system).[lower-alpha 8] They were egalitarian in nature and promoted their subordinate warrior-chiefs who were similarly egalitarian and spurned the Kshatriya rank. Anyone, regardless of birth, could acquire the nayaka title to denote warrior status, and this they did. There is also little evidence that Kakatiya society paid much regard to caste identities, in the sense of jāti. Although occupation does appear to have been an important designator of social position, the inscriptions suggest that people were not bound to an occupation by birth.[69][70]

The population became more settled in geographic terms. The growth of an agricultural peasant class subsumed many tribal people who previously had been nomadic. The nexus of politics and military was a significant feature of the era, and the Kakatiya recruitment of peasants into the military did much to create a new warrior class, to develop social mobility and to extend the influence of the dynasty into areas of its kingdom that previously would have been untouched.[71] The Kakatiya kings, and in particular the last two, encouraged an egalitarian ethos. The entrenched landed nobility that had existed prior to the dynasty found its power to be on the wane; the royal gifting of lands formerly in the possession of nobles to people of lesser status did much to effect this dilution.[55]

• Nripa Venna, born in the family of Durjaya (r. c. 800-815)
• Gunda I (r. c. 815-?)
• Gunda II (r. c. ?-865)
• Gunda III (died before 900)
• Nripati Erra
• Betiya
• Nripati Gunda IV alias Pindi-Gunda (r. c. 955-995)
• Nripati Beta I alias Garuda Beta (r. c. 996-1051)
• Prola I (r. c. 1052-1076)
• Beta II alias Tribhuvanamalla (r. c. 1076-1108)
• Tribhuvanamalla Durgaraja (r. c. 1108-1116), son of Beta II
• Prola II (r. c. 1116-1157), son of Beta II, married Muppama
  • His children included Rudra, Mahadeva, Harihara, Ganapati and Repolla Durga

• Rudra (r. c. 1158-1195), son of Prola II, became a sovereign 1163
• Mahadeva (r. c. 1196-1199), son of Prola II, married Bayyama
  • Had three children, including Ganapati-deva, Mailamba, and Kundamba
• Ganapati-deva (r. c. 1199-1262), married Somala-devi
  • Had two children, including Ganapamba (married Kota Beta) and Rudrama-devi
• Rudrama-devi (r. c. 1262-1289), married Chalukya Virabhadra
  • Had three children, including Mummadamba (married Kakati Mahadeva), Rudrama (married Yadava prince Ellana-deva), and Ruyyama (married Induluri Annaya-mantri)
• Prataparudra-deva (r. c. 1289-1323), son of Mummadamba, tributary to the Delhi Sultanate at times