The fighting nayakas of the Kakatiya house: the Malyalas (the conquerors of the Kota, and the men who take Divi on the likely course) and the Cherakus (an appanage chief family of commanders).
They are the sort of cultivator-warriors on whom the whole kingdom rests, bargains that lapse when a king dies. Which individuals are alive and in command on 1 January 1200 is not pinned; Gunda and Chaunda are Ganapati's men in the next years.
Who he is
- Name
- Malyala Kata (conqueror of Kota), Malyala Gunda, Malyala Chaunda; Cheraku Kata and sons
- Title
- Generals and appanage chiefs (nayakas)
- Since
- Kata under Rudradeva; Gunda and Chaunda under Ganapati
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Malyala family (Kata, Gunda, Chaunda and his son Kata); Cheraku family (Kata and brothers; Kata's son Kama and grandson Nama commanders), holders of the Cheraku-70 appanage
- Confidence
- medium
Wikipedia's Rudradeva article: Kata (Malyala) pradhani and general, titled Kota-gelpata; Cheraku Kata held the Cheraku-70. Ganapatideva article: Malyala Gunda (Bothpur and Vaddamanu inscriptions), Malyala Chaunda (Divi campaign, 1203; Kondaparti inscription).
What it holds
- Cheraku-70 appanage (location not pinned)
- Command of the army of the south-east (the Krishna approaches)
Allies and rivals
Against the Kota (Kata's title), the Velanati, the Mudigonda Chalukyas.
How things stand that morning
Serving the regency.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1203Malyala Chaunda leads the Kakatiya army toward Divi (Kondaparti inscription).Depends on: The delta opening in 1201. Stopped by: Defeat on the Krishna.
Where the sources disagree
- Board 'the-nayaka-holdings' names the Malyalas among the nayaka families: agreed.
Evidence: Wikipedia's Rudradeva and Ganapatideva articles (read); the inscriptions behind them were not.
Primary sources for Kakatiya kingdom (Orugallu)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts, Various (Kakatiya chancery and temple scribes), edited by P. Sreenivasachar (inscriptions of the 10th to 15th centuries; edited 1940 to 1942). The Kakatiyas of Orugallu (Warangal) are known for 1200 almost entirely from inscriptions, and this Hyderabad Archaeological Series corpus is the main printed collection. Read online
- Sanskrit and Old Canarese Inscriptions relating to the Yadava Kings of Devagiri, Various (Yadava chancery), edited by J. F. Fleet (inscriptions of the 12th and 13th centuries; edited 1876). The first collected edition of the Yadava (Seuna) records, with texts and translations, from the Indian Antiquary. Read online
- South Indian Inscriptions (Archaeological Survey of India), Various (Chola, Pandya and other chanceries and temple scribes), edited by E. Hultzsch, V. Venkayya, H. Krishna Sastri and successors (inscriptions of the 7th to 17th centuries; the series ran from 1890). The temple inscriptions printed here are the primary record of the Tamil country in 1200. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.