Orugallu

Who holds it

Name

Ganapati (Ganapatideva)

Title

Maharaja of the Kakatiyas, at Orugallu on the reading drawn

Since

1199 (the Manthani inscription of 26 December 1199 already calls him king); some accounts say 1198

Born

not known (age and birth year not recorded; probably young)

Family

Father Mahadeva (killed 1198 or 1199); uncle Rudradeva (d. 1195); regent and commander Recherla Rudra; brother-in-law Natavadi Rudra. His queens Naramba and Peramba (daughters of Pinni Chodi of Divi) are not yet married on the evidence; his daughters are born later.

Confidence

low

Whether he stands free at Orugallu on 1 January 1200 or is still under Yadava care while Recherla Rudra governs is not recoverable; the realm and Ganapati records draw him free and say so.

Lord in 1200

Ganapati as king, with Recherla Rudra as commander and regent; the town's governor is of the Induluri family under Rudradeva (Peda Mallana, Wikipedia Rudradeva), not named for 1200.

Overlord

The Yadava crown by the settlement of 1199 (Yadava inscriptions: lord of the Andhra country as a dependent); Telugu records call him sovereign.

How things stand that morning

The seat of a king who was a prisoner a year ago, under a regent who put down feudatories; no enemy is in the field.

Wealth

Tank villages, cotton, iron, steel; the king's treasury is whatever the nayakas send. No figures known.

Military

Nayaka levies and the regent's household troops; no numbers known.

Threats

• The Yadavas, who made the kingdom and can unmake it
• A feudatory revolt if Ganapati is still in a Yadava camp
• Velanati and Kota raids from the south-east

Charter

None known. The Motupalli safe-conduct edict to foreign merchants is of about 1244 and is later.

Council

Not known for 1200. The Induluri brothers (governor and chief accountant) and the Vellaki family (Anumakonda and Sabbi-naddu) served under Rudradeva (Rudradeva article) and are the people to look for.

Communities

Telugu Brahmins and Shaiva priests; Jain merchants (Kolanupaka and Kuravi are Jain towns near by); Veerashaiva and Kalamukha ascetics; weavers, ironworkers, stonecutters.

Militia

The nayaka system: land plots given to men of any birth for service (the realm record). No numbers.

Walls and castle

An older brick-walled fort round the Ekasila dome; the stone fort and the earth wall are later (see the Warangal Fort discrepancy in the realm record).

Trade and crafts

Cotton cloth, iron and steel of the upland, grain from the tank villages, granite from the Orugallu quarries (board); the traders' corporations of the Kakatiya country.

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.

1. 1201Kakatiya forces take Bezawada (the Kanaka Durga inscription) and open the Krishna delta; the Natavadi chief Rudra leads.Depends on: Peace with the Yadavas and a free Ganapati. Stopped by: A Yadava or Velanati move; a Kakatiya succession fight.
2. About 1213Recherla Rudra builds the Ramappa temple at Palampet and the Pakhal lake is dug; neither exists on 1 January 1200.Depends on: Peace in the upland. Stopped by: Anything that breaks the regency.

Places of note

• The Ekasila dome and the Svayambhusiva shrine: The single stone and the four-faced linga shrine (board 'svayambhusiva-orugallu', 'ekasila-orugallu').
• The Bhadrakali temple: Hill temple of the goddess on the road to Hanamkonda (board 'bhadrakali-warangal'; undated).

Where the sources disagree

• Board 'warangal-earth-wall', 'warangal-stone-gates' and 'warangal-market' show an earth wall, great gateways and a market complex standing in 1200. The Warangal Fort article (read) gives Ganapati the stone replacement of a brick fort, Rudrama Devi the earthen embankment, moat and finished stone wall, and Prataparudra II more gateways; none is drawn for 1 January 1200 beyond the old fort.
• The article dates the Svayambhu shrine 'since early 11th century under Prola II'; Prola II is the grandfather of Ganapati's reign (the Kakatiya article), so the shrine's date is uncertain by a century.

Evidence: The Warangal Fort, Hanamkonda, Kakatiya and Ganapatideva articles (read) agree on the later building history and on Ganapati's release; the date of the court's move is undated in them. The market, guilds and population are not in any source we read.

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