The Kakatiyas of Orugallu

Who rules

Name

Ganapati (Ganapatideva)

Title

Maharaja of the Kakatiyas (Andhra-desa), lord of Orugallu

Since

1199 on Sastry's reckoning (Wikipedia gives c.1199-1262; the campaign board has 1198); his first regnal year is not given

Born

not known; the Ganapatideva article gives no age, and a reign of 63 years suggests a young man in 1200 (our inference, not a source)

Family

Kakatiya (Kakati-devi cult; of cultivator stock, not claiming Kshatriya birth); son of Mahadeva, nephew (possibly adopted son) of Rudradeva

Confidence

low

The Manthena inscription of 26 December 1199 already calls him king ('sakala-desa-pratishthapanacharya', the establisher of the whole country). Whether he stood free at Orugallu on 1 January 1200 or was still under Yadava care while Recherla Rudra governed is not recoverable; we draw him free (Sastry's reading: released in 1199) and say so.

What the realm holds

• Orugallu (Warangal): the rising seat round the granite dome of the 'single stone' (Ekasila), still a brick-walled fort on 1 January 1200 on the Warangal Fort article's account; the stone fort is Ganapati's work and the great earth rampart and moat are put in Rudrama Devi's reign (after 1262)
• Hanamkonda (Anumakonda): the old seat, the Thousand Pillar (Rudreshvara) temple of 1163, the Padmakshi hill
• Sabbi-nadu (Sabbi-1000): the original fief; the governor under Rudradeva was Gangadhara of the Vellaki family
• The upland districts: Kuravi, Nagunur, Elgandal, Vemulawada, Manthena and the Godavari bank to Dharmapuri and Kaleshwaram
• Kolanupaka (Kollipaka) and Bhuvanagiri on the western road to Kalyani
• Kanduru-nadu (Panagal, Pillalamarri): the Kandur Telugu Chodas, fought down into obedience under Rudradeva
• Polavasa (Jagtial), Cheraku-70 and the Natavadi fief of Inugurti (Natavadi Rudra married Mahadeva's daughters)
• Srisailam and the Nallamala shrine road (Umamaheswaram, Tripurantakam), taken from the Velanati Chodas by Rudradeva
• Dharanikota (Kota Keta II), set up as a Kakatiya vassal by Rudradeva's generals Kata and Bollama: dated only as 'before 1200' and doubtful in practice
• Claims, not holds, on Draksharama and the delta (Rudradeva's records of 1168 and 1185-86 show influence there; Velanati Prithviswara holds the ground in 1200)

How it was acquired

Sovereign from the Anumakonda inscription of 1163 (Rudradeva). Mahadeva (1195-98/99) lost his life against Jaitugi; Ganapati's release (1199) and Recherla Rudra's regency saved the kingdom.

Allies and rivals

Friend by force: Jaitugi of the Yadavas (Yadava record says Ganapati was made lord of the Andhra country as a dependent; Telugu records call him sovereign). Enemies and targets: the Velanati Chodas (Prithviswara), the Kota and Haihaya houses (Kakatiya vassals or kin by marriage), the Nellore Chodas (Chola clients), the Chalukya chiefs of Mudigonda (Nagati, brother of Kusumaditya, who fled to Kolavenu). Kin and vassals: the Natavadi chief Rudra (brother-in-law), the Recherlas of Pillalamarri, the Malyalas, Cheraku, Induluri and Polavasa houses.

The realm that morning

A kingdom held together by personal bargains made with a king of unrecorded age (a reign of 63 years suggests a young man) who is either free at Orugallu or a hostage in a Yadava camp, and by the commander Recherla Rudra. The core is quiet; the west answers to Yadava goodwill; the south is open water for the nayakas to cross. Nothing in the sources shows a Kakatiya force east of the Krishna gap on 1 January 1200. Across the sheet lines: the Nellore Chodas under their Chola overlord are sit's ground; Bastar and the Ganga kingdom are nin's.

Wealth

Tank-fed rice on the bunded valleys (tank building is the Kakatiya signature, though most of the great works are 1200-1260), cotton cloth, iron and crucible steel (Telingana smiths; Konasamudram and Nirmal are the named centres in later sources), granite for building, forest produce, and tolls on the roads to the Godavari and the Krishna gaps. Diamonds from the Krishna gravels are the king's, but the named workings are later. Gold varahas circulate; horses must be landed on the coast.

Military

Nayaka levies (cultivators and herdsmen given a title and land for service), Recherla and Malyala commanders, the royal household and elephants; hill forts such as Bhuvanagiri and Elgandal. In the Yadava war the Kakatiyas lost a king and did not lose the kingdom. No numbers are given.

Threats

• A Yadava withdrawal of goodwill: the release has no known terms
• Feudatory revolts during the regency (Recherla Rudra beheaded one haughty chief as a warning)
• Nagati and the Mudigonda Chalukya remnant on the south-east flank (repulsed; the dated record is of 1218)
• A Chola move from Nellore (Somasekhara Sarma credits Recherla Rudra with repulsing Kulottunga III; Sastry disputes it)
• The succession itself: a king of unrecorded age (probably young), a regent, and a nephew-brother-in-law (Natavadi Rudra) with a claim through marriage

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.

In 1200

1. During 1200, month not knownRecherla Rudra puts down rebellious feudatories and drives the invader Nagati (brother of Kusumaditya of Mudigonda) into flight toward Kolavenu.Depends on: The regency holding; Nagati is dated only 'under Mahadeva or shortly after' and recorded in an inscription of 1218. Stopped by: Ganapati's incapacity or a Yadava recall of the settlement.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201The Krishna delta is conquered or at least entered: the Natavadi chief Vakkadi-malla Rudra, Ganapati's brother-in-law, issues the Kanaka Durga temple inscription at Vijayawada.Depends on: A quiet Yadava flank and the Natavadi and Kota chiefs agreeing to march. Stopped by: A Velanati-Kota coalition; the Yadava king recalling his goodwill.
2. 1203Campaign against Divi (Malyala Chaunda leads; Kondaparti inscription); Ganapati's queens Naramba and Peramba are daughters of Pinni Chodi, the Ayya chief of Divi (marriage date not given).Depends on: The delta already open after 1201. Stopped by: Failure on the Krishna crossings.
3. about 1207, and 1209Prithviswara of Velanadu is killed in battle (about 1207); Velanadu and Kammanadu are annexed (Idupulapadu inscription of 1209).Depends on: The earlier steps succeeding. Stopped by: A Chola or Ganga intervention.
4. 1213Recherla Rudra's temple at Palampet (the Ramappa temple) and the founding of the town are dated by their inscription to 1213: not yet standing on 1 January 1200.Depends on: Peace in the upland. Stopped by: Anything that breaks the regency's power.

Places of note

• Orugallu: The seat; the older brick-walled fort round the Ekasila dome (the earth rampart is later).
• Hanamkonda: Old seat; the Thousand Pillar temple.
• Manthena: Inscription of 26 December 1199 naming Ganapati king.

Where the sources disagree

• The regional brief says Rudradeva was killed about 1195, by Jaitugi on one reading. The Rudradeva article (read) gives that as a disputed theory (Altekar, from a Hemadri verse and the Sukti-muktavali), says Sastry reads the verse as Mahadeva, and gives no cause or date for Rudradeva's death beyond his last dated record (26 April 1195); it says only that he died childless and his brother Mahadeva succeeded him. We carry the last record and the succession, and the killing as one disputed reading.
• Board 'warangal-orugallu' and its calendar say Jaitugi killed Mahadeva and carried off Ganapati. The Wikipedia articles say Mahadeva died in battle against the Yadava (Seuna) forces in 1198-99 and that Ganapati was captured; they do not say Jaitugi killed him in person, and the Pratapa-charita has him dying while attacking Devagiri. The campaign board entry has Ganapati's rule from 1198; Wikipedia gives 1199 (Sastry) or 1199-1260 (Sircar).
• Board 'bezawada-vijayawada' and the delta entries say the delta is Velanati and Kota country in 1200, which fits; but Wikipedia's Rudradeva article says Kakatiya generals already captured Dharanikota and installed Kota Keta II: we give both and flag the doubt.
• Board 'draksharama-bhimeswara' says the delta is not Kakatiya until after 1207; Wikipedia's Ganapatideva article has Kakatiya conquest of the Krishna delta by 1201 (the Kanaka Durga inscription) and Velanadu annexed in 1209. We treat 1201-1209 as later events with the dates the article gives.
• Board 'warangal-earth-wall' and 'warangal-stone-gates' show the earth wall and the stone gateways standing in 1200. The Warangal Fort article (read) gives Ganapati the replacement of an older brick-walled fort by stone, Rudrama Devi (1262-89) the earthen embankment, the moat and the finished stone wall, and Prataparudra II more gateways. We draw none of the earth wall or the great gateways on 1 January 1200. The Hanamkonda article (read) says the capital moved from Hanamkonda to Warangal in Ganapati's reign (undated, infobox 'founded 1199'): whether the court sits at Hanamkonda or Orugallu on 1 January 1200 is therefore open.
• Board 'a-tank-village' and 'the-kakatiya-tanks' put about five thousand tanks under the Kakatiyas; no source we read gives that figure, and most of the great works are after 1200: not repeated.

Evidence: Wikipedia's Kakatiya, Rudradeva, Mahadeva, Ganapatideva and Recherla Rudra articles (read) agree on the sequence and give the dates quoted; they rest on Sastry (1978) and Sircar. The release date and its terms are not recorded in any dated document we could read.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: Telingana is drawn as one block; in fact it is a lattice of tank villages and nayaka holdings, with the king's own demesne around Hanamkonda and Orugallu. The north-west (Nirmal, Adilabad) is forest and the Yadava march; the east (Mulugu, Bhadrachalam) is Koya country. The delta is not drawn Kakatiya.

Primary sources for this realm

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