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Queen

Rudrama Devi

Kakatiya queen who ruled in her own name

reigned c. 1262–1289 CE

Daughter of Ganapatideva, Rudrama Devi ruled the Kakatiya kingdom from Orugallu (Warangal) for close to three decades, put down rebel nobles and the Seuna Yadavas, and handed a whole kingdom to her grandson Prataparudra.

01A daughter on the throne

Ganapatideva had no son. He trained his daughter in arms and statecraft, and she was formally named his heir; inscriptions give her the masculine title Rudradeva Maharaja. When she took full power around 1262, several nobles refused to serve a woman and rose against her. The Seuna Yadava king Mahadeva marched on Orugallu. She held the fort, drove the Yadava army back across her frontier, and brought the rebel chiefs to heel one by one. The double ring of walls at Warangal, stone inside and earth outside, was strengthened in her years.

02Seen by a Venetian

Marco Polo, sailing down the eastern coast around 1290, landed at Motupalli, the Kakatiya port, and wrote that the kingdom had been ruled for forty years by a queen, a lady of great discernment who kept justice and peace and was loved by her people more than any lord before her. He also noted the fine cotton cloth of the region. The Chandupatla inscription of 1289 records her death together with her general Mallikarjuna Nayaka; historians link it to her war with the rebel Kayastha chief Ambadeva. Her grandson Prataparudra came to the throne after her.

Thousand Pillar Temple, Hanamkonda
Place · 1163 CE, the Kakatiya king RudradevaThousand Pillar Temple, HanamkondaRudradeva’s triple shrine of 1163 at the old Kakatiya seat of Hanamkonda, built the year the dynasty declared its independence. Its pillared hall is famous for the number of its columns.Read →

Places

Thousand Pillar Temple, HanamkondaStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Thousand Pillar Temple, Hanamkonda

Rudradeva’s triple shrine of 1163 at the old Kakatiya seat of Hanamkonda, built the year the dynasty declared its independence. Its pillared hall is famous for the number of its columns.

Warangal Fort (Orugallu)Ruined
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Warangal Fort (Orugallu)

The Kakatiya capital Orugallu, ringed by three walls, which held out against Delhi in 1303 and 1310 and fell in 1323. Its four carved stone gateways stand among the ruins of a great Shiva temple.

Ramappa Temple (Rudreshwara), PalampetStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Ramappa Temple (Rudreshwara), Palampet

A Kakatiya Shiva temple of 1213 that carries the name of its sculptor, Ramappa, rather than its king. A World Heritage Site since 2021.

MotupalliStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Motupalli

The Kakatiya port on the Andhra coast where Ganapatideva set up a pillar in 1244–45 promising foreign merchants fair duties and safety for wrecked cargo. Marco Polo landed here and wrote of the wise widowed queen who ruled the land: Rudrama Devi.

On the timeline

  • c. 1262 CE

    Rudrama Devi rules the Kakatiya kingdomPolity

    Ganapati Deva’s daughter Rudrama Devi takes up the Kakatiya throne at Warangal and rules in her own name. She beats back the Seuna Yadavas and holds the kingdom together for about a quarter century.