Rani Rudrama Devi--the great Warrior-Ruler of the Kakatiyas

There would not be a single Telugu who has not read about or atleast heard about the great King of the Kakatiyas..Rudrama Devi (intentionally called a King).



She ruled the Kingdom of the Kakatiyas, basing Warangal as the capital between 1261 AD to 1289 AD.



Here are some interesting pieces from the Kakatiya History:







1) Ganapathi Deva Maharaju (1199-1261 AD), one of the most key Kakatiya rulers, gave a masculine name to his daughter Rudrama Devi, calling her "Rudra Deva", owing to her impeccable administrative abilities in performing royal duty.



She was a revolutionary ruler. She wore her attire in a manner that resembled a man and sat on the throne during her rule. She encourgaed foreign visitors and messengers to visit the kingdom. (And this is when Marco Polo had visited this part of the country, on his way to China from Venice).



In times of need, she took up the sword and fought in the battle-fields.







2) When Ganapathi Deva anticipated his last days, his heir was none other than Rudra Deva. As an Emperor Ganapathi Deva had captured many lands and tribes. Some of these local administrators who were but sub-ordinates of the great emperor to local regions, tried to revolt and declare their independence, underestimating the powress of the female heir.



Rudrama Devi punished all those who planned to take undue advantage and soon established herself as a real emperor.







3) Although there were Pandyas and Kalingas who were a constant threat to the Kakatiyas, the major problems came from the Devagiri Yadavas, who were hell-bent on invading the kingdom.



Understanding that a woman was ruling the Warangal Throne, the King of Devagiri became over-ambitious of winning over the Kakatiya kingdom.



The Sevana soldiers (the Devagiri's) entered into the capital city and tried to surround the citadel in Warangal. The valorous queen, with the help of her noble soldiers fought with the army for 15 continous days, defeating them to near-death. The Kakatiya soldiers chased them to the Devagiri, crossing the Godavari and a new threat came upon the Devagiri country.



In order to compensate, the king of Devagiri had to pay a huge ransom to let him and his country alone. All the amount that was recovered from him, rightfully, as per that times, belongs to the victorious kingdom. However, an exemplary adminitrator that Rani Rudrama is, she distributed all of that wealth among her soldiers!!







4) Another major battle was because of the Amba Deva, who was trying to declare his independence from Kakatiyas and tried in many ways to attack the kingdom from various sides.



However, with the help of able men, and as a calculated measure, Rudrama Devi managed to keep him off and guarded the dominion of Kakatiyas until her last breath.



She might have been dead in the year 1289, however, the outer world believed she was still ruling the Kingdom till 1295, when the grandson of the great queen, Pratapa Rudra, assumed the throne.







Coming to the way the people led lives under her rule: it seems the country was rich and had many resources and it bloomed with activities. Culture and tradition and the language of the Telugu had developed a great deal during her period, in continuation from the times of Ganapathi Devi and ultimately to blossom in the time of the last Kakatiya: the great Pratapa Rudra.







Here is an interesting story about the diamonds that were naturally available in this region at that time from none other than Ser Marco Polo himself. In fact I am including the entire chapter here. Of course some details may not be correct in his book, like mentioning Rudrama Devi as Ganapathi Deva's widow. These kinds of things have been proven wrong and the established truth now is that Rudramadevi is Ganapathi Deva's daughter whose husband was Veerabhadra of the Chalukya family.



The book is available for free download on books.google.com.

-Siddartha Pamulaparty

Dt: 23-June-2008