29 Facts About Rudrama Devi

Rudrama Devi, known by her regnal name Rudra-deva Maharaja, was a Kakatiya Queen regnant who ruled substantial parts of present-day Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in southern India.

Rudrama Devi was among the few successful female rulers in Indian history.

Early during her reign, Rudrama Devi appears to have faced a revolt, which she was able to suppress with the support of her loyalists.

Rudrama Devi recovered some of the territories that the Kakatiyas had lost during the late 1250s and the early 1260s to their southern neighbours - the Pandyas.

Rudrama Devi repulsed invasions by the Seunas from the north-west, and the Gajapatis from the north-east.

The reign of Rudrama Devi was remarkable for the rise of several non-aristocratic warriors in the Kakatiya service.

Rudrama Devi strengthened the Warangal Fort by raising its inner wall and constructing an outer wall surrounded by a moat.

Kumara-svami Somapithi, in his commentary on Vidyanatha's Prataparudra-yashobhushanam, states that Rudrama Devi was a daughter of Ganapati by queen Somamba.

However, contemporary epigraphic evidence makes it clear that Rudrama Devi was a daughter of Ganapati, not his wife.

Rudrama Devi married Vira-bhadra, a son of Indu-shekhara, the Chalukya samanta of Nidadavolu.

Rudrama Devi probably arranged Rudrama's marriage shortly after, in order to secure the political allegiance of the Chalukyas of Nidadavolu.

Rudrama Devi had no male heir, and nominated Rudrama as his successor.

Rudrama Devi began to rule as a co-regent from c 1260 under the regnal name Rudra-deva Maharaja.

Ganapati probably became too old and weak to govern, and assigned Rudrama Devi to run the government.

Rudrama Devi appears to have become the sole ruler in 1263.

Rudrama Devi then rallied her supporters, recaptured the fort, and had her half-brothers killed.

Rudrama Devi sent an army led by the brothers Poti Nayaka and Proli Nayaka against the Gajapati forces.

The 17th-century text Pratapa-charitra describes the episode as follows: Mahadeva besieged the Kakatiya capital Warangal for 15 days, but Rudrama Devi led the Kakatiya forces to destroy his 300,000 infantry and 100,000 cavalry.

Rudrama Devi then chased Mahadeva to the Seuna capital Devagiri; there, Mahadeva sued for peace, agreed to pay her 10 million gold coins as war indemnity, and concluded a peace treaty.

Rudrama Devi distributed the money among her commanders, set up a victory pillar in the Seuna territory, and returned to her own kingdom.

The Pratapa-charitra claims, such as Rudrama Devi's purported destruction of the 300,000 infantry and 100,000 cavalry, are obvious exaggerations.

However, epigraphic and numismatic evidence suggests that Rudrama Devi indeed repulsed a Seuna invasion:.

Rudrama Devi thus promoted a male image to rule in a patrilineal society that traditionally excluded women from political power: she assumed a male name and wore masculine clothing.

Rudrama Devi recruited several non-aristocratic warriors into the Kakatiya service: her successor Prataparudra as well as the later Vijayanagara emperors adopted this policy as well.

Rudrama Devi continued the fortification of Warangal by raising the height of a curtain wall, approximately 0.75 miles in diameter, to 20 feet.

Rudrama Devi commissioned the construction of an outer earthen wall, 1.5 miles in diameter, and surrounded by an additional 150 150 feet -wide moat.

Rudrama Devi built a ranga-mandapa dedicated to her family deity Svayambhu-deva in the Warangal Fort.

Since queen Rudrama Devi had no son, her father Ganapati asked her to adopt Mummadamma's son Prataparudra alias Vira-rudra as her own son.

Rudrama Devi was among the most successful women rulers of medieval South Asia, by the length of her reign as well as by the area of her kingdom.