Rudrama was one of very few female rulers in south India during her time. Rani Rudramma Devi ruled from 1261 or 1262 until 1295 or 1296.Rani Rudrama Devi was one of the most prominent rulers of the Kakatiya dynasty on the Deccan Plateau, being one of the few queens in Indian history. She was born, as Rudramba, to King Ganapathideva or Ganapathi Devudu. As Ganapathideva had no sons, Rudramma was formally designated as a son through the ancient Putrika ceremony and given the male name of Rudradeva.
Despite initial misgivings by some of her generals who resented a female ruler, she suppressed both uprisings within Kakatiya territory and incursions by neighboring kingdoms. An able fighter and dynamic ruler, Rudramba defended the kingdom from the Cholas and the Yadavas, earning their respect.
Among Rani Rudramma Devi’s accomplishments during her reign was the completion of Warangal Fort, begun by her father, in the Kakatiya capital of Warangal.
Parts of the fort are still standing, including examples of distinctive Kakatiya sculpture. Rudramma Devi remains one of India’s most important women.Legend has it that due to her upbringing as a boy, Rani Rudrama was not much a connoisseur of music and art, but she was quite taken by a form of Shiva Tandavam – Perini which was extinct and it was brought back by Dr. Nataraja Ramakrishna. She found this dance more of an exercise to the soldiers and had it made part of the training of the royal force.
The queen was succeeded by rudrama grandson Prataparudra in 1295-1323. Prataparudra expanded borders towards the west, whilst introducing many administrative reforms, some of which were also later adopted in the Vijayanagar empire. However, the empire was under threat from the Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji. Despite defeating the first wave of attack from the Delhi Sul
tanate in 1303, in 1310 the invading army defeated the King. After agreeing to a large tribute the kingdom was spared. However, after Khilji’s death the tribute was withheld which provoked the final and fatal attack on the Kingdom in 1323. Prataparudra was captured by Ulugh Khan and died en route to Delhi.
The Kakatiya dynasty ended and resulted in confusion and anarchy under alien rulers for sometime.Two cousins belonging to Musunuri clan kapayya nayudu and prola nayudu who served as army chiefs for Kakatiya kingdom later united the Telugu people and recovered Warangal from the Delhi Sultanate and ruled for half a century.