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Rudra-deva (r. ) was a Kakatiya king, who ruled parts of the present-day Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in southern India. He was the first sovereign ruler of his dynasty.
Like his father Prola II, Rudra was initially a vassal to the Chalukyas of Kalyani. Amid the decline of the Chalukya power, he subjugated several other Chalukya subordinates who had rebelled against the Chalukya authority. These included the Telugu Chodas chief Bhima II, Domma-raja of Nagunur Fort, and Meda II of Polavasa. He also appears to have fought against the Kalachuris of Kalyani, who had usurped the power from the Chalukyas.
Rudra proclaimed sovereignty around 1163 CE, and conquered the coastal Andhra region by defeating several local chiefs, amid the decline of the Velanati Chodas power. He moved the Kakatiya capital from Anumakomda (present-day Hanamkonda) to Orugallu (present-day Warangal), and started the construction of a fort there. He commissioned the Rudreshvara temple, popularly known as the Thousand Pillar Temple, at Anumakomda.
The Daksharamam inscription dates itself to the Shaka era year 1080 (1158 CE) and to the 13th regnal year of the "Chalukya-Chola" king Rajaraja II. It is possible that the inscription mentions Rajaraja II's regnal years, simply because it was customary to do so in the Daksharamam area: the Cholas were traditionally regarded as the overlords of the Vengi kingdom, although their power was not completely effective in this region. According to another theory, Rudra probably entered into an alliance with Rajaraja II, obtained the Godavari River delta region as a fief from him, and invaded the region to avenge his father's death. Yet another possibility is that Prola II, accompanied by Inangala Brammireddi, had allied with Rajaraja II in an attempt to suppress a revolt by Kota Vamsa and Haihaya chiefs; after his death in the resulting battle, his minister mentioned Rudradeva as the Kakatiaya ruler.
After the death of Prola II, Tailapa probably again tried to assert his independence. According to the Thousand Pillar Temple inscription, Tailapa "died of dysentery caused by the terror of Rudra", and subsequently, the Choda chief Bhima II declared himself the king. It appears that Bhima owed allegiance to Kumara Tailapa, and after his death, declared himself the king of Kanduru-nadu, possibly during the reign of the Chalukya king Tailapa III.
According to the Thousand Pillar Temple inscription, Rudra invaded Bhima's town of Vardhamana (present-day Vaddaman or Vaddemanu). This invasion was likely not ordered by the Chalukya king, but was a result of Rudra's desire to check Bhima's influence in the area.
The Thousand Pillar Temple inscription states that Rudra became "the resort of the shining lotus ( padma) born of the milky ocean of the dynasty" of Chododaya. This probably refers to his construction of a large tank at the site of the destroyed city. E. Hultzsch suggests that Padma was the name of Udaya's daughter. Probably as part of a peace treaty, Rudra allowed Udaya II to hold his fief, and married his daughter.
Rudra assigned the name "Panugamti-vada" to a locality in Orugallu (present-day Warangal) to commemorate his capture of Panugallu. He granted the upper tract of the Srisailam forest as a fief to the Charaku chiefs, who assisted him in his campaign against the Chodas, as attested by a 1202 CE inscription of the Charaku chief Bollaya.
Domma-raja was the chief ( maha-mandaleshvara) of Nagunur Fort, where his inscriptions have been found. Rudra likely defeated him in 1159 CE, the approximate date of his last extant inscription found at Nagunuru. The 1159 CE Nagunuru inscription of Domma-raja states that an 80,000-strong army of he, Medaraja and Jaga-deva defeated an unnamed enemy. It is possible that this enemy was Rudra, who later defeated these chiefs. The inscription records the death of Jaga-deva, who probably died fighting Rudra's army.
According to a fragmentary inscription of Rudra's minister Gangadhara, found at Anumakomda, Meda-raja (Meda II) refused to establish peace by offering his daughter to Rudra. Consequently, he lost his wealth, pride and family reputation.
The identity of Mailigi-deva is uncertain, but he was most probably a member of the Kalyani Kalachuri dynasty that supplanted the Kalyani Chalukyas. Since Rudra was a former Kalyani Chalukya vassal, the Kalachuris may have tried to make him accept their own suzerainty. The brother and the son of the Kalachuri king Bijjala II were both named Mailigi, and either of these may have led an army against Rudra. Domma-raja and Meda II may have sided with the Kalachuris in this campaign.
E. Hultzsch identified Mailigi with Mallugi, the predecessor of the Yadava king Bhillama V, but this can be dismissed on phonological grounds.
According to the 1161 CE Lakshmeshwara inscription of Bijjala II, he repulsed an invasion by the king of Andhra. Since Rudra was the most prominent king of the Andhra region, it appears that he made an unsuccessful attempt to capture the Kalachuri capital Kalyani, probably as an extension of the campaign against Mailigi and other chiefs. An inscription of Rudra claims that his kingdom extended up to Kataka ("fort") in the west. This may be a reference to his march up to Kalyana-Kataka, another name for Bijjala's capital Kalyani.
According to Rudra's inscription, at this time, his kingdom extended from Godavari River in the north to Srisailam area in the south, and from Kataka (Kalyana-Kataka or Kalyani) in the west to the ocean (Bay of Bengal) in the east. The claim about the western boundary probably refers to his march up to Kalyani in the west during his campaign against the Kalachuri general Mailigi. The claim about the eastern boundary is supported by the 1158 CE Draksharamam inscription of Rudra's minister Inangala Brammireddi. However, it is an exaggeration, as much of the coastal Andhra region was under the control of Velanati Chodas and other chiefs, and Rudra's control over Daksharamam was temporary (see Conquest of costal Andhra below).
Historian P.V.P. Sastry theorizes that Rudra may have participated in a campaign of the Chola king Rajaraja II.
Other parts of coastal Andhra were under the control of various chiefs, some of whom were involved in the battle that resulted in the death of Rudra's father Prola II. These chiefs included such as Haihayas of Kona, the Chalukyas of Pithapuram, the Kolanis (Sarasipuras) of the Eluru region, the Kotas of Amaravati, the Komdapadumati chiefs, and the Haihayas of Palnadu. The Velanati Choda chief Rajendra II initially acknowledged the Chola suzerainty, but after the death of the Chola king Rajaraja II in c. 1172 CE, he declared sovereignty, and conquered most of the coastal Andhra region.
After the death of Rajendra II in 1181 CE, the Velanati Choda kingdom suddenly collapsed, probably because of a civil war. Around the same time, a war broke out in the Palnadu kingdom, between the Haihaya prince Nalagama and his brothers. According to the ballad Palnati-virula-charita, Nalagama sough support from Rudra. Rudra marched there accompanied by the nayakas (chiefs) of Malyala, Komaravelli, Vipparla, and Natavadi. Nalagama's alliance won the Battle of Palnadu, but Rudra's role in this seems to have been insignificant: he contributed only a thousand horsemen to Nalagama's effort.
Rudra then sent his army against the Kota Vamsa chief Bhima II (also known as Dedda Bhima or Dodda Bhima) of Dharanikota, who was a son-in-law of Rajendra II. Rudra's generals - Kata (the son of Sabba- senani) and Bollama of the Malayala family - captured Dharanikota. Rudra's subordinates - the chiefs of Vipparla, Komaravelli, and Pempala - assumed the title Dodda-Bhimani-shirash-chchhedaka, which suggests that Bhima died in this battle.
Rudra appointed Bhima's son Keta II as a vassal ruler. With Keta's help, he subjugated the Komdapadumati chiefs, who controlled the western part of the Velanati kingdom. An 1185 CE Tripurantakam inscription records Rudra's grant of the Revuru village in this region, confirming that his conquest of the region. No records of the Komdapadumati chiefs dated after this year are available, suggesting that Rudra's campaign ended their dynasty.
In 1184 CE, the Velanati Choda ruler Pruthviswara, who had lost control of his ancestral territory, attempted to capture the Prolu-nadu region (Pithapuram-Kakinada area). Mallapa-deva, a member of the Vengi Chalukya family, had carved out an independent kingdom in this area after the death of Rajaraja II. Mallapa-deva sought help from Rudra-deva, who appears to have marched to Daksharamam in his support, as attested by a 1185-1186 CE inscription. Epigraphic evidence suggests that Prithvishvara defeated Mallapa-deva, and retained control of Mallapa-deva from 1185 CE until his death.
Rudra evicted the Chalukyas of Mudigonda, who controlled the Visurunadu region. The Kukanuru inscription of the Chalukya chief Kusumaditya states that he had to seek shelter in other territories for 12 years because of an upheaval in his own kingdom. This likely refers to Rudra's attack on the Chalukya kingdom; the Chalukya chiefs seem to have regained control of their principality after Rudra's death, as suggested by the Kukanuru inscription. A 1213 CE inscription of the Kakatiya general Recherla Rudra states that he forced Kusumaditya's brother Nagati-raja to flee.
The Sukti-muktavali verse states that the Yadava chief Bhillama V conquered some territory in the battlefield of Babhru. Since Babhru and Rudra are synonyms as alternative names of Shiva, epigraphist P.B. Desai theorized that Bhillama defeated Rudra. However, according to historian P.V.P. Sastry, it is more likely that Babhru is the name of a place.
The Vrata-khanda of Hemadri's Chatur-varga-chintamani provides a poetic description of the military prowess of the Yadava king. In this description, Hemadri states that Jaitrapala (Jaitugi) sacrificed a human in the shape of Raudra, the lord of Telangana. According to historian A.S. Altekar, "Raudra" may be a mistake by a scribe, the verse describes Jaitugi's killing of the Kakatiya king Rudra. Altekar argues that Rudra's death explains the weakened Kakatiya power in the subsequent years. However, according to Sastry, Raudra ("son of Rudra") refers to Rudra's successor Mahadeva, who is known to have been killed by Jaitugi in the subsequent years. Mahadeva was a brother of Rudra: Hemadri probably mistook him for Rudra's son.
Rudra's notable generals and ministers included:
According to the 1195 CE Pillalamarri inscription of his subordinate Nami Reddi, Rudra was "the resort and refuge of learned men", who loved him. The authorship of Niti-sara (or Niti-saram), a work on politics ( raja-niti), is sometimes attributed to Rudra. But this is doubtful, as this attribution is based on an apocryphal verse in a single manuscript of Baddena's Niti-shastra-muktavali , and that verse mentions the author as "Pratapa-rudra", not "Rudra".
An 1185 CE Tripurantakam inscription records Rudra's grant of the Revuru village on the Krishna River to the god Tripurantaka Mahadeva.
Malli Nayaka, Rudra's minister of war, made a gift to a temple in Panugallu to acquire merit for the king. Another minister, Gangadhara, commissioned a temple dedicated to the god Prasanna-keshava. He probably also contributed to the construction of the Gamgachiya- chevuru tank near this temple. Gangadhara also built other temples in Nagunur Fort: Samvartakeshvara and Hidimbaehala. According to his Karimnagar inscription, he believed that the Buddha was an incarnation of Hari (Vishnu), and installed an image of the Buddha at Pattasala. He also granted an agrahara to learned Brahmanas.
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