Warangal Fort

Warangal Fort
Warangal, Telangana, India
View of Kakatiya Kala Toranam
Warangal Fort
Coordinates	17°57′21″N 79°36′52″E / 17.95583°N 79.61444°E / 17.95583; 79.61444
Type	Fort
Site information
Open to the public	Yes
Condition	Ruins
Site history
Built	13th century
Built by	prataparudra 2
Materials	Stone and mud
Battles/wars	Many

Warangal Fort, in Warangal in the Indian state of Telangana, appears to have existed since at least the 12th century when it was the capital of the Kakatiya dynasty. The fort has four ornamental gates, known as Kakatiya Kala Thoranam, that originally formed the entrances to a now ruined great Shiva temple. The Kakatiyan arch has been adopted and officially incorporated into the Emblem of Telangana after the state bifurcation.

Initially, Warangal was under the rule of the Yadava kings in the 8th century; in the 12th century, it came under the control of the Kakatiya dynasty. Although precise dating of its construction and subsequent enhancements is uncertain, historians and archaeologists generally agree that an earlier brick-walled structure was replaced with stone by Ganapatideva, who died in 1262, and that he was succeeded by his daughter Rudrama Devi, who ruled until 1289, and then her grandson Prataparudra II, whose reign came to be known as a "Golden Age". Twenty years later his kingdom was conquered by the Sultans of Delhi.

Ganapatideva, Rudramadevi, and Prataparudra II all added to the fort's height, building gateways, square bastions, and additional circular earthen walls. This places the construction towards the end of the Kakatiya period .

In 1309, Malik Kafur, the general of Alauddin Khilji, attacked the fort with a large force of 100,000 men and surrounded it. Prataparudra II and his people secured themselves within the formidable fort and battled bravely for many months with the invading army. As the siege could not be lifted for more than six months, Prataparudra II agreed to a truce with Kafur, as a result of which he gave in reparation all the wealth that he had accumulated. This included the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond. This siege was chronicled by Amir Khusrow, who described how the fortifications consisted of a strong outer hardened mud structure with a deep ditch in front that had to be filled with dirt before the army could surmount it. The inner fortress was built of stone and surrounded by a moat that the Muslim soldiers swam across. The fort as described by Khusrow corresponds to the two inner circles of fortifications that exist today. When Kafur finally left the fort in March 1310, he carried away the bounty on 2,000 camels. The conditions of forging peace with the Delhi Sultanate included a clause that Pratapa Rudra would pay an annual tribute and that he would bow every day towards Delhi as a tributary king denoting his subordinate status to the Sultan of Delhi. After Kafur's departure, Pratapa Rudra started ruling again, and during this time some of his vassal chieftains had declared themselves independent rulers of their fiefdoms. But in 1311 Pratapa Rudra had to support the Sultan in invading the Tamil country of the Pandyas at Kanchipuram, which he did, and he also succeeded in getting the vassals back under his control.