Medieval Andhra History: Kakatiyas to Vijayanagara & Qutb Shahis

Medieval Andhra history covers roughly the years 1000 to 1750, and it is the part of the AP syllabus where aspirants lose marks to look-alike names. Two Reddi kingdoms, two Prataparudras (one Kakatiya, one Gajapati), several "Rayas", a Qutb Shahi ruler who grew up at the Vijayanagara court and later helped destroy it: these are the details that exam writers like. This guide walks through the period in order, gives rulers, capitals, administration, temples, literature and trade for each power, and ends with the facts that are most often asked, ten original practice questions and a short FAQ.

The ancient period that comes before this one is covered in our Satavahanas to Eastern Chalukyas guide. For the wider exam landscape see the Andhra Pradesh government exams 2026 guide, and for the people behind many of the texts mentioned here see AP personalities, poets and reformers.

A note on dates. Medieval chronology rests on inscriptions, chronicles and foreign travellers, and historians do not always agree on regnal years, especially for the Kakatiyas and the Reddis. Where sources differ this article gives a range and says so. In an exam, if two options differ by only a year or two, go with the most commonly printed date and look at the other options for the real clue.

1. The big picture: who ruled coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana

Medieval Andhra was never politically one unit for long. The Kakatiyas came closest to uniting the Telugu country in the 13th century. After the Delhi Sultanate broke their kingdom in the early 14th century, power split among the Musunuri chiefs, the Reddi kingdoms, the Recherla chiefs, the Bahmani Sultanate and Vijayanagara. In the 15th century the Gajapatis of Odisha pushed down the coast. In the 16th century Vijayanagara and the Qutb Shahis of Golconda divided the Telugu lands. By the 17th century the Mughals and then the Nizam controlled the Deccan, and European trading companies had put down factories along the Coromandel coast.

Period (approximate)	Main power	Capital or centre	What to remember
1158 to 1323	Kakatiyas	Hanamkonda, then Orugallu (Warangal)	Ganapati Deva, Rudramadevi, Prataparudra
1325 to c. 1448	Reddi kingdoms	Addanki, Kondaveedu, Rajahmundry	Prolaya Vema Reddy, Srinatha, Errana, Potana era
c. 1368 to 1435 (Devarakonda until 1475)	Recherla chiefs (Padmanayakas)	Rachakonda, Devarakonda	Telangana power between Bahmani and Vijayanagara
1434 to 1541	Gajapatis of Odisha	Cuttack	Kapilendra Deva, hold on coastal Andhra
1336 to 1646 (traditional)	Vijayanagara	Vijayanagara (Hampi), later Penukonda, Chandragiri	Krishnadevaraya, Talikota
1518 to 1687	Qutb Shahis	Golconda, Hyderabad	Telugu patronage, Machilipatnam trade
1687 onward	Mughals, then the Nizam	Deccan Subah, Hyderabad	Northern Circars
17th to 18th century	European companies	Machilipatnam, Armagon, Nizampatnam	Dutch, English, French factories

2. The Kakatiyas (c. 1158 to 1323)

Origins and early rulers

The Kakatiyas began as feudatories, first of the Rashtrakutas and then of the Western Chalukyas of Kalyani, in the Telangana region. Early chiefs such as Beta I, Prola I, Beta II and Prola II ruled from Hanamkonda in the 11th and 12th centuries. Scholars differ on exact years for the early chiefs, so exams normally ask only about the sovereign rulers. Rudra (Rudradeva) is generally treated as the first independent king, with a sovereignty claim linked to the year 1163. His Rudreshwara (Thousand Pillar) temple at Hanamkonda carries an inscription dated 1163. UNESCO, in its description of the Ramappa temple, dates the Kakatiya period as 1123 to 1323, counting from the early chiefs; this guide counts the sovereign line from Rudra's reign beginning around 1158.

The seat of government moved from Hanamkonda to Orugallu (Warangal), which was the main capital by the time of Ganapati Deva, who completed its fortifications. "Orugallu" is the Telugu name, meaning a single stone or rock, and Warangal is its later form.

Ruler	Approximate reign	Key points
Rudra (Rudradeva)	c. 1158 to 1195	First sovereign Kakatiya; Thousand Pillar temple; shifted focus to Orugallu
Mahadeva	c. 1195 to 1198	Died fighting the Yadavas of Devagiri
Ganapati Deva	c. 1199 to 1262	Longest reign; coastal Andhra conquered; Motupalli edict
Rudramadevi	1262 to 1289 (co-ruler from about 1260; older books extend to 1295)	Ruled as "Rudradeva Maharaja"; successor was her grandson
Prataparudra	1289 to 1323	Last Kakatiya ruler; Delhi Sultanate invasions

Ganapati Deva: the empire builder

Ganapati Deva is the most important Kakatiya for exams. When his father Mahadeva died in a conflict with the Yadavas, Ganapati was held captive for a time, and the commander Recherla Rudra kept the kingdom together. By 1199 he was back on the throne, and he spent the next decades extending Kakatiya rule over the Krishna-Godavari delta and the lands that had belonged to the Velanati Chodas. Velanadu on the coast was subdued within the first years of the 13th century (an inscription-based date of about 1201 is often given), and his brother-in-law and commander Jayapa Senani was later appointed governor of that area. In the Nellore country of the Telugu Chodas he backed the ruler Manumasiddhi II against rivals; Manumasiddhi's minister, the poet Tikkana, is remembered for his diplomatic mission to the Kakatiya court.

The Kakatiyas never fully controlled the north-coastal Kalinga region. Their power along the Godavari was contested by the Eastern Gangas, and the Pandyas of the south dealt Ganapati setbacks in the late 1250s.

His best known commercial act is the Motupalli Abhayasasana (edict of safety), issued at Motupalli port in present Bapatla district of Andhra Pradesh. The inscription on a pillar of the mandapa in front of the Virabhadra temple there is dated Saka 1166, which South Indian Inscriptions converts to 1244 to 1245, so exam books print 1244. It promised protection to foreign traders who arrived by sea and, according to scholars, ended the older habit of seizing the cargoes of wrecked ships; the text also refers to the dangers of sea trade and to China. Remember the year 1244 and the word "abhayasasana". Marco Polo, who passed along this coast in the 1290s (the exact date is not fixed; Henry Yule's commentary points to about 1293, while popular accounts say about 1290), called the port "Mutfili" and wrote about fine cotton cloth and diamonds. He described a just widowed queen, who is identified with Rudramadevi, not with Ganapati Deva, which is a favourite trap.

Ganapati Deva had no son. Around 1260 he named his daughter Rudramadevi as co-ruler and successor.

Rudramadevi

Rudramadevi is one of the few women to rule as sovereign in medieval India. She took the masculine regnal name Rudradeva Maharaja, which some inscriptions use. She is said to have been married to Virabhadra of the Nidadavolu region, who appears little in records. She had daughters but no son, and she adopted her grandson Prataparudra as heir. She repelled attacks from the Yadavas of Devagiri and faced a rebellion by the Kayastha chief Ambadeva in the south. An inscription at Chandupatla in Nalgonda district records the death of Rudramadevi and her general Mallikarjuna on 27 November 1289, probably during fighting against Ambadeva. Because this is a dated record of her death, modern historians settle her reign as 1262 to 1289. Older books, which relied on late chronicles and on the timing of Marco Polo's remarks, extend her reign to about 1295 and give 1261 as a start; treat those as superseded dates that may still appear in old question papers.

During her reign Orugallu's fortifications were strengthened with additional walls and a moat. Warrior service was opened to men outside the old aristocracy, a policy that fed into the later nayankara system.

Prataparudra and the fall of the Kakatiyas

Prataparudra (Prataparudra II in some books, to separate him from the early chief with the same name) faced the Delhi Sultanate. The sequence of Delhi's campaigns is a typical question.

Year	Event
1303	A Delhi army under Malik Chajju and Fakhruddin Jauna is turned back near Upparapalli
1309 to 1310	Malik Kafur, sent by Alauddin Khalji, besieges Orugallu; Prataparudra agrees to pay tribute
1318	Khusrau Khan's expedition forces renewed submission
1321 to 1323	Ulugh Khan (Jauna Khan) campaigns; Prataparudra is defeated and taken away

The Vilasa grant records that Prataparudra died on the banks of the Narmada while being taken to Delhi as a captive, and a later inscription says he departed by his own wish, which is why many books say he took his own life on the journey. Because the sources differ, avoid a definite claim about the manner of death unless the option wording forces one. After 1323 Orugallu was held by Delhi's governors. From about 1330 the Musunuri Nayakas, led first by Prolaya Nayaka and then Kapaya Nayaka (about 1333 to 1368), recovered Warangal and ruled for roughly four decades, until the Recherlas defeated Kapaya Nayaka at Bhimavaram in 1368. The Persian chronicler Firishta records that Kapaya Nayaka gave the Turquoise Throne to the Bahmani ruler Muhammad Shah I, who first sat on it in March 1363; later writers sometimes give an earlier year, so treat 1363 as the traditional date. The Musunuris, the Reddis and the founders of Vijayanagara all emerged from this same collapse.

Administration and economy

• Nayankara system: Chiefs called nayakas held land and offices in return for military service, regardless of birth in many cases. This idea was later developed on a larger scale as the amaranayaka system in Vijayanagara.
• Territorial units: inscriptions mention nadu, sthala and similar units, with local chiefs under the king.
• Feudatories: the Recherla chiefs, the Kota chiefs of Dharanikota (Amaravati area), the Malyala chiefs and others served the Kakatiyas.
• Irrigation tanks: the Kakatiyas built a chain of large tanks (cheruvus) that still define the landscape, including Pakhal and Laknavaram in the Mulugu region and the Ramappa lake beside the temple, which is credited to Recherla Rudra. The tank network is one of their best remembered contributions to agriculture. The exact construction years of individual tanks are not firmly documented in the sources checked here, so this guide gives none.
• Trade: inland trade fed the ports of Motupalli and others on the coast. Cotton textiles and diamonds are the products most often mentioned.
• Fortifications: Orugallu had concentric walls and a moat, and Ganapati Deva reportedly gave it numerous bastions. The stone gateways known as the Kakatiya Kala Thoranam are the emblem of the dynasty.

Temples, art and literature

Monument or work	Place or author	Detail
Thousand Pillar (Rudreshwara) temple	Hanamkonda	Inscription dated 1163, built under Rudra
Ramappa (Rudreshwara) temple	Palampet	Begun in 1213 (temple inscription) under Ganapati Deva's general Recherla Rudra, with work continuing for roughly four decades; takes its popular name from the sculptor Ramappa; light porous "floating" bricks used for the tower; inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021 as the Kakatiya Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple
Warangal Fort and Kala Thoranam	Orugallu	Capital fortifications and ceremonial gateways
Kota Gullu	Ghanpur	Temple cluster of the Kakatiya period
Nritta Ratnavali	Jayapa Senani (Sanskrit)	Treatise on dance, composed about 1253 to 1254 by the elephant forces commander; also linked with the Perini dance tradition
Prataparudra Yashobhushanam	Vidyanatha (Sanskrit)	Treatise on poetics named for the king
Ranganatha Ramayanam	Gona Budda Reddy	Telugu Ramayana in dwipada metre, 13th century (scholars place it anywhere from about 1220 to 1280); completed by his sons
Basava Purana	Palkuriki Somanatha	Telugu work associated with the Virashaiva tradition

Ramappa is in present Telangana, but because the Kakatiya story is shared Telugu history, AP exams frequently ask about it. Tikkana, who completed the Telugu Mahabharata portion from the Virata to Svargarohana parvas in the 13th century at the Nellore court, belongs to the same literary stream. The first part of that epic is attributed to Nannaya, covered in the ancient history guide.

3. The Reddi kingdoms (c. 1325 to c. 1448)

Founding and capitals

The Reddi kingdom was founded by Prolaya Vema Reddy, who emerged as a regional leader in the decades after the Kakatiya fall, in about 1325. Accounts agree that he first ruled from Addanki (in present Prakasam district) and that the centre later moved to Kondaveedu (Guntur district), with its hill fortress. A second line of the family developed at Rajahmundry, founded by Kataya Vema Reddy around 1395 according to the dates in most accounts, and it later acted independently of Kondaveedu.

Ruler	Approximate reign	Notes
Prolaya Vema Reddy	c. 1325 to 1353	Founder; Addanki; gave Srisailam steps; patron of Errana
Anavota Reddy	c. 1353 to 1364	Consolidated; Kondaveedu capital in this phase
Anavema Reddy	c. 1364 to 1386	Fought neighbours in Andhra
Kumaragiri Reddy	c. 1386 to 1402	Patron of arts and the dramatic traditions
Kataya Vema Reddy	c. 1395 to 1414	Rajahmundry branch; relative and rival; scholar
Peda Komati Vema Reddy	c. 1402 to 1420	Patron of Srinatha
Racha Vema Reddy	c. 1420 to 1424	End of strong rule at Kondaveedu
Allada Reddy	c. 1414 to 1423	Rajahmundry branch
Virabhadra Reddy	c. 1423 to 1448	Last Rajahmundry ruler

The reign dates overlap because there were two lines of rulers working at the same time, and different books number them differently. Do not memorise every year. Memorise the founder, the three capitals and the poets.

Prolaya Vema Reddy took the title "Apratima Bhudana Parasurama" and made grants of agraharas. He is credited with improving access to the Srisailam shrine through a flight of steps, and with funding repairs at the Mallikarjuna temple. The three end dates found in books each belong to a different event. In 1424 Kondaveedu was annexed by Vijayanagara, which ended the main Reddi line. Around 1448 the Gajapatis conquered Rajahmundry, which ended the second branch under Virabhadra Reddy; this is why the kingdom is usually dated "1325 to 1448". In 1454 the Gajapati prince Hamvira Deva captured Kondaveedu fort itself, which was then defended with Vijayanagara help. So 1424 is the loss of the Kondaveedu line, 1448 the end of the dynasty as a whole, and 1454 the Gajapati capture of Kondaveedu. Read the question for its exact wording.

Literature: the age of Srinatha, Errana and Potana

The Reddi courts supported Telugu poets who shaped the classical language.

• Errana (Errapragada): completed the portion of the Telugu Mahabharata left unfinished, namely the Aranya Parva, and wrote the Harivamsa and a Narasimha Purana. He is the third of the traditional "Kavitraya" (three poets) of the Mahabharata after Nannaya and Tikkana. He was a poet at the court of Prolaya Vema Reddy (about 1325 to 1353), to whom he is said to have dedicated his works.
• Srinatha: wrote Srungara Naishadham and other works; known by the title Kavisarvabhauma; connected with the court of Peda Komati Vema Reddy.
• Bammera Potana: best known for the Telugu Bhagavatam; tradition says he refused to dedicate it to a king and offered it to Rama instead. His dates are generally put in the 15th century.
• Vemana: the poet of short moral verses is traditionally linked with this period, but his dates and ties to the Reddi court are uncertain, so scholars differ.

The Reddis also supported the performing arts and wrote treatises on drama and poetics.

4. The Recherla chiefs, often called Recherla Velamas (c. 1368 to 1435)

The Recherlas were a Padmanayaka clan of Telangana. Their ancestors served the Kakatiyas, and the better known Recherla Rudra, builder of the Ramappa temple, belongs to that early generation. In the second half of the 14th century they overthrew Musunuri power, with the decisive battle at Bhimavaram in 1368 in which Kapaya Nayaka was killed, and ruled from Rachakonda and Devarakonda in present Nalgonda district.

They first supported the Bahmani Sultanate, then switched sides to Vijayanagara, and Bahmani armies took most of their strongholds in the 1430s (Rachakonda is placed around 1430, and only a few forts remained by 1433 to 1435). After that they remained local chiefs; some accounts say Devarakonda held out until 1475, when the line was finally extinguished. They are associated with the encouragement of Sanskrit and Telugu literature. Singa Bhupala, called Sarvajna, a Rachakonda ruler, is credited with the Sanskrit treatise on dramaturgy and poetics Rasarnavasudhakara and with a commentary called Sudhakara on the music treatise Sangitaratnakara. His court is traditionally connected with the poet Srinatha, although the best known Telugu works of that age belong to the Reddi courts. No Telugu work is securely credited to Singa Bhupala himself.

A point to be careful about: many books and popular accounts call the Recherla rulers "Velamas" and treat them as the early rulers of the Velama community. The historian Cynthia Talbot (Precolonial India in Practice, 2001) has argued that this identification is doubtful: Velama and Padmanayaka were not synonyms, Padmanayaka was a status claimed by warrior families of different backgrounds, and caste identities of this kind crystallised only in the 16th and 17th centuries, in the case of the Velamas from the mid-16th century at the earliest. If your exam is built on a standard textbook, expect "Recherla Velamas" or "Padmanayakas" and treat Rachakonda and Devarakonda as the two forts to remember.

5. The Gajapatis of Odisha in coastal Andhra (1434 to 1541)

The Gajapati kingdom was founded in 1434 or 1435 by Kapilendra Deva, who replaced the Eastern Gangas. Its capital was Cuttack. It reached from near the Ganga in the north to the Kaveri in the south at its widest, though control of the far south did not last long.

Ruler	Reign	Andhra connection
Kapilendra Deva	c. 1434 to 1467	Took Rajahmundry (by about 1448) and, through his son Hamvira, Kondaveedu (1454)
Purushottama Deva	1467 to 1497	Lost ground in the south; Bahmani pressure
Prataparudra Deva	1497 to 1540	Lost Udayagiri, Kondaveedu and Kondapalli to Krishnadevaraya

After capturing Rajahmundry (around 1448 to 1449) the Gajapatis administered coastal Andhra through governors. Later in the 15th century the Bahmanis and Vijayanagara (under Saluva Narasimha) also pressed into the Gajapati lands, with Udayagiri among the places that changed hands, which shows how unstable the control was. The Gajapatis were devoted Vaishnavas who patronised the Jagannath temple at Puri.

The decisive conflict was with Krishnadevaraya. After a long siege Udayagiri fell to him in 1514 (Britannica's date; some books say 1512 to 1513 for the start of the campaign), Kondaveedu in 1515 (Prataparudra's son Virabhadra was taken prisoner), and Kondapalli followed. Prataparudra then agreed to a settlement in which his daughter (called Jaganmohini in the usual account) married Krishnadevaraya, and the lands north of the Krishna were returned, which made the Krishna the boundary between the two kingdoms. Note that "Prataparudra" is also the name of the last Kakatiya king; the Gajapati ruler is "Prataparudra Deva" of Odisha.

6. The Vijayanagara Empire (1336 to 1646, traditional dates)

Foundation and the four dynasties

Vijayanagara was founded in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama family (Britannica describes them as two of the five sons of Sangama), on the south bank of the Tungabhadra. Its capital was Vijayanagara (modern Hampi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986). The traditions about its origin differ: some historians link the founders with Kakatiya officials and the Kampili region, others with Hoysala service. Say "scholars differ" if an option presses this.

Dynasty	Approximate period	Notable rulers
Sangama	1336 to 1485	Harihara I, Bukka Raya I, Deva Raya II
Saluva	1485 to 1505	Saluva Narasimha
Tuluva	1505 to 1570	Vira Narasimha, Krishnadevaraya, Achyuta Deva Raya, Sadasiva Raya
Aravidu	1570 to c. 1646	Tirumala Deva Raya, Sriranga I, Venkata II, Sriranga III

The sequence Sangama, Saluva, Tuluva, Aravidu is the stable part, and the Archaeological Survey of India dates the monuments of the city itself to 1336 to 1570. For the Tuluvas, 1505 is the usual start; the general Narasa Nayaka held real power from about 1491, and Britannica says the Tuluvas had replaced the Saluvas by 1503, so a printed 1491 or 1503 refers to that earlier control. For the Aravidus, the family's Rama Raya was regent for the Tuluva king Sadasiva Raya from 1542 and was killed at Talikota in 1565; his brother Tirumala then took control, moved to Penukonda and founded the Aravidu line, usually dated from about 1570. The empire's last emperor is usually given as Sriranga III, with 1646 the date in many books, although some accounts place his reign in the 1640s and early 1650s, and the line survived in reduced form beyond this date.

Krishnadevaraya (1509 to 1529)

Krishnadevaraya of the Tuluva dynasty is the most examined figure of the period. He was the son of Tuluva Narasa Nayaka and Nagala Devi, and came to the throne in 1509 (some accounts place the formal coronation in January 1510). He died in October 1529 and was succeeded by his brother Achyuta Deva Raya.

• Military: he took the Raichur doab in 1512, defeated the Gajapatis (Udayagiri 1514, Kondaveedu 1515) and won his best known victory over the Bijapur sultan at Raichur in 1520.
• Titles: Andhra Bhoja, Kannada Rajya Rama Ramana, Abhinava Bhoja (also given as Sakala Kala Bhoja) and Mooru Rayara Ganda are the names commonly listed in textbooks.
• Writings: he composed the Telugu epic poem Amuktamalyada (also called Vishnuchittiyam), which tells the story of the Alvar Andal. A Sanskrit play, Jambavati Kalyanam, is attributed to him by tradition.
• Court: his assembly hall is called Bhuvana Vijayam, where the eight poets known as the Ashtadiggajas gathered.
• Religion and public works: he gave grants to temples across the south, visited Tirumala several times, and is credited with gopurams and mandapas at Srisailam, Srikalahasti, Ahobilam and other places. At Hampi he is wrongly credited in many popular notes with building the Hazara Rama temple: its inscriptions point to the Sangama king Devaraya I in the early 15th century, with a 16th century open mandapa added later, and it served as a royal chapel. His real contribution at Hampi is the Vitthala temple complex: the shrine was probably begun a little earlier, but the hundred-columned hall and gateways belong to his reign (his queens added gopuras), and a stone "swing pavilion" was added in 1554 under Sadasiva Raya. He also founded the town of Nagalapuram in honour of his mother. He supported irrigation works near the capital.
• Foreign visitors: the Portuguese traveller Domingo Paes visited during his reign (about 1520 to 1522) and Fernao Nuniz wrote about the empire a little later (about 1535 to 1537). Abdur Razzaq of Persia visited earlier, in 1443, under Deva Raya II.

Ashtadiggajas and Telugu literature

The Telugu prabandha style flowered in his court. The traditional list of the Ashtadiggajas (eight elephants guarding the eight directions) and their best known works is as follows.

Poet	Best known work	Note
Allasani Peddana	Manucharitra (Swarochisha Manu Sambhavam)	Title Andhra Kavita Pitamaha
Nandi Thimmana	Parijatapaharanam	Known as Mukku Timmana
Madayyagari Mallana	Rajasekhara Charitra	Early prabandha
Dhurjati	Srikalahasti Mahatmyam	Devotional poem on Srikalahasti
Ayyalaraju Ramabhadrudu	Sakalakathasara Sangraha, Ramabhyudayam	Also a poet of learning
Pingali Surana	Raghava Pandaviyam, Kalapurnodayam	Dual-meaning poem on the Ramayana and Mahabharata
Ramarajabhushanudu (Bhattumurti)	Vasucharitra	Also wrote a treatise on poetics
Tenali Ramakrishna	Panduranga Mahatmyam	Folk tradition remembers his wit

Lists of the eight differ between books, and the Ashtadiggajas as a fixed group appears in later tradition. The 16th century is often called the Prabandha age. A reliable exam rule is to remember Peddana (the title), Surana (the dual-meaning work) and Dhurjati (Srikalahasti).

Administration

• Divisions: the empire was divided into rajya (province), then mandalam, nadu, sima and gramam (village).
• Amaranayaka system: nayakas held land (amaram) from the king and maintained troops in return. This is the Vijayanagara development of the Kakatiya nayankara idea.
• Village officials: the traditional village servants (ayagars) were maintained under the village system.
• Revenue: land revenue was the main source, with taxes on trade and professions, and Krishnadevaraya is said to have abolished some harsh taxes such as a marriage fee.
• Trade: west-coast ports received horses from Arabia and Persia through Portuguese Goa, and the east-coast ports shipped textiles. Machilipatnam and Pulicat on the Andhra coast were commercial outlets for the Telugu country.

Temples and art in the Telugu region

Vijayanagara temple architecture is known for tall gopurams, pillared kalyana mandapas and carved piers with rearing horse (yali) forms. In Andhra Pradesh the main sites are Tirumala, Srikalahasti, Ahobilam, Srisailam and Lepakshi. The Veerabhadra temple at Lepakshi in Sri Sathya Sai district, with its hanging pillar, large monolithic Nandi and mural paintings, was built between about 1530 and 1540 (sources give 1530, 1538 or 1540), by the brothers Virupanna and Viranna, officials of the empire, during the reign of Achyuta Deva Raya. Virupanna is described as the treasurer of the Penukonda province. The temple has roughly twenty inscriptions, and the construction date is not fixed to a single year, so rely on the decade if an option allows it.

Talikota and the aftermath

The turning point came on 23 January 1565 at the Battle of Talikota (also called Rakkasa-Tangadi), fought near the Krishna in present Karnataka. Aliya Rama Raya, who held real power under the nominal emperor Sadasiva Raya, faced a coalition of Ahmednagar, Bijapur, Golconda and Bidar. Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda was one of the sultans. Rama Raya was defeated and killed. His brother Tirumala left the field, and the allied armies plundered Vijayanagara, leaving it in the ruined state seen at Hampi today.

Modern historians reject the older view that this was only a religious war, since Rama Raya had Muslim commanders and the sultans had been at odds with each other. Many of them put more weight on gunpowder and military organisation.

After the battle the capital shifted to Penukonda in present Sri Sathya Sai district, and later to Chandragiri under Venkata II (1586 to 1614) and for a time Vellore. Hampi itself, which Britannica and UNESCO describe as plundered over several months, was never reoccupied as a capital. The Aravidu rulers kept up the empire in diminished form. A grant at Chandragiri's court connected with the English founding of Madras is described in the European companies section below. Powerful nayakas, in Madurai, Thanjavur, Gingee and Mysore, made themselves independent over time.

7. The Qutb Shahis of Golconda (1518 to 1687)

The founder, Quli Qutb Mulk (Sultan Quli), was born in Hamadan in Persia, came to the Deccan and served as the Bahmani governor of the Telangana region. He declared independence around 1518 and ruled until he was killed on 2 September 1543 by his son Jamsheed. He did not himself use the royal title "Shah", which later rulers took.

Ruler	Reign	Key points
Quli Qutb Mulk	1518 to 1543	Founder; killed by his son Jamsheed
Jamsheed Quli	1543 to 1550	Seized the throne
Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah	1550 to 1580	Lived at Vijayanagara in exile; Telugu patron; first to use "Sultan"
Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah	1580 to 1612	Founded Hyderabad (1591) and the Charminar; Urdu poet
Muhammad Qutb Shah	1612 to 1626	Reign of consolidation and trade
Abdullah Qutb Shah	1626 to 1672	Peak of trade; the Mughal pressure grew
Abul Hasan (Tana Shah)	1672 to 1687	Last ruler; imprisoned by Aurangzeb

The Qutb Shahis extended into coastal Andhra in stages through the 16th century. Quli Qutb Mulk took forts such as Kondapalli, Eluru and Rajahmundry, and after Talikota Ibrahim Quli added Udayagiri and Adoni. The exact order and years of the coastal conquests are not agreed in the sources checked here, so do not memorise a single year for the whole coast.

Ibrahim Quli had spent seven years (1543 to 1550) at Vijayanagara under Rama Raya's protection, picked up an affection for Telugu, and was known as "Malki Bharama" in Telugu circles. He joined the coalition at Talikota in 1565 against the very ruler who had sheltered him, which is a typical contrast question. He is also associated with the Hussain Sagar tank in Hyderabad and with Ibrahim Bagh.

Muhammad Quli moved the capital to the new city of Hyderabad in 1591, and the Charminar was built in that year. Persian was the court language for roughly the first 90 years; Telugu gained official standing alongside Persian by the early 17th century.

Administration and economy: in 1670 the kingdom was divided into 21 sarkars, which were subdivided into parganas. Hindu nayaks from warrior communities handled much civil revenue work. Under Tana Shah the Brahmin ministers Akkanna and Madanna were powerful. Mir Jumla served as a senior official under Abdullah Qutb Shah. The economy rested on diamonds (Kollur mine in the Krishna valley is the best known), cotton textiles and the sea trade through Machilipatnam, which brought in customs revenue. Trade-driven prosperity continued through the early 17th century.

Culture and religion: later Qutb Shahi rulers were more open to Hindu festivals and temple patronage than earlier ones. Kancherla Gopanna (Bhakta Ramadasu), the revenue official who rebuilt the Bhadrachalam temple using state funds, was imprisoned in Golconda Fort by Tana Shah according to tradition. Golconda Fort, the Charminar and the tombs at Qutb Shahi tombs complex are the architecture questions to expect.

End of the dynasty: the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb besieged Golconda for months, and the fortress fell in 1687 (September in most accounts), when Abul Hasan was imprisoned at Daulatabad and the territory became a Mughal province.

8. The Mughals, the Nizam and the Northern Circars

After 1687 the Telugu lands became part of the Mughal Deccan. Mughal governors (subahdars) ran the Deccan Subah, with local faujdars at places such as Chicacole (Srikakulam), Rajahmundry, Ellore (Eluru) and Kondapalli. In 1724 Mir Qamaruddin Khan (Asaf Jah I) set up the Nizam's dominion centred on Hyderabad, effectively autonomous though nominally under Delhi.

The coastal districts came to be known as the Northern Circars (from "sarkar"). The five circars are Chicacole, Rajahmundry, Ellore, Mustafanagar (Kondapalli) and Murtuzanagar (Guntur).

Year	Event
1753	Salabat Jang, the Nizam, grants the French (under Bussy) revenue of four circars to pay their troops
1759	The British under Francis Forde take Masulipatnam from the French; a grant of the Machilipatnam circar follows in May 1759
1765	Robert Clive obtains the grant of the Circars from Mughal emperor Shah Alam II
12 November 1766	Treaty with Nizam Ali Khan
1 March 1768	Treaty of Masulipatnam; Nizam accepts the grant and receives an annuity
1788	Guntur comes under British administration
1823	Final settlement of the Nizam's remaining claims

Salabat Jang's date and the exact list of circars granted to the French are described slightly differently in different books. The Guntur circar was the personal estate of the Nizam's brother Basalat Jang, so it came later than the others. The Circars later formed the core of the coastal districts of the Madras Presidency and of present-day coastal Andhra Pradesh.

9. The early European companies on the Andhra coast

Andhra's coast was the first part of the Bay of Bengal where Europeans set up factories, because Golconda's trade, textiles and diamonds drew them.

Year	Company	Place	Detail
1605	Dutch (VOC)	Machilipatnam	Earliest Dutch factory in India as commonly stated
1606	Dutch	Pettapoli (Nizampatnam)	Another early Dutch post
c. 1610 (some sources 1609)	Dutch	Pulicat	Factory set up; Fort Geldria built there in 1613; strong centre on Coromandel
1611	English	Pettapoli (Nizampatnam) and Machilipatnam	Captain Hippon and Peter Floris of the Globe land in August 1611
1626	English	Armagon (Durgarazupatnam)	Described as the Company's first fortified post in India
1632	English	Golconda ports	Golden Farman: free trade for 500 pagodas a year
1639 to 1640	English	Madraspatnam	Fort St George founded; the move away from Armagon and Machilipatnam
1723	French	Yanam	Trading post first set up; given up after about four years, re-established 1731 and 1742; later a French enclave on the Godavari

Details to be careful with:

• Machilipatnam factory dates. The English first visited in 1611, and some books give 1611 for the factory, while other sources say the factory was formally set up in 1615. The English moved their base to Armagon in 1628 because of hostility from the Golconda authorities at Machilipatnam, and the Machilipatnam agency was restored in 1632. Use "visited in 1611" if the question is vague. Peter Floris also built a half-fortified factory at Pettapoli in 1614.
• Nizampatnam is the old Pettapoli, which is why exam questions pair them. Hippon landed there on 18 August 1611 and reached Machilipatnam on 31 August.
• Armagon (Durgarazupatnam) was established in 1625 to 1626 (the Company's own factory dates to early 1626 under Thomas Mills), grew into a small fortified post by the late 1620s, declined because of its poor site, and was given up by about 1641. The place is in present Tirupati district.
• Madras. In 1639 the English merchant Francis Day, a member of the Machilipatnam council and chief of the Armagon factory, negotiated a grant dated August 1639 from the local authorities, tied to the Chandragiri court of the Aravidu ruler, for a strip of land on the coast at Madraspatnam, south of the Dutch base at Pulicat. Fort St George replaced Machilipatnam as the English headquarters.
• Trade goods. Fine cotton cloth, painted and printed textiles (the family of Machilipatnam kalamkari), indigo and saltpetre were bought, and silver and copper were exported to the coast. The Dutch and English competed for textiles.

The long-term result was that the coast became a battleground in the French and British struggle of the mid-18th century, ending with the British taking the Circars.

10. Quick comparison: look-alike facts

Item	Do not confuse with
Kakatiya Prataparudra (to 1323)	Gajapati Prataparudra Deva of Odisha (1497 to 1540)
Ramappa temple, 1213, Recherla Rudra	Thousand Pillar temple, 1163, Rudra
Marco Polo at Motupalli (1290s), queen identified as Rudramadevi	Motupalli edict, 1244, Ganapati Deva
Prolaya Vema Reddy, Addanki	Kataya Vema Reddy, Rajahmundry branch
Ibrahim Quli at Talikota, 1565	Quli Qutb Mulk, founder 1518
Armagon 1626	Fort St George 1639 to 1640
Nizampatnam is Pettapoli	Pulicat, a Dutch centre

11. How to revise this unit

1. Learn the rulers in time order using the tables above, but memorise only the founder, the most famous ruler and the end event for each power.
2. Make a map showing Orugallu, Addanki, Kondaveedu, Rajahmundry, Rachakonda, Hampi, Penukonda, Chandragiri, Golconda, Machilipatnam, Nizampatnam, Armagon and Pulicat.
3. Pair every ruler with one temple and one text (Ganapati Deva with Ramappa and the Motupalli edict; Krishnadevaraya with Amuktamalyada and the Vithala temple; Ibrahim Quli with Telugu patronage).
4. Mark "scholars differ" dates and learn the range, not a single year.
5. Practise under timed conditions on pareeksha.in, where the question bank has 10 Lakh+ MCQs, 100+ Exams, 5,000+ Full-Length Mocks across state and central exams. History questions read best when you meet them mixed with other subjects, as in the real paper.

Key facts for exams

• Kakatiya capitals: Hanamkonda first, then Orugallu (Warangal). Rudra is treated as the first sovereign; the Thousand Pillar temple inscription is dated 1163.
• Ganapati Deva (1199 to 1262) was the longest-reigning Kakatiya; he issued the Motupalli Abhayasasana in 1244.
• Rudramadevi ruled as "Rudradeva Maharaja"; the Chandupatla inscription records her death on 27 November 1289, which fixes her reign as 1262 to 1289.
• Prataparudra, the last Kakatiya king, faced Delhi campaigns in 1303, 1309 to 1310, 1318 and 1321 to 1323.
• Ramappa temple (Palampet) was started in 1213 by Recherla Rudra, and work went on for about four decades; it joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021, and Hampi joined in 1986.
• The Motupalli edict's inscription is dated Saka 1166, which is 1244 to 1245.
• Prolaya Vema Reddy founded the Reddi kingdom around 1325; Addanki, Kondaveedu and Rajahmundry were its capitals.
• Errana, Srinatha and Potana belong to the Reddi-age literary tradition.
• Recherla chiefs ruled from Rachakonda and Devarakonda from their 1368 victory until the Bahmani conquests of the 1430s (Devarakonda to 1475 in some accounts); their identification as Velamas is debated.
• Reddi end dates: 1424 (Vijayanagara annexes Kondaveedu), about 1448 (Gajapatis take Rajahmundry), 1454 (Gajapati capture of Kondaveedu fort).
• Gajapati Kapilendra Deva founded the dynasty in 1434 or 1435; Krishnadevaraya took Udayagiri (1514) and Kondaveedu (1515) and the Krishna became the boundary after a marriage settlement.
• Vijayanagara was founded in 1336 by Harihara I and Bukka Raya I; dynasties in order are Sangama, Saluva (from 1485), Tuluva (from 1505) and Aravidu (from about 1570).
• Krishnadevaraya reigned 1509 to 1529, wrote Amuktamalyada, won Raichur in 1520 and held court at Bhuvana Vijayam; the Hazara Rama temple at Hampi dates from Devaraya I, not from him.
• Talikota was fought on 23 January 1565; the capital moved to Penukonda, later Chandragiri.
• The Qutb Shahis ruled 1518 to 1687; Hyderabad and the Charminar date from 1591; Aurangzeb took Golconda in 1687.
• The five Northern Circars were Chicacole, Rajahmundry, Ellore, Mustafanagar and Murtuzanagar; Clive's grant of 1765 and the Treaty of Masulipatnam (1 March 1768) are the key British dates.
• Dutch Machilipatnam 1605; English landing at Pettapoli and Machilipatnam 1611; Armagon 1626; Madras 1639 to 1640.

Practice questions

1. Which edict of 1244 promised protection to overseas traders at a port of the Andhra coast? A) Chandupatla inscription B) Motupalli Abhayasasana C) Kalyani charter D) Srisailam steps grant Answer: B. It was issued under Ganapati Deva at Motupalli.

2. Rudramadevi's death is recorded in an inscription of 1289 from which place? A) Palampet B) Hanamkonda C) Chandupatla D) Kondaveedu Answer: C.

3. Who built the Ramappa temple at Palampet, starting in 1213? A) Rudra, the first sovereign Kakatiya B) Recherla Rudra, general of Ganapati Deva C) Prolaya Vema Reddy D) Kapilendra Deva Answer: B. The popular name comes from the sculptor Ramappa.

4. Which pair correctly matches a Reddi ruler with his capital? A) Prolaya Vema Reddy and Rachakonda B) Prolaya Vema Reddy and Addanki C) Kumaragiri Reddy and Hampi D) Virabhadra Reddy and Golconda Answer: B.

5. The Telugu poet who completed the Aranya Parva of the Mahabharata and is associated with the court of Prolaya Vema Reddy was: A) Tikkana B) Srinatha C) Errana D) Peddana Answer: C.

6. Which treaty or grant first made the Krishna the boundary between Vijayanagara and the Gajapatis, according to the standard account? A) The settlement after the fall of Kondaveedu and Kondapalli in the 1510s B) Treaty of Masulipatnam C) Clive's firman D) Treaty after Talikota Answer: A.

7. Which of the following was NOT part of the coalition that fought Vijayanagara at Talikota? A) Ahmednagar B) Bijapur C) Golconda D) The Gajapatis of Odisha Answer: D. The Gajapati dynasty had lost power by the early 1540s, long before 1565.

8. A Qutb Shahi ruler who spent seven years in exile at Vijayanagara and was known in Telugu circles as Malki Bharama was: A) Quli Qutb Mulk B) Jamsheed Quli C) Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah D) Abdullah Qutb Shah Answer: C.

9. Which English post on the Andhra coast, set up in 1626, is described as the Company's first fortified post in India? A) Pulicat B) Armagon C) Nizampatnam D) Machilipatnam Answer: B.

10. Which of these is NOT one of the five Northern Circars? A) Chicacole B) Rajahmundry C) Mustafanagar D) Nellore Answer: D.

FAQ

Why does medieval Andhra history have so many conflicting dates? Inscriptions record the date of a gift or a building, not always the date a king began to rule, and chronicles were written later. This is why older books give 1295 as the end of Rudramadevi's reign while modern work, using the Chandupatla inscription of 1289, gives 1262 to 1289. Learn the modern date and know that the older one exists.

Was the Kakatiya kingdom in Telangana or Andhra? Both. It began in Telangana and, under Ganapati Deva, took in the Krishna-Godavari delta. Ramappa and the Thousand Pillar temple are in present Telangana, but the dynasty is part of the shared Telugu history tested in AP exams.

Which Vijayanagara ruler matters most for AP exams? Krishnadevaraya, because of his Telugu literary patronage, his campaigns on the Andhra coast and his Tirumala connection. Learn the Tuluva dynasty around him and the Talikota aftermath.

Is the Ashtadiggajas list fixed? Not entirely. Most books give the eight names in the table above, but lists vary in some books and the grouping as a formal list appears in later tradition. Match works to poets rather than relying on the headcount.

Where does the Nizam fit in coastal Andhra? The Nizam of Hyderabad controlled the Northern Circars after the Mughal period until the grants and treaties of 1765 to 1768 passed them to the British, with Guntur following in 1788 and a final settlement in 1823.

Sources and verification

This article was fact-checked against official, scholarly and reference pages. Pages opened and read in full or in the relevant part:

• Archaeological Survey of India, Group of Monuments at Hampi page (UNESCO listing year 1986; monuments dated 1336 to 1570; Krishnadeva Raya's reign 1509 to 1530; list of Hampi temples). https://asi.nic.in/pages/WorldHeritageHampi
• South Indian Inscriptions, volume 26, Kakatiya inscriptions catalogue (Motupalli inscription of Ganapatideva dated Saka 1166, equal to 1244 to 1245). https://www.whatisindia.com/inscriptions/south_indian_inscriptions/volume_26/kakatiyas.html
• Henry Yule's commentary on Marco Polo (Mutfili as Motupalli; the queen of Telingana; dating by the 1290s), Digital Silk Road edition. https://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/III-2-F-c-30/V-2/page/0418.html.en
• Government of Puducherry, Yanam history page (French trading post of 1723, vacated after four years, returns of 1731 and 1742). https://yanam.gov.in/history/
• Wikipedia articles, used only as cross-checks: Veerabhadra Temple (Lepakshi); Prataparudra; Ganapatideva; Turquoise Throne; Musunuri Nayakas; Recherla Nayakas; Reddy dynasty; Kapilendra Deva; Aravidu dynasty; Krishnadevaraya; Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali; Sultan Quli Qutb Mulk; Golconda Sultanate; Armagon; Motupalli.

Pages whose direct fetch was blocked, so only the text extracts returned by search were read (treat as second-hand):

• UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Kakatiya Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple, Telangana (inscribed 2021; Kakatiya period given as 1123 to 1323; construction from 1213 over about four decades; floating bricks) and Group of Monuments at Hampi (inscribed 1986).
• Encyclopaedia Britannica entries on Krishna Deva Raya (reign 1509 to 1529; Raichur doab 1512; Udayagiri 1514; Raichur 1520), Vijayanagara and the Aravidu dynasty (Sangama founding 1336; Saluva usurpation about 1485; Tuluva by 1503; Tirumala founds the Aravidu line at Penukonda), and Kakatiya (fall of Warangal 1323).
• Cynthia Talbot, Precolonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra (Oxford University Press, 2001), on the Velama and Padmanayaka identification, known here from catalogue and summary extracts.
• Early English voyages to the Coromandel coast (Hippon at Pettapoli on 18 August 1611 and at Masulipatam on 31 August), as quoted from the Kerr and Jackson accounts in search extracts.

Where sources disagree (Marco Polo's visit year, the Lepakshi construction year, Prataparudra's manner of death, the exact end of the Aravidu line, English Machilipatnam 1611 or 1615), the article says so.