The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s2.t5.2

v2.c15.s2.t5.2

Pratāparudra ascended the throne of Warangal at the beginning of the year A.D. 1295, on the death of Rudramadēvī towards the close of the preceding year. He was, at the time of his accession, about thirty-five years old; and as he had been associated with his grandmother for several years before her death in the government of the kingdom, he had already a great deal of military and administrative experience. As a result of the wars which he had conducted during the last years of the late queen, the enemies of the kingdom had been thoroughly subdued, and none dared to lift up his head against the energetic young monarch after his accession. Tradition has it that as soon as he ascended the throne he set about reorganizing the administrative system with a view to strengthening the defences of the kingdom. It is said that Pratāparudra recruited exclusively from the Velama community seventy-seven *nāyaks*, assigned them territories, and entrusted to each of them the defence of one of the seventy-seven bastions of the fort of his capital Warangal.³ Though this tradition is coloured by communal bias, it is undoubtedly based on authentic facts. A study of the inscriptions reveals that from the time of Rudrāmbā, if not earlier, the administration of the kingdom was carried on through *nāyaks* holding sway over districts called *sthalas*; but they belonged to no single community in particular but were recruited from all classes of the people; moreover, the number of *nāyakships* was actually seventy-five and not seventy-seven as tradition would have us believe;⁴ nor is there any evidence to show that they had any definite responsibility for the defence of the capital.