The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s3.t4.1

v2.c15.s3.t4.1

The Kākatīya government like that of the other Hindu states was a monarchy. Though the crown usually descended, as in the other states, in the male line from father to son, the Kākatīya dynasty alone presents a unique example of a female ruler who sat upon the throne and exercised royal authority in her own right. Nevertheless the prejudice against the rule of a woman was so strong that even this lady had to adopt a male name and to attire herself in male garments, whilst holding court. The practice of a ruling monarch taking the heir to the throne into partnership in the governance of the kingdom appears to have come into vogue late in the history of the dynasty. Gaṇapati had made his daughter Rudramadēvī his co-regent during the closing years of his reign and she in her turn followed the example of her father by associating her grandson and heir Pratāparudra with herself in the administration of the kingdom. The king or the queen, as the case might be, was the supreme head of the state; he or she was the pivot about which the entire structure of government moved. The monarch was the source of all power, though his power was not absolutely unfettered autocracy. It was subjected, as in all other Hindu states, to the limitations imposed by the dharma and ancient custom of the land which he was not allowed to override. The dharma which he had to observe was mainly varṇa-dharma or dharma pertaining to the castes. It was the duty of the king to see that the members of each caste followed the dharma peculiar to that caste and to punish those who trespassed against it. Ambadēva, the Kāyastha ruler of Vallūrupaṭṭaṇa, for instance, speaks of himself in an inscription at Tripurāntakam dated Ś. 1212 (A.D. 1290) as catur-varṇa-samuddharaṇa and takes credit for putting to death a certain Mallikārjuna, sinner and violator of the dharma, who was the enemy of gods and brāhmans.¹