History Of Warangal District

Warangal also known as Orugallu, and Ekasila Nagaram) is a city and a municipal corporation in Warangal district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Warangal is located 148 kilometres (92 mi) northeast of the state capital of Hyderabad and is the administrative headquarters of Warangal District. It is part of a tri-city comprising Warangal, Hanamakonda and Kazipet. It has a population of nearly 11 lakhs including Hanamakonda and Kazipet. (2001 census).

Warangal was the capital of a Hindu Shaivaite kingdom ruled by the Kakatiya dynasty from the 12th to the 14th centuries. The old name of this newly formed city is Orugallu. Oru means one and Kallu means stone. The Ancient name was Andhra Nagaram please refer Andhra Maha Vishnu temple.

Literary evidence shows that long before Satavahanas, a legendary king named Āndhra Viṣhṇu ruled in and around the Diviseema region of Andhra state. After his reign, people came to believe that he had an amsa of the divine savior Lord Maha Vishnu himself. Perhaps in his honor, people dedicated a new temple now located at Srikākuḷam, Krishna District. The lord of the temple is known as Āndhra Viṣhṇu or Srikākuḷāndhra Viṣhṇu. The Kakatiyas left many monuments, including an impressive fortress, four massive stone gateways, the Swayambhu temple dedicated to Shiva, and the Ramappa temple situated near Ramappa Lake. The cultural and administrative distinction of the Kakatiyas was mentioned by the famous traveller Marco Polo. Famous or well-known rulers included Ganapathi Deva, Prathapa Rudra, and Rani (queen) Rudrama Devi. After the defeat of Pratapa Rudra, the Musunuri Nayaks united seventy two Nayak chieftains and captured Warangal from Delhi sultanate and ruled for fifty years. Jealousy and mutual rivalry between Nayaks ultimately led to the downfall of Hindus in 1370 A.D. and success of Bahmanis. Bahmani Sultanate later broke up into several smaller sultanates, of which the Golconda sultanate ruled Warangal. The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb conquered Golconda in 1687, and it remained part of the Mughal empire until the southern provinces of the empire split away to become the state of Hyderabad in 1724 which included the Telangana region and some parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Hyderabad was annexed to India in 1948, and became an Indian state. In 1956 Hyderabad was partitioned as part of the States Reorganization Act, and Telangana, the Telugu-speaking region of Hyderabad state which includes Warangal, became part of united Andhra Pradesh state.

Warangal witnessed a bloody chapter in its history in 1969, when the people of Telangana Region felt discriminated against the people of Andhra Region in the unified state of Andhra Pradesh. This has caused the Telangana Agitation including the Mulki (locals) agitation by Telangana Praja Samithi (TPS) party lead by Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy and other leaders asking for a separate state as was the case before 1956. Warangal was the brewing ground of the movement. Students, peasants and government employees all joined forces. More than 400 students lost their lives in the struggle. The college students also lost an academic year due to this movement.

Culture

Telugu is the major language spoken by most of the people in Warangal. People of Warangal wear traditional attire like Saree, Dhoti and also modern dresses. Warangal is famous for the poets like Bammera Potana who has translated the Maha Bhagavatham from Sanskrit to Telugu and also Palkuriki Somanna to present day poets/writers like Kaloji Narayana Rao.

Festivals

Major Hindu festivals such as Bathukamma festival, Dasara, Deepavali, Sankranti are celebrated here. Bonalu and Bathukamma festival is very famous here and celebrated by the women and young girls worshipping the goddess for nine days with various flowers.

In addition, the district hosts the Sammakka Saralamma Jatara or congregation bi-annually, and approximately 6 million people gather around the small village of Medaram and its adjacent stream/rivulet, Jampanna Vagu, 90 km from Warangal city for over three days. This fair is said to be the largest repeating aggregation of tribal communities in the whole world and commemorates the valiant fight put up by a mother and daughter (Samakka and Sarakka) with the reigning Kakatiya king over an unjust law. This is also the second biggest congregation in Asian continent after Kumbha Mela in India.
Every year during the month of Ramzan, Muslim areas, especially Mandi Bazaar wear a festival look and the main road remains closed in the evening and is only accessed by foot. Many make shift shops and food eateries crop up serving the famous haleem dish and lots of other foods, sweets and seviyan after the fasting is broken in the evening by Muslims in the locality. Night shopping is famous here when people fast the whole day and come out for shopping via casual walk in the evening. Most of the shops are open almost up to 1:00 am in the night.
Fatima Feast is celebrated every year on February 12 and 13 by Catholic Christians at their Warangal Diocesian Headquarters of Cathedral Church in Fatima Nagar, Kazipet.