The Warangal district is also referred to as Orugallu, Orumgallu, or Ekasilanagaram as per the inscriptions and ancient literature. Warangal was the capital of Kakatiya kingdom during the reign of Ganapati Deva Maharaja which is from 1199-1261. The historical significant district Warangal has its own fort and its name is Warangal Fort. With its heritage significance, Warangal Fort is one of the main attractions of Warangal. The Warangal fort is spread across 19 km between Warangal and Hanamkonda.
Warangal Fort has seven concentric fortifications. The inner stone fortification contains 45 bastions and gateways at the four cardinal points. It signifies the essence of early medieval defense architecture. Also, we can find the remains of the Swayambhu temple complex enclosed by four lofty Toranas and the Kush mahal or the Shitab Khan mahal.
Kush Mahal(Shitab Khan Palace):
Kush Mahal is a rectangular palace (16x38x12 m), with an arched entrance. The Mahal was built in Indo-Saracenic style. The interior is made of arches joining both walls and supporting the ceiling. Historians say that this Mahal was raised by Shitab Khan. Shitab Khan belonged to 1504 AD of Hindu origin.
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Inner or stone wall of Warangal:
Inner or stone wall of Warangal construction was started by Ganapati and was
completed by his daughter Rudrammadevi. She also built the outer wall of the city. The circumference of the stone wall of the fort is 4 miles and 630 yards with 72 pillars. The amazing architecture is evident of Hindu workmanship in those days.
The Warangal Fort has countless stones carved with figures of Hindu gods and their attendants. Those have been removed from the large temple which stood in the center of the inner fort. The carved surfaces being sometimes turned inwards for the better concealment of objects of idolatrous worship. The large area was enclosed and the exquisite carving of the stones which have been used for the repair of the fort wall.
The diameter of the area enclosed by the Fort wall built by Rudrammadevi is about two miles. This space was occupied by the city of Warangal. While that within the stone wall besides temples, the palaces of the Raja and his nobles were there.
There is yet another outer wall enclosing an almost circular area. The diameter of the wall varies between 85 and 9 miles. The use of this outer wall is obviously that it cannot have been the wall of a fenced city. The defense soldiers over an area of l29 miles of wall would have been a task even for those vast Kakatiya armies which the Hindu rulers of the south were able in old times to gather around themselves, and an urban area of more than 127 square miles would have been an extravagant allowance for the population.
The outermost wall enclosing all the suburban villages was no less than an unnecessarily costly suburban boundary.The circumference of the wall could have been 373 miles and enclosed an urban area of 20,240 square miles.
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