Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. The court language used by the Satavahanas was Prakrit. The decline and fall of the Satavahana Empire left the state in a political chaos. Local rulers, as well as invaders, tried to carve out small kingdoms for themselves and to establish many dynasties. Such instability continued to prevail until the rise of the Western Chalukyas. Kakatiya dynasty The 12th and 13th centuries saw the emergence of the Kakatiya dynasty. The Kakatiyas are known for their famous architecture such as Warangal Fort, Ramappa Temple, Thousand Pillar Temple and Kota Gullu. At first they were feudatories of the Western Chalukyas of Kalyani, ruling over a small territory near Warangal. A ruler of this dynasty, Prola II (1110–1158), extended his sway to the south and declared his independence. His successor Rudra (1158–1195) pushed the kingdom to the east up to the Godavari delta. He built Warangal Fort to serve as a second capital and faced the invasions of the Seuna Yadavas of Devagiri. The next ruler, Mahadeva, extended the kingdom to the coastal area. Ganapati Deva succeeded him in 1199. He was the greatest of the Kakatiyas and the first after the Satavahanas to bring almost the entire Telugu area under one unified empire. Ganapati put an end to the rule of the Velanati Cholas in 1210 and extended his empire to Anakapalle in the north. The most prominent ruler in this dynasty was Rani Rudrama Devi (1262–1289), one of the few queens in Indian history. An able fighter and ruler, Rudrama defended the kingdom against the Cholas and the Seuna Yadavas, earning their respect. Marco Polo visited India during her reign and made note of her rule. On the death of Rudrama at the beginning of 1290, her grandson Prataparudra II ascended the throne. Prataparudra had to fight battles throughout his reign against either internal rebels or external foes. Prataparudra expanded his borders to the west to Raichur and in the south to Ongole and the Nallamala Hills, whilst introducing many administrative reforms, some of which were also later adopted in the Vijayanagara empire. In 1309, the Sultan of Delhi, Alauddin Khilji sent his general Malik Kafur on an expedition to the Kakatiya kingdom. Kafur's army reached the Kakatiya capital Warangal in January 1310, and breached its outer fort after a month-long siege. The Kakatiya ruler Prataparudra decided to surrender and agreed to pay tribute. Kafur returned to