The old name of this city is Orugallu. 'Oru' means one and
'Kallu' means stone. The entire city was carved in a single rock, hence the
name Orukallu meaning 'one rock'. The city was also called Ekasila nagaram.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)
Rudramma Devi. After the defeat of Prataparadura, 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, was joined
to Andhra Pradesh.