Nalgonda

Nalgonda lies among rocky hills in the eastern Deccan. Nearby Panagal was an important settlement under the Kakatiyas, and its temples and inscriptions attest to the region’s religious life. Nalgonda itself was known by an earlier name, Nilagiri, before acquiring a name associated with its dark hills. Its position placed it within the changing domains of the Kakatiyas, Bahmanis and later rulers of Golconda.

After the Kakatiya kingdom fell in the fourteenth century, local chiefs and the Bahmani sultans contested control of Telangana. Nalgonda later served as the seat of Jalal Khan, who fought against the Bahmanis. Fortified hills and older temples continued to mark the landscape as authority passed between Deccan powers. The neighbouring shrines at Panagal, including Chaya Somesvara, preserve a much older legacy of carved stone architecture.