Yadavas of Devagiri
The Yadavas of Devagiri were the descendants of the feudatory nobles of the Western Chalukyan (Chalukyas of Kalyani )Empire.
The most important territory which they had under them was between Devagiri (Modern Daultabad) and Nasik and was known as Sevana or Seuna, though they had 
influence in modern Maharashtra, North Karnataka and parts of Southern Madhya Pradesh.
- They are known as founders of Marathi Culture.
The name Seuna has been used for them in the Hoyasala and Kakatiya inscriptions and seems to be probably derived from the name of Seunachandra, second ruler of this dynasty.
This dynasty was founded by Dridhaprahara. His son Seunachandra ruled an area of present Khandesh which was known as Seundesa.
Bhillama 1173-1191 AD
The first of Yadavas in this line to achieve importance was Bhillama or Bhillama V, who established the sovereign Seuna Kingdom and founded Devagiri in 1187 AD. His territory was bordered by Parmaras in North, Kaktiya in east, Hoyasals in South and Solankis in west. The mighty Devagari fort which was 184 meters was captured by Alauddin Khilji in 1294 and was later plundered by Malik Kafur again 1307, 1310 and 1318 was an important landmark of his reign. Bhillama was killed in a battle with a Hoyasala Chief in 1191 AD. The second great ruler of this dynasty was Singhana II.
Singhana II
Singhana II (1200-1246 AD) was the most important ruler of the Yadavas Dynasty. He carried out several conquests and expanded the kingdom from the banks of Narmada to Tungabhadra. He invaded Gujarat and other countries and made the Yadavas Kingdom matching in extent the realms of the Chalukyas and the Rastrakutas. Singhana II was a great patron of fine arts and literature.
Sarangadeva, the great author of Sangita Ratnakar was an accountant in the court of Singhana II. His work Sangeet Ratnakara is considered to be one of the most important works on Hindustani as well as Classical Music.
Raja Ramchandra
- The Yadavas of Devagiri, akin to the Hoyasals were destroyed by the Muslim invaders.
- Raja Ramchandra was the last sovereign Hindu Ruler of Deccan.
When Alauddin Khilji, sultan of Delhi crossed the Narmada River, the northern frontier of Yadavas in 1294, the Yadava Ruler Raja Ramchandra (1291-1309 AD) was obliged to surrender and was ransomed his life by a large treasure that included 600 maunds of pearls, two Maunds of Diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires. (One maund was around 40 Kilograms, though Maund was officially pegged at 37.3242 kilograms in British India/ independent India).The Sultan’s incursions were again repeated by Malik Kafur in 1309 and Ramchandra again submitted to the invader.After his death, his son in law Harpala revolted against the Muslim Sultan in 1318 and was defeated, then flayed (skinned) alive and was decapitated. This was the miserable end of the Yadavas of Devagiri.
Ramchandra like other Yadava rulers was a patron of art and literature. In his court, the celebrated Sanskrit author Hemadri or Hemadpant served as a Chief Minister. Chaturvarga Chintamani was his encyclopedic Sanskrit work.
Hemadpant introduced Modi script for writing in Marathi from Ceylon and has left some valuable historical sketch of Yadava dynasty.
