Gajapati was one of the four titles adopted by kings who ruled in pre-colonial era India, the others being Narapati (e.g. Vijayanagara emperors), Aswapati (e.g. the Bahmani sultans), and Chattrapati.

Two copper plates of the early Pallava dynasty have been found in the Kolleru Lake, traced to Gajapati Langula Narasimha Deva, an Oriya ruler (Odia Raja).

The enemy general encamped at Chiguru Kota located on the shores and tried to excavate a channel in the modern-day Upputeru, so that the water of the lake would empty into the sea and allow an attack on the Gajapati fort.

[7] The Gajapatis at the height of their power in the 15th century, ruled over an empire extending from the Ganges in the north near Hoogly to the Kaveri in the south under the Emperor Kapilendra Deva.

[10] But by the early 16th century, the Gajapatis lost great portions of their southern dominion to the Vijayanagara Empire and the Turko-Persian Golconda Sultanate.

One of the causes of the reduction in militarism among the population has been attested to the Bhakti movement initiated by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who arrived in the empire during the reign of Emperor Prataparudra and stayed for 18 long years at Puri.

The names of weapons used by the Gajapati army are also mentioned like Dhanu, Trona, Sara, Asi, Parigha, Pattisa, Kunta, Jathi, Buruja, Saveli etc.

Such a large number of war elephants is highly unusual even when compared with any contemporary military of the existing kingdoms during the times of Kapilendra Deva himself, in India.

[16] During the reign of the Emperor Purushottama Deva, the overlordship of Bhimanagari was established in 1471 CE by Narahari Singh who was a scion of the family of the ruling Suryavamshi Gajapati kings.