Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c10.26

c10.26

In the middle of the third century before Christ, Aśoka, the great king of the Maurya dynasty reigning at Pâṭaliputra in Magadha, speaks in the fifth Edict of his rock-inscriptions, which are found at Girnâr in Kâṭhiâvâḍ on the west, Dhauli in Katak and Jaugad in Ganjam on the eastern coast, at Khalsi in the Himâlaya, Shahbaz-garhi in Afghanistan, and Mansehra on the northern frontier of the Panjab, of his having sent ministers of religion [11] to the Râsṭikas and the Petenikas and to the Aparântas¹⁹ The last which we know best is Northern Konkan, the capital of which was Sûrpâraka Petenikas is not unlikely the same as Paiṭhaṇakas, *i e*, the people or country about Paiṭhaṇa on the Godâvarî The vernacular pronunciation of the name of the city, which in Sanskrit is Pratishṭhâna, was in those days, as it now is, Peṭhaṇa or Paiṭhaṇa, for both the author of the Periplus and Ptolemy call it Paithana or Baithana The Râsṭikas, or, according to the Mansehra version, Raṭrakas, corresponding to the Sanskrit Râshṭrikas, were very likely the people of Mahârâshṭra, for a tribe of the name of Raṭṭas has from the remotest times held political supremacy in the Dekkan One branch of it assumed the name of Râshṭrakûṭas and governed the country before the Châlukyas acquired power It re-established itself after about three centuries, but had to yield to the Châlukyas again after some time In later times, chieftains of the name of Raṭṭas governed Sugandhavartî or Saundatti in the Belgaum district In the thirteenth Edict in which the countries where Asoka's moral edicts were respected are enumerated, the Petenikas are associated with Bhojas instead of Râsṭikas Bhojas, we know, ruled over the country of Vidarbha or Berâr²⁰ and also in other parts of the Dekkan In the inscriptions in the caves at Kuḍâ²¹ the name "Mahâbhoja" or Great Bhoja occurs several times, and once in an inscription at Beḍsâ Just as the Bhojas called themselves Mahâbhojas, the Râshṭrikas, Raṭṭis, Raṭṭhis, or Raṭṭhas called them-