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Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c14: Section VII. Political and Literary Traditions About the Sâtavâhanas or Sâlivâhanas

Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c14

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Section VII. Political and Literary Traditions About the Sâtavâhanas or Sâlivâhanas

c14.1

THE period during which the Sâtavâhanas or Andhrabhrityas ruled over Mahârâshṭra must have been a prosperous one in the history of the country Hence several traditions with regard to different kings of this dynasty have been preserved But that Sâlivâhana or Sâtavâhana was a family name has been forgotten, and different princes of the dynasty have been confounded and identified Thus Hemachandra in his Deśîkośa gives Sâlivâhana, Sâlana, Hâla, and Kuntala as the names of one individual, but we see from the list given above that the last two were borne by different princes, and both of them were Sâlivâhanas In his grammar he gives Sâlivâhana as a Prâkṛit corruption of Sâtavâhana

c14.2

In modern times the Saka era is called the Sâlivâhana era or an era founded by Sâlivâhana When it began to be attributed to him it is difficult to determine precisely All the copper-plate grants up to the eleventh century speak of the era as Śakanṛipakâla, *i e*, the era of the Śaka king, or Śakakâla, *i e*, the era of the Śaka, and in an inscription at Bâdami it is stated to be the era beginning from "the coronation of the Śaka king" Subsequently, the simple expression "Śâke, in the year of the Śaka," was used, and thereafter Śâke or "in the Śaka" The word Śaka thus came to be understood as equivalent to "an era" generally, the original sense being forgotten And since the era had to be connected with some great king it was associated with the name of Sâlivâhana whom tradition had represented to be such a king, and thus we now use the expression Sâlivâhana Saka, which etymologically can have no sense and is made up of the names of two royal families. The current legend makes Sâlivâhana the son of a Brâhman girl who was a sojourner at Paithan and lived with her two brothers in the house of a potter. On one occasion she went to the Godâvarî to bathe, when Sesha, the king of serpents, becoming enamoured of her, transformed himself into a man and embraced her In due course she gave birth to Sâlivâhana, who was brought up in the house of the potter.¹ Some time after, king Vikramâditya of Ujjayinî, to whom a certain deity had revealed that he was destined to die at the hands of the son of a girl of two years, sent about his Vetâla or king of Ghosts to find out if there was such a child anywhere. The Vetâla saw Sâlivâhana playing with his girlish mother and informed Vikramâditya. Thereupon he invaded Paithan with a large army, but Sâlivâhana infused life into clay figures of horses, elephants, and men, by means of a charm communicated to him by his father, the king of serpents, encountered [38] Vikramâditya, and defeated him. This descent of a king of Ujjayin on Paithan I have already alluded to and endeavoured to explain. The Sâlivâhana referred to in this tradition appears to be Pulumâvi who in conjunction with his father freed the country from the Sakas and fought with Chashṭana or Jayadâman and Rudradâman whose capital appears to have been Ujjayinî. It was in consequence of some faint reminiscence of Pulumâvi Sâlivâhana's relations with the Śakas and their Satrap kings that his name was attached to the era first used by his adversaries

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¹ The story about the girl and her serpent-lover is in the Kathâsaritsâgara mentioned with reference to Guṇâḍhya who was the son of the girl Sâtavâhana's origin is given differently.

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There are also several literary traditions connected with the name of Śâtavâhana or Śâlivâhana A work of the name of Bṛihatkathâ written in that form of the Prâkṛit which is called the Paiśâchî or the language of goblins is mentioned by Daṇḍin in his work the Kâvyâdarsa ² Somadeva, the author of the Kathâsaritsâgara, and Kshemendra, the author of another Bṛihatkathâ, profess to have derived their stories from this Paiśâchî Bṛihatkathâ The stories comprised in this are said to have been communicated to Guṇâḍhya, who for some time had been minister to Śâtavâhana, by a ghost of the name of Kâṇabhûti They were written in blood and arranged in seven books Guṇâḍhya offered them to king Śâtavâhana, but he refused to receive such a ghastly work written in blood and in the language of goblins, whereupon Guṇâḍhya burnt six of them Some time after, king Śâtavâhana having been informed of the charming nature of those stories went to Guṇâḍhya and asked for them But the last or seventh book alone remained, and this the king obtained from his pupils with his permission ³

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² भूतभाषामयीं प्राहुरद्भूतार्थां बृहत्कथाम्

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³ Kathâsaritsâgara, II 8

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It is narrated in the Kathâsaritsâgara that while Śâtavâhana was, on one occasion, bathing with his wives in a tank in a pleasure-garden, he threw water at one of them As she was tired, she told the king not to besprinkle her with water, using the words *modakaiḥ paritâdaya mâm* The king not understanding that the first word was composed of two, *mâ* “do not” and *udakaiḥ* “with waters,” but taking it to be one word meaning “pieces of sweetmeat,” caused sweetmeat to be brought and began to throw pieces at the queen. Thereupon she laughed and told the king that he did not know the phonetic rules of Sanskrit, and that while she meant to tell him not to besprinkle her with water, he had understood her to say that she wanted him to throw pieces of sweetmeat at her. There was no occasion for sweetmeat at the place, and this ought to have led the king to the true sense, but he was not. Thereupon the king was ashamed of his own ignorance while his queen was so learned, and became disconsolate. Guṇâḍhya and Śarvavarman, who were his ministers, were informed of the cause, and the former promised to teach him grammar in six years, though it was a study of twelve. Śarvavarman, however, offered to teach the subject in six months, and his offer was accepted, but as it was not possible to do so, Śarvavarman propitiated the god Kârtikeya or Skanda by his [39] self-mortifications, and the god communicated to him the first Sûtra of a new grammar *Siddho Varṇasamamnâyaḥ*. Thereupon Śarvavarman repeated the other Sûtras, when Kârtikeya said that if he had not been so hasty and allowed him to repeat the whole, the new grammar would have become superior to Pâṇini’s, but since it could not be so now, it would be a small treatise—*Kâtantra*, and would also be called *Kalâpaka* after the tail of his peacock. This new grammar Śarvavarman taught to the king.⁴ The same story is told by Târânâtha in his “History of Buddhism,”⁵ but he makes the name of the king to be Udayana, and of Śarvavarman, Saptavarman, while the competitor of Śarvavarman is represented by him to be Vararuchi instead of Guṇâḍhya. But Udayana is represented as a king reigning in Southern India and Śâtavâhana in the form of Sântıvâhana ıs also mentıoned ın connectıon wıth the story as a southern kıng ın whose domınıons Vararuchı lıved As Udayana frequently fıgures ın Buddhıstıc storıes, the southern prınce Sâtavâhana ıs confounded wıth hım, and thıs seems to be ındıcated by the fact that thıs Udayana ıs represented to have ruled over a country ın the south, though the usual Udayana ıs a northern prınce. It wıll thus appear that the Kâtantra grammar was composed by Śarvavarman at the request of a prınce of the Sâtavâhana famıly And thıs same thıng appears to be alluded to even by Hwan Thsang when he says ın connectıon wıth the shortenıng of the orıgınally large work on grammar by Pânını and others, "lately a Brâhmaṇ of South Indıa, at the request of a kıng of South Indıa, reduced them, further to 2,500 ślokas Thıs work ıs wıdely spread, and used throughout all the frontıer provınces, but the well-read scholars of Indıa do not follow ıt as theır guıde ın practıce "⁶

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⁴ Kathâsaritsâgara, VI. 108 & ff.

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⁵ Schiefner’s Translation, p. 73 & ff.

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⁶ Lıfe of Hwan Thsang, Beal's Trans, p 122

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There ıs a work wrıtten ın the old Mahârâshṭrî dıalect called Saptaśatî, whıch ıs of the nature of an anthology consıstıng of Gâthâs or stanzas ın the Âryâ metre, mostly on love matters The author of thıs ıs ın the thırd verse mentıoned as Hâla, and ordınarıly he ıs spoken of as Sâlınvâhana Bâṇa speaks of ıt ın a verse ın the ıntroductıon to hıs Harshacharıta as "an ımperıshable and refıned reposıtory of good sayıngs composed by Sâlınvâhana " Verses from ıt are quoted ın Dhanıka's commentary on the Dasarûpaka, ın the Sarasvatı Kaṇṭhâbharaṇa, and ın the Kâvyaprakâsa There ıs, ıt wıll be observed, ın the lıst of the Andhrabhṛıtya prınces, one of the name of Hâla, who probably was eıther the author of the work or to whom ıt was dedıcated by a court-poet From these traditions we may, I think, safely conclude that literature flourished under the rule of the Andhrabhṛityas, and that the Prakṛits or spoken languages, especially the Mahârâshṭrî, were probably for the first time used for literary purposes In Vâtsyâyana's Kâmasûtra or Institutes of Love, Kuntala Sâtakarṇi Sâtavâhana is spoken of as having killed Malayavatî, who is called [40] Mahâdevî, and consequently must have been his chief queen, by means of a pair of scissors in connection with certain amorous sports ⁷ The name Kuntala occurs in the list given in the Mâtsya Purâna

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⁷ कर्तर्या कुन्तलः शातकर्णिः शातवाहनो महादेवी मलयवती [जघान] Prof Aufrecht's quotation in the Oxf Cat, p 217 b, does not contain the name मलयवती, and he supplies गणिकां from the preceding clause, but a Gaṇikâ or courtezan cannot be called Mahadevî

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