Ancient History of the Deccan c3.s3.7

c3.s3.7

No. 1. Sātakarṇi of Nānāghāṭ.— Nānāghāṭ is a defile (the Nana pass) in the mountains to the east of Bombay. There is here a chamber cut in the rock to serve probably as a place of shelter for travellers. The walls of this cave contain inscriptions (No. 1112 of Lüders's list in Ep. Ind. Vol. X) and further there are remnants of some bas-reliefs representing certain personages. These bas-reliefs contain explanatory legends (Nos. 1113, 1114, 1115, 1116, 1117, 1118 of Lüders's list). From these inscriptions Bühler (A. S. W. I., Vol. V, p. 66) has drawn the following conclusions: Sātakarṇi, king of Dakṣiṇapatha and son of Simuka of the Sātavāhana dynasty gained many victories and performed the horse-sacrifice (Aśvamedha) twice. After his death, his wife Nāganikā daugther of Mahāraṭhi [Tra]nakayiro [Kaḷa]lāya, the scion of the Angira family, was proclaimed regent during the minority of the princes, the elder called Vediśri and the younger Śakti-Śri (Sati-Srimat) or Haku-Śri. Here we have to note that an inscription at Nāsik (No. 1141 of Lüders's list) mentions the granddaughter of Mahāhakuśri (Ep. Ind. Vol. VIII, p. 91). As prince Hakuśri was but a child at the time when the Nānāghāṭ inscriptions were written and his granddaughter was an elderly woman at the time of the Nāsik inscription (her son Kapaṇaṇaka was probably a man at this time) the two Haku-Śris may be dentified with each other by supposing that there was an interval of about a century between the two inscriptions. The palæography of the inscriptions seems in fact to indicate nearly this difference in age.