History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c17.s1.t1.1

c17.s1.t1.1

157. The Subordinate Andhras are the well-known feudatory Sātavāhanas or Andhras in whose line flourished the two Hāritiputras of the Chuṭu Dynasty, who have left their inscriptions at Kanheri (Aparānta), Kanara (Banavasi) and Mysore (Maḷavalli).¹ These inscriptions cannot be dated earlier than 200 A.D. on the evidence of their scripts.² Although the Banavasi record has an archaic script, the Maḷavalli inscription of the same reign has characters of 200 A.D. The latter record is in line with the Kodavali inscription of King Chaṃdaśāti—the last but one king of the Sātavāhana line (E.I., XVIII. 318), whose date, as given in the record, has been calculated by Mr. Krishna Śastri as corresponding to December, 210 A.D., which is very near the Purāṇic date for that king (228 A.D., J.B.O.R.S., 1930, 279). The genealogy of the two kings—Rājā Hāritiputra Viṣṇu Skanda Chuṭukulānanda Śātakarṇi and of his daughter’s son Hāritiputra Śiva Skanda-varman, ‘lord of Vaijayanti,’³ has been carefully reconstructed by Prof. Rapson on the basis of the three inscriptions of the family, together with one inscription of the first Kadamba king.⁴ I cannot do better than adopt that reconstruction, having personally gone into the materials thoroughly. I, however, give a name-value to ‘Viṇhu Kadda’ as Viṣṇu Skanda: