History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c17.s3.5

c17.s3.5

§ 189. The Kauṇḍinyas, whom we have already noticed, were introduced into the South from the North in the days of the Sātavāhana empire which once embraced both the South and the North. The tradition of certain Brahmin families coming to the South from Ahichhatra in the time of the ancestors of Mayūraśarman Mānavya,⁴ who, as we shall presently see, belonged to the Chuṭu Śātakarṇi family, seems to have been based on history. The Sātavāhanas married into a few exclusive Brahmin families, e.g. of the Gautama gotra, Vasiṣṭha gotra, Māthara gotra, Hārita gotra, etc. There was a large settlement of the Gautamas in the South [Mysore].⁵ The Ikṣvākus followed that tradition strictly, and to some extent also the K a d a m b a s. The Brahmin families occupied the position of aristocracy in the South. They remained exclusive and were intimately connected with the royal families. The Aiyars and Ayangars are still the real aristocrats of the South. The Brahmin rulers of the early centuries, now succeeded by the Vākāṭaka-Pallavas and the Gaṅgas of the revivalist period, and their matrimonial Brahmins were the makers of Southern India, who by introducing their culture in the South made Dakṣiṇāpatha an integral part of Hindu India, and they truly extended the boundaries of B h ā r a t a v a r s h a to include the whole of the South.