The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.108

v1.c24.108

The five dynasties just mentioned are, as usual, regarded as successive; but this can only be true of the Nandas, Mauryas, and Çuṅgas. The Çuṅgas, Kaṇvas, and Andhras were contemporary, although no doubt they claimed the suzerainty of N. India successively. That the first two of these were ruling at the same time may be inferred from the incidental statement that the first Andhra king destroyed the last of the Kaṇvas and 'what was left of the Çuṅgas' power' (*Kali Age*, pp. 38, 71). But it is certain that the Çuṅgas were flourishing after the reign of the first Andhra king. Both powers, Çuṅga and Andhra alike, arose on the ruins of the Maurya empire—the former in the Midland Country and the latter in Southern India. It was probably not until the reign of the third Andhra king, Çātakarṇi, that they came into collision; and then their political association appears to have been transient.