The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c30.83

v1.c30.83

The exact date of the establishment of the Andhra suzerainty cannot be determined from the discrepant accounts given by different Purāṇas of the kings and the duration of their reigns; but it is clear that the most complete of the extant lists can only be interpreted as indicating that the founder, Simuka, began to reign before 200 B.C.¹ To this extent the evidence of the Purāṇas confirms the opinion of Bühler, who from epigraphical considerations assigned the Nāsik inscription of the second king, Kṛishṇa, to 'the times of the last Mauryas or the earliest Çuṅgas, in the beginning of the second century B.C.'² It is therefore possible that Kṛishṇa's immediate successor, the third Andhra king, Çātakarṇi, may have been contemporary with the first Çuṅga king, Pushyamitra (c. 184–148 B.C.). As we shall see (p. 535) this same Çātakarṇi was probably also contemporary with Khāravela, king of Kaliṅga.