The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c31.s4.7

v1.c31.s4.7

³ The origin and the meaning of the name of this dynasty are obscure. Usually the word *Çātakarṇi* is regarded as a patronymic from an assumed *Çata-karṇa*, 'Hundred-Ears,' which however is found nowhere; more probably it is connected with *Sāta-vāhana*, which means 'having for emblem the *sāta*.' One is tempted to connect them with the Sātiya-putas mentioned by Açoka (inscr. ii), the Setae to whom Pliny alludes directly after his description of the Andhras, and the tribe of the Sātakas (*Epigr. Ind.* vol. x, App. no. 1021) or Çātakas (*Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*, lviii, 46). The inscriptions give the following forms of the name: *Sātakaṇi*, *Satakani*, *Sadakani*, *Sāta*, *Sada*, and *Sati*. If the identification with the Sātiya-putas is right, it would seem that the Çātakarṇis were originally a tribe living outside the borders of the Andhra country, perhaps on the west of it, who about a generation after Açoka made themselves masters of the Andhradeça and played in it a part like that of the Normans in England. Mr V. S. Sukthankar (*On the Home of the so-called Andhra Kings, Annals of the Bhandarkar Institute*, i, 1, pp. 21 ff.) seeks with much probability to locate their original home in the Bellary District.