Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c17.s2.31

c17.s2.31

Obviously according to one tradition there were about seventeen, eighteen or nineteen kings, whose rule lasted some three centuries, while according to another tradition there were thirty kings, the length of whose reigns covered a period of more than 400 years. In the opinion of Sir R. G. Bhandarkar the longer list includes the names of princes belonging to all the branches of the so-called *Andhra-bhṛitya* dynasty, and that the longer period represents the total duration of all the princes belonging to the several branches. The period of about three centuries, and the seventeen, eighteen or nineteen names given in the *Vāyu Purāṇa*, and hinted at in the *Matsya*, refer to the main branch. That there were several families of Sātavāhanas or Sātakarṇis, distinct from the main line that had its *principal* seat in the upper Valley of the Godāvarī, cannot be denied. The *Kāvya Mīmāṁsā* of Rājaśekhara and several other works as well as epigraphs in the Kanarese country and elsewhere testify to the existence of Sātavāhanas and Sātakarṇis who ruled over Kuntala¹ (the Kanarese districts) before the Kadambas. The fullest *Matsya* list includes a group of kings (Nos. 10-14), including one named "Kuntala" Sātakarṇi, who are (generally speaking) passed over in silence by the *Vāyu*.² Skandasvāti, No. 11 of the full list, reminds one of *Skanda-nāga-Sātaka*, a prince of a Kanarese line of Sātakarṇis mentioned in a Kanheri inscription.¹ As to Kuntala Sātakarṇi (No. 13), the commentary on Vātsyāyana's *Kamasūtra* takes the word "Kuntala" in the name Kuntala Sātakarṇi Sātavāhana to mean *"Kuntala-vishaye jātavāt tat-samākhyaḥ."*² It is, therefore, fair to conclude that the Matsya MSS. which mention 30 Sātavāhana kings include not only the main group of kings but also those who were closely associated with Kuntala.