Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c19.s2.t1: Yajñaśrī Sātakarṇi

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c19.s2.t1

Language
English

Yajñaśrī Sātakarṇi

c19.s2.t1.1

³ In *JRAS*, July, 1934, 560ff, Dr. D. C. Sircar suggests that the name of this king was Śrī Yajña Sātakarṇi as stated in inscriptions, and not Yajña Śrī (as stated in the Purāṇas). It should, however, be remembered that *Śrī* is here an honorific and it is frequently used as a suffix in the names of members of the Sātavāhana royal house (*cf.* Veda or Skanda-Siri, Haku-Siri, Bala-Śrī, Siva-Śrī, etc.; Rapson, *Andhra Coins*, pp. xlvii, l, lii). The mere fact that in certain documents Śrī precedes the name of a king does not prove conclusively that it was never used as a suffix. In the famous inscription of Khāravela the king is called both Siri Khāravela and Khāravela-Siri. In the *Mudrārākshasa* Śrīmat Chandragupta is also styled Chanda-Siri. *Cf.* Aśoka Śrī in *Pariśishṭa-parvan*, IX. 14.

c19.s2.t1.2

The immediate successor of Śivaskanda according to the collated text of Pargiter was Yajña Śrī. If the Purāṇas are to be believed his accession took place more than 35 years after the close of the reign of Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi, *i.e.*, after A. D. 165 and ended after A.D. 194. Yajña Śrī's inscriptions, which prove that he reigned for at least 27 years, are found at the following places, *viz.*, Nāsik in Mahārāshṭra, Kanheri in Aparānta, and China in the Krishṇā district. His coins are found in Gujrāt, Kāṭhiāwār, Aparānta, the Chanda District in the Central Provinces, and the Kṛishṇā district of the Madras State. There can be no doubt that he ruled over both Mahārāshṭra and the Andhra country and recovered Aparānta (N. Koṅkaṇ) from the successors of Rudradāman I. Smith says that his silver coins imitating the coinage of the Śaka rulers of Ujjain probably point to victories over the latter, and that the coins bearing the figure of a ship suggest the inference that the king's power extended over the sea. He thus anticipated the naval ventures of the Kadambas of Goa, of Sivājī and of the Angrias.¹

c19.s2.t1.3

¹ Rapson, however, says (*Coins of the Andhra Dynasty*, p. 22) in reference to certain lead coins (of the Coromandel coast): "*obv* Ship with two masts. *Inscr.* not completely read, but apparently *Siri-Pu (lumā) visa.*"

c19.s2.t1.4

Yajñaśrī was the last great king of his dynasty. After his death the Sātavāhanas probably lost North-Western Mahārāshṭra to the Ābhīra king Iśvarasena.² The later Sātavāhana princes—Vijaya, Chaṇḍa Śrī (variant Chandra Śrī) and Pulomāvi of the Purāṇas—seem to have ruled in Berar, the Eastern Deccan and the Kanarese country.¹ The existence of Vijaya seems now to be confirmed by numismatic evidence.² Chaṇḍa Śrī may have been identical with Vāsiṣṭhī-putra "Sāmi-siri Chaṁḍa Sāta" of the Kodavali rock-cut well Inscription discovered near Piṭhāpuram in the Godāvarī region, while Pulomāvi is, in the opinion of Dr. D. C. Sircar, to be identified with the king of the same name mentioned in the Myakadoni inscription of the Bellary District. Coins disclose the existence of a few other Kings of the line who must be assigned to the latest Sātavāhana period. Sātavāhana rule in the Kṛishṇā, Guṇṭūr and Bellary districts was eventually supplanted by the Ikshvākus¹ and the Pallavas.²

c19.s2.t1.5

² The earliest reference to the Ābhīras to which an approximate date can be assigned is that contained in the *Mahābhāshya* of Patañjali. The *Mahābhāshya* as well as the *Mahābhārata* connects them with the Śūdras—the Sodrai of Alexander's historians. Their country—Abiria—finds mention in the *Periplus* and the geography of Ptolemy. In the third quarter of the second century A. D., Ābhīra chieftains figured as generals of the Śaka rulers of Western India. Shortly afterwards a chief named Jśvaradatta, probably an Ābhīra, became *Mahākshatrapa*. His relation to the Abhīra king Mādharīputra Iśvara Sena, son of Śiva Datta, remains doubtful. But some scholars are inclined to identify the two chiefs. It is also suggested that this dynasty of Iśvara Sena is identical with the Traikūṭaka line of Aparānta, and that the establishment of the Traikūṭaka era in A.D. 248 marks the date at which the Abhīras succeeded the Sātavāhanas in the Government of Northern Mahārāshṭra and the adjoining region. The last known rulers of the Traikūṭaka line were Indradatta, his son Dahrasena (455-56 A. D.), and his son Vyāghrasena (489-90), after whom the kingdom seems to have been conquered by the Vākāṭaka king Harisheṇa.

c19.s2.t1.6

¹ The Berar (Akola) group includes certain princes, not included in the Purāṇic lists, *e.g.*, Srī Kumbha Sātakarṇi, Srī Karṇa Sātakarṇi (unless he is identified with the so-called Svātikarṇa, the fourteenth king of Pargiter's list) and Srī Saka Sātakarṇi (Mirashi, *J. Num. Soc.*, II, 1940). Mirashi thinks that the real name of the so-called Kṛishṇa (II) of the Chanda hoard was Karṇa. Among kings of uncertain identity mention may be made of Śrī Śivamaka Sāta of the Amarāvatī inscription and Māṭharīputra Śrī Sāta of Kanheri.

c19.s2.t1.7

² Mirashi, *Journal of the Nums. Soc. of India*, II (1940), p. 90. The only clear letters are *ya-Sātakaṇi*. The ascription to Vijaya must be regarded as tentative.

c19.s2.t1.8

¹ The *Ikshvākus* are known from inscriptions discovered on the ruins of the Jagayyapeta *stūpa* in the Kṛishṇā District and also at Nāgārjunikoṇḍa and Gurzala in the Guṇṭūr district (Ep. Ind., 1929, 1f.; 1941, 123 f). They were matrimonially connected with the Kekayas, probably a ruling family of Ancient Mysore (Dubreuil, *AHD*, pp. 88, 101). The most well-known rulers of the Ikshvāku family of the Eastern Deccan are Chāṁtamūla, Śrī-Vīra-Purusha-datta, Ehuvala Chāṁtamūla II and possibly 'Rulupurisadāta' (Ep. Ind., xxvi. 125). The Ikshvākus were succeeded by the "Ānanda" kings of Guṇṭūr, the Bṛihat-phalāyanas of Kudurāhāra (near Masulipatam), the Śālaṅkāyanas of Veṅgī (*cf.* IA, 5. 175 and the Salakenoi of Ptolemy), and the Vishṇukuṇḍins of Leṇḍulura (near Veṅgī).

c19.s2.t1.9

² The *Pallavas*—a people of unknown origin, claiming descent from Aśvatthāman and Nāga princesses, are the most important of all the dynasties that succeeded the Sātavāhanas in the Far South. The claim of descent from Brāhmaṇas of the Bharadvāja *gotra*, the performance of the *Aśvamedha* and patronage of Sanskrit learning, connect the dynasty with the Śuṅgas, while the Brāhmaṇa-Nāga connection, (*cf. Saṁkīrṇa-jāti*, *Brahma-kshatra*, *SII*, Vol. xii, Nos. 7, 48) the performance of Vedic sacrifices including the horse-sacrifice, early association with the Sātavāhana Janapada in the Bellary district and the use of *Prākṛita* in their early records, connect the family with the Sātavāhanas. There is no question of any Parthian affinity as the genealogical lists of the family are singularly devoid of Parthian nomenclature. The elephant's scalp used as a crown is no test of race. The well-known hostility of the family to the Cholas and the decidedly northern character of their culture preclude the possibility of a pure Tamil extraction. The first great Pallava king, Śiva-Skanda-varman, is known from the inscriptions found at Mayidavolu (in Guṇṭūr) and Hīrahaḍagalli (in Bellary) to have ruled over an extensive empire including Kāñchī, Andhrāpatha and Sātāhani *raṭṭha*, and performed the *Aśvamedha* sacrifice. About the middle of the fourth century A.D. the emperor Samudra Gupta invaded Southern India, defeated the reigning Pallava king, Vishṇugopa, and gave a severe blow to the power and prestige of the empire of Kāñchī which, in the long run, probably led to its disruption. The evidence of the Penukoṇḍa Plates, the Tālagunda inscription and the Hebbata grant (IHQ, 1927, 434) seems to suggest that the Pallava supremacy continued for some time to be acknowledged by the early Gaṅgas of Anantapura and East Mysore and the early Kadambas of Vaijayantī (Banavāsi) and Mahisha-Vishaya (Mysore). The history of the Pallavas
* Kings marked with asterisks may have been identical. But this is by no means certain. The settlement of early Pallava genealogy and chronology must still await future discoveries.

Linked texts (6)