Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c19.s2.t3.1

c19.s2.t3.1

In the days of the great Gautamīputra, son of Bala Śrī, Banavāsi or Vaijayantī (Kanara) seems to have been the capital of an imperial province under an *amātya* named Śivagupta. By an obscure transition the sovereignty of the territory passed into the hands of a family, possibly styled Chuṭu in inscriptions,¹ whose connection with the Sātavāhana-Śātakarṇis is not known. The evidence of the Myakadoni inscription and notices in the *Kāmasūtra* of Vātsyāyana, the *Gāthāsaptaśatī* and the *Kāvya Mīmāṁsā*, probably suggest that a group of **Sātavāhanas** preceded the so-called Chuṭu *kula* in Kuntala or the Kanarese country. Some of them were great patrons of Prākrit learning. The most famous amongst them was Hāla. Another king of the group was Kuntala Sātakarṇi, mentioned in the *Kāmasūtra* whom the Purāṇas regard as a predecessor of Hāla. The **Chuṭu line** is represented by Hārītīputra Vishṇukaḍa-Chuṭu kulānanda Śātakarṇi, *Rājā* of Vaijayantīpura, and his daughter's son Śiva-Skandanāga Śrī who is identified by Rapson with Skandanāga Sātaka of a Kanheri Inscription, and also with Hārītīputra Śiva-[Skanda]-varman, lord of Vaijayantī, mentioned in a Malavalli record (in the Shimoga district of Mysore). The last identification seems to be doubtful as the mother and daughter of Vishṇukaḍa could hardly have belonged to the same *gotra*. Hāritīputra Śivavarman was apparently succeeded by the Kadambas.¹