A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c11: Chapter VI. The Sātavāhanas and Their Successors
A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c11
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Chapter VI. The Sātavāhanas and Their Successors
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Duration and area of Sātavāhana rule—Sātavāhanas and Andhras—rise and expansion of the Sātavāhana power—Hāla—Śaka conquests—Sātavāhana revival under Gautamīputra Śātakarṇi and his son—Yajña Śātakarṇi—later Sātavāhanas—Sātavāhana polity—society—cities—ports—trade—religion.
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Successors of the Sātavāhanas—Ābhīras—Chuṭus—Ikshvākus and their administration—Brihatphalāyanas—Pallavas and their adminstrative system.
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The Sālankāyanas—Māṭharas of Kalinga—Vishṇukuṇḍins—kings of the Ānanda gōtra.
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The Vākāṭakas of Berar—the Kadambas of Banavāsi—the Gangas of Gangavāḍi.
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IN the Deccan, the Mauryan empire was followed by the rule of the Sātavāhanas, which lasted for four and a half centuries from about 230 B.C. At its greatest extent the Sātavāhana empire covered the whole of the Deccan and spread far into Northern India, perhaps even as far as Magadha. Its collapse followed ultimately upon long wars against the Śakas of Gujarat in the first and second centuries A.D. By the beginning of the third century the empire had virtually disappeared, giving place to a number of minor independent dynasties.
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The dynasty (*kula*) of the Sātavāhanas is doubtless identical with the Andhras or Andhrabhrityas in the purānic lists of kings. They were called Andhras because they were of Andhra origin (*jāti*) and their rule was probably confined to the Andhra country at the time the purānic lists were compiled. The other name, Andhrabhrityas (‘Andhra servants’), may imply that the ancestors of the royal Sātavāhanas were employed in the service of the Mauryan empire and thus moved into the western Deccan where they set up an independent state when that empire declined after Aśoka. Pliny mentions the Andhra territory in the eastern Deccan as including thirty walled towns, besides numerous villages, and as maintaining an army of 100,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry, and 1,000 elephants. Though the Purāṇas list thirty kings of the dynasty ruling all together over 460 years, it is very difficult, in the present state of our knowledge, to narrate their history in a connected form. The names of the earliest kings in the purānic lists figure also in inscriptions and on coins found in the western Deccan at Nasik, Karle and Naneghat. There is no trace of these early monarchs in the Andhra country on the east coast. Again, Khāravela of Kalinga states clearly that the territory of the Sātavāhana king Śātakarni lay to the west of his kingdom. From these facts we may conclude that the Sātavāhanas rose to power in the western Deccan, in the region round about Paithan (Pratishthāna) traditionally associated with them, and thence spread their empire in all directions. In the first instance they conquered north and south Mahārāshtra, eastern and western Malwa, and what is now Madhya Pradesh. In this task they were helped by the Rathikas and Bhojas who were duly rewarded with offices, titles and matrimonial alliances.
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The exact date of the foundation of Sātavāhana power cannot be determined, but the purānic lists suggest that the first king, Simuka, probably began to reign about 230 B.C. This suggestion is confirmed by the script of the Nasik inscription of the second king Kanha (Krishna) which has been assigned by Bühler to the times of the last Mauryas or the earliest Śungas, in the beginning of the second century B.C. According to Jain accounts Simuka (who ruled for 23 years) grew so wicked towards the end of his reign that he was dethroned and killed. He was succeeded by his brother Kanha (207-189 B.C.) who extended his kingdom to the west as far as Nasik if not farther. The third king was Śrī Śātakarni I, whose figure was sculptured in rilievo at Naneghat along with the figures of his father Simuka, his queen Nāganikā, a Mahārathi, and three princes. He conquered western Malwa, and an inscription of his queen records his performance of certain great sacrifices and the fees paid to the officiating priests, including tens of thousands of cows, thousands of horses, numbers of elephants, whole villages and huge sums of money (tens of thousands of kārshāpanas). Twice it appears that Śātakarni proclaimed his suzerainty by performing the horse-sacrifice, and the victory thus celebrated must have been at the expense of the Śungas, the imperial power of the North. In the drama Mālavikāgnimitra, Kālidāsa mentions a victory of the Śungas over the Andhras, which was doubtless an episode in the struggle which ended with the final victory of the Andhras. Coins and inscriptions indicate the progress of Sātavāhana power, first from Pratishthāna to Ujjain and then to Vidiśā. Sātakarni I may be the king mentioned in the Hāthigumpha inscription of Khāravela, but it is more likely that it refers to Sātakarni II, the seventh Andhra king who must have come to the throne about 172 B.C. Sātakarni I is described in the inscription of his queen as 'the Lord of Dakshināpatha' and as 'the wielder of the unchecked wheel' (apratihata-chakra). Sātakarni II enjoyed the longest reign, 56 years, and wrested Malwa from the Śungas. He was most probably the Sātakarni whom Khāravela of Kalinga defied in the second year of his reign by sending a large army of horse, elephant, foot-soldiers and chariots to the west. Two years later Khāravela claims to have humbled the Rathikas of the Maratha country and the Bhojas of Berar, both feudatories of the Andhra ruler of Pratishthāna. This challenge to the predominant power of the Deccan was apparently not pursued beyond the limit of safety. Sātakarni II may have extended his empire to Madhya Pradesh, as a coin of his successor Āpilaka has been found in the eastern half of that state. Hāla, the seventeenth Sātavāhana king (c. A.D. 20-24), is famous in literature as the compiler of Sattaśai (Saptaśatī), a collection of 700 erotic gāthas in the Āryā metre in Mahārāshtrī Prākrit. In its present form the work contains linguistic features of the second or third century A.D. or even later.
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The expansion of the Sātavāhanas received a check from a new power from the west. About 75 B.C., the Śakas of Seistan had occupied the Indus delta, known thereafter as Śakadvipa to Indian writers and as Indo-Scythia to Greek geographers. A legendary episode in the history of Ujjain may be taken to mark the beginnings of the long struggle between the Śakas and the Andhras, the varying fortunes of which can be traced clearly in the inscriptions of a slightly later time. The story is that the Jain saint Kālaka was insulted by King Gardabhilla of Ujjain and persuaded the Śakas to invade Ujjain and avenge his wrong. Gardabhilla was thus overthrown, but some years later his son Vikramāditya ('Sun of Valour') issued from Pratishthāna, repelled the invaders and founded an era in 57 B.C. to commemorate his victory. It is not improbable that these traditions have an historical basis connected with the history of the Andhras. But it is certain that the Śaka power in the west was finally destroyed by the Gupta ruler Chandragupta II (A.D. 380-414), also a Vikramāditya, and that legend has failed to distinguish the later Vikramāditya from his earlier namesake.
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The four immediate successors of Hāla had short reigns totalling less than a dozen years all together, an indication of a troubled time. About the same time the ‘western satraps’ (Śakas) came into prominence. Bhūmaka is the earliest of them, and Nahapāna the greatest conqueror. His rule extended over Gujarat, Kathiawar, northern Mahārāshtra, Konkan, and even parts of southern Mahārāshtra for a time. The Periplus states that the kingdom of Mambanus (Nahapāna) began with Ariake (Āryaka of Varāhamihira), and that the Greek ships coming into the Sātavāhana port of Kalyan were diverted to Barygaza (Broach). Nahapāna’s capital was Minnagara, perhaps Dohad, half-way between Ujjain and Broach. The expansion of Śaka power at the expense of the Sātavāhanas probably occurred in the period A.D. 40-80, about the time of the Periplus.
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Under Gautamīputra Śātakarṇi (c. A.D. 80-104), the Sātavāhana power revived. He is described as the destroyer of the Śakas, Pahlavas and Yavanas. He overthrew Nahapāna and restruck large numbers of his silver coins. From the Śakas he recovered northern Mahārāshtra and the Konkan, the Narmada valley and Saurāshtra, besides Malwa and western Rajputana. His empire extended to Vidarbha (Berar) and to Banavāsi in the south. There is no evidence of his rule in Andhradeśa, though it may have touched Kalinga. His achievements are recorded in glowing terms by his mother, Gautamī Balaśrī, in an inscription at Nasik engraved after his death in the nineteenth year of his son and successor Puḷumāyi II. This shows that the Śakas did not regain their lost possessions for some time. Coins of Puḷumāyi II who reigned for at least 24 years have been found in the Godāvari and Guntur districts and on the Coromandel coast as far south as Cuddalore. His preoccupations in the east gave the Śakas an opportunity to regain some of their lost territory in western Rajputana and Malwa (c. A.D. 126-31). In an effort to stay this reconquest Puḷumāyi’s successor, a Śātakarṇi, married the daughter of Mahākshatrapa Rudradāman. But this Śaka king defeated the next Sātavāhana ruler twice in ‘fair fight’ and took from him Aparānta (north Konkan) and Anūpa (the Narmada valley).
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Perhaps the best known Sātavāhana ruler is Śrī Yajna Śātakarni (c. A.D. 170-99). He must have renewed the struggle with the Śakas and recovered some of the provinces lost by his predecessors. His rare silver coins imitating the satrap coinage must have been struck for circulation in the newly-conquered western districts. Some of the potin coins he issued have been found in the Chanda district (Bombay), while many of bronze and lead have come to light in the eastern provinces. Others, bearing the figure of a ship, should also be referred to his reign and indicate that his power was not confined to the land. Also belonging to his reign are inscriptions found at Kanheri and Nasik in the west and at Chinna Ganjam in the east. As far as we know, Śrī Yajna was the last king to retain control of both the western and the eastern provinces.
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His successors were Vijaya, whose coins have been found in Akola in Bombay, Śrī Chandra, one of whose inscriptions is in Kalinga and whose coins have been picked up in the Godāvari and Krishna districts, and finally a Pulumāyi one of whose inscriptions has been found in Bellary district.
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The names of other Sātavāhana kings—Karna, Kumbha and Rudra Śātakarni who ruled over the eastern Deccan and Madhya Pradesh—are known from coins but are not included in the purānic list which was presumably compiled before their reigns began. Other princes of Sātavāhana extraction governed minor kingdoms in different parts of the Deccan, but nothing is known of the causes that brought about the downfall of the main dynasty.
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Despite the vast extent of the Sātavāhana empire its polity was simple and local administration was left largely to feudatories subject to the general control of royal officials. Kingship was hereditary in the male line though matronymics were freely prefixed to the names of kings and nobles. The king was the guardian of the established social order and was expected to raise taxes justly and to further the prosperity of the poor equally with the rich. Feudatories were of three grades: Rājas who struck coins in their own names; Mahābhojas and Mahārathis who were confined to a few families in the western Deccan—the latter being connected with the Sātavāhanas by marriage; and relatively late in the history of the empire was created the office of mahāsenāpati which continued under later dynasties. Some mahāsenāpatis were in charge of outlying provinces while others controlled departments at the centre. The state was divided into āharas (administrative divisions) each under a minister (amātya). Below these came the villages, each with its own headman (grāmika). Other officials named in the inscriptions are treasurers and stewards, goldsmiths and coiners, administrators (mahāmātras), record keepers, ushers, and ambassadors.
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In society new sub-castes were forming on an occupational basis, such as shepherds (golikas) and ploughmen (hālikas). More interesting is the total assimilation of foreigners, Śakas and Yavanas, either as Buddhists or as degraded Kshatriyas, many of them bearing such thoroughly Indian names as Dharmadeva, Rishabhadatta and Agnivarman. The Śaka Rishabhadatta, we read, made a pilgrimage to Pushkara on the river Barnāsa and presented cows and villages to Brahmins; but we do not hear of foreigners following Hindu practices in the western Deccan after the second century A.D. Gautamiputra, who is said to have destroyed the Śakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas, was evidently thorough in his work. Though nothing is said of the Yavanas in the eastern Deccan, it is certain that Graeco-Roman influences had a great share in fashioning the stupas at Amarāvati and other places in the Krishna valley, and Greek (yonaka) lamps are mentioned in an inscription from Allūru.
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That women were prominent in social life and held property in their own right is seen from records of their lavish charity mentioned in inscriptions. In sculptures we see them worshipping Buddhist emblems, taking part in assemblies and entertaining guests alongside of their husbands. Men vied with women in the scantiness of their dress and in the profusion of their ornaments. Even the cottage had its share of such comparative luxuries as jugs, jars, chairs, tables, stools, beds and other household furnishings of attractive design.
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Cities were protected by high walls, ramparts and gates which were often built of brick and mortar, gateways being surmounted by toraṇas as at Sānchi. Armies were led into battle by footsoldiers who carried short swords for offence, and protected themselves from the enemy's weapons with circular shields and bandages wound round their stomachs. The infantry was flanked by the cavalry and elephants, with bowmen in the rear. Long spears, battle-axes and mallets were also used. Cavalrymen and elephant-drivers, but not the foot-soldiers, wore turbans.
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The western and eastern coasts were studded with ports throbbing with trade. Ptolemy names several in ‘Maisolia’, the region between the deltas of the Godāvari and Krishna, and states that one of them was the starting-point of ships bound for ‘Golden Chryse’—the Malay peninsula and the eastern archipelago. In the western Deccan, Barygaza (Broach) was the most northern port, Sopara the most ancient, and Kalyan the largest. The market-towns of the interior, besides Paithan and Tagara, were Junnar, Karahātaka, Nasik and Vaijayanti; those of the eastern Deccan were less important: Dhānyakataka, Vijayapura and Narasela. Each group of traders—corn-dealers, braziers, weavers, florists, ironmongers and scribes—was organized into a guild. Each guild had an alderman (seṭhi) and its own office or guildhall (nigamasabhā), and acted as a bank, receiving deposits and lending out money. Imports included luxuries like wine, cloth of the finest texture, choice unguents, glass, storax and sweet clover. Exports were common cloth, cornelian, muslins and mallow cloth. The absence of roads hindered commerce as much as it was helped by the plentiful currency towards the end of the first century A.D. The eastern Deccan seems to have entered at this time upon a period of great industrial and commercial activity which reached its climax towards the end of the second century.
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Buddhism was well established by the third century B.C. and continued to flourish throughout the Sātavāhana period; indeed, the first two centuries of the Christian era constitute the most glorious epoch of Buddhism in the Deccan. The stupa of Amarāvatī was enlarged and embellished, and at Allūru, Gummadiduru, Ghantaśāla, Gudivāda and Goli new stupas were built or old ones enlarged. New caves were cut and additional benefactions made at Nasik, Karle, and Kanheri. In the inscriptions of the time appear the names of a number of sects as well as of monks of various grades of learning and eminence engaged in enlightening the faithful in the Law of the Master. Stupas, the sacred tree, the footprints of the Master, the triśūla emblem, the dharmachakra, relics and statues of the Buddha and other great teachers and of the Nāgarājas were all objects of worship. The sculptures of this time show men and women in states of ecstatic devotion rather than merely kneeling or perhaps prostrating themselves with joined hands before the objects of their devotion.
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Brahminism also flourished and most of the Sātavāhana rulers were devoted to it. The third king of the line performed a number of Vedic sacrifices and even named one of his sons Vediśri. Hāla's Saptaśati opens with a passage in adoration of Śiva. Gautamiputra Śātakarni was a great supporter of the Brahmins and tried to emulate the epic heroes Rāma, Keśava and Arjuna. The pantheon of Hinduism in this period included Indra, Vāsudeva, the sun and the moon, Śiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Ganeśa and Paśupati. Temples to Gauri are mentioned in the Saptaśati as also the vrata of fire and water.
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After its fall, the Sātavāhana empire was partitioned among the Ābhiras in the north-west, the Chutus in the South and the Ikshvākus in Andhradeśa. In Madhya Pradesh, descendants of the Sātavāhanas themselves continued to rule and the Pallavas rose to power in the south-east. Thus was broken the political unity of the Deccan which had lasted for about six centuries from the time of the Nandas.
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The Ābhiras were certainly foreigners and are mentioned in the Mahābhāshya. In the second century A.D., they figure as generals under the Śaka satraps of western India. The Purānas state that ten Ābhiras succeeded the Sātavāhanas and ruled for 67 years. An inscription from Nasik speaks of king Mādhariputa Iśvarasena, the Ābhira, and a son of Śivadatta. The record has much in common with Sātavāhana inscriptions, including the manner of its dating. Iśvarasena was perhaps the founder of the dynasty about which nothing more is known than that in A.D. 249-50 it originated an era called Kalachuri or Chedi in later times.
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As little is known of the Chutus who ruled in Mahārāshtra and Kuntala. The names of certain kings of the line are known from coins found in the North Kanara and Chitaldrug districts of Mysore, and from inscriptions in Kanheri, Banavāsi and Malavalli. Lead coins with the horse device and inscribed with the name Hāriti (a part of the name of the Chutus) have come from the Anantapur and Cuddapah districts. Some historians consider the Chutus to be a branch of the Sātavāhanas, while others postulate a Nāga origin for them. They were supplanted by the Kadambas.
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The Ikshvākus ruled over the Krishna-Guntur region. The Purānas call them Śrīpārvatīyas—rulers of Śrīparvata and Andhrabhrityas (‘Servants of the Andhras’). Though seven kings are said to have ruled for 57 years in all, only a few are known by name from inscriptions. Originally they were feudatories of the Sātavāhanas and bore the title mahātalavara. Vāsiṭhiputa Siri Chāntamūla, the founder of the line, performed the aśvamedha and vājapeya sacrifices. The reign of his son Virapurisadāta formed a glorious epoch in the history of Buddhism and in diplomatic relations. He took a queen from the Śaka family of Ujjain and gave his daughter in marriage to a Chutu prince. Almost all the royal ladies were Buddhists: an aunt of Virapurisadāta built a big stupa at Nāgārjunikonda for the relics of the great teacher, besides apsidal temples, vihāras and mandapas. Her example was followed by other women of the royal family and by women generally as we know from a reference to one Bodhisiri, a woman citizen. The last known member of the line is Ehuvula Chāntamūla, whose reign witnessed the completion of a devivihāra, a stupa and two apsidal temples. We hear also of a Sihala vihāra, a convent founded either by a Sinhalese, or, more probably, for the accommodation of Sinhalese monks; and a Chaitya-ghara (Chaitya hall) was dedicated to the fraternities (theriyas) of Tambapanni (Ceylon). Ceylonese Buddhism was thus in close touch with that of the Andhra country. The sculptures of Nāgārjunikonda, which include large figures of the Buddha, show decided traces of Greek influence and Mahāyāna tendencies, but do not depict the crowds of devotees that characterized the monuments of the preceding century.
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In administration and social life, the Sātavāhana tradition was continued, although signs of change are not wanting. The titles of officials, for example, continued to be the same as in the Sātavāhana period, but the duties of several were often combined in one individual; and while matronymics continued to be employed, patronymics are also mentioned. The slightly later Kadamba practice of bearing matronymics and the patronymic gōtra is in the line of development from Sātavāhana to Pallava practice. Āharas came to be called rāshtras, and the title Rāja gave place to the more impressive Mahārāja.
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In the Andhra country the Ikshvākus were followed by kings of the Brihatphalāyana gōtra, only one of whom—Jayavarman—is known by name, from the solitary surviving copper-plate grant of the line. His kingdom was divided into āharas, each under an executive officer, vāpatam (vyāprita). This grant may be said to start the series of brahmadeyas, or gifts to Brahmins, which increase in number and importance through the centuries and confirm the decline of both Buddhism and Jainism.
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The Pallavas, in the south-east of the former Sātavāhana empire, made Kāñchipuram their capital. A foreign, Pahlava, origin has often been postulated for them, and this seems to gain some support from the crown, recalling that of the Indo-Greek king Demetrius, in the shape of an elephant's scalp, offered to Nandivarman II on the occasion of his being chosen for the throne; but on a broad view they appear—like the Kadambas and even the Chutus before them—to have been a dynasty of North Indian origin which moved to the South and there adapted local traditions to their own use. Thus Sātakarṇi of the Chutu dynasty, ruler of Banavāsi, worshipped at and endowed the shrine of the god of Malavalli, and the Kadamba king who succeeded him did likewise. A little later the Kadamba line began to declare its devotion to the kadamba tree and to Svāmi Mahāsena (i.e. Subrahmanya) whom Tamil tradition regarded as dwelling in the kadamba tree. In the same manner, Pallava, as the name of the dynasty of Kāñchipuram, must be taken to be the Prākrit-Sanskrit rendering of toṇḍai, the name of the land and its rulers as well as of a creeper.
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Pallava history opens with three copper-plate grants, all in Prākrit and all dating from the time of Skandavarman, the earliest when he was yuvarāja, the others after he had become king. He belonged to the Bhāradvāja gōtra, performed the agnishtōma, vājapeya and aśvamedha sacrifices and bore the title ‘Supreme King of Kings devoted to dharma’. In his time Kāñchipuram was the capital and his kingdom extended up to the Krishna in the north and the Arabian Sea in the west. The steps by which this empire was built up cannot now be traced. A ninth-century tradition affirms that Virakūrcha, an early Pallava king of great fame, seized the insignia of royalty together with the daughter of the Nāga king. This may be an echo of the Pallava conquest of the Chutus who, as we have seen, ruled the west for a time after the dissolution of the Sātavāhana empire. We do not know the name of Skandavarman's father, but obviously Skandavarman was not the first Pallava ruler of Kāñchi. The title *yuvarāja* makes that clear enough; but at present we have no certain knowledge of his predecessors, although among them was, perhaps, Simhavarman, a king mentioned in a Prākrit stone inscription recently discovered in the Guntur district. His successors were a son, Buddhavarman, who was *yuvarāja* and his son Buddhyankura by his queen Chārudevi. All the three charters of Skandavarman's time may be taken to belong to the latter part of the third century A.D. In this period other princes of the royal family besides the *yuvarāja* took an active part in the administration, in which many officials with specific duties in different territorial divisions or state departments were employed. The designations of these officials, and other administrative details, can all be gathered from inscriptions.
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The Pallavas were followers of the Brahminical religion and made gifts of land to gods and Brahmins in the belief that they would thereby secure health, prosperity and victory in war.
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The total darkness that follows the records of Skandavarman's time is broken only by a streak of light in the account of Samudragupta's invasion of the South, given in his Allahabad pillar inscription of about the middle of the fourth century A.D. From this it is evident that he did battle with his opponent Vishnugopa, the ruler of Kāñchi, somewhere north of this city and never, in fact, reached the Pallava capital. Another of his opponents, Ugrasena of Palakka ruling somewhere in the Nellore district, was probably a feudatory of Vishnugopa.
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The next stage in the annals of Pallava rule is represented by ten copper-plate charters and a fragment of another charter, all of them in Sanskrit; some of them, however, are suspect. They are all dated in the regnal years of the kings. For absolute chronology, therefore, we depend on a Śaka date in the Jain manuscript *Lokavibhāga*. This work on cosmology was finished on the equivalent of the 25th of August 458 in the twenty-second year of Simhavarman's reign. This date receives confirmation from the Ganga charters and enables us to construct the following genealogical table for the Pallavas.
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Kumāravishnu I (325-50)
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Skandavarman (350-75)
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Viravarman (375-400)
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Skandavarman II (400-36)
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| . . . . .
| | |
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Simhavarman I Yuvamahārāja Kumāravishnu II (436-60) Vishnugopavarman I
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Skandavarman III Simhavarman II Buddhavarman (460-80) (480-500)
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Nandivarman Vishnugopavarman II Kumāravishnu III
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The charters on which this table is based only record grants, so that the political history of the Pallavas from 325-500 is almost a blank. All we can deduce, therefore, is that Vishnugopa, the opponent of Samudragupta, was a contemporary and perhaps brother of Kumāravishnu I, while Yuvamahārāja Vishnugopavarman I probably did not live to reign as king, and Simhavarman II must have had a very prosperous reign as he is known to have issued a large number of grants; but what happened after his death is by no means clear. Simhavarman, the father of Simhavishnu, who started the best-known line of Pallava rulers towards the end of the sixth century A.D., finds no place in this genealogy and thus leaves another gap in the line of succession which cannot be bridged.
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We can say, however, that the Pallava administrative system made a further advance at this time. The king adopted the additional title of bhaṭṭāraka, the heir-apparent had a recognized position, as yuvamahārāja, and the other princes continued to be employed on state affairs. Different classes of district officers are listed, though the exact nature of their functions is not known. There is evidence of strong military and police organizations and labour may have been conscripted by force. The manufacture of salt, and sometimes of sugar, was a royal monopoly, and villages were expected to maintain the king's officers free of charge when they were on tour. On the other hand, exemption of taxation was allowed on all gifts of land to Brahmins who were held, in theory at any rate, to be entitled to a total of eighteen such immunities. This is a continuation and development of Sātavāhana practice for the Pallava kings also followed the Brahminical religion, worshipped Śiva and Vishnu and performed sacrifices.
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The obscure but extensive political revolution in which the Kalabhras overthrew all the established dynasties of Southern India affected the Pallava kingdom also. The next stage of Pallava history therefore opens with the subjugation of the Kalabhras by Simhavishnu at the close of the sixth century.
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At this point, however, we shall go back to the Andhra country. Another opponent of Samudragupta was Hastivarman (c. 350), ruler of Vengi which may be identified with Peddavegi, near Ellore, in the Krishna district. Hastivarman’s family, known to historians as the Sālankāyanas from the gōtra to which it belonged, must have risen to power at the expense of the Brihatphalāyanas and possibly also of the Pallavas. The earliest known member of the dynasty is Devavarman whose father was evidently an independent king as he was given the title bhaṭṭāraka. Devavarman certainly ruled before Hastivarman, but the relationship between the two princes is not known. His only extant inscription is dated by the month and tithi (lunar day), a practice followed by later dynasties but different from the older Sātavāhana method of mentioning the particular fortnight of one of the three seasons into which the year was divided.
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Hastivarman was not much affected when Samudragupta invaded his territory. At the time the eastern Deccan was cut up into a number of minor kingdoms, among them Kosala, comprising the modern districts of Bilaspur, Raipur, Sambalpur and part of Ganjam; Kurāla, the region around lake Colair; two small kingdoms in the Ganjam district with capitals at Koṭṭūra and Erandapalla; two more in the Godāvari district with Pishtapura and Avamukta as capitals; Devarāshtra (i.e. Elamanchili) in the Viśākhapatnam district, and kingdoms with Palakka and Kusthalapura as capitals. We have little definite knowledge of the political position of these Southern states or of their relations with one another.
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Hastivarman was succeeded by his son Nandivarman I (c. 375). His kingdom included the vishaya of Kudrahāra on both sides of the Krishna river. The part that lay to the south was subsequently conquered by the Pallavas who named it Vengirāshtra. Nandivarman I was followed on the throne by his son Hastivarman II; then came Skandavarman son of Hastivarman II; Skanda was followed by Chandavarman, the second son of Nandivarman I, and the latter by his son Nandivarman II (c. 430), the last known king of the line.
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Like the Pallavas the Sālankāyanas had the bull crest, but there is little else to show definitely that the two dynasties were closely related or that on that account the Sālankāyanas were left unmolested by their more powerful neighbours in the South. The Sālankāyana administrative system had much in common with that of the contemporary Pallavas. The village headman was called *mutuḍa*, or alderman, a title that does not occur elsewhere. The tutelary deity of the dynasty was the sun god and they worshipped Śiva or Vishnu in addition. Their charters bear a close resemblance in their script to the earliest inscriptions of the Hindu colonies of Indo-China and Malaysia, and there is good reason to hold that the Telugu country took a prominent part in the movement of colonization abroad.
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In Kalinga the period following Samudragupta's invasion is taken up by the rule of a line of kings who belonged to the Māṭhara kula. Seven kings bearing names ending with *varman* are known, from their copper-plate grants, although their genealogy is not forthcoming. Pishtapura, Simhapura, and Vardhamānapura are among the places from which grants were issued. Though some of the kings used matronymics and adopted the antique Sātavāhana mode of dating their records, in other respects they clearly mark a transition to the records of a later time. The language of the inscriptions is Sanskrit and the kings called themselves Kalingādhipatis and Paramamāheśvaras. Roughly, the period of their rule extended from 375 to 500 when they were succeeded by the Gangas in north Kalinga, south Kalinga becoming part of Vengi.
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In Vengi the Sālankāyanas were followed by the Vishnukundins who had Śrīparvatasvāmi ('Lord of Śrīparvata') for their family deity. The genealogy of this line has been the subject of much difference of opinion but without entering into details the best view of the whole matter may be presented as follows:
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Mādhavavarman I (440-60)
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Devavarman
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Mādhavavarman (48 years)
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Vikramendravarman I (460-80)
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Indra-bhaṭṭāraka (480-515)
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Vikramendra II (515-35)
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Govindavarman (535-56)
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Mādhavavarman II (556-616)
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Manchana-bhaṭṭāraka
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Mādhavavarman I is reputed to have performed eleven aśvamedhas and countless agniṣṭōmas, but we need not take this literally for the same is also said of Mādhavavarman II (556-616). Mādhavavarman I's queen must have been a Vākāṭaka princess for we read that his son Vikramendra I belonged to the families of Vishnukundi and Vākāṭaka. Indra-bhaṭṭāraka was victor in many fights, on one occasion overwhelming a kinsman—probably Mādhavavarman of the collateral line, lord of Trikūta. He also came into conflict with the eastern Ganga Indravarman and enlarged his kingdom at his expense. Govindavarman had the title Vikramāśraya (‘Refuge of Valour’), and his son Mādhavavarman II was probably the greatest monarch of his line and became the centre of many popular legends in later times. He had the title Janāśraya (‘Refuge of the People’) and performed a hiraṇyagarbha. Hostilities with the Gangas seem to have continued throughout his reign and he is said to have crossed the Godāvari to conquer the eastern region. The Vishnukundins were still ruling the Vengi country and its neighbourhood at the time of the invasion of the eastern Deccan, at the beginning of the seventh century, by the Chālukya ruler of Bādāmi, Pulakeśin II.
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Between the kingdom of the Vishnukundins in the north and that of the Pallavas in the south there rose, early in the sixth century, a small kingdom ruled by kings of the Ānanda gōtra. The first of the line was Kandara who gave his daughter in marriage to a Pallava prince and who, after sharp battles with the Vishnukundins on the banks of the Krishna, wrested from them the title ‘Lord of Trikūtaparvata’. His kingdom was nevertheless small, probably comprising no more than the modern taluks of Guntur and Tenali. Other kings of the line were Dāmodaravarman, whose father performed many sacrifices, Attivarman and Kandara's grandson whose name is not known but who has left at Chezarla a stone inscription which may be assigned to the last quarter of the sixth century. The capital of the kingdom, Kandarapura, is mentioned in inscriptions and must have been founded by king Kandara. The kings of this house were generally Śaivites, though Dāmodaravarman was a Buddhist; and whatever their own predilections may have been they patronized all sects impartially.
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The Vākāṭakas of Madhya Pradesh held an important place in the politics and culture of the land in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. They had notable diplomatic and matrimonial relationships with all the great contemporary royal families like the imperial Guptas, the Vishnukundins and the Kadambas. They made substantial additions to the famous gallery of cave temples and paintings at Ajanta.
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The name of the Vākāṭakas has been connected by some historians with the little village of Bagat in Bundelkhand, while others are inclined to treat it as of Andhra origin. They rose to power at a time when the last of the Sātavāhanas had ceased to rule in Madhya Pradesh and the Śaka satraps had exhausted themselves by their long struggles with the Sātavāhanas. The Purāṇas mention Vindhyaśakti as their founder and Purikā in ‘Berar’ as their early capital, and also testify to the expansion of their power north of the Vindhyas as far as Vidiśā. This rise of the Vākāṭakas may be placed in the last quarter of the third century A.D.
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The son and successor of Vindhyaśakti was Pravarasena I (c. 280-340) who made extensive conquests in all directions and was the only king of the dynasty to bear the title samrāṭ (emperor). He had four sons whom he set over the newly-conquered provinces. The eldest, Gautamiputra, died before his father. Another, Sarvasena, ruled over southern Berar and the north-western part of ‘Hyderabad’. In the west the absence of the title of Mahākshatrapa among the Śaka rulers between 304 and 345, and the total cessation of coinage between 332 and 348, suggest the extension of Vākāṭaka power over the Śaka dominions. Pravarasena I celebrated his victories by performing several sacrifices—four aśvamedhas and a vājapeya. When Rudrasena I (340-65), son of Gautamiputra, succeeded his grandfather, his uncles, who were viceroys, proclaimed their independence. He overcame two of them with the help of his maternal grandfather Bhavanāga of the Bhāraśiva family ruling in Padmāvati in central India, but the house of Sarvasena continued its independent rule.
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Rudrasena was more fortunate in his relations with the Guptas and the conquests of Samudragupta did not affect him. The Śakas succeeded in improving their position and reviving the title of Mahākshatrapa from 346. Rudrasena's son, Prithvisheṇa I (365-90), assisted the house of Sarvasena in its conquest of a part of Kuntala or southern Mahārāshtra. A greater event of his reign was the marriage of his son Rudrasena II with Prabhāvati-guptā, daughter of Chandragupta II. The alliance was probably meant to strengthen the position of the Guptas in the execution of their plans against the Śakas; but Rudrasena II died prematurely after a reign of five years leaving two minor sons. The widowed Gupta princess became regent, and uncles of the collateral branch ruling at Bāsim did not venture to oppose the arrangement. It was during her regency that Gujarat and Kathiawar were conquered by Chandragupta II, Prabhāvati-guptā offering considerable help to her father. After she had been regent for 13 years, her elder son Divākarasena died and she held the regency on behalf of the younger son Dāmodarasena (later Pravarasena II) till 410. Pravarasena II (410-45) was a man of peace, more devoted to literature and the arts than to war. A worshipper of Vishnu, he composed the Prākrit poem Setubandha, said to have been revised by Kālidāsa, describing the most famous exploits of Rāma. He also founded a new capital at Pravarapura to which he moved in the second half of his reign. The crown prince, Narendrasena, married a Kadamba princess—the daughter of Kakusthavarman.
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Narendrasena (445-65) was beset by difficulties at the beginning of his reign. The Nala king Bhavadattavarman ruling in Bastar state invaded the Vākātaka kingdom and for a time his victory seemed to be complete. Narendrasena, however, soon recovered his strength and turned the tables on the enemy, even though his grand-uncle Kumāragupta was in no position to help him on account of the danger to his own empire from the Hūnas. Malwa, Mekalā and Kosala also passed under the rule of Narendrasena for a time. His son, Prithvisheṇa II, the last known king of the main line, had to retrieve the fortunes of his family twice. His opponents were very probably the Nalas, and possibly, the Traikūṭakas of southern Gujarat.
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The history of the collateral Bāsim branch may now be briefly noticed. Sarvasena was succeeded by his son Vindhyasena or Vindhyaśakti who conquered southern Mahārāshtra with the aid of Prithvisheṇa I of the main line. His son was Pravarasena II who, after a reign of fifteen years, left on the throne a minor son of eight who had a long and peaceful reign. His son Devasena (c. 460-80) was a pleasure-seeker who left the government of the state to a minister named Hastibhoja, and was succeeded by his son Harisheṇa (c. 480-515). He was the most powerful ruler of the line and succeeded Prithvisheṇa II in the main kingdom as well. His Ajanta record shows that he extended his rule over Gujarat, Malwa, southern Kosala and the Kuntala provinces, thus extending the boundaries of the empire wider even than under Pravarasena I. The fall of the Vākāṭakas occurred between 515 and 550, during which period Chhattisgarh was lost to the Somavaṁśis, southern Mahārāshtra to the Kadambas, northern Mahārāshtra to the Kalachuris, and Malwa and the northern part of Madhya Pradesh to Yaśodharman. Finally the Chālukyas of Bādāmi completed their overthrow (c. 550).
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From the middle of the fourth century, the Kadambas rose to power in the south-west Deccan as a result of the Pallavas' weakened position after Samudragupta's invasion of the South. The earliest Kadamba inscription is in the Prākrit language and is found engraved on a pillar below a shorter record of the Chutus. The Kadambas were a Brahmin family which derived its descent from Hāriti and belonged to the Mānavya gōtra. They were devoted to the study of the Vedas and the performance of Vedic sacrifices. The Kadamba king Mayūraśarman entered the ghatikā (college) at Kāñchipuram with the intention of studying the entire Veda; but a fierce quarrel with a mounted Pallava guard encouraged him to forsake the scholar's cell for the battlefield. He overpowered the Pallava frontier-officials and entrenched himself in the dense forests round about Śrīparvata after levying tribute from the Brihadbāṇas and other subordinates of the Pallavas. He continually harassed the Pallava forces sent against him and peace only came when they recognized his sovereignty over all land between the western sea and Preharā (by which, perhaps is meant the Tungabhadra or Malaprabha). A short stone inscription in Prākrit from Chandravalli mentions in relation to Mayūraśarman a tank, and the names of Ābhira, Sakasthāna, Sayindaka, Punnāṭa and Mokari, among others; the import of the record is by no means clear.
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The genealogy of the Kadambas of this period with an approximate indication of chronology is given below:
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Mayūraśarman (345-60)
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Kangavarman (360-85)
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Bhagīratha (385-410)
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| . . . . .
| |
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Raghu (410-25) Kakusthavarman (425-50)
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| . . . . .
| | |
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Śantivarman (450-75) Kumāravarman Krishnavarman I
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Mrigeśavarman (470-88) Māndhātrivarman |
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Vishnuvarman Devavarman
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Ravivarman Bhānuvarman Śivaratha Simhavarman
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| Krishnavarman II (550-65)
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Harivarman | (538-50) Ajavarman
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Later legend credited Mayūravarman, as he then came to be called, with the performance of eighteen horse-sacrifices and the distribution of many villages among Brahmins, but the early inscriptions of the dynasty say nothing about this. Vākāṭaka Vindhyasena of the Bāsim branch is said to have conquered Kuntala, and his invasion was resisted with a fair measure of success by Kangavarman. Vaijayanti (Banavāsi) was the capital of the Kadambas, and Pālāśikā (Hālsi) a secondary capital. Kakusthavarman was one of the great rulers of the line. He had a prosperous reign and his daughters married into many important royal families, including the Guptas. His son Śantivarman was a ruler of great fame and much personal charm. He is said to have worn three crowns and ‘attracted to himself the prosperity of his enemies’. During his reign danger threatened from the Pallavas; and the situation was met by transferring control in the southern districts to his younger brother, Krishnavarman. This amounted to a virtual division of the kingdom, as is seen from the latter's performance of a horse-sacrifice—never undertaken by a subordinate ruler. The war with the Pallavas cost Krishnavarman his life, besides ruining the principality of the Kekayas, the homeland of his queen. His son Vishnuvarman had to accept investiture from the Pallavas. The Pallava rulers concerned were Nānakāsa and Śāntivara, names otherwise unknown. Mrigeśavarman, the son and successor of Śāntivarman, fought successful wars against the Gangas and Pallavas. Besides being an expert rider of horses and elephants, he was a scholar who built and endowed liberally a Jain temple in Pālāsikā to the memory of his father.
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Ravivarman killed Vishnuvarman and other kings in battle, and occupied Pālāsikā after driving out Chandadanda, ‘Lord of Kāñchī’, a title which here seems to mean only ‘a Pallava’ and not necessarily ‘ruler of Kāñchī’. Most probably Chandadanda belonged to the same branch of the Pallavas as Śāntivara who anointed Vishnuvarman. The successes of Ravivarman restored the original unity and extent of the Kadamba kingdom.
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His successor was Harivarman (538-50). He was a man of peace in whose reign the Kadambas lost the northern half of their empire, and Pulakeśin I established the Chālukya power in 545 by erecting a strong hill fortress in Bādāmi. The Kadambas were by no means a strong or united power, and the feud between the elder and the younger branches was revived by Krishnavarman II who actually undertook an expedition against Vaijayantī which put an end to the reign of Harivarman, the last known ruler of the elder branch. Either Krishnavarman II himself or his son Ajavarman must have been ruling Banavāsi at the time of its conquest by the Chālukya Kirtivarman, son of Pulakeśin I.
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In between the territory of the Kadambas in the west and the Pallavas in the east lay the kingdom of the Gangas in the southern part of the modern Mysore territory which came to be known as Gangavādi by its long association with Ganga rule. Early Ganga history has been much obscured by legend and by an unusually large number of spurious copper-plate grants. According to the authentic contemporary inscriptions, the first ruler, Konganivarma, belonged to the Jāhnaveya kula, the family of the Gangas, and the Kāṇvāyana gōtra. He distinguished himself in many battles and carved out a prosperous kingdom for himself. His title ‘Dharma Mahādhirāja’ implies independent status in the beginning, but the Gangas soon lost their position and throughout their long history were compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty of one or other of the greater dynasties of South India. Koṅgaṇivarman may be placed about 400. The name of his capital is not given in the inscriptions, though later tradition first locates it at Kuvalāla, modern Kolar, and afterwards at Talakād, nearer the hostile frontier of the Kadambas against whom, in company with the Pallavas, he waged war at this date.
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Koṅgaṇivarman's son and successor was Mahādhirāja Mādhava I (c. 425). He was a clever politician to whom later tradition attributes the authorship of a commentary on the Dattakasūtra, a treatise on erotics. The next ruler was his son Ayyavarman (c. 450), a great warrior who was also proficient in the śāstras, itihāsas and Purāṇas. He was anointed by the Pallava Simhavarman I of Kāñchi, possibly because he sought support from the Pallava ruler in a dispute for the throne with his younger brother, Krishnavarman. He is called Harivarman in later inscriptions which credit him with the removal of the capital to Talakād. The disputed succession was evidently settled by a virtual division of the kingdom between the two brothers, both of whom named their sons Simhavarman in recognition of their political relation to the Pallava ruler. This division seems to have continued under their sons and successors Mādhava II, alias Simhavarman, and another Simhavarman. The former was anointed by Pallava Skandavarman and married a sister of Kadamba Krishnavarman I. According to later grants, Avinīta, the child of this union, was anointed successor to the throne while still a baby (c. 500). The genealogy of the Gangas may then be represented as follows:
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Koṅgaṇivarman (400)
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Mādhava I (425)
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| . . . . .
| |
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Ayyavarman (450) Krishnavarman (450)
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Mādhava II, Simhavarman Viravarman alias Simhavarman (475) (475) yuvarāja
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Avinīta (500)
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The social, administrative and religious conditions that prevailed in the Kadamba and Ganga kingdoms were very much the same as those in the contemporary Pallava kingdom.
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K. GOPALACHARI: *Early History of the Andhra Country* (Madras, 1941) G. JOUVEAU-DUBREUIL: *Ancient History of the Deccan* (Pondicherry, 1920) K. A. N. SASTRI: *The New History of the Indian People*, Vol. VI, ch. xii, ‘South India’ (Lahore, 1946 ; Banaras, 1954) D. C. SIRCAR: *Successors of the Sātavāhanas* (Calcutta, 1939)
Linked texts (7)
- Setubandha — Pravarasena II, Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit
- Gāhāsattasaī — Hāla, Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit
- Mālavikāgnimitra — Kālidāsa, Sanskrit
- Dattakasūtra — Dattaka, Sanskrit
- Sāñcī
- Badami
- Ajanta