The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c24.s2.4

c24.s2.4

Vasudeva seized the throne rendered vacant by his crime, and was succeeded by three of his descendants. The whole dynasty, comprising four reigns, covers a period of only forty-five years.¹ The figures indicate, as in the case of the Śuṅgas, that the times were disturbed, and that succession to the throne was often effected by violent means. Nothing whatever is known about the reigns of any of the Kāṇva kings.² The last of them was slain about 28 or 27 B. C. by a king of the Āndhra or Sātavāhana dynasty, which at that time possessed wide dominions stretching across the tableland of the Deccan from sea to sea. Although no coins or monuments connecting the Āndhra kings with Pāṭaliputra, the ancient imperial capital, have yet been discovered, it is possible that they may have controlled the kingdom of Magadha for a time. The most ancient coins of the dynasty at present known are of northern type, and bear the name of Sāta, probably Sātakarni, the sixth king in the Purāṇic list, who was reigning about 150 B. C. The Āndhra coinage from first to last has many obvious affinities with the mintages of the north, which may be explained by the hypothesis that the dynasty really held Magadha as a dependency for a considerable period. But there is little evidence to support such a conjecture.³