The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c24.s3.17

c24.s3.17

The Āndhra king, No. 23, Rāja Gautamīputra Srī Sātakarṇi, who may be assumed to have come to the throne about the beginning of the second century A. D., succeeded in extirpating the Kshaharāta dynasty and annexing their dominions about A. D. 119. He signalized his victory by calling in the money issued by the vanquished princes during many years, restamping it in a crude fashion with his own insignia. At the height of his power he was master of the whole country watered by the Godāvarī, Berar, Mālwā, Kāthiāwār, Gujarāt, and the north Konkan.² He posed as the champion of the Hindu religions, including both Brahmanical Hinduism and Buddhism, as against the creeds of casteless foreigners, Sakas, Pahlavas, and others, and prided himself on having re-established the practice of caste rules. He thus ‘restored the glory of the Sātavāhana race’, and was in a position to gratify his Hindu sentiment by liberal donations to both Brahmans and Buddhists. It is a curious fact that, although the Āndhra kings clearly were officially Brahmanical Hindus, most of their recorded donations were made to Buddhist institutions.