The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c24.s3.2

c24.s3.2

In the days of Chandragupta Maurya and Megasthenes, ths Āndhra nation, a Dravidian people, mentioned in the *Aitareya Brahmana* of very early date, and now represented by the large population speaking the Telugu language, occupied the deltas of the Godāvarī and Krishnā (Kistna) rivers on the eastern side of India, and was reputed to possess a military force second only to that at the command of the king of the Prasii, Chandragupta Maurya. The Andhra territory included thirty walled towns, besides numerous villages, and the army consisted of 100,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry, and 1,000 elephants.¹ The capital of the state is believed to have been then Srī Kākulam, on the lower course of the Krishnā.² The nation thus described evidently was independent.