History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c14.s6.23

v1.c14.s6.23

Such was the condition then about 300 B. C. the date of the Mahābhārata in its last form. The same thing appears to be true of later centuries. The Rāṣṭrikas Peithanikas and Assakas mentioned in Aśoka's edicts are all Deccan Aryan people now being called Mahārathis or Mahārattis as can be seen from the Nasik cave inscriptions. The Periplus and Ptolemy also call this country Ariake or the country of the Aryans and mention three parts of it viz. the western coast, now come under Aryan influence and Aryan speech and the Mahārāshtra and Kuntala presumably, as they are called in later Sanskrit with Paithan and Kolhapur or Karahāta as their chief towns. The kings through all these days i. e. from the earliest settlements down to Aśoka’s time were of course Aryans and Mahārathis. But we come now to the Sātavahanas or Andhrabhrityas from the first century B. C. to the 3rd century A. D. as overlords of all this vast country including Konkan, Mahārāshtra, Kuntala and even further south as far as Banavāsi.