The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c6.s6.1

v1.c6.s6.1

With the second century A.D., the date of the *Geographike Huphegesis* of Ptolemy, we reach a point when epigraphic records enable us to trace more clearly than before the principal *janapadas* of the Deccan. The word *janapada* occurs already in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* and some of the early texts, the Aśokan Edicts, and the Myākadoni inscription of Śrī Pulumāvi, usually identified with the last sovereign of the Sātavāhana line. It is derived from the word *jana* which has the sense of a people or tribe in the Vedic hymns and later. *Janapada* literally means the *pada*, abode, home, of the *jana* or tribe. It is used in the *Brāhmaṇa* text to denote a ‘people’, or the land or realm it occupies. It was the most important territorial unit of ancient India since the days of the Pāli canon and the epics, as the *polis* or city was that of the Hellenic world. Each developed *janapada* had its capital city, *pura, nagara*, sometimes also styled *puṭabhedana*, and, if it included a maritime territory, its seaport, often termed *paṭṭana*. It had its local ruler or chief, either a sovereign prince or a vassal of an emperor. Autonomous *janapadas* inhabited by free clans are also known. With the growth of imperialism the *janapada* would be transformed into a district or *tāluk, āhāra, viṣaya*, or *maṇḍala* of the empire, and would resume its independent status as soon as the strong arm of the suzerain (*cakravarti, śrīpṛthvivallabha*) should be withdrawn.