The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c7.s5.10

v1.c7.s5.10

Among the predecessors of Yajña Śrī Sātakarṇi, the Purāṇas mention only two kings, Śiva Śrī and Śivaskanda, as successors of Vāsiṣṭhīputra Puḷumāvi. Whilst Śiva Śrī’s name does figure on both coins and inscriptions, Śivaskanda’s is completely absent from both. We need not wonder either, for this is true of the majority of the Sātavāhana rulers and does not constitute a denial of their existence. Mr. V. S. Bakhle made a similar assertion with regard to Chatarapana Vāsiṣṭhīputra Sātakarṇi of the Nānāghāṭ epigraph dated in the 13th year of his reign and maintained that ‘the Purāṇas have probably ignored this king since his rule was confined to Western India’.³ According to Mr. Bakhle, ‘Śiva Śrī ruled only in Āndhradeśa and his name is indeed very dissimilar from that of Vāsiṣṭhīputra Sātakarṇi of the Kānheri grant; Vāsiṣṭhīputra Sātakarṇi’s name is sufficiently distinctive to identify him with the ruler of the Kānheri record; he was the real and immediate successor of Puḷumāvi; he appointed a viceroy over the eastern provinces; this was probably Śiva Śrī; Śiva Śrī and Śivaskanda are similar names; together they ruled for fourteen years, according to the Purāṇas; the same period must be assigned to Vāsiṣṭhīputra Sātakarṇi, whose Nānāghāṭ record is dated in his thirteenth year. ‘The Purāṇas have given two names of one and the same king, the Śiva Śrī of the coins. The Purāṇas mention only the viceroy who was ruling in the Āndhradeśa, instead of the king himself who ruled over Mahārāṣṭra,’ for the Āndhradeśa was nearer Magadha, where the Purāṇic account grew up. Yet the real king, who was Vāsiṣṭhīputra Sātakarṇi, won such resounding successes against the Kshatrapas that after his death, Rudradāman avenged himself on this Vāsiṣṭhīputra’s successor Yajña Śrī by twice defeating him and wresting away all the western regions of his dominions.¹