Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c7.s7: Cultural Condition Under the Sātavāhanas

The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c7.s7

Language
English

Cultural Condition Under the Sātavāhanas

v1.c7.s7.1

THE cultural history of the period is no better documented than its political history. In fact there is even less evidence here, for when we come to the study of economic and social conditions even the flickering and uncertain light of the Purāṇic texts is lacking. Inscriptions, coins, and monuments are so few and far between that they hardly serve to furnish any details regarding the various aspects of the life of the people. Where these material sources fail us, we have to deduce our information from abstract historical evidence, such as the advent of the Āryans into the Deccan, contact with Śakas, Yavanas, and Pahlavas, and commercial intercourse with Egypt and Rome.

v1.c7.s7.2

On the whole the cultural history of the Deccan is in fact the history of its Āryanization. Administration, social and economic life, religion and philosophy, art and literature—in fact every branch of human activity, was recast in the Āryan mould. The Vedic rishis, Mauryan officers and Buddhist missionaries alike by precept and example hastened the revolutionary change and served to implant Āryan institutions firmly in the Deccan soil. The Sātavāhanas and the Western Kshatrapas accepted these as a matter of course. Indeed there is some evidence to show that they deliberately and consciously followed the policy laid down in such of the *arthaśāstras* and *smṛtis* as were available to them. Among the works of this type, the *Arthaśāstra* of Kauṭilya and the *Mānavadharma-śāstra* appear to have been frequently copied and carefully studied in those days. ‘At the end of the first century’, says Jayaswal, ‘Manu’s code is the Dharmaśāstra.’¹ In the Nāsik cave inscription No. 2 Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi is said to have ‘properly devised time and place for the pursuit of the Tivaga (i.e. Trivarga), and sympathized fully with the weal and woe of the citizens’.² This is in complete accord with Kauṭilya’s recommendation that the king may ‘enjoy in equal degree the three pursuits of life—dharma, artha, and kāma—which are interdependent upon one another’ and that ‘in the happiness of his subjects lies his happiness; in their welfare his welfare’.³ Hence where archaeological evidence is non-existent, works on ancient Indian polity may be accepted as sufficiently reliable sources for the study of the administrative machinery and life of the people. There is no reason to think that in the government of the Deccan the Sātavāhanas ignored the ideals set forth in Kauṭilya’s *Arthaśāstra*.

v1.c7.s7.3

¹ K. P. Jayaswal, *Manu and Yājñavalkya*, p. 43.

v1.c7.s7.4

² EI, viii, 60.

v1.c7.s7.5

³ *Arth*., bk. i, chaps. vii and xix.

v1.c7.s7.6

The extent of the Sātavāhana dominions and of those of their antagonists, the Western Kshatrapas, fluctuated continually according to the political vicissitudes of the times. The Purāṇas assert that the Andhras overthrew the Kaṇvas and thus acquired the empire of Magadha. But clear evidence of their control over the ancient imperial capital, Pāṭaliputra, has not yet come to light. They were definitely a Deccani power. At most they had two seats of government—Dhānyakaṭaka (Dharnikoṭa) on the southern bank of the Kṛṣṇā in the Guntūr District, and later Paiṭhana on the northern bank of the Godāvarī in the Aurangābād District. At its zenith their empire stretched from the Bay of Bengāl in the east to the Arabian sea in the west, and embraced the entire region between the Narmadā in the north and the Kṛṣṇā in the south. The conquest of Malwa marks the limit to which the progress of their rule beyond the Vindhyan range can be definitely traced. But Malwa was in fact the main prize at stake in the Śaka-Sātavāhana duel and hence frequently changed hands. The fate of certain parts of the Deccan, especially the territories round Nāsik, Junnār, and Kārle,¹ was subject to like fluctuations.

v1.c7.s7.7

¹ See supra, p. 126.

v1.c7.s7.8

Whatever the area of the realm at any given moment, the king always wielded supreme authority over it. Succession to the throne was hereditary in the male line. Some of the later Sātavāhanas bore metronymics along with the personal name. But these metronymic titles had nothing to do with any practice of tracing descent through the matriarchal line. Probably the usage of calling sons after their mothers had its origin in the prevalence of polygamy. The downfall of the Mauryan empire appears to have been followed by a reaction in favour of the old Vedic rituals. Like Puṣyamitra Śuṅga of Magadha, Sātakarṇi II proclaimed his suzerainty by performing two Aśvamedhas, one Rājasūya, and a number of minor sacrifices. The kings were no longer content with the simple title of rājā. Unlike Aśoka, who actually ruled over much more extensive territories, Gautamiputra Sātakarṇi is called rājaraṇo, i.e. ‘king of kings’. In the regions conquered by the Śakas, a Kshatrapa was appointed by the Śaka suzerain at Taxilā or Mathurā. The title Mahākshatrapa is often met with in some of the inscriptions. Probably he exercised greater power and independence than a Kshatrapa, but was nevertheless nominally subservient to his overlord. Although the Kshatrapas were foreign agents, they ruled like any other Indian prince. Nahapāṇa styled himself rājan on his coins; his son-in-law made lavish donations on Hindu lines; and Rudradāman not only bore a Hindu name but also strove for the attainment of the objects of (dharmārtha)-kāma, and studied the arthavidyā (the Hindu science of polity) assiduously.²

v1.c7.s7.9

² Rapson, CIC, pp. 65 ff.; Nāsik No. 10, EI, viii, and Junāgarh Rock Inscription, SI, p. 172.

v1.c7.s7.10

Inscriptions furnish us with only a skeleton of the administrative machinery. They show that a large portion of the Sātavāhana dominions was governed by royal officers and the rest by feudatory chieftains. For administrative purposes the state was divided into a number of āhāras or rāṣṭras, each of which consisted of at least one central town (Nigama) and a number of villages (grāmas). There were the āhāras of Govardhana, Sopārā, Māmala, Sātavāhana, &c. An āhāra represented the same subdivision as the viṣaya of the Sālankayana records. Epigraphs notice only a few of the royal officers who assisted the sovereign in the government of the realm: the amātyas were employed as governors of the divisions known as āhāras;¹ the rājāmātyas were probably invested with the duty of attending on the king and constituting the advisory body; a mahāmātra was commissioned to execute a specified task; the bhaṇḍāgārika discharged the functions of the superintendent of stores; the heraṇika acted as a treasurer; the mahāsenāpati was obviously a commander of state forces; but sometimes he acted as a governor.² The lekhaka functioned as the secretary of state and drafted all documents emanating from the king;³ and the nibandhakaras looked after the registration of such documents. These and several other high officers, whose existence may be inferred from the inevitable needs of an extensive and well-organized state, constituted what may be characterized as the central services. That the state was well organized is proved by the formalities connected with official grants, viz. oral orders of the donor, drafting, preparation of the charter, registration in the government archives, and finally delivery of the document to the donee.⁴ It is easily understandable that such a state could not have functioned for a day without essential departments such as those of police, finance, justice, army, commissariat, agriculture, industries, &c., although contemporary inscriptions do not actually refer to any of these.

v1.c7.s7.11

¹ Kautilya says 'native, born of high family, well trained in arts, possessed of foresight . . . these are the qualifications of an amātya' (Arth., p. 14). The Amātyas Viṣṇupālita, Syamaka and Śibaskanda-datta successively governed the āhāra of Govardhana (Nāsik) in the days of Gautamiputra Sātakarṇi and Puḷumāvi.

v1.c7.s7.12

² The Jangliguṇḍa Inscription, EI, xiv, 155.

v1.c7.s7.13

³ Kautilya says that 'one who is possessed of ministerial qualifications, acquainted with all kinds of customs, alert in composition, competent in legible writing and quick in reading shall be appointed as lekhaka' (Arth., p. 71).

v1.c7.s7.14

⁴ Nāsik Nos. 4 and 5, EI, viii.

v1.c7.s7.15

The mahārathis and the mahābhojas noticed in the Kārle and Kānheri epigraphs appear to have been feudatory chieftains.⁵ They held their lands as hereditary possessions and enjoyed a rank and power far superior to those of the amātyas. While an amātya made grants of lands and villages under the orders of his sovereign, a mahārathi or a mahābhoja made similar donations by his own authority.⁶ The mahārathis exercised power in the country above the western ghāṭs, and the mahābhojas in the northern Konkan.

v1.c7.s7.16

⁵ IA, 1918, p. 80.

v1.c7.s7.17

⁶ Kārle No. 14, EI, vii.

v1.c7.s7.18

The existence of another set of rulers is revealed by the coins discovered at Kolhāpur.⁷ There have been three kinds of legends: (1) Rāno Vaśiṣṭiputasa Vilivayakurasa, (2) Rāno Mādhariputasa Sivalakurasa, and (3) Rāno Gotamiputasa Vilivāyakurasa. Since No. 2 restruck the coins of No. 1, and since No. 3 treated similarly the coins of both No. 1 and No. 2, they appear to have ruled in the region of Kolhāpur in the order in which they are placed here. That their territories lay within the Sātavāhana dominions may be inferred from the fact that Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi was master of the lands as far south as Vaijayanti (Banavāsi) and that Kolhāpur lies north of Vaijayanti. Ptolemy, the Greek geographer, mentions Baleokouras as ruling at Hippokoura and Siri Polemaios at Baithan. If Sir R. G. Bhandarkar's identification of Baleokourous with Vilivāyakura be correct, Hippokoura may be assumed to be the Greek name for Kolhāpur. Siri Polemaios is obviously Śrī Puḷumāvi, the son of Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi. The Ujjain symbol which is invariably associated with the Sātavāhana coins is absent on those of the Vilivāyakuras. Hence these were either the feudatories of the Sātavāhanas or kings who were subordinate to them.¹ Their title *rāno* need not be construed as indicating their independent status, since Nahapāṇa, who was actually the feudatory of a northern power, bore the title of *rājan*.

v1.c7.s7.19

⁷ Rapson, CIC, lxxxvi.

v1.c7.s7.20

¹ Bakhle: 'Sātavāhanas and the Contemporary Kṣatrapas' in *JBRAS*, N.S., iv, 57. In seeking to identify these chiefs with the Sātavāhana kings Sir R. G. Bhandarkar and Prof. Rapson placed too much reliance on their metronymics.

v1.c7.s7.21

Some of the Sātavāhana kings and the Western Kshatrapas displayed keen interest in promoting the welfare of the people. Sātakarṇi II performed a number of sacrifices and gave immense sums in cash and kind to the Brāhmans.² Uṣabhadāta, the son-in-law of Nahapāṇa, bestowed gifts on Brāhmans and Buddhists alike and organized ferries, rest-houses, places for drinking water, and public halls for his subjects.³ Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi 'sympathized with the weal and woe of the citizens. . . ; never levied nor employed taxes except in conformity with justice . . . furthered the homesteads of the lowly as well as those of the twice-born.'⁴ He and members of his family made provision for the comfort of the Buddhist monks. These activities may well have been exaggerated in the epigraphical records; yet they may be accepted as typical of some of the recognized channels through which the royal bounty benefited the subjects.

v1.c7.s7.22

² *ASWI*, v, 60 f.; 80 f.; *SI*, No. 82. The *dakshiṇā* (fees) given on the occasions of various sacrifices consisted of cows, horses, elephants, chariots, silver and gold articles, and cash. The total of the cows given away reached the figure of more than 50,000 and the total cash gifts amounted to 148,000 and odd *karshapanas*. Although both silver and copper coins circulated under the name *karshapana*, here only silver is intended. (See *CIC*, p. clxxxiii, n. 1).

v1.c7.s7.23

³ Nāsik Nos. 10 and 12, *EI*, viii, Uṣabhadāta's charities and public works were on a more lavish scale; gifts of 300,000 cows and sixteen villages to Brāhmans; construction of rest-houses at Bhārukacha, Daśapura, Govardhana, and Sopāraga; the feeding of a thousand Brāhmans the whole year round; the establishment of free ferries by boats on the rivers Iba, Parada, Damana, Tapi, Karabena, and Dahanuka; and meeting-halls on both banks of these rivers; the construction of wells, tanks, and gardens for the use of his subjects, &c.

v1.c7.s7.24

⁴ Nāsik No. 2, *EI*, viii.

v1.c7.s7.25

The smallest administrative units were the villages called *grāmas* and the towns called *nigamas*. Inscriptional evidence regarding their administration is not adequate. Hāla’s *Gāthā Sattasai* refers to *grāmaṇi*, whose jurisdiction extended to as many as five villages and sometimes even ten villages.¹ There was considerable autonomy in managing the affairs of the villages and towns. Epigraphic records refer to several towns in the Deccan. Bharukacha (Broach), Sopārā, Kānheri, Kalyāṇa, Paiṭhan, Tagara, Junnār, Kārle, Govardhana, and Dhanakaṭa figure most prominently in this period. Some of them were centres of great commercial activity. A few of them, if not all, had a *nigamasabhā*, an assembly of the citizens. A Nāsik inscription mentions one such assembly in which Ushabhadata’s deed of gift was proclaimed and registered ‘according to custom’.² This *sabhā* or assembly was the forum through which the citizens of the town acted and voiced their feelings. Another inscription from the same locality shows that its inhabitants as a body made a donation of a village; this would not have been possible if they had not been organized as a corporate body.³ Some of the communities had formed themselves into groups so as to maintain order and safeguard their interests. *Gahapati* is a term met with in some of the inscriptions of the period and in Hāla’s *Sattasai*. It appears to have been the designation of the head of a certain number of households of cultivators. Some of these *gahapatis* were also members of the *nigamasabhā*.⁴ *Seni* or *Śreṇi* is another term of frequent occurrence in certain epigraphic records. It means a guild. Each class of traders had a guild of its own.⁵ Even the Buddhist monks had their own association known as the *sangha*. Unaffected by dynastic changes, these institutions administered local affairs within their own spheres and this arrangement served to mitigate the shock of revolutions.

v1.c7.s7.26

¹ The *Gāthā Saptasati* (*Kāvyamālā* 21), 728, 731. According to Kauṭilya a *gopa* was in charge of five or ten villages. *Arth.*, ii, chap. xxxv.

v1.c7.s7.27

² No. 12, *EI*, viii.

v1.c7.s7.28

³ No. 18, ibid., Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar: *CL*., 1918, p. 177.

v1.c7.s7.29

⁴ V. S. Bakhle, op. cit., p. 50.

v1.c7.s7.30

⁵ See infra, p. 137.

v1.c7.s7.31

During the administration of the Sātavāhanas, and even earlier, the people of the Deccan seem to have been familiar with the fourfold division of society into Brāhmans, Kshatriyas, Vaiśyas, and Śūdras. The Brāhmans formed the priestly class; the Kshatriyas were the fighting men; the Vaiśyas pursued the avocations of trade and agriculture; and the Śūdras were the menial labourers whose business it was to serve their betters. Every family observing the *Aryan dharma* fell under one or other of these four heads. Outside the *Aryan* pale were the indigenous tribes who were indifferent to *Aryan* ways of life and thought. Most of the people apparently came to be known according to their professions, such as the *halika* (cultivator), the *sethi* (merchant), the *gadhika* (druggist), the *vadhaki* (carpenter), the *kolika* (weaver), the *tilapisaka* (oil-presser), the *kamara* (iron-worker), &c. The advent of the Buddhists and the inroads of the Śaka-Pahlavas appear to have very considerably shaken the social structure. Buddhist monks and nuns began to receive the pious attention of the poorer lay men and women, cultivators of the soil, as well as of the Śakas, Yavanas, and Pahlavas,¹ who as the result of political conflicts had entered the Deccan and the adjoining provinces at a very early period. These foreigners had their communities in all the chief towns of the Deccan and North-western India. Some of the Yavanas embraced Buddhism, while a number of Śakas accepted both Buddhism and Brāhmanism. They used Prākrit in their inscriptions and even adopted Āryan personal and family names.² To cite a typical example, Nahapāna's daughter bore the name Dakṣamitrā and his son-in-law's name was Uṣabhadāta (Sanskrit Ṛṣabhadatta). The latter's charities to the Brāhmaṇas and the Buddhists and the gifts of the Yavanas for the benefit of the Buddhist monks show how the foreigners were gradually adopting the faith and customs of their new homes and becoming absorbed in the indigenous society.³ Intermarriages between them and the caste people appear to have taken place frequently. In this context Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi's attempt to 'stop the contamination of the four castes' becomes quite significant. Yet caste rules were not strictly observed inasmuch as Brāhmans often became kings. Sātavāhanas themselves belonged to the priestly class and yet held sovereign authority over the Deccan. Kṣatriyas, also, sometimes appear to have taken to the mercantile profession of the Vaiśya caste.⁴

v1.c7.s7.32

¹ *Yavana* is an Indian term used in the inscriptions of Aśoka for Greeks.

v1.c7.s7.33

² Nāsik Nos. 11, 13, 18, and 26, *EI*, viii; Kārle Nos. 7 and 10, ibid., vii; and Andhau Inscription in ibid., xvi, 23 ff.

v1.c7.s7.34

³ Kārle Nos. 7, 10, and 13 and Nāsik Nos. 10 and 12, loc. cit.

v1.c7.s7.35

⁴ *ASWI*, v, Kānheri No. 4.

v1.c7.s7.36

The joint-family system was another normal feature of society during this period. Several of the inscriptions found at Amarāvatī refer to gifts made by persons in common with their parents, wives, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, &c., as the case may be.⁵ The various members of the group are mentioned in the order of their place in the family; the father is given precedence over the mother, the son over the daughter, the brother over the sister, &c. This is merely a reflection of the Āryan patriarchal system and does not indicate that women were relegated to an inferior position in society. In the contemporary stone records a number of ladies are found making gifts, sometimes very costly, at Nāsik, Kuda, Kārle, and Amarāvatī. According to Dr. K. Gopalachari's estimate, 'of the nearly 145 epigraphs from Amarāvatī 72, out of the 30 at Kuda 13, out of the 29 from Nāsik 16, either record gifts by ladies or gifts with the giving of which ladies are associated'.⁶

v1.c7.s7.37

⁵ See Burgess, *BSAJ*, pp. 86, 87, 91, 94, 100, 103, 105.

v1.c7.s7.38

⁶ *EHAC*, p. 97.

v1.c7.s7.39

If sculptures accurately depict contemporary fashions, then scanty dress and profuse ornaments appear to have satisfied the common people. The figures cut on the Amarāvatī rails and in the Kārle *chaitya* cave tell almost the same story: except in certain small details, the dress and ornaments in use on both sides of the Deccan were the same. Women wore a twisted cloth below the waist in two or three tiers with a knot at the right and the ends hanging from it. It was not customary as yet for them to cover their breasts. Men had a loin cloth, part of which sometimes was thrown over their shoulders. They also put on a head-dress of twisted cloth. Ear-rings, bangles, bracelets, and necklaces were worn by both men and women. Some of the latter, however, wore bangles running up to the elbows, and bracelets covering a large part of the upper arm. Almost all women adorned their legs with anklets.

v1.c7.s7.40

In the economic sphere, agriculture was the mainstay of both the people and the government. Gifts of cows, lands, and villages recorded in the epigraphs of those days demonstrate their importance in the daily life of the country. The king had his own royal demesne.¹ From the cultivators he appears to have collected the traditional one-sixth of the produce as the share of the state. The immunities associated with royal gifts of fields prove indirectly that salt was a state monopoly.²

v1.c7.s7.41

¹ Nāsik No. 5, *EI*, viii.

v1.c7.s7.42

² Nāsik Nos. 3, 4, 5, ibid.

v1.c7.s7.43

Industry and commerce occupied the next place in the economic life of the land. Various classes of workers figure prominently in the contemporary records. Inscriptions at Nāsik and Junnār mention *kularikas* (potters?), *odayantrikas* (makers of hydraulic engines), *tilapisakas* (oil-millers), *dhannikas* (corn-dealers), *kolikas* (weavers), *vasakaras* (bamboo workers), *kasakaras* (braziers). Each of them had a guild of its own and these were technically called *śreṇis*.³ They were corporate bodies, wielding great influence in the state. *Śreṇi-dharma* or ‘the usage of the guilds’ had the force of law. They served trade or craft interests in various ways. A special feature of these associations was the banking facilities provided by them. They received cash deposits and endowments of property, and undertook to spend the income from them in a specified manner. For instance, the Nāsik epigraph of Uṣabhadāta shows that at Govardhana one weavers’ guild accepted a permanent investment of 2,000 *kārṣāpaṇas* yielding interest at the rate of 1 per cent. per month,⁴ and another of 1,000 *kārṣāpaṇas* at ¾ per cent. per month. The interest on the larger sum was earmarked for supplying annually ‘to every one of the twenty monks who kept the *vassa* in the cave (at Nāsik) a cloth-money of 12 (*kārṣāpaṇas*)’ and that on the smaller sum was set apart for providing them with means to meet other expenses.⁵ An inscription by a Śaka lay-worshipper at Junnār records the investment of the income of two fields with the guild at Konachika for planting *karañja* and banyan trees.⁶ The guilds had also the power to make gifts in the name of the corporation. At Junnār there is an epigraph which notices the gift of a seven-celled cave and a cistern by the guild of corn-dealers.¹ ‘The guilds must have been of long standing, and their operations characterized by honesty and fair dealing; for otherwise men would scarcely have made perpetual endowments with them.’² The deposits served as capital for the traders and encouraged them to engage in commercial enterprises.

v1.c7.s7.44

³ *Lüders* Nos. 1137, 1180, 1133, and 1165.

v1.c7.s7.45

⁴ *Lüders* No. 1133 (Nāsik No. 12, *EI*, viii). *Kārṣāpaṇa’s* Sanskrit equivalent is *karshapana*. Theoretically it was the name of a coin of copper, silver, or gold weighing one *karsha* 16 *māshas*. But in the case of silver coins a *māsha* was equal to 2 *ratis* while in the case of copper coins it was calculated at 5 *ratis* each (the *rati* = 1.85 grains). According to Prof. Rapson the *karshapanas* of the Nānāghāṭ, Nāsik, and Kānheri inscriptions were silver coins; these weighed only about 36 grains, instead of 58 grains as would be theoretically required. *CIC*, pp. clxxvii-clxxxiv. The ratio between the silver and the gold coin was 35 silver *karshapanas* to 1 gold *suvarna*.

v1.c7.s7.46

⁵ The *vassa* or the retreat during the rainy season, when the Buddhist monks had to reside in a settled place.

v1.c7.s7.47

⁶ *Lüders* No. 1162.

v1.c7.s7.48

¹ *Lüders* No. 1180. ² Dr. R. C. Majumdar: *CLAI*, pp. 37-8. ³ Trans. by W. H. Schoff, sec. 50. ⁴ Identified by Dr. J. F. Fleet with modern Ter or Thair. The identification is doubtful in the extreme, because this part of the Deccan has no tradition as an area for the cloth industry. *JRAS*, 1901, pp. 537 ff. ⁵ *The Periplus*, by Schoff, sec. 51. ⁶ Burgess, *BSAJ*, pp. 78, 85, 93. ⁷ The coast between the Kṛishṇā and the Godāvari. See McCrindle’s *AI* (Ptolemy), pp. 66-8. ⁸ *JRAS*, 1901, p. 598. ⁹ *Lüders* Nos. 1138, 1090, 1092, 1093, 1096, 1097, 1169, 1177, and 1119.

v1.c7.s7.49

The *Periplus of the Erythraen Sea*, Roman coins discovered in the Indian Peninsula, Ptolemy’s *Guide to Geography*, and the local epigraphic and numismatic records all throw considerable light on the commercial activities of the period in the Deccan. The *Periplus* shows that the western and the eastern parts of the Sātavāhana dominions were mostly well-peopled and prosperous; the ‘inland country’ was in a comparatively wild state as yet, being full of desert regions, great mountains, and all kinds of wild beasts, leopards, tigers, elephants, enormous serpents, hyenas, and baboons of many sorts.³ Yet along the western borderland of the Deccan plateau there were a number of market towns like Paiṭhan, Tagara,⁴ Junnār, Nāsik, Vaijayanti, &c. According to the *Periplus*, to Barygaza (the modern Broach) were brought ‘by waggons and through great tracts without roads, from Paethana carnelian in great quantities, and from Tagara much common cloth, all kinds of muslins and mallow cloth, and other merchandise brought there locally from the regions along the sea-coast’.⁵ South of Barygaza were the Sātavāhana ports of Sopārā and Kalyāṇa. In the east the Amarāvatī inscriptions refer to Kevura, Vijayapura, and Kudura as being places where merchants resided.⁶ Ptolemy notices the seaports of Kontakossyla, Koddoira (the modern Gudur), and Allosygne in the Maisolia region,⁷ which according to the *Periplus* ‘stretched a great way along the coast in front of the inland country’. In spite of the wild conditions prevailing in some parts of the central Deccan, there was a busy traffic between the eastern and western wings of the Sātavāhana empire. Dr. J. F. Fleet says: ‘A study of the maps has shown me the former existence of an early trading route, of which well marked traces still remain from the east coast through Golconda or Hyderabad, Ter and Paiṭhan to Broach.’⁸ The caravan and the river-boat were the chief means of transport. That intercourse between different towns of the Deccan existed is proved by the benefactions of the natives of Daśapura at Nāsik, of Vaijayanti, Dhenukakata and Sopārā at Kārle, of Bharukacha and Kalyāṇa at Junnār, and of Sopārā at Nāṇāghāṭ.⁹ Ushabhadāta, the son-in-law of Nahapāna, paid special attention to the comfort of travellers. Rest-houses, wells, drinking and bathing places and free ferries were only a few of the amenities provided by him on some of the most frequented routes.

v1.c7.s7.50

Money is as much essential for the free flow of trade as are the means of communication. But as is the case in all early societies currency was sparingly used in the Deccan. Most of the local transactions were effected by barter or by the use of small coins or other exchange tokens. Coinage did not appeal much to the early Hindu craftsmen. The Sātavāhana coins were of lead, potin, copper, and silver with no pretensions to artistic merit.¹ Nahapāna struck coins of both copper and silver. His silver coins were apparently imitations of the hemi-drachms of the Indo-Greek kings as regards size, weight, and fabric. Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi restruck most of the silver coins which had been issued in the name of Nahapāna.² The *kāhāpaṇas* (*karshapanas*) mentioned in the contemporary records were silver coins.³ One of the inscriptions of Ushabhadāta furnishes the information that the rate of exchange between the *kāhāpaṇa* and the gold coin of the period, the *suvarṇa*, was one to thirty-five.⁴

v1.c7.s7.51

¹ *CIC*, pls. i to vii. The legends on them are in Brāhmī; and the devices are the *chaitya*, bow, elephant, lion, horse, and the so-called Ujjain symbol.

v1.c7.s7.52

² Ibid., pl. ix.

v1.c7.s7.53

³ See *supra*, p. 137, n. 4.

v1.c7.s7.54

⁴ Nāsik No. 12, *EI*, viii.

v1.c7.s7.55

Gold ornaments were much in fashion and worn by both men and women, as shown in the paintings at Ajanta. Besides the well-known Kollar mines early gold workings have been found at Hatti, Wondapalli, and Maski, all situated in the Raichur district of the Hyderabad State. Maski was apparently an important centre of the gold industry since there has also been found carved on a rock an edict of Aśoka which mentions his name in addition to the customary appellation of *Devānaṃ Piya*. References in the Old Testament indicate that gold was exported from the Deccan through West-Indian ports to the Mediterranean countries, and Sir John Marshall is of opinion that the ornaments in this metal discovered at Mohenjo-dāro were made of gold mined in the Deccan, as is shown by chemical analysis of the metal employed.

v1.c7.s7.56

The ports of the Deccan and of Ceylon were the principal places whence the Romans obtained most of their jewels and other articles of luxury. In the beginning the Egyptians and the Arabs acted as middlemen and conveyed these goods to Roman merchants and distributors. According to the *Periplus* the Arabs carried on trade ‘with Barygaza, sending their own ships there’.⁵ The Romans did not consider any price too high when they desired to satisfy their fancy for jewels, silk, and aromatics. After the conquest of Egypt in 30 B.C. by Octavius (Augustus), they established direct commerce with the Western ports of India. The epoch-making discovery of the monsoon winds by Europeans about A.D. 45 ushered in an era of brisk sea-borne trade between the Roman world and the Orient. The imports and exports of Barygaza described so graphically in the *Periplus* may be taken as typical of the commerce between the two countries.¹ Into this market-town were imported wine, copper, tin, and lead; coral and topaz; thin clothing and inferior sorts of cloth of all kinds; bright coloured girdles; borax, sweet cloves, flint glass, realgar, antimony, and gold and silver coins. For the vassal kings there were brought costly vessels of silver, singing boys, beautiful girls for the harem, fine wines, thin clothing of the finest wefts, and the choicest ointments. The exports consisted of spikenard, costus, bdellium, ivory, agate, carnelian, lycium, *cotton cloth of all kinds*, silk cloth, mallow cloth, yarn, long pepper ‘and such other things as are brought here from the various market towns’. Pliny observed that the Indian commodities were sold in the Roman markets at hundred times their original prices. Thus immense quantities of specie flowed into the Deccan in exchange for Indian merchandise. The Roman coins discovered in places as wide apart as Darphal and Nagdhara on the north-western, and Vinukoṇḍa, Nellore, and Cuddapah on the south-eastern fringe of the Deccan plateau show that from the time of Augustus (30 B.C.) the Deccan had close commercial relations with the Roman empire and that this traffic brought immense wealth to the Śaka and the Sātavāhana dominions.²

v1.c7.s7.57

⁵ Sec. 21.

v1.c7.s7.58

¹ Sec. 49.

v1.c7.s7.59

² *HSAD*, bk. ii, sec. iii; *CBREI*, pp. 280-93. Roman gold coins have also been found in the Karimnagar district.

v1.c7.s7.60

If the Romans looked to the East for articles of luxury, the Indians themselves went as merchants and missionaries to the Far East, where tradition had located the ‘golden’ Burma and Sumatra, ‘silver’ Arakan, and ‘copper’ Champa (Indo-China). The Eastern Deccan appears to have entered upon an epoch of great maritime activity during the reign of Puḷumāvi II, an activity which attained great proportions in the reign of Yajña Śrī. Their ship-marked coins picked up on the Coromandel coast appear to commemorate this signal achievement.³ Ptolemy refers to the commerce between the east-coast and ‘golden chryse’, i.e. the Malay peninsula and the Archipelago. The Indian colonization of some of the places in this part of the world may be attributed to this age. Triling, capital of Arakan, Kākula in the Gulf of Siam, and Amarāvatī in Annām may well have been named after the places which bear these names in the Andhra territory.

v1.c7.s7.61

³ *CIC*, pp. lxxxi and 22.

v1.c7.s7.62

The religious history of the Deccan centres round the triumph of the North Indian creeds over the local primitive forms of worship and ritual. The early inhabitants believed in tribal totems, village divinities, tree and serpent cults, and practised spirit worship. Magic and religion were inextricably intertwined in the early stages. The former included choral singing and dancing, as well as drinking intoxicating liquors in company. With the coming of the Āryans there occurred a revolutionary change. The earlier inhabitants either accepted the religion of the newcomers under certain limitations or retired to hilly regions and forests, where indeed they still practise their primitive rites at the present day. Vedic religion, the philosophy of the Upanishads, Jainism, and Buddhism, became so naturalized in the cis-Vindhyan lands that by the time of the rise of the Sātavāhanas to power they became ‘more native than the native-born’ practices. A Sātavāhana prince proclaimed his opposition to ‘the contamination of the four *varṇas*’ and insisted upon the pursuit of the triple object (of human activity).¹

v1.c7.s7.63

¹ Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi, Nāsik No. 2, *EI*, viii.

v1.c7.s7.64

The early Sātavāhana kings were staunch followers of the Vedic religion. The Nānāghāṭ inscription which records a number of sacrifices by Sātakarṇi II, and his gifts of cows, elephants, and money as *dakṣiṇā* to the Brāhmans proves the great hold which the Vedic rituals had on their courts and entourage.² The invocations to various gods, such as Indra, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, Chandra, Sūrya, Yama, Varuṇa, and Kubera, in the same epigraph show that the Deccan during this period was passing through a transition from the Vedic to the Purāṇic pantheon. This feature is prominently reflected in Hāla’s *Gāthā Saptasai*³ wherein there are references to Paśupati and Gaurī, Rudra and Pārvatī, Lakshmī and Nārāyaṇa. In some places Sarasvatī and Gaurī are invoked, and there are allusions to legends about Kṛiṣṇa. Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi is said to have ‘put a stop to the mixture of four castes’. Adherence to the Vedic creed is also indicated by the name of King Yajña Śrī. The Śaka Kshatrapas who happened to rule over some part of the Deccan adopted the worship of the gods, Śiva or Viṣṇu, and also did reverence to the Brāhmans and the Śramaṇas. But these persons did not enjoy full Vedic rites, which only the *twice-born* were entitled. For the solace of the Aryanized foreigners and mixed castes there were the Purāṇas which contain stories of creation and dissolution, of heaven and hell, and of the *avatāras* of Viṣṇu and the human appearances of Śiva, and the portions of the Dharma Śāstra applicable to common people. Some of the Purāṇas contain lists of kings up to the end of the Andhra (Sātavāhana) dynasty, narrated in a prophetic style with a view to earning the devotion of the masses to their contents. People were encouraged to visit sacred places of pilgrimage, to make gifts to gods and Brāhmans, to construct wells and tanks, and to plant trees, as acts of religious merit. Ushabhadāta’s devotional acts, such as gifts of cows and villages ‘to the gods and Brāhmans’, feeding thousands of Brāhmans the (whole) year round, building wells, tanks, and rest-houses, and making visits to the *tirthas* such as Prabhasa, Poshkara (Ajmer), &c., were typical of practical observance of the Purāṇic teachings. It may be assumed that ordinary people practised similar acts of religious merit on a smaller scale according to their means.

v1.c7.s7.65

² *ASWI*, v, 60 ff.

v1.c7.s7.66

³ The *Gāthā Saptashati* (Kānyamālā 21), preface, p. 9; opening and closing verses; *Gāthās*, 455 372, 403.

v1.c7.s7.67

Jainism found its way into the regions south of the Vindhyas as early as the fourth century B.C. The Deccan was encircled by lands which became the second home of Jainism after it had ceased to be the dominant creed in the land of its birth. Malwa and Kalinga in the north and north-east, and Tamil-land and Mysore in the south had flourishing Jain *bastis*. The Nanda sovereign of Magadha took away a Jain image from Kalinga and Khārvela recovered it. ‘At Sravana Belgola in Mysore, Chandragupta Maurya is said to have spent his last days in the company of Jain ascetics. Khārvela rendered great services to Jainism in Kalinga. The Udayagiri and Khaṇḍagiri hills contain numbers of caves excavated for the residence of Jain ascetics.’ Sewell has noticed the existence of Jain antiquities in almost all the districts of the present-day Andhra area.¹

v1.c7.s7.68

¹ CHI, i, 638-9; R. Sewell, *Topographical Lists of the Antiquities in the Madras Presidency*.

v1.c7.s7.69

Next to the Vedic religion Buddhism commanded a large following. It gained a footing in the cis-Vindhyan lands long before the Sātavāhanas had made their mark on history. Archaeological research at Piṭālkhora and Kolhāpur in the west and at Ghaṇṭaśāla and Bhattiprolu in the east has brought to light very early Buddhist relics in this region. Brief inscriptions in the Mauryan script which may be assigned to the third century B.C.² have been discovered on the *stūpas* of Jaggayapeta, Amarāvatī, and Bhattiprolu in the Andhra area. According to the Buddhist chronicles Aśoka’s missionaries popularized the law of the Buddha in Mahishmaṇḍala and Mahārāshṭra.³ The Sātavāhanas and the Western Kshatrapas extended their patronage to the Buddhist ascetics. Almost the early caves so far found in the Deccan and dedicated to Buddhism were excavated during the Sātavāhana period. King Kaṇha (Kṛishṇa) appointed a *mahāmātra* at Nāsik to look after the comforts of the Buddhist monks. Hāla’s *Sattasai* refers to the worship of the feet of the Buddha.⁴ Buddhist monks and nuns were very numerous everywhere in the land. Pious people, not necessarily Buddhists, listened to their sermons and attended to their physical wants. These lay helpers at first improvised rock-cut *leṇas* (caves) and *chaityagṛhas* (shrines) for residence of the monks, and later built *vihāras* (monasteries) with brick and timber. They sometimes donated plots of land or even villages in order to provide food for the ascetic communities. It was also customary to supply the latter with new robes. Provision for this form of benefaction was generally made by investing large sums of money in a neighbouring guild, the annual interest on which was to be used for the purpose of buying clothes for the monks and nuns. Gotamī Balaśrī presented a cave to the monks of the Bhadayaniya sect. Her son assigned to the monks of Tekirasi hill a field of 200 *nivartanas*. Both the mother and the son made gifts of a field of 100 *nivartanas* to the monks living on the Tiranhu hill. Puḷumāvi II made a gift of a village for the support of the Mahāsānghika monks living in the caves of Valuraka (Kārle). Uṣabhadāta excavated a cave in the Triraśmi hills in Govardhana and gave a field costing 4,000 kāhāpaṇas to provide for feeding all monks, without distinction of sect, living in that cave. Besides this he made an endowment of 3,000 kāhāpaṇas ‘for cloth-money and money for outside-life (kusana)’ for twenty ascetics who kept vassa in his cave. This amount was invested in two weavers’ gilds belonging to the locality. The records of the period show that similar gifts in favour of the Buddhists were made by men and women of all ranks and denominations.¹ Buddhist monuments at Nāsik, Kārle, Kanheri, Junnār, Kuḍā, Mahāḍ, Kol, Bhāja, Beḍsā, Ajanta, Amarāvatī, Nāgārjunakoṇḍa, Jaggayyapet, Bhaṭṭiprolu, &c., prove the popularity of the Buddhist monks in this age.

v1.c7.s7.70

² Dr. Burgess, *BSAJ*, p. 108, *EI*, xv, 258; *EI*, ii, 323.

v1.c7.s7.71

³ *Dip.*, viii, 5 and 8; *Mahā.*, xii, 29, 37.

v1.c7.s7.72

⁴ The *Gāthā Saptashati* (Kāvyamālā 21), gāthā 308. The *chatra*, *pāduka* or *dharmachakra*, and *stūpa* were objects of worship among the Buddhists before the worship of the image of the Buddha came to be generally practised.

v1.c7.s7.73

¹ EI, viii, Nāsik Inscriptions; vii, Kārle Inscriptions; and App. to x, Lüders List. Also D. R. Bhandarkar, ‘Deccan of the Sātavāhanas’, IA, 1919, pp. 77 ff.

v1.c7.s7.74

The monks themselves were subdivided into several sects. The early literature of Buddhism refers to the schools of the Andhaka monks which belonged specially to Andhra. From the contemporary epigraphs it appears that some of the sects flourished in particular towns of the Deccan: the Bhadayaniyas at Nāsik and Kānheri, the Mahāsānghikas at Kārle, the Dhammattariyas at Sopārā and Junnār, the Chetakiyas at Amarāvatī, and the Purvaśailas and Avaraśailas at Nāgārjunakoṇḍa.² Unlike the Sātavāhana rulers, Uṣabhadata patronized all sects alike. His donations were made in favour of the Buddhist ascetics ‘without any distinction of sect or origin’.³

v1.c7.s7.75

² Lüders List, Nos. 1018, 1106, 1123, 1152, 1248, 1250; MER, 1927, 214, and 219. Buddhism split up into various schools due to doctrinal differences on such issues as ‘Is the Buddha human?’ ‘Are Bodhisattvas average beings?’, ‘Are Arhats fully emancipated?’ &c. See Nalinaksha Dutt, Three Principal Schools of Buddhism; also Dr. Burgess, BSAJ, p. 24.

v1.c7.s7.76

³ Cf. Nāsik Nos. 3, 4, 5 with Nos. 10, 12, 13, in EI, viii.

v1.c7.s7.77

The beginnings of art, as of other fruits of human intelligence and labour, can be traced to the palaeolithic age. Starting with improvising crude tools and implements, men made steady progress in civilization—turned out better implements, good pottery, simple ornaments, dwelling-houses, and megalithic tombs. But no structures anterior to the Mauryan epoch survive in the Deccan at the present day. The reason is obvious. The earliest buildings were made out of mud or mud-bricks, bamboo canes, and other kinds of wood. The ancient monuments that have been brought to light south of the Vindhyas are almost all post-Aśokan and Buddhist in inspiration. They consist of rock-cut leṇas and chaityagṛhas and structural vihāras and stūpas discovered both in the western and in the eastern dominions of the Sātavāhanas. A graphic account of the principal monuments of this period is given in Part IX of this book, which shows what high levels of artistic conception and technical skill were attained by the Deccan craftsmen during the Sātavāhana régime.

v1.c7.s7.78

As to the minor arts, an idea of their progress can be gathered from the articles so far excavated at Paiṭhaṇa, Maski, and Koṇḍāpur in the Hyderabad State, and at Bhaṭṭiprolu and Amarāvati in the Guṇṭūr District. Paiṭhaṇa has yielded beads of burnt clay, lapis lazuli, agate, crystal, and carnelian, terra-cotta figurines and moulds, pottery utensils, shell ornaments, &c. Similar objects as well as beads of onyx, amethyst, ruby, and garnet were unearthed at Māski.¹ The finds at Koṇḍāpur included terra-cotta figurines, ornaments of previous stones, gold, copper, ivory, shell, and baked clay together with a hoard of potin and lead coins of the Sātavāhana princes. The heads of some of these terra-cotta figurines show realistic features and perfect modelling. The styles of dressing and plaiting the hair are remarkable for their variety, and some of them ‘can stand comparison with the best painted head at Ajaṇṭā’. In the words of Dr. Yazdani, ‘The potter’s craft, which is considered insignificant in these days, during the early period of Deccani art occupied almost the same position as sculpture and painting.’² From Bhaṭṭiprolu *stūpa* have been recovered beryl and crystal caskets containing precious stones, gold flowers, jewels, beads, *triśulas*, and twenty-four silver coins. At Amarāvati was found a casket of pure gold in the form of a *stūpa* with an umbrella on the top. These show the quality of workmanship attained by the goldsmith and the jeweller of those days.³

v1.c7.s7.79

¹ *Annual Report of the Arch. Dept. of H.E.H. the Nizam’s Dominions, F. 1346. 1936-7 A.C.*

v1.c7.s7.80

² ABORI, xxii, 171-85, and the accompanying plates.

v1.c7.s7.81

³ BRA, pp. 22-3.

v1.c7.s7.82

A correct appreciation of the culture of the age, however, will not be complete without some reference to the contemporary system of education and literary development. It goes without saying that the Āryan teachers and missionaries brought with them into the Deccan their own literature and methods of instruction.⁴ By the third century B.C. the peoples of the Deccan had become so far familiar with the Brāhmi script and the Prākṛit language that Aśoka used them freely in his edicts which were intended to be read by them. Almost all the documents of the Sātavāhanas and the Western Kṣatrapas are recorded in Prākṛit.⁵ The elaborate sacrifices performed by Sātakarṇi II show that the contemporary priests of the Deccan were well-versed in the Vedic literature. The Buddhist monks who commanded the devotion of the kings and peoples alike must have been equally learned in the law of the Buddha. The sculptures of Amarāvati and the paintings at Ajaṇṭā depicting *jātaka* stories and episodes from the life of the Great Buddha bear testimony to the spread of Buddhistic lore among the artisan classes of people. Such achievements point to the existence of some agency for the spread of knowledge among the various strata of society. From the evidence of a somewhat later date it may be inferred that instruction in secular and sacred learning was imparted to the pupils in the āśramas of the Brāhmans or the vihāras of the Buddhists and the Jains. It was mostly oral and the pupils had to memorize the lessons repeated by their teachers. These teachers received grants of land for their maintenance and other munificent gifts from the rulers and well-to-do citizens; and the pupils repaid them by services of a domestic nature. Professions were normally hereditary, and so in most cases the boy was instructed by his father or some close relative who was himself an experienced artisan. A number of crafts and trades were organized into guilds and these too must have served the cause of education by maintaining some standard of rectitude and good workmanship.

v1.c7.s7.83

⁴ The Brāhmans had the four Vedas, with their respective *Brāhmaṇas*, *Āraṇyakas*, and *Upaniṣadas*, the *Vedāṅgas*, the *Sūtras*, some of the *Purāṇas*, *Smṛitis*, and *Arthaśāstras*; the Buddhists had the *Tripiṭaka* and the *Jātakas*; and the Jains had their own independent sacred canon.

v1.c7.s7.84

⁵ Only in the inscriptions of Uṣabhadāta at Nāsik and Kārle have we a mixture of Sanskrit. The Jūnagaḍh inscription of Rudradāman and the Kānheri inscription of his daughter are in Sanskrit. See EI, viii, p. 36 and x, App. No. 994.

v1.c7.s7.85

The Sātavāhana period was also productive of a few literary works of outstanding merit. There is the Kātantra, written by Sarvavarman, a minister of a Sātavāhana king, to enable his sovereign to acquire command over Sanskrit grammar within six months. It enjoyed a great fame, replaced old grammars, and is even today much in use in Eastern Bengal and Kashmir. Guṇāḍhya, said to be another minister of the same Sātavāhana prince, wrote the Bṛhatkathā in Paiśācī Prākṛt.¹ It was the earliest collection of wonderful tales interwoven into the main story dealing with the adventures of a hero Naravāhanadatta. In the opinion of Dhanapāla, the author of Tilakamañjarī, ‘Other Sanskrit Kathās are derived from it and by its side look like garments made of borrowed pieces’. The author of Daśarūpa placed it next to the Rāmāyaṇa as another mine of material for dramatic writers. Govardhana regarded Guṇāḍhya as the third of the epic triad, the first two being Vālmīki and Vyāsa. Unfortunately this work has totally disappeared, and so far there seems no chance of its recovery. An idea of its contents, however, can be had from its three versions in Sanskrit, viz. Somadeva’s Kathāsaritsāgara, Kṣemendra’s Bṛhatkathāmañjarī, and Budhasvāmin’s Bṛhatkathā-ślokasaṅgraha. Prof. Felix Lacôte holds that ‘the differences in the three versions enable us to a certain extent to restore the original’ and that it was not a compilation without originality; it was an epic poem sui generis.

v1.c7.s7.86

¹ ‘Paiśācī is one of the oldest Prākṛts; it is mentioned by the Prākṛtaprakāśa by the side of Mahārāṣṭrī, of Māgadhi and of Śauraseni, but it is not, by far, so well known as the other three’ (Prof. Felix Lacôte, Essay on Guṇāḍhya and the Bṛhatkathā, p. 36). Somadeva records in his Kathāsaritsāgara a legend regarding the origin of both the Kātantra and the Bṛhatkathā: While a Sātavāhana king was bathing in the company of his wives in a tank in his garden, he threw water at one of them. She asked him not to do so (modakaiḥ paritādaya mām). The king mistook the phrase modakaiḥ for a single word meaning ‘pieces of sweetmeat’, got them at once, and began to throw them at her. Thereupon she laughed at his ignorance of the phonetic rules of Sanskrit grammar. Then the king felt ashamed and consulted his ministers. Guṇāḍhya promised to teach him grammar in six years, while Sarvavarman undertook to do so within six months. The latter produced the Kātantra grammar with supernatural help and fulfilled his undertaking. Guṇāḍhya retired to the Vindhyan forests. Here he learnt the Paiśācī and wrote the Bṛhatkathā in that language and presented it to the king.

v1.c7.s7.87

It is impossible to be definitely certain which Sātavāhana was the king for whom Sarvavarman composed the Kātantra, and to whom Guṇāḍhya made over his Bṛhatkathā. He is very likely the same one who in literary works bears *par excellence* the name Sātavāhana as well as Hāla. His extremely brief reign of one year is perhaps a fact which may seem evidence against this identification. But the *Matsya Purāṇa* assigns to him a rule of five years which probably includes the period of his administration as *Yuvarāja* or viceroy during his father's lifetime. As a crown prince or royal representative there was nothing to prevent him from taking a keen interest in literary pursuits.

v1.c7.s7.88

Hāla himself is credited with the compilation of the *Gāthā Sattasai*. This is an anthology of seven hundred verses in the Mahārāṣṭrī prākrit abounding in love sentiments and ironical expressions. This work was evidently in the mind of Bāṇa when he referred to it as an immortal and refined repository of good sayings composed by Sātavāhana.¹ It is an important work not only on its own account but also as showing the existence of a large mass of Prākrit literature at the time when it was compiled. Most of that literature is now lost. From the commentators' notes it appears that the compositions of poets like Bodissa, Chulluha, Amararāj, Kumarela, Makarandasena, and Śrīrāja were freely drawn upon by Hāla in making this literary collection.²

v1.c7.s7.89

¹ *Harṣacharita*: Introductory verses.

v1.c7.s7.90

² Keith, *History of Sanskrit Literature*, pp. 223-5.

v1.c7.s7.91

The marriage of Hāla formed the theme of another poem in Prākrit, called *Līlāvati Pariṇaya*, by an unknown author.³

v1.c7.s7.92

³ See *Bharati*, vol. iii.

v1.c7.s7.93

The Nāsik inscription dated in the nineteenth year of Puḷumāyi II is composed in Prākrit prose indicating that this style of writing also existed in that age.

v1.c7.s7.94

But compositions in Sanskrit were not lacking. Rudradāman's Girnār inscription is in Sanskrit prose, ornate with figures of sound (*Śabdālaṅkāra*) and of sense (*arthālaṅkāra*). Nāgārjuna's writings composed about the close of the Sātavāhana period were all in Sanskrit.

First 94 of 100 passages. Read on

Linked texts (55)