The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c7.s7.64

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.