The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c8.s2.17

v1.c8.s2.17

IN the third quarter of the third century A.D., when the Vākāṭakas rose to power, political conditions were favourable for the rise of a central and powerful state in the Deccan. The Sātavāhanas, who had been ruling over the Deccan, had fallen, and none among the new states which had subsequently risen to power in the territories they had dominated had shown the capacity to take over their imperial responsibilities. The Ikshvākus had carved out a kingdom for themselves in a portion of the Andhra country, but they were not able to extend their rule much to the north of the Krishṇā. The Chuṭu Sātakarṇis of Mysore were mere local chiefs, who had neither the ability nor the resources to rise to the imperial position. In the Northern Koṅkaṇ, the Ābhīras had founded a principality and had for a short time succeeded in ousting the Western Kshatrapas from their capital. They, however, soon sank into insignificance and abandoned any effort to expand over the Deccan. The Western Kshatrapas had once defeated the Sātavāhanas and had annexed a part of the Deccan to their kingdom; but during the latter half of the third century their power too was on the decline, and they had lost all hope of controlling the politics or the destinies of Southern India. In Northern India, the Nāgas of the Uttara Pradeśa and the republics of Rajputana and the Punjab had reasserted their independence and repudiated the Kushāṇa supremacy. Their interest was, however, confined to their own homelands¹ and they had no ambition to bring the Deccan under their hegemony. The political situation was thus quite favourable for an adventurous chief to attempt to found a new house, which might eventually take the place of the great Sātavāhanas as the paramount power of Southern India.