The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c17.s2.t1: Early Sātavāhana Rulers
The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c17.s2.t1
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Early Sātavāhana Rulers
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The question as to which king initiated the Sātavāhana coinage cannot yet be satisfactorily answered. The third king of the dynasty, according to the Paurāṇic list, was Sātakarṇi, and he was a powerful ruler known as the lord of the entire Deccan. It is usually assumed that the copper and lead coins which bear the legend *Siri Sāta* or *Sātakarṇi* or *Sātakarṇa* were issued by him. The palaeographical evidence of these coin legends suggests that they were minted some time during the period 150 to 50 B.C.
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The Paurāṇic list, however, shows that there were several kings of the dynasty who bore the name of Sātakarṇi. The sixth ruler had this same name and it is possible to argue that kings like Meghasvāti, Svāti, Skandasvāti, and Svātikarṇa, the 9th, the 10th, the 11th, and the 14th in the Pauranic list, may also have abbreviated their names into Sāti or Sāta and issued some of the coins bearing the legends Sāta or Sāti.
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During the last decade three coins of a king named Sātavāhana have come to light; one of these was found at Kondapur and the other two were probably obtained in the former Hyderabad State. Professor V. V. Mirashi holds that the king Sātavāhana who issued these coins was the founder of the dynasty and ruled earlier than the king Sāta or Sātakarṇi of the coins mentioned earlier. The Paurāṇic list of kings in fact does not mention Sātavāhana as the founder of the dynasty, but inscriptions describe it as the Sātavāhana-kula,¹ suggesting that it was brought into prominence first by Sātavāhana. It is quite possible that Sātavāhana was an earlier or immediate predecessor of Simuka, the first king, and he might have issued these coins which bear his name. The fact that his coins are found so far only in the Hyderabad territory, while those of Sāta or Sātakarṇi are found in Western India, Malwa and Tripuri, would seem to show that the latter was a later prince, who ruled the empire after it had expanded beyond the Vindhyas. Sātavāhana was an earlier ruler and might have been the founder of the house. A son of queen Nāganikā, who was the wife of the third king of the dynasty, was also named Sātavāhana, and might perhaps have been called after an earlier and more glorious ancestor.
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¹ *EI*, viii, 93.
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Unless, however, more decisive evidence should become available, the above theory cannot be accepted. If king Sātavāhana of the new coins was indeed a predecessor of Simuka, one wonders why coins of Simuka and his brother Kṛṣṇa should also not have been found. Secondly, it is quite possible that king Sātavāhana of the coins in question might have been one of the sons of Nāganikā, whose name actually occurs in the Nanaghat inscriptions. Pūrṇotsaṅga, who is mentioned in the Purāṇas as the successor of the first Sātakarṇi, might have been his *biruda*. Until we get further evidence, we cannot solve this problem.
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We shall now proceed to describe the chief types of Sātavāhana, Sāta, Sāti, and Sātikarṇa.
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Coins of Sātavāhana
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*Elephant type*
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Copper; square; 0·80 in.; 110 grains; Malwa; *JNSI*, vii, 1. *Obv.* Elephant with trunk upraised; legend, diagonally across the coin, *Raño sari Sadavaha[na]* *Rev.* Ujjain symbol and some other minor symbols. Pl. LXII, 5.
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Lead; oval; 1×0·35 in.; 98·9 grains; from Kondapur; *JNSI*, xi, 5. *Obv.* Elephant, facing right, with trunk hanging down; legend, *Siri Sadavaha[na]*. *Rev.* Big Ujjain symbol, with a circle between two orbs. Pl. LXII, 6.
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Coins of Sāta
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*Elephant type*
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Lead; round; 1·5 in.; 101 grains; Malwa; *BMCAK*, p. 1, pl. i, 1. *Obv.* Elephant standing to right; below, River with fish; above, the legend *Raño siri Satasa*. *Rev.* Blurred (not illustrated). Pl. LXII, 7.
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*Homo type*
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Potin; round; 0·8 in.; 86 grains; Western India; *BMCAK*, p. 1, pl. i, 2. *Obv.* Man standing facing l.; Ujjain symbol; legend, *Raño siri Satasa*. *Rev.* Elephant standing to right; above, Tree within railing; in front, Three-arched Hill; below, River. Pl. LXII, 8.
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*JNSI*, iv, pl. ii, 4-6, publishes three other Elephant type coins of Siri Sāta from the Allahabad Municipal Museum. Their provenance is unknown.
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Coins of Sāti
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Homo type
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Lead; round; 1.01 in.; 218.7 grains; from Tripuri; *JNSI*, xiii, 35, pl. ii, 13. *Obv.* Homo sign on left; Ujjain symbol in centre; legend, XI to VIII, *Raño siri Satasa*. *Rev.* From left to right, Three-arched Hill; Tree within railing; River with fish placed vertically; and again Three-arched Hill. (Not illustrated.)
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Coins of Sātakana or Satakani
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Elephant type
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Copper; round; 0.9 in.; 211.8 grains; provenance unknown; *JNSI*, iv, 27, pl. ii, 7. *Obv.* Elephant with trunk upraised walking to left; Svastika above it; circular legend, *Sātakani*. *Rev.* Faint traces of tree in railing.
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Square potin coins with Elephant with trunk upraised on the obv. and Tree within railing and Ujjain symbol on the reverse, found in Western India, have the legend . . *kanisa*. They may have been issued by this ruler. See *BMCAK*, p. 3, pl. i, 9.
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Lion type
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Potin; square; 0.75 in.; 83 grains; Bhagwanlal collection; *BMCAK*, pl. i, 9. *Obv.* Lion springing to r. Svastika above; legend reversed [*Raño*] *Sātakanisa*. *Rev.* Within square border of dots, Ujjain symbol surmounted by Nandipada; Tree within railing.
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Homo type
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Copper; round; 0.92 in.; 109.3 grains; from Tripuri; *JNSI*, xiii, 36, pl. ii, 14. *Obv.* Homo sign on left; Ujjain symbol in centre; legend from VII to X, *Raño siri Satakanisa*. *Rev.* Three-arched Hill, a vertical line, probably indicating a Tree; Tree within railing; Three-arched Hill.
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Bull type
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Lead; round; 0.9 in.; 282 grains; Hyderabad region; *JNSI*, viii, 18, pl. ii A, 1. *Obv.* Humped Bull in the centre with a blurred triangle-headed standard in front; legend above the Bull, *Raño sara Satakanasa*. *Rev.* Tree within railing; Triangle-headed banner; Svastika, &c.
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The Bull type bears a striking resemblance to the Bull type of Sadakaṇi Kaḷalāya (Pl. LXIV, 8). The arrangement on the obverse of the Bull and the legend are both strikingly similar, though the Bull faces to the left on the coin of Kaḷalāya and to the right on the coin of Sātakarṇi. The tree with large leaves on the reverse of both coins is similar, though other symbols are different. These coin types show that the rulers named were not far removed from each other in time, and indeed it is most probable that Sadakaṇi Kaḷalāya was actually the father-in-law of Sātakarṇi.
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The coins of Sātakarṇi found in Gujarāt and published in *JNSI*, xii, 26, would appear to be the issue of some later ruler such as Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi or Yajña-śrī-Sātakarṇi.
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Coins of Apilaka and Meghasvāti
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According to the Paurāṇic list of kings there were thirteen rulers between Sātakarṇi II and Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi, but we have discovered the coins of only two of them, Apilaka and Meghasvāti. Of these Apilaka is represented only by a single coin found in the Bilaspur district of Madhya Pradesh. The Purāṇas do not attach any affix to the name of Apilaka; the coin on the other hand supplies the affix Śiva-siri. This fact, however, does not justify us in assuming that these names belong to two different rulers. Copper coins do not as a rule travel long distances; the discovery of the coin of Apilaka in the Bilaspur district is probably a proof that the Sātavāhana kingdom was fairly extensive even during this period, of which we have no other records. We shall now describe this unique coin.
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Copper; round; 1 in.; 65 grains; Bilaspur district; *JASB*, 1927, 94N. *Obv.* Elephant walking to right; an indistinct symbol above, circular legend, *Raṇo Siva-sirisāpilakasa*. *Rev.* Blank (not illustrated). Pl. LXII, 11.
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It is possible that the square lead coin having a Bull or Horse on the obverse with the reverse obliterated (*BMCAK*, p. 28) may have been a coin of Meghasvāti, the successor of Apilaka according to the Purāṇas. The legible part of the legend reads *ghasada*, and this may stand for [Me]ghasada or Meghasvāti.