Historical Geography of Ancient India c7.20

c7.20

Andhramaṇḍala or Andhraviṣaya.—Telegu country (S.I.I., III, p. 128). The Mayidāvolu plates of the early Pallava ruler Śivaskandavarman prove that the Andhrāpatha or the region of the Andhras embraced the Kṛṣṇā district with Dhaññakaḍa or Bezwada as its capital (E.I., VI, p. 88). In the Harāhā Inscription of Maukhari king Kumāragupta III (554 A.D.) a certain lord of the Andhras (Andhrādhipati) is said to have troubled the Maukhari king (Ep. Ind. XIV, pp. 110ff.). The Andhra king referred to was probably Mādhavavarman I Yavāśraya of the Polamuru plates belonging to the Viṣṇukuṇḍin family. This is supported by the fact that the Jaunpur Inscription of Īśāvarman, father of Īśānavarman Maukhari, refers to the victory over the Andhras on behalf of Īśāvarman (C.I.I., III, p. 230). The Andhras are mentioned in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa (VII, 18) and the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. V. A. Smith holds that they were a Dravidian people and were the progenitors of the modern Telugu-speaking people occupying the deltas of the Godāvarī and the Kṛṣṇā (I.A., 1913, 276-8). According to some they were originally a Vindhyan tribe that extended its political power from the west gradually to the east down the Godāvarī and the Kṛṣṇā valleys (Ibid., 1918, 71). The Mahābhārata (XII, 207, 42) points out that they were settled in the Deccan. The Rāmāyaṇa (Kiṣkindhyākāṇḍa, 41, Ch. 11) connects them with the Godāvarī. The epigraphic evidence proves that they occupied the Godāvarī-Kṛṣṇā valley. The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (LVII, 48-49) mentions the Andhras as a southern people. The R.E. XIII of Aśoka mentions the country of the Andhras as a vassal state under Aśoka. There is a reference to the Andhra country in a *Jātaka* (*Jāt.*, I, 356ff.) where a Brahmin youth came after completing his education at Taxila to profit by practical experience. According to Pliny the Andhras possessed a large number of villages, 30 towns defended by walls and towers, and supplied their king with a huge army consisting of infantry, cavalry and elephants (*I.A.*, 1877, 339).