Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c5.s3.1

c5.s3.1

The well-known passage¹ referring to the Andhra monarch Kuntala Sātakarṇi first pointed out by Sir R.G. Bhandarkar² furnishes important data. According to the Puranic list of the Andhra monarchs, Kuntala Svāti or Svātikarṇa is the thirteenth in descent from Simuka, the founder of the family. Sri Malla Sātakarṇi, the third monarch in this list, has been identified by Mr. K.P. Jayaswal with the Sātakaṇi mentioned in the Hāthigumpha inscription of Khāravela and it has been shown by him that an expedition was undertaken by Khāravela in 171 B.C. aganist this Sātakarṇi.³ Kuntala is separated from him by 168 years according to the Puranic enumeration⁴ which is held as substantially correct. Kuntala therefore reigned about the very beginning of the Christian era.⁵ Calculating again back from the great Andhra monarch Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi who according to professor D. R. Bhandarkar came to the throne in A.C. 133 ⁶ and who according to the Puranic list is separated from Kuntala Sātakarṇi by about 123 years, we find that the reigning period of Kuntala falls in the early years of the first century A. C.