The Satavahanas: Part I

• Pre-Satavahana settlements are indicated by the finds of red ware, black-and-red ware, and russet-coated painted ware at many sites in the Deccan. selfstudyhistory.com
  • Most of these are associated with the iron using megalith builders who were stimulated to new activity by contacts with the material culture from the north.
  • The use of the iron ploughshare, paddy transplantation, the growth of urbanism, writing, etc., created conditions for state formation under the Satavahanas.
• The process of change in Deccan started with Mauryan expansion in the Deccan.
  • The Mauryas were primarily interested in exploiting the mineral resources of the Deccan peninsula. The gold, diamonds and gems from the mines in Karnataka and Andhra were transported to Magadha in the north through a series of land and coastal routes.
  • Market centres developed at important points along these routes such as Dharanikota on the banks of the Krishna in the Guntur district of Andhra and Karad in Satara district of Maharashtra.
  • Many chiefs known as Maharathis became important in several scattered pockets.
  • But it was under the Satavahanas who were related by marriage to the Maharathis that the first state emerged in the Deccan.
• The most important of the native successors of the Mauryas in the north were the Shungas followed by the Kanvas.
  •  In the Deccan and in central India, the Satavahanas succeeded the Mauryas, (although after a gap of about 100 years) with its centre at Pratishtana (modern Paithan in Maharashtra) in the first century B.C. Their rule lasted for about 450 years.
• The Satavahanas are considered to be the same as the Andhras mentioned in the Puranas.
  • The Puranas speak only of Andhra rule and not of Satavahana rule, and the name Andhra does not figure in Satavahana inscriptions.

Sources

• The names of the Satavahana rulers, also known as the Andhras, occur in the lists of kings found in the Puranas.
  • There are many difficulties in using these lists as sources of history without critically comparing them with other sources. For example the names of the kings and the duration of their rule vary in the different Puranas.
  • Moreover, information about the kings is interwoven with myths and legends, and one has to carefully distinguish between facts and legendary stories.
  • The Puranas are nevertheless useful when studied with other sources such as coins and inscriptions.
• The Satavahanas minted a large number of coins in lead, silver and an alloy of copper.
  • Their silver coins – carry the portrait of the king and his name.
  • The coins issued by the Satavahanas are also helpful in knowing the economic conditions of that period.
• The inscriptions are found in Buddhist caves cut in the rock and record donations made by Satavahana kings and queens as well as by a large number of ordinary people.
  • Among the inscriptions, the Nasik and Nanaghad inscriptions throw much light on the reign of Gautamiputra Satakarni.
• By comparing the information available in these different sources, scholars generally accept that the Satavahanas began their rule around the first century B.C. Their earliest record is found engraved on rock in a cave.

History of the Satavahana dynasty

• The Puranas list 30 rulers. Many are known from their coins and inscriptions as well.
• The earliest inscriptions of the Satavahanas relate to the first century BC, when they defeated the Kanvas and established power in parts of central India.
  • The early Satavahana kings ruled not in Andhra but in north Maharashtra (Western Deccan) where their earliest coins and inscriptions have been found, establishing power in the upper Godavari valley, which currently produces rich and diverse crops in Maharashtra
  • Gradually the Satavahanas extended their power over Karnataka and Andhra.
• Simuka (230–207 BCE) and Kanha (207–189 BCE):
  • According to Purana tradition it was Simuka who established Satavahana power.
  • He was succeeded by his brother Kanha or Krishna, who is known to us from an inscription at Nasik. He extended the kingdom up to Nasik in the west.
• Another record that lists several rulers of the dynasty is the Nanaghat inscription of Queen Naganika, the widowed queen of Satakarni, who performed Vedic sacrifices.
• Satakarni I:
  • The third king was Sri Satakarni or Satakarni I enjoyed a long reign of about 56 years.
  • In addition to the Kshatrapas, an early Satavahana had to contend with the power of Kharavela
    • Kharavela, the Chedi king of Kalinga, claims in his Hathigumpha inscription to have defied a king named Satakarni and dispatched an army to the west without caring for Satakarni.
      • Some scholars think that these events took place during the reign of Satakarni I, while others think they occurred during the reign of a later king with the same name.
    • This suggests that early Satavahana power suffered setbacks both at the hands of the Kshatrapas and of Kharavela.
      • It was revived only through the exploits of Gautamiputra Satakarni.
  • Satakarni I seems to have conquered western Malwa and Berar.
  • He also performed asvamedha sacrifices.
  • Naganika’s inscription in the Naneghat cave describes him as lord of Dakshinapatha.
    • The fact that the queen’s image was carved in the cave, that she had a long inscription inscribed in the same cave, that she proudly refers to her own lineage, and that she is depicted along with her husband on coinage— all clearly indicate that Naganika was a royal woman of importance and authority.
• Hala:
  • The seventeenth king of the Satavahana dynasty was Hala.
  • Hala became famous for his book Gathasaptasati, also called Sattasai. It contains 700 erotic verses in Prakrit language.
  • He is also mentioned in another text Lilavati.
• Gautamiputra Satakarni (A.D. 106 -130):
  • The greatest ruler of the Satavahana dynasty was Gautamiputra Satakarni. He ruled for a period of 24 years from 106 to 130 A.D.
    • Gautamiputra Satakarni captured the whole of Deccan and expanded his empire.
    • His victory over Nagapana, the ruler of Malwa was remarkable.
  • The Satavahanas and Shakas were involved in prolonged conflict.
    • The Shaka Kshatrapas were involved in prolonged conflict with the Satavahanas, a powerful dynasty with its stronghold in the Deccan.
    • The 1st century CE saw another incursion of the Sakas of Central Asia into India, where they formed the dynasty of the Western Kshatrapas.
      • During the reign of the Western Satrap Nahapana, the Satavahanas lost a considerable territory to the Satraps, including eastern Malwa, Southern Gujarat, and Northern Konkan, from Broach to Sopara and the Nasik and Pune.
      • Coins and inscriptions of the Shaka Chief Nahapana have been found around Nasik, indicating the Shaka dominance in the area towards the close of the first century A.D.

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    • Control over certain areas, especially those that gave access to the western seaboard, seems to have frequently changed hands.
      • Control over the premier ports such as Bhrigukachcha (Broach), Kalyan, and Suparaka (Sopara) was an important issue in this conflict.
  • The fortunes of the Satavahanas were revived by Gautamiputra Satakarni, during whose reign the empire seems to have reached its peak.
    • Gautamiputra Satakarni is said to have destroyed the power of the Shakas and the pride of the Khastriyas, promoted the interests of the twice-born and stopped the mixing of the four varnas. 
  • The achievements of this king are described and eulogized in Nasik inscription of his mother Gautami Balashri, engraved after his death, during the reign of his son Pulumayi II.
    • He is described as the destroyer of the Shakas, Pahlavas, and Yavanas, as the uprooter of the Kshaharatas, and as the restorer of the glory of the Satavahanas.
    • Perhaps control of the lucrative foreign trade was one of the causes for the conflict between the Kashatrapas and the Satavahanas. It would also seem that under Gautamiputra Satakarni, Satavahana rule extended over Andhra as well.
      • According to the Periplus of the Erytheaen Sea, as a result of the rivalry between the Kashatrapas and the Satavahanas, Greek ships entering Kalyan, a port near present Bombay, were sent under guard to the port of Bharuch.
      • Hence there was the conflict between the Satavahanas and the Kshatrapas over control of the maritime trade and the competition between the ports of Bharuch and Kalyan.
  • Gautamiputra defeated Nahapana and recovered many of the territories that the Shakas had earlier wrested from the Satavahanas.
    • It is evident from
      • the discovery of Gautamiputra’s inscriptions in the Nashik and Pune districts,
      • his re-striking Nahapana’s coins, and
      • certain statements made in an inscription of Gautamiputra’s mother, Gautami Balashri.
    • After his victory, Gautamiputra counterstruck silver coins of the Kshatrapa Nahapana with his own legend and symbols.
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    • A hoard of Nahapana’s coins found at Jogalthambi in Nashik district includes coins that were re-struck by Gautamiputra.
  • He patronized Brahmanism. Yet, he also gave donations to Buddhists.
    • His patronage to Brahmanism is revealed by the epithet ‘Ekabrahmana’.
    • A Nashik inscription, dated in the 18th year of Gautamiputra’s reign, records the grant to Buddhist monks of a piece of land that was earlier in the possession of Ushavadata, son-in-law of Nahapana.
  • Another inscription at Karle refers to the grant of Karajika village (in Pune district), suggesting that the king’s control extended over the Pune area.
  • Gautamiputra’s coins have been found in the eastern Deccan as well.
  • The Nashik inscription of Gautami Balashri suggests that his rule extended from Malwa and Saurashtra in the north to the Krishna in the south, and from Berar in the east to Konkan in the west.
    • Gautamiputra Satakarni took the titles of:
      • Trisamudrapibatohayavahana (one whose horses had drunk waters from 3 oceans) and
      • Sakayavanapallavanisudana (destroyer of Saka, Yavana and Pahlavas)
    • The statement that the king’s horses drank the waters of the three oceans reflects his claim to extensive conquest in trans-Vindhyan India.
    • However, towards the end of his reign, it is possible that Gautamiputra lost some of the territories he had conquered from the Kshaharatas to the Kardamakas.
  • Gautamiputra was the first Satavahana ruler to issue the portrait-type coinage, in a style derived from the Western Satraps.
    • After conquering Malwa from a Saka ruler, Gautamiputra Satakarni issued local type of coins, particularly in Malwa for convenience of the people.
    • On the obverse, there is the figure of an elephant with its trunk and on the reverse, the peculiar device of Ujjain symbol. This latter, not known on any Satavahana coins. It was prevalent only on the coins of Malwa.
• Vasishthiputra Pulumayi (130–154 CE):
  • Gautamiputra was succeeded by his son Pulumavi.
    • He was mentioned by Ptolemy under the name Siriptolemaios (Shri-Pulumayi).
  • It was at this time that the Satavahanas consolidated their power in the eastern Deccan.
    • He extended the Satavahana power up to the mouth of the Krishna river.
    • For the first time we find Satavahana inscriptions outside the western Deccan at Amaravati.
  • He set up his capital at Paithan or Pratishthan on the Godavari in Aurangabad district.
  • The coins of Vasishthiputra Pulumayi have been found in various parts of Andhra Pradesh.
    • He issued coins on which the image of ships was inscribed. They reveal the naval power and maritime trade of the Satavahanas.

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• Vashishtiputra Satakarni (130-160 CE):
  • Vashishtiputra Satakarni was in great conflict with the Scythian Western Kshatrapas in the West, but he eventually married the daughter of Rudradaman I (AD 130-50) of the Western Kshatrapa dynasty, in order to forge an alliance.
  • Later however, he was defeated by Rudradaman I, with serious effect on Satavahana power and prestige as mentioned in Junagadh rock inscription.

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• Yajna Sri Satakarni (165-194 CE):
  • Yajnashri Satakarni was another important Satavahana king. His coins depict ships, some single masted, others double masted.
  • He seems to have revived the struggle against the Shakas, and was probably the last king of his dynasty to control the eastern and western Deccan.
• Some of the later Satavahana rulers are not mentioned in the Puranic king-lists and are only known through their coins.
• The Satavahana dynasty came to an end in the mid-3rd century CE. The breakup of the empire paved the way for the rise of the Vakatakas in the Deccan, Kadambas in Mysore, Abhiras in Maharashtra, and Ikshvakus in Andhra.

Satavahana Administration

• Administration under the Satavahanas was much simpler that under the Mauryas.
• The coins, sculpture and literature of the Satavahana period are the source of our knowledge not only in respect of the contemporary administration but also about the political, social, economic and religious and cultural conditions.

King:

• In this period the South was ruled over by the monarchies. King was the highest official of the Government and his office was hereditary.
• They did not assume high sounding titles.
• The Satavahana rulers strove for the royal ideal set forth in the Dharmashastras. The king was represented as the upholder of dharma, and to him were assigned new divine attributes.
  • The Satavahana king is represented as possessing the qualities of mythical heroes such as Rama, Bhima, Keshava, and Arjuna, and is compared in prowess and lustre to these legendary figures and to supernatural forces.
  • This was evidently meant to attribute divinity to the Satavahana king.
• The Satavahana rulers carried administration in accor­dance with the directives of the Dharma Shastras and the social customs.
  • Their power was checked in practice by customs and shastras.
• The king himself led his armies in the battle-field and was commander-in-chief of his forces.
• The king was the head of the Government as well as the protector to his people.
• Ministers:
  • Inscriptions refer to ministers who were incharge of various functions.
  • Among other things, they served as treasury officers and maintained land records.
  • These ministers were appointed directly by the king and the post of a minister does not seem to have been hereditary.
  • They were perhaps paid in money from the revenue collected by the state.

Revenue and land grant:

• The state collected taxes both from agriculture and trade.
• The earliest surviving inscriptions of land grant including those with fiscal exemptions belongs to the Satavahana and Kshatrapa periods.
  • This was the beginning of a long-standing tradition that was to become increasingly prevalent over the succeeding centuries.
• Satavahana rulers donated revenue of a village to either a Brahmana or the Buddhist Sangha.
  • In the case of the Satavahanas (as well as the Ikshvakus), there was a trend of royal women making donations to Buddhist establishments, while royal men concentrated on patronizing Brahmanas and Hindu temples.
  • The cultivated fields and villages granted to them were declared free from intrusion by royal policemen, soldiers, and other royal officers.
  • These areas therefore became small independent islands within the Satavahana kingdom.
  • Possibly the Buddhist monks also preached peace and spelt out rules of good conduct to the people among whom they lived, and taught them to respect political authority and social order.
  • The brahmanas helped enforce the rules of the Varna system which promoted social stability.
• Examples:
  • Naneghat inscription of Naganika (1st century BCE):
    • It mentions that villages were among the items offered as dakshina to officiating priests when certain shrauta sacrifices, including the ashvamedha, were performed by her husband Satakarni I.
  • Nashik cave inscription of Ushavadata (2nd century CE):
    • It describes the donor as one who has given 16 villages to the gods and Brahmanas.
    • The inscription also records the grant of a field by Ushavadata to provide food for the Buddhist monks dwelling in the cave.
  • An inscription of Gautamiputra Satakarni in one of the Nashik caves:
    • It records the grant to Buddhist monks of a field.
    • This is the first inscription that associates certain specific privileges and exemptions with a gift of land.
    • It states that the land was not to be entered or disturbed by royal troops, was not to be dug for salt, was free from the control of state officials, and was to enjoy all sorts of immunities (pariharas).
• The importance of land-revenue for the king can be judged from the elaborate procedure that was used to record donations of land.
  • These donations were first proclaimed in an assembly nigama-sabha.
  • It was then written down either on a copper-plate or cloth by an officer or minister.
  • This record was then delivered to the donee to whom the grant had been made.
  • There was a keeper of records who maintained a detailed account of these donations.
• The rulers at this time were eager to bring more land under cultivation so that they could earn extra revenue.
  • It seems that anyone who cleared the forest and tilled a plot could claim ownership of the land.
• The revenue from trade was another major source of income.
  • Much of the trade was handled by guilds who also acted as bankers.
  • The state took elaborate measures to encourage trade. Highways were made secure and rest-houses were constructed along them.

Feudatories:

• A peculiar feature of the Satavahana administration was the presence of feudatories of different grade.
  • They had divided their empire among a number of feudal chiefs who managed the land revenue system and looked after the administration.
• There were three grades of feudatories –
  • Raja:
    • The highest grade was formed by the king who was called raja and had the right to strike coins and impose taxes.
  • Mahabhoja:
    • The mahabhojas were primarily located in western Deccan. They were related by blood to the feudatory maharathi.
  • Maharathi or Senapati.
• The maharathis and mahabhojas—local rulers who had emerged in the pre-Satavahana period—were encapsulated and integrated into the Satavahana polity.
  • The Rathikas and Bhojas mentioned in Ashoka’s inscriptions were transformed into the maharathis and mahabhojas of pre-Satavahana times.
• Mahabhoja and Maharathi, both titles from the beginning were hereditary and restricted to a few families in a few localities.
• The maharathis and mahabhojas mentioned in Satavahana inscriptions appear as donors at Buddhist cave sites in the western Deccan; they had matrimonial ties with the Satavahanas and among themselves.
• These feudatories and landed beneficiaries enjoyed some authority in their respective localities.

Administrative units and officers:

• They retained some of the administration units found in Ashokan times. Like districts were called Ahara (Mahamatta as officer of Ahara). Officers were known as Amatyas and Mahamattas.
• However, their administrative divisions were also called rashtra, and their high officials were styled maharashtrikas.
• Barring districts that were controlled by feudatories, the empire was divided into janapadas and aharas, the latter corresponding to modern districts.
  • The division below that of ahara was grama.
  • Non-hereditary governors were subject to periodical transfers.
• The high­est official in a province was ‘Amatya’ or minister.
  • His office was not hereditary. Men of proven ability were appointed to this official.
• There we several officials to help the king like:
  • Senapati,
  • Mahabhoja,
  • Koshadhyaksha,
  • Rajadoot,
  • Amatya,
  • scribes and record keepers.
• There was also a special official called ‘Uparakshita’ who was charged with the duty of building caves etc. for the monks.
• The ‘bhikshus’ (monks) and Brahmanas were held in high esteem and they too observed and preached high standards of conduct. They were beyond the ordinary laws of the Government.

Local Administration:

• There were separate organization to look after the administration of the towns and the villages.
• The towns were administered by a body called the ‘Nagarsabha’ while in villages there were ‘Gram Sabhas’. 
• A village was administered by a ‘Gramika’.

Military Administration:

• It was by dint of efficient military administration that the Satavahanas succeeded in expanding their empires.
• Their army consisted of foot soldiers, cavalry and elephants.
• Foot soldiers or infantry was the backbone of the army and they formed the vanguard and were flanked on either side by horses and elephants. The soldiers used swords, spears, axes and armours as weapons of war.
• Pliny mentions the Andhra country as including many villages and 30 walled towns, and states that its rulers had a large army of 100,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry, and 1,000 elephants.
• We notice certain military and feudal traits in the administration of the Satavahanas. It is significant that the senapati was appointed provincial governor.
  • As the tribal people in the Deccan were not thoroughly brahmanized and reconciled to the new rule, it was necessary to keep them under strong military control.
• The administration in the rural areas was placed in the hands of a gaulmika, the head of a military regiment consisting of 9 chariots, 9 elephants, 25 horses and 45 foot soldiers.
  • The head of this regiment was posted in the countryside to maintain peace and order. They were maintained at the expense of the rural inhabitants.
• The military character of Satavahana rule is also evident from the common use of such terms as kataka and skandhavara in their inscriptions.
  • These were military camps and settlements which served as administrative centres when the king was there.
  • Thus, coercion played a key role in the Satavahana administration.

Extent of Empire

• A second century A.D. inscription of Gautamiputra Satakarni’s mother from Nasik provides information about the extent of the kingdom under the Satavahanas.
  • The mention of both the Western and the Eastern Ghats as forming parts of Gautamiputra Satakarni’s empire suggests that by this time Satavahana rule covered the entire Deccan and that it was divided into aharas or districts. We get the names of at least five aharas in the inscriptions:
    • Govardhana-ahara with its centre around Nasik;
    • Soparaka-ahara on the west coast;
    • Mamala-ahara comprising the hilly portions of the Pune and Satara districts;
    • Satavahanihara covering the Bellery district of Karnataka; and Kapurachara perhaps in Gujarat.