Satavahana dynasty

Also called: Andhras, Satavahanas · Topic: Post-Mauryan India: Shungas to Kushanas · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation"; Class 7, Ch 7 "The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity"; Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"

Meaning

The Satavahana dynasty, also called the "Andhras" in old texts, ruled large parts of the Deccan from c. 2nd century BCE to c. 2nd century CE. Their land covered today's Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra, and Pratishthana (Paithan) and Amravati were among their capitals. [3]

They matter for three reasons:

• They were the first Deccan dynasty to build an empire in the southern part of India. [2]
• They drew money from long-distance and Roman trade.
• They left the earliest inscriptional evidence of land grants (shared with the Shakas), and their princes took their mothers' names.

Explanation

Origins and rise

• They rose first in the north-western Deccan. They were the first dynasty of the Deccan to build an empire in the southern part of India. [2]
• Early kings: Simuka, Krishna (Kanha) and Satakarni I. Their names appear in cave inscriptions at Naneghat, Nashik, Karli and Kanheri. [2]
• Capitals changed over time. The two most famous were:
• Pratishthana, which is modern Paithan in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra. [3]

• Amravati, on the Krishna river.

• Gautamiputra Satakarni was the greatest king of the line. Britannica dates his reign to c. 106–130 CE. [4]

• His conquests stretched from Rajasthan in the north-west to Andhra in the south-east. [4]

• They also reached from Gujarat in the west to Kalinga in the east. [4]

• His son was Vasishthiputra Pulumavi. A later king was Shri Yajna Satakarni. [2][5]

Economy: farms plus trade

• Farming base: the fertile Krishna–Godavari river system.
• Good soil and steady water gave extra grain.

• This extra grain fed towns and armies.

• Trade was the second engine.

• Satavahana coins have been found from Gujarat to Andhra, so they had a wide market.

• Many coins show two-masted ships. This shows they traded by sea, and that Indian shipbuilding could make large ocean-going ships.

• Trade with the Roman Empire:

• Exports: spices, textiles, sandalwood, gold-plated pearls, ivory.

• Imports: glass and perfumed ointments.

• How the state earned money: it took tolls and taxes on trade. NCERT says rulers such as the Satavahanas and the Shakas got revenue from long-distance trade.

• Naneghat was a mountain pass near Pune on a trade route through the Western Ghats. It had a toll post and a rest-house for traders. The name means "coin pass".

Kingship, status and patronage

• Claiming high status. NCERT notes that rulers of unclear or low social origin claimed high status once they held power. Trade wealth gave them the money to do it.
• Vedic rituals: a Satavahana widow queen performed the ashvamedha (horse sacrifice, a ritual that only a king claiming overlordship could perform). The Naneghat inscription records it.

• Gifts: the same inscription lists her dana (religious gifts): land, cows, horses, elephants and silver coins.

• Metronymics. A metronymic is a name formed from the mother's name.

• Gautamiputra Satakarni means "son of Gautami". His mother was the powerful queen Gautami Balashri.
• Balashri gave land to Buddhist monks. She also had an inscription carved at Nashik praising her son.

• Metronymics do not prove that mothers ruled. They show that the mother's family line mattered for a prince's status.

• Support for many faiths:

• The kings were devotees of Vasudeva (Krishna).
• They also gave tax-free farmland to Vedic scholars, Jaina monks and Buddhist monks.

• The earliest inscriptional evidence of land grants dates to c. 100–200 CE. These grants were made by Satavahana and Shaka rulers.

• Buddhist caves and stupas. A stupa is a dome-shaped mound holding relics. A chaitya is a Buddhist prayer hall.

• Karla (Karli): a pillared chaitya with a rock-cut stupa inside, about 30 miles north-west of Pune. The hall is apsidal (rounded at one end): 124 ft long, 46.5 ft wide, about 45 ft high. Its vaulted roof still has teak ribs fitted into the rock. [6]
• Pitalkhora: a yaksha (nature spirit) figure carved by Kanahadasa, a goldsmith. This shows that a craftsman could work in more than one trade.
• Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda: relief carving flourished here. Stupas were carved with Jataka tales (stories of the Buddha's past lives) and scenes from the Buddha's life. The rulers followed Hindu worship, but most surviving art of their age is Buddhist. [2]

Decline

• The empire broke apart in the 3rd century CE. There were two main causes:
• Weak central control: distant governors and people who held granted land began acting on their own.

• Economic decline: trade income fell, so the treasury shrank.

• New regional powers in the Deccan and the south filled the gap.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: c. 2nd century BCE to c. 2nd century CE (NCERT). The empire broke apart in the 3rd century CE.
• Region: the Deccan, covering today's Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra.
• Key people:
• Early kings: Simuka, Krishna (Kanha), Satakarni I. [2]
• Greatest king: Gautamiputra Satakarni, c. 106–130 CE. [4]
• Queen Gautami Balashri, Gautamiputra's mother.

• Later kings: Vasishthiputra Pulumavi and Shri Yajna Satakarni. [2][5]

• Inscriptions:

• Naneghat (near Pune) records the widow queen's ashvamedha, her dana and the names of Vedic gods.
  • It is written in Brahmi script.
  • It carries early numerals shaped like our modern digits. NCERT uses this as evidence that modern numerals began in India.
• Nashik (Pandulena): ASI records that Cave 3 was the gift of Gautami Balashri. Work began in Gautamiputra Satakarni's reign and was finished in the 19th regnal year of Vasishthiputra Pulumavi. [3]

• Early kings are also named at Karli and Kanheri. [2]

• Coins: found from Gujarat to Andhra. Many show two-masted ships.

• Monuments: Karla chaitya [6], the Pitalkhora yaksha, and the Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda stupas.
• Amaravati was a great centre of Buddhist learning. Students came from across India and from East and South-East Asia. [7]

• Britannica dates the Amaravati stupa to around the 2nd century BCE, so the site was active before Satavahana patronage peaked. [7]

• Museums: Amaravati sculpture slabs are held today in the Indian Museum (a stupa casing slab) and the Madras (Chennai) Museum. [8][9]

Don't confuse with

• Shakas: they also took revenue from long-distance trade and also made the earliest land grants (c. 100–200 CE). But they were a separate power that came from Central Asia, not the Deccan dynasty of Gautamiputra Satakarni.
• Naneghat inscription vs Nashik inscription: Naneghat records a widow queen's ashvamedha and her gifts. Nashik is Gautami Balashri's inscription praising her son Gautamiputra Satakarni.
• Metronymic names vs matrilineal rule: names like "Gautamiputra" come from the mother's name. Satavahana kings were still men, and succession did not pass through women.
• Gautamiputra Satakarni vs Vasishthiputra Pulumavi: Gautamiputra was the father and the greatest conqueror. Pulumavi was his son, in whose 19th regnal year Nashik Cave 3 was finished. [3]

Prelims Hooks

• Satavahanas = "Andhras". Capital Pratishthana = modern Paithan, Aurangabad district (Maharashtra). [3]
• Gautamiputra Satakarni, greatest Satavahana king, reigned c. 106–130 CE. His mother was Gautami Balashri. [4]
• Nashik (Pandulena) Cave 3 was a gift of Gautami Balashri, finished in the 19th year of Vasishthiputra Pulumavi. [3]
• Naneghat caves (near Pune) served as a toll post and a traders' rest-house. Their inscriptions are in Brahmi with early numerals.
• Karla chaitya is an apsidal hall, 124 ft × 46.5 ft, with teak ribs in its vault. [6] The Pitalkhora yaksha was carved by the goldsmith Kanahadasa.
• Trap: the kings were devotees of Vasudeva (Krishna), yet most surviving art of their age is Buddhist. [2] The earliest inscriptional land grants (c. 100–200 CE) were made by Satavahana and Shaka rulers.

Mains Points

• Trade built Deccan kingship.
• Tolls at passes like Naneghat, Roman sea trade and coins used from Gujarat to Andhra gave the Satavahanas cash.

• That cash paid for Vedic sacrifices and cave donations, which publicly showed the rulers' claim to high status.

• Status had to be earned and shown.

• The Naneghat ashvamedha, metronymics and Gautami Balashri's Nashik inscription all did one job: they turned power into accepted status.
• Patronage was plural: Krishna-worshipping kings funded Buddhist chaityas and gave land to Jaina and Vedic grantees. This argues against seeing early Indian states as single-religion states.

• This makes a useful contrast with Ashoka's dhamma (moral rules for everyone, whatever their religion).

• Land grants carried the seed of decline.

• Tax-free grants from c. 100–200 CE cut the centre's revenue and created local power-holders.
• Together with falling trade income, this helps explain the 3rd-century CE break-up.
• It is an early case study in the debate on "Indian feudalism".

Related concepts

• Simuka
• Pratishthana
• Satavahana coins
• Yajna Sri Satakarni
• Nanaghat inscription
• Satavahana metronymics
• Gautamiputra Satakarni
• Gautami Balashri
• Nashik prashasti
• Vasishthiputra Pulumavi

Read more

• The Satavahanas and the Deccan