THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN INDIA
culture and speaking a language of ‘Scythian' affinities, from which are
derived the tongues now known as 'Dravidian,' gradually made its
way from the north or north-west- probably through Baluchistān-into the
plain of the Indus, and thence ultimately passed down into the regions
south of the Vindhya.
culture and speaking a language of ‘Scythian' affinities, from which are
derived the tongues now known as 'Dravidian,' gradually made its
way from the north or north-west- probably through Baluchistān-into the
plain of the Indus, and thence ultimately passed down into the regions
south of the Vindhya.
Cambridge History of India - v1
(Obv.
Zeus
enthroned ;
1. , forepart of elephant, Rev. Heracles standing. ) £
Type •Zeus enthroned' without emblems.
Heliocles B. M. Cat. , p. 166, no. 2, Pl. XXXI, 1. (Rer. Zeus
enthroned and Greek legend. )
R
Amyntas B. M. Cat. , p. 61, no. 3, Pl. XIV, 10. (Rex, Zeus
enthroned and Kharoshțhi legend. )
R
Hermaeus Οδυ. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ | ΕΡΜΑΙΟΥ. Bust
of king r.
Rer. Mahārajasa tratārasa | Heramayasa. Zeus
enthroned.
RR
B. M. Cat. , p. 65. no. 45. (Same types, degraded. Gk.
leg. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΤΗΡΟΣΣΥ | ΕΡΜΑΙΟΥ. ) Ε
Spalirises Ούι. ΒΑΓΙΛΕΞ Ν ΒΑ ΙΛΕΓΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ
CHIAAIPIC OY. King standing 1.
Rer. Maharujasa mahamtakasa Çpalirçiasa. Zeus enth-
roned.
Æ
VII, 37.
92
VII, 38.
Eucratides
VIII, 39.
Type ‘Dioscuri. '
Obr. BASIAEOS METAAOY | EYKPATIAOY.
Bust of king r. , wearing helmet.
Rer. Maharajasa Evuarātitasa. Dioscuri charging r. Æ
Οοι:. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ 1 AIOMHAOY
Bust of king r. , wearing helmet.
Rev. Maharajasa tratarasa Diyumedasa. Dioscuri
charging r.
R
Diomedes
VIII, 40.
## p. 535 (#573) ############################################
XXII]
SUMMARY OF NUMISMATIC EVIDENCE
535
Type of the region of Takshoçilā “Pilei of the Dioscuri. ' Plates
Eucratides Obv. Bust of king r. , wearing helmet.
VIII, 41.
Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΕΥΚΡΑΤΙΔΟΥ. Pilei of the
Dioscuri.
R
Liaka
Obv. Same type
VIII, 42.
Kusulaka Rev. AIAKO KOZOYAO. Same type.
Antialcidas Οδυ. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ | ΑΝΤΙΑΛΚΙΔΟΥ.
Bust of Zeus r.
VIII, 43.
Rev. Maharajasa jayadharasa | Amtialikitasa Same
type.
Æ
Lysias and
B. M. Cat. , p. 166, no 1, Pl. XXXI, 2. (Obv. Bust of
Antialcidas
Heracles r. Rev. Same type. )
Archebius Obυ. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ
APXEBIOY Bust of Zeus r.
VIII, 44
Rev. Māharajasa dhramikasa jayadharası Arkhebiyasa.
Same type.
Æ
Type 'Athene. '
Azes II Ουυ. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙVΕΩΝ ΜΕΓΑ 1ΟΥ | AZOY.
King r. , on horseback.
VIII, 45
Rev. Maharajasa rajarajasa mahatasa | Ayasa. Athene
standing r.
RR
Azes II and
Obv. Same legend and type.
VIII, 46.
Aspavarman Rev. Imdravarmaputrasa Açpavarmasa strategasa!
jayatasa. Same type.
Bil,
Gondopharnes Οδυ. BACIΛεωC BACIΛεωΝ ΜΕΓΑΑ | ΓΝΔΟ-
DEPPO. Same type and symbol ♡
VIII, 47.
Rev. Maharaja rajatiraja tratara devavrata | Gudapharasa.
Same type.
R
Type 'Victory' (see also p. 531).
Maues
Οδυ. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ | MA-
YOY, Zeus standing 1.
VIII, 48.
Rev. Rajatirajasa mahatasa | Moasa. Victory standing
R
Azes I
Οδυ. ΒΑΣΙΛ ΕΩΣ ΒΑΣ ΙΛΕΩΝ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ |
AZOY. Same type.
VIII, 49.
Rev. Maharajasa rajarajasa mahamta sa | A yasa. Same
type.
R
(This type on the coins of Maues and Azes I is perhaps
to be attributed to Nicaea, v. sup. Pl. VI. 13,15,16. )
Vonones I Οδυ. ΒΑΓΙΔΕΥΕ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ONΩNHC Bust
of Parthia
of king I.
VIII, 50.
Rev. BACSIAES BACIAEIN | APC AKOYEY
ΕΡΓΕΤΙ]Υ | ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ | ΕΠΙΦΑΝΕΥΟ
QIAEAAHNOCI. Victory standing 1. R
Orthagnos, Obv. BACIAEYC BACIAEON MelAC ΟΡΘΑΓ
Gondopharnes, NHC. Bust of king 1.
VIII, 51.
and Guda Rev. Maharajasa rajatirajasa mohatası Gudapharasa
r.
## p. 536 (#574) ############################################
536
(CH.
SUMMARY OF NUMISMATIC EVIDENCE
Gondopharnes
Abdagases
Guda ( sa or na? ]. Victory standing r.
Plates
Obr. Fragmentary Greek legend King seated on throne
(cf Zeus enthroned, Pl. VII, 37, 38)
VIII, 52.
Rer. Fragmentary Greek legend. Same type. Æ
Obv. BACIAEN [. 2 THPOS YNADJEPPOY
Bust of king r.
VIII, 53.
Rer. Maharajasa Guda pharnasa tratarasa. Same type. Æ
Obv. BACI AOC COTHPOC ABAATACOY.
Similar type
VIII, 54.
Rev. Tratarasa maharajasa Avadagaçasa. Same
type.
Obv. BACIASYC BACIAWN MECAC MAKOPHC.
Bust of king I.
VIII, 55.
Rev. Maharajasa rajatirajasa mohatasa Pakurasa. Same
type.
Æ
Obv. Imperfect Greek legend beginning BAEAEYE.
Similar type.
VIII, 56.
Rev. Gk. legend including [ ANABAPOY, Same
type.
Æ
Pacores
Sanabares
## p. 537 (#575) ############################################
CHAPTER XXIV
THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN INDIA
I. THE DRAVIDIAN PEOPLES
The great peninsula of India, from the Vindhya mountains south-
ward to Comorin, is the home of the 'Dravidian' peoples. And here at
the outset we are faced by a difficulty of terms.
The word 'Dravidian' comes from an ethnic name Dravida or
Dramida, in Pali Damila, which is apparently identical in origin with
the adjective Tamil ; and thus a title which is strictly applicable only
to a single branch, the Tamils, is extended to a whole family. Again, not
only is the term ‘Dravidian' used sometimes to denote all the members of
the one ethnic family, but it is also often employed to designate all the
cognate languages spoken by that family - the Tamil, Malayālam, Telugu,
Kannada (Kanarese), and various minor dialects-without regard to
the possible differences of race among the groups speaking these tongues ;
and furthermore, by a still more deplorable looseness of terminology,
it has been applied by anthropologists to a group of races characterised
by common physical features, who are chiefly inhabitants of the peninsula,
and for the most part, but by no means entirely, use languages which
are variants of Dravidian speech. Lastly, we must note that an ancient
Tamil tradition speaks of a pañcha-dravidam or five Dravidian regions,
understanding thereby the Tamil, Andhra or Telugu, and Kanarese
countries, the Mahārāshtra or Marāthā provinces, and Gujarāt. The
conclusion which is suggested by a review of all the available data is as
follows.
At some very early date, several millennia before the Christian
era, the greater part of India was inhabited by a dark negroid race of
low culture characterised more or less by the physical features now
known as 'Dravidian. ' This early people however should more properly
be termed pre-Dravidian. In course of time another race, higher in
1 These features are very dark hue ; long head; broad nose ; abundant and
sometimes curly hair ; and dark eyes,
537
## p. 538 (#576) ############################################
538
[CH.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN INDIA
culture and speaking a language of ‘Scythian' affinities, from which are
derived the tongues now known as 'Dravidian,' gradually made its
way from the north or north-west- probably through Baluchistān-into the
plain of the Indus, and thence ultimately passed down into the regions
south of the Vindhya. This race may be called the proto-Dravidian.
Wherever it came, it mixed its blood to a greater or less degree with
that of the earlier inhabitants. From this combination have arisen the
Dravidians of history, who have preserved few traces of the physical
characteristics of the proto-Dravidians, whatever those may have been'.
Most of the pre-Dravidian tribes in the countries south of the Vindhya
adopted the speech of the proto-Dravidians, while they absorbed their
blood, notably in the centre and south of the peninsula, the Tamil,
Kannada, and Telugu regions. In Gujarāt the waves of Āryan immigration
gradually submerged Dravidian blood and speech ; in Mahārāshtra the
same influences obliterated the language, and the same has happened in
Kalinga (now Orissa and part of the Circārs), where a Dravidian language,
the Telugu, survives only in the southern districts.
Long before the beginning of the Christian era the Dravidian South
had developed a considerable culture of its own, and its inhabitants
had consolidated themselves into powerful kingdoms, some of which
cried on a thriving trade with Western Asia, Egypt, and later with the
Greek and Roman empires”. The chief of these were the three Tamil
kingdoms, the Andhras, Kalingas and Mahārāshtra.
II. THE TAMIL KINGDOMS
The Tamils have retained more tenaciously than any of their kindred
the ancient traditions of the proto-Dravidian race. True, they have written
no histories until modern times ; but they have preserved a large number
of ancient poems relating to the exploits and administration of kings and
princes in an age far earlier than the oldest existing literature of their
Dravidian neighbours.
In the earliest time of which we have any record the Tamilagam or
Tamil realm extended over the greater part of the modern Madras Pre-
1 It is possible that the Seythian' features that have been observed among the
Marāthā Brahmans, Kunbis, Coorgs, and Telugus may be survivals of proto-Dravidian
characteristics. For other views see Chapter II, pp. 36 ff.
2 The Tyrians apparently imported tience ivory, apes, and peacocks (Tannil isgai
„Greek TX Ws) as we know from I Kings X, 22 and II Chroronicles IX, 21. Somewhat
later we find India—to a large extent Southern India-exporting pepper (@tzspi,
Tamil pippali), rice (opuld, Tamil ariçi) ginger (Seyyißsols, Tamil inji-ver) and cin-
namon (káprio', Tamil krerupp! ı or kārppi), besides spices, precious stones, coral,
pearls, cloth, muslin, silk, tortoise-shell, etc. See J. Kennedy, The Early Commerce of
India with Babylon, J. R. A. S. , 1898, pp. 241 ff.
## p. 539 (#577) ############################################
XXIV]
THE TAMIL KINGDOMS
539
>
sidency, its boundaries being on the north a line running approximately
from Pulicat on the coast to Venkatagiri (Tirupati), on the east the Bay of
Bengal, on the south Cape Comorin, and on the west the Arabian Sea as
far north as the 'White Rock’ near Badagara, to the south of Mahé.
Malabar was included in it; the Malayālam language had not yet branched
off as a separate tongue from the parent Tamil. It consisted of three
kingdoms, those of the Pāņdyas, Chõļas or Colas, and Chēras or Kēralas.
The Pāņdya kingdom comprised the greater part of the modern Madura
and Tinnevelly Districts, and in the first century also Southern Travancore,
and had its capital originally at Kolkai (on the Tāmbraparni river in
Tinnevelly), and later at Madura. The Chõļa region extended along the
eastern coast, from the river Penner to the Vellār, and on the west reaching
to about the borders of Coorg. Its capital was Uraiyūr (Old Trichinopoly),
and it had a great port at Kāviri-pattinam or Pugār, on the northern bank
of the river Cauvery (Kāveri). Another of its chief towns was Kāñchi,
now Conjeeveram. The Chēra or Kērala territory comprised Travancore,
Cochin, and the Malabar District ; the Kongu-deça (corresponding to the
;
Coimbatore District and the southern part of Salem District), which at one
time was separate from it, was afterwards annexed to it. Its capital was
originally Vañji (now Tiru-karūr, on the Periyār river, near Cochin), and
later Tiru-vañjikkalam (near the mouth of the Periyār). It had important
trading centres on the western coast at Tondi (on the Agalappulai, about
five miles north of Quilāndi), Muchiri (near the mouth of the Periyar),
Palaiyūr (near Chowghāt), and Vaikkarai (close to Kottayam).
The races within these bounds were various. To the oldest stratum of
pre- -Dravidian blood probably belonged the savages termed by the ancient
poets Villavar (bowmen') and Minavar (“fishers'), of whom the former may
possibly be identical with the modern Bhils, while the latter may be des-
cendants in the Minās. Another group is that termed by the poets Nāgas,
a word which in Hindu literature commonly denotes a class of semi-divine
beings, half men and half snakes, but is often applied by Tamil writers to a
warlike race armed with bows and nooses and famous as free-booters.
Several tribes mentioned in early literature are known with more or less
certainty to have belonged to the Nāgas, among them being the Aruvā! ar
(in the Aruvā-nādu and Aruvā-vadatalai around Conjeeveram), Eyinar,
Maravar, Oļiyar, and Paradavar (a fisher tribe). A race of uncertain
affinity was that of the Āyar, who in many respects resembled the Abhīras
of Northern India, and seem to have brought into the south the worship of
the herdsman-god Krishna.
The overlords of the Tamil-agam were the descendants of the proto-
Dravidian invaders, the Tamils in the strict sense of the term. They with
the races subject to them formed the three kingdoms of the Pāņdyas,
>
## p. 540 (#578) ############################################
540
(ca.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN INDIA
Chola3, and Chēras, where the ruling element was the land-tilling class or
Vellalar, at the head of whom were the kings. The Pāņdya king claimed
descent from a tribe styled Mārar, which however had for many years
another important representative in the princes bearing the title Palaiyan
Māran, 'the Ancient Māran,' whose capital was Mõgūr, near the Podiya
Hill, not far from Comorin. The Chöļa kings were alleged to belong to the
tribe of Tiraiyar or “Men of the Sea'; another Tiraiyan dynasty was
reigning at Conjeeveram in the time of Karikāl Chōļa. The Chēra kings in
their turn were said to be of the Vanavar tribe. Lastly we may mention a
tribe called Kõçar, who may possibly belong to the Tamil race. From
the references of the poets to them it would seem that they once made an
unsuccessful attack on Mögūr, and found allies in the Vamba-Moriyar or
'Bastard Mauryas' (possibly a branch of the Konkani Mauryas). At one
time-possibly in the first century A. D. —they seem to have wielded
considerable authority in the Pāndyan regions and Kongu-deça, and to
have given some trouble to the Cholas.
Even in the first century of the Christian era the south seems to have
felt little influence from the Aryan culture of Northern India. Some
Brahman colonies had made their way into the south, and in a few cases
Brahmans had gained there a certain position in literature and religion ;
but on the whole they counted for little in the life of the people, especially
as their teachings were counterbalanced by the influence of the powerful
Buddhist and Jain churches, and Dravidian society was still free from the
yoke of the Brāhman caste-system'. Next to the arivar or sages, the
highest place among the Tamils was held by the land-owning class, after
whom ranked herdsmen, hunters, artisans, soldiers and at the bottom of
the social scale fishers and scavengers. Government under the
supreme control of the kings ; but they were considerably influenced
by the 'Five Great Assemblies,' bodies representative of five classes of
society. Probably there was also some organisation of the provinces for
local administration, as we find in historical times that each shire or
nādu was divided into village communities and its representatives met
in a shire-mote of several hundred men representing the families of
the nādu, which possessed considerable power in the control of local affairs.
Before the first century of the Christian era there are very few
allusions in the literature and historical records of other nations that testi-
1 The tradition that the Brāhman sage Agastya led the first Āryan colony to the
Põdiya Hill and created Tamil literature probably arose in a later age, after Brāhman
influences had gained the ascendant in the south, on the basis of the legends in the
Sanskrit epics.
2 The actual constitution of these dim-berun-gulu is rather uncertain. They are
said to have been composed of ministers, chaplains, generals, commissioners, and secret
agents (e. g. by Adiyārkku-nallār on Çilapp'-adhikāram, v, 157; but see ibid. on III, 126).
9
was
## p. 541 (#579) ############################################
xxiv]
THE TAMIL KINGDOMS
541
fy to the vigorous life of these southern kingdoms. Of the evidence
of their commerce with the west we have already spoken (above, p. 538).
Megasthenes, who visited the court of Chandragupta the Maurya towards
the end of the 4th century B. C. , has left on record some rumours concerning
them, including a legend that Heracles (i. e. the god Çiva) put the south
under the rule of his daughter 'Pandaia. ' The Sanskrit epies mention them
‘'
vaguely, as foreign lands outside their purview, though the legendary
connexion of the Pāņdyan kings of Madura with the Pāņdava heroes of the
Mahābhārata seems to have been acknowledged in the north as early as the
second century B. O. , if any reliance is to be placed on the scholion to Pānini
iv, 1,168. Açoka in his inscriptions speaks of them among the foreign
nations who have accepted the teachings of Buddhism. Lastly, Strabo
(xv, 4, 73) makes mention of an embassy sent to Augustus Caesar about the
year 22 B. c. by a king 'Pandion,' possibly a Pandya of the Tamil country.
Even in the next century the history of the Tamils is sadly obscure. Ancient
Tamil poems and the commentaries upon them, supplemented by meagre
notices in Pliny and other western writers, are almost the only sources of
information, and their data are very uncertain. It seems however fairly
probable that the course of events was as follows.
About the beginning of the Christian era the Chõļa king was Peru-nar-
killi and the Chēra Neduñ-jeral-ādan. They went to war with one another,
and both perished in the same battle. Peru-nar-ki! i was succeeded by his
son Iļañ-jēt-çenni, the latter by his son Karikāl, a vigorous ruler under
whom the Chēļas became the leading power of the south. Karikál
at Veņņil (possibly the modern Koyilvenni, in Tanjore District) defeated an
allied army of Chéras under Ādan I and Pāņdyas, and made a successful
expedition to the north. At home he suppressed the turbulent Āyar,
Aruvāļar, Kurumbar, and Oļiyar, and made his capital at Kāviri-Pattinam
or Pugār, which he secured against floods by raising the banks of the
Cauvery and constructing canals.
After his death the Chola kingdom suffered grievously from rebellion
within and attack from without. The course of events is obscure :
apparently Nedu-muļu-killi, who was reigning some time after him, gained
a victory over the allied Chēras and Pāņdyas by the river Kāri, but
later was reduced to sore straits by a flood which destroyed Kāviri-pattinam
and by an insurrection. He was however released from his difficulties by
the aid of his kinsman the Chēra Çen-guttuvan, the son of Ādan II
by a daughter of Karikāl, who defeated the rebellious Chõlas at Nērivayi
1 The references in the edition of Senart are as follows: Cheras, G. II, XIII, K II,
Kh. II; Cholas, G. II, J. II, K, XIII, Kh. II, XIII; Pāņdyas, G. II, JII. K. XIII, Kh. II,
XIII. The Choļas also appear in the scholion on Pāņini IV, 1. 175 (possibly dating from
the second century B. C. )
## p. 542 (#580) ############################################
512
[Ch.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN INDIA
and restored Nedu-mudu-killi. By Çen-guttuvan the Chēra Kingdom was
raised to the hegemony of the south, and this position it maintained as long
as he lived. The defeat of his successor Çēy (Yanai-kat-çēy) at Talaiy
ālangānam by the Pandya king Neduñ-jeliyan I made the Pandyas
the premier power until the rise of the Pallavas Neduñ-jeliyan II was the
son of Verri-vērçeliyan or I! añ-jeliyan, and grandson of Neduñ-jeliyan
I, who is reputed to have defeated an Aryan army of unknown provenance.
III. THE ANDHRAS OR TELUGTS
The tribe of the Andhras, now known by the name of Telugus? ,
appears early in Sanskrit literature? . But these references are very vague,
and only tell us that the Andhras were a non-Aryan people of some
importance in the north-east of the Deccan. It may be inferred that their
home then, as now, included the modern Telingāna—the provinces along
the eastern coast between the deltas of the rivers Godāvari and Kistna-
together with as much of the Circārs as they could hold against the
rival kingdom of Kalinga on the north. More light is thrown upon
them by the statements recorded by Pliny, H. N. vi, 19 (22), from which it
would appear that some time before the first century A. D. , perhaps
in the age of Chandragupta the Maurya, they formed an independent
kingdom and they possessed 30 fortified towns and an army estimated at
100,000 infantry, 2000 horsemen, and 1000 elephants. Their earliest
capital, according to the current view, was Çri-kākulam (now probably
Sreewacolum on the Kistna some, nineteen miles west from Masulipatam).
Somewhat later we find them with a capital at Dhānya-kataka (Dharanikota
or Amarāvati on the Kistna, in the Guntūr District), and in the first
century A. D. again with the centre of their western provinces at Pratishthāna
(Paithan on the Godāvari, in North-western Hyderabad). How far their
territories in the earlier period stretched westward into Central India and
the Deccan is unknown : their extent probably varied from time to
time. Acoka mentions them in his catalogues of the foreign countries
which, according to him, had espoused his doctrine4; but there is nothing to
show that the Andhras were in any sense subject to him. Soon after his
death however their history entered upon a new phase, on which consider-
able light is thrown by coins, inscriptions, and literature.
1 The word Telugu, Telung', Tenning, is of uncertain derivation. Native scholars
derive it from the Sanskrit trailinga, «belonging to the Trilinga' or land of the Three
Phallic Emblems, a little semetimes given to the Telugu country, or from the Telugu
word tene 'honey. ' It seems more likely to be from ten, ‘south,' and to mean 'southern'
(probably from the standpoint of Kalinga).
2 It is found in the Aitareya Brāhmana (VII, 18) and the epics, and often later.
3 This is however denied by Mr. P. T. Srinivas Iyengar, Ind. Ant. 1913, pp. 276 ff.
4 G. XIII and K. XIII, ed. Senart.
## p. 543 (#581) ############################################
XXIV]
THE ANDHRAS
543
After the death of Açoka the Maurya empire rapidly decayed, and
neighbouring rulers were left free to indulge their ambitions and enlarge
their boundaries. Among these was a certain Simuka, who in the last
quarter of the third century B. C. established the powerful Sātavāhana or
Çātakarņi dynasty, which ruled the Telugu country for nearly five centuries'.
In his reign or in the reign of his immediate successor, his younger brother
Krishņa (vernacularly Kaṇha), the Andhra empire spread westward to at
least 74' long. , and possibly even to the Arabian Sea? . Under these
early Sātavāhana kings the boundaries of the Andhra dominions were
enlarged so as to include a great part, if not the whole, of Vidarbha (Berār,)
the Central Provinces, and Hyderābād. A conflict between this formidable
power and the declining Cunga empire of Magadha was inevitable ; and
about 170 B. C. war broke out between Agnimitra, ruling as viceroy of his
father Pushyamitra at Vidiçā (Bhilsa), and the king of Vidarbha, who at
this period must almost certainly have been a feudatory of the Andhras? .
The campaign against Vidarbha is the only event in the struggle which is
mentioned in literature ; and in this the Çungas were successful. There
can, however, be no doubt that the Andhras were ultimately victorious.
Although no detailed records have been preserved, coins seem to show
that the Andhras were in possession of Ujjain (W. Mālwā) in about the
middle of the second century B. C. , and the inscription bearing the name of
a king Çātakarņi proves that they superseded the Çungas in the kingdom
of Vidicā (E. Mālwā) about a hundred years later (v. sup. 478 ff. ).
But the Cungas and the Andhras were not the only powers which
at this period were contending for the mastery in the region now known as
1 The origin and the meaning of the name of this dynasty are obscure. Usually
the word Çālakarņi is regarded as a patronymic from an assumed Çata-karna,
*Hundred-Ears' which however is found nowhere ; more probably it is connected
with Sāta-rāhana, which means having for emblem the sāta'. One is tempted to
connect them with the Sātiya. putas mentioned by Açoka (inscr. II), the Setae to
whom Pliny alludes directly after his description of the Andhras, and the tribe of the
Sātakas (Epigr. Ind. vol. X, App. no. 1021) or Çātakas (Mārkandeya Purūņa, LVIII,
46). The inscriptions give the following forms of the name : Sātakaại, Satakani, Salakant
Sāta, Sada, and Sati. If the identification with the Sātiya-putas is right, it would
seem that the Çātakarnis were originally a tribe living outside the borders of the
Andhra country, perhaps on the west of it, who about a generation after Açoka made
themselves masters of the Andhradeça and played in a part like that of the Normans
in England. Mr. V. S. Sukthankar On the Home of the so-called Andhra Kings,
Annals of the Bhandarkar Institute, I, i, pp. 21 ff. ) seeks with much probability to
locate their original home in the Bellary District.
2 This is indicated by the inscription at the Nāsik (no. 1144) and at Nānāghāt, 50
miles north-west of Poona (no. 1114).
3 The poet Kālidāsa in his play Mālavikāgnimitra writing some centuries later,
gives to this king of Vidharbha the name of Yajñasena ; he may be right.
## p. 544 (#582) ############################################
544
[ch.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN INDIA
Central India. The Hāthigumpha inscription shows that, c. 150 B. C. ,
Khāravela, king of Kalinga, appeared in the field as a new combatant.
We find here mention of a Çātakarni, who is supposed to be the successor
of Kộishṇa and the third monarch of the Andhra dynasty; and, according
to the interpretation most commonly accepted of two passages in the
inscription, Khāravela in the second year of his reign sent a large army to
the West 'disregarding Çātakarņi,' and in his fourth year humbled the
Rashtrikas (of the Marāthā districts) and the Bhojakas (of Berar), who
were no doubt subjects of the Andhra suzerain (v. sup. pp. 477-78).
In his twelfth year Khāravela marched into Magadha, and there
seems to have forced its king to sue for peace. Whether that king was
still Pushyamitra, or indeed any member of the Çunga dynasty, is at
present uncertain (p.
enthroned ;
1. , forepart of elephant, Rev. Heracles standing. ) £
Type •Zeus enthroned' without emblems.
Heliocles B. M. Cat. , p. 166, no. 2, Pl. XXXI, 1. (Rer. Zeus
enthroned and Greek legend. )
R
Amyntas B. M. Cat. , p. 61, no. 3, Pl. XIV, 10. (Rex, Zeus
enthroned and Kharoshțhi legend. )
R
Hermaeus Οδυ. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ | ΕΡΜΑΙΟΥ. Bust
of king r.
Rer. Mahārajasa tratārasa | Heramayasa. Zeus
enthroned.
RR
B. M. Cat. , p. 65. no. 45. (Same types, degraded. Gk.
leg. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΤΗΡΟΣΣΥ | ΕΡΜΑΙΟΥ. ) Ε
Spalirises Ούι. ΒΑΓΙΛΕΞ Ν ΒΑ ΙΛΕΓΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ
CHIAAIPIC OY. King standing 1.
Rer. Maharujasa mahamtakasa Çpalirçiasa. Zeus enth-
roned.
Æ
VII, 37.
92
VII, 38.
Eucratides
VIII, 39.
Type ‘Dioscuri. '
Obr. BASIAEOS METAAOY | EYKPATIAOY.
Bust of king r. , wearing helmet.
Rer. Maharajasa Evuarātitasa. Dioscuri charging r. Æ
Οοι:. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ 1 AIOMHAOY
Bust of king r. , wearing helmet.
Rev. Maharajasa tratarasa Diyumedasa. Dioscuri
charging r.
R
Diomedes
VIII, 40.
## p. 535 (#573) ############################################
XXII]
SUMMARY OF NUMISMATIC EVIDENCE
535
Type of the region of Takshoçilā “Pilei of the Dioscuri. ' Plates
Eucratides Obv. Bust of king r. , wearing helmet.
VIII, 41.
Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΕΥΚΡΑΤΙΔΟΥ. Pilei of the
Dioscuri.
R
Liaka
Obv. Same type
VIII, 42.
Kusulaka Rev. AIAKO KOZOYAO. Same type.
Antialcidas Οδυ. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ | ΑΝΤΙΑΛΚΙΔΟΥ.
Bust of Zeus r.
VIII, 43.
Rev. Maharajasa jayadharasa | Amtialikitasa Same
type.
Æ
Lysias and
B. M. Cat. , p. 166, no 1, Pl. XXXI, 2. (Obv. Bust of
Antialcidas
Heracles r. Rev. Same type. )
Archebius Obυ. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ
APXEBIOY Bust of Zeus r.
VIII, 44
Rev. Māharajasa dhramikasa jayadharası Arkhebiyasa.
Same type.
Æ
Type 'Athene. '
Azes II Ουυ. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙVΕΩΝ ΜΕΓΑ 1ΟΥ | AZOY.
King r. , on horseback.
VIII, 45
Rev. Maharajasa rajarajasa mahatasa | Ayasa. Athene
standing r.
RR
Azes II and
Obv. Same legend and type.
VIII, 46.
Aspavarman Rev. Imdravarmaputrasa Açpavarmasa strategasa!
jayatasa. Same type.
Bil,
Gondopharnes Οδυ. BACIΛεωC BACIΛεωΝ ΜΕΓΑΑ | ΓΝΔΟ-
DEPPO. Same type and symbol ♡
VIII, 47.
Rev. Maharaja rajatiraja tratara devavrata | Gudapharasa.
Same type.
R
Type 'Victory' (see also p. 531).
Maues
Οδυ. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ | MA-
YOY, Zeus standing 1.
VIII, 48.
Rev. Rajatirajasa mahatasa | Moasa. Victory standing
R
Azes I
Οδυ. ΒΑΣΙΛ ΕΩΣ ΒΑΣ ΙΛΕΩΝ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ |
AZOY. Same type.
VIII, 49.
Rev. Maharajasa rajarajasa mahamta sa | A yasa. Same
type.
R
(This type on the coins of Maues and Azes I is perhaps
to be attributed to Nicaea, v. sup. Pl. VI. 13,15,16. )
Vonones I Οδυ. ΒΑΓΙΔΕΥΕ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ONΩNHC Bust
of Parthia
of king I.
VIII, 50.
Rev. BACSIAES BACIAEIN | APC AKOYEY
ΕΡΓΕΤΙ]Υ | ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ | ΕΠΙΦΑΝΕΥΟ
QIAEAAHNOCI. Victory standing 1. R
Orthagnos, Obv. BACIAEYC BACIAEON MelAC ΟΡΘΑΓ
Gondopharnes, NHC. Bust of king 1.
VIII, 51.
and Guda Rev. Maharajasa rajatirajasa mohatası Gudapharasa
r.
## p. 536 (#574) ############################################
536
(CH.
SUMMARY OF NUMISMATIC EVIDENCE
Gondopharnes
Abdagases
Guda ( sa or na? ]. Victory standing r.
Plates
Obr. Fragmentary Greek legend King seated on throne
(cf Zeus enthroned, Pl. VII, 37, 38)
VIII, 52.
Rer. Fragmentary Greek legend. Same type. Æ
Obv. BACIAEN [. 2 THPOS YNADJEPPOY
Bust of king r.
VIII, 53.
Rer. Maharajasa Guda pharnasa tratarasa. Same type. Æ
Obv. BACI AOC COTHPOC ABAATACOY.
Similar type
VIII, 54.
Rev. Tratarasa maharajasa Avadagaçasa. Same
type.
Obv. BACIASYC BACIAWN MECAC MAKOPHC.
Bust of king I.
VIII, 55.
Rev. Maharajasa rajatirajasa mohatasa Pakurasa. Same
type.
Æ
Obv. Imperfect Greek legend beginning BAEAEYE.
Similar type.
VIII, 56.
Rev. Gk. legend including [ ANABAPOY, Same
type.
Æ
Pacores
Sanabares
## p. 537 (#575) ############################################
CHAPTER XXIV
THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN INDIA
I. THE DRAVIDIAN PEOPLES
The great peninsula of India, from the Vindhya mountains south-
ward to Comorin, is the home of the 'Dravidian' peoples. And here at
the outset we are faced by a difficulty of terms.
The word 'Dravidian' comes from an ethnic name Dravida or
Dramida, in Pali Damila, which is apparently identical in origin with
the adjective Tamil ; and thus a title which is strictly applicable only
to a single branch, the Tamils, is extended to a whole family. Again, not
only is the term ‘Dravidian' used sometimes to denote all the members of
the one ethnic family, but it is also often employed to designate all the
cognate languages spoken by that family - the Tamil, Malayālam, Telugu,
Kannada (Kanarese), and various minor dialects-without regard to
the possible differences of race among the groups speaking these tongues ;
and furthermore, by a still more deplorable looseness of terminology,
it has been applied by anthropologists to a group of races characterised
by common physical features, who are chiefly inhabitants of the peninsula,
and for the most part, but by no means entirely, use languages which
are variants of Dravidian speech. Lastly, we must note that an ancient
Tamil tradition speaks of a pañcha-dravidam or five Dravidian regions,
understanding thereby the Tamil, Andhra or Telugu, and Kanarese
countries, the Mahārāshtra or Marāthā provinces, and Gujarāt. The
conclusion which is suggested by a review of all the available data is as
follows.
At some very early date, several millennia before the Christian
era, the greater part of India was inhabited by a dark negroid race of
low culture characterised more or less by the physical features now
known as 'Dravidian. ' This early people however should more properly
be termed pre-Dravidian. In course of time another race, higher in
1 These features are very dark hue ; long head; broad nose ; abundant and
sometimes curly hair ; and dark eyes,
537
## p. 538 (#576) ############################################
538
[CH.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN INDIA
culture and speaking a language of ‘Scythian' affinities, from which are
derived the tongues now known as 'Dravidian,' gradually made its
way from the north or north-west- probably through Baluchistān-into the
plain of the Indus, and thence ultimately passed down into the regions
south of the Vindhya. This race may be called the proto-Dravidian.
Wherever it came, it mixed its blood to a greater or less degree with
that of the earlier inhabitants. From this combination have arisen the
Dravidians of history, who have preserved few traces of the physical
characteristics of the proto-Dravidians, whatever those may have been'.
Most of the pre-Dravidian tribes in the countries south of the Vindhya
adopted the speech of the proto-Dravidians, while they absorbed their
blood, notably in the centre and south of the peninsula, the Tamil,
Kannada, and Telugu regions. In Gujarāt the waves of Āryan immigration
gradually submerged Dravidian blood and speech ; in Mahārāshtra the
same influences obliterated the language, and the same has happened in
Kalinga (now Orissa and part of the Circārs), where a Dravidian language,
the Telugu, survives only in the southern districts.
Long before the beginning of the Christian era the Dravidian South
had developed a considerable culture of its own, and its inhabitants
had consolidated themselves into powerful kingdoms, some of which
cried on a thriving trade with Western Asia, Egypt, and later with the
Greek and Roman empires”. The chief of these were the three Tamil
kingdoms, the Andhras, Kalingas and Mahārāshtra.
II. THE TAMIL KINGDOMS
The Tamils have retained more tenaciously than any of their kindred
the ancient traditions of the proto-Dravidian race. True, they have written
no histories until modern times ; but they have preserved a large number
of ancient poems relating to the exploits and administration of kings and
princes in an age far earlier than the oldest existing literature of their
Dravidian neighbours.
In the earliest time of which we have any record the Tamilagam or
Tamil realm extended over the greater part of the modern Madras Pre-
1 It is possible that the Seythian' features that have been observed among the
Marāthā Brahmans, Kunbis, Coorgs, and Telugus may be survivals of proto-Dravidian
characteristics. For other views see Chapter II, pp. 36 ff.
2 The Tyrians apparently imported tience ivory, apes, and peacocks (Tannil isgai
„Greek TX Ws) as we know from I Kings X, 22 and II Chroronicles IX, 21. Somewhat
later we find India—to a large extent Southern India-exporting pepper (@tzspi,
Tamil pippali), rice (opuld, Tamil ariçi) ginger (Seyyißsols, Tamil inji-ver) and cin-
namon (káprio', Tamil krerupp! ı or kārppi), besides spices, precious stones, coral,
pearls, cloth, muslin, silk, tortoise-shell, etc. See J. Kennedy, The Early Commerce of
India with Babylon, J. R. A. S. , 1898, pp. 241 ff.
## p. 539 (#577) ############################################
XXIV]
THE TAMIL KINGDOMS
539
>
sidency, its boundaries being on the north a line running approximately
from Pulicat on the coast to Venkatagiri (Tirupati), on the east the Bay of
Bengal, on the south Cape Comorin, and on the west the Arabian Sea as
far north as the 'White Rock’ near Badagara, to the south of Mahé.
Malabar was included in it; the Malayālam language had not yet branched
off as a separate tongue from the parent Tamil. It consisted of three
kingdoms, those of the Pāņdyas, Chõļas or Colas, and Chēras or Kēralas.
The Pāņdya kingdom comprised the greater part of the modern Madura
and Tinnevelly Districts, and in the first century also Southern Travancore,
and had its capital originally at Kolkai (on the Tāmbraparni river in
Tinnevelly), and later at Madura. The Chõļa region extended along the
eastern coast, from the river Penner to the Vellār, and on the west reaching
to about the borders of Coorg. Its capital was Uraiyūr (Old Trichinopoly),
and it had a great port at Kāviri-pattinam or Pugār, on the northern bank
of the river Cauvery (Kāveri). Another of its chief towns was Kāñchi,
now Conjeeveram. The Chēra or Kērala territory comprised Travancore,
Cochin, and the Malabar District ; the Kongu-deça (corresponding to the
;
Coimbatore District and the southern part of Salem District), which at one
time was separate from it, was afterwards annexed to it. Its capital was
originally Vañji (now Tiru-karūr, on the Periyār river, near Cochin), and
later Tiru-vañjikkalam (near the mouth of the Periyār). It had important
trading centres on the western coast at Tondi (on the Agalappulai, about
five miles north of Quilāndi), Muchiri (near the mouth of the Periyar),
Palaiyūr (near Chowghāt), and Vaikkarai (close to Kottayam).
The races within these bounds were various. To the oldest stratum of
pre- -Dravidian blood probably belonged the savages termed by the ancient
poets Villavar (bowmen') and Minavar (“fishers'), of whom the former may
possibly be identical with the modern Bhils, while the latter may be des-
cendants in the Minās. Another group is that termed by the poets Nāgas,
a word which in Hindu literature commonly denotes a class of semi-divine
beings, half men and half snakes, but is often applied by Tamil writers to a
warlike race armed with bows and nooses and famous as free-booters.
Several tribes mentioned in early literature are known with more or less
certainty to have belonged to the Nāgas, among them being the Aruvā! ar
(in the Aruvā-nādu and Aruvā-vadatalai around Conjeeveram), Eyinar,
Maravar, Oļiyar, and Paradavar (a fisher tribe). A race of uncertain
affinity was that of the Āyar, who in many respects resembled the Abhīras
of Northern India, and seem to have brought into the south the worship of
the herdsman-god Krishna.
The overlords of the Tamil-agam were the descendants of the proto-
Dravidian invaders, the Tamils in the strict sense of the term. They with
the races subject to them formed the three kingdoms of the Pāņdyas,
>
## p. 540 (#578) ############################################
540
(ca.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN INDIA
Chola3, and Chēras, where the ruling element was the land-tilling class or
Vellalar, at the head of whom were the kings. The Pāņdya king claimed
descent from a tribe styled Mārar, which however had for many years
another important representative in the princes bearing the title Palaiyan
Māran, 'the Ancient Māran,' whose capital was Mõgūr, near the Podiya
Hill, not far from Comorin. The Chöļa kings were alleged to belong to the
tribe of Tiraiyar or “Men of the Sea'; another Tiraiyan dynasty was
reigning at Conjeeveram in the time of Karikāl Chōļa. The Chēra kings in
their turn were said to be of the Vanavar tribe. Lastly we may mention a
tribe called Kõçar, who may possibly belong to the Tamil race. From
the references of the poets to them it would seem that they once made an
unsuccessful attack on Mögūr, and found allies in the Vamba-Moriyar or
'Bastard Mauryas' (possibly a branch of the Konkani Mauryas). At one
time-possibly in the first century A. D. —they seem to have wielded
considerable authority in the Pāndyan regions and Kongu-deça, and to
have given some trouble to the Cholas.
Even in the first century of the Christian era the south seems to have
felt little influence from the Aryan culture of Northern India. Some
Brahman colonies had made their way into the south, and in a few cases
Brahmans had gained there a certain position in literature and religion ;
but on the whole they counted for little in the life of the people, especially
as their teachings were counterbalanced by the influence of the powerful
Buddhist and Jain churches, and Dravidian society was still free from the
yoke of the Brāhman caste-system'. Next to the arivar or sages, the
highest place among the Tamils was held by the land-owning class, after
whom ranked herdsmen, hunters, artisans, soldiers and at the bottom of
the social scale fishers and scavengers. Government under the
supreme control of the kings ; but they were considerably influenced
by the 'Five Great Assemblies,' bodies representative of five classes of
society. Probably there was also some organisation of the provinces for
local administration, as we find in historical times that each shire or
nādu was divided into village communities and its representatives met
in a shire-mote of several hundred men representing the families of
the nādu, which possessed considerable power in the control of local affairs.
Before the first century of the Christian era there are very few
allusions in the literature and historical records of other nations that testi-
1 The tradition that the Brāhman sage Agastya led the first Āryan colony to the
Põdiya Hill and created Tamil literature probably arose in a later age, after Brāhman
influences had gained the ascendant in the south, on the basis of the legends in the
Sanskrit epics.
2 The actual constitution of these dim-berun-gulu is rather uncertain. They are
said to have been composed of ministers, chaplains, generals, commissioners, and secret
agents (e. g. by Adiyārkku-nallār on Çilapp'-adhikāram, v, 157; but see ibid. on III, 126).
9
was
## p. 541 (#579) ############################################
xxiv]
THE TAMIL KINGDOMS
541
fy to the vigorous life of these southern kingdoms. Of the evidence
of their commerce with the west we have already spoken (above, p. 538).
Megasthenes, who visited the court of Chandragupta the Maurya towards
the end of the 4th century B. C. , has left on record some rumours concerning
them, including a legend that Heracles (i. e. the god Çiva) put the south
under the rule of his daughter 'Pandaia. ' The Sanskrit epies mention them
‘'
vaguely, as foreign lands outside their purview, though the legendary
connexion of the Pāņdyan kings of Madura with the Pāņdava heroes of the
Mahābhārata seems to have been acknowledged in the north as early as the
second century B. O. , if any reliance is to be placed on the scholion to Pānini
iv, 1,168. Açoka in his inscriptions speaks of them among the foreign
nations who have accepted the teachings of Buddhism. Lastly, Strabo
(xv, 4, 73) makes mention of an embassy sent to Augustus Caesar about the
year 22 B. c. by a king 'Pandion,' possibly a Pandya of the Tamil country.
Even in the next century the history of the Tamils is sadly obscure. Ancient
Tamil poems and the commentaries upon them, supplemented by meagre
notices in Pliny and other western writers, are almost the only sources of
information, and their data are very uncertain. It seems however fairly
probable that the course of events was as follows.
About the beginning of the Christian era the Chõļa king was Peru-nar-
killi and the Chēra Neduñ-jeral-ādan. They went to war with one another,
and both perished in the same battle. Peru-nar-ki! i was succeeded by his
son Iļañ-jēt-çenni, the latter by his son Karikāl, a vigorous ruler under
whom the Chēļas became the leading power of the south. Karikál
at Veņņil (possibly the modern Koyilvenni, in Tanjore District) defeated an
allied army of Chéras under Ādan I and Pāņdyas, and made a successful
expedition to the north. At home he suppressed the turbulent Āyar,
Aruvāļar, Kurumbar, and Oļiyar, and made his capital at Kāviri-Pattinam
or Pugār, which he secured against floods by raising the banks of the
Cauvery and constructing canals.
After his death the Chola kingdom suffered grievously from rebellion
within and attack from without. The course of events is obscure :
apparently Nedu-muļu-killi, who was reigning some time after him, gained
a victory over the allied Chēras and Pāņdyas by the river Kāri, but
later was reduced to sore straits by a flood which destroyed Kāviri-pattinam
and by an insurrection. He was however released from his difficulties by
the aid of his kinsman the Chēra Çen-guttuvan, the son of Ādan II
by a daughter of Karikāl, who defeated the rebellious Chõlas at Nērivayi
1 The references in the edition of Senart are as follows: Cheras, G. II, XIII, K II,
Kh. II; Cholas, G. II, J. II, K, XIII, Kh. II, XIII; Pāņdyas, G. II, JII. K. XIII, Kh. II,
XIII. The Choļas also appear in the scholion on Pāņini IV, 1. 175 (possibly dating from
the second century B. C. )
## p. 542 (#580) ############################################
512
[Ch.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN INDIA
and restored Nedu-mudu-killi. By Çen-guttuvan the Chēra Kingdom was
raised to the hegemony of the south, and this position it maintained as long
as he lived. The defeat of his successor Çēy (Yanai-kat-çēy) at Talaiy
ālangānam by the Pandya king Neduñ-jeliyan I made the Pandyas
the premier power until the rise of the Pallavas Neduñ-jeliyan II was the
son of Verri-vērçeliyan or I! añ-jeliyan, and grandson of Neduñ-jeliyan
I, who is reputed to have defeated an Aryan army of unknown provenance.
III. THE ANDHRAS OR TELUGTS
The tribe of the Andhras, now known by the name of Telugus? ,
appears early in Sanskrit literature? . But these references are very vague,
and only tell us that the Andhras were a non-Aryan people of some
importance in the north-east of the Deccan. It may be inferred that their
home then, as now, included the modern Telingāna—the provinces along
the eastern coast between the deltas of the rivers Godāvari and Kistna-
together with as much of the Circārs as they could hold against the
rival kingdom of Kalinga on the north. More light is thrown upon
them by the statements recorded by Pliny, H. N. vi, 19 (22), from which it
would appear that some time before the first century A. D. , perhaps
in the age of Chandragupta the Maurya, they formed an independent
kingdom and they possessed 30 fortified towns and an army estimated at
100,000 infantry, 2000 horsemen, and 1000 elephants. Their earliest
capital, according to the current view, was Çri-kākulam (now probably
Sreewacolum on the Kistna some, nineteen miles west from Masulipatam).
Somewhat later we find them with a capital at Dhānya-kataka (Dharanikota
or Amarāvati on the Kistna, in the Guntūr District), and in the first
century A. D. again with the centre of their western provinces at Pratishthāna
(Paithan on the Godāvari, in North-western Hyderabad). How far their
territories in the earlier period stretched westward into Central India and
the Deccan is unknown : their extent probably varied from time to
time. Acoka mentions them in his catalogues of the foreign countries
which, according to him, had espoused his doctrine4; but there is nothing to
show that the Andhras were in any sense subject to him. Soon after his
death however their history entered upon a new phase, on which consider-
able light is thrown by coins, inscriptions, and literature.
1 The word Telugu, Telung', Tenning, is of uncertain derivation. Native scholars
derive it from the Sanskrit trailinga, «belonging to the Trilinga' or land of the Three
Phallic Emblems, a little semetimes given to the Telugu country, or from the Telugu
word tene 'honey. ' It seems more likely to be from ten, ‘south,' and to mean 'southern'
(probably from the standpoint of Kalinga).
2 It is found in the Aitareya Brāhmana (VII, 18) and the epics, and often later.
3 This is however denied by Mr. P. T. Srinivas Iyengar, Ind. Ant. 1913, pp. 276 ff.
4 G. XIII and K. XIII, ed. Senart.
## p. 543 (#581) ############################################
XXIV]
THE ANDHRAS
543
After the death of Açoka the Maurya empire rapidly decayed, and
neighbouring rulers were left free to indulge their ambitions and enlarge
their boundaries. Among these was a certain Simuka, who in the last
quarter of the third century B. C. established the powerful Sātavāhana or
Çātakarņi dynasty, which ruled the Telugu country for nearly five centuries'.
In his reign or in the reign of his immediate successor, his younger brother
Krishņa (vernacularly Kaṇha), the Andhra empire spread westward to at
least 74' long. , and possibly even to the Arabian Sea? . Under these
early Sātavāhana kings the boundaries of the Andhra dominions were
enlarged so as to include a great part, if not the whole, of Vidarbha (Berār,)
the Central Provinces, and Hyderābād. A conflict between this formidable
power and the declining Cunga empire of Magadha was inevitable ; and
about 170 B. C. war broke out between Agnimitra, ruling as viceroy of his
father Pushyamitra at Vidiçā (Bhilsa), and the king of Vidarbha, who at
this period must almost certainly have been a feudatory of the Andhras? .
The campaign against Vidarbha is the only event in the struggle which is
mentioned in literature ; and in this the Çungas were successful. There
can, however, be no doubt that the Andhras were ultimately victorious.
Although no detailed records have been preserved, coins seem to show
that the Andhras were in possession of Ujjain (W. Mālwā) in about the
middle of the second century B. C. , and the inscription bearing the name of
a king Çātakarņi proves that they superseded the Çungas in the kingdom
of Vidicā (E. Mālwā) about a hundred years later (v. sup. 478 ff. ).
But the Cungas and the Andhras were not the only powers which
at this period were contending for the mastery in the region now known as
1 The origin and the meaning of the name of this dynasty are obscure. Usually
the word Çālakarņi is regarded as a patronymic from an assumed Çata-karna,
*Hundred-Ears' which however is found nowhere ; more probably it is connected
with Sāta-rāhana, which means having for emblem the sāta'. One is tempted to
connect them with the Sātiya. putas mentioned by Açoka (inscr. II), the Setae to
whom Pliny alludes directly after his description of the Andhras, and the tribe of the
Sātakas (Epigr. Ind. vol. X, App. no. 1021) or Çātakas (Mārkandeya Purūņa, LVIII,
46). The inscriptions give the following forms of the name : Sātakaại, Satakani, Salakant
Sāta, Sada, and Sati. If the identification with the Sātiya-putas is right, it would
seem that the Çātakarnis were originally a tribe living outside the borders of the
Andhra country, perhaps on the west of it, who about a generation after Açoka made
themselves masters of the Andhradeça and played in a part like that of the Normans
in England. Mr. V. S. Sukthankar On the Home of the so-called Andhra Kings,
Annals of the Bhandarkar Institute, I, i, pp. 21 ff. ) seeks with much probability to
locate their original home in the Bellary District.
2 This is indicated by the inscription at the Nāsik (no. 1144) and at Nānāghāt, 50
miles north-west of Poona (no. 1114).
3 The poet Kālidāsa in his play Mālavikāgnimitra writing some centuries later,
gives to this king of Vidharbha the name of Yajñasena ; he may be right.
## p. 544 (#582) ############################################
544
[ch.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN INDIA
Central India. The Hāthigumpha inscription shows that, c. 150 B. C. ,
Khāravela, king of Kalinga, appeared in the field as a new combatant.
We find here mention of a Çātakarni, who is supposed to be the successor
of Kộishṇa and the third monarch of the Andhra dynasty; and, according
to the interpretation most commonly accepted of two passages in the
inscription, Khāravela in the second year of his reign sent a large army to
the West 'disregarding Çātakarņi,' and in his fourth year humbled the
Rashtrikas (of the Marāthā districts) and the Bhojakas (of Berar), who
were no doubt subjects of the Andhra suzerain (v. sup. pp. 477-78).
In his twelfth year Khāravela marched into Magadha, and there
seems to have forced its king to sue for peace. Whether that king was
still Pushyamitra, or indeed any member of the Çunga dynasty, is at
present uncertain (p.
