16. Rise of Kingdom in Deccan: The Satavahanas

Political History

• The most important of the native successors of the Mauryas in the Deccan and in central India were the Satavahanas, considered to be identical with the Andhras who are mentioned in the Puranas.
• The earliest inscriptions of the Satavahanas belong to the first century B.C., when they defeated the Kanvas and established their power in parts of central India.
• The early Satavahanas kings appeared not in Andhra but in upper Godavari valley, which at present produces rich and diverse crops in Maharashtra and gradually extended their power over Karnataka and Andhra.
• At one stage they were dispossessed of their dominions by the Sakas in Maharashtra and western India.
• Their fortunes turned when Gautamiputra Satakarni (106-130 A.D.) defeated the Sakas, even destroyed many Kshatriya rulers and called himself the only Brahmana.
• He also occupied Malwa and Kathiawar which lay under the control of the Sakas.
• The successors of Gautamiputra ruled till A.D. 220, and his immediate successor Vasisthiputra Pulumayi set up his capital at Paithan or Pratisthan on the Godavari in Aurangabad district.
• The Sakas resumed their conflict with the Satavahanas for the possession of the Konkan coast and Malwa.
• Rudradaman I (A.D. 130-150) the Saka ruler of Kathiawar defeated them twice but did not destroy them on account of matrimonial relations.
• Yajna Sri Satakarni, (A.D. 165-194) one of the later kings recovered north Konkan and Malwa from Saka rulers. His coins have been found not only in Andhra but also in Maharashtra, MP and Gujarat.

 

Aspects of Material Culture

• The material culture of the Deccan under Satavahanas was a fusion of local elements and northern ingredients. They were acquainted with the use of iron and agriculture.
• The Satavahanas may have exploited the iron ores of Karimnagar and Warangal, for in these districts indications of Iron workings has been found in Kolar fields in the early Christian centuries.
• They issued coins mostly made of lead, potin, copper and bronze. The Ikshvakus also issued their coins.
• The people of Deccan knew the art of paddy transplantation and also produced cotton and developed a very advanced rural economy.
• Through contacts with the north the people of Deccan learnt the use of coins, burnt bricks, ringwells etc.
• In Peddabankur (200 B.C.-200 A.D.) in Karimnagar, fire-baked bricks and flat, perforated roof tiles are found.
• Towns appeared in Maharashtra by the first century B.C., and emerged in the eastern Deccan a century later. Increasing trade is indicated by numerous Roman and Satavahanas coins.

 

Social Organisation

• The Satavahanas seem to have been a Deccan tribe which was brahmanized and their most famous king Gautamiputra claimed of establishing the four fold varna system which had fallen into disorder.
• The absorption of the Sakas in Hindu society as kshatriyas was facilitated by intermarriage between the Sakas and the Satavahanas.
• The Satavahanas were the first rulers to make land grants to the brahmanas, although there were more instances of grants being made to Buddhist monks.
• Increasing craft and commerce in this period brought many merchants and artisans to the forefront.
• Among them the Gandhikas or perfumers are repeatedly mentioned as donors to the Buddhist cause. At a later stage the term Gandhikas became so general as to denote all kinds of shopkeepers.
• In Satavahanas family, there were some traces of matrilineal social structure as it was customary for the king to be named after his mother.
• But basically the Satavahana ruling family was patriarchal because succession to the throne passed to the male member.

Pattern of Administration

• The Satavahana rulers strove for the royal ideal set forth in the Dhramasastras as the king was represented as the upholder of the dharma.
• They kept most of the administrative titles of Asokan times such as district was called ahara, and officials were known as amatyas and mahamatras.
• It is significant that the senapati was appointed provincial governor. Since the tribal people in Deccan were not thoroughly hinduized and reconciled to the new rule it was necessary to keep them under strong military rule.
• There were military camps and settlements which served as administrative centres as long as the king was there known as kataka and skandhavaras.
• The Satavahanas started the practice of granting tax-free villages to brahmanas and Buddhist monks and the latter preached peace and rules of good conduct while the former helped enforce the rules of the varna system which made society stable.
• The kingdom had 3 grades of feudatories, the highest formed by the raja and had the right to strike coins, the second was formed by the mahabhoja and the third was that of the senapati.

 

Religion

• The Satavahanas rulers claimed to have been brahmanas as they performed many Vedic rituals such as asvamedha, vajapeya etc.
• They worshipped a large number of Vaishnava gods such as Krishna, Vasudeva and so on. However they also promoted Buddhism by granting land to monks.
• In their kingdom the Mahayana form of Buddhism was there and Nagarjunakonda and Amaravati in AP became important seats of Buddhist culture under the Satavahanas.
• Similarly Buddhism flourished in Nasik and Junar areas in the western Deccan in Maharashtra, where it seems to have been supported by the traders.

 

Architecture

• In the Satavahana rule, many temples and monasteries were cut out of the solid rock in north western Deccan or Maharashtra with temples known as chaitya and monasteries as vihara.
• The chaitya was a large hall with a large number of columns and the vihara consisted of a central hall entered by the doorway from the veranda in front.
• In Nasik there are 3 viharas constructed in first-second century A.D.
• Rock cut architecture is also found in Andhra in Krishna-Godavari region and is mainly famous for independent Buddhist structures most famous are at Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda.
• Nagarjunakonda prospered most under the Ikshvakus, the successors of Satavahanas and contains not only Buddhist monuments but also the earliest brahmanical brick temples.

 

Language

• The official language of the Satavahanas was Prakrit with all inscriptions composed in this language and written in Brahmi script, same as Asokan times.
• One Prakrit text called Gathasaptasati is attributed to a Satavahana king called Hala and consisted of 700 verses but it seems to have been finally retouched later in sixth century A.D.