The Satavahana Phase

Political History
Disintegration of Maurya Empire
It disintegration in three front
1. Northwestern 2. Eastern 3. Central and Deccan
 The Indo-Greeks  The Satavahanas
 The Shakas
 The Parthians
 The Kushans
 The Indo-Sassanians

 In the Deccan and in central India, the Satavahanas succeeded the Mauryas, although
after a gap of about 100 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.
 According to some Puranas, the Andhras ruled altogether for 300 years although
this period is assigned to the rule of the Satavahana dynasty.
 
 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
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.
Their greatest competitors were the Shakas, who had established power in the
upper Deccan and western India.
 At one stage the Satavahanas were dispossessed of their dominions by the
Shakas in Maharashtra and western India.
 The fortunes of the family were restored by Gautamiputra Satakarni (AD 106–30)
who called himself the only brahmana.
 He defeated the Shakas and destroyed many kshatriya rulers.
 He also occupied Malwa and Kathiawar which were controlled by the Shakas.
 His empire extended from Malwa in the north to Karnataka in the south, and
he possibly also exercised general authority over Andhra.
 
  The successors of Gautamiputra ruled till AD 220. The coins and inscriptions of his
immediate successor Vashishthiputra Pulumayi (AD 130– 154) have been found in
Andhra, and show that by the middle of the second century this area had become a part
of the Satavahana kingdom.
 He set up his capital at Paithan or Pratishthan on the Godavari in Aurangabad
district.
 
 Rudradaman I (AD 130–50), the Shaka ruler of Saurashtra (Kathiawar), defeated the
Satavahanas twice, but did not destroy them because of shared matrimonial relations.
 
 Yajna Sri Satakarni (AD 165–94) was the last great king of the Satavahana dynasty, and
recovered north Konkan and Malwa from the Shaka rulers.
 
 He was a patron of trade and navigation, and his coins appear not only in
Andhra but also in Maharashtra, MP, and Gujarat.
 
 His enthusiasm for navigation and overseas trade is demonstrated by the
representation of a ship on his coins. The successors of Yajna Sri Satakarni were
unable to retain the Satavahana kingdom which was destroyed by AD 220.
Aspects of Material Culture
 Satavahanas was a fusion of local elements and northern ingredients.
 Fairly well acquainted with the use of iron and agriculture.
 Besides socketed hoes, sickles, spades, ploughshares, axes, adzes, razors, etc., relate
to the Satavahana layers of the excavated sites. Tanged and socketed arrowheads as
well as daggers have also been discovered.
 At a site in Karimnagar district, even a blacksmith’s shop is found.
 The Satavahanas may have exploited the iron ores of Karimnagar and Warangal, for
these districts show signs of iron working that dates to the megalithic phase in the first
millennium BC.
 Evidence of ancient gold workings has been found in the Kolar fields in the pre-
Christian centuries and later. The Satavahanas may have used gold as bullion, for they
did not issue gold coins as did the Kushans.
 By and large they issued coins of lead which is found in the Deccan. They also issued
potin, copper, and bronze money.
 
 
 The people of the Deccan were aware of the art of paddy transplantation, and in the
first two centuries of the Christian era, the area between the Krishna and the
Godavari, especially at the mouths of the two rivers, formed a great rice bowl.
  The people of the Deccan also produced cotton. In foreign accounts, Andhra is
considered to be famous for its cotton products. Thus, a substantial part of the
Deccan developed a very advanced rural economy.
 According to Pliny, the Andhra kingdom maintained an army of 100,000 infantry,
2000 cavalry and 1000 elephants. This presupposes a large rural population, and
apparently the peasants produced enough to support this military strength.

Social Organization
 Their Caste :
Originally seem to have been a Deccan tribe.
 They however claimed to be brahmanas.
 
 Orthodox brahmanas of the north viewed the Andhras as a mixed caste which would
appear to indicate that the Andhras were a tribal people brought within the fold of
brahmanical society as a mixed caste.
 
 Their most famous king, Gautamiputra Satakarni, described himself as a brahmana
and claimed to have established the fourfold varna system which had fallen into
disorder. (SO Satavahana established as Brahmin)
 
 The absorption of the Shakas in brahmanical society as kshatriyas was facilitated by
intermarriage between the Shakas and the Satavahanas
 (So Saka were also Deccan tribe but established as Kshatriya)

Condition of Buddhism
 
 It is suggested that traders supported the Buddhist monks, for the earliest caves
seem to have been located on the trade routes.
 The Satavahanas were also the first rulers to make land grants to brahmanas,
although we find more instances of such grants being made to Buddhist monks.

Condition of Woman
 most interesting detail about the Satavahanas relates to their family structure. It
was customary for their king to be named after his mother. Such names as
Gautamiputra and Vashishthiputra indicate that in their society the mother enjoyed a
great deal of importance.
 However, the Satavahana ruling family was basically patriarchal because succession
to the throne passed to the male member
Pattern of Administration
 Administrative divisions were also called rashtra, and their high officials were styled
maharashtrikas.
 
 Their district was called ahara, as it was known in the time of Ashoka, and their
officials were known as amatyas and mahamatras.
 
 The administration in the rural areas was placed in the hands of a gaulmika.

The Satavahana kingdom had three grades of feudatories. It seems that these
feudatories and landed beneficiaries enjoyed some authority in their respective
localities.
 The highest grade was the king who was called raja and had the right to strike
coins.
 
 The second grade was formed by the mahabhoja, and
 
 The Satavahanas started the practice of granting tax-free villages to brahmanas
and Buddhist monks.
 
 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, of course, helped enforce the rules of the varna system
which promoted social stability.
 
 The third grade by the senapati.
o There was no police rule, hense Senapati had to control inner rebellion as

well as bournary possible insurgence.

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.
 
 o The head of a military regiment consisting of nine chariots, nine elephants,
twenty-five horses, and forty-five foot-soldiers. The head of this regiment was
posted in the countryside to maintain peace and order.
Religion
 The Satavahana rulers were brahmanas, kings and queens performed such Vedic
sacrifices as ashvamedha, and vajapeya paying liberal sacrificial fees to the
brahmanas. They also worshipped a large number of Vaishnava gods such as Krishna
and Vasudeva.
 
 However, the Satavahana rulers promoted Buddhism by granting land to the monks.
In their kingdom, the Mahayana form of Buddhism commanded a considerable
following, especially amongst the artisan class.
Architecture
 In the Satavahana phase, many chaityas (sacred shrines,Buddhist temple) and
monasteries(vihara) were cut out of solid rock in north-western Deccan or
Maharashtra with great skill and patience.  
  The chaitya was a large hall with a number of columns, and the vihara
consisted of a central hall entered by a doorway from a verandah in front.
 The most famous chaitya is that of Karle in western Deccan. About 40 m long,
15 m wide, and 15 m high
 The viharas or monasteries were excavated near the chaityas for the residence
of monks during the rainy season.
 At Nasik there are three viharas. Since they carry the inscriptions of Nahapana
and Gautamiputra, they belong to first–second centuries AD.
 The most famous stupas of them are those of Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda.
 
 The stupa was a large round structure erected over some relic of the Buddha. The
Amaravati stupa was begun in around 200 BC but was completely reconstructed in
the second half of the second century AD. Its dome measured 53 m across the base,
and it seems to have been 33 m in height. The Amaravati stupa is full of sculptures that
depict various scenes from the life of the Buddha.
 
 Nagarjunakonda prospered most in the second–third centuries under the
patronage of the Ikshvakus, the successors of the Satavahanas. It possesses both
Buddhist monuments and the earliest brahmanical brick temples. Nearly two dozen
monasteries can be counted here.
 
 Together with its stupas and mahachaityas Nagarjunakonda appears to have been the
richest area in terms of structures in the early centuries of the Christian era.
Language
 The official language of the Satavahanas was Prakrit. All their inscriptions were
composed in this language and written in the Brahmi script.
 Some Satavahana kings may have composed Prakrit books.
 One Prakrit text called Gathasattasai, or the Gathasaptasati, is attributed to a
Satavahana king called Hala. It consisted of 700 verses, all written in Prakrit, but it
seems to have been finally re-touched much later, possibly after the sixth century.