Satavahana dynasty

The Satavahanas were the first great dynasty of the Deccan, the plateau of central and southern India. From roughly the second or first century BCE to the early third century CE, they ruled a kingdom stretching across much of the peninsula, connecting the trade of the interior with ports on both coasts.

The Satavahanas emerged in the Deccan after the fall of the Maurya Empire. The Puranas call them Andhras, or Andhrabhrityas, and list about thirty kings ruling for over four centuries, though historians think the dynasty lasted about three. Their early base was probably in today's Maharashtra, with an early capital at Pratishthana, modern Paithan, on the Godavari river. Later kings also ruled from Amaravati, or Dhanyakataka, in today's Andhra Pradesh. Some of the oldest inscriptions, such as at Naneghat, in a mountain pass near Pune, record Queen Naganika, widow of King Satakarni I, and the Vedic sacrifices he performed, including two horse sacrifices.

The Satavahanas fought for control of western India with the Western Kshatrapas, rulers of Saka, or Scythian, origin, who governed Gujarat, Malwa and parts of Maharashtra. In the late first or early second century CE, the Kshatrapa Nahapana took much Satavahana territory.

Gautamiputra Satakarni, who ruled in the early second century CE, defeated Nahapana and recovered the lost lands. A hoard of thousands of Nahapana's coins, restruck with Gautamiputra's name, was found at Jogaltembi. An inscription by his mother, Gautami Balashri, at the Nashik caves, praises him as the destroyer of the Shakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas, a protector of the varna system and a king whose horses drank from three oceans. Satavahana kings were often named after their mothers, such as Gautamiputra, "son of Gautami", and Vasishthiputra Pulumavi, his successor. Later, the Kshatrapa Rudradaman defeated the Satavahanas twice, according to his inscription at Junagadh, but spared the king because of a marriage alliance.

The Satavahana kingdom prospered from trade, especially with the Roman Empire, through western ports such as Bharukaccha, Broach, Sopara and Kalyan, and through eastern ports on the Bay of Bengal. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a Greek merchant's guide from the first century CE, describes the trade. India exported spices, cotton, gems, ivory and fine cloth, and imported wine, gold and silver coins, glass and metals. Large numbers of Roman coins have been found in southern India. Merchant guilds were powerful and funded religious buildings.

Although the kings performed Vedic sacrifices and supported Brahmins, they, their queens, merchants and craftsmen donated generously to Buddhist monasteries. Rock-cut cave monasteries and halls in the Western Ghats, such as Karla, Bhaja, Nashik, Kanheri and the early caves at Ajanta, date partly from this period; the chaitya hall at Karla is one of the largest and finest. In the east, the great stupa at Amaravati was decorated with finely carved limestone reliefs, many now in Chennai and London, and the gateways of the great stupa at Sanchi were partly carved in Satavahana times.

The Satavahanas issued coins in lead, copper and potin, a copper alloy, and, later, silver coins with the king's portrait, inspired by the Kshatrapas. Inscriptions were in Prakrit, a vernacular language, rather than Sanskrit. The poetry anthology Gaha Sattasai, love poems in Maharashtri Prakrit, is traditionally attributed to King Hala.

In the early third century CE, the kingdom broke apart into smaller states: the Ikshvakus in the Krishna valley, who continued to build Buddhist monuments at Nagarjunakonda, the Abhiras in the west, the Chutus and others. The Vakatakas later rose in the Deccan.

Our maps show the Satavahanas from 1 BCE to 400 CE, all within today's India. Their largest outline, about 640,000 square kilometres on the 1 BCE map, covers much of the Deccan. The basemap continues the name after the dynasty's usual end date around 220 CE. On the 500 map the region belongs to the Vakatakas.