South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

to dissociate the rule of the Airas over the Guntur region in the valley of the Kṛishṇā in the second century A.D. from the above facts of the early history of Kaliṅga especially in view of the title Mahārāja claimed by Mānasada, which was popular with the Chedi-Mahāmeghavāhanas but not with the Sātavāhanas. It is thus not impossible that Aira rule was established in the Krishna-Guntur region as a result of one of Khāravela’s expeditions in those areas.

In the second century A.D., the title Mahārāja, enjoyed by the Aira king in our record, indicated an imperial status. The Aira rule in the Kṛishṇā valley in the period in question seems to go against the suggestion that the Sātavāhanas, called Andhras in the Purāṇas, ruled over the Krishna Guntur region in the heart of the present Āndhra country from the post-Maurya age down to the beginning of the third century A.D.^[1] Elsewhere we have suggested that the Andhra people were originally living in the northern parts of the Deccan, that the early rulers of the Sātavāhana family belonging to the Andhra race ruled over territories to the north of the Kṛishṇā and that it was Vāsishṭhīputra Puḷumāvi (circa 130-59 A.D.) who conquered the Krishna-Guntur area in the second quarter of the second century A.D.^[2] The main argument in favour of the suggestion is that no inscription of the Sātavāhanas down to the days of Gautamīputra Śātakarni (circa 106-30 A.D.) has been discovered in the area in question and that no land lying to the south of the Kṛishṇā seems to be included in the long list of territories quoted in the Nasik inscription^[3] of the nineteenth regnal year of Puḷumāvi as comprised in his father’s dominions. The present inscription seems to support our view. It now appears that the Airas ruling over the Krishna-Guntur region were supplanted by the Later Sātavāhanas. This is indicated by the existence of many Later Sātavāhana epigraphs in this region such as the Amarāvatī (Guntur District) inscription^[4] of Vāsishṭhīputra Puḷumāvi, Chinna (Krishna District) inscription^[5] of Gautamīputa Yajña Śātakarṇi, Koḍavali inscription^[6] of Chaṇḍa or Chandra Śāta and the Myakadoni (Bellary District) Inscription^[7] of Puḷumāvi.

TEXT^[8]

1 . . ^[9][|*] namō Bhagavato [|*] Ga[la]-
2 . yasa^[10] Airasa Mahārā[ya]-
3 [sa] Hāriti[putasa] [s]ir[i]-[Mā]-
4 . [sa]dasa^[11] di[s]i-[dh]ārikāya
5 . [v]āya^[12] . [gava].^[13] Bhūtagā[ha]-
6 . .[sa^[14] ma]ḍa[pa(po)] [e]ko [niva]hito [||*]

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^[1] Cf. K. Gopalachari, Early History of the Andhra Country, p. 5.
^[2] The Age of Imperial Unity, pp. 193 ff., 204.
^[3]Select Inscriptions, pp. 196, 198 note.
^[4] Arch, Surv. S. Ind., Vol. I, p. 100, Plate LVI, No. 1.
^[5] Above, Vol. I, pp. 95f. ; JASB, Vol. XVI, 1920, pp. 327 ff.
^[6] Above, Vol. XVIII, pp. 316 ff.
^[7]Ibid., Vol. XIV, p. 155.
^[8] From impressions and the facsimile published in JAHC, Vol. I, No. 2, Plate facing p. 64. We have also utilised one of Mr. Sastri’s impressions for illustrating the present article.
^[9] The lost word may be sidha or sidhaṁ.
^[10] The intended reading may be Galaveyasa (i.e. Gālaveyasa)=Sanskrit Gālaveyasya.
^[11] Traces of the damaged letter at the beginning of the line seem to suggest the reading na. The name of the king thus appears to have been Mānasada.
^[12] As suggested above, the name of the lady was something like Revā, Devā, etc.
^[13] The word may be restored as Bhagavato.
^[14] The intended reading seems to be Bhūtagāhakasa. The aksharas sa and ma are traceable on Mr. Sastiri’s impressions but are lost now on the stone