Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the

Satavahanas and Kushanas

Subject: History

Unit: Changing Political Formations

Lesson: 7.3: Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference

to the Satavahanas and Kushanas
Lesson Developer: Dr. Shonaleeka Kaul
College/Department: Assistant Professor, Department of
History, University of Delhi

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
Satavahanas and Kushanas

Table of contents

Chapter 7: Changing political formations (circa 600 BC to AD 300)

• 7.3: Post-Mauryan polities with special reference to the Kushanas and the
Satavahanas
• Exercises
• Glossary
• Further readings

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 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
Satavahanas and Kushanas

7.3: Post Mauryan polities with special reference to the Kushanas

and the Satavahanas

'Post-Mauryan' is the name given to the period extending from approximately 200 BC to 300
AD, that is, from the fall of the Mauryan dynasty to the rise of Gupta power. Though several
important new developments are seen in this phase, it is best viewed in terms of the
continuity and intensification of political, economic and social processes that started in the
post-Vedic (6th century BC) and matured in the Mauryan, culminating in the post-Mauryan.
In this lesson, we survey the chief features of the political formations of this period, with a
special emphasis on two major regimes: the Satavahanas and the Kushanas.

Our sources include literature (Brahmanical, Buddhist as well as foreign accounts),

archaeological excavations (cultures associated with the late Northern Black Polished
Ware and post-Northern Black Polished Ware), coins (of a large variety and number),
inscriptions (in Prakrit and, for the first time, Sanskrit), and architectural and art remains
from these five hundred years.

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 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
Satavahanas and Kushanas

Figure 7.3.1: Map showing some of the post Mauryan dynasties.

Source: http://www215.pair.com/sacoins/public_html/maps_chronology_menudata.html

The Shungas and the Chedis

Subsequent to the collapse and breakup of the vast Mauryan empire (321 BC to 180 BC),
we see the rise of a number of smaller territorial powers in its place in different regions of
the subcontinent. These were under local rulers or local elites who rose to prominence after
the demise of Mauryan control. In the Ganga valley, for instance, the Mauryas were
immediately succeeded by the Shungas under Pushyamitra, the general of the Mauryan
army who is believed to have assassinated the last Mauryan king, Brihadratha. The Shungas
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 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
Satavahanas and Kushanas
ruled for about a 100 years. They included in their kingdom Pataliputra (Magadha), Ayodhya
(central Uttar Pradesh) and Vidisha (eastern Malwa), and possibly reached up to Shakala
(Punjab). Viceroys seem to have been placed in some parts of the Shunga kingdom.

The Shungas are believed to have been a brahmana dynasty. Pushyamitra is associated
with the performance of the Vedic ashvamedha sacrifice and with a hostile attitude to the
Buddhist faith. From the Shunga period we get the famous Heliodorus pillar at Vidisha
(Besnagar). It is found in association with the remains of a temple which was probably
dedicated to the god Vishnu. The pillar once had atop it an image of Garuda, Vishnu’s
mythical mount, the eagle. An inscription on this pillar tells us that it was erected by
Heliodorus, a Greek ambassador to the court of the fifth Shunga king, Bhagabhadra.
Interestingly, it describes the Greek as a Bhagavata or worshipper of bhagavan Vishnu.

Value addition: did you know?

The Heliodorus pillar
The remains of the Vishnu temple at Besnagar (Vidisha, Malwa), found in the
precincts of the Heliodorus pillar, belong to the earliest Brahmanical temple in stone
(150 BC) to be so far discovered. Archaeology tells us that the temple was first built
in Mauryan times and added to or rebuilt after that. However, only the floor plan
from that time survives now. Historians have conjectured that the Garuda pillar must
have been dedicated to this temple and so the temple must have been Vaishnava.
Source: Original

Figure 7.3.2: The Heliodorus Pillar at Vidisha.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Heliodorus-Pillar2.jpg

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 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
Satavahanas and Kushanas
The Shungas were replaced by the Kanvas who quickly made way for the Mitras in the
Ganga valley.

In Kalinga (south Orissa), Mahameghavahana Chedis set up a kingdom towards the end of
the first century BC. We know this from the Hathigumpha inscription of King Kharavela who
belonged to this dynasty.The rise of a regular monarchy in Orissa represents the spread of
state polity and society to new areas in this period. This is illustrated also by the
Satavahana kingdom that, with its capital at Pratishthana (modern Paithan on the Godavari
river), covered Maharashtra and Andhra and, at times, parts of north Karnataka, south and
east Madhya Pradesh and Saurashtra.

Value addition: did you know?

The Hathigumpha inscription
King Kharavela’s Hathigumpha inscription in Prakrit is a rare example of a pure
prashasti or eulogy. This means that it was inscribed only to praise the king and
record his achievements and not for any additional purpose like recording a donation
or marking the establishment of a shrine, which is normally the case with Indian
inscriptions. Here is an extract from the inscription, which details the king’s doings in
a year by year format, much like a biography:

‘Obeisance to the arahants! Obeisance to all the siddhas! The noble maharaja of the
Mahameghavahana family, who enhanced the fame of the Chedi royal lineage, who is
generously endowed with all the auspicious signs, whose qualities create a stir in the
four quarters, the ruler of Kalinga, Shri Kharavela, whose body was beautifully tawny
[in colour], who played princely games till 15 years [of age]; thereafter, expert in
writing, assessing the value of coins, counting, and law, acquainted with all branches
of learning, he ruled as crown prince for nine years; … after his consecration in the
twenty-fourth year, in the first year he undertook repair of wind-ravaged gateways,
enclosures and buildings of Kalinga city, binding embankments of reservoirs and
restoring parks, spending 35,00,000 [kahapanas] to please the people. In the
second year, heedless of Satakarni, he sent a huge force of horses, elephants,
chariots and men to the west, … and strikes terror in Asika city. In the third year,
himself expert in Gandharva Veda (music), he organized festivals and gatherings
displaying wrestling, dancing, singing, and entertained the city….’
Source: Sircar, D. C. 1965. Select Inscriptions Bearing on Indian History
and Civilization. Vol. I. Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 213-219.

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 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
Satavahanas and Kushanas

The Satavahanas

The Satavahanas were a major ruling dynasty of the post-Mauryan period. They held sway
from the first century BC to the early third century AD, though some scholars date their
origins from the third century BC. There is uncertainty about who the Satavahanas were
and where they came from. In their inscriptions they claim to be exalted brahmanas
(ekabahmana) who performed Vedic yajnas. But the Vishnu, Matsya and Brahmanda
Puranas call them Andhras, which are described as lowly social groups. It seems likely that
they adopted the claim to brahmanahood, as well as to the performance of Vedic yajnas, to
elevate their actual status. Or perhaps they were the result of the union of a local social
group with a brahmana.

Similarly, apart from the name 'Andhra', the discovery of early Satavahana coins at sites in
Andhra Pradesh led some historians to believe that the Satavahanas began their rule in the
eastern Deccan and then spread westwards. On the other hand, their early inscriptions in
the Nasik and Nanaghat caves point to the western Deccan as the original power centre of
the Satavahanas. At any rate, the Satavahanas adopted the title of 'Lord of
Dakshinapatha' which shows they enjoyed sway over a vast area in the Deccan. Pliny, the
Roman chronicler, too says that the Andhras had many villages and thirty walled towns and
a large army of 100,000 infantry, 2000 cavalry and 1000 elephants.

The Satavahana territories were divided into a number of administrative divisions known as
aharas. We hear of different sorts of officials such as amatyas, mahamatras,
mahasenapatis, and of scribes and record keepers. However, the basic organization of the
empire was feudatory which means that there existed a number of local rulers or
subordinate chiefs in the realm, known as the maharathis and mahabhojas, whom the
Satavahanas exercised political paramountcy over but did not eliminate. Scholars have
recently emphasized that this meant the Satavahanas, despite their claim to great power,
did not administratively integrate their empire. Coins of the local rulers found in different
localities attest the presence of these co-sharers in power who existed before the rise of the
Satavahanas. They had matrimonial links with the Satavahanas and with one another.
Located in central India as they were, the Satavahanas appear as something of a bridge
between southern and northern political and cultural traditions.

The Satavahanas were involved in a prolonged conflict with other powers bordering their
realm, such as the Shakas and Kshaharatas of western India. They clashed particularly over
control of the important ports of Bhrigukaccha (Broach), Kalyan and Surparaka (Sopara).
Territories often changed hands between these dynasties.

Some of the major Satavahana kings were Gautamiputra Satakarni (c. 106-130 AD) during
whose reign the empire seems to have territorially reached its peak, his son Vashishthiputra
Pulumavi (130-154 AD), and Yajnashri Satakarni (165-194 AD) whose coins have ships
depicted on them. A later Satavahana king was Hala, believed to be the author of the
Prakrit work of poetry called Gathasattasai. The use of metronyms (name deriving from

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 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
Satavahanas and Kushanas
the mother's name) by Satavahana kings in their inscriptions and the fact that their queens,
like Gautami Balashri, also issued inscriptions are interesting features. They may derive
from local Deccan kinship traditions and may suggest that Satavahana women played an
active role in some public affairs. Another remarkable aspect about this dynasty is that they
issued coins made of lead and its alloy, potin.

Another important feature of the Satavahana period is that the earliest examples of the
issue of royal grants of land that carried tax exemptions with them are from this period. The
Nanaghat (first century BC) and Nasik (second century AD) inscriptions refer to the grant of
fields or entire villages to priests as dakshina for officiating at a yajna and for the upkeep
of Buddhist monks dwelling in a cave, respectively. Such land was not to be entered by
royal troops (apraveshya), was free from the control of the king’s officers, and was exempt
from tax (akaradayi). Such land grants from a slightly later period (Gupta and post-Gupta)
have been associated with the onset of Indian feudalism.

When the Satavahanas declined, their place was taken by different dynasties, like the
Vakatakas, Kadambas, and Ikshvakus, in different parts of their empire at about the time
that the Guptas were setting themselves up further north.

The Indo-Greeks, the Shakas and the Parthians

In the post-Mauryan period the north-west and west-central parts of the subcontinent
witnessed the rule of not one but several dynasties of external origin, often simultaneously,
as a result of tribal incursions from central Asia. This slowly transformed the character of
the north-west into a cultural crossroads, where influences and peoples from central Asia
and the Indian subcontinent mingled and created a pluralistic society. The first to come
were the Indo-Greeks or Indo-Bactrians who were from the area north-west of the
Hindukush mountains, corresponding to north Afghanistan. They expanded into the Indus
valley and the Punjab and founded an empire there, occasionally making inroads as far as
the Ganga-Yamuna doab, between the second century BC and the first century AD. They are
known for and by their coins which not only included the earliest gold coins recovered
archaeologically in India but bore legends and portraits of individual kings, thus facilitating
their identification. Indo-Greek rule in the region was also responsible for the growth of
Hellenistic cultural influences seen in town planning, on the one hand, and sculpture, on the
other. The most famous Indo-Greek king is Menander (165-145 BC) who seems to have
embraced Buddhism after an extensive dialogue with a monk named Nagasena. The
dialogue is captured in the Pali text Milindapanho or The Questions of Milinda (Menander's
Indianized name).

The next to invade were the central Asian Scythians or Shakas (as they came to be known
here). They are described as vratya kshatriyas or degraded kshatriyas in the
Dharmashastras, an attempt to assimilate into the indigenous social system a foreign group
which had nonetheless come into power. Different branches of the Shakas took over
different parts of north and central India, establishing their rule at Taxila, for instance, and
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 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
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at Mathura. Shaka chiefs were known as kshatrapas. The strongest and longest lasting
Shaka presence was in Malwa where it continued till the fourth century AD. The best
remembered kshatrapa of this line is Rudradaman I (c.130-150 AD) of the Kardamaka
family who extended his hold over Saurashtra, Kathiawar, Konkan and Sindh, apart from
Malwa. This brought him into prolonged, fluctuating conflict with the Satavahanas. This is
something that both the Satavahana Nasik inscription and Rudradaman's Junagadh
inscription tell us about. Significantly, Rudradaman's inscription is the first long epigraph in
chaste Sanskrit that we get from early India. Considering that Rudradaman was a Shaka,
his use of Sanskrit, the exalted language of the land, suggests an attempt to identify with
local traditions and draw on their legitimizing power.

Close on the heels of the Shakas were the Parthians or Pehlavas, originally from Iran. They
occupied a relatively minor principality in the north-west, their best known king being
Gondophernes.

The Kushanas

The last major central Asian force to enter the subcontinent in post-Mauryan times were the
Kushanas. The Kushanas were a branch of a tribe bordering China known as the Yueh chi.
This tribe, as a result of pressure from other tribes in their homeland, moved out to other
regions. A section known as the Little Yueh chi settled in north Tibet while the Great Yueh
chi occupied five principalities in the valley of the Oxus river in central Asia, displacing the
Shakas on their way. Then around the beginning of the first century AD, a chief by the
name of Kujula Kadphises and his son Vima brought together the five areas and laid the
foundations of a unified Kushana empire that extended from the Oxus river in the north to
the Indus valley in the south, and from Khorasan in the west to Punjab in the east.

Kushana power entered the subcontinent proper, and reached its height under a king
named Kanishka. His reign started in 78 AD, the date from which a new era, later
erroneously called Shakasamvat, was inaugurated. Under him the Kushana empire
extended further eastwards into the Ganga valley reaching right up to Varanasi, and
southwards into the Malwa region. A vast expanse spanning diverse cultures – Indic, Greek,
west and central Asian – was thus brought under one umbrella, leading to the commingling
of peoples and practices. This vast empire also played a strategic role in facilitating trade
from China to west Asia and beyond, through India. The famous Great Silk Route passed
through its northern fringes.

Value addition: did you know?

Shakasamvat
At independence, the Shakasamvat was accepted as the official calendar of the
modern–day government of India!
Source: Original

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 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
Satavahanas and Kushanas

Kanishka and his successors, like Huvishka, Kanishka II and Vasudeva I, ruled till circa 230
AD. The heart of the Kushana empire was Bactria in central Asia; their Indian territories had
twin capitals, at Purushapura (Peshawar) and at Mathura. The Kushanas adopted grand
titles like devaputra (son of god), kaiser (emperor) and shahanushahi (king of kings).
However, the Kushana kings did not exercise direct and absolute control over the whole
empire. Large parts were under subordinate rulers (like the Shakas) with the title of
kshatrapa or mahakshatrapa. Kushana coins and inscriptions are mostly in the Bactrian
language.

Value addition: did you know?

The Rabatak inscription and Kushana kingship
A very interesting aspect of Kushana kingship is revealed by the remains of temples
at Surkh Kotal in Afghanistan and Mat near Mathura. Here stone statues of Kushana
kings have been found, leading scholars to wonder whether the images of Kushana
kings were also worshipped, like those of gods. Or were these only royal portraits,
though even that would show the close connection with divinity that the Kushanas
asserted for themselves. More recently, the discovery of Kanishka’s Rabatak
inscription in Afghanistan, along with the ruins of a temple dedicated to Zoroastrian
deities like Nana, suggests something similar. In the inscription Kanishka asks his
officers to build a temple where images of these gods were to be installed, and also
to make images of his great-grandfather, grandfather, father and himself. The
inscription also outlines the extent of Kanishka’s empire, which seems to have
extended to Pataliputra and Champa in the east, and enumerates all his grand titles
like ‘the great deliverer’, ‘the righteous and the just’, ‘the autocrat’, ‘one who is
worthy of worship’ etc.
Source: Singh, Upinder. 2008. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India:
From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. New Delhi: Pearson Education,
378.

The Kushanas introduced new military and cultural features to the Indian subcontinent, such
as an improved cavalry with the use of reins and saddle or the trouser-tunic-and-coat style
of dressing. At the same time, they vigorously embraced elements of indigenous cultures as
reflected in their patronage of Buddhism and Shaivism and of Sanskrit literature. Thus the
fourth great Buddhist council was held in Kashmir under Kanishka and Ashvaghosha, the
great Buddhist poet who composed the first full Sanskrit kavyas, the Buddhacharita and
the Saundarananda, was at Kanishka’s court. The coins issued by Kanishka’s predecessors
like Vima declare them to have been devotees of Shiva.

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 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
Satavahanas and Kushanas

Figure 7.3.3: Headless image of Kanishka

Source: http://www.ensyklopedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Kanishkas-Headless-
Statue.jpg

As the power of the Kushanas declined, various local dynasties subdued by them resurfaced
all over north and central India. These included the Shakas of Malwa and a number of Naga,
Mitra and Datta kings, as well as non-monarchical ‘tribal’ ganas like the Arjunayanas,
Malavas and Yaudheyas who are known from their coins, seals and inscriptions. These were
the conditions in which a new phase started with the rise to power of the Guptas in the early
fourth century AD.

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 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
Satavahanas and Kushanas

7.3: Exercises

Essay questions

1) How would you explain the spread of state society between 200 BC and 300 AD?

2) What was the cultural impact of the series of invasions from central Asia in the post
Mauryan period?

Objective questions

Question Number Type of question LOD

1 Match the following 1

Question
Match the following:

1) Pratishthana a) Kushanas

2) Purushapura b) Satavahanas

3) Junagadh c) Chedis

4) Kalinga d) Shakas

5) Taxila e) Indo-Greeks

Correct Answer /
1) and b), 2) and a), 3) and d), 4) and c), 5) and e)
Option(s)

Justification/ Feedback for the correct answer

1) Pratishthana, on the banks of the river Godavari, was the capital of
the Satavahana kingdom.

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 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
Satavahanas and Kushanas
2) Purushapura or modern Peshawar was the capital of the Kushanas.
They seem to have had an eastern capital as well in Mathura.

3) Junagadh is where the famous Girnar inscription of Rudradaman, the

great Shaka king, has been found.

4) The Mahameghavahana Chedi dynasty of Orissa ruled in Kalinga. We

know this from King Kharavela’s Hathigumpha inscription.

5) Taxila was one of the seats of Indo-Greek rule in north-western India.

Resource/Hints/Feedback for the wrong answer

Reviewer’s Comment:

Glossary

Akaradayi: exempt from paying tax

Apraveshya: no entry
Dakshina: fees paid to a priest for performing rituals
Dakshinapatha: a major southern trade route running through the Deccan
Garuda: an eagle, Vishnu’s mythical mount
Kavya: poems, plays and tales composed in Sanskrit from the first century AD onwards
Metronym: name deriving from the mother’s name
Northern Black Polished Ware: a shiny black pottery type used as deluxe ware from circa
7th to 2nd century BC.
Potin: an alloy made of lead and tin
Viceroy: a governor or representative of the king ruling on his behalf

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 Post-Mauryan Polities with Special Reference to the
Satavahanas and Kushanas

Further readings

Mukherji B. N. 2004. Kushana Studies: New Perspectives. Kolkata: Firma K. L.

Mukhopadhyaya.

Singh, Upinder. 2008. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to
the 12th Century. New Delhi: Pearson Education, Chapter 8.

Shastri, A. M. ed. 1999. The Age of the Satavahanas. 2 vols. New Delhi: Aryan Books
International.

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