Early Andhra Pradesh & the Satavahanas

In short: Early Andhra Pradesh, Kotilingala and the Satavahana empire.

Andhra Pradesh History › Ancient Andhra Pradesh · 39 min read · Free to read · English & Telugu

Bilingual study notes for the Andhra Pradesh Police SI & Constable exams (SLPRB AP) by AP Police Hub, a product of Anvil Academy.

From Palaeolithic tools and Iron Age megaliths, through Ashoka's earliest edicts, Naganika's regency, Gautamiputra Satakarni's empire, Hala and Gunadhya's Prakrit classics, to the Amaravati Mahastupa and the dynasties that followed — everything the AP Police exam expects on the 'Andhra' dynasty.

1. Prehistoric Andhra — Stone Age to Iron Age

Long before any dynasty, the Andhra region passed through the same three-stage Stone Age sequence as the rest of peninsular India — Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) and Neolithic (New Stone Age) — each stage marked by a distinct toolkit and way of life, before the region entered its Iron Age and then its first historical, inscribed period under the Mauryas.

Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) — Marked by crude, heavy hand-axes and cleavers chipped out of quartzite; hunter-gatherer bands using rock shelters and river-terrace sites across the Krishna–Tungabhadra and Penna basins.
Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) — Toolkit shrinks to tiny, finely worked microliths (small blades and points hafted onto wood/bone), alongside the beginnings of rock art — a transitional hunting-gathering culture leading towards settled life.
Neolithic (New Stone Age) — The decisive shift to settled agriculture and stock-raising, polished stone axes, and the first hand-made pottery — laying the base culture from which the later Neolithic–Chalcolithic and Iron Age communities of Andhra grew.
Megaliths — Iron Age burials — The clearest trace of the following Iron Age (roughly 1000 BCE onward) is the megaliths — burial monuments in stone (dolmens, cairns, cists, menhirs) — found widely across coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. Grave-goods of iron implements and distinctive black-and-red ware pottery are their hallmark, marking the transition from the late Neolithic–Chalcolithic to the early historic age.
Ashoka's rock edicts — the earliest inscriptions — The earliest inscriptions found in Andhra are Emperor Ashoka's Minor Rock Edicts at Erragudi and Rajula-Mandagiri — both in present-day Kurnool district — proof that the Andhra region lay within the Mauryan empire in the 3rd century BCE, well before the Satavahanas rose to power. This Mauryan contact is the bridge between prehistoric Andhra and its first dynastic empire.

2. Who Were the Satavahanas?

The Satavahanas were the first great empire of the Deccan and of the Andhra country, rising after the decline of the Mauryas (around the 2nd–1st century BCE) and ruling for roughly four and a half centuries — one of the longest-lived dynasties in early Indian history. The Puranas call this line the 'Andhras' (or Andhra-bhrityas, 'servants of the Andhras') — which is why it is remembered as the 'Andhra' dynasty and is central to Andhra Pradesh history.

Founder — Simuka — The dynasty was founded by Simuka (Srimukha), who threw off Mauryan/Kanva overlordship in the Deccan. He was followed by his brother Kanha (Krishna), who extended the kingdom westward, and then the line of the Satakarnis.
Twin capitals — Their power centred on two capitals — Pratishthana (Paithan) on the Godavari in the west, the dynastic seat, and, growing in importance in the Andhra heartland, Amaravati / Dharanikota on the Krishna, which became the power-centre of the eastern branch.
A pan-Deccan empire — At their peak the Satavahanas controlled territory stretching from Malwa and Gujarat in the north-west to the Andhra coast in the south-east, making them the political and cultural bridge between north India and the far south during the early historic period.

3. Satakarni I, Naganika & the Naneghat Inscription

An early and powerful ruler of the line was Satakarni I, who performed grand Vedic sacrifices — including the Ashvamedha (horse sacrifice) and Rajasuya — to assert Satavahana paramountcy over the Deccan and took the title 'Lord of Dakshinapatha'. Much of what we know about him comes not from his own records but from the Naneghat inscription (near present-day Pune, on a hill-pass trade route linking Pratishthana to the western coast), issued by his queen Naganika.

Satakarni I died while his sons — Vedishri and Sati (Saktisri) — were still young, and Naganika stepped in as regent, ruling on their behalf — one of the earliest instances of a queen exercising political authority in Deccan history. The Naneghat inscription she issued is carved beside portrait-statues of the royal family (now headless, but identified by name-labels above each niche), lists the sacrifices performed and the lavish fees (dakshina) paid to Brahmin priests, making it a key source for early Satavahana religion, royal genealogy, and Naganika's own standing.

4. Hala, Gunadhya & Prakrit Literature

The Satavahana king Hala (17th in the traditional list of rulers) is remembered as a poet-king: he compiled the Gatha Saptashati (Gaha Sattasai) — an anthology of 700 verses in Maharashtri Prakrit on love, nature and everyday rural life, drawn (by tradition) from the work of many poets. The Satavahanas' official language was Prakrit, written in the Brahmi script; this is why their inscriptions and coins are in Prakrit, not Sanskrit.

Alongside Hala, literary tradition credits Gunadhya, said to have served at a Satavahana court, with composing the Brihatkatha ('Great Story') — a vast collection of tales — in Paisachi, another Prakrit dialect. The original text is lost, but it survives through later Sanskrit reworkings such as the Kathasaritsagara of Somadeva and the Brihatkathamanjari of Kshemendra.

5. Gautamiputra Satakarni — the Greatest King

The greatest Satavahana ruler was Gautamiputra Satakarni (reigned about 106–130 CE). He revived a weakened empire and crushed the Western Kshatrapas (Shakas), defeating Nahapana decisively — Nahapana's silver coins were even restruck and re-issued in Gautamiputra's own name, a striking numismatic proof of victory. His achievements are recorded in the famous Nasik Prashasti (inscription) composed by his mother, Gautami Balashri, on the wall of a cave at Nasik.

Titles claimed in the Nasik Prashasti — The inscription calls him the 'unique Brahmin' (eka-brahmana) who destroyed the pride of Kshatriyas, and claims he made the four varnas (castes) work in harmony — propaganda language celebrating him as a restorer of Brahmanical, dharmic rule after Shaka disruption.
Territorial reach — At his peak he ruled from Malwa and Kathiawar in the north-west to the Krishna–Godavari delta in the south-east, and from Berar in the east to the Konkan coast in the west — briefly restoring the Satavahanas to pan-Deccan supremacy.

6. Vasishthiputra Pulumavi & Yajna Sri Satakarni

Gautamiputra Satakarni's son Vasishthiputra Pulumavi (Pulumayi II) succeeded him and extended Satavahana rule deep into the Andhra coast; his coins and inscriptions are found from Nasik to the Krishna–Godavari region, and he is associated with Amaravati / Dharanikota, where the great Amaravati stupa flourished in this era. He is often shown on coinage with a ship motif on one side and the eight-arch Chaitya-hill symbol on the other — a mark of the dynasty's coastal, maritime identity.

The last great Satavahana ruler was Yajna Sri Satakarni (reigned c. late 2nd century CE), who briefly recovered territory lost to the Western Kshatrapas and again reasserted authority over Malwa, Kathiawar and the Konkan. His coins, uniquely, carry the image of a full-masted sailing ship — the clearest numismatic evidence of Satavahana overseas trade — making him one of the most exam-quoted rulers for the 'ship coin' fact.

7. Religion, Art & the Amaravati Mahastupa

The Satavahanas followed Brahmanical (Hindu) religion — performing Vedic sacrifices such as the Ashvamedha and Rajasuya, and calling themselves protectors of the varna (caste) order — while also generously patronising Buddhism and, to a lesser extent, Jainism. Under them and their successors the Amaravati stupa (Mahachaitya / Mahastupa) on the Krishna became one of the greatest Buddhist monuments of India, giving its name to the celebrated Amaravati school of art, known for its carved white limestone panels.

The stupa's ruins were first reported to the modern world by Colin Mackenzie in 1797, who surveyed and sketched the site; further excavations through the 19th century (notably by Walter Elliot) recovered the carved limestone panels now displayed in Chennai, Kolkata and London (the British Museum's 'Amaravati Marbles'). The Amaravati style is marked by fluid, dynamic relief carving — depicting the Buddha's life and Jataka stories, at first through symbols (footprints, an empty throne, the Bodhi tree) and later through direct human figures — distinct from the Gandhara and Mathura schools of the same broad period.

8. Economy, Coins & Overseas Trade

Guilds & Roman trade — Craft and commerce were organised into guilds (shrenis) — of weavers, potters, oil-pressers, corn-dealers, ivory-workers, perfumers and more — which also acted as bankers, accepting deposits and paying interest to investors. Coastal Andhra's ports carried brisk overseas trade, including with the Roman world; Roman gold coins and amphora fragments have been found in the region, a mark of a flourishing Indo-Roman trade network.
Ports & products — Key ports included Ghantasala, Machilipatnam (Masulipatnam) and Kottapatnam on the Andhra coast; exports included cotton textiles, muslin, beads, ivory, spices and semi-precious stones, traded against Roman gold and wine.
Coins — They issued coins of lead, potin, copper and silver, often showing a ship — a sign of maritime power and an exam-favourite detail (see the previous section on Pulumavi & Yajna Sri Satakarni's ship coins).

9. Administration, Land Grants & Society

Satavahana government followed a decentralised, monarchical pattern later imitated across the Deccan. The king was assisted by ministers and a hierarchy of officials in the provinces and villages, and the reign is historically important as the period from which the earliest surviving land grants in Indian history come down to us.

Provinces & officials — The empire was divided into provinces called aharas, each under an aharika. Village-level administration involved officials such as the gaulmika (in charge of a small military post/forest tract) and the gramika (village headman) — terms drawn straight from Satavahana inscriptions.
First land grants — agrahara/brahmadeya — The Satavahanas are credited with the earliest recorded land grants in India — tax-free village or land grants to Brahmins (agrahara / brahmadeya) and to Buddhist monasteries, inscribed on copper plates or cave walls. This practice of religious/priestly land endowment became a defining feature of early medieval Indian polity.

10. Decline & Successors

By about the 3rd century CE, pressure from the Western Kshatrapas in the north-west and the rise of local feudatories in the south fragmented the empire. In the Andhra country the Ikshvakus rose with their capital at Vijayapuri (Nagarjunakonda) on the Krishna — direct successors who continued Satavahana-style Buddhist patronage — followed later by the Vishnukundinas and the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi, the chain of dynasties that carries Andhra history forward from the Satavahanas.

11. At a Glance — Quick Revision

Satavahanas — must-remember anchors
Question hook	Answer
Stone Age sequence in AP	Palaeolithic → Mesolithic → Neolithic → Iron Age (megaliths)
Earliest inscriptions in Andhra	Ashoka's Minor Rock Edicts — Erragudi & Rajula-Mandagiri
Puranic name of the dynasty	Andhras / Andhra-bhrityas
Founder	Simuka (Srimukha)
Capitals	Pratishthana (Paithan) & Amaravati/Dharanikota
Naneghat inscription — issued by	Naganika, queen of Satakarni I (as regent)
Greatest ruler	Gautamiputra Satakarni (c. 106–130 CE) — defeated Nahapana
Nasik Prashasti — by whom	Gautami Balashri (his mother)
Ship-coin king	Yajna Sri Satakarni (full-masted ship)
Hala's work	Gatha Saptashati (Maharashtri Prakrit, 700 verses)
Gunadhya's work	Brihatkatha (Paisachi Prakrit)
Official language / script	Prakrit / Brahmi
Signature art	Amaravati stupa (white limestone) & school of art — reported by Mackenzie, 1797
Administrative province / guild	Ahara (aharika) / Shreni
First land grants	Agrahara / Brahmadeya (to Brahmins & Buddhist monasteries)
Successors of the Satavahanas	Ikshvakus → Vishnukundinas → Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi