2. Early Satavahanas
The Satvahanas rose to power on the ruins of the Mauryan
Empire.
There was a king called Satavahanas, known from coins, and as
such, the dynastic name has been derived from the name of the
‘earliest king”.
The Satavahanas were also called the “Andhra Dynasty”.
There is evidence to prove that the Satavahanas rose to power in
about 1st
century B.C. and came to an end about 3rd
century B.C.
The founder of the Satavahana dynasty was Simuka.
He as ruled the dynasty for 23 years from 235 B.C. to 213 B.C.,
he was succeeded by his brother Krishna who ruled for 18 years .
The earliest of the Satavahanas kings to receive wide recognition
was Satakarni I.
3. This was due to his policy of military expansion in all
directions.
Satakarni I gained control of the region of Sanhi, and an
inscription there refers to him as Rajan Shri Satakarni.
Administration of Satavahanas
The Satavahanas followed the pattern of the Mauryan
administration.
The king was the head of the state. He had the
hereditary powers.
He was not a law-maker, but one who implements the
laws and conventions of the land.
One of the important duties of the king was to protect
the people from external and internal disturbances.
4. The Satavahana empire was divided, for the sake of
administrative convenience, into aharas or districts
such as Govardhan, Sopara, Mamala etc.
Amatyas were the officers of these units of
administration.
These Amatyas were ministers or counsellors to the
king.
These served as the heads of districts.
There were other officers like Mahamatra
(endowment officer), Nibandhakara (registration of
documents), Bhadagarika (Superintendent of stores),
Mahasenapati (general of the army).
Gramani was the head of the village. Village was the
chief source of both taxes and soldiers.
5. The king was the owner of the land. There were also
private people owning lands.
Lands donated to the Buddhist monks were expempted
from payment of taxes.
Taxes were paid in cash and kind.
The state officers were paid in cash, but not
remunerated by the grant of lands or villages at this
stage.
Coins were widely in use during the Satavahanas
period.
6. Social Conditions
The society of Satavahana time had the Chaturvarna system i.e.
the Brahman, the Kshatriya, The Vaishya and the Sudra.
A number of foreigners entered in to the society and were
Indianised. They adopted Hinduism or Buddhism.
The social system must have undergone changes because of the
spread of Buddhism , as Buddhism does not attach any
importance to castes.
Position of Women in Family
The traditional joint family was in vogue.
Men enjoyed importance in the family. Women were also given
importance.
Marriage between the members of the same jatis was preferred,
though intermarriages between different jatis were prevalent.
7. The marriage in the same gotra and prvara was restricted.
Women not only got good education but also held
honourable position in the society and household.
They also received training in fine arts like music,
dancing and painting.
Sati Pratha was also prevalent there.
In the family property, all the sons had equal share, but
the only daughter had the inheritance in the absence of
sons.
Women wore a single piece garment and a number of
ornaments like rings, ear-pendants, bangles, necklaces
etc.
8. Economic Conditions
Agriculture was the main occupation of a large section of
the people.
Land was held by individuals as well as by the State.
Among the crops, rice of different varieties, sesame,
pulses, wheat, sugarcane, mustard and large number of
vegetables and fruits were grown.
The village had artisans like weaver, carpenter, potter,
blacksmith, barber, rope-maker, washer man, shoe-maker
etc. and they used to share the crops by supplying the
products to the cultivators.
9. Trade
Both internal and external trade activity were done.
Mining and metal industry had grown very important.
A large number of national highways were developed during
this period.
The important market towns were Paithan, Nasik, Govardhana,
Vaijjayanti, Dhanyakataka, Vijayapuri etc.
These town were connected with important ports. Roads and
rivers were the means of communication.
The export to other countries included spices, sandal wood,
textiles of various types, sea products, metal, semi-precious
stones, diamonds, gold etc.
The imports included horses, ornaments and drugs.
10. Guilds
The crafts of the period were organised into guilds or
srenis.
The inscriptions mention the names of 18 guilds such as
corn dealers, braziers, polishers, weavers, potters and
fabricators.
The guilds was headed by an elderly men. Ligama
Sabha was the office of the guild.
The guilds sometimes, acted as banks, receiving
deposits and lending money at 12% to 15% interest rate.
They were so much esteemed for their integrity and their
functioning was so remarkably efficient, that king and
courtiers used to deposit the amounts in guilds.
11. Religion
Buddhism was the popular religion of the period.
Though the kings patronised Buddhism, there was no
intolerance towards Hinduism.
The worship of Vedic Gods like Indra and Varuna was
prevalent.
Hindu temples of this period are not extant now.
During the Satavahana period, both Hinduism and
Buddhism spread rapidly. The Satavahana rulers were the
followers of Brahmanism. They performed Aswamedha
Yajnas and gave donations to Brahmanas.
12. Literature
The Satavahana rulers were lovers of literature. Under
their patronage, great progress was made in the field of
literature.
Most of the Satavahana rulers were themselves learned
and had special interest in literature.
In this period, the Prakrit language and literature
developed significantly.
They extended patronage to the Prakrit language and
wrote most of their inscriptions in that language.
The Satvahana King Hala was a poet of high order. He
composed ‘Gatha Saptasatf in Prakrti.
13. It has 700 shloakas. He also patronized several
scholars who lived in his court.
Gunadhya, the great scholar who wrote ‘Brihat Katha’
lived in his court.
Another scholar Sarva Varman wrote a treatise on the
Sanskrit Grammar.
Architecture
Marked progress was made in the field of architecture
as well.
The Satvahana rulers took interest in building caves,
viharas or monasteries, chaityas or large halls with a
number of columns and stupas.
14. Most of the rock caves in the Deccan were cut during this
period. These caves were big and beautiful.
The caves, monasteries, chaityas and stupas of Orissa,
Nasik, Karle and Bhuj are fine specimen of contemporary
architecture and decoration.
Chaitya was a large hall with a number of columns. The
Vihara had a central Hall. One could enter this hall by a
doorway from a varandah in front.
The Chaitya of Karle was most famous. It is 40 metres
long, 15 metres wide and 15 metres high. It has rows of
15 columns on each side.
Each of these columns is built on a stair like square
plinth. Each pillar has a capital figure of an elephant, a
horse or a rider on the top.
15. The viharas were meant as places of residence for the
monks.
At Nasik, there are three viharas carrying the inscriptions
of Gautmiputra and Nahapana.
The most famous of these monuments are the stupas.
Among them the Amravati Stupa and the
Nagarjunakonda Stupa are most famous.
The stupa was a large round structure built over some
relic of the Buddha.
