KARIMNAGAR: The recent survey in the Gundaram reserve forest of Peddapalli district by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has thrown light on political relationship between the imperial Andhra Satavahanas, who ruled the Deccan region, and their vassals from the Chutu dynasty in the Nizamabad region.
“Stone records found in the forest have unravelled the frozen mystery of Telangana’s early history,” said ASI director (epigraphy) E. Munirathnam Reddy in a statement here on Thursday. The Munirathnam team decoded 11 inscriptions from the Satavahana period.
One of the inscriptions stated that an individual belonging to the Haritiputra lineage, potentially linked to the Chutu dynasty, a known contemporary of the Satavahanas, facilitated the excavation of the cave for the benefit of Buddhist monks.
The inscription identified the individual as a friend of Kumara Hakusiri, a prince of the Satavahana dynasty, which suggests an alliance or close ties between the two ruling families. The inscription reads ‘Sidham Haritiputasa Kumarasa Akusiri Mitasa Idha Gamitam’.
The rulers from the Chutu (crest) Kula (dynasty) of Banavasi are considered Haritiputras, who share Satavahana rulers’ Brahmin lineage. They ruled northern Karnataka and the Nizamabad region in Telangana as feudatories of the Satavahanas. Banavasi is an ancient town in Karnataka near Sirsi.
Before the Satavahanas ruled most of the land between the river Narmada and the river Krishna for nearly 500 years, spreading equally between before common era (BCE) and common era (CE) timelines, the Nizamabad region was a part of Asamaka republic — one of 16 Mahajanapadas — whose region roughly encompasses Vidarbha and northern Telangana.
Andhra Satavahanas ruled the region now known as the Deccan as vassals of the Mauryan empire, and declared independence from Patalipura after weak rulers ascended the Maurya throne after the emperor Ashoka.
The second inscription found at Gundaram forest commenced with the symbols of a trident and a damaru, a unique occurrence among early South Indian inscriptions. It indicated the territorial control of a figure named Siri Devarana.
The inscription specified that ‘Siri devarana pavata puva sampa(da)’, signifying that the territory to the east of the hill was under his rule or influence. The appearance of these auspicious symbols marks a significant addition to the epigraphical records of early South India.
These remarkable findings at the Gundaram rock shelter not only enrich understanding of the Satavahana dynasty and its interactions with their vassals like the Chutu rulers, he said.
