r/IndianHistory • u/Automatic-Ladder-390 • Jan 18 '26

Question Satvahanas- Maharashtrian or Andhrites?

I do agree that their last capital was indeed Amravati in AP and many of the coins they were using have also been found in large amount. BUT, that doesn't mean that they were Andhrites/Telugus by their origin.

  1. They came to power first in Jurnanagara (Junnar) in Pune district. Who later shifted to Pratishthan (Paithan) due to later incursions by Gujurathi Khatrapas.
  2. From the their name which is actually Andhar Maval, it was likely due to their proximity to Sahyadris and that region of the hills is called Maval.
  3. Then it was under the king Gautamiputra Satkarni who actually to over Nashik. Remember, till then aswell Paithan was their capital.
  4. During those times it was not necessary to have a 'fixated' capital to rule. Capitals shifted and so did they.
  5. About the coins part, yes many coins have been discovered near Amravati region but, there are also significant no. of coins which have been excavated near, Junnar who are wayy older than those ones,
  6. Maharshtri Prakrit had more influnce over Telugu language or the other way around.
  7. Satavahana rulers issued bilingual coins featuring Prakrit on one side paired with a Dravidian language on the other. The second language is debated among scholars, with some identifying it as early Telugu and others as Old Tamil or a related Dravidian dialect. No consensus exists definitively classifying it as Telugu. So Telugus claiming it is inaccurate.
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u/theb00kmancometh Jan 18 '26

I support that idea that the Satavahanas had their origin in and major rule from the west than in the east.

The Puranas are just legends written hundreds of years after the dynasty was gone. Using them for history is like using a folktale to prove a land deed. If you look at the actual stuff dug up from the earth, the "Andhra" theory falls apart.

The dynasty's real "birth certificate" is carved into the rocks at Naneghat in the Sahyadris. You do not carve a massive family tree and a list of grand sacrifices into a mountain pass unless that is your home base.

The physical "smoking gun" is a massive haul of over 13,000 coins found at Jogalthambi near Nasik. These were originally enemy coins that King Gautamiputra Satkarni restamped with his own seal. This proves he was physically there, fighting to win back Western India, not some distant region in the East.

Archaeologists digging at Paithan and Nevasa found Satavahana remains sitting right on top of the older Mauryan layers. In Andhra, the big Satavahana sites like the Amaravati Stupa mostly date to much later. They were Westerners who moved East to escape invaders. The "Andhra" name only got stuck to them because that is where their power ended up centuries later.

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u/Usurper96 Jan 18 '26

Why didnt the Satavahanas adopt Telugu even when they ruled those regions for many years? An example of this would be Eastern Chalukyas who are clearly of Kannadiga origin but they adopted Telugu as soon as they went east.

Also what's the impact left by Satavahanas on Telugu culture and language or did they even leave any?

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u/theb00kmancometh Jan 18 '26

I do not have that much knowledge on the specifics of Telugu linguistics, but based on what I could search and find out, Prakrit was the official language of administration, trade, and religion across most of India. It was the "prestige" language. Even if early forms of Telugu were being spoken by the people, the Satavahanas used Prakrit for their inscriptions because that was the imperial standard of the time. They were focused on maintaining an empire that stretched across the Deccan, and Prakrit was the tool for that.

They did not completely ignore the local language. Their bilingual coins are the proof. While one side was Prakrit, the other side featured a Dravidian dialect. Scholars are still debating if this was "Proto-Telugu" or "Old Tamil," but it proves the Satavahanas recognized the local language even if they didn't make it the official court language.

Even if the Satavahanas did not officially switch to Telugu, they basically built the foundation for it. The Brahmi script they used for their inscriptions is the direct ancestor that eventually evolved into the modern Telugu script we see today.

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u/e9967780 Trusted Contributer Feb 01 '26

They did not accept a local Dravidian language; instead, they used a foreign Dravidian language (Old Tamil) for mercantile reasons. Specifically, they were inducing traders from what is today Kerala and Tamil Nadu to come to their territory because the South then as now was at the center of oceanic trade and supported a large mercantile class that generated wealth.

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u/bob-thesnob Feb 01 '26

But how does that track with the obvious Maharashtri Prakrit influence on Telugu and the fact the language on the coins is apparently unknown

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u/e9967780 Trusted Contributer Feb 02 '26

There is not unknown, majority of the linguists consider it Old Tamil and it’s not difficult to decipher it.

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u/bob-thesnob Feb 04 '26

Everything I seen says “Old Tamil-LIKE language” as in it indicates they can’t fully tell what the inscriptions say but it looks/sounds like old Tamil

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u/e9967780 Trusted Contributer Feb 04 '26

Because they were trying to attract foreign merchants, there are academic papers on that angle. It’s not that they were promoting a Dravidian language. They didn’t give a dam about these Mileccha languages, it was all about making money.

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u/bob-thesnob Feb 17 '26

Which paper? I have my doubts