For a lot us, we begun reading the history of Andhradesa from the period of Satavahanas which is roughly around 300-200 BCE to 200 CE. That’s a glorious period of about four hundred years of un-paralleled rule. But ever wondered what happened before that? What happened in Andhradesa before the Maurayans came? Were the geographical boundaries of Andhradesa same as we know today? Well we seldom do think of these associations. The geography will change with the ruler and kingdom. This is probably why the Andhradesa shares so many cultural similarities with Maharashtra in the north and Tamil Nadu in the south. It is the bridge which connects India to India. My point here is to begin reminiscing to a time or an age of Andhradesa which was before the Satavahanas and before the Mauryans.
Let’s go back to the Aryan times. First of all whether the Aryans really had a conquest is unknown. It is unknown whether they peacefully settled in India or fought and struggled. I really doubt there would have been a conquest because there are lot of different Dravidian customs, rituals and gods found in the Aryan pantheon since the Vedic times and vice-versa. May be it was a European propaganda to divide and rule. Who knows? The more and more one reads different opinions the more and more clear it gets. It was the Vedic rishis who found solitude in the forests of Dandakaranya on the banks of rivers. There the local inhabitants mingled with the rishi customs and sometimes harmed it and at times welcomed it.
The first mention of Andhradesa is found in the Aitareya Brahmana. It is said that the Andhras were the descendants of the fifty sons of Vishwamitra who were told to live on the borders of the Aryan settlement. The Mahabharata regards them as the person created by Vasistha from his divine cow to be the enemies and opponents of Viswamitra. Panini who flourished in 7th Century BCE makes a mention of Asmaka which was in the interior part of the Deccan watered by the Godavari which is the South-East portion of the Hyderabad state. Often never told in history books is the rule of Nandas over the Deccan and Andhradesa. The eleventh century inscription found in the state of Hyderabad speaks about the Nanda rule in South India. This is again confirmed by Hathigumpha inscription of Kharvela which speaks about King Nanda who took the statue of the first Jina as a trophy to Magadha. Another evidence we find is of an ancient city of Nau Nanda Dehra on the banks of river Godavari confirms the Nanda rule in Deccan. But the Nanda kings were not righteous and several people were tortured under them. People were unhappy and that resulted in rise of Kautilya (Chanakya) whose brain child became the Mauryan empire. Kautilya mentions about the importance of Dakshinapatha from a trade point of view for its diamonds, gold and pearls.
The rock edict of Asoka at Yerragudi in Kurnool speaks all the Mauryan history. Later the Chetyavada school of Buddhism was established at Amravati. Professor Gurty Venket of Andhra University has successfully written about the history of Andhradesa prior to the rise of Satavahanas and it really does focus on some valid points. This was Andhradesa from Mahabharata to Mauryas and ofcourse the work doesn’t end here. It has to be further researched upon as it is one of the fields of Indian history which was not been explored to a great extent.
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