Samipya 2000 Vol 17 Ank 03 04

SR No.: 535817
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bhartiben Shelat, R T Savalia
Publisher: Bholabhai Jeshingbhai Adhyayan Sanshodhan Vidyabhavan
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 84
Language: Gujarati
Classification: Magazine, India_Samipya, & India
File Size: 8 MB

Page 4

Glimpses of Women in the Sātavāhana and Vākāṭaka Period
Ajay Mitra Shastri*
(I)
Introductory
The period of Satavahana and Vākāṭaka rule in the Deccan and South India was formative in nature which shaped the life and destinies of the people for several centuries from the end of the first century B.C. to around the beginning of the sixth century A.D. It was this time-span during which the foundations of the regional specialities now prevailing in this vast area were laid.
Unfortunately we don't possess enough sources to enlighten us about contemporary socio-economic life to the extent we wish. The only sources of our information are numerous long and short donative records and the well-known Prakrit anthology Gāhā-satta-sai traditionally believed to have been compiled by the Satavahana monarch Hala out of a crore of stanzas submitted by renowned poets and poetesses. Although the latter text received several later accretions and it is not possible to speak of the period of its composition as a work, we may be reasonably sure that it substantially represents the early centuries of the Christian era. And its geographical setting shows that the situations reflected in it refer to the Deccan, south of the Narmada. What is most pertinent to the present context is that by and large it deals with the life of the commonality in its varied facets. These afford interesting glimpses of some of the interesting aspects of the life of the fair sex of different strata of society which is rare in the extreme and there are just a few exceptions like it.
( II ) Royal Ladies
Satavahana Phase
We learn from the large though highly mutilated inscription of the Satavahana king Vediśri and some silver and base metal coins about a magnanimous lady named Nagavaradayini or Nag(y)anika3 who appears to have been the chief queen1 of the third Andhra-Satavahana king Satakarni. Though the inscription is much damaged and in the preserved portion we don't find mention of their mutual relationship, it is apparent from their placement together in the family's pratima-griha (statue-gallery) in the Naneghat pass near Junnar in the Pune district and their mention together on some of their silver, copper and potin coins.' It would follow from these that the mutual * Retd. Professor and Head of the Dept. of Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Nagpur University, Nagpur
Glimpses of Women in the Satavahana and Vākāṭaka Period]
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