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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1905.
Bühler was of opinion that the Satiyaputra is probably the king of the Satvats; the Keralaputra, the king of Kerala or Malabar." 13 This dictum also is not very helpful, as no indication is given of the position of the Satvats.' Dr. Burgess in 1887 made a suggestion which, I venture to think, would not be supported now by him or anybody else, and cannoi be justified. "The earliest menticn-we have of the Telaga country," he observes, "is in the famous edicts of Asoka, about 250 B. C., in the second of which he speaks of the neighbouring kingdoms 'as Cbôda, Pâmdiya, the countries of Satiyaputra, and Kétalaputra as far as Tambapani (Ceylon).' Here Satiyaputra represents Telingana, probably including also Kalinga, on the district over which the Telugu language is spoken, and which, in modern times at least, extends along the east coast from Ganjam to Pulikat, and thence eastwards to the seventy-eighth meridian which closely corresponds with its eastern limit as far north as the Pain-ganga River, when the boundary turns to the eastwards. The earliest dynasty of which we have any record as ruling this country is that of the Satavahanas or Andhras." 14 It seems superfluous to refute formally the whimsical notion that the Satiyaputra kingdom was identical with the Andhra, which is mentioned separately in the edicts. Consideration of the context and of the known position of the Chola and Pandiya realms requires us to look for the Satiyaputra territory among the southern states on the western side of India, as Dr. Ffeet has rightly recognized in the remark quoted above.
Mr. D. R. Bhandarkar carries the process of identification a step further by recording the remark that the term Satiyaputa still survives in Western India. "The close correspondence in sound of Satiyapata and Satputa, a surname current among the present Marathas, is-80-striking that I am inclined to hold that the Satpatês had formerly settled in the south on the Western Coast, as the mention of Satiyapata in the edict points to it, and that they afterwards migrated as far north ward as Maharashtra, and were merged into the warrior and other classes."15
In my recently published work, I have attempted to give greater precision to Mr. Bhandarkar's hint, in the following observations :—* Very little can be said about the south-western kingdoms, known as Chera, Kerala, and Satiyaputra. The last-named is mentioned by Asoka only, and its exact position is unknown. But it must have adjoined Kerala , and since the Chandragiri river has always been regarded as the northern boundary of that province, the Satiyaputra kingdoms should probably be identified with that portion of the Konkans - or low lands between the Western Ghats and the sea where the Tulu language is spoken, and of which Mangalore is the centre." 16
The Tulu country is defined by Balfour (Cyclop., 8. v. Tuluva) as "an ancient dominion of Southern India, lying between the Western Ghats and the sea, and between the Kalyanapuri and Chandragiri rivers ; lat. 12° 27' to 13°15' N., and long. 74°45' to 75030 E., with a coastline of about 80 miles. It is now merely a linguistic division of that part of British India. Tulu is spoken by about 446,011 inhabitants of the tract described above, the centre of which is Mangalore."
According to the latest census the number of persons returned as speaking Tulu is greater, and amounts to 535,210. Dr. Grierson notes that the language, immediately to the southwest of Kanarese, is confined to a small area in or near the district of South Kanara in Madras. The Chandragiri and the Kalyānapüri Rivers in that district are regarded as its ancient boundaries, and it does not appear to have ever extended much beyond them" (para. 90 of The Languages of India,' in Census Report, 1901).
13 Ep. Ind. II: 466. 15 Epigraphic Notes and Questions, p. 7.
10.4 8. S.... (Amaravati) p. 3. 16 Early History of India, p. 340.
