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DIVERSE LINEAGE OF PURĀŅIC SATAKARNIS 407
while the reigns of kings mentioned in certain Vāyu Mss. amount, according to Sir R. G. Bhandarkar, to only 272 years and a half.
Obviously according to one tradition there were about seventeen, eighteen or nineteen kings, whose rule lasted some three centuries, while according to another tradition there were thirty kings the length of whose reigns covered a period of more than 400 years. In the opinion of Sir R. G. Bhandarkar the longer list includes the names of princes belonging to all the branches of the so-called Andhra-bhritya dynasty, and that the longer period represents the total duration of all the princes belonging to the several branches. The period of about three centuries, and the seventeen, eighteen or nineteen names given in the Vayu Purana, and hinted at in the Matsya, refer to the main branch. That there were several families of Satavahanas or Sātakārṇis, distinct from the main line that had its principal seat in the upper Valley of the Godavari, cannot be denied. The Kavya Mimāmsā of Rajasekhara and several other works as well as epigraphs in the Kanarese country and elsewhere testify to the existence of Satavahanas and Satakarnis who ruled over Kuntala' (the Kanarese districts) before the Kadambas. The fullest Matsya list includes a group of kings (Nos.. 10-14), including one named "Kuntala" Satakarni, who are (generally speaking) passed over in silence by the Vayu. Skandasvati, No. 11 of the full list, reminds one of Skandanāga-Śātaka, a prince of a Kanarese line of Satakarnis
He
1 A Satavahana of Kuntala is referred to by the Kavya-Mimämsä (1934, ch. X, p. 50) as having ordered the exclusive use of Prakrit in his harem. may have been identical with the famous king Hala (cf. Kuntala-janavayainena Halena, ibid, Notes, p. 197).
2 Even Hala (No. 17) is omitted in the e Vayu Ms. (DKA, p. 36) and the Brahmanda P. (Rapson, Andhra Coins, lxvii).
