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NÅGANIKÅ AND HER SONS
417
the earth'1 will pass to the 'Andhras'. The inscription records the gift of a certain Ānamda, the son of Vasithi, the foreman of the artisans of Rājan Siri-Sātakaội.? Šātakarņi seems to have been the first prince to raise the śātavāhanas to the position of paramount sovereigns of Trans-Vind hyan India. Thus arose the first great empire in the Godāvari valley which rivalled in extent and power the Šunga empire in the Ganges valley and . the Greek empire in the Land of the Five Rivers. According to the evidence of Indian as well as classical writers, 3 the capital of the Sātavāhana Empire was at Pratishthāna, “the modern Paithan on the north bank of the Godāvari in the Aurangabad District of Hyderabad".
After the death of Śātakarņi his wife Nāyanikā or Nāganikā,daughter of the Mahārathi Tranakayiro Kalalāya, the scion of the Amgiya (?) family, was proclaimed regent during the minority of the princes Vedasri (?Khandasiri or Skandasri) and Śakti-Śri (Sati Sirimata) or Haku-Siri. The last-mentioned prince is probably identical with Sakti-kumāra, son of Sālivāhana, mentioned in Jaina literature. 4
1 i.e. the Vidiśā region in Eastern Malwa. For the connection of the Sungas with Vidiša, see, Pargiter, DKA, 49. The Kāņvāyanas had become King 'among the Sungas' (sungeshu, DKA. 34), apparently in the Vidiśā territory.
2 The conquest of West Mālwa is probably suggested by round coins of Sri Sāta (Rapson, Andhra Coins, xcii-xciii).
3. Cf. Jinaprabhasuri, Tirthakalpa, JBBRAS, X. 123; and Ptolemy Geography, vii. 1. 82. See also Avaśyaka Sūtra, JBORS., 1930, 290 ; Sir R. G. Bhandarkar, EHD, Sec. VII.
4 Viracharitra, Ind. Ant., VIII, 201. ASWI, V, 62n. O. P. 90—53.
