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TRIBES IN ANCIENT INDIA been found. At the time of Pallava Sivaskandavarman, the Andhrāpatha or the Andhra country seems to have come under the sway of the Pallava dynasty whose headquarters at this time were at Dhamnakada (Dhānya-kataka). According to the Purāņas, the Andhra (i.e. the Sātavāhana) dynasty had five different branches.1 In fact, one of these five branches, namely, the Cutusātakarņi branch, is, known from inscriptions, coins and literary references to have ruled in the Kuntala country before the Kadambas.2 The Vāyupurāna in the same context referred to above mentions the Abhiras who ruled after the Andhras (i.e. the Sātavāhanas).
In about the second quarter of the seventh century A.D., the celebrated Chinese pilgrim Hsüan Tsang visited the An-to-lo or the Andhra country. The nearest transcription of An-to-lo is Andara which is comparable to Pliny's Andarae referred to above, though doubtless it means the Andhra country. From Kosala (evidently South Kośala), the pilgrim travelled south, through a forest, for above 900 li to the An-to-lo country which ‘had a rich fertile soil with a moist hot climate; the people were of violent character; their mode of speech differed from that of "Mid-India", but they followed the same system of writing. There were twenty odd Buddhist monasteries with more than 3,000 brethren. Near the capital was a large monastery with a succession of high walls and storeyed terraces....3
The name of the capital of the country as given by the pilgrim was Ping-ki-lo which does not seem to have as yet been correctly identified, though Cunningham sought to equate it with Warangal.
We have seen above that in the time of Pallava Sivaskandavarman, Dhāryakataka was the capital of the Andhrāpatha, but Hsüan Tsang seems to refer to Dhānyakataka as a region separate from Andhra. The pilgrim proceeds to relate that from Andhra he continued his journey south, through wood and jungle, for over 1,000 li, and reached the Te-na-ka-che-ka country which was above 6,000 li in circuit, and its capital was above 40 li in circuit. Te-na-ka-che-ka has been equated with Dhānyāyakațaka or Dhanakataka.
1 E.g. Vāyu P., 99, 358. 'Andhrānām samsthitā) pañca teshām vamśāḥ samāk punah.'
2 Sircar, Successors of the Sātavāhanas, pp. 218ff. For a summary of the historical vicissitudes of Andhradeśa after the Sātavāhanas, see ibid., pp. 3-5 of the introduction.
3 Watters, On Yuan Chwang, Vol. II, p. 209.
4 Watters, ibid., Vol. II, pp. 214ff. But there are scholars who hold that Yuan Chwang's description of the city and its surroundings does not suit the identification. Fergusson, Burgess and Sewell therefore locate the city at Bezwada. Cunningham, A.G.I., Majumdar's Ed., notes, p. 737.
