Political History Of Ancient India

SR No.: 032292
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hemchandra Raychaudhari
Publisher: University of Calcutta
Publication Year: 1950
Total Pages: 714
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

Page 341

312 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA an adjective of Rathika (Ristika) or Bhoja is not, however, accepted by Dr. Barua who remarks that "it is clear from the Pāli passage, as well as from Buddhaghosha's explanations, that Ratthika and Pettanika were two different designations."
The Andhras are, as we have already seen, mentioned in a passage of the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa. The Bhojas are also mentioned in that work as rulers of the south.' Pliny, quoting probably from Megasthenes, says that the Andarae (Andhras) possessed numerous villages, thirty towns defended by walls and towers, and supplied their king with an army of 100,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 1,000 elephants. The earliest Andhra capital (Andhapura) was situated on the Telavāha river which, according to Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar, is either the modern Tel or Telingiri, both flowing near the confines of the Madras Presidency and the Central Provinces. But the identification is by no means certain.3 The Palidas were identified by Bithler with the
Paithan, and some go so far as to suggest that they are the ancestors of the Sātavāhana rulers of Paithan. See Woolner, Asoka Text and Glossary, II, 113 ; also JRAS., 1923, 92. Cf. Barua, Old Brāhmi Ins., p. 211.
i for other meanings of Bhoja, see Mbh., Adi., 84, 22; IA. V. 177; VI 25-28; VII. 36. 254.
2 Ind. Ant. 1877, pp. 339.
3 P. 92 ante. In historical times the Andhras are found in possession of the Kțishņā and Guntur listricts as we learn from the Mayidavolu plates and other records. The earliest capital of the Andhra country or "Andhrăpatha' known from the inscriptions is apparently Dhamñakada at or near Amarāvati (or Bezvāca). Kubiraka of the Bhattiprolu inscription (c. 200 BC) is the earliest known ruler. One recension, in the Brāhmi script, of the Rock Edicts of Asoka, has recently been discovered in the Kurnool District (IHQ, 1928, 791 ; 1931, 817 ff : 1933, 113ff. ; IA, Feb., 1932, p. 39) which falls within the "Andhra" area of the Madras Presidency. Recent discoveries of the Asokan epigraphs include, besides the Yerragudi inscriptions (Kurnool District) two new rock edicts at Kopbal in the s. w. corner of the Nizam's dominions. The Kopbal inscriptions are found on the Gavimath and the Palkigundu Hills. They belong to the class of Minor Rock Edicts,