All land south of the Narmada is compendiously described as “Dakshinapatha” from which word is derived the term “Deccan”. The geographical position of the “Deccan” or “Dakshinapatha” is between Vindhya Mountains and the Tungabhadra River.
The geographical configuration of India has served in a sense, to separate the Deccan and the South from North India. The Deccan plateau is roughly, triangular, enclosed as it is by the Eastern and the Western Ghats.
As the plateau slopes from the West to the East, the chief rivers of the reign-the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna and Kaveri or Cauvery flow eastwards and form rich deltas on the East coast.
The Western Ghats are the narrow strips of plains known as Konkan and Kerala. The Eastern coastal area beyond the Eastern Ghats from Mahanadi to Cape Comorin is broader. The Northern part of it forms the Northern Sarkars and Southern area the Coromandel.
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With the passing of the power and influence of the Guptas and their immediate successors in Northern India, the centre of interest shifted southwards to the Western Deccan and even further South to Tamil-Nadu.
The most significant events of the period took place in the South of Vindhyas, a synthesis of the dominant cultural strains of the time was to emerge-the assimilation of the Aryan pattern with “Dravidian culture”.
The kingdoms of the Western Deccan maintained their historical role of acting as the bridge between North and South and facilitating the transmission of ideas from one area to the other.
After the decline of the Satavahana Empire its territories passed under the Abhirs, probably people from Northern India, the Gangas, the Kadambas, the Rashtrakutas, the Chalukyas of Badami and the Pallavas of South.
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The Pallava became a great power in South. But the other dynasties in Deccan struggled among themselves and could not build an empire.