In the Deccan, the Satavahanas followed the Mauryan rule. The Satavahanas were also known as Satakanis, Sanskritized as Satavahana, Salivahana and Satakarni. Their original location might have been near about the present Bellary district, but they remained associated with Andhra territory during their days of glory.
They ruled from the first century BC to the third century AD, and by the beginning of the third century AD they yielded place to a number of independent dynasties.
The meaning of the term ‘Satavahana’ is not definitely known. Further, they were also known as Andhras and Andhrabhrityas in the Puranic lists. According to K. Gopalachari, “Andhra is a tribal name, Satavahana is a dynastic name and Satakarni is the surname.” According to K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, “They were called Andhras because they were of Andhra origin (jati) and their rule was probably confined to the Andhra country at the time the Puranic lists were compiled.
The other name, Andhrabhrityas (Andhra Servants), may imply that the ancestors of the royal Satavahanas were employed in the service of the Mauryan Empire. D.D. Kosambi, following M. Przylusky, opines: “the name Satakarni appears to be aboriginal. The factors are two Indo-Austric words, sada = horse, and kon = son, which would indicate a horse-totem of the non-Aryans.
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The formation cannot go back to pre-Aryan days, as the horse, which appears on many Satavahana coins, is an Aryan innovation for India.” Kosambi further identifies this dynasty with the Assaka of the Suttanipata, which is the most archaic Pali Buddhist canonical work. “The proper Sanskritization of sata is sapti (horse), which actually appears in a late Purana. Saptikarna would indicate a split-totem, ‘horse-ear’. However, the terminations karna and vahana can both indicate ‘descent from’, which could make the people identical with Ashoka’s Satiyaputras.”
Though the Puranas list thirty kings of the dynasty ruling for over 460 years, it is very difficult to construct their sequence and history correctly. The names of the earliest kings in the Puranic lists figure also in inscriptions and on coins found in the western Deccan at Nasik, Karle and Nanaghat. It is generally believed that the Satavahanas rose to power in the western Deccan around Paithan or Pratisthana and from there spread towards Maharashtra, Malwa and other regions.