Āndhra-Sātavāhana Dynasty

The Āndhra-Sātavāhanas were a royal dynasty who ruled after the Maurya-era dynasties of Magadha. Chapter 272 of the Matsya Mahā Purāṇa records them as twenty-nine kings who together ruled for 460 years. The chapter names each king and gives the number of years he reigned.

It also measures their era by the Saptarshi cycle. The Saptarshis (the Seven Ṛshis, seen in the sky as the stars of the Great Bear) move slowly through the twenty-seven nakshatras (lunar mansions), and this movement serves as a clock for the ages of dynasties. After the Āndhras fall, the chapter traces how foreign mleccha dynasties gradually come to power and how dharma declines deep into the Kali Yuga, the present age. It ends with a promise: Devāpi and Maru (Suvarcas) will awaken in the twenty-ninth Mahāyuga to restore the royal lines.

The Twenty-Nine Āndhra Kings

The Matsya Purāṇa’s list of Āndhra-Sātavāhana kings has 29 kings. The Matsya list is:

In all: 29 kings, 460 years.

The Dynasties After the Āndhras

After the Āndhras, the Matsya Purāṇa says that first their own servants (the āndhra-bhṛtyas), and then a series of other groups, ruled parts of Āryāvarta (the land of the Āryas, northern India):

• Ābhīras: 7 kings
• Gardabhins: 7 kings
• Śakas: 18 kings
• Yavanas: 9 + 8 kings, with 87 years of Yavana rule
• Tushāras: 14 kings, 7,380 years (a very large figure pointing to the far future)
• Guruṇḍas: 13 kings, 1,850–1,954 years
• Hūṇas: 19 kings

The Matsya Purāṇa calls the Guruṇḍas and those after them mleccha: people who cannot speak the pure Ārya language and mix unrefined words into their speech. When these dynasties end, Āryāvarta enters a time when Āryas and mlecchas are so fully mixed that dharma can no longer be told apart.

The Saptarshi Cycle as a Calendar of Dynasties

The Matsya Purāṇa sets the length of the Āndhra dynasty within the cycle of the Saptarshis (Seven Ṛshis). The Saptarshis can be seen in the night sky. They spend one hundred years in each of the twenty-seven nakshatras, so they pass through all twenty-seven in 2,700 years.

At the time of Parīkshit’s birth, just after the Mahābhārata war, the Saptarshis were in Maghā nakshatra. The Matsya Purāṇa says that by the time the Saptarshis finish their full round of twenty-seven nakshatras and come back to Maghā, the rule of the Āndhra dynasty will have ended. This makes the round of the Saptarshis the great clock for the historical dynasties of the Kali Yuga.

The reckoning is: the Saptarshis’ passage through one nakshatra is 100 years, and a full round is 2,700 human years. The time from Parīkshit’s birth to the end of Āndhra rule is about this long.

The Kali Yuga in Its Final Stages

The Matsya Purāṇa gives a vivid picture of the last stages of the Kali Yuga, as Āndhra rule ends and mleccha dynasties take over:

• Rulers become lubdha (greedy) and anṛtarata (addicted to lies).
• The four varṇas fall away from their own dharmas and become mixed.
• Brāhmaṇas take up the work of śūdras, and śūdras dare to perform rituals that use mantras.
• Villages are abandoned. People wander along riverbanks and mountain slopes looking only for food.
• All Śrauta dharma (Vedic ritual) and Smārta dharma (the dharma of the Smṛtis) is lost.
• Varṇa-saṃkara, the mixing of family lines, becomes universal.
• The pramāṇa (measure) of Kali is 432,000 human years, equal to 1,000 deva-years. The saṃdhyā (dawn) and saṃdhyāṃśa (dusk) periods each add 100 deva-years.

At the end of Kali’s full span, those who are left are sick and starving, abandoned by their rulers. They live on roots and leaves and wear bark and animal skins. The yugānta (end of the age) comes without any ceremony.

Devāpi and Maru: Seeds of the New Kṛta Yuga

Within the Matsya Purāṇa’s account of the end of Kali lies a promise that dharma will go on. Two figures who entered deep tapas (austerity) in the village of Kalāpa (Kalāpagrāma, in the Himālaya) wait there through the whole Kali Yuga:

• Devāpi, of the Pūru (Aila, or Lunar) vaṃśa (dynasty), a kshatriya of immense power gained through tapas.
• Maru (Suvarcas), of the Ikshvāku (Solar) vaṃśa.

In the twenty-ninth Mahāyuga of the present Vaivasvata Manvantara, when Kali ends and the Kṛta Yuga begins, these two will come out of Kalāpagrāma with the Saptarshis and restart the great kshatriya lines. They will found both the Solar and Lunar royal dynasties anew, and dharma will flourish again.

This cycle of dharma-vṛddhi (the growth of dharma) and the renewal of the kshatriya lines happens at the end of every age. Devāpi and Maru are its lasting guardians for this Manvantara.

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa’s List

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa (Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 74) also records the Āndhra-Sātavāhana dynasty, and it gives 30 kings and 450 years. The first king in the Brahmāṇḍa list is Sindhuka. The Matsya Purāṇa gives 29 kings and 460 years, and names Medhasvāti as the first. Names found in both lists include Pulomāvi, Hāla, Śiva-Svāti, Gautamīputra, Yajñaśrī-Śātakarṇi and Vijaya.

Sources

• Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 272
• Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 74