The Salankayana (
IAST: Śālaṇkāyana) dynasty of ancient India ruled a part of
Andhra region in India from 300 to 440 CE. Their territory was located between the Godavari and the Krishna rivers. Their capital was located at Vengi, modern Pedavegi near
Eluru
Eluru is a city and the district headquarters of Eluru district in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the List of municipal corporations in India#Andhra Pradesh, 14 municipal corporations in ...
in
West Godavari district of
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to t ...
.
Salankayana is a Brahmin Sage.
Their name is derived from their symbol and
gotra
In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotra ...
name, which stood for
Nandi (the bull of
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...
).
The Salankayanas succeeded the
Andhra Ikshvaku dynasty and were
vassals
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. ...
of the
Pallava
The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The dynasty rose to prominence after the downfall of the Satavahana dynasty, with whom they had formerly served as f ...
kings of southern India. During their time the script for
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
began to clearly separate from that of the other
South Indian
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
and
North Indian
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Centra ...
languages. Hastivarman, the first king, was one of the many kings who were defeated by
Samudragupta
Samudragupta ( Gupta script: ''Sa-mu-dra-gu-pta'', (c. 335–375 CE) was the second emperor of the Gupta Empire of ancient India, and is regarded among the greatest rulers of the dynasty. As a son of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta I and the ...
, but were later released and paid him tribute.
The verse from the
Allahabad stone pillar inscription of Samudragupta
Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...
which mentions Hastivarma:
* (Lines 19–20) Whose magnanimity blended with valour was caused by (his) first capturing, and thereafter showing the favour of releasing, all the kings of
Dakshiṇāpatha such as Mahēndra of
Kōsala, Vyāghrarāja of ''Mahākāntāra'', Maṇṭarāja of Kurāḷa, Mahēndragiri of
Pishṭapura, Svāmidatta of Kōṭṭūra, Damana of Ēraṇḍapalla,
Vishṇugōpa of Kāñchī, Nīlarāja of Avamukta,
Hastivarman of Vēṅgī, Ugrasēna of Pālakka, Kubēra of ''Dēvarāshṭra'', and Dhanañjaya of Kusthalapura.
In the late 5th century, the Salankayanas were conquered by
Madhava Varma II of the
Vishnukundinas.
List of kings
#Devavarma
#Hastiverma
#Nandi Verma
#Vijayadeva Verma
#Vijayanandi Verma
See also
*
Telugu Brahmins
*
Telugu-Kannada script
*
Kadamba script
The Kadamba script is the first writing system devised specifically for writing Kannada and Telugu. It is a descendant of the Brahmi script. The Kadamba script is also known as ''Pre-Old-Kannada script''.
The Kadamba script is one of the oldes ...
*
Bhattiprolu script
References
Dynasties of India
History of Andhra Pradesh
{{India-hist-stub