Vashishtiputra Satakarni

Vashishtiputra Sri Satakarni
Satavahana
Vashishtiputra Sri Satakarni.
Reign	130-160 CE

Silver coin of king Vashishtiputra Sātakarni (c. 160 CE).
Obv: Bust of king. Prakrit legend in the Brahmi script: "Siri Satakanisa Rano ... Vasithiputasa": "King Vasishtiputra Sri Satakarni"
Rev: Ujjain/Sātavāhana symbol left. Crescented six-arch chaitya hill right. River below. Early Tamil legend in the Brahmi script: "Arahanaku Vahitti makanaku Tiru Hatakaniko" - which means "The ruler, Vasitti's son, Highness Satakani" - -ko being the royal name suffix.

Vashishtiputra Sātakarni (r. 130-160 CE), was a Satavahana king in Central India, who ruled during the 2nd century century CE. He was the brother of Vasisthiputra Sri Pulamavi (r. 106-130 CE), his regnal successor, and the son of the great Satavahana conqueror Gautamiputra Satakarni.

Vashishtiputra Sātakarni was in great conflict with the Scythian Western Kshatrapas in the West, but he eventually married the daughter of Rudradaman I of the Western Kshatrapa dynasty, in order to forge an alliance. Later however, he was defeated by his father-in-law in battle, with serious effect on Sātavāhana power and prestige:

"Rudradaman (...) who obtained good report because he, in spite of having twice in fair fight completely defeated Satakarni, the lord of Dakshinapatha, on account of the nearness of their connection did not destroy him."

—Junagadh rock inscription

Preceded by: Vasisthiputra Sri Pulamavi.

Satavahana ruler (130-160 CE)

Succeeded by: Shivaskanda Satakarni

References

• K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, A History of South India (Madras, 1976).
• Mahadevan, Iravatham (2003), Early Tamil Epigraphy from the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D., Harvard Oriental Series vol. 62, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, ISBN 0674012275