Source: TW
purANa account
The aitareya brAhmaNa records the andhra-s as one of the groups descending from vishvAmitra-s sons who rejected the adoption shunaHshepa. The purANa-s record the first andhra monarch in history as shrImukha or some such name.
The discovery of the coin bearing the name rANo siri-chimuka sAtavAhana at the hamlet of Kotalingala indicated that this was likely the same as the king mentioned as the founder of the andhra dynasty in the purANa-s. The siri here is clearly a prAkR^itic form of shrI. Whether chimuka was a degraded prAkR^itic version of shrImukha remains unclear, as the purANa-s record various Sanskrit variants of that name, which are similar in sound but unlikely to be actual Sanskrit cognates of the name.
Some indologists, in their characteristic fashion, suggest that the aitareya brAhmana must date to the last centuries prior to the common era, as the andhra dynasty began only then. We take that to be nonsense.
However, among the coins found at the Kotalingala hamlet, we have names of obscure kings who had to be pre-shAtavAhana kings, namely gobhadra, samagopa, and kamvaya-siri. We interpret this to mean that there was an andhra lineage before siri-chimuka, after whom they became independent imperial rulers, and that these kings were of that more ancient stratum.
This, in turn, suggests that there was indeed an andhra clan going back in deep time to an older aitareya brAhmaNa.
siri-chimuka sAtavAhana’s elephant and svastika coin.
Lead coins
The horse or likely ashvamedha coin of the andhra monarch shrI yajnashAtakarNi (Pkt as on coin: gotamIputta siri yan~nasAtakaNNi) made of the toxic metal lead. Lead was central to the monetary system of the andhra and started falling out of vogue as their rule ended. Unlike in Rome, its toxic effects were probably not far-reaching, as it stayed in the marketplace and out of the kitchen
mahAtalavara-s
In the final phase of the andhra empire, there arose a powerful warrior clan that at times acted semi-independently.
They were known as the mahAtalavara-s. They lasted even in the successor states of the andhra-s, namely the ikShvAku-s, AbhIra-s (who devolved into the “golla-s”) and the bR^ihatphalAyana-s.
Their name is interpreted as a fusion of the Sanskrit prefix mahA- and a word of Dravidian provenance, “talavara”.
There are two basic hypotheses for the Dravidian fragment of their name: 1. Tamil talaiyari/ Kannada talavara (=watchman) > talavara; 2.Tamil talaivan (=chief/lord) > talavara.
Interestingly, their coins too bear a horse like the above-mentioned andhra horse coin. However, the discovery of this key sealing reveals that the horse, while potentially mimicking an ashvamedha coin, implied something else. It had the southern Prakrit legend that has now been read as: “mahAtalavarasa vAji-sAmikasa sivasebakasa”.
The word vAji-sAmikasa suggests they were lords (svAmin>sAmika) of the horse (vAjin) -> cavalry chiefs, which is what led to the depiction of the horse on their coins/seals.
This particular mahAtalavara was clear a shaiva: shivasevaka > sivasebaka.
yajnashAtakarNi cavalry
Now this brings us back to the coins of the andhra monarch shrI yaj~nashAtakarNi: while one type of them depicts the horse (as noted above), the two other prominent types depict the elephant and the ship. This makes one wonder if, rather than signifying the performance of the ashvamedha, it signifies that he was the lord of a cavalry, an elephant force and a navy (first two noted by Greek/Roman sources: the andhra-s fielded 100,000 infantry, 2000 cavalry, 1000 elephants and 30 fortified towns).
banavAsi syncretism
As the andhra empire collapsed, a secondary branch continued quite vigorously for a while, centered at Banavasi. Among the last of these andhra rulers was a king with a peculiar name (Pkt).
It appears on a coin as dhaMma-mahArAjasa veNhu-ruda-budhAnaMda-sātakaṇisa -> dharma-mahArAjasya viShNu-rudra-buddhAnanda-shAtakarNeH (Skt).
It suggests an early attempt at pan-sectarian syncretism (for the lack of a better word) or what modern Indians might erroneously term “secularism”. However, the symbolism on his coins suggests that he was unambiguously a shaiva as he depicts a bull with a trident.+++(4)+++