Telangana: A Forgotten History

Telangana, Now a subject of discussion for the people across India has been a land of riches and prosperous citizens before being made a sub-ordinate to the Andhra rulers. Going to the depth of the history gives us lot of details of how this land had fed the Europeans before they started to colonize the world with different strategies.

A Brief History of the Region:

>>Before the Shatavahana Empire (Upto 250BCE):
Telangana, then called as Asmaka was the only one mahajanapada of the sixteen Mahajanapadas extant in India before 500BCE, that was located south of the Vindhya Mountains. Podhana (Now Bodhan) was the capital city during the times of unwritten history of India. Podhana, the name means warehouse of grains, since it was a center to store harvested crop in the kingdom. This continued until approximately till the rise of the Mauryan Empire under Chandra Gupta Maurya. The extent of Asmaka was from River Godavari in the north till River Krishna in the south, And from Ajanta hills in the west to River Wyra in the East., Basically concentrated in the Districts of Nanded, Nizamabad and Adilabad.

>> Shatavahana Empire (250 BCE to 220AD):
After the decline of the Mauryan Empire, Simukha, a commander of the Mauryan Empire in the south established his authority over this area. He carried out many conquests and suppressed many revolts against his power. He is regarded as the founder of the Shatavahana Dynasty, A precursor to all the Andhra kingdoms. Simukha made kotilingala his first capital. After him the major ruler was Gautamiputra Shatakarni, a great conqueror and administrator. He introduced many reforms in the kingdom related to the running of administration, religious practices and trade. A rock edict excavated at nashik explains his times as king.

During this period, Asmaka had trade relations with Rome, a proven fact from the writings of Pliny, the elder he quotes "..... every year 5.5 Cr gold coins business is done by a kingdom of South India for the goods they bring from so far........" This period is known as a common man's golden age in the history of India. Nowhere in the world history do we find a kingdom so rich and flourishing that not a single household is hungry.

To be contd...........