Andhras were specifically a tribe from the southern part of India. The Andhras have been mentioned in the Udyoga Parva and Bhisma Parvaof the Mahabharata as Andhakas and Andhras respectively. And according to the Sabha Parva and Vana Parva the Andhas or Andhras were rude uncivilised people. History says that tribes like the Andhras, the Palidas, the Bhojas and the Rathikas were vassal tribes of the Maurya. It is mentioned that the Andhras possessed a very large number of villages; thirty towns defended by walls and towers, and supplied their king with an army of 100,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 1,000 elephants. The Satavahanas are claimed by the Puranas to have been Andhras or Andhrabhrtyas. According to history the Iksvakus succeeded the Satavahanas in the rule of the Andhra region where almost all the records of the dynasty have been found. The Purana claims that the Andhra dynasty had five different branches. In fact, one of these five branches, namely, the Cutusatakarni branch, is known from inscriptions, coins and literary references to have ruled in the Kuntala country before the Kadambas. Huen-Tsang has recorded that the Andhras were very different from that of central India. They used a kind of speech which was different from that of Mid-India and there were some Buddhist monasteries in the land of the Andhras. He had said that the people of the Andhras were black in complexion, were of violent disposition and were fond of the arts. |