10. ESTRUCTURA Y COMPONENTES DE LA PRUEBA
10.1 Competencias Generales y Competencias Específicas
Kontakossyla is the modern Ghantasala in the same area.
Since the mouth of the river Maisolos is located between
the country of the Arouarnoi and Kontakossyla, this is definitely the
( 1 9 (
river Krishna. The coastal mart of Allasygne and some of the
inland towns are not amenable to identification. In the latter
category Koroungkala the modern Warangal and Pityndra, a metro
polis and inland city, can be identified with Pithurtida of the Hathigumpha
(127 inscription of Kharavela and Pithuriida of the
Uttara.dy5.yana sutra.
This Jaina text, however, mentions a merchant from Campa travelling
to this city by following a sea route. Hence, it could have been on
The inland cities of the region mentioned are Kalliga, Bardamana,
120
Ibid.
121Ibid.,
pp. 66-69.122 D.C. Sircar,
S.S.L.D.
, pp. 63-96. 123Ibid.
12U
Ibid.,
pp. 1+2-1+3; C. Sivaramamurti,A.S.M.G.M.
, p. 297.125 A. Rea,
South Indian Buddhist Antiquities,
pp. 32 ff.It has been identified with the Kantakasela of a Nagarjunakonda inscription and Kantakasela of an Amaravati inscription, and Kaifitakasola of a Ghantasala epigraph. See J. Ph. Vogel,
E.I.,
Vol. XX, p. 9; 22 f, Vol. XXVII, p. 3 and Sivaramamurti,
op. oit.,
p. 280 and D.C. Sircar,
S.S.L.D.
, pp. 33,1+2.126 It has been tentatively placed near the Godavari delta, a little to the north of Point Godavari,
Ptolemy,
pp. 68-69.127
A.I.,
Vol. LV_, pp. 11+6-7; j. Ph. Vogel,E.I.,
Vol. XX, p. 79;83
either the sea-coast or a river navigable from the sea. As it
was an inland city of Maisolia, somewhere near Benagouron, the river
was probably the Krishna. The text also refers to it as a market
place. From the above evidence, we may conclude that it was an
inland city, a metropolis, on the navigable river Krishna, probably
in the Krishna-Guntur region. From the archaeological evidence at
contemporary Dharanikota, which will be discussed in the next chapter,
the city in question may be identified with the ancient Dhanyakataka.
Thus the region of Maisolia could have constituted roughly
the districts of West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Nalgonda, Khammam and
Warangal. It cannot be limited to the coastal strip, which has no
(-1 n o
black cotton soils, unlike the inland districts for the production
of large quantities of the fine varieties of cotton fabrics. The
modern
Masula
boats of Madras probably derive their name from thisregion and from the evidence enunciated in a later section of the
chapter, these boats are quite ancient in origin. The name of the
(129
modern town of Machilipatnam may have been derived from the name
of this region, but its antiquity is not yet established. Many
centuries later, Tavernier describes the place as *the best anchorage
in the Bay of Bengal' . I am inclined to think that it was the
connecting harbour to the important town of Gudur only a few miles
inland. Periodic tidal waves, cyclones and floods probably may
explain the location of the town inland. What changes were brought
about in the succeeding centuries, leading to the growth of Machili
patnam, is beyond the scope of the thesis.
128 M.Alam,
Planning Atlas of Andhra Pradesh3
Hyderabad, 19TU, pp.iii-iv. 129 Machili + patnam = fish + town or port orMasulipatnam = the port of Masula.
130 J. Phillips, Tavernier's Travels in India, Calcutta, 1905, I, xi and II, xii.
Ptolemy makes no reference to the long stretch of coast
between Koddoura and Allosygne, tentatively placed near the Godavari
delta, a little to the north of point Godavari. In fact, it covers
the entire seaboard of the Godavari valley. The river itself has been
left out. Could he have received information about a small river like
Penner (Tyna) and not about the largest river in the whole of South
India? The insignificant number of early historical coins from the
East and West Godavari districts and the meagre evidence of structural
remains in this area are just as conspicuous. These districts,
receiving heavier rainfall than the lower Krishna basin and covered
with forests of greater density and hence with a slow growth of
agrarian settlements, which began only during the early centuries A.D.,
are less likely to be incorporated in the trading networks. Even so,
the total omission of the river in many maps of the sixteenth and even (131
of the eighteenth centuries needs an explanation which falls
outside the purview of this thesis. After all, the Godavari districts
were the core of agrarian settlements in medieval times.
In a previous section we noticed a greater penetration of
Roman coins into the Andhra districts. This was simultaneous with
increasing evidence from indigenous coins. And now, from
The Periplus
and Ptolemy’s
Geography
, we find an increasing Roman knowledge overthe first and second centuries not only of the ports and other coastal
localities but also of various inland market towns and cities. Whether
this indicates a definite growth in the 'mercantile economy' in Andhra
Pradesh, based on land and sea trade in which commercial relations with
Rome obviously played a significant role, is to be examined further. 8U
85
It is no t s u r p r i s i n g that the S S t a v a h a n a s , w h o e x t e n d e d their r u l e into the c o a s t a l d i s t r i c t s , i s s u e d l ead and p o t i n coins b e a r i n g a ship on the o b v ers e , w h i c h c o i ns h a v e b e e n r e c o v e r e d m a i n l y
(132 f r o m the c o a s t a l di s t r i c t s . M a r i t i m e a c t i v i t y is f u r t h e r t e s t i f i e d to b y c o n t e m p o r a r y i n s c r i p t i o n s f r o m G u n t u p a l l i and G h a n t a s a l a , w h i c h r e f e r to a m a r i n e r and a m a s t e r m a r i n e r w h o a p p e a r to b e of i n d i g e n o u s o rigin. * * * * * * * * * * * * * A s for the c o m m e r c i a l c o n t a c t s b e t w e e n A n d h r a P r a d e s h a nd S o u t h e a s t Asia, e v i d e n c e is v e r y m ea g r e . S uc h e v i d e n c e can o n l y b e u n d e r s t o o d in the b r o a d e r s p e c t r u m of c o n t a c t s a c r o s s the B a y of B e ng al . E v e n b e f o r e the t u r n of the p r e s e n t era, the re w e r e t r a d i n g n e t w o r k s in this region,. F r o m the f i rs t c e n t u r y A.D., h o w e v e r , the s e a - l a n e s of S o u t h e a s t A s i a w e r e g r a d u a l l y i n c o r p o r a t e d into a s e r i e s of m a r i t i m e t r ade r o u t e s w h i c h led to
the g r o w t h of a n e t w o r k f r o m the R e d Sea to S o u t h China , c h a r a c t e r i z e d by t r a d e in 'luxury* items.
At the time of
The Periplus
, the c o m m e r c e of the Bay of B e n g a l w a s in the h a n d s of I n d i a n m e r c h a n t s a n d v a r i o u s s e a f a r i n g132 Especially in the Krishna-Guntur districts at Amaravati, Chebrolu, Gudivada, Buddham and Vidyaharapuram. See I.K.
Sarma,
Coinage
...p. 100 and A. Rea,op. cit. 3
p. 29. 133 J. Ph. Vogel,E. 1.3
XXVII, pp. 1-1+ and I.K. Sarma,S. I.E.,
Vol. V, 1978, p. 56.
13l+ Paul Wheatley, Satyanrta in SuvarnadvTpa - 'From Reciprocity to Redistribution in Southeast Asia
1,1
in Ancient Civilizationand Trade3
(eds.) J.A. Sabloff and C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Albuquerque, 1975, p. 232.86 p e o p l e s of S o u t h e a s t A s i a, w h o w e r e s u b s e q u e n t l y k n o w n to the (135 C h i n e s e as K ' u n lun. The g r o w t h of I n d i a n t r a d i n g a c t i v i t y in S o u t h e a s t A s i a h a s b e e n a t t r i b u t e d to the s c a r c i t y of g o l d in S o u t h A s i a a f t e r V e s p a s i a n (69-79 A.D.) c u r b e d the e x p o r t of (136
p r e c i o u s m e t a l s f r o m the R o m a n e mpire. A p p a r e n t l y the
m e r c h a n t s t u r n e d to the r e g i o n s of S o u t h e a s t A s i a for n e w m a r ket s. T h i s n e w d e v e l o p m e n t m a y h a v e b e e n f a c i l i t a t e d by i m p r o v e m e n t s in s hi pp in g. O n e of the i m p o r t a n t i n t r o d u c t i o n s or i n n o v a t i o n s of this p e r i o d is fore a n d aft r i g g i n g w h i c h a l l o w e d the s h i p s to sai l c l o s e r to the w in d s , thus m a k i n g l o n g v o y a g e s
(137 m o r e fe a s i b l e . T h e m a j o r i t y of s h i p - t y p e S a t a v a h a n a coi n s of the s e c o n d and e a r l y t hi r d c e n t u r i e s A . D . , i ss u e s i n v a r i a b l y in l e a d and d e p i c t i n g b o t h s i n g l e a n d d o u b l e - m a s t craft, h a v e b e e n (138 f o u nd in c o a s t a l A n d h r a . T h e a u s p i c i o u s c o m b i n a t i o n of
s y m b o l s of
sv a stik a , padma, saflkha a n d f i s h on the c o ins h a v e b e e n
(139c o n s i d e r e d to r e f l e c t p r o s p e r o u s s e a - b o r n e trade. T h e ship- d e v i c e o n the coins d e p i c t s r i g g i n g b e t w e e n the m a s t s , w h i c h is q u i t e d i s t i n c t l y n o t i c e a b l e . A s the c a r r i e r s c l o s e l y r e s e m b l e the shi p s c u l p t u r e d o n a f r i e z e f r o m B o r o b u d u r in J a v a of a la t e r d a t e w e m a y a s s u m e that t h e y w e r e s e a - g o i n g ves s e l s . T h e m o d e r n
masula
b o a t s of M a d r a s a p p e a r to b e the (141 s u r v i v a l s of t he s e ships. T h e y a r e d e e p - s i d e d , f l a t - b o t t o m e d craf t135 A. Christie, 'An Obscure Passage from the Periplus; KOAANa i o^ ^ t a^ t a