Satyaputra

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Satyaputras were a small ruling tribe whose kingdom was situated on the eastern valley of Western Ghats (Anamala, Palani and Nilagiri) during the early period of the history of Tamil Nadu. Satyaputras find mention in the Edicts of Asoka.

Satyaputras ruled parts of the Kongu country and were surrounded by the Cheras in the west and the Pandyas and Cholas in the east. They were mentioned in the Puranas as well as in ancient Tamil literature.

[edit] Identifying with Adigaman

The identity of the Satyaputras has long been an unanswered question in the history of Tamil Nadu. In a Tamil-Brahmi inscription found at Jambai, in the South Arcot district of Tamil Nadu, has given some clues to the identity of the Satyaputras. The inscription attributed to a period later than the Mauryan emperor Asoka (304 BC–232 BCE), reads: Satiyaputo Atiyan Nedumaan Anjji itta Paali ('The abode given by Atiyan Nedumaan Anji, the Satyaputra'). Scholars have connected this short epigraph with the more famous Asokan inscription mentioning the southern kingdoms outside the Asokan empire, which reads:

Ye Ca anta ata Choda, Pandiya, Satiyaputo, Kelalaputo, Tam bapanni, Antiyogo naama, Yonalaja

Everywhere in the conquered dominions of king Priyadarsin, the beloved of the gods, and the dominions on the borders as those of the Chola, the Pandya, the Satiyaputra, the Keralaputra, Tamraparni, the Yavana King named Antiyoka and the other neighbouring kings of this Antiyoka...