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Administration

The Satavahanas followed the administration guidelines of the Shastras. Their government was less top-heavy than that of the Mauryans, and featured several levels of feudatories:

The royal princes (kumara s) were appointed as viceroys of the provinces.

The ahara appears to have been the largest geographical subdivision of the Satavahana polity. Several inscriptions refer to aharas named after the governors appointed to rule them (e.g. Govardhanahara, Mamalahara, Satavanihara and Kapurahara). This suggests that the Satavahanas attempted to build a formal administrative and revenue collection structure.

The inscriptions of Gautamiputra Satakarni suggest the existence of a bureaucratic structure, although it is not certain how stable and effective this structure was. For example, two inscriptions from Nashik Cave 11 record donations of agricultural land to ascetic communities. They state that the ascetics would enjoy tax exemption and non-interference from the royal officials. The first inscription states that the grant was approved by Gautamiputra's minister Sivagupta on the king's verbal orders, and preserved by the "great lords". The second inscription records a grant by Gautamiputra and his mother, and mentions Syamaka as the minister of the Govardhana ahara. It states that the charter was approved by a woman named Lota, who according to archaeologist James Burgess ' interpretation, was the chief lady-in-waiting of Gautamiputra's mother.

The Satavahana-era inscriptions mention three types of settlements: nagara (city), nigama (market town) and gāma (village).

According to Sastri, "the Satavahanas were described as 'lords of the three oceans' and promoted overseas colonization and trade. Under them, Buddhist art attained the superb forms of beauty and elegance preserved to this day in the cave-temples of western India and the survivals from the stupa of Amaravati, Goli, Nagarjunikonda". This tradition was followed by successors of Satavahana in the eastern and western Deccan.