On the Satavahana Sata, Sati and Sati

Summary

The author examines whether the names Sāta, Sāti and Sāti found in inscriptions refer to one or more Śātavāhana rulers. Some scholars have treated them as three different kings, but the paper argues that these may simply be variant spellings of the same name or scribal errors. The author reviews inscriptions from the Nasik caves, Karle and other sites and notes that the names occur in similar contexts and titles. He emphasises that Prakrit orthography often alternates between 't' and 'th' and that diacritical marks are inconsistently usedfile:///home/oai/share/563034_compressed-243-389.pdf. The paper suggests that the ruler in question may have adopted different regnal names at different times or that dialectal variations produced the differing spellings. By comparing the palaeography and content of the inscriptions, the author concludes that Sāta, Sāti and Sāti likely refer to a single king or at most two closely related rulers. The discussion highlights the difficulties of reconstructing dynastic histories from fragmentary epigraphic evidence and calls for caution before positing new kings on the basis of minor orthographic differences.