Chutu dynasty

The Chutu dynasty (IAST: Cuṭu) ruled parts of the Deccan region of South India between first and third centuries CE, with its capital at Banavasi in present-day Karnataka state. The Chutus probably rose to power as Satavahanas feudatories, and assumed sovereignty after the decline of the Satavahana power. Except for the edicts of Asoka, the inscriptions of the Chutu dynasty are the oldest documents found in the northern part of Karnataka State, India. The name "Chutu-kula" ("Chutu family") is found in the contemporary inscriptions. The coins attributed to the family bear the legends Raño Cuṭukaḷānaṃdasa ("of king Chutukalananda"), Raño Muḷānaṃdasa, and Raño Sivaḷānaṃdasa. The word "Cuṭukaḷānaṃdasa" was misread as "Cuṭukaḍānaṃdasa" by some earlier scholars, leading to different theories about the names of the kings and their dynasty. For example, numismatist E. J. Rapson (1908) theorized that "Chutu-kada-nanda" meant "Joy of the City of the Chutus". The word Chutu in Kannada language means "crest". Chutu inscriptions contain the emblem of the cobra hood implying Chutu meant the "cobra crest". This connects the Chutus to the Nagas tribes as they also associated themselves with the region of the western Deccan called Nagara Khanda around modern Banavasi. According to numismatist Michael Mitchiner (1983), these names appear to be matronymics. For example, Raño Muḷānaṃdasa means "of king Mulananda", where "Mulananda" is a matronymic meaning "son (nanda) of a queen belonging to the Mula gotra". Similarly, Sivaḷānaṃdasa means "of the son of a queen belonging to the Sivala gotra". Mitchiner theorizes that "Chutu-kula-nanda-sa" (IAST: Cuṭukaḷānaṃdasa, "son of a queen belonging to the Chutu family") was a common name borne by multiple kings of the dynasty. This theory is based on the fact that the Banavasi inscription of king Haritiputra Vishnukada Chutukulananda Satakarni was issued shortly before the Kadamba occupation of Banavasi in c. 345, while the coins bearing the name Chutukulananda can be dated to two centuries earlier based on the stratification at Chandravalli excavations.