City · The Yadavas (Seunas) of Devagiri · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Paithan

Paithan (Pratishthana), the Satavahana capital of the first centuries, lies on the Godavari about 50 km south of Devagiri.

It is the Yadava kingdom's chief river market: the crossing for the roads from Devagiri to Nanded, Kalyani and the Telugu country, a Brahmin town of learning, a Digambara Jain pilgrimage (the black-sand image of Munisuvrata, Paithan article) and a cloth town. The English page says it remained 'of great consequence till the Yadavas' and calls it a 'great commercial centre', without dates. The silk-and-gold Paithani cloth is not dated to 1200 in anything we read; cotton cloth is the safe statement.

A later Yadava inscription found at Paithan (Ramachandra's, Wikipedia's Ganapatideva article) is the one that records Jaitugi's release of Ganapati. The Mahanubhava sect (1260s) and Eknath (born 1533) are far later.

Who holds it

Title
The king's governor of Paithan
Since
not pinned
Born
not known
Confidence
low

The sources we read name no governor. The town is core Yadava ground.

Lord in 1200

A Yadava governor; no name known.

Overlord

Yadava crown

How things stand that morning

Quiet core Yadava ground with the Godavari at its feet.

Council

Not known. A merchant headmen's body and Brahmin judges would act as at other Deccan towns (general knowledge; not attested here).

Communities

Brahmin learned households; Jain merchants and a Jain temple; weavers' guilds (general; unnamed).

Fairs and markets

River-ghat pilgrim fairs; no dated fair known.

Walls and castle

An old walled town on the river; no Yadava building is recorded for it in the sources we read.

Trade and crafts

Cotton cloth and weaving; the Godavari ferry tolls (board 'paithan-godavari-crossing'); grain and the Konkan road trade through Devagiri.

Places of note

  • The Paithan crossing: The Godavari ferry and ford (board 'paithan-godavari-crossing').

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The Paithan article (read) gives no dates for the period; Wikipedia's Ganapatideva article gives the Ramachandra inscription. Everything about the 1200 town is general knowledge of the Deccan and flagged.

Primary sources for Yadava kingdom (Devagiri)

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts, Various (Kakatiya chancery and temple scribes), edited by P. Sreenivasachar (inscriptions of the 10th to 15th centuries; edited 1940 to 1942). The Kakatiyas of Orugallu (Warangal) are known for 1200 almost entirely from inscriptions, and this Hyderabad Archaeological Series corpus is the main printed collection. Read online
  • Epigraphia Carnatica: inscriptions of the Mysore country, Various (Hoysala chancery and temple scribes), edited by B. Lewis Rice and R. Narasimhachar (inscriptions of the 4th to 19th centuries; the series ran from 1886 to 1905, revised from 1972). The Hoysala kingdom of Veera Ballala II (reigning 1173 to 1220) is documented almost wholly by the inscriptions in this series, arranged by district and taluk with full English translations. Read online
  • Inscriptions of the Silaharas, Various (Silahara chanceries), edited by V. V. Mirashi (inscriptions of the 9th to 13th centuries; edited 1977). Collects the records of the three Silahara houses: North Konkan (Thana), South Konkan, and Kolhapur.
  • Sanskrit and Old Canarese Inscriptions relating to the Yadava Kings of Devagiri, Various (Yadava chancery), edited by J. F. Fleet (inscriptions of the 12th and 13th centuries; edited 1876). The first collected edition of the Yadava (Seuna) records, with texts and translations, from the Indian Antiquary. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia: Paithan (read this session; no dates)
  2. Wikipedia: Ganapatideva (read this session)
  3. General knowledge of the medieval Deccan (Bhandarkar, Altekar, Sastri, B. R. Gopal, Suryanath Kamath): from memory, not re-read
  4. OMNIA board notes for this place (a lead only, checked against the sources above)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.