Satakarni was the third of the Satavahana

Satavahana

The Sātavāhana Empire or Andhra Empire, was a royal Indian dynasty based from Dharanikota and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh as well as Junnar and Prathisthan in Maharashtra. The territory of the empire covered much of India from 230 BCE onward...

 kings. He ruled around 180 BCE in Central India.

It is thought that Satakarni was a son of Kunala

Kunala

Kunala or Kunāl was the son of Emperor Ashoka and Queen Padmavati, and presumptive heir to Ashoka and thus the heir to the Mauryan Empire which once ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. While he was supposed to be the future heir to the empire, he was blinded by another of Ashoka's wives,...

. He only ruled for two years, but he achieved the conquest of the Western Malwa region from the Sungas.

Satakarni is mentioned in the Hathigumpha inscription

Hathigumpha inscription

The Hathigumpha inscription , from Udayagiri, near Bhubaneshwar in Orissa, was written by Kharavela, the king of Kalinga in India, during the 2nd century BCE...

 of Kalinga (India)

Kalinga (India)

Kalinga was an early state in central-eastern India, which comprised most of the modern state of Orissa/Utkal , as well as the Andhra region of the bordering state of Andhra Pradesh. It was a rich and fertile land that extended from the river Damodar/Ganges to Godavari and from Bay of Bengal to...

, as a rival to king Kharavela

Kharavela

Khārabēḷa was the third and greatest emperor of the Mahāmēghabāhana Dynasty of Kaḷinga . The main source of information about Khārabeḷa is his famous seventeen line rock-cut Hātigumphā inscription in a cave in the Udayagiri hills near Bhubaneswar, Orissa.During the reign of Khārabēḷa, the Chedi...

:

"And in the second year (he), disregarding Satakamini, dispatches to the western regions an army strong in cavalry, elephants, infantry (nara) and chariots (ratha) and by that army having reached the Kanha-bemna, he throws the city of the Musikas

Musikas

The Musikas were an Indian tribe of the lower Indus. They were confronted and vanquished by Alexander the Great as he went downstream on the Indus River....

 into consternation." Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XX

Satakarni organized two horse sacrifices (Aswamedhas), to proclaim his sovereignty.

His queen was Naganika, a member of the Maharathi

Maharathi

Maharathi is a Hindi movie produced by Dhilin Mehta. The film was directed by Shivam Nair and stars Boman Irani, Neha Dhupia, Ashwin Nayak, Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Naseeruddin Shah and Tara Sharma. The films music is by Shibani Kashyap-Cast:...

 family. She wrote the Naneghat

Naneghat

Naneghat is a mountain pass in the Western Ghats range near Junnar in Pune district of Maharashtra, India. During the reign of the Satavahana , the pass was extensively used as a trade route between Kalyan and Junnar. Literally, the name nane means "coin" and ghat means "pass"...

inscription, in which she describes Satakarni as "Lord of Dakshinapatha, wielder of the unchecked wheel of Sovereignty".

Satakarni may have been killed in battle. He was succeeded by his two young sons Vedistri and Satisisri, under the regency of their mother Nayanika.