the district, like the rest of the deccan, was under the nandas and mauryas in its early history. after the fall of the mauryan empire, the district was under the satavahanas until the 3rd century under the famous poet king haala. coins found during excavations have revealed the rule of gautamiputra satakarni, vaasisthi-puttra pulumaavi and yajna sri satakarni. gupta emperor samudragupta invaded during the rule of both pishtapura and avamukta in the district in 350 ad samudragupta's invasion was followed by the rule of the mathara dynasty from 375 to 500. the earliest known ruler of the dynasty was saktivarman.