Land grants formed an important
feature of the Satavahana rural administration.
Inscriptions show that the Satavahanas started
the practice of granting fiscal and administrative
immunities to Brahmins and Buddhist monks.
Earlier, the grants to individuals were temporary
but later grants to religious beneficiaries were
permanent. Perhaps the earliest epigraphic grant
of land is found in the Nanaghat Cave
Inscription of naganika, who bestowed villages
(grama) on priests for officiating at Vedic
sacrifices, but it does not speak of any
concessions in this context. These an in grants
made by Gautamiputra Satakarni in the first
quarter of the second century A.D appear first.