Satara is bounded by the Sahyadri and the Mahadev hill range. On the north is the River Nira, on the is Solapur Sangli is in the south and the mighty Sahyadri on the west. Except near Mahabaleshwar and the Koyna valley in the west, little of the district is thickly wooded. The western hills are remarkably bold with sharp outlines.
Three inscriptions of about 200.B.C. on pillars in a stupa near Jabalpur, state that they were gifts by the pilgrims from Karad, a town in Satara. The Andhrabhritya or Shatakarni kings (B.C.90-A.D.300) and probably its Kolhapur branch held Satara till the third or fourth century after Christ Early and Western Chalukyas held the Satara district from about 550 to 760; the Rashtrakutas to 973; the Western Chalukyas and under them to about 1180 by the Kolhapur Silaharas (1050-1220); and the Devgiri Yadavs till the Mughals and the Nizams came in. After the Self rule established by Shivaji it was with the Marathas and passed on to the British.
