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The Western Kshatrapas Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society http://journals.cambridge.org/JRA Additional services for Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here Art. XIII.—The Western Kshatrapas Pait Bhagvānlāl Indrajī Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society / Volume 22 / Issue 03 / July 1890, pp 639 - 662 DOI: 10.1017/S0035869X00020815, Published online: 15 March 2011 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/ abstract_S0035869X00020815 How to cite this article: Pait Bhagvānlāl Indrajī (1890). Art. XIII.—The Western Kshatrapas. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 22, pp 639-662 doi:10.1017/ S0035869X00020815 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/JRA, IP address: 72.19.68.65 on 01 Apr 2015 IPP #• 25 26 27 COINS OF THE WESTERN KSHATRAPAS. 639 ART. XIII.—The Western Kshatrapas. By PANDIT BHAG- VANLAL INDRAJI, Ph.D., M.R.A.S. Edited by E. J. RAPSON, M.A., M.R.A.S. (British Museum), Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ["THIS is my last contribution to Indian archaeology. It contains views which I have arrived at after a careful and continuous study, extending over twenty-six years, of the Kshatrap coins and inscriptions."1 These were among the last words of Pandit Bhagvanlal Indraji, who almost up to the day of his death was engaged in com- pleting the article now published. Hisv death in March, 1888, was a real loss to Indian archaeology. The tributes paid to his memory by Prof. Peterson in the Academy, by Dr. Biihler in the Indian Antiquary, by Mr. Javerilal TTmiashankar Yajnik and Dr. Codrington in the Journal Bombay Asiatic Society, testify to the esteem in which he was held, both as a man and as a scholar, by those who knew him. The Pandit's papers were transmitted to me by Prof. Peterson in January, 1889, soon after the arrival of the collection of coins and the inscribed " Lion-capital" be- queathed by him to the British Museum. Of this much- prized accession to the National Collection, I gave a short account, illustrated by coins selected by the Pandit himself, at a meeting of the Eoyal Asiatic Society in February, 1889. My task as editor has not been altogether an easy one. The manuscript was written by Mr. Yithalji Keshavji Dvivedi from the Pandit's dictation in Gujerati. To prepare a paper thus written for publication, much rearrangement and much condensation were naturally necessary; but I trust that I have, at least, succeeded in accurately reproducing the Pandit's views. The substance 1 Quoted from the "Memoir of the late Pandit Bhagvanlal Indraji," by Javerilal Umiashankar Yajnik, in the Journal Bombay Branch K.A.S. for 1889. TOL. XXII.—[NEW SERIES ] 42 640 THE WESTERN KSHATBAPAS. of the article is entirely his, while the form is to a great extent mine. The present paper forms but a portion of the manuscript which I undertook to edit. The remainder, which deals with the history and coinage of the Northern Kshatrapas, illustrated by the inscriptions on the Lion-capital, will I hope be ready for publication at an early date. E. J. EAPSON.] The term k&hatrapa was, no doubt, introduced into India from Parthia. It is never found in Sanskrit literature; and, as found in inscriptions and on coins, it is doubtless nothing more than the Sanskrit form of the Old-Persian khshatrapa, with the primary meaning of " chief of the military order." The title was specially applied to those chieftains, who were deputed by their sovereign or overlord to rule over certain portions of his territory; and its use seems, in some instances, to have been continued, even after such chieftains had become sufficiently powerful to assert their own independence. The two most important lines of satraps in the early history of India are those which I have called the Northern and the Western. The former ruled in Northern India during the first century of the Christian era, and their territory may be approximately described as extending from the valleys of the Himalayas on the north, as far as Muttra and the junction of the Ganges and Jumna, or perhaps somewhat farther south. The coins of this dynasty were first described by Prinsep in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.1 They were subsequently noticed by Sir Alexander Cunningham in his paper on " The Buddhist Satraps" published in the same Journal in 1856; and again in the third volume of his Reports of the Archaeological Survey of Inda. My discovery at Muttra of the Lion-capital, which is covered with inscrip- tions relating to this dynasty, has since enabled me to throw further light on the subject. The other dynasty of Kshatrapas held sway, from the last quarter of the first century A.D. to the end of the fourth, over a large territory in Western India, which may be said, 1 Vol. vii. p. 1051. THE WESTERN KSHATEAPAS. 641 generally speaking, to have comprised Malwa, Sind, Kacch, Kathiawad, Gujarat proper, and the northern Konkan. These princes have hitherto been more generally known as the Sah kings, or as the Satraps of Surashtra. The former of these names arose from a mistaken reading of the name Simha caused by the fact that the vowels are often omitted in the coin-legends. The other designation, " Satraps of Surashtra," is inadequate. Surashtra was one province only of the kingdom, and it seems probable that a deputy-governor of this province bore the title Satrap at the same time as the chief governor ruled the whole kingdom with the title Great Satrap. I prefer therefore to call these princes simply" the Western Kshatrapas. The labours of Prinsep, Newton, Thomas, and others, have made the eoins of this dynasty better known to us than those of the Northern Satraps. The first of the Western Kshatrapas is Nahapana, who is called on his coins a Kshaharata. This appears to be the Sanskrit form of the Prakrit Kharaotha, which we find used as the family or tribal name of a dynasty ruling at Muttra. It appears in the inscriptions on the Lion-capital, and also on a class of coins first read by Sir A. Cunningham—the coins of the Satrap Artas, the Kharaotha. It moreover occurs in the form Chhahardta on the Taxila copper-plate dated in the 78th year of the great king Moga. If then Nahapana's title Kshaharata is the same as Kharaotha, we have here a con- necting link between the Northern and Western Kshatrapas. From information afforded by the inscriptions on the Lion-capital and other sources, we seem justified in supposing that, about the middle of the first century A.D., a (Jaka general named Kusula Patika had gained the overlordship of all the tribes in Northern India.1 The Kshaharata dynasty, among others, yielded to him; and it is not improbable that Nahapana may have been a younger member of the deposed family, who entered Patika's service and was despatched by him from Muttra to attempt the conquest of the Deccan. We know from Nahapana's 1 [This point will be discussed more fully in the Pandit's paper on the Northern ,s.—E.J. E.] 642 THE WESTERN KSHATRAPAS. inscriptions that he attacked and defeated the Qatakarni king of the Deccan, and deprived him of a large portion of his territory. Inscriptions also teach us that Nahapana held possession of a portion of the Deccan or Mahratta country, the Northern Konkan, some portion of Gujarat proper, and Surashtra, or Kathiawad and Kacch. It seems to me probable that the Qaka era, commencing 78 A.D., was inaugurated by Nahapana to commemorate his victory over the Qatakami king, and named in honour of his Qaka overlords. It is almost certain that all the dates of the Western Kshatrapas, whether on coins or in inscriptions, are-recorded in years of this era. In addition to the coinage, we possess the following sources of information about Nahapana:—three inscriptions of his son-in-law Ushavadata (Rishabhadatta), and two of his daughter Dakshamitra at Nasik; one of Ushavadata at Karle; and one of his minister Ayama at Junnar.1 The dates of these inscriptions range from the year 41 to the year 46 ; so that, if our supposition that the Qaka era was founded by Nahapana be correct, his reign must have been a very long one. The way in which he is spoken of in the inscriptions seems to show that he was a powerful and independent monarch, and that both Ushavadata and Ayama acted as his deputy-governors in different parts of the kingdom. Neither he nor his son in-in-law Ushavadata seems to have had a son, or some mention would certainly, in accordance with universal custom, have been made of the fact in the inscriptions. This is borne out too by the evidence supplied by the coins. Chashtana, who succeeded to the power of Nahanapa, evidently belonged to a different family. I. NAHAPANA, THE KSHAHARATA. [Kshatrapa: dates on inscriptions 41—46.] Legend on coins: Rajnah Kshaharatasa Nahapanasa (in Nagari) = HdKah Chhaharatasa Nahapanasa or simply Banah Chhaharutasa (in Baotrian Pali). Plate, 1 and la. I used to possess four silver coins of Nahapana; but one 1 Tor a full account of these inscriptions see vol. xvi. of the Bombay Gazetteer, and the Archaeological Survey of India, " Kathiawad and Kacch." THE WESTERN KSHATKAPAS. 643 of these, which I obtained from Nasik, was spoiled in cleaning. I heated the coin, and a silver coating came off from each side leaving only a piece of copper.
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