Note 93 — INDEX

Dr. Bhagvánlál’s suggestion that Vijayasena (a.d. 238–249) was defeated by the Ábhír or Ahír king Íśvaradatta who entered Gujarát from the North Konkan seems open to question. First as regards the suggestion that Vijayasena was the Kshatrapa whose power Íśvaradatta overthrew it is to be noticed that though the two coinless years (a.d. 249–251) between the last coin of Vijayasena and the earliest coin of Dámájaḍaśrí agree with the recorded length of Íśvaradatta’s supremacy the absence of coins is not in itself proof of a reverse or loss of Kshatrapa power between the reigns of Vijayasena and Dámájaḍaśrí. It is true the Pandit considers that Íśvaradatta’s coins closely resemble those of Vijayasena. At the same time he also (Násik Stat. Acct. 624) thought them very similar to Víradáman’s (a.d. 236–238) coins. Víradáman’s date so immediately precedes Vijayasena’s that in many respects their coins must be closely alike. It is to be noted that a.d. 230–235 the time of rival Kshatrapas among whom Víradáman was one (especially the time between a.d. 236 and 238 during which none of the rivals assumed the title Mahákshatrapa) was suitable to (perhaps was the result of) a successful invasion by Íśvaradatta, and that this same invasion may have been the cause of the transfer of the capital, noted in the Periplus (a.d. 247) as having taken place some years before, from Ozene or Ujjain to Minnagara or Junágaḍh (McCrindle, 114, 122). On the other hand the fact that Vijayasena regained the title of Mahákshatrapa and handed it to his successor Dámájaḍaśrí III. would seem to shew that no reverse or humiliation occurred during the coinless years (a.d. 249–251) between their reigns, a supposition which is supported by the flourishing state of the kingdom at the time of the Periplus (a.d. 247) and also by the evidence that both the above Kshatrapas ruled near Karád in Sátára. At the same time if the difference between Víradáman’s and Vijayasena’s coins is sufficient to make it unlikely that Íśvaradatta’s can be copies of Víradáman’s it seems possible that the year of Íśvaradatta’s overlordship may be the year a.d. 244 (K. 166) in which Vijayasena’s coins bear the title Kshatrapa, and that the assumption of this lower title in the middle of a reign, which with this exception throughout claims the title Mahákshatrapa, may be due to the temporary necessity of acknowledging the supremacy of Íśvaradatta. With reference to the Pandit’s suggestion that Íśvaradatta was an Ábhíra the fact noted above of a trace of Kshatrapa rule at Karád thirty-one miles south of Sátára together with the fact that they held Aparánta or the Konkan makes it probable that they reached Karád by Chiplún and the Kumbhárli pass. That the Kshatrapas entered the Dakhan by so southerly a route instead of by some one of the more central Thána passes, seems to imply the presence of some hostile power in Násik and Khándesh. This after the close of the second century a.d. could hardly have been the Ándhras or Śátakarṇis. It may therefore be presumed to have been the Ándhras’ successors the Ábhíras. As regards the third suggestion that Kshatrapa Gujarát was overrun from the North Konkan it is to be noted that the evidence of connection between Íśvarasena of the Násik inscription (Cave X. No. 15) and Íśvaradatta of the coins is limited to a probable nearness in time and a somewhat slight similarity in name. On the other hand no inscription or other record points to Ábhíra ascendancy in the North Konkan or South Gujarát. The presence of an Ábhíra power in the North Konkan seems inconsistent with Kshatrapa rule at Kalyán and Karád in the second half of the third century. The position allotted to Aberia in the Periplus (McCrindle, 113) inland from Surastrene, apparently in the neighbourhood of Thar and Párkar; the finding of Íśvaradatta’s coins in Káthiáváḍa (Násik Gazetteer, XIII. 624); and (perhaps between a.d. 230 and 240) the transfer westwards of the head-quarters of the Kshatrapa kingdom seem all to point to the east rather than to the south, as the side from which Íśvaradatta invaded Gujarát. At the same time the reference during the reign of Rudrasiṃha I. (a.d. 181) to the Ábhíra Rudrabhúti who like his father was Senápati or Commander-in-Chief suggests that Íśvaradatta may have been not a foreigner but a revolted general. This supposition, his assumption of the title Mahákshatrapa, and the finding of his coins only in Káthiáváḍa to a certain extent confirm. ↑