Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c24.s3.5

c24.s3.5

§ 84. Ābhīras. — These Ābhīra kings are known from inscrr. at Nasik, and also from the Pauranic lists (BHAND., Hist. Dek. p. 45; Tr. I. Or. Cong. 1874, p. 341; BÜHLER, ASWI. IV, 103 f.). They are known to have been connected with the Kṣatrapas of Surāṣṭra and Malwa sometimes as commanders of their armies (BH.JRAS. 1890, p. 657); and it has been suggested that they were the governors of the Sahyādris and Konkan during the same period (BH., Bomb. Gaz. XVI, p. 624). It has been conjectured that the interruption in the line of Mahākṣatrapas between Vijayasena, year 171, and Dāmajadaśrī, year 176 (v. sup. § 82), may have been caused by an insurrection of the Ābhīra king against his feudal lord. The contemporary Kṣatrapa, Viradāman reigns uninterruptedly through this interval, but the position of Mahākṣatrapa seems to have been usurped by Īśvaradatta who strikes coins apparently imitated from those both of Vijayasena and Viradāman dated in the first and second years of his reign. This conjecture is supported by arguments derived from (1) the formation of the name, and (2) the method of dating in regnal years.