Indian Epigraphy c15.t7.14

c15.t7.14

The era used by the Śakas of Western India could hardly be of their own institution. Firstly, they were originally feudatories, as their Satrapal title shows, and therefore were required to use the reckoning of their overlords. Secondly, no record of any date in the first forty years of the era can be traced in the records of the Śakas of Western India. It is therefore very probable that the early West Indian Śakas used the reckoning of their overlords and that their successors simply continued its use. From the facts already considered, it appears that the suzerains of the Śakas were the Kuṣāṇa kings of the Kaniṣka group. The suggestion is strongly supported by the fact that the rule of Vāsiṣka, the immediate successor of Kaniṣka I, over East Malwa is established by the Sanchi inscription.¹