History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c14.s2.50

c14.s2.50

22. Whether the early Nāga princes, Śiśu Nāga and others, ruled at Mathurā or not we cannot say. For, Mathurā was the mart where coins from adjoining territories, e.g. Padmāvatī, Vidiśā, Ahichhatra, etc., came. We have, however, the Purāṇic datum that they ruled at Vidiśā and that the first king, Śeṣa, was the conqueror of his enemy's capital. In view of the fact that the Brahmāṇḍa gives Surapura as the description of the town conquered, we would be authorised in assuming that he took Indrapura, now in the Buland-shahr district, a very important town in those days⁴ where a number of coins of these early Nāgas have been found. We do find Śiva Nandi's rule extending up to Padmāvatī. In any case, the political connection of Mathurā with Vidiśā had been very old, and it was again firmly established in the later Nāga history. The presumption that the earlier Nāgas played a part in ousting the Mathurā satraps is not discounted by the fact that we have a line of kings at Mathurā with ‘Mitra’-ending names in coins found there in the period succeeding the satraps, as these coins seem to be later.¹