History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c14.s5.18

c14.s5.18

43. The Nāga emperors became the leaders of a movement for freedom from the Kushan rule. The Mālavas, the Yaudheyas, and the Kuṇindas (Madrakas) all re-strike their coins in the Nāga period. It may be possible to discern on a minute study their connection with the Nāga coinage disclosing the symbols of hegemony or suzerainty of the Nāgas.¹ The connection of the Mālava republican coins with those of Padmāvatī has been already realized and noticed. Dr. Vincent Smith says, 'they (Nāga coins) are closely related to some of the later Mālava coins'.² The Mālava coins re-appear, after a break, about the same time as the Nāga coins of Padmāvatī, about the second century A.D.³ The Yaudheya coinage revives about the second century A.D.,⁴ and the Kuṇinda coinage in the third century,⁵ who are, evidently, the last to be liberated. In other words, the re-rise of the Yaudheyas and the Mālavas is contemporaneous with the Nāgas.