History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c21.s1.7

c21.s1.7

The exact period of the first attack is indicated by the finds on the original floor of the house of the fourth stratum which is to be distinguished from the débris above reaching the fifth stratum. Seventeen copper coins of Kanishka and Huvishka were found on the floor of the fourth stratum and three clay sealings [Nos. 19, 20, and 73], the characters of which are in the early Kushan script. The débris were three feet deep when a new building thereon was constructed. Sir John has given the date of this construction as the end of the Third Century A.D. We can be certain that this new construction was done a short time after the date of the seal of Nāgadeva (No. 5), which Sir John Marshall has described as having late Kushan script. This was found two feet above the floor of the fourth stratum (p. 48). The débris, according to Sir John, had accumulated in the natural course (p. 34). A further and still more positive datum is afforded by the fact that in the excavations although no Kushan coins later than those of Huvishka were found, a mould (No. 35, p. 65) for minting gold coin of Vāsudeva was discovered. This shows that the sack must refer to the early years of Vāsudeva, not a single coin of whose reign has been found there. We might note here that seventeen coins of his predecessor, Huvishka, seven coins of Kanishka, and three coins of Kadphises II were found in different parts of the excavations. In the period after the sack, we have such names as Nāgadeva [about 200 A.D.] and Amātya Nāgadāma [No. 40, cir. 200 A.D.]. A large number of ‘anonymous Kosam’ coins were recovered but they have not been published. They may include coins of the Bhāraśivas. The seal of Amātya Nāgadāma closely agrees in script with that of the Bhāraśiva coins. The title Amātya, which is on several seals of the period, denotes a reversion [by the Bhāraśivas] to the old Hindu system of government. It seems that in the Bhāraśiva period the town was under their Amātyas.