The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c31.69

v1.c31.69

The Greek title *strategos*, which is the equivalent of the Indian *senāpati*, 'lord of the army,' was inherited by the Çakas and Pahlavas from the Yavanas². Aspavarman is a representative of the Çaka military chiefs³ who are repeatedly mentioned in the inscriptions of Western India in the second century A.D., when this region was governed by Çaka satraps. The names ending in *-varman* and *-datta* show that they had become Hinduised, and claimed to be Kshatriyas. To this class belongs the Çaka Ushavadāta (Ṛishabhadatta), the brother-in-law of Nahapāna. On the coins of Gondopharnes and on those of his successor, Pacores, we find the name of another of these military governors, Sasas, who no doubt succeeded Aspavarman as commander-in-chief (Pl. VII, 33). The sequence of the *strategoi* thus affords valuable evidence for the order of succession of their sovereigns and for the chronology of the period. Two generations of these military chiefs—Aspavarman and his nephew, Sasas (pp. 580–1)—held office during the reigns of Azes II, Gondopharnes, and Pacores, and for a period which began before 19 A.D. and ended after 45 A.D.