Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c19.s1.9

c19.s1.9

The Nāsik records give the dates 41, 42, and 45, of an unspecified era, and call Nahapāna a *Kshatrapa*, while the Junnar epigraph of Ayama specifies the date 46 and speaks of Nahapāna as *Mahākshatrapa*. The generally accepted view is that these dates are to be referred to the Śaka era of 78 A.D. The name Nahapāna is no doubt Persian, but the Kshaharāta tribe to which Nahapāna belonged was probably of Śaka extraction and Ushavadāta, son-in-law of Nahapāna, distinctly calls himself a Śaka. It is, therefore, probable that the era of 78 A.D. derives its name of *Śaka* era from the Śaka princes of the House of Nahapāna. Rapson accepts the view that Nahapāna's dates are recorded in years of the Śaka era, beginning in 78 A.D., and, therefore, assigns Nahapāna to the period A.D. 119 to 124.¹ Several scholars² identify Nahapāna with Mambarus (emended into Nambanus)³ of the *Periplus* whose capital was Minnagara in Ariake. According to one theory Minnagara is modern Mandasor,⁴ and Ariake is Aparāntika.⁵