Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c19.s2.t1.5

c19.s2.t1.5

² The earliest reference to the Ābhīras to which an approximate date can be assigned is that contained in the *Mahābhāshya* of Patañjali. The *Mahābhāshya* as well as the *Mahābhārata* connects them with the Śūdras—the Sodrai of Alexander's historians. Their country—Abiria—finds mention in the *Periplus* and the geography of Ptolemy. In the third quarter of the second century A. D., Ābhīra chieftains figured as generals of the Śaka rulers of Western India. Shortly afterwards a chief named Jśvaradatta, probably an Ābhīra, became *Mahākshatrapa*. His relation to the Abhīra king Mādharīputra Iśvara Sena, son of Śiva Datta, remains doubtful. But some scholars are inclined to identify the two chiefs. It is also suggested that this dynasty of Iśvara Sena is identical with the Traikūṭaka line of Aparānta, and that the establishment of the Traikūṭaka era in A.D. 248 marks the date at which the Abhīras succeeded the Sātavāhanas in the Government of Northern Mahārāshṭra and the adjoining region. The last known rulers of the Traikūṭaka line were Indradatta, his son Dahrasena (455-56 A. D.), and his son Vyāghrasena (489-90), after whom the kingdom seems to have been conquered by the Vākāṭaka king Harisheṇa.