Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c24.25

c24.25

Mr. H. C. Ghosh asserts⁴ that it cannot be proved that Rudradāman held Sindhu and Sauvīra some time from 136 A.D. at least. He also thinks that the argument that Kanishka started an era "involves a *petitio principii*." Now, we know that by 150 A.D. Rudradāman was "the lord of the whole of eastern and western Ākarāvanti, Anupanīvṛid, Ānartta, Surāshṭra, Svabhra, Maru, Kachchha, Sindhu, Sauvīra, Kukura, Aparānta, Nishāda, and other territories gained by his own valour." The conquest of so many countries must have taken a long time, and the Andhau inscriptions show that one of the countries, at any rate, namely, Kachchha, had come under the sway of the Great Satrap as early as 130 A D. On p. 277 of the *Political History of Ancient India* (second edition) it has been pointed out that "the name of the capital of Scythia (i.e., the Lower Indus Valley) in the time of the Periplus was Minnagara, and this was evidently derived from the city of Min in Sakasthāna mentioned by Isidore. Rapson points out that one of the most characteristic features in the name of the western Kshatrapas of Cashṭana's line, *viz.*, 'Dāman' (-dama) is found also in the name of a prince of the Drangianian house of Vonones. Lastly, the Kārddamaka family, from which the daughter of the *Mahākshatrapa* Rudra claimed descent, apparently derived its name from the Karddama river in Persia."