A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c11.10

c11.10

The four immediate successors of Hāla had short reigns totalling less than a dozen years all together, an indication of a troubled time. About the same time the ‘western satraps’ (Śakas) came into prominence. Bhūmaka is the earliest of them, and Nahapāna the greatest conqueror. His rule extended over Gujarat, Kathiawar, northern Mahārāshtra, Konkan, and even parts of southern Mahārāshtra for a time. The Periplus states that the kingdom of Mambanus (Nahapāna) began with Ariake (Āryaka of Varāhamihira), and that the Greek ships coming into the Sātavāhana port of Kalyan were diverted to Barygaza (Broach). Nahapāna’s capital was Minnagara, perhaps Dohad, half-way between Ujjain and Broach. The expansion of Śaka power at the expense of the Sātavāhanas probably occurred in the period A.D. 40-80, about the time of the Periplus.