A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c11.9

c11.9

The expansion of the Sātavāhanas received a check from a new power from the west. About 75 B.C., the Śakas of Seistan had occupied the Indus delta, known thereafter as Śakadvipa to Indian writers and as Indo-Scythia to Greek geographers. A legendary episode in the history of Ujjain may be taken to mark the beginnings of the long struggle between the Śakas and the Andhras, the varying fortunes of which can be traced clearly in the inscriptions of a slightly later time. The story is that the Jain saint Kālaka was insulted by King Gardabhilla of Ujjain and persuaded the Śakas to invade Ujjain and avenge his wrong. Gardabhilla was thus overthrown, but some years later his son Vikramāditya ('Sun of Valour') issued from Pratishthāna, repelled the invaders and founded an era in 57 B.C. to commemorate his victory. It is not improbable that these traditions have an historical basis connected with the history of the Andhras. But it is certain that the Śaka power in the west was finally destroyed by the Gupta ruler Chandragupta II (A.D. 380-414), also a Vikramāditya, and that legend has failed to distinguish the later Vikramāditya from his earlier namesake.