The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c24.s3.23

c24.s3.23

After the death of Vāsishtīputra Pulumāyi about A. D. 156, the only notable Āndhra monarch was Gautamīputra Yajna Srī, who reigned for twenty-nine years, from about A. D. 166. His rare silver coins, imitating the satrap coinage, certainly prove a renewal of relations with the western satraps, and probably point to unrecorded conquests. It would seem that Yajna Srī must have renewed the struggle in which Pulumāyi II had been worsted, and that he recovered some of the provinces lost by that prince. The silver coins would then have been struck for circulation in the conquered western districts, just as similar coins were minted by Chandra-gupta Vikramāditya when he finally shattered the power of the Saka satraps. The numerous and varied, although rude, bronze and leaden coins of Yajna Srī, which formed the currency of the eastern provinces, confirm the testimony of inscriptions by which the prolonged duration of his reign is attested.¹ Some pieces bearing the figure of a ship probably should be referred to this reign, and suggest the inference that Yajna Srī's power was not confined to the land.