Tribes in Ancient India c63.70

c63.70

Towards the middle of the second century A.D., the land of the Sindhus and the Sauvīras seems to have been administered by the Kṣatrapa rulers of W. India. The Junāgaḍh Rock Inscription of Rudradāman (c. 150 A.D.) refers to the Mahākṣatrapa's conquest of Sindhu-Sauvīra,⁵ along with E. and W. Ākara (= mod. Khandesh) and Avanti (Pūrvaparākarāvanti), Anupanivṛt (probably the Māndhātā region), Ānartta, Surāṣṭra, Śvabhra, Maru, Kaccha, Kukura, Aparānta and other countries. The Kṣatrapas seem, however, to have wrested the country from the Kuṣāṇas, probably from one of the successors of Kaniṣka. After the era of the Kṣatrapas, the region probably passed over to the Guptas, and later to the Maitrakas of Valabhi. The country of the Sindhus, i.e. Sind, was the first kingdom to feel the impact of the conquering raids of the Arabs. An eighth century copperplate grant of the Gujarat Cālukya Pulakeśirāja¹ refers to the Tājikas (i.e. Arabs), who are described as having defeated the Saindhavas and other tribes of W. India.