Tribes in Ancient India c9.54

c9.54

A king of Mathurā named Brahmamitra was probably contemporary with king Indramitra of Ahicchatra, for both names are found in the dedicatory inscriptions of queens on pillars of the railing at Buddhagayā, which is generally assigned to the earlier part of the first century B.C.¹ Rapson points out ² that in the second century B.C. Mathurā was governed by native princes whose names are known from their coins; and it passed from them into the possession of one of the families of Śaka satraps, c. 100 B.C. Menander (Milinda), king of Kabul and the Punjab, presumably occupied Mathurā,³ and many of his coins have been discovered there.⁴ Numismatic evidence seems to prove ⁵ that the Hindu kings of Mathurā were finally replaced by Hagāna, Hagāmāsha, Rājuvula, and other Śaka Satraps who probably flourished in or about the first century A.D. In the second century A.D. Mathurā was under the sway of Huvishka, the Kushān king. This is evidenced by a splendid Buddhist monastery which bears his names.⁶