Historical Geography of Ancient India c6.538

c6.538

The Nāgas and the Yaudheyas reigned at Mathurā before they were subjugated by Samudragupta.⁴ Menander, king of Kabul and the Punjab, occupied it.⁵ The Hindu kings of Mathurā were finally displaced by Hagāna, Hagāmāsa, Rājuvula and other Śaka satraps who probably flourished in or about the first century A.D.⁶ In the second century A.D. Mathurā was under the sway of Huviṣka, the Kuṣāṇa king. This is confirmed by the evidence of a splendid Buddhist monastery which bears his name.⁷ In the first century B.C. the region of Mathurā passed from native Indian to foreign (Śaka) rule. A Greek king⁸ went back to Mathurā with his army in fear of any counter-attack on the part of king Khāravela of Kaliṅga while the latter was engaged in besieging the city of Rājagaha (Rājagṛha) (J.B.O.R.S., XIII, 236). The Yonas as Bactrian Greeks founded principalities in India establishing their suzerainty even over Mathurā.⁹ When Megasthenes wrote about the Śūrasenas, their country must have been included in the Maurya empire, and after the Mauryas their capital Madhurā came under the sway of the Bactrian Greeks and the Kuṣāṇas. Whether Mathurā was included in the Śuṅga dominion or not is a matter of dispute.