Nahapana
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| Nahapana | ||
|---|---|---|
| Western Satrap | ||
 |
||
| Coin of Nahapana (119-124 CE). | ||
| Reign | Western Satraps: 119 CE - 124 CE | |
Nahapana (119-124 CE) was an important ruler of the Western Kshatrapas, descendant of the Indo-Scythians, in northwestern India. According to one of his coins, he was the son of Bhumaka.
The Kshatrapa dynasty became very powerful with the accession of Nahapana to the throne. Nahapana occupied vast portion of the Satavahana empire in western and central India, although he was ultimately defeated by the powerful Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satkarni in 125 CE.
Nahapana managed however to build a strong power base in the west, from which his successors would benefit.
Nahapana is mentionned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea under the name Nambanus,[1] as ruler of the area around Barigaza:
- "Beyond the gulf of Baraca is that of Barygaza and the coast of the country of Ariaca, which is the beginning of the Kingdom of Nambanus and of all India. That part of it lying inland and adjoining Scythia is called Abiria, but the coast is called Syrastrene. It is a fertile country, yielding wheat and rice and sesame oil and clarified butter, cotton and the Indian cloths made therefrom, of the coarser sorts. Very many cattle are pastured there, and the men are of great stature and black in color. The metropolis of this country is Minnagara, from which much cotton cloth is brought down to Barygaza." Periplus, Chap. 41 [2]
He also established the Kshatrapa coinage, in a style derived from Indo-Greek coinage. The obverse of the coins consists of the profile of the ruler, within a legend in Greek. The reverse represents a thunderbolt and an arrow, within Brahmi and Kharoshthi legends.
Nahapana is mentioned as a donator in inscriptions of numerous Buddhist caves in northern India. The Nasik and Karle inscriptions refer to Nahapana's dynastic name (Kshaharata, for "Kshatrapa") but not to his ethnicity (Saka-Pahlava), which is known from other sources.[3]
Nahapana had a son-in-law named Ushavadata (Sanskrit: Rishabhadatta), whose inscriptions were incised in the Pandu-lena caves near Nasik. Ushavadata was son of Dinika and had married Dakshamitra, daughter of Nahapana. According to the inscriptions, Ushavadata accomplished various charities and conquests on behalf of his father-in-law. He constructed rest-houses, gardens and tanks at Bharukachchha (Broach), Dashapura (Mandasor in Malva), Govardhana (near Nasik) and Shorparaga (Sopara in the Thana district). He also campaigned in the north under the orders of Nahapana to rescue the Uttamabhadras who had been attacked by the Malayas (Malavas). He excavated a cave in the Trirashmi hill near Nasik and offered it to the Buddhist monks.[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ "The mention of 'Nambanus' whom the scholars have identified as Nahapana in the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea would help us to solve the problem of Nahapana's time.", in "History of the Andhras" Source
- ^ Source
- ^ "History of the Andhras" Source
- ^ Source
[edit] External links
- History of the Andhras, by Durga Prasad, with numerous references to Nahapana.
- Coins of Nahapana
- More coins of Nahapana
- Coins with biography
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