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In the reign of Mukula thé Milechchas once more overran Kashmir, but his successor Mihirakula was a great conqueror, and is said to have spread his conquests as far as Karnata and Ceylon. He was also a persecutor of Buddhists. Pratdpdditya began a new dynasty. A” severe famine visited Kashmir in the reign of his grandson Tunjina in consequence of the sdé/z grain being blighted by a sudden and heavy frost. Megha-, vahana seems to have been favorably disposed towards Buddhism ; he is said to have carried his conquering arms as far.as Ceylon, and he prohibited the slaughter of animals in his own kingdom and in all the kingdoms he conquered. His queens built numerous Buddhist monasteries. His son Shreshta Sena and then his grandson Hiranya. succeeded; and then a stranger Matrigupta was helped to the throne of Kashmir by Vikramaditya of Ujjayini, then all powerful in India. From this brief account of Kashmir we now turn to Gujrat.. We have stated before that the great Kanish- ka extended his conquests southwards as far as Gujrat. A race of rulers known as the Kshaharata family held sway in Gujrat as the vassals of Kanishka’s successors, But after the time of Nahapana and his son-in-law Usavadata, these rulers became independent kings, and CHAP. IV.] KASHMIR AND GUJRAT. 37 maintained their independence against the Andhras of Magadha, who claimed suzerainty over Saurashtray These rulers generally known as the “ Shah kings” are. known to us only by their coins and inscriptions, and there has been much controversy as to the particular era which the Shah kings adopted in these coins and inscriptions. It is now, however, settled beyond a doubt that they adopted the Saka Era from their original masters the kings of Kashmir, and all their coins and inscriptions are dated according to this era. A list of the Shah kings is given below >—~ SHAH KINGS OF SAURASHTRA., : Coin dates A.D. Coin dates , A.D. Nahapana ta . | Vira Daman teen Usavadata os w-- | Isvara Datta legs St Fees, SvAmi Chastana ee + | Vijaya Shah aa 170 248, Jaya Dama eee . | Damajata Sri eee) o> “hes Jiva Dama seo ee | Rudxa Shah 307, BFS Rudra Daman 72 150} Visva Sinha sts “ Rudra Sinha 102 180 } Atri Daman aie we Rudra Shah 104-182 | Visva Shah 200 278 Sri Shah toe . | Rudra Sinha 270 - 348 Sangha Daman eae ... | Asa Daman 271 349 Daman Shah 144 222 | Sv4mi Rudra Shah 292 379 Yasa Daman ase |, Svami Rudra Shah IT Damajata Sri Among the many inscriptions. of this dynasty which have been found in different places in Western India, we will only quote one which is perhaps the earliest, and which will give our readers a fair idea of these in- 88 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK Iv. scriptions. The following inscription found in the Nasik caves belongs to Nahapana, who heads the list given above :— To the Perfect One! This cave and these small tanks were caused to be constructed on the mounts Trirasmi in Govardhana by the beloved Usavadata, the son-in-law of King Kshaharata Satrap Nahapana, son of Dinika, who gave three hundred thousand cows, presented gold, and constructed flights of steps on the river Barn4sdya, gave sixteen villages to godsand Brahmans, fed a hundred thousand Brahmans every year, provided eight wives for Bréhmans at Prabhasu the holy place, construct- : ed quadrangles, houses and halting places at Bharukachchha, Dasapura, Govardhana and Sorparaga, made gardens, tanks and wells, charitably enabled men to crogs Ib4, Parada, Damana, Tapi, Karabinaé and Dahu- nuk& by placing boats on them, constructed Dharmaalas and endowed places for the distribution of water, and gave capital worth a thousand for thirty-two: Nadhigeras for the Charanas and Parishads in Pinditaka- vada, Govardhana, Suvarnamukha, Sorparaga, Ramatirtha, and in the village of Namagola. By the command of the lord, I went in the rainy season to Miilaya to release Hirudha the Uttamabhadra. The Malayas fled away at the sound (of our war music), and were all made subjects of the Kshatriyas, the Uttamabhadras. Thence I went to Poksharani and there performed ablutions and gave three thousand cows and a village. The above inscription of Nahapana found in the Nasik caves is of great importance, as it shews how even a vassal of the Buddhist kings of Kashmir de- lighted in doing honor and making gifts to Brahmans, and how Hinduism and Buddhism flourished side by side in the centuries immediately succeeding the Christian Era, except when some intolerant prince occasionally filled the throne. To bestow gold and cattle and villages to Brahmans, to construct/ bathing CHAP, IV.] KASHMIR AND GUJRAT. 39 grits, halting places, dharmasdlds, gardens, tanks and wells, to establish free ferries, and to endow institutions for charitable purposes, were acts which were deemed worthy of royal charity and benevolence. And lastly, we learn from this inscription that the Saurdshtras undertook an expedition against the Mdlayas.in order to help a race of friendly Kshatriyas the Uttama- bhadras. , The most remarkable inscription of the Shah kings, however, is that on a bridge near Girnar, known as Rudra Daman’s bridge, which was first read by James Prinsep, and revised and more correct readings have since been published. By referring to the list of kings given above, our readers will see that Rudra Daman was the fourth king after Nahapana and his. successor Usavadata, and reigned in the middle of the second century A.D. The inscription is remarkable on account of its reference to Asoka the Great, and his grandfather Chandragupta, the contemporary of Alexander the Great. We are told in the inscription that the ancient bridge was swept away by an inundation; that it was repaired by Puspagupta the chief artificer of the Maurya king Chandragupta, and then by Tushaspa the Yavana Raja of Asoka; that it was then constructed by the great satrap (Mahdkshatrapa) Rudra Daman in the year 72 (Saka Era, ze, 150 A.D.) In this inscription Rudra Daman boasts that having repeatedly overcome Sata-_ karni, the lord of Dakshinapatha, he concluded an alliance 60 . BUDDHIST' PERIOD. [BOOK Iv. with him. And he also boasts of having conquered Saur4shtra, Kutch, and other places. If the reader will refer to the list of the Andhra kings of Magadha given ' in the last Chapter, he will find that several kings of the name of Satakarni belonged to that dynasty ; and the above inscription of Rudra Daman would shew that the ‘Shah kings of Saurdshtra were often the rivals and connexions (by marriage) of the great Andhra kings. On the other hand, Gautamtputra of the Andhra ‘line boasts in an inscription in a cave at Nassik, that he had conquered Saurashtra, Kutch, and other coun- _tries and destroyed the race of the Khaharata. The‘ date of this conquest of the Shah kings by Gautami- putra of the Andhra Hine forms the subject of much controversy, into which we are unable to enter. We have spoken of the invasions and conquests of three distinct races, vzz., of the Bactrian Greeks in the and century before Christ, of the Yue-Chi and other cognate Turanians in the ist century after Christ, and lastly of their. vassals the Shah kings who ruled in Saurdshtra forthree centuries. Other invasions followed in the wake, of which history scarcely keeps any note. The Bactrians, expelled from their country by the Tura- nians, appear to have penetrated far into India; and the Cambojians, 4 e¢.,the inhabitants of Cabul and Can- dahar, followed in the wake and entered into the country, where fertile and rich settlements could be carved out by adventurers by their strong right arm. CHAP. Iv.] KASHMIR AND GUJRAT, © 61 And lastly, the great White Huns appeared on the scene in the 4th and 5th century of -the Christian Era. Their locust hordes spread over Persia and com- pelled Bahram Gaur; king of Persia, to seek an asylum in India and an alliance with the king of Kanouj, whose daughter he married. It is probabje that this royal maiden who espoused a Persian husband, was a daugh- ter of the Gupta line, for the Gupta emperors were then ruling in Kanouj and were the paramount power in India. We will speak of them in the next chapter. | CHAPTER V. GUPTA KINGS. _ HALF a century ago James Prinsep indicated the necessity of arranging all inscriptions found in India for the study of the ancient history of India, and he also suggested that the collective publication should bear the name of Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum. In 1877 General Sir Alexander Cunningham brought out the first volume of this proposed work, and this volume contains the inscriptions of Asoka which we have spoken of in the first chapter of this book. tn 1888 Mr. Fleet of the Bombay Civil Service brought out the third volume of this work containing the inscriptions of the Gupta kings, and giving a his- tory of the controversy about the date of the Guptas which has been carried on during the last forty years in India and in Europe ! The second volume of the proposed work, which would contain the inscriptions of the Shah kings of SaurAshtra, has not yet been commenced. It is to be hoped that some able scholar and experienced archzolo- gist will yet be employed on this work, and will com- plete the collection of Indian inscriptions which are invaluable for the efucidation of the Buddhist Period of Indian History. CHAP. V.] GUPTA KINGS. 63 We have seen that the controversy relating to the date of the Guptas has gone on for well nigh forty years, and many of the ablest oriental scholars have engaged themselves in this controversy. The history of this remarkable controversy occupies over 30 folio pages of Mr. Fleet’s valuable work! Happily it is a contro- versy which is now at an end, and the conclusion arrived at is beyond reasonable doubt.