________________
KSATRAPA PERIOD
59
A.D.
inscribed on plates of copper or cloth (D. C. Sircar, Select Inscriptions, p. 157, fn.)
Two thousand of the sum were invested at the rate of one per cent. (per month ), and the remaining one thousand at the rate of is per cent. (per month ) for the benevolent purpose of using the interest earned, for meeting the needs of the Bauddha Bhikṣus, staying in the layana (Guhāvāsa).
Considerable help in financing works of public utility was rendered by private charity, inspired by religious sentiment which emphasised the spiritual benefit arising from such works as wells, gardens and rest-houses.
Such a sentiment could influence even a foreigner like Uşavadāta, as appears from the numerous benefactions of his, recorded in Karli and Nasik caves :
(Cf. ht ag 8a HRT 20:3121f994a RTH TEH 3291772....
Cant adtai hat at F1 .... Nasik, No. 19; Karli, No. 19). C. 119-24 The next known king of the Kșaharāta family is Nahapāna. The dates in
the inscriptions of his reign extend from the (Saka) year 41 (119-120 A.D.) to
the year 46 ( 124-125 A.D.). C. 122 The Junnar cave-inscription of Saka) year 46 styles Nahapāna a Mahā
kșatrapa', while a Nasik cave-inscription of year 42 represents him a
Kşatrapa'. So Nahapāna seems to have attained the status of Mahāksatrapa
in circa Saka year 44 (c. 122 A.D.)-( ASWI, IV, 193 ). C. 124 The Andhra king Gautamīputra overcame, about 124 A.D., the Kşaharāta
king Nahapāna. His conquests included Gujarat, part of Malwa, Central India and Berar, the region north of Nasik and the Northern Konkan, most of which were taken from Nahapāna. Nahapāna's territories north of the Narmadā were soon after recovered by Caştana, son of Ysāmotika, a Saka,
whose capital was in Ujjayini. 124-25 Caştana, son of Ysāmotika, founded another royal family of the Western
Kşatrapas, known as the 'Kārdamaka' family. (The Age of Imperial Unity, p. 182). His capital, according to Ptolemy, was Ujjain.in West Malwa. Probably Caştana began his career as the 'Satrap' of the Kuşāņas by recovering the territories lost by the Kşaharātas to the Sātavāhana-(Ibid, p. 182). The upper limit of Castana's reign is limited by the (Saka ) year 46 (= 124-25 A.D.), the latest known date of Nahapāna's reign.
Castana struck coins in silver both as Kşatrapa and as Mahākṣatrapa. On its obverse appears the bust of the king surrounded by Greek characters as on the obverse of Nahapāna's coins. On the reverse there are two varieties : in the earlier variety the Crescent and Star were adopted, evidently as symbols of the sun and moon, which were probably of Parthian origin; in the later
841.
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