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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNE, 1918
was nearer to the truth when he proposed to read also Sirisena. As a matter of fact there is absolutely no doubt as to the first two letters being Siri. And the next two almost certainly are sata—a reading which is fortified by the fact that we know a Satavahana prince of exactly this name from coins found in Western India. The last Satavahana king whose name has been preserved is, as mentioned above, Gautamiputra Sri-Yajna-Satakarni. One inscription of his has been found in Chinna in the Kistna district and three in Maharashtra—two in a Kanheri and one in a Nasik Cave. This shows that both the Andhra-desa and Maharashtra continued to be under the Satavahanas up to this time. Nay, he seems to have extended his sway far beyond as is indicated by the findspots of his coins. Some of these have been found not only in Gujarât but also in Kathiâwâr and Eastern Malwa. He, therefore, appears to have wrested these provinces from the Kshatrapa dynasty of Ujjain as Gautamiputra Sitakarni did sometime before him.
After Yajña Satakarņi Mahârâshțra seems to have been lost to the Satavahana dynasty. This appears to have been caused by the irruption of the Abhiras. In a cave at Nasik we have got an inscription which refers itself to the reign of the Abhîra king 1śvarasene, son of Sivadatta, 37 In Málwâ, Gujarât and Kathiâwâr we find coins of a king called Isvaradatta who, though he styles himself a Mahakshatrapa, was an intruder. He has been looked upon as an Abhira, and it is quite possible that the names of the Abhira king and his father referred to in the Nâsik inscription were really iśvaradatta and Sivasena, and not Isvaragena and Sivadatta. The father is not called a king, and if he had really been a ruler, the word rdjfiah would certainly have been conjoined with his name. The son alone, therefore, seems to have been a king and made himself so. And it seems to me that it was one and the same Abhira prince, viz. fśvaradatta, who conquered not only Mâlwa, Gujarât and Kathiâwas but also Mâhârashtra, I have elsewhere shown 38 that Isvaradatta is to be assigned to A.D. 188-90. This certainly places him immediately after Yajña Satakarni.
Though the Satavábanas were deprived of Maharashtra or Western Dekkan about the end of the second century A.D., they for sometine retained possession of Eastern Dekkan. Wo have thus coins of Sri-Rudra-Satakarni, Sri-Krishna-Satakarni and Sri-Chandra (II) found in Central Provinces and Andhra-desa only and not at all in Western India.30 If we assign an average reign of 15 years to each one of these kings, the Satavahana power came to an end in the first half of the third century A.D. On the Jagayyapetta stôpa in the Kistna district, we have three inscriptions belonging to the regin of Sri-Virapurushadatta of the Ikshvaku family. On palaeographic grounds the records have been ascribed to the third century. It, therefore, seems that the extinction of the Satavahana rule was caused by a northern dynasty called Iksh váku.
To be continued
31 JBBR.4S, XII. 407-9. 36 EI, I. 96; ASWI., V. 76 and 79; EI., VIII, 94. 38 A SI-AR. 1913-14, p. 230.
40 ASSI., I. 110.
35 CIC.-AMk., p. 1. 37 EI., VIII. 88. 39 CIO. A Mk., Intro.,
,& ff.
