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BUDDHIST INDIA
how the Andiras found it easier to push forward to the north-west than to attempt the conquest of the south of the peninsula.
When they established themselves in the Dekkan, probably shortly after the Christian era, the Andhras found opposed to them in the north and northwest viceroys (called Satraps) of a Scythian overlord. There had probably been distinct viceroys, one ruling from Ujjen over Avanti, the other ruling from Giri-nagara over the Kāthiawād and Katch. But early in the second century A.D. they had declared themselves independent of their overlord, and had then, by a process we are not yet able to follow, become amalgamated into a powerful kingdom extending about six hundred miles from east to west and more than three hundred miles from north to south. The reigning king, usually resident, it is supposed, at Giri.nagara, was called the Great Satrap. The crown prince bore the title of Satrap. And as their coins have been found in large numbers, and give the names and titles both of the reigning satrap and his father, and also a date, it is possible to reconstruct the line of this dynasty with unusual precision. The names, also, of most of the Andhra kings are known to us, but there is a difference of opinion as to the order in which they should be arranged. We thus have the dry bones of the skeleton of the history of one kingdom, and many of the bones of the history of the adjacent kingdom, for a long period after the commencement of the Christ. tian era.
For the more than two centuries between Asoka
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
