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TRIBES IN ANCIENT INDIA
was Rājā of the Surāstra Samgha (community). That Surāstra enjoyed the democratic form of government implied by the use of the word 'Samgha' is also testified to by Kautilyal (Arthaśāstra, p. 378), who refers to a number of Samghas, among which were included Kamboja and Surāstra.
The records of Greek historians establish that after Aśoka and his successors, Surāṣtra passed into the hands of the Bactrian Greeks. According to Strabo,2 the Bactrian conquests were achieved partly by Menander (middle of second century B.C.) and partly by Demetrios, son of Euthydemos (c. 190 B.C.). They gained possession not only of Patalene, but of the kingdom of Saraostos and Sigerdis 3 which constitutes the remainder of the coast. Patalene is to be identified with the Indus delta, while Saraostos must certainly be identical with Surāstra (Syrastrēnē of Ptolemy).
Ptolemy 4 refers to a country called Syrastrēnē, which must be identical with Surāstra (= mod. Sorath in Kathiawar) on the Gulf of Kanthi (= Gulf of Kaccha or Cutch). Syrastrēnē, which extended from the mouth of the Indus to the Gulf of Cutch, was one of the three divisions of Indo-Scythia in Ptolemy's time, the other two being Patalene and Abiria. Syrastrēnē is also mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as the sea-board of Aberia (= Abiria = Abhira), which is to be identified with the region to the east of the Indus, above the insular portion formed by its bifurcation (McCrindle, p. 140). Pliny, in his enumeration of the tribes of this part of India, mentions the Horatae, evidently a corruption of Surāstra or Sorath (Lib., VI, c. XX).
The Indo-Scythian or Śaka rule was interrupted by a member of the Andhra dynasty, Viliyavākura II (Gautamīputra Sātakarņi, 113-138 A.D.). In the Junāgadh Rock Inscription, Rudradāman is stated to have extended his rule over East and West Avanti, Anartta, Surāstra, Anupa, Sindhu-Sauvīra, Maru, Kaccha, Kukura, Aparānta, etc. Of these, Surāstra, Kukura, Anupa and Aparānta, which formed parts of Gautamiputra Sātakarņi's dominions, must have been conquered either from him or from one of his sons.
After the Scythian occupation, Surāstra seems to have passed into the hands of the Guptas. It is not improbable that Surāstra was one of the countries whose rulers hastened to buy peace by establishing diplomatic relations with Samudragupta (c. 326-375
1 Arthaśāstra, p. 378.
2 Strabo, Bk. XI, sec. XI, I, in Falconer's version. (Strabo, Hamilton and Falconer, Vol. II, pp. 252-3, vide also Ray Chaudhuri, Political History of Ancient India, 4th Ed., p. 317.)
3 Prob. = Sāgaradvipa of Mahābhārata, II, 31, 66. 4 See McCrindle's Ptolemy, pp. 35-6, 136, 140.
