page_title: Western Satraps
section_title: First expansion: Kshaharata dynasty (1st century CE)
hierarchical_section_title: Western Satraps / First expansion: Kshaharata dynasty (1st century CE)
caption_attribution_description: English: Location map of India. Equirectangular projection. Stretched by 106.0%. Geographic limits of the map: N: 37.5° N S: 5.0° N W: 67.0° E E: 99.0° E Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com.
context_page_description: The Western Satraps, Western Kshatrapas, or Kshaharatas were Indo-Scythian rulers of the western and central part of India. The Western Satraps were contemporaneous with the Kushans who ruled the northern part of the Indian subcontinent and were possibly their overlords, and the Satavahana who ruled in Central India. The power of the Saka rulers started to decline in the 2nd century CE after the Saka rulers were defeated by the Emperor Gautamiputra Satakarni of the Satavahana dynasty. Later the Saka kingdom was completely destroyed by Chandragupta II of the Gupta Empire in the 4th century CE.
  Altogether, there were 27 independent Western Satrap rulers during a period of about 350 years.
context_section_description: The Western Satraps are thought to have started with the rather short-lived Kshaharata dynasty (also called Chaharada, Khaharata or Khakharata depending on sources). The term Kshaharata is also known from the 6 CE Taxila copper plate inscription, in which it qualifies the Indo-Scythian ruler Liaka Kusulaka. The Nasik inscription of the 19th year of Sri Pulamavi also mentions the Khakharatavasa, or Kshaharata race.
  The earliest Kshaharata for whom there is evidence is Abhiraka, whose rare coins are known. He was succeeded by Bhumaka, father of Nahapana, who only used on his coins the title of Satrap, and not that of Raja or Raño (king). Bhumaka was the father of the great ruler Nahapana (whose rule is variously dated to 24-70 CE, 66-71 CE, or 119–124 CE), according to one of the latter's coins. His coins bear Buddhist symbols, such as the eight-spoked wheel (dharmachakra), or the lion seated on a capital, a representation of a pillar of Ashoka.
  Nahapana succeeded him, and became a very powerful ruler. He occupied portions of the Satavahana empire in western and central India. Nahapana held sway over Malwa, Southern Gujarat, and Northern Konkan, from Bharuch to Sopara and the Nasik and Poona districts. His son-in-law, the Saka Ushavadata (married to his daughter Dakshamitra), is known from inscriptions in Nasik and Karle and Junnar (Manmodi Caves, inscription of the year 46) to have been viceroy of Nahapana, ruling over the southern part of his territory.
  Nahapana established the silver coinage of the Kshatrapas.
  Circa 120 CE, the Western Satraps are known to have allied with the Uttamabhadras in order to repulse an attack by the Malavas, whom they finally crushed. The claim appears in an inscription at the Nashik Caves, made by the Nahapana's viceroy Ushavadata:
  ...And by order of the lord I went to release the chief of the Uttamabhadras, who had been besieged for the rainy season by the Malayas, and those Malayas fled at the mere roar (of my approaching) as it were, and were all made prisoners of the Uttamabhadra warriors.
  — Inscription in Cave No.10 of the Nashik Caves.
caption: Location of Western Satrap inscriptions in Buddhist rock-cut caves, indicating the southern extent of their territory, circa 120 CE.[12]
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