page_title: Western Satraps
section_title: Defeat by Gautamiputra Satakarni
hierarchical_section_title: Western Satraps / First expansion: Kshaharata dynasty (1st century CE) / Defeat by Gautamiputra Satakarni
caption_attribution_description: English: Gautamiputra Yajna Satakarni. Circa AD 167-196. AR Drachm (17mm, 2.45 g). Countermarked issue. Ujjain symbol and three arched mountain symbol struck respectively on the obverse and reverse of a drachm of Nahapana
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: Nahapana and Ushavadata were ultimately defeated by the powerful Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni. Gautamiputra drove the Sakas from Malwa and Western Maharashtra, forcing Nahapana west to Gujarat. His victory is known from the fact that Gautamiputra restruck many of Nahapana's coins (such a hoard was found in Jogalthambi, Nashik District),) and that he claimed victory on them in an inscription at Cave No. 3 of the Pandavleni Caves in Nashik:
  Gautamiputra Satakarni (…) who crushed down the pride and conceit of the Kshatriyas; who destroyed the Sakas (Western Satraps), Yavanas (Indo-Greeks) and Pahlavas (Indo-Parthians),... who rooted out the Khakharata family (the Kshaharata family of Nahapana); who restored the glory of the Satavahana race.
  — Inscription of Queen Mother Gautami Balashri at Cave No. 3 of the Pandavleni Caves in Nashik.
caption: Coin of Gautamiputra Yajna Satakarni struck over a drachm of Nahapana. Circa 167-196 CE. Ujjain symbol and three arched mountain symbol struck respectively on the obverse and reverse of a drachm of Nahapana.
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