714 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
former of these two, a Bactrinized Scythian, must, in Dr. Smith’s view, have assumed power about 40 A. D. He seized Gandhara and the country of Taxila from Gondophares, the Parthian prince who, according to the apocryphal acts of the apostles, received St. Thomas. His son Vima (78-110) carved out a great empire for himself, embracing the Punjab and the whole western half of the Ganges basin.
There seems to have been an interval of about 10 years between Kadphises and Kanishka, the latter was the son of one Vajheshka and no relation of his predecessor, he seems to have been from Khotan, not Bactria, and indeed he spent the summer at Kapisi in Paropan... * [1] and the winter at Purushapura (Peshawar) the axis of his empire was no longer in the (midst )* [2] of the Graeco-Iranian country.
The empire of Kanishaka did not last long. Of his two sons, Vasishka and Havishka only the second survived him.
The power of the Kushans in the third century was reduced to Bactria with Kabul and Gandhara, and they fell beneath the yoke of the Sassanids.
Kshatrappas or Satraps.
This title, which is Iranian, is borne by two dynasties founded by the Sakus who had been driven from their country by the Yuch-chi invasion.
I. The first was established in Surashtra (Kathewar). One prince of this line Chasthana, seems to have held Malwa before the great days of the Kushans and to have become a vassal of Kanishka; he ruled over Ujjayini, which was the centre of the Indian civilization.
II. The second line to which the name of Kshaharata is more particularly attached, was the hereditary foe of the Andhras; it ruled over Maharashtra, the country between modern Surat and Bombay. It was this latter Saka state that was annihilated by the
[1] Letters missing in ms. —ed.
[2] inserted as eaten by termite—ed.