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Abhiraka

Abhiraka was a ruler from the Kshaharata dynasty, of the Western Satraps.

Abhiraka
Khaharatasa Khatrapasa
Reignc. 35 CE
SuccessorBhumaka

Name

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Prior to R. C. Senior reading the name as Abhiraka (1998), the name had been misread as Aubhiraka, Aubhirakes, Aghudaka, Arta, and Ata.[1]

Coinage

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Coins of Abhiraka have been predominantly from modern-day Gujarat (Saurashtra, Kutch, etc.);[2] one-off specimens have also been found in as far as Afghanistan and Mleiha in the United Arab Emirates, attesting to the antiquity of long-distance trade networks.[1][3] Only copper mints have been found.[1]

The obverse features a winged Nike, holding a wreath, circumscribed by the Greek legend, ΣAΓAPATOY ΣATPAΠOY AYBIPAKOY;[4] the reverse has a lion / elephant / horse facing a wheel — variably interpreted as the Dharmachakra or Krshna's chakra —[a], circumscribed by a Brahmi or Kharoshthi legend, Khaharatasa Khatrapasa Abhirakasa jayatasa Abhirakasa (transl.The Khsaharata Satrap Abhiraka; victory to Abhiraka).[1][b]

Overstrikes

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Overstrikes on coins of Apollodotus II are plenty; besides, coins of Apollodotos II (and others) countermarked with the wheel-and-animal motif, are assumed to have been issued by him, by Senior and other numismatists.[8][10]

Dating

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None of the Kshaharata rulers — Yapirajaya,[c] Higaraka/Higataka, Hospises, Hastadatta, Abhiraka, Bhumaka, and Nahapana — use any date on their coins. The Taxila copper plate, which mentions two other Kshaharatas — Liaka Kusulaka and his son, Patika Kusulaka, both of whose coins are yet to be discovered — was engraved in the 78th year of King Maues, but Maues' regnal span remains uncertain in itself.[12] So, attempts to date the Kshaharatas must rely on circumstantial evidence. Besides, the dynasty appears to have migrated from North to South — while the coins of the latter three rulers are predominantly found in around modern-day Gujarat, the coins of the others are found only further north — and it might have been the case that some of them were contemporaries, ruling across different regions.[3][13]

Nonetheless, a rough date for Abhiraka might be approached as follows:

  • Abhiraka had overstruck as well as countermarked copper mints of Apollodotus II (r. 80–65 BCE) but almost of none else; hence, he must have come after Apollodotus II but not after too long a time since by then, not only would Apollodotus' coppers have not remained in circulation but also coins of other Kings would be available too.[14]
  • Abhiraka had countermarked copper mints of one Yapirajaya who had, in turn, likely overstruck a mint of Hospises; thus, both of them seem to have been intermediary rulers between Apollodotus II and Abhiraka, but given the acute scarcity of their coins, probably ruled for short spans.[8][15][16]
  • Abhiraka's copper mints were overstruck by Bhumaka; hence, Bhumaka must have preceded him but since they carried the same designs on the reverse of their coins, they should have been fairly proximate.[14] Bhumaka is also inscribed in the coins of Nahapana — c. middle of 1st century CE — as his father.[17][18]

Thus, Abhiraka's regnal period comes out to be c. late 1st century BCE.[14][19]

Notelist

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  1. ^ Extant evidence about the religious affiliation of Ksharatas attests to their preference for Buddhism. Liaka Kusalaka and his son commissioned a Buddhist monastery, as did Nahapana. Nonetheless, Joe Cribb links the wheel with the Krishna-Balarama standard; Devendra Handa, too, finds the design to be very similar to the coinage of the Vrishnis — the tribe that Krishna belonged to, according to epical literature.[5][6]
  2. ^ Dev Kumar Jhanjh proposes an alternate reading of "Abhiraka/Of the Abhiras, victorious over the Khaharata Satraps" — that is, Abhiraka was an Abhira King who had defeated the Kshaharatas.[1] However, he ignores coins with the same legend, minted by Hospises, Higaraka, and others who had preceded Abhiraka.[7][8][9]
  3. ^ There is no firm evidence that Yapirajaya was a Kshaharata, except for coinage motifs that were similar to the succeeding Kshaharata satraps.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Jhanjh 2020.
  2. ^ Senior 1999b, p. 96.
  3. ^ a b Senior 1999a, p. 14.
  4. ^ Cribb 2021, p. 658-659.
  5. ^ Cribb 1998.
  6. ^ Handa 2007.
  7. ^ Senior 2006, p. 51, 136.
  8. ^ a b c Senior 2014, p. 15.
  9. ^ Falk 2016, p. 11.
  10. ^ Senior 1999a, p. 16.
  11. ^ Senior 2006, p. 22.
  12. ^ Senior 2006, p. 136.
  13. ^ Senior 2006, p. 14, 136.
  14. ^ a b c Senior 1999b, p. 135.
  15. ^ Senior 2006, p. 13, 24.
  16. ^ Senior 1999a, p. 17.
  17. ^ Falk 2024.
  18. ^ Senior 2001, p. 193-194.
  19. ^ Senior 2006, p. 52.

Bibliography

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  • Cribb, Joe (2021). "Greekness after the end of the Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms". In Mairs, Rachel (ed.). The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-93-88414-29-6.
  • Cribb, Joe (1998). "Western Satraps and Satavahanas: Old and New Ideas of Chronology". In Jha, Amal Kumar (ed.). Ex moneta: Essays on numismatics, history, and archaeology in honour of Dr. David W. MacDowall. Vol. 1. New Delhi: Harman Pub. House. ISBN 8186622284.
  • Falk, Harry (2024). "Who blocked the Nāneghāṭ? Refections on Nahapāna, Sandanēs, and the Sātavāhanas". In Klaus, Konrad; Dietz, Siglinde; Fornell, Ines (eds.). Vidyārādhanam: Festschrift zu Ehren von Thomas Oberlies. Berlin: Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing.
  • Falk, Harry (2016). "Two new Kṣaharāta kṣatrapas". Journal of The Oriental Numismatic Society. 227.
  • Handa, Devendra (2007). "The Vrishnis". Tribal Coins of Ancient India. New Delhi: Aryan Books International. ISBN 8173053170.
  • Jhanjh, Dev Kumar (2020). "The Ābhīraka Coin: Search for a New Identity". Art and History: Texts, Contexts and Visual Representations in Ancient and Early Medieval India. Delhi: Bloomsbury India. ISBN 978-93-88414-29-6.
  • Senior, R. C. (1999a). "Notes on Ancient Coins". Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter. 160.
  • Senior, R.C. (1999b). Indo-Scythian coins and history. Vol. 1. Classical Numismatic Group.
  • Senior, R.C. (2001). Indo-Scythian coins and history. Vol. 2. Classical Numismatic Group.
  • Senior, R.C. (2006). Indo-Scythian coins and history. Vol. 4. Classical Numismatic Group.
  • Senior, R. C. (2014). "A new coin from the time of the Kshaharata Satraps". Journal of The Oriental Numismatic Society. 218.


 

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