राज्ञो महाक्षत्रपस दामजडस पुत्रस राज्ञो महाक्षत्रपस जीवदमस
Rájño Mahákshatrapasa Dámajaḍasaputrasa Rájño Mahákshatrapasa Jivadámasa.
Of the king the great Kshatrapa Jivadáman son of the king the great Kshatrapa Dámajaḍa.
Coin C though struck from a different die is closely like B both on the obverse and the reverse. Neither the Greek legend nor the date is clear, though enough remains of the lower parts of the numerals to suggest the date 118. Coin D is in obverse closely like C. The date 118 is clear. On the reverse the legend and the symbols have been twice struck. The same legend occurs twice, the second striking having obliterated the last letters of the legend which contained the name of the king whose coin it is:
राज्ञो महाक्षत्रपस दामजडस पुत्रस
Rájño Mahákshatrapasa Dámajaḍasaputrasa.
Of the son of the king the great Kshatrapa Dámájaḍa.
In these four specimens Dámaśrí or Dámájaḍa is styled Mahákshatrapa, while in his own coins he is simply called Kshatrapa. The explanation perhaps is that the known coins of Dámaśrí or Dámajaḍa belong to the early part of his reign when he was subordinate to his father, and that he afterwards gained the title of Mahákshatrapa. Some such explanation is necessary as the distinction between the titles Kshatrapa and Mahákshatrapa is always carefully preserved in the earlier Kshatrapa coins. Except towards the close of the dynasty no ruler called Kshatrapa on his own coins is ever styled Mahákshatrapa on the coins of his son unless the father gained the more important title during his lifetime.
The dates and the difference in the style of die used in coining A and in coining B, C, and D are worth noting as the earliest coin has the date 100 and C and D the third and fourth coins have 118. If Jivadáman’s reign lasted eighteen years his coins would be common instead of very rare. But we find between 102 and 118 numerous coins of Rudrasiṃha son of Rudradáman and paternal uncle of Jivadáman. These facts and the difference between the style of A and the style of B, C, and D which are apparently imitated from the coins of Rudrasiṃha and have a face much older than the face in A, tend to show that soon after his accession Jivadáman was deposed by his uncle Rudrasiṃha, on whose death or defeat in 118, Jivadáman again rose to power.
Kshatrapa VII. Rudrasiṃha I. a.d. 181–196.Rudrasiṃha the seventh Kshatrapa was the brother of Dámajaḍaśrí. Large numbers of his coins have been found. Of thirty obtained by Dr. Bhagvánlál, twenty have the following clearly cut dates: 103, 106, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, and 118. As the earliest year is 103 and the latest 118 it is probable that Rudrasiṃha deposed his nephew Jivadáman shortly after Jivadáman’s accession. Rudrasiṃha appears to have ruled fifteen years when power again passed to his nephew Jivadáman.
Chapter V.
Western Kshatrapas, a.d. 70–398.
Kshatrapa VII. Rudrasiṃha I. a.d. 181–196.