In favour of the Sandanes of the Periplus being a dynastic not a personal name is its close correspondence both in form and in geographical position with Ptolemy’s (a.d. 150) Sadaneis, who gave their name, Ariake Sadinôn or the Sadins’ Aria, to the North Konkan, and, according to McCrindle (Ptolemy, 39) in the time of Ptolemy ruled the prosperous trading communities that occupied the sea coast to about Semulla or Chaul. The details in the present text show that some few years before Ptolemy wrote the conquests of Rudradáman had brought the North Konkan under the Gujarát Kshatrapas. Similarly shortly before the probable date of the Periplus (a.d. 247) the fact that Saṅghadáman and his successors Dámasena (a.d. 226–236) and Vijayasena (a.d. 238–249) all used the title Mahákshatrapa makes their possession of the North Konkan probable. The available details of the Káthiáváḍa Kshatrapas therefore confirm the view that the Sadans of Ptolemy and the Sandanes of the Periplus are the Gujarát Kshatrapas. The question remains how did the Greeks come to know the Kshatrapas by the name of Sadan or Sandan. The answer seems to be the word Sadan or Sandan is the Sanskrit Sádhana which according to Lassen (McCrindle’s Ptolemy, 40) and Williams’ Sanskrit Dictionary may mean agent or representative and may therefore be an accurate rendering of Kshatrapa in the sense of Viceroy. Wilford (As. Res. IX. 76, 198) notices that Sanskrit writers give the early English in India the title Sádhan Engrez. This Wilford would translate Lord but it seems rather meant for a rendering of the word Factor. Prof. Bhandárkar (Bom. Gaz. XIII. 418 note 1) notices a tribe mentioned by the geographer Varáhamihira (a.d. 580) as Śántikas and associated with the Aparántakas or people of the west coast. He shows how according to the rules of letter changes the Sanskrit Śántika would in Prákrit be Sándino. In his opinion it was this form Sandino which was familiar to Greek merchants and sailors. Prof. Bhandárkar holds that when (a.d. 100–110) the Kshatrapa Nahapána displaced the Śátaváhanas or Ándhrabhṛityas the Śántikas or Sandino became independent in the North Konkan and took Kalyán. To make their independence secure against the Kshatrapas they forbad intercourse between their own territory and the Dakhan and sent foreign ships to Barygaza. Against this explanation it is to be urged; (1) That Násik and Junnar inscriptions show Nahapána supreme in the North Konkan at least up to a.d. 120; (2) That according to the Periplus the action taken by the Sandans or Sadans was not against the Kshatrapas but against the Śátakarṇis; (3) That the action was not taken in the time of Nahapána but at a later time, later not only than the first Gautamíputra the conqueror of Nahapána or his son-in-law Ushavadáta (a.d. 138), but later than the second Gautamíputra, who was defeated by the Káthiáváḍa Kshatrapa Rudradáman some time before a.d. 150; (4) That if the Śántikas were solely a North Konkan tribe they would neither wish nor be able to send foreign ships to Broach. The action described in the Periplus of refusing to let Greek ships enter Kalyán and of sending all such ships to Broach was the action of a Gujarát conqueror of Kalyán determined to make foreign trade centre in his own chief emporium Broach. The only possible lord of Gujarát either in the second or third century who can have adopted such a policy was the Kshatrapa of Ujjain in Málwa and of Minnagara or Junágaḍh in Káthiáváḍa, the same ruler, who, to encourage foreign vessels to visit Broach had (McCrindle’s Periplus, 118, 119) stationed native fishermen with well-manned long boats off the south Káthiáváḍa coast to meet ships and pilot them through the tidal and other dangers up the Narbada to Broach. It follows that the Sandanes of the Periplus and Ptolemy’s North Konkan Sádans are the Gujarát Mahákshatrapas. The correctness of this identification of Sadan with the Sanskrit Sádhan and the explanation of Sádhan as a translation of Kshatrapa or representative receive confirmation from the fact that the account of Kálakáchárya in the Bharaheśwara Vṛítti (J. B. B. R. A. S. IX. 141–142), late in date (a.d. 1000–1100) but with notable details of the Śaka or Śáhi invaders, calls the Śaka king Sádhana-Siṃha. If on this evidence it may be held that the Kshatrapas were known as Sádhanas, it seems to follow that Śántika the form used by Varáhamihira (a.d. 505–587) is a conscious and intentional Sanskritizing of Sádan whose correct form and origin had passed out of knowledge, a result which would suggest conscious or artificial Sanskritizing as the explanation of the forms of many Puráṇic tribal and place names. A further important result of this inquiry is to show that the received date of a.d. 70 for the Periplus cannot stand. Now that the Kanishka era a.d. 78 is admitted to be the era used by the Kshatrapas both in the Dakhan and in Gujarát it follows that a writer who knows the elder and the younger Śátakarṇis cannot be earlier than a.d. 150 and from the manner in which he refers to them must almost certainly be considerably later. This conclusion supports the date a.d. 247 which on other weighty grounds the French scholar Reinaud (Ind. Ant. Dec. 1879. pp. 330, 338) has assigned to the Periplus. [↑]
[83] The Pandit’s coin was obtained by him in 1863 from Amreli in Káthiáváḍa. A copy of it is given by Mr. Justice Newton who calls Saṅghadáman son of Rudrasiṃha (Jour. B. B. R. A. S. IX. Pl. I. Fig. 7). The other specimen is better preserved. [↑]
[84] One of these coins was lent to the Pandit by Mr. Vajeshankar Gavrishankar. [↑]
[85] One specimen in the collection of Mr. Vajeshankar bears date 158. [↑]
[86] One of them was lent by Mr. Vajeshankar Gavrishankar. [↑]
[87] This name has generally been read Atridáman. [↑]
[88] Jour. B. B. R. A. S. VII. 16. [↑]
[89] See below Chapter VI. page 57. [↑]
[90] Cunningham’s Arch. Sur. X. 127; XV. 29–30. [↑]
[91] This coin of Rudrasena may have been taken so far from Gujarát by the Gujarát monk in whose honour the stúpa was built. [↑]