Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/284

 246 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY ognize the Kushan supremacy; but the name in Indian letters placed by the side of the spear is frequently monosyllabic, like a Chinese name, Bha, Ga, Vi, and so forth. These monosyllabic names seem to belong to chiefs of various Central Asian tribes who invaded India and acknowledged the supremacy of the Kushan or Shahi Kings of Kabul. One coin with the modified Kushan obverse, and the names Bashana, Nu, Pakal- dhi (?) in Indian Brahmi characters in various parts of the field, has on the reverse a fire altar of the type found on the coins of the earliest Sasanian kings. It is thus clear that in some way or other, during the third century, the Pan jab renewed its ancient connec- tion with Persia. Nothing definite is recorded concerning the dynasties of Northern India, excluding the Pan jab, during the third century, and the early part of the fourth. The imperial city of Pataliputra is known to have contin- ued to be a place of importance as late as the fifth century, but there is not even the slightest indication of the nature of the dynasty which ruled there during the third. The only intelligible dynastic list for the period is that of the Saka satraps of Western India, whose history will be more conveniently noticed in the next chapter in connection with that of the Gupta em- perors.