Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/305

 THE WESTEKtf SATRAPS 263 opened up to the paramount power free access to the ports of the western coast, and thus placed Chandra- gupta II in direct touch with the sea-borne commerce with Europe through Egypt, and brought his court and subjects under the influence of the European ideas which travelled with the goods of the Alexandrian merchants. The Saka dynasty, which was overthrown in 395 A. D., had been founded in the first century of the Christian era, probably by a chief named Bhumaka Kshaharata. He was followed by Nahapana, a member of the same clan. When the latter was destroyed by the Andhra king, as related in Chapter VLLL, the local government passed into the hands of Chashtana and his descendants. In the middle of the second century the satrap Rudradaman, having decisively defeated his Andhra rival, had firmly established his own power not only over the peninsula of Surashtra, but also over Malwa, Cutch (Kachchh), Sind, the Konkan, and other districts in short, over Western India. The capital of Chashtana and his successors was Ujjain, one of the most ancient cities of India, the principal depot for the commerce between the ports of the west and the in- terior, famous as a seat of learning and civilization, and also notable as the Indian Greenwich from which longi- tudes were reckoned. The place, which is still a consid- erable town with many relics of its past greatness, retains its ancient name, and was for a time the capital of Maharaja Sindia. Samudragupta, although not able to undertake the