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Gujarat is a state on the western coast of India with a coastline of 1,600 km (990 mi) – longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula – and a population of 60.4 million. It is the fifth-largest Indian state by area and the ninth-largest state by population. Gujarat is bordered by Rajasthan to the northeast, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to the south, Maharashtra to the southeast, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and the Arabian Sea and the Pakistani province of Sindh to the west. Its capital city is Gandhinagar, while its largest city is Ahmedabad. The Gujarati people of India are indigenous to the state and their language, Gujarati, is the state's official language. The economy of Gujarat is the fifth-largest in India, with a gross state domestic product (GSDP) of ₹16.58 trillion (US$220 billion) and has the country's 10th-highest GSDP per capita of ₹213,936 (US$2,800). Gujarat ranks 21st among Indian states in human development index. The state traditionally has low unemployment and is widely considered one of the most industrially developed states of India and a manufacturing hub.
Satraps were the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with considerable autonomy. The word came to suggest tyranny or ostentatious splendour.
Girnar is an ancient hill in Junagadh, Gujarat, India. It is one of the Holiest pilgrimages for Hindus and Jains, where the 22nd Tirthankar, Lord Neminath attained nirvana. It is also believed to be place where next 24 Tirthankars will attain nirvana in future. The mountain is also an abode of many Hindu temples.
Indo-Scythians were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples of Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into northern and western regions of ancient India from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century CE.
Junagadh is the headquarters of Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Located at the foot of the Girnar hills, 355 kilometres (221 mi) southwest of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, it is the seventh largest city in the state.
The Satavahanas, also referred to as the Andhras in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty based in the Deccan region. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavahana rule began in the late second century BCE and lasted until the early third century CE, although some assign the beginning of their rule to as early as the 3rd century BCE based on the Puranas, but uncorroborated by archaeological evidence. The Satavahana kingdom mainly comprised the present-day Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra. At different times, their rule extended to parts of modern Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka. The dynasty had different capital cities at different times, including Pratishthana (Paithan) and Amaravati (Dharanikota).
The Western Satraps, or Western Kshatrapas were Indo-Scythian (Saka) rulers of the western and central part of India, between 35 to 405 CE. The Western Satraps were contemporaneous with the Kushans who ruled the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, and were possibly vassals of the Kushans. They were also contemporaneous with the Satavahana (Andhra) who ruled in Central India. They are called "Western Satraps" in modern historiography in order to differentiate them from the "Northern Satraps", who ruled in Punjab and Mathura until the 2nd century CE.
Rudradāman I was a Śaka ruler from the Western Kshatrapas dynasty. He was the grandson of the king Caṣṭana. Rudradāman I was instrumental in the decline of the Sātavāhana Empire. Rudradāman I took up the title of Maha-kshtrapa, after he became the king and then strengthened his kingdom.
The history of Gujarat began with Stone Age settlements followed by Chalcolithic and Bronze Age settlements like Indus Valley Civilisation. Gujarat's coastal cities, chiefly Bharuch, served as ports and trading centers in the Nanda, Maurya, Satavahana and Gupta empires as well as Western Kshatrapas period. After the fall of the Gupta empire in the 6th century, Gujarat flourished as an independent Hindu/Buddhist state. The Maitraka dynasty, descended from a Gupta general, ruled from the 6th to the 8th centuries from their capital at Vallabhi, although they were ruled briefly by Harsha during the 7th century. The Arab rulers of Sindh sacked Vallabhi in 770, bringing the Maitraka dynasty to an end. The Gurjara-Pratihara Empire ruled Gujarat after from the 8th to 10th centuries. As well as, for some periods the region came under the control of Rashtrakuta Empire and Pala Empire. In 775 the first Parsi (Zoroastrian) refugees arrived in Gujarat from Greater Iran.
Yaudheya or Yoddheya Gana was an ancient militant confederation. The word Yaudheya is a derivative of the word from yodha meaning warriors. They were principally kshatriya renowned for their skills in warfare, as inscribed in the Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman by the Indo-Scythian ruler Rudradaman of the Western Satraps. The Yaudheyas emerged in the 5th century BCE and governed independently until being incorporated into the Maurya Empire. Following the disintegration of the Maurya Empire, the Yaudheyas regained autonomy and ruled as contemporaries to the Shunga Empire and Indo-Greek Kingdoms, and minted their own coinage. However, they were conquered by the Kshatraps led by Rudradaman, and although briefly winning independence, they were then annexed by the Kushan Empire under Kanishka. The Yaudheya Republic reformed and flourished up to the middle to the 4th century when it was ultimately conquered by Samudragupta and incorporated into the Gupta Empire until being disestablished.
Chashtana was a ruler of the Saka Western Satraps in northwestern India during 78-130 CE, when he was the satrap of Ujjain.
Anarta was an ancient Indian region which corresponded to the present-day North Saurashtra to North Gujarat regions in Gujarat state of India. Several ancient inscriptions and literary sources mention a town called Anartapura or Anandapura, which is identified as the area in and around the present-day Vadnagar.
Vanaspara was an Indo-Scythian Northern Satrap (kshtrapa). He is mentioned as a "Satrap" of Kushan ruler Kanishka I on an inscription discovered in Sarnath, and dated to the 3rd year of Kanishka, in which Kanishka mentions he was, together with "Great Satrap" Kharapallana, governor of the eastern parts of his Empire.
The Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman, also known as the Girnar Rock inscription of Rudradaman, is a Sanskrit prose inscribed on a rock by the Western Satraps ruler Rudradaman I. It is located near Girnar hill near Junagadh, Gujarat, India. The inscription is dated to shortly after 150 CE. The Junagadh rock contains inscriptions of Ashoka, Rudradaman I and Skandagupta.
Tushaspa was a "Yavanaraja" for Emperor Ashoka, in the area of Girnar, near Junagadh, in Gujarat, India. He is only known from the Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman, in which the Western Satrap king Rudradaman, writing circa 150 CE, mentions his role in the construction of a local dam, in which he added a canal during the reign of Ashoka. The part of the inscription mentioning him reads:
"(L.8)……… ordered to be made by the Vaishya Pushyagupta, the provincial governor of the Maurya king Chandragupta; adorned with conduits for Ashoka the Maurya by the Yavana king Tushaspa while governing; and by the conduit ordered to be made by him, constructed in a manner worthy of a king (and) seen in that breach, the extensive dam…………..."
Rudrasena II (256–278) was a king of the Western Satraps, and the 19th ruler of the Kshatrapa dynasty. The Kshatrapa dynasty seems to have reached a high level of prosperity under his rule.
Rudrasimha II (304–348) was a ruler of the Western Satraps He declared on his coins to be the son of a Lord (Svami) named Jivadaman.
The Nashik inscription of Ushavadata is an inscription made in the Nashik Caves by Ushavadata, a son-in-law of the Western Satraps ruler Nahapana, in the years circa 120 CE. It is the earliest known instance of the usage of Sanskrit, although a rather hybrid form, in western India. It also documents the Indian tradition of dana (charity) to Brahmins, Buddhists and of building infrastructure to serve pilgrims and the general public by the 2nd-century CE.
The Abhira dynasty was a dynasty that ruled over the western Deccan, where they succeeded the Satavahanas. From 203 to roughly 260, they formed a vast kingdom. They were from the Abhira kshatriya clan.
The Saka-Satavahana Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Saka ksatraps and the Satavahanas during the 1st-2nd century CE. Both sides achieved success at varying points of the conflict, but in the end, it was the Satvahanas who prevailed. However, constant wars with the Sakas severely weakened them and was a major contributor in their fall.