History of Gujarát: Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Volume I, Part I.Campbell, James M.
History
History of Gujarát: Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Volume I, Part I.
Campbell, James M.
Gujarat (India) -- History
[The Name.] Besides as Kshatrapa, in the Prákrit legends of coins
and in inscriptions the title of these dynasties appears under
three forms Chhatrapa, [57] Chhatrava, [58] and Khatapa. [59] All
these forms have the same meaning namely Lord or Protector of the
warrior-race, the Sanskrit Kshatra-pa. [60] It is to be noted that
the title Kshatrapa appears nowhere as a title of any king or royal
officer within the whole range of Sanskrit literature, or indeed on any
inscription, coin, or other record of any Indian dynasty except the
Northern and the Western Kshatrapas. According to Prinsep Kshatrapa
is a Sanskritized form of Satrapa, a term familiar to the Grecian
history of ancient Persia and used for the prefect of a province
under the Persian system of government. As Prinsep further observes
Satrapa had probably the same meaning in Ariana that Kshatrapa had in
Sanskrit, the ruler feeder or patron of the kshatra or warrior class,
the chief of a warlike tribe or clan. [61] Prinsep further notes the
Persian kings were often in need of such chiefs and as they entrusted
the chiefs with the government of parts of their dominions the word
came to mean a governor. So during the anarchy which prevailed on
the Skythian overthrow of Greek rule in Baktria [62] (B.C. 160)
several chiefs of Malaya, Pallava, Ábhíra, Meda, and other predatory
tribes came from Baktria to Upper India, and each established for
himself a principality or kingdom. Subsequently these chiefs appear
to have assumed independent sovereignty. Still though they often call
themselves rájás or kings with the title Kshatrapa or Mahákshatrapa,
if any Baktrian king advanced towards their territories, they were
probably ready to acknowledge him as Overlord. Another reason for
believing these Kshatrapa chiefs to have been foreigners is that,
while the names of the founders of Kshatrapa sovereignty are foreign,
their inscriptions and coins show that soon after the establishment
of their rule they became converts to one or other form of the Hindu
religion and assumed Indian names. [63]
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