Defeating the Shakas
The Defender
For over three centuries, the Shakas, foreign rulers descended from Central Asian Scythians, had controlled western India and its lucrative sea trade with Rome. Chandragupta II's father Samudragupta had conquered most of India but left this task unfinished. Now the son would complete the work, in a campaign that ended three hundred years of foreign rule and opened the gates to India's true Golden Age.
The Unfinished Business
When Samudragupta died around 375 CE, he left behind the largest empire India had seen since Ashoka. His Allahabad Pillar inscription boasts of "violently uprooting" nine kings and humbling twelve southern kingdoms. Yet one significant power remained unconquered: the Western Kshatrapas.
These were the Shakas, descendants of Scythian tribes who had migrated from Central Asia centuries earlier. By Chandragupta II's time, they had ruled Gujarat, Malwa, and parts of Rajasthan for over 300 years. They weren't just foreign rulers; they had become Indianized, adopting Sanskrit, patronizing Hindu temples, and integrating into Indian society.
But they still represented:
- Foreign origin in a resurgent Hindu empire
- Control of western ports that connected India to Roman trade
- Unfinished Gupta ambitions, Samudragupta's one major omission
- A family insult, if the Ramagupta story is true
The Prize: India's Maritime Wealth
Why were the Shakas so important? The answer lay in trade.
The western coast of India, from Gujarat to the Konkan, was the terminus of one of history's most lucrative trade routes. Roman merchants came seeking:
| Indian Export | Roman Demand |
|---|---|
| Pepper and spices | Roman cuisine, medicine |
| Cotton textiles | Luxury clothing |
| Precious gems | Jewelry, status symbols |
| Perfumes | Religious and personal use |
| Iron and steel | Famous "wootz" steel for swords |
In return, Romans paid in gold coins, so much gold that the Roman writer Pliny complained that trade with India was draining the empire's treasury.
"India absorbs fifty million sesterces of our Empire's wealth every year." , Pliny the Elder, Natural History
The ports of Bharuch (Barygaza), Sopara, and Kalyan were among the richest in the ancient world. Whoever controlled these ports controlled the wealth of maritime trade.