Rudrasena I () was a

Saka The Saka, Old Chinese, old , Pinyin, mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit (Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian ...

ruler of the

Western Satrap The Western Satraps, or Western Kshatrapas (Brahmi: , ''Mahakṣatrapa'', "Great Satraps") were Indo-Scythian (Saka) rulers of the western and central parts of India (extending from Saurashtra (region), Saurashtra in the south and Malwa in the ...

dynasty in the area of

Malwa Malwa () is a historical region, historical list of regions in India, region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic plateau, volcanic upland north of the ...

in ancient

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. During his reign, the Saka ''ksatrapas'' remained strong after a period of instability during the reign of Rudrasimha I.

Biography

He is mainly known from his coins. Several have a date in

Brahmi Brahmi ( ; ; ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system from ancient India. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as 'lath' or ...

numerals on the reverse (such as 142 Saka Era = 220 CE). The reverse shows a three-arched hill or Chaitya, with a river, a crescent moon and the sun, within a legend in

''"Rajno Mahaksatrapasa Rudrasihaputrasa Rajno Mahaksatrapasa Rudrasenasa"'', "The great satrap Rudrasena, son of the great satrap Rudrasiha".

Reign

Rudrasena succeeded his cousin

Jivadaman Jivadaman was a Saka ruler of the Western Kshatrapas in northwestern India during the 2nd century CE. He was the son of Damajadasri I (170–175), and the brother of Satyadaman. Biography The exact dating of Jivadaman's reign has been deb ...

, who had no sons, as a ruler of the Western Satraps. Coin of Rudrasena

His sister Prabhudama was perhaps married to a ruler of Vaishali. After his death, the

Malavas The Malavas (Brahmi script: 𑀫𑁆𑀫𑀸𑀭𑀯 ''Mmālava'') or Malwas were an ancient Indian tribe. They are believed to be the Mallian people (Malloi) who lived in the Punjab region at the time of Alexander's invasion in the 4th century ...

under their king Soma re-asserted their independence from the Saka satraps.

References

External links

Western Satrap coins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudrasena 01 Western Satraps 3rd-century Indian monarchs People from Ujjain