SHAKA

After Vasudeva II, Kushan chronology becomes extremely uncertain. There are coins that may be of several different rulers. One group of coins all carry the Brahmi legend Shaka in the right field, in the same place where Vasudeva II’s coins read Vasu, so it is natural to suppose that perhaps Shaka was the name of the king. A further support for this idea is that there is a mention of one “Devaputra Shahi Shahanshahi Shaka Murunda” in Samudragupta’s famous Allahabad inscription, as one of the rulers who paid him homage. In this context, Shaka could be a title, it could refer to a tribe, or it could be a personal name. In any case, it seems to be related to the Shaka coins. Unfortunately, we don’t know the date of the Allahabad inscription, so the best guess on dating Shaka is c. mid-4th century.