money from his own exchequer without levying extra taxes on the people.
    A group of highly qualified ministers who were divided into two classes
—matisachiva (Counsellors) and karmasachiva (Executive officers)—helped
the king in his work of administration.
    According to the Junagarh inscription Rudradaman married a number of
princesses. These matrimonial alliances of the Kardamakas with the
Satavahanas of the Deccan, the Ikshavakus of Andhra and the Lichchhavis of
Vaisali point to the gradual assimilation of the Scythians into Indian society.
Like Nahapana, he seems to have enjoyed a long reign.
    Rudradarnan I was succeeded by Damaghsada I, Rudrasimha I,
Jivadaman, Rudrasena I, Sanghadaman and Damasena in that order. The last
known ruler Rudrasimha III, who ruled up to AD 388, has been mentioned in
Bana’s Harshacharita as having been killed by the Gupta monarch,
Chandragupta II. The Guptas then annexed the Saka territories and issued
coins in imitation of the satrapa type.
Parthians
The first member of this line was Vonones, who attained power in Arachosia
and Seistan. Gondophernes was however the greatest Indo-Parthian monarch,
the period of his reign (AD 19–45) being definitely fixed with the famous
Takht-i-Bhai Inscription.
    Gondophernes is credited with the conquest of an extensive dominion. He
overthrew Hermaeus, the last Greek king of the upper Kabul valley, in spite
of the help the latter received from his Kushana ally, Kujula Kadphises. But
Gondophernes’ success against the Sakas in India was far more conspicuous.
That he supplanted Azes II in some territories seems evident from the coins
of Aspavarman, who was at first the latter’s strategos but later acknowledged
Gondopherenes as his overlord.
    The legend connecting St Thomas, the Apostle, with Gondophernes
appears for the first time in the original Syrian text of the Acts of St Thomas.
St Thomas might have thus visited Gondophemes’ dominion in the course of
his apostolic career and then travelled to south India.
    After the death of Gondophernes, the Parthian empire was split up into
petty principalities. The Kushanas were quick to take advantage of the