Silver coin of Vijayamitra in the name of Azes. Buddhist triratna symbol in the left field on the reverse.Apracaraja Vijayamitra.Apracaraja Vijayamitra.
Vijayamitra was an Apracharaja who ruled in Gandhara, with his capital in Bajaur. He succeeded the previous Apracharaja, Visnuvarma, in 3 BCE with a reign lasting til 32 CE.
Rukhana reliquary
Vijayamitra is mentioned in a recently discovered inscription in Kharoshthi on a Buddhist reliquary (the "Rukhana reliquary",[1] published by Salomon in 2005), which gives a relationship between several eras of the period, and especially gives confirmation of a Yavana era in relation to the Azes era:
"In the twenty-seventh - 27 - year in the reign of Lord Vijayamitra, the King of the Apraca; in the seventy-third - 73 - year which is called "of Azes", in the two hundred and first - 201 - year of the Yonas (Greeks), on the eighth day of the month of Sravana; on this day was established [this] stupa by Rukhana, the wife of the King of Apraca, [and] by Vijayamitra, the king of Apraca, [and] by Indravarma (Indravasu?), the commander (stratega), [together] with their wives and sons."[2][3]
This dedication indicates that King Vijayamitra was a follower of Buddhism. His coins also bear the triratna Buddhist symbol.
Since Vijamitra is said to have ruled 27 years already, as the inscription is dated to 16 CE (Year 73 of the Azes era and 201 of the Yavana era), his reign started in 12 BCE, and ended probably a few years after the dedication took place, around 20 CE.
Shinkot casket
Vijamitra also made a second inscription in the Shinkot casket, which had initially been dedicated under the reign of Indo-Greek king Menander I.[4]
Notes
^Des Indo-Grecs aux Sassanides: données pour l'histoire et la géographie historique, Rika Gyselen
Peeters Publishers, 2007, p.109 [1]
^"Afghanistan, carrefour en l'Est et l'Ouest" p.373. Also Senior 2003
^An Inscribed Silver Buddhist Reliquary of the Time of King Kharaosta and Prince Indravarman, Richard Salomon, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 116, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1996), pp. 442 [3]
^A Kharosthī Reliquary Inscription of the Time of the Apraca Prince Visnuvarma, by Richard Salomon, South Asian Studies 11 1995, Pages 27-32, Published online: 09 Aug 2010 [4]
