Chastana

Chastana
Western Satrap
Silver coin of Castana, with ruler profile and pseudo-Greek legend. British Museum.
Reign	130 CE
Predecessor	Nahapana

Coin of the Western Satrap Chastana. The obverse legend typically reads "PANNIΩ IATPAΠAC CIASTANCA" (corrupted Greek script), transliteration of the Prakrit Raño Kshatrapasa Castana: "King and Satrap Castana".

Chastana, or Castana, was a ruler of the Saka Western Satraps in northwestern India around 130 CE. He was satrap of Ujjain during that period.

A statue found in Mathura together with statues of the Kushan king Kanishka and Vima Taktu, and bearing the name "Shastana" is often attributed to Castana himself. Chastana is called Tisman by the bards, a spelling that matches the Greek rendition of his name more closely and is one of the most famous Ror kings and a lot of his coins have been found in the Agra area clearly identifying him as Ror-Vanshi.

Chastana was mentioned by Ptolemy as "Tiasthenes" or "Testenes", ruling a large area of Western India into the 2nd century CE, especially the area of Ujjain ("Ozene"), during the reign of the Satavahana king Vasisthiputra Sri Pulamavi.^[1] Ptolemy in his "Geographia", where he qualifies the Western Satraps as "Indo-Scythians", describes Chastana's territory as starting from Patalene in the West, to his capital Ujjain in the east ("Ozena-Regia Tiastani", "Ozene, capital of king Chastana"), and beyond Barigaza in the south:

Moreover the region which is next to the western part of India, is called Indoscythia. A part of this region around the (Indus) river mouth is Patalena, above which is Abiria. That which is about the mouth of the Indus and the Canthicolpus bay is called Syrastrena. (...) In the island formed by this river are the cities Pantala, Barbaria. (...) The Larica region of Indoscythia is located eastward from the swamp near the sea, in which on the west of the Namadus river is the interior city of Barygaza emporium. On the east side of the river (...) Ozena-Regia Tiastani (...) Minagara".

—Ptolemy Geographia, Book Seven, Chapter I

Chastana was the grandfather of the great Western Satrap conqueror Rudradaman I.

Notes

1. ↑ "According to Ptolemy, Siristolemaios (Sri Pulumayi), son of Gautamiputra Satakarni, continued to reign at Paithan (Pratisthana), while Ozene (Ujjain) fell into the hands of Tiasthenes (Chastana)." Alain Danielou, A Brief History of India (Inner Traditions, 2003), mentioned here

References

• "The dynastic art of the Kushans", Rosenfield