The first century CE sees another incursion of the Sakas of Central Asia into India, where they form the dynasty of the Western Kshatrapas.

The four immediate successors of Hāla (r. CE 20–24) have short reigns totaling about a dozen years.

The Satavahanas lose a considerable territory to the satraps during the reign of the Western Satrap Nahapana (r. CE 55–100), including eastern Malwa, Southern Gujarat, and Northern Konkan, from Broach to Sopara and the Nasik and Pune.

Rudradaman I, grandson of Chastana, takes the title "Mahakshatrapa" ("Great Satrap") around 130 CE and defends his kingdom from the Satavahanas.

The Saka rulers of the western and central part of India at this time are known as the Western Satraps, Western Kshatrapas, or Kshaharatas.

The conflict between the Western Satrap Rudradaman and the Satavahana Dynasty has become so grueling, that, in order to contain the conflict, a matrimonial relationship is concluded by giving Rudradaman's daughter to the Satavahana king Vashishtiputra Satakarni.

The great Satavahana conqueror Gautamiputra Satakarni, who had ruled the Satavahana Empire from 78 to 106 CE, had been succeeded by his son Vasisthiputra Sri Pulamav; this ruler had been succeeded in 130 by his younger brother, Vashishtiputra Sātakarni.

At first engaged in great conflict with the Scythian Western Kshatrapas in the West, he had eventually married the daughter of Rudradaman I of the Western Kshatrapa dynasty in order to forge an alliance.

Around 150 CE, however, Rudradaman I, now his father-in-law, wages war against the Satavahanas, who are defeated twice in these conflicts, with serious effect on Sātavāhana power and prestige.

Vashishtiputra Satakarni is only spared his life because of his family links with Rudradaman.

As a result of his victories, Rudradaman regains all the former territories previously held by Nahapana, except for the extreme south territories of Pune and Nasik.

Satavahana dominions are limited to their original base in the Deccan and eastern central India around Amaravati.