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Kushan Empire

April 10, 2024

The Kushan Empire (c. 30–c. 375 AD)[a] was a syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Northern India,[16][17][18] at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath, near Varanasi, where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan emperor Kanishka the Great.[note 3]

Kushan Empire
Κοϸανο (Bactrian)
Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν (Ancient Greek)
कुषाणसाम्राज्यम् (Sanskrit)
30–375
A map of India in the 2nd century AD showing the extent of the Kushan Empire (in green) during the reign of Kanishka. Most historians consider the empire to have variously extended as far east as the middle Ganges plain,[1] to Varanasi on the confluence of the Ganges and the Jumna,[2][3] or probably even Pataliputra.[4][5]
CapitalPeshawar (Puruṣapura)
Taxila (Takṣaśilā)
Mathura (Mathurā)
Common languagesGreek (official until c. 127)[note 1]
Bactrian[note 1] (official from c. 127)[note 2]
Gandhari Prakrit[8]
Hybrid Sanskrit[8]
Religion
Hinduism[9]
Buddhism[10]
Zoroastrianism[11]
Demonym(s)Kushanas (Yuezhi)
GovernmentMonarchy
Emperor 
• 30–80
Kujula Kadphises (first)
• 350–375
Kipunada (last)
Historical eraClassical Antiquity
• Kujula Kadphises unites Yuezhi tribes into a confederation
30
• Subjugated by the Sasanians and Hepthalites[12]
375
Area
200 (low-end estimate of peak area)[13]2,000,000 km2 (770,000 sq mi)
200 (high-end estimate of peak area)[14]2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi)
CurrencyKushan drachma

The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation,[22][23] an Indo-European nomadic people of possible Tocharian origin,[24][25][26][27][28] who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient Bactria.[23] The founder of the dynasty, Kujula Kadphises, followed Greek cultural ideas and iconography after the Greco-Bactrian tradition and was a follower of the Shaivite sect of Hinduism.[29] Two later Kushan kings, Vima Kadphises and Vasudeva II, were also patrons of Hinduism. The Kushans in general were also great patrons of Buddhism, and, starting with Emperor Kanishka, they employed elements of Zoroastrianism in their pantheon.[30] They played an important role in the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and China, ushering in a period of relative peace for 200 years, sometimes described as "Pax Kushana".[31]

The Kushans possibly used the Greek language initially for administrative purposes but soon began to use the Bactrian language. Kanishka sent his armies north of the Karakoram mountains. A direct road from Gandhara to China remained under Kushan control for more than a century, encouraged travel across the Karakoram, and facilitated the spread of Mahayana Buddhism to China. The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the Roman Empire, Sasanian Persia, the Aksumite Empire, and the Han dynasty of China. The Kushan Empire was at the center of trade relations between the Roman Empire and China: according to Alain Daniélou, "for a time, the Kushana Empire was the centerpoint of the major civilizations".[32] While much philosophy, art, and science was created within its borders, the only textual record of the empire's history today comes from inscriptions and accounts in other languages, particularly Chinese.[33]

The Kushan Empire fragmented into semi-independent kingdoms in the 3rd century AD, which fell to the Sasanians invading from the west and establishing the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom in the areas of Sogdiana, Bactria, and Gandhara. In the 4th century, the Guptas, another Indian dynasty, also pressed from the east. The last of the Kushan and Kushano-Sasanian kingdoms were eventually overwhelmed by invaders from the north, known as the Kidarites, and later the Hephthalites.[12]

Origins edit

 
Yuezhi nobleman and priest over a fire altar. Noin-Ula.[34][35]

Chinese sources describe the Guìshuāng (貴霜, Old Chinese: *kuj-s [s]raŋ), i.e. the Kushans, as one of the five aristocratic tribes of the Yuezhi.[36] Many scholars believe that the Yuezhi were a people of Indo-European origin.[24][37] A specifically Tocharian origin of the Yuezhi is often suggested.[24][25][26][27][28][38] An Iranian, specifically Saka origin, has also been suggested by some scholars.[39]

The Yuezhi were described in the Records of the Great Historian and the Book of Han as living in the grasslands of eastern Xinjiang and northwestern part of Gansu, in the northwest of modern-day China, until their King was beheaded by the Xiongnu (匈奴) who were also at war with China, which eventually forced them to migrate west in 176–160 BC.[40] The five tribes constituting the Yuezhi are known in Chinese history as Xiūmì (休密), Guìshuāng (貴霜), Shuāngmǐ (雙靡), Xìdùn (肸頓), and Dūmì (都密).

 
The ethnonym "KOϷϷANO" (Koshshano, "Kushan") in Greek alphabet (with the addition of the letter Ϸ, "Sh") on a coin of the first known Kushan ruler Heraios (1st century AD).

The Yuezhi reached the Hellenic kingdom of Greco-Bactria (in northern Afghanistan and Uzbekistan) around 135 BC. The displaced Greek dynasties resettled to the southeast in areas of the Hindu Kush (in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan) and the Indus basin (in present-day Pakistan and India), occupying the western part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom.

In South Asia, Kushan emperors regularly used the dynastic name ΚΟϷΑΝΟ ("Koshano") on their coinage.[15] Several inscriptions in Sanskrit in the Brahmi script, such as the Mathura inscription of the statue of Vima Kadphises, refer to the Kushan Emperor as      , Ku-ṣā-ṇa ("Kushana").[15][41] Some later Indian literary sources referred to the Kushans as Turushka, a name which in later Sanskrit sources[note 4] was confused with Turk, "probably due to the fact that Tukharistan passed into the hands of the western Turks in the seventh century".[42][43] According to John M. Rosenfield, Turushka, Tukhāra or Tukhāra are variations of the word Tokhari in Indian writings.[44] Yet, according to Wink, "nowadays no historian considers them to be Turkish-Mongoloid or "Hun", although there is no doubt about their Central-Asian origin."[42]

Early Kushans edit

Kushan portraits
 
Head of a Yuezhi prince (Khalchayan palace, Uzbekistan)[45]
 
The first king to call himself "Kushan" on his coinage: Heraios (AD 1–30)
 
Kushan devotee (2nd century AD). Metropolitan Museum of Art (detail)
 
Portrait of Kushan emperor Vima Kadphises, AD 100-127

Some traces remain of the presence of the Kushans in the area of Bactria and Sogdiana in the 2nd-1st century BC, where they had displaced the Sakas, who moved further south.[46] Archaeological structures are known in Takht-i Sangin, Surkh Kotal (a monumental temple), and in the palace of Khalchayan. On the ruins of ancient Hellenistic cities such as Ai-Khanoum, the Kushans are known to have built fortresses. Various sculptures and friezes from this period are known, representing horse-riding archers,[47] and, significantly, men such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan with artificially deformed skulls, a practice well attested in nomadic Central Asia.[48][49] Some of the Khalchayan sculptural scenes are also thought to depict the Kushans fighting against the Sakas.[50] In these portrayals, the Yuezhis are shown with a majestic demeanour, whereas the Sakas are typically represented with side-whiskers, and more or less grotesque facial expressions.[50]

The Chinese first referred to these people as the Yuezhi and said they established the Kushan Empire, although the relationship between the Yuezhi and the Kushans is still unclear. Ban Gu's Book of Han tells us the Kushans (Kuei-shuang) divided up Bactria in 128 BC. Fan Ye's Book of Later Han "relates how the chief of the Kushans, Ch'iu-shiu-ch'ueh (the Kujula Kadphises of coins), founded by means of the submission of the other Yueh-chih clans the Kushan Empire."[46]

The earliest documented ruler, and the first one to proclaim himself as a Kushan ruler, was Heraios. He calls himself a "tyrant" in Greek on his coins, and also exhibits skull deformation. He may have been an ally of the Greeks, and he shared the same style of coinage. Heraios may have been the father of the first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises.[citation needed]

The Chinese Book of Later Han chronicles then gives an account of the formation of the Kushan empire based on a report made by the Chinese general Ban Yong to the Chinese Emperor c. AD 125:

More than a hundred years later [than the conquest of Bactria by the Yuezhi], the prince [xihou] of Guishuang (Badakhshan) established himself as king, and his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang (Kushan) King. He invaded Anxi (Indo-Parthia), and took the Gaofu (Kabul) region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda (Paktiya) and Jibin (Kapisha and Gandhara). Qiujiuque (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died. His son, Yangaozhen [probably Vema Tahk (tu) or, possibly, his brother Sadaṣkaṇa ], became king in his place. He defeated Tianzhu [North-western India] and installed Generals to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang [Kushan] king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi.

— Book of Later Han.[51][52]

Diverse cultural influences edit

In the 1st century BC, the Guishuang (Ch: 貴霜) gained prominence over the other Yuezhi tribes, and welded them into a tight confederation under commander Kujula Kadphises.[53] The name Guishuang was adopted in the West and modified into Kushan to designate the confederation, although the Chinese continued to call them Yuezhi.

Gradually wresting control of the area from the Scythian tribes, the Kushans expanded south into the region traditionally known as Gandhara (an area primarily in Pakistan's Pothowar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region) and established twin capitals in Begram[54] and Charsadda, then known as Kapisa and Pushklavati respectively.[53]

 
Greek alphabet (narrow columns) with Kushan script (wide columns)

The Kushans adopted elements of the Hellenistic culture of Bactria. They adopted the Greek alphabet to suit their own language (with the additional development of the letter Þ "sh", as in "Kushan") and soon began minting coinage on the Greek model. On their coins they used Greek language legends combined with Pali legends (in the Kharoshthi script), until the first few years of the reign of Kanishka. After the middle of Kanishka's reign, they used Kushan language legends (in an adapted Greek script), combined with legends in Greek (Greek script) and legends in Prakrit (Kharoshthi script).

 
Early gold coin of Kanishka I with Greek language legend and Hellenistic divinity Helios. (c. AD 120).
Obverse: Kanishka standing, clad in heavy Kushan coat and long boots, flames emanating from shoulders, holding a standard in his left hand, and making a sacrifice over an altar. Greek legend:
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΚΑΝΗϷΚΟΥ
Basileus Basileon Kanishkoy
"[Coin] of Kanishka, king of kings".
Reverse: Standing Helios in Hellenistic style, forming a benediction gesture with the right hand. Legend in Greek script:
ΗΛΙΟΣ Helios
Kanishka monogram (tamgha) to the left.

The Kushans "adopted many local beliefs and customs, including Zoroastrianism and the two rising religions in the region, the Greek cults and Buddhism".[54] From the time of Vima Takto, many Kushans started adopting aspects of Buddhist culture, and like the Egyptians, they absorbed the strong remnants of the Greek culture of the Hellenistic Kingdoms, becoming at least partly Hellenised. The great Kushan emperor Vima Kadphises, father of Kanishka, embraced Shaivism, a sect of Hinduism, as surmised by coins minted during the period.[9] The following Kushan emperors represented a wide variety of faiths including Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and Hindu Shaivism.

The rule of the Kushans linked the seagoing trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the Silk Road through the long-civilized Indus Valley. At the height of the dynasty, the Kushans loosely ruled a territory that extended to the Aral Sea through present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India.[53]

The loose unity and comparative peace of such a vast expanse encouraged long-distance trade, brought Chinese silks to Rome, and created strings of flourishing urban centers.[53]

Territorial expansion edit

 
Kushan territories (full line) and maximum extent of Kushan control under Kanishka the Great.[55] The extent of Kushan control is notably documented in the Rabatak inscription.[5][56][note 5][57] The northern expansion into the Tarim Basin is mainly suggested by coin finds and Chinese chronicles.[58][59]

Rosenfield notes that archaeological evidence of a Kushan rule of long duration is present in an area stretching from Surkh Kotal, Begram, the summer capital of the Kushans, Peshawar, the capital under Kanishka I, Taxila, and Mathura, the winter capital of the Kushans.[60] The Kushans introduced for the first time a form of governance which consisted of Kshatrapas (Brahmi:   , Kṣatrapa, "Satraps") and Mahakshatrapa (Brahmi:       , Mahakṣatrapa, "Great Satraps").[61]

Other areas of probable rule include Khwarezm and its capital city of Toprak-Kala,[60][62] Kausambi (excavations of Allahabad University),[60] Sanchi and Sarnath (inscriptions with names and dates of Kushan kings),[60] Malwa and Maharashtra,[63] and Odisha (imitation of Kushan coins, and large Kushan hoards).[60]

 
Map showing the four empires of Eurasia in the 2nd century AD. "For a time, the Kushan Empire was the centerpoint of the major civilizations".[32]

Kushan invasions in the 1st century AD had been given as an explanation for the migration of Indians from the Indian Subcontinent toward Southeast Asia according to proponents of a Greater India theory by 20th-century Indian nationalists. However, there is no evidence to support this hypothesis.[64]

The Rabatak inscription, discovered in 1993, confirms the account of the Hou Hanshu, Weilüe, and inscriptions dated early in the Kanishka era (incept probably AD 127), that large Kushan dominions expanded into the heartland of northern India in the early 2nd century AD.[clarify] Lines 4 to 7 of the inscription describe the cities which were under the rule of Kanishka,[note 6] among which six names are identifiable: Ujjain, Kundina, Saketa, Kausambi, Pataliputra, and Champa (although the text is not clear whether Champa was a possession of Kanishka or just beyond it).[65][note 5][66][67] The Buddhist text Śrīdharmapiṭakanidānasūtra—known via a Chinese translation made in AD 472—refers to the conquest of Pataliputra by Kanishka.[68] A 2nd century stone inscription by a Great Satrap named Rupiamma was discovered in Pauni, south of the Narmada river, suggesting that Kushan control extended this far south, although this could alternatively have been controlled by the Western Satraps.[69]

 
Eastern reach as far as Bengal: Samatata coinage of king Vira Jadamarah, in imitation of the Kushan coinage of Kanishka I. The text of the legend is a meaningless imitation. Bengal, circa 2nd-3rd century AD.[70]

In the East, as late as the 3rd century AD, decorated coins of Huvishka were dedicated at Bodh Gaya together with other gold offerings under the "Enlightenment Throne" of the Buddha, suggesting direct Kushan influence in the area during that period.[71] Coins of the Kushans are found in abundance as far as Bengal, and the ancient Bengali state of Samatata issued coins copied from the coinage of Kanishka I, although probably only as a result of commercial influence.[72][70][73] Coins in imitation of Kushan coinage have also been found abundantly in the eastern state of Orissa.[74]

In the West, the Kushan state covered the Pārata state of Balochistan, western Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan was known for the Kushan Buddhist city of Merv.[60]

Northward, in the 1st century AD, the Kujula Kadphises sent an army to the Tarim Basin to support the city-state of Kucha, which had been resisting the Chinese invasion of the region, but they retreated after minor encounters.[75] In the 2nd century AD, the Kushans under Kanishka made various forays into the Tarim Basin, where they had various contacts with the Chinese. Kanishka held areas of the Tarim Basin apparently corresponding to the ancient regions held by the Yüeh-zhi, the possible ancestors of the Kushan. There was Kushan influence on coinage in Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan.[58] According to Chinese chronicles, the Kushans (referred to as Da Yuezhi in Chinese sources) requested, but were denied, a Han princess, even though they had sent presents to the Chinese court. In retaliation, they marched on Ban Chao in AD 90 with a force of 70,000 but were defeated by the smaller Chinese force. Chinese chronicles relate battles between the Kushans and the Chinese general Ban Chao.[67] The Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire. The regions of the Tarim Basin were all ultimately conquered by Ban Chao. Later, during the Yuánchū period (AD 114–120), the Kushans sent a military force to install Chenpan, who had been a hostage among them, as king of Kashgar.[76]

Kushan fortresses edit

Several Kushan fortresses are known, particularly in Bactria, which were often rebuilt on top of Hellenistic fortifications, as in Kampir Tepe.[77][78] They are often characterised by arrow-shaped loopholes for archers.[77]

History edit

Kushan rulers are recorded for a period of about three centuries, from circa 30 CE to circa 375 CE, until the invasions of the Kidarites. They ruled around the same time as the Western Satraps, the Satavahanas, and the first Gupta Empire rulers.[citation needed]

Kujula Kadphises (c. 30 – c. 80) edit

Main article: Kujula Kadphises

...the prince [elavoor] of Guishuang, named thilac [Kujula Kadphises], attacked and exterminated the four other xihou. He established himself as king, and his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang [Kushan] King. He invaded Anxi [Indo-Parthia] and took the Gaofu [Kabul] region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda [Paktiya] and Jibin [Kapisha and Gandhara]. Qiujiuque [Kujula Kadphises] was more than eighty years old when he died."

— Hou Hanshu[51]

These conquests by Kujula Kadphises probably took place sometime between AD 45 and 60 and laid the basis for the Kushan Empire which was rapidly expanded by his descendants.[citation needed]

Kujula issued an extensive series of coins and fathered at least two sons, Sadaṣkaṇa (who is known from only two inscriptions, especially the Rabatak inscription, and apparently never ruled), and seemingly Vima Takto.[citation needed]

Kujula Kadphises was the great-grandfather of Kanishka.[citation needed]

Vima Taktu or Sadashkana (c. 80 – c. 95) edit

Main article: Vima Takto

Vima Takto (Ancient Chinese: 閻膏珍 Yangaozhen) is mentioned in the Rabatak inscription (another son, Sadashkana, is mentioned in an inscription of Senavarman, the King of Odi). He was the predecessor of Vima Kadphises, and Kanishka I. He expanded the Kushan Empire into the northwest of South Asia. The Hou Hanshu says:

"His son, Yangaozhen [probably Vema Tahk (tu) or, possibly, his brother Sadaṣkaṇa], became king in his place. He defeated Tianzhu [North-western India] and installed Generals to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang [Kushan] king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi."

— Hou Hanshu[51]

Vima Kadphises (c. 95 – c. 127) edit

Main article: Vima Kadphises

Vima Kadphises (Kushan language: Οοημο Καδφισης) was a Kushan emperor from around AD 95–127, the son of Sadashkana and the grandson of Kujula Kadphises, and the father of Kanishka I, as detailed by the Rabatak inscription.[citation needed]

Vima Kadphises added to the Kushan territory by his conquests in Bactria. He issued an extensive series of coins and inscriptions. He issued gold coins in addition to the existing copper and silver coinage.[citation needed]

Kanishka I (c. 127 – c. 150) edit

Main article: Kanishka
Mathura statue of Kanishka
 
Statue of Kanishka in long coat and boots, holding a mace and a sword, in the Mathura Museum. An inscription runs along the bottom of the coat.
 
The inscription is in middle Brahmi script:
                            
Mahārāja Rājadhirāja Devaputra Kāṇiṣka
"The Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, Kanishka".[80]
Mathura art, Mathura Museum

The rule of Kanishka the Great, fourth Kushan king, lasted for about 23 years from c. AD 127.[81] Upon his accession, Kanishka ruled a huge territory (virtually all of northern India), south to Ujjain and Kundina and east beyond Pataliputra, according to the Rabatak inscription:

In the year one, it has been proclaimed unto India, unto the whole realm of the governing class, including Koonadeano (Kaundiny, Kundina) and the city of Ozeno (Ozene, Ujjain) and the city of Zageda (Saketa) and the city of Kozambo (Kausambi) and the city of Palabotro (Pataliputra) and as far as the city of Ziri-tambo (Sri-Champa), whatever rulers and other important persons (they might have) he had submitted to (his) will, and he had submitted all India to (his) will.

— Rabatak inscription, Lines 4–8

His territory was administered from two capitals: Purushapura (now Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan) and Mathura, in northern India. He is also credited (along with Raja Dab) for building the massive, ancient Fort at Bathinda (Qila Mubarak), in the modern city of Bathinda, Indian Punjab.[citation needed]

The Kushans also had a summer capital in Bagram (then known as Kapisa), where the "Begram Treasure", comprising works of art from Greece to China, has been found. According to the Rabatak inscription, Kanishka was the son of Vima Kadphises, the grandson of Sadashkana, and the great-grandson of Kujula Kadphises. Kanishka's era is now generally accepted to have begun in 127 on the basis of Harry Falk's ground-breaking research.[19][20] Kanishka's era was used as a calendar reference by the Kushans for about a century, until the decline of the Kushan realm.[citation needed]

Huvishka (c. 150 – c. 180) edit

Main article: Huvishka

Huvishka (Kushan: Οοηϸκι, "Ooishki") was a Kushan emperor from the death of Kanishka (assumed on the best evidence available to be in 150) until the succession of Vasudeva I about thirty years later. His rule was a period of retrenchment and consolidation for the Empire. In particular he devoted time and effort early in his reign to the exertion of greater control over the city of Mathura.[citation needed]

Vasudeva I (c. 190 – c. 230) edit

Main article: Vasudeva I

Vasudeva I (Kushan: Βαζοδηο "Bazodeo", Chinese: 波調 "Bodiao") was the last of the "Great Kushans". Named inscriptions dating from year 64 to 98 of Kanishka's era suggest his reign extended from at least AD 191 to 225. He was the last great Kushan emperor, and the end of his rule coincides with the invasion of the Sasanians as far as northwestern India, and the establishment of the Indo-Sasanians or Kushanshahs in what is nowadays Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India from around AD 240.[citation needed]

class=notpageimage|
Location of the Little Kushans in the northwestern part of the subcontinent, and contemporary South Asian polities circa 350 CE.[82]

Vāsishka (c. 247 – c. 267) edit

Main article: Vāsishka

Vāsishka was a Kushan emperor who seems to have had a 20-year reign following Kanishka II. His rule is recorded at Mathura, in Gandhara and as far south as Sanchi (near Vidisa), where several inscriptions in his name have been found, dated to the year 22 (the Sanchi inscription of "Vaksushana" – i.e., Vasishka Kushana) and year 28 (the Sanchi inscription of Vasaska – i.e., Vasishka) of a possible second Kanishka era.[83][84]

Little Kushans (AD 270 – 350) edit

Following territory losses in the west (Bactria lost to the Kushano-Sasanians), and in the east (loss of Mathura to the Gupta Empire), several "Little Kushans" are known, who ruled locally in the area of Punjab with their capital at Taxila: Vasudeva II (270 – 300), Mahi (300 – 305), Shaka (305 – 335) and Kipunada (335 – 350).[83] They probably were vassals of the Gupta Empire, until the invasion of the Kidarites destroyed the last remains of Kushan rule.[83]

Kushan deities edit

 
Kumara/Kartikeya with a Kushan devotee, 2nd century AD
 
Kushan prince, said to be Huvishka, making a donation to a Boddhisattva.[85]
 
Shiva Linga worshipped by Kushan devotees, circa 2nd century AD

The Kushan religious pantheon is extremely varied, as revealed by their coins that were made in gold, silver, and copper. These coins contained more than thirty different gods, belonging mainly to their own Iranian, as well as Greek and Indian worlds as well. Kushan coins had images of Kushan Kings, Buddha, and figures from the Indo-Aryan and Iranian pantheons.[86] Greek deities, with Greek names are represented on early coins. During Kanishka's reign, the language of the coinage changes to Bactrian (though it remained in Greek script for all kings). After Huvishka, only two divinities appear on the coins: Ardoxsho and Oesho (see details below).[87][88]

The Iranian entities depicted on coinage include:

Representation of entities from Greek mythology and Hellenistic syncretism are:

The Indic entities represented on coinage include:[96]

  • Boddo (Βοδδο): the Buddha  
  • Shakamano Boddho (Ϸακαμανο Βοδδο): Shakyamuni Buddha  
  • Metrago Boddo (Μετραγο Βοδδο): the bodhisattava Maitreya  
  • Maaseno (Μαασηνο): Mahāsena    
  • Skando-Komaro (Σκανδο-kομαρο): Skanda-Kumara  
  • Bizago: Viśākha[96]  
  • Ommo: Umā, the consort of Siva.[96]  
  • Oesho (Οηϸο): long considered to represent Indic Shiva,[97][98][99] but also identified as Avestan Vayu conflated with Shiva.[100][101]  
  • Two copper coins of Huvishka bear a "Ganesa" legend, but instead of depicting the typical theriomorphic figure of Ganesha, have a figure of an archer holding a full-length bow with string inwards and an arrow. This is typically a depiction of Rudra, but in the case of these two coins is generally assumed to represent Shiva.
Images of Kushan worshippers
  •  
    Kushan worshipper with Zeus/Serapis/Ohrmazd, Bactria, 3rd century AD.[102]
  •  
    Kushan worshipper with Pharro, Bactria, 3rd century AD.[102]
  •  
    Kushan worshipper with Shiva/Oesho, Bactria, 3rd century AD.[102]
  •  
    Shiva-Oesho wall painting with fragment of a worshipper, Bactria, 3rd century AD.[103]
  • Deities on Kushan coinage and seals
  •  
    Mahasena on a coin of Huvishka
  •  
    Four-faced Oesho
  •  
    Rishti or Riom[104][105]
  •  
    Manaobago
  •  
    Pharro
  •  
    Ardochsho
  •  
    Oesho or Shiva
  •  
    Oesho or Shiva with bull
  •  
    Skanda and Visakha
  •  
    Kushan Carnelian seal representing the "ΑΔϷΟ" (adsho Atar), with triratana symbol left, and Kanishka the Great's dynastic mark right
  •  
    Coin of Kanishka I, with a depiction of the Buddha and legend "Boddo" in Greek script
  •  
    Herakles.
  •  
    Buddha
  •  
    Coin of Vima Kadphises. Deity Oesho on the reverse, thought to be Shiva,[98][99][106] or the Zoroastrian Vayu.[107]

Kushans and Buddhism edit

 
The Ahin Posh stupa was dedicated in the 2nd century AD under the Kushans, and contained coins of Kushan and Roman Emperors.
 
Early Mahayana Buddhist triad. From left to right, a Kushan devotee, Maitreya, the Buddha, Avalokitesvara, and a Buddhist monk. 2nd–3rd century, Shotorak.[108]

The Kushans inherited the Greco-Buddhist traditions of the Indo-Greek Kingdom they replaced, and their patronage of Buddhist institutions allowed them to grow as a commercial power.[109] Between the mid-1st century and the mid-3rd century, Buddhism, patronised by the Kushans, extended to China and other Asian countries through the Silk Road.[citation needed]

Kanishka is renowned in Buddhist tradition for having convened a great Buddhist council in Kashmir. Along with his predecessors in the region, the Indo-Greek king Menander I (Milinda) and the Indian emperors Ashoka and Harsha Vardhana, Kanishka is considered by Buddhism as one of its greatest benefactors.[citation needed]

During the 1st century AD, Buddhist books were being produced and carried by monks, and their trader patrons. Also, monasteries were being established along these land routes that went from China and other parts of Asia. With the development of Buddhist books, it caused a new written language called Gandhara. Gandhara consists of eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. Scholars are said to have found many Buddhist scrolls that contained the Gandhari language.[110]

The reign of Huvishka corresponds to the first known epigraphic evidence of the Buddha Amitabha, on the bottom part of a 2nd-century statue which has been found in Govindo-Nagar, and now at the Mathura Museum. The statue is dated to "the 28th year of the reign of Huvishka", and dedicated to "Amitabha Buddha" by a family of merchants. There is also some evidence that Huvishka himself was a follower of Mahayana Buddhism. A Sanskrit manuscript fragment in the Schøyen Collection describes Huvishka as one who has "set forth in the Mahāyāna."[111]

The 12th century historical chronicle Rajatarangini mentions in detail the rule of the Kushan kings and their benevolence towards Buddhism:[112][113]

Then there ruled in this very land the founders of cities called after their own appellations the three kings named Huska, Juska and Kaniska (...) These kings albeit belonging to the Turkish race found refuge in acts of piety; they constructed in Suskaletra and other places monasteries, Caityas and similar edificies. During the glorious period of their regime the kingdom of Kashmir was for the most part an appanage of the Buddhists who had acquired lustre by renunciation. At this time since the Nirvana of the blessed Sakya Simha in this terrestrial world one hundred fifty years, it is said, had elapsed. And a Bodhisattva was in this country the sole supreme ruler of the land; he was the illustrious Nagarjuna who dwelt in Sadarhadvana.

— Rajatarangini (I168-I173)[113][114]

Kushan art edit

Main articles: Kushan art, Greco-Buddhist art, and Art of Mathura
 
 
Portrait of a Kushan prince from Khalchayan (left), and head of a Gandhara Bodhisattava (right), said to have similar characteristics (Philadelphia Museum of Art).[115]

The art and culture of Gandhara, at the crossroads of the Kushan hegemony, developed the traditions of Greco-Buddhist art and are the best known expressions of Kushan influences to Westerners. Several direct depictions of Kushans are known from Gandhara, where they are represented with a tunic, belt and trousers and play the role of devotees to the Buddha, as well as the Bodhisattva and future Buddha Maitreya.[115]

According to Benjamin Rowland, the first expression of Kushan art appears at Khalchayan at the end of the 2nd century BC.[115] It is derived from Hellenistic art, and possibly from the art of the cities of Ai-Khanoum and Nysa, and clearly has similarities with the later Art of Gandhara, and may even have been at the origin of its development.[115] Rowland particularly draws attention to the similarity of the ethnic types represented at Khalchayan and in the art of Gandhara, and also in the style of portraiture itself.[115] For example, Rowland find a great proximity between the famous head of a Yuezhi prince from Khalchayan, and the head of Gandharan Bodhisattvas, giving the example of the Gandharan head of a Bodhisattva in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.[115] The similarity of the Gandhara Bodhisattva with the portrait of the Kushan ruler Heraios is also striking.[115] According to Rowland the Bactrian art of Khalchayan thus survived for several centuries through its influence in the art of Gandhara, thanks to the patronage of the Kushans.[115]

During the Kushan Empire, many images of Gandhara share a strong resemblance to the features of Greek, Syrian, Persian and Indian figures. These Western-looking stylistic signatures often include heavy drapery and curly hair,[116] representing a composite (the Greeks, for example, often possessed curly hair).[citation needed]

As the Kushans took control of the area of Mathura as well, the Art of Mathura developed considerably, and free-standing statues of the Buddha came to be mass-produced around this time, possibly encouraged by doctrinal changes in Buddhism allowing to depart from the aniconism that had prevailed in the Buddhist sculptures at Mathura, Bharhut or Sanchi from the end of the 2nd century BC.[117] The artistic cultural influence of kushans declined slowly due to Hellenistic Greek and Indian influences.[118]

Kushan monetary system edit

Main article: Kushan coinage
 
Kushan gold ingots, from the Dalverzin Tepe treasure, 1st century CE

The Kushans used gold ingots as part of their monetary system, as shown by the gold treasure discovered in 1972 in Dalverzin Tepe.[125] The main objects from the treasure were circular and parallelepipedic ingots, followed by various decorative objects and jewellery items.[125] The circular ingots used to be progressively cut up as needed, depending on the amount required for a transaction.[125] On the contrary, the parallelepipedic ingots were used to stock wealth in a not-divisible form; these ingots bear inscriptions in Kharoshthi mentioning their weight and the god Mitra (protector of contractual relations)[125] These ingots are all attributed to the monetary system of the Kushan Empire.[125]

The coinage of the Kushans was abundant and an important tool of propaganda in promoting each Kushan ruler.[126] One of the names for Kushan coins was Dinara, which ultimately came from the Roman name Denarius aureus.[126][127][128] The coinage of the Kushans was copied as far as the Kushano-Sasanians in the west, and the kingdom of Samatata in Bengal to the east. The coinage of the Gupta Empire was also initially derived from the coinage of the Kushan Empire, adopting its weight standard, techniques and designs, following the conquests of Samudragupta in the northwest.[129][130][131] The imagery on Gupta coins then became more Indian in both style and subject matter compared to earlier dynasties, where Greco-Roman and Persian styles were mostly followed.[130][132]

It has long been suggested that the gold contained in Kushan coins was ultimately of Roman origin, and that Roman coins were imported as a consequence of trade and melted in India to mint Kushan coins. However, a recent archaeometallurgical study of trace elements through proton activation analysis has shown that Kushan gold contains high concentrations of platinum and palladium, which rules out the hypothesis of a Roman provenance. To this day, the origin of Kushan gold remains unknown.[133]

Contacts with Rome edit

Main article: Indo-Roman trade relations
Roman coinage among the Kushans
 
Coin of the Roman Emperor Trajan, found together with coins of Kanishka the Great at the Ahin Posh Monastery
 
Kushan ring with inscription in the Brahmi script, with portraits of Roman rulers Septimus Severus and Julia Domna
 
Indian imitation of a coin of Septimius Severus. AD 193-211

Several Roman sources describe the visit of ambassadors from the Kings of Bactria and India during the 2nd century, probably referring to the Kushans.[134]

Historia Augusta, speaking of Emperor Hadrian (117–138) tells:[134]

 
Greco-Roman gladiator on a glass vessel, Begram, 2nd century

Reges Bactrianorum legatos ad eum, amicitiae petendae causa, supplices miserunt "The kings of the Bactrians sent supplicant ambassadors to him, to seek his friendship."[134]

Also in 138, according to Aurelius Victor (Epitome‚ XV, 4), and Appian (Praef., 7), Antoninus Pius, successor to Hadrian, received some Indian, Bactrian, and Hyrcanian ambassadors.[134]

Some Kushan coins have an effigy of "Roma", suggesting a strong level of awareness and some level of diplomatic relations.[134]

The summer capital of the Kushan Empire in Begram has yielded a considerable amount of goods imported from the Roman Empire—in particular, various types of glassware. The Chinese described the presence of Roman goods in the Kushan realm:

"Precious things from Da Qin [the Roman Empire] can be found there [in Tianzhu or Northwestern India], as well as fine cotton cloths, fine wool carpets, perfumes of all sorts, sugar candy, pepper, ginger, and black salt."

— Hou Hanshu[135]

Parthamaspates of Parthia, a client of Rome and ruler of the kingdom of Osroene, is known to have traded with the Kushan Empire, goods being sent by sea and through the Indus River.[136]

Contacts with China edit

class=notpageimage|
The Kushan Empire and contemporary polities in continental Asia circa 100 AD.

During the 1st and 2nd century AD, the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north, putting them at the center of the profitable Central Asian commerce. They are related to have collaborated militarily with the Chinese against nomadic incursion, particularly when they allied with the Han dynasty general Ban Chao against the Sogdians in 84, when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king of Kashgar.[137] Around 85, they also assisted the Chinese general in an attack on Turpan, east of the Tarim Basin.

Kushan coinage in China
 
A bronze coin of Kanishka the Great found in Khotan, Tarim Basin.
 
Eastern Han inscriptions on lead ingot, using barbarous Greek alphabet in the style of the Kushans, excavated in Shaanxi, 1st–2nd century AD. Gansu Provincial Museum.[138][139]

In recognition for their support to the Chinese, the Kushans requested a Han princess, but were denied,[137][140] even after they had sent presents to the Chinese court. In retaliation, they marched on Ban Chao in 86 with a force of 70,000, but were defeated by a smaller Chinese force.[137][140] The Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire during the reign of emperor He of Han (89–106).

The Kushans are again recorded to have sent presents to the Chinese court in 158–159 during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han.

Following these interactions, cultural exchanges further increased, and Kushan Buddhist missionaries, such as Lokaksema, became active in the Chinese capital cities of Luoyang and sometimes Nanjing, where they particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. They were the first recorded promoters of Hinayana and Mahayana scriptures in China, greatly contributing to the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism.

Decline edit

Kushano-Sassanians edit

Main article: Kushano-Sasanians
Sasanian control of the Western Kushans
 
Hormizd I Kushanshah (AD 277–286), king of the Indo-Sasanians, maintained Sasanian rule in former Kushan territories of the northwest. Naqsh-e Rustam Bahram II panel.
 
The Kushano-Sasanians imitated the Kushans in some of their Bactrian coinage. Coin of Sasanian ruler Peroz I Kushanshah, with Bactrian legend around "Peroz the Great Kushan King"

After the death of Vasudeva I in 225, the Kushan empire split into western and eastern halves. The Western Kushans (in Afghanistan) were soon subjugated by the Persian Sasanian Empire and lost Sogdiana, Bactria, and Gandhara to them. The Sassanian king Shapur I (240–270) claims in his Naqsh-e Rostam inscription possession of the territory of the Kushans (Kūšān šahr) as far as "Purushapura" (Peshawar), suggesting he controlled Bactria and areas as far as the Hindu-Kush or even south of it:[141]

I, the Mazda-worshipping lord, Shapur, king of kings of Iran and An-Iran... (I) am the Master of the Domain of Iran (Ērānšahr) and possess the territory of Persis, Parthian... Hindestan, the Domain of the Kushan up to the limits of Paškabur and up to Kash, Sughd, and Chachestan.

— Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht, Naqsh-e Rostam[141]

This is also confirmed by the Rag-i-Bibi inscription in modern Afghanistan.[141]

The Sasanians deposed the Western dynasty and replaced them with Persian vassals known as the Kushanshas (in Bactrian on their coinage: KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ Koshano Shao)[142] also called Indo-Sasanians or Kushano-Sasanians. The Kushano-Sasanians ultimately became very powerful under Hormizd I Kushanshah (277–286) and rebelled against the Sasanian Empire, while continuing many aspects of the Kushan culture, visible in particular in their titulature and their coinage.[143]

"Little Kushans" and Gupta suzerainty edit

Gupta control over the Eastern Kushans
 
                  
The expression Devaputra Shāhi Shāhānu Shāhi in Middle Brahmi in the Allahabad pillar (Line 23), claimed by Samudragupta to be under his dominion.[144]
 
Coin minted in the Punjab area with the name "Samudra" (      Sa-mu-dra), thought to be the Gupta ruler Samudragupta. These coins imitate those of the last Kushan ruler Kipunada, and precede the coinage of the first Kidarite Huns in northwestern India. Circa 350-375.[145][146]

The Eastern Kushan kingdom, also known as the "Little Kushans", was based in the Punjab. Around 270 their territories on the Gangetic plain became independent under local dynasties such as the Yaudheyas. Then in the mid-4th century they were subjugated by the Gupta Empire under Samudragupta.[147] In his inscription on the Allahabad pillar Samudragupta proclaims that the Dēvaputra-Shāhi-Shāhānushāhi (referring to the last Kushan rulers, being a deformation of the Kushan regnal titles Devaputra, Shao and Shaonanoshao: "Son of God, King, King of Kings") are now under his dominion, and that they were forced to "self-surrender, offering (their own) daughters in marriage and a request for the administration of their own districts and provinces".[148][147][149] This suggests that by the time of the Allahabad inscription the Kushans still ruled in Punjab, but under the suzerainty of the Gupta Emperor.[147]

Numimastics indicate that the coinage of the Eastern Kushans was much weakened: silver coinage was abandoned altogether, and gold coinage was debased. This suggests that the Eastern Kushans had lost their central trading role on the trade routes that supplied luxury goods and gold.[147] Still, the Buddhist art of Gandhara continued to flourish, and cities such as Sirsukh near Taxila were established.[147]

Sasanian, Kidarite and Alchon invasions edit

Main articles: Sasanian Empire, Kidarites, and Alchon Huns

In the east around 350, Shapur II regained the upper hand against the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom and took control of large territories in areas now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan, possibly as a consequence of the destruction of the Kushano-Sasanians by the Chionites.[150] The Kushano-Sasanian still ruled in the north. Important finds of Sasanian coinage beyond the Indus river in the city of Taxila only start with the reigns of Shapur II (r.309-379) and Shapur III (r.383-388), suggesting that the expansion of Sasanian control beyond the Indus was the result of the wars of Shapur II "with the Chionites and Kushans" in 350-358 as described by Ammianus Marcellinus.[151] They probably maintained control until the rise of the Kidarites under their ruler Kidara.[151]

In 360 a Kidarite Hun named Kidara overthrew the Kushano-Sasanians and remnants of the old Kushan dynasty, and established the Kidarite Kingdom. The Kushan style of Kidarite coins indicates they claimed Kushan heritage. The Kidarite seem to have been rather prosperous, although on a smaller scale than their Kushan predecessors. East of the Punjab, the former eastern territories of the Kushans were controlled by the mighty Gupta Empire.[citation needed]

The remnants of Kushan culture under the Kidarites in the northwest were ultimately wiped out in the end of the 5th century by the invasions of the Alchon Huns (sometimes considered as a branch of the Hephthalites), and later the Nezak Huns.[citation needed]

Rulers edit

One of the most recent list of rulers with dates is as follows:[152]

  • Heraios (c. 1 – 30), first king to call himself "Kushan" on his coinage  
"Great Kushans";
"Little Kushans";

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b The Kushans at first retained the Greek language for administrative purposes but soon began to use Bactrian. The Bactrian Rabatak inscription (discovered in 1993 and deciphered in 2000) records that the Kushan king Kanishka the Great (c. 127 AD), discarded Greek (Ionian) as the language of administration and adopted Bactrian ("Arya language").[6]
  2. ^ The Pali word vaṃśa (dynasty) affixed to Gushana (Kushana), i.e. Gushana-vaṃśa (Kushan dynasty) appears on a dedicatory inscription at Manikiala stupa.[7]
  3. ^ It began about 127 CE.[19][20][21]
  4. ^ For example, the 12th century historical chronicle from Kashmir, the Rajatarangini, describes the Central Asia Kushans as Turushka (तुरुष्क).
  5. ^ a b See also the analysis of Sims-Williams & Cribb (1995–1996), specialists of the field, who had a central role in the decipherment.
  6. ^ For a translation of the full text of the Rabatak inscription see: Mukherjee (1995). This translation is quoted in: Goyal (2005), p. 88.
  7. ^ Seated Buddha with inscription starting with               𑁕 Maharajasya Kanishkasya Sam 4 "Year 4 of the Great King Kanishka".
  1. ^  • Ancient Greek: Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν  • Bactrian: Κοϸανο, Košano  • Sanskrit: कुषाणः, ku-ṣā-ṇaḥ; Brahmi:      , Ku-ṣā-ṇa; BHS: Guṣāṇa-vaṃśa  • Parthian: 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, Kušan-xšaθr  • Chinese: 貴霜; pinyin: Guìshuāng[15]

References edit

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    The Mathura inscription in question is documented in Lüders 1961, p.138ff
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  73. ^ Numismatic Digest. Numismatic Society of Bombay. 2012. p. 29. As far as gold coins in Bengal are concerned it was Samatata or South-eastern Bengal which issued gold coins ... This trend of imitating Kushan gold continued and had major impact on the currency pattern of this south-eastern zone.
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  128. ^ Mookerji, Radhakumud (1997). The Gupta Empire. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 31. ISBN 9788120804401.
  129. ^ Gupta inscriptions using the term "Dinara" for money: No 5-9, 62, 64 in Fleet, John Faithfull (1960). Inscriptions Of The Early Gupta Kings And Their Successors.
  130. ^ a b Mookerji, Radhakumud (1997). The Gupta Empire. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 30. ISBN 9788120804401.
  131. ^ Higham, Charles (2014). Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Infobase Publishing. p. 82. ISBN 9781438109961.
  132. ^ Pal, Pratapaditya (1986). Indian Sculpture. Volume I: Circa 500 B.C.-A.D. 700. Los Angeles County Museum of Art with University of California Press. pp. 73, 78. ISBN 9780520059917.
  133. ^ Reden, Sitta (2 December 2019). Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies: Volume 1: Contexts. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 505. ISBN 978-3-11-060494-8.
  134. ^ a b c d e McLaughlin, Raoul (2010). Rome and the Distant East: Trade Routes to the Ancient Lands of Arabia, India and China. A&C Black. p. 131. ISBN 9781847252357.
  135. ^ Hill 2009, p. 31.
  136. ^ Ellerbrock, Uwe (2021). The Parthians: The Forgotten Empire. Routledge. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-000-35848-3.
  137. ^ a b c de Crespigny, Rafe. (2007). A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Leiden: Koninklijke Brill. page 5-6. ISBN 90-04-15605-4.
  138. ^   Joe Cribb, 1974, "Chinese lead ingots with barbarous Greek inscriptions in Coin Hoards" pp.76–8 [1]
  139. ^ "安息铅币（正面、背面）". www.gansumuseum.com. Gansu Museum.
  140. ^ a b Torday, Laszlo. (1997). Mounted Archers: The Beginnings of Central Asian History. Durham: The Durham Academic Press. page 393. ISBN 1-900838-03-6.
  141. ^ a b c Rezakhani 2017b, pp. 202–203.
  142. ^ Rezakhani 2017b, p. 204.
  143. ^ Rezakhani 2017b, pp. 200–210.
  144. ^ Eraly, Abraham (2011). The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India. p. 38. ISBN 9780670084784.
  145. ^ Errington, Elizabeth; Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh (2007). From Persepolis to the Punjab: Exploring Ancient Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. British Museum Press. p. 88. ISBN 9780714111650. In the Punjab the stylistic progression of the gold series from Kushan to Kidarite is clear: imitation staters were issued first in the name of Samudragupta, then by Kirada, "Peroz" and finally Kidara
  146. ^ Cribb, Joe (January 2010). "The Kidarites, the numismatic evidence". Coins, Art and Chronology II: 101.
  147. ^ a b c d e Dani, Litvinsky & Zamir Safi 1996, pp. 165–166
  148. ^ Lines 23-24 of the Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta: "Self-surrender, offering (their own) daughters in marriage and a request for the administration of their own districts and provinces through the Garuḍa badge, by the Dēvaputra-Shāhi-Shāhānushāhi and the Śaka lords and by (rulers) occupying all Island countries, such as Siṁhala and others."
  149. ^ Cribb, Joe; Singh, Karan (Winter 2017). "Two Curious Kidarite Coin Types From 3rd Century Kashmir". JONS. 230: 3.
  150. ^ Rezakhani 2017a, p. 85.
  151. ^ a b Ghosh, Amalananda (1965). Taxila. CUP Archive. pp. 790–791.
  152. ^ Jongeward, David; Cribb, Joe (2014). Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins A Catalogue of Coins From the American Numismatic Society by David Jongeward and Joe Cribb with Peter Donovan. p. 4.
  153. ^ a b c The Glorious History of Kushana Empire, Adesh Katariya, 2012, p.69

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Further reading edit

  • Bonmann, Svenja; Halfmann, Jakob; Korobzow, Natalie; Bobomulloev, Bobomullo (12 July 2023). "A Partial Decipherment of the Unknown Kushan Script". Transactions of the Philological Society. 121 (2): 293–329. doi:10.1111/1467-968X.12269. S2CID 259851498.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kushan Empire.
  • Kushan dynasty in Encyclopædia Britannica
  • Metropolitan Museum capsule history
  • at the Wayback Machine (archived 4 February 2005)
  • Coins of the Kushans on wildwinds.com
  • Antique Indian Coins at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 7 February 2013)
  • Brief Guide to Kushan History 25 September 2004 at the Wayback Machine
  • The CoinIndia Online Catalogue of Kushan Coins
  • Dedicated resource to study of Kushan Empire 25 September 2004 at the Wayback Machine
  • imalayan and Central Asian Studies: Journal of Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation Volume 5 Issue 2

April 10, 2024
kushan, empire, syncretic, empire, formed, yuezhi, bactrian, territories, early, century, spread, encompass, much, what, tajikistan, uzbekistan, afghanistan, pakistan, northern, india, least, saketa, sarnath, near, varanasi, where, inscriptions, have, been, fo. The Kushan Empire c 30 c 375 AD a was a syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century It spread to encompass much of what is now Tajikistan Uzbekistan Afghanistan Pakistan and Northern India 16 17 18 at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan emperor Kanishka the Great note 3 Kushan EmpireKoϸano Bactrian Basileia Kossanῶn Ancient Greek क ष णस म र ज यम Sanskrit 30 375A map of India in the 2nd century AD showing the extent of the Kushan Empire in green during the reign of Kanishka Most historians consider the empire to have variously extended as far east as the middle Ganges plain 1 to Varanasi on the confluence of the Ganges and the Jumna 2 3 or probably even Pataliputra 4 5 CapitalPeshawar Puruṣapura Taxila Takṣasila Mathura Mathura Common languagesGreek official until c 127 note 1 Bactrian note 1 official from c 127 note 2 Gandhari Prakrit 8 Hybrid Sanskrit 8 ReligionHinduism 9 Buddhism 10 Zoroastrianism 11 Demonym s Kushanas Yuezhi GovernmentMonarchyEmperor 30 80Kujula Kadphises first 350 375Kipunada last Historical eraClassical Antiquity Kujula Kadphises unites Yuezhi tribes into a confederation30 Subjugated by the Sasanians and Hepthalites 12 375Area200 low end estimate of peak area 13 2 000 000 km2 770 000 sq mi 200 high end estimate of peak area 14 2 500 000 km2 970 000 sq mi CurrencyKushan drachmaPreceded by Succeeded byIndo Greek KingdomIndo Parthian KingdomIndo ScythiansNorthern SatrapsWestern SatrapsMaha meghavahanas Sasanian EmpireKushano Sasanian KingdomNagas of PadmavatiKidaritesNagas of VindhyatabiThe Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation 22 23 an Indo European nomadic people of possible Tocharian origin 24 25 26 27 28 who migrated from northwestern China Xinjiang and Gansu and settled in ancient Bactria 23 The founder of the dynasty Kujula Kadphises followed Greek cultural ideas and iconography after the Greco Bactrian tradition and was a follower of the Shaivite sect of Hinduism 29 Two later Kushan kings Vima Kadphises and Vasudeva II were also patrons of Hinduism The Kushans in general were also great patrons of Buddhism and starting with Emperor Kanishka they employed elements of Zoroastrianism in their pantheon 30 They played an important role in the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and China ushering in a period of relative peace for 200 years sometimes described as Pax Kushana 31 The Kushans possibly used the Greek language initially for administrative purposes but soon began to use the Bactrian language Kanishka sent his armies north of the Karakoram mountains A direct road from Gandhara to China remained under Kushan control for more than a century encouraged travel across the Karakoram and facilitated the spread of Mahayana Buddhism to China The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the Roman Empire Sasanian Persia the Aksumite Empire and the Han dynasty of China The Kushan Empire was at the center of trade relations between the Roman Empire and China according to Alain Danielou for a time the Kushana Empire was the centerpoint of the major civilizations 32 While much philosophy art and science was created within its borders the only textual record of the empire s history today comes from inscriptions and accounts in other languages particularly Chinese 33 The Kushan Empire fragmented into semi independent kingdoms in the 3rd century AD which fell to the Sasanians invading from the west and establishing the Kushano Sasanian Kingdom in the areas of Sogdiana Bactria and Gandhara In the 4th century the Guptas another Indian dynasty also pressed from the east The last of the Kushan and Kushano Sasanian kingdoms were eventually overwhelmed by invaders from the north known as the Kidarites and later the Hephthalites 12 Contents 1 Origins 2 Early Kushans 3 Diverse cultural influences 4 Territorial expansion 4 1 Kushan fortresses 5 History 5 1 Kujula Kadphises c 30 c 80 5 2 Vima Taktu or Sadashkana c 80 c 95 5 3 Vima Kadphises c 95 c 127 5 4 Kanishka I c 127 c 150 5 5 Huvishka c 150 c 180 5 6 Vasudeva I c 190 c 230 5 7 Vasishka c 247 c 267 5 8 Little Kushans AD 270 350 6 Kushan deities 7 Kushans and Buddhism 8 Kushan art 8 1 Kushan monetary system 9 Contacts with Rome 10 Contacts with China 11 Decline 11 1 Kushano Sassanians 11 2 Little Kushans and Gupta suzerainty 11 3 Sasanian Kidarite and Alchon invasions 12 Rulers 13 See also 14 Notes 15 References 16 Sources 17 Further reading 18 External linksOrigins edit nbsp Yuezhi nobleman and priest over a fire altar Noin Ula 34 35 Chinese sources describe the Guishuang 貴霜 Old Chinese kuj s s raŋ i e the Kushans as one of the five aristocratic tribes of the Yuezhi 36 Many scholars believe that the Yuezhi were a people of Indo European origin 24 37 A specifically Tocharian origin of the Yuezhi is often suggested 24 25 26 27 28 38 An Iranian specifically Saka origin has also been suggested by some scholars 39 The Yuezhi were described in the Records of the Great Historian and the Book of Han as living in the grasslands of eastern Xinjiang and northwestern part of Gansu in the northwest of modern day China until their King was beheaded by the Xiongnu 匈奴 who were also at war with China which eventually forced them to migrate west in 176 160 BC 40 The five tribes constituting the Yuezhi are known in Chinese history as Xiumi 休密 Guishuang 貴霜 Shuangmǐ 雙靡 Xidun 肸頓 and Dumi 都密 nbsp The ethnonym KOϷϷANO Koshshano Kushan in Greek alphabet with the addition of the letter Ϸ Sh on a coin of the first known Kushan ruler Heraios 1st century AD The Yuezhi reached the Hellenic kingdom of Greco Bactria in northern Afghanistan and Uzbekistan around 135 BC The displaced Greek dynasties resettled to the southeast in areas of the Hindu Kush in present day Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Indus basin in present day Pakistan and India occupying the western part of the Indo Greek Kingdom In South Asia Kushan emperors regularly used the dynastic name KOϷANO Koshano on their coinage 15 Several inscriptions in Sanskrit in the Brahmi script such as the Mathura inscription of the statue of Vima Kadphises refer to the Kushan Emperor as nbsp nbsp nbsp Ku ṣa ṇa Kushana 15 41 Some later Indian literary sources referred to the Kushans as Turushka a name which in later Sanskrit sources note 4 was confused with Turk probably due to the fact that Tukharistan passed into the hands of the western Turks in the seventh century 42 43 According to John M Rosenfield Turushka Tukhara or Tukhara are variations of the word Tokhari in Indian writings 44 Yet according to Wink nowadays no historian considers them to be Turkish Mongoloid or Hun although there is no doubt about their Central Asian origin 42 Early Kushans editKushan portraits nbsp Head of a Yuezhi prince Khalchayan palace Uzbekistan 45 nbsp The first king to call himself Kushan on his coinage Heraios AD 1 30 nbsp Kushan devotee 2nd century AD Metropolitan Museum of Art detail nbsp Portrait of Kushan emperor Vima Kadphises AD 100 127 Some traces remain of the presence of the Kushans in the area of Bactria and Sogdiana in the 2nd 1st century BC where they had displaced the Sakas who moved further south 46 Archaeological structures are known in Takht i Sangin Surkh Kotal a monumental temple and in the palace of Khalchayan On the ruins of ancient Hellenistic cities such as Ai Khanoum the Kushans are known to have built fortresses Various sculptures and friezes from this period are known representing horse riding archers 47 and significantly men such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan with artificially deformed skulls a practice well attested in nomadic Central Asia 48 49 Some of the Khalchayan sculptural scenes are also thought to depict the Kushans fighting against the Sakas 50 In these portrayals the Yuezhis are shown with a majestic demeanour whereas the Sakas are typically represented with side whiskers and more or less grotesque facial expressions 50 The Chinese first referred to these people as the Yuezhi and said they established the Kushan Empire although the relationship between the Yuezhi and the Kushans is still unclear Ban Gu s Book of Han tells us the Kushans Kuei shuang divided up Bactria in 128 BC Fan Ye s Book of Later Han relates how the chief of the Kushans Ch iu shiu ch ueh the Kujula Kadphises of coins founded by means of the submission of the other Yueh chih clans the Kushan Empire 46 The earliest documented ruler and the first one to proclaim himself as a Kushan ruler was Heraios He calls himself a tyrant in Greek on his coins and also exhibits skull deformation He may have been an ally of the Greeks and he shared the same style of coinage Heraios may have been the father of the first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises citation needed The Chinese Book of Later Han chronicles then gives an account of the formation of the Kushan empire based on a report made by the Chinese general Ban Yong to the Chinese Emperor c AD 125 More than a hundred years later than the conquest of Bactria by the Yuezhi the prince xihou of Guishuang Badakhshan established himself as king and his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang Kushan King He invaded Anxi Indo Parthia and took the Gaofu Kabul region He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda Paktiya and Jibin Kapisha and Gandhara Qiujiuque Kujula Kadphises was more than eighty years old when he died His son Yangaozhen probably Vema Tahk tu or possibly his brother Sadaṣkaṇa became king in his place He defeated Tianzhu North western India and installed Generals to supervise and lead it The Yuezhi then became extremely rich All the kingdoms call their king the Guishuang Kushan king but the Han call them by their original name Da Yuezhi Book of Later Han 51 52 Diverse cultural influences editIn the 1st century BC the Guishuang Ch 貴霜 gained prominence over the other Yuezhi tribes and welded them into a tight confederation under commander Kujula Kadphises 53 The name Guishuang was adopted in the West and modified into Kushan to designate the confederation although the Chinese continued to call them Yuezhi Gradually wresting control of the area from the Scythian tribes the Kushans expanded south into the region traditionally known as Gandhara an area primarily in Pakistan s Pothowar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region and established twin capitals in Begram 54 and Charsadda then known as Kapisa and Pushklavati respectively 53 nbsp Greek alphabet narrow columns with Kushan script wide columns The Kushans adopted elements of the Hellenistic culture of Bactria They adopted the Greek alphabet to suit their own language with the additional development of the letter TH sh as in Kushan and soon began minting coinage on the Greek model On their coins they used Greek language legends combined with Pali legends in the Kharoshthi script until the first few years of the reign of Kanishka After the middle of Kanishka s reign they used Kushan language legends in an adapted Greek script combined with legends in Greek Greek script and legends in Prakrit Kharoshthi script nbsp Early gold coin of Kanishka I with Greek language legend and Hellenistic divinity Helios c AD 120 Obverse Kanishka standing clad in heavy Kushan coat and long boots flames emanating from shoulders holding a standard in his left hand and making a sacrifice over an altar Greek legend BASILEYS BASILEWN KANHϷKOYBasileus Basileon Kanishkoy Coin of Kanishka king of kings Reverse Standing Helios in Hellenistic style forming a benediction gesture with the right hand Legend in Greek script HLIOS HeliosKanishka monogram tamgha to the left The Kushans adopted many local beliefs and customs including Zoroastrianism and the two rising religions in the region the Greek cults and Buddhism 54 From the time of Vima Takto many Kushans started adopting aspects of Buddhist culture and like the Egyptians they absorbed the strong remnants of the Greek culture of the Hellenistic Kingdoms becoming at least partly Hellenised The great Kushan emperor Vima Kadphises father of Kanishka embraced Shaivism a sect of Hinduism as surmised by coins minted during the period 9 The following Kushan emperors represented a wide variety of faiths including Buddhism Zoroastrianism and Hindu Shaivism The rule of the Kushans linked the seagoing trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the Silk Road through the long civilized Indus Valley At the height of the dynasty the Kushans loosely ruled a territory that extended to the Aral Sea through present day Uzbekistan Afghanistan Pakistan and northern India 53 The loose unity and comparative peace of such a vast expanse encouraged long distance trade brought Chinese silks to Rome and created strings of flourishing urban centers 53 Territorial expansion edit nbsp Kushan territories full line and maximum extent of Kushan control under Kanishka the Great 55 The extent of Kushan control is notably documented in the Rabatak inscription 5 56 note 5 57 The northern expansion into the Tarim Basin is mainly suggested by coin finds and Chinese chronicles 58 59 Rosenfield notes that archaeological evidence of a Kushan rule of long duration is present in an area stretching from Surkh Kotal Begram the summer capital of the Kushans Peshawar the capital under Kanishka I Taxila and Mathura the winter capital of the Kushans 60 The Kushans introduced for the first time a form of governance which consisted of Kshatrapas Brahmi nbsp nbsp nbsp Kṣatrapa Satraps and Mahakshatrapa Brahmi nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Mahakṣatrapa Great Satraps 61 Other areas of probable rule include Khwarezm and its capital city of Toprak Kala 60 62 Kausambi excavations of Allahabad University 60 Sanchi and Sarnath inscriptions with names and dates of Kushan kings 60 Malwa and Maharashtra 63 and Odisha imitation of Kushan coins and large Kushan hoards 60 nbsp Map showing the four empires of Eurasia in the 2nd century AD For a time the Kushan Empire was the centerpoint of the major civilizations 32 Kushan invasions in the 1st century AD had been given as an explanation for the migration of Indians from the Indian Subcontinent toward Southeast Asia according to proponents of a Greater India theory by 20th century Indian nationalists However there is no evidence to support this hypothesis 64 The Rabatak inscription discovered in 1993 confirms the account of the Hou Hanshu Weilue and inscriptions dated early in the Kanishka era incept probably AD 127 that large Kushan dominions expanded into the heartland of northern India in the early 2nd century AD clarify Lines 4 to 7 of the inscription describe the cities which were under the rule of Kanishka note 6 among which six names are identifiable Ujjain Kundina Saketa Kausambi Pataliputra and Champa although the text is not clear whether Champa was a possession of Kanishka or just beyond it 65 note 5 66 67 The Buddhist text Sridharmapiṭakanidanasutra known via a Chinese translation made in AD 472 refers to the conquest of Pataliputra by Kanishka 68 A 2nd century stone inscription by a Great Satrap named Rupiamma was discovered in Pauni south of the Narmada river suggesting that Kushan control extended this far south although this could alternatively have been controlled by the Western Satraps 69 nbsp Eastern reach as far as Bengal Samatata coinage of king Vira Jadamarah in imitation of the Kushan coinage of Kanishka I The text of the legend is a meaningless imitation Bengal circa 2nd 3rd century AD 70 In the East as late as the 3rd century AD decorated coins of Huvishka were dedicated at Bodh Gaya together with other gold offerings under the Enlightenment Throne of the Buddha suggesting direct Kushan influence in the area during that period 71 Coins of the Kushans are found in abundance as far as Bengal and the ancient Bengali state of Samatata issued coins copied from the coinage of Kanishka I although probably only as a result of commercial influence 72 70 73 Coins in imitation of Kushan coinage have also been found abundantly in the eastern state of Orissa 74 In the West the Kushan state covered the Parata state of Balochistan western Pakistan Afghanistan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan Turkmenistan was known for the Kushan Buddhist city of Merv 60 Northward in the 1st century AD the Kujula Kadphises sent an army to the Tarim Basin to support the city state of Kucha which had been resisting the Chinese invasion of the region but they retreated after minor encounters 75 In the 2nd century AD the Kushans under Kanishka made various forays into the Tarim Basin where they had various contacts with the Chinese Kanishka held areas of the Tarim Basin apparently corresponding to the ancient regions held by the Yueh zhi the possible ancestors of the Kushan There was Kushan influence on coinage in Kashgar Yarkand and Khotan 58 According to Chinese chronicles the Kushans referred to as Da Yuezhi in Chinese sources requested but were denied a Han princess even though they had sent presents to the Chinese court In retaliation they marched on Ban Chao in AD 90 with a force of 70 000 but were defeated by the smaller Chinese force Chinese chronicles relate battles between the Kushans and the Chinese general Ban Chao 67 The Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire The regions of the Tarim Basin were all ultimately conquered by Ban Chao Later during the Yuanchu period AD 114 120 the Kushans sent a military force to install Chenpan who had been a hostage among them as king of Kashgar 76 Kushan fortresses edit Several Kushan fortresses are known particularly in Bactria which were often rebuilt on top of Hellenistic fortifications as in Kampir Tepe 77 78 They are often characterised by arrow shaped loopholes for archers 77 nbsp The Kushan fortress of Kampir Tepe nbsp The fortress of Ayaz Kala nbsp The fortress of Shahr e Zuhak 79 nbsp The temple and fortress of Surkh KotalHistory editKushan rulers are recorded for a period of about three centuries from circa 30 CE to circa 375 CE until the invasions of the Kidarites They ruled around the same time as the Western Satraps the Satavahanas and the first Gupta Empire rulers citation needed Kujula Kadphises c 30 c 80 edit Main article Kujula Kadphises the prince elavoor of Guishuang named thilac Kujula Kadphises attacked and exterminated the four other xihou He established himself as king and his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang Kushan King He invaded Anxi Indo Parthia and took the Gaofu Kabul region He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda Paktiya and Jibin Kapisha and Gandhara Qiujiuque Kujula Kadphises was more than eighty years old when he died Hou Hanshu 51 These conquests by Kujula Kadphises probably took place sometime between AD 45 and 60 and laid the basis for the Kushan Empire which was rapidly expanded by his descendants citation needed Kujula issued an extensive series of coins and fathered at least two sons Sadaṣkaṇa who is known from only two inscriptions especially the Rabatak inscription and apparently never ruled and seemingly Vima Takto citation needed Kujula Kadphises was the great grandfather of Kanishka citation needed Vima Taktu or Sadashkana c 80 c 95 edit Main article Vima Takto Vima Takto Ancient Chinese 閻膏珍 Yangaozhen is mentioned in the Rabatak inscription another son Sadashkana is mentioned in an inscription of Senavarman the King of Odi He was the predecessor of Vima Kadphises and Kanishka I He expanded the Kushan Empire into the northwest of South Asia The Hou Hanshu says His son Yangaozhen probably Vema Tahk tu or possibly his brother Sadaṣkaṇa became king in his place He defeated Tianzhu North western India and installed Generals to supervise and lead it The Yuezhi then became extremely rich All the kingdoms call their king the Guishuang Kushan king but the Han call them by their original name Da Yuezhi Hou Hanshu 51 Vima Kadphises c 95 c 127 edit Main article Vima Kadphises Vima Kadphises Kushan language Oohmo Kadfishs was a Kushan emperor from around AD 95 127 the son of Sadashkana and the grandson of Kujula Kadphises and the father of Kanishka I as detailed by the Rabatak inscription citation needed Vima Kadphises added to the Kushan territory by his conquests in Bactria He issued an extensive series of coins and inscriptions He issued gold coins in addition to the existing copper and silver coinage citation needed Kanishka I c 127 c 150 edit Main article Kanishka Mathura statue of Kanishka nbsp Statue of Kanishka in long coat and boots holding a mace and a sword in the Mathura Museum An inscription runs along the bottom of the coat nbsp The inscription is in middle Brahmi script nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Maharaja Rajadhiraja Devaputra Kaṇiṣka The Great King King of Kings Son of God Kanishka 80 Mathura art Mathura Museum The rule of Kanishka the Great fourth Kushan king lasted for about 23 years from c AD 127 81 Upon his accession Kanishka ruled a huge territory virtually all of northern India south to Ujjain and Kundina and east beyond Pataliputra according to the Rabatak inscription In the year one it has been proclaimed unto India unto the whole realm of the governing class including Koonadeano Kaundiny Kundina and the city of Ozeno Ozene Ujjain and the city of Zageda Saketa and the city of Kozambo Kausambi and the city of Palabotro Pataliputra and as far as the city of Ziri tambo Sri Champa whatever rulers and other important persons they might have he had submitted to his will and he had submitted all India to his will Rabatak inscription Lines 4 8 His territory was administered from two capitals Purushapura now Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan and Mathura in northern India He is also credited along with Raja Dab for building the massive ancient Fort at Bathinda Qila Mubarak in the modern city of Bathinda Indian Punjab citation needed The Kushans also had a summer capital in Bagram then known as Kapisa where the Begram Treasure comprising works of art from Greece to China has been found According to the Rabatak inscription Kanishka was the son of Vima Kadphises the grandson of Sadashkana and the great grandson of Kujula Kadphises Kanishka s era is now generally accepted to have begun in 127 on the basis of Harry Falk s ground breaking research 19 20 Kanishka s era was used as a calendar reference by the Kushans for about a century until the decline of the Kushan realm citation needed Huvishka c 150 c 180 edit Main article Huvishka Huvishka Kushan Oohϸki Ooishki was a Kushan emperor from the death of Kanishka assumed on the best evidence available to be in 150 until the succession of Vasudeva I about thirty years later His rule was a period of retrenchment and consolidation for the Empire In particular he devoted time and effort early in his reign to the exertion of greater control over the city of Mathura citation needed Vasudeva I c 190 c 230 edit Main article Vasudeva I Vasudeva I Kushan Bazodho Bazodeo Chinese 波調 Bodiao was the last of the Great Kushans Named inscriptions dating from year 64 to 98 of Kanishka s era suggest his reign extended from at least AD 191 to 225 He was the last great Kushan emperor and the end of his rule coincides with the invasion of the Sasanians as far as northwestern India and the establishment of the Indo Sasanians or Kushanshahs in what is nowadays Afghanistan Pakistan and northwestern India from around AD 240 citation needed nbsp South Asia350 CE nbsp YAUDHEYASARJUNAYANASMADRAKASMALAVASANDHRA IKSHVAKUSKALABHRASWESTERNGANGASTOCHARIANSKADAMBASPALLAVASLITTLEKUSHANSLICCHAVISWESTERNSATRAPSSASANIANHINDNAGAS OFVINDHYATABIKAMARUPAGAUDASAMATATASDAVAKAKIDARITESABHIRASVAKATAKASGUPTAEMPIREKUSHANO SASANIANSSAKASTANTURANMAKRANSASANIANEMPIRE class notpageimage Location of the Little Kushans in the northwestern part of the subcontinent and contemporary South Asian polities circa 350 CE 82 Vasishka c 247 c 267 edit Main article Vasishka Vasishka was a Kushan emperor who seems to have had a 20 year reign following Kanishka II His rule is recorded at Mathura in Gandhara and as far south as Sanchi near Vidisa where several inscriptions in his name have been found dated to the year 22 the Sanchi inscription of Vaksushana i e Vasishka Kushana and year 28 the Sanchi inscription of Vasaska i e Vasishka of a possible second Kanishka era 83 84 Little Kushans AD 270 350 edit Following territory losses in the west Bactria lost to the Kushano Sasanians and in the east loss of Mathura to the Gupta Empire several Little Kushans are known who ruled locally in the area of Punjab with their capital at Taxila Vasudeva II 270 300 Mahi 300 305 Shaka 305 335 and Kipunada 335 350 83 They probably were vassals of the Gupta Empire until the invasion of the Kidarites destroyed the last remains of Kushan rule 83 Kushan deities edit nbsp Kumara Kartikeya with a Kushan devotee 2nd century AD nbsp Kushan prince said to be Huvishka making a donation to a Boddhisattva 85 nbsp Shiva Linga worshipped by Kushan devotees circa 2nd century ADThe Kushan religious pantheon is extremely varied as revealed by their coins that were made in gold silver and copper These coins contained more than thirty different gods belonging mainly to their own Iranian as well as Greek and Indian worlds as well Kushan coins had images of Kushan Kings Buddha and figures from the Indo Aryan and Iranian pantheons 86 Greek deities with Greek names are represented on early coins During Kanishka s reign the language of the coinage changes to Bactrian though it remained in Greek script for all kings After Huvishka only two divinities appear on the coins Ardoxsho and Oesho see details below 87 88 The Iranian entities depicted on coinage include Ardoxsho Ardoxtho Ashi Vanghuhi nbsp Ashaeixsho Athaeixtho Best righteousness Asha Vahishta nbsp Athsho A8tho The Royal fire Atar 87 nbsp Pharro Farro Royal splendour Khwarenah nbsp Lrooaspa Lrooaspo Drvaspa nbsp Manaobago Manaobago Vohu Manah 89 nbsp Mao Mao the Lunar deity Mah nbsp Mithro and variants Mi8ro Miiro Mioro Miyro Mithra nbsp Mozdooano Mozdooano Mazda the victorious Mazda vana 87 90 nbsp Nana Nana Nanaia Nanaϸao variations of pan Asiatic Nana Sogdian Nny Anahita 87 nbsp Oado Oado Vata nbsp Oaxsho Oaxtho Oxus Ooromozdo Ooromozdo Ahura Mazda nbsp Orlagno Oralagno Verethragna the Iranian god of war nbsp Rishti Riϸti Uprightness Arshtat 87 nbsp Shaoreoro Ϸaorhoro Best royal power Archetypal ruler Khshathra Vairya 87 nbsp Tiero Tiero TirRepresentation of entities from Greek mythology and Hellenistic syncretism are Zaoou Zaooy 91 Zeus nbsp Elios Hlios Helios nbsp Ephaestos Hfahstos Hephaistos Oa nendo Oa nhndo Nike nbsp Salene Ϲalhnh 92 93 94 95 Selene nbsp Anemos Anhmos Anemos nbsp Erakilo Hrakilo Heracles nbsp Sarapo Ϲarapo the Greco Egyptian god Sarapis nbsp The Indic entities represented on coinage include 96 Boddo Boddo the Buddha nbsp Shakamano Boddho Ϸakamano Boddo Shakyamuni Buddha nbsp Metrago Boddo Metrago Boddo the bodhisattava Maitreya nbsp Maaseno Maashno Mahasena nbsp nbsp Skando Komaro Skando komaro Skanda Kumara nbsp Bizago Visakha 96 nbsp Ommo Uma the consort of Siva 96 nbsp Oesho Ohϸo long considered to represent Indic Shiva 97 98 99 but also identified as Avestan Vayu conflated with Shiva 100 101 nbsp Two copper coins of Huvishka bear a Ganesa legend but instead of depicting the typical theriomorphic figure of Ganesha have a figure of an archer holding a full length bow with string inwards and an arrow This is typically a depiction of Rudra but in the case of these two coins is generally assumed to represent Shiva Images of Kushan worshippers nbsp Kushan worshipper with Zeus Serapis Ohrmazd Bactria 3rd century AD 102 nbsp Kushan worshipper with Pharro Bactria 3rd century AD 102 nbsp Kushan worshipper with Shiva Oesho Bactria 3rd century AD 102 nbsp Shiva Oesho wall painting with fragment of a worshipper Bactria 3rd century AD 103 Deities on Kushan coinage and seals nbsp Mahasena on a coin of Huvishka nbsp Four faced Oesho nbsp Rishti or Riom 104 105 nbsp Manaobago nbsp Pharro nbsp Ardochsho nbsp Oesho or Shiva nbsp Oesho or Shiva with bull nbsp Skanda and Visakha nbsp Kushan Carnelian seal representing the ADϷO adsho Atar with triratana symbol left and Kanishka the Great s dynastic mark right nbsp Coin of Kanishka I with a depiction of the Buddha and legend Boddo in Greek script nbsp Herakles nbsp Buddha nbsp Coin of Vima Kadphises Deity Oesho on the reverse thought to be Shiva 98 99 106 or the Zoroastrian Vayu 107 Kushans and Buddhism edit nbsp The Ahin Posh stupa was dedicated in the 2nd century AD under the Kushans and contained coins of Kushan and Roman Emperors nbsp Early Mahayana Buddhist triad From left to right a Kushan devotee Maitreya the Buddha Avalokitesvara and a Buddhist monk 2nd 3rd century Shotorak 108 The Kushans inherited the Greco Buddhist traditions of the Indo Greek Kingdom they replaced and their patronage of Buddhist institutions allowed them to grow as a commercial power 109 Between the mid 1st century and the mid 3rd century Buddhism patronised by the Kushans extended to China and other Asian countries through the Silk Road citation needed Kanishka is renowned in Buddhist tradition for having convened a great Buddhist council in Kashmir Along with his predecessors in the region the Indo Greek king Menander I Milinda and the Indian emperors Ashoka and Harsha Vardhana Kanishka is considered by Buddhism as one of its greatest benefactors citation needed During the 1st century AD Buddhist books were being produced and carried by monks and their trader patrons Also monasteries were being established along these land routes that went from China and other parts of Asia With the development of Buddhist books it caused a new written language called Gandhara Gandhara consists of eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan Scholars are said to have found many Buddhist scrolls that contained the Gandhari language 110 The reign of Huvishka corresponds to the first known epigraphic evidence of the Buddha Amitabha on the bottom part of a 2nd century statue which has been found in Govindo Nagar and now at the Mathura Museum The statue is dated to the 28th year of the reign of Huvishka and dedicated to Amitabha Buddha by a family of merchants There is also some evidence that Huvishka himself was a follower of Mahayana Buddhism A Sanskrit manuscript fragment in the Schoyen Collection describes Huvishka as one who has set forth in the Mahayana 111 The 12th century historical chronicle Rajatarangini mentions in detail the rule of the Kushan kings and their benevolence towards Buddhism 112 113 Then there ruled in this very land the founders of cities called after their own appellations the three kings named Huska Juska and Kaniska These kings albeit belonging to the Turkish race found refuge in acts of piety they constructed in Suskaletra and other places monasteries Caityas and similar edificies During the glorious period of their regime the kingdom of Kashmir was for the most part an appanage of the Buddhists who had acquired lustre by renunciation At this time since the Nirvana of the blessed Sakya Simha in this terrestrial world one hundred fifty years it is said had elapsed And a Bodhisattva was in this country the sole supreme ruler of the land he was the illustrious Nagarjuna who dwelt in Sadarhadvana Rajatarangini I168 I173 113 114 Kushan art editMain articles Kushan art Greco Buddhist art and Art of Mathura nbsp nbsp Portrait of a Kushan prince from Khalchayan left and head of a Gandhara Bodhisattava right said to have similar characteristics Philadelphia Museum of Art 115 The art and culture of Gandhara at the crossroads of the Kushan hegemony developed the traditions of Greco Buddhist art and are the best known expressions of Kushan influences to Westerners Several direct depictions of Kushans are known from Gandhara where they are represented with a tunic belt and trousers and play the role of devotees to the Buddha as well as the Bodhisattva and future Buddha Maitreya 115 According to Benjamin Rowland the first expression of Kushan art appears at Khalchayan at the end of the 2nd century BC 115 It is derived from Hellenistic art and possibly from the art of the cities of Ai Khanoum and Nysa and clearly has similarities with the later Art of Gandhara and may even have been at the origin of its development 115 Rowland particularly draws attention to the similarity of the ethnic types represented at Khalchayan and in the art of Gandhara and also in the style of portraiture itself 115 For example Rowland find a great proximity between the famous head of a Yuezhi prince from Khalchayan and the head of Gandharan Bodhisattvas giving the example of the Gandharan head of a Bodhisattva in the Philadelphia Museum of Art 115 The similarity of the Gandhara Bodhisattva with the portrait of the Kushan ruler Heraios is also striking 115 According to Rowland the Bactrian art of Khalchayan thus survived for several centuries through its influence in the art of Gandhara thanks to the patronage of the Kushans 115 During the Kushan Empire many images of Gandhara share a strong resemblance to the features of Greek Syrian Persian and Indian figures These Western looking stylistic signatures often include heavy drapery and curly hair 116 representing a composite the Greeks for example often possessed curly hair citation needed As the Kushans took control of the area of Mathura as well the Art of Mathura developed considerably and free standing statues of the Buddha came to be mass produced around this time possibly encouraged by doctrinal changes in Buddhism allowing to depart from the aniconism that had prevailed in the Buddhist sculptures at Mathura Bharhut or Sanchi from the end of the 2nd century BC 117 The artistic cultural influence of kushans declined slowly due to Hellenistic Greek and Indian influences 118 Dated Buddhist statuary under the Kushans nbsp Kanishka I Kosambi Bodhisattva inscribed Year 2 of Kanishka AD 129 119 nbsp Kanishka I Bala Bodhisattva Sarnath inscribed Year 3 of Kanishka AD 130 120 nbsp Kanishka I Kimbell seated Bodhisattva with inscription Year 4 of Kanishka AD 131 note 7 121 122 Another similar statue has Year 32 of Kanishka 123 nbsp Kanishka I Buddha from Loriyan Tangai with inscription mentioning the year 318 of the Yavana era AD 143 124 nbsp Vasudeva I Hashtnagar Buddha and its piedestal inscribed with year 384 of the Yavana era c AD 209 124 nbsp Vasudeva I Mamane Dheri Buddha inscribed with Year 89 probably of the Kanishka era AD 216 124 nbsp Kanishka II Statue of Hariti from Skarah Dheri Gandhara Year 399 of the Yavana era AD 244 124 Kushan monetary system edit Main article Kushan coinage nbsp Kushan gold ingots from the Dalverzin Tepe treasure 1st century CEThe Kushans used gold ingots as part of their monetary system as shown by the gold treasure discovered in 1972 in Dalverzin Tepe 125 The main objects from the treasure were circular and parallelepipedic ingots followed by various decorative objects and jewellery items 125 The circular ingots used to be progressively cut up as needed depending on the amount required for a transaction 125 On the contrary the parallelepipedic ingots were used to stock wealth in a not divisible form these ingots bear inscriptions in Kharoshthi mentioning their weight and the god Mitra protector of contractual relations 125 These ingots are all attributed to the monetary system of the Kushan Empire 125 The coinage of the Kushans was abundant and an important tool of propaganda in promoting each Kushan ruler 126 One of the names for Kushan coins was Dinara which ultimately came from the Roman name Denarius aureus 126 127 128 The coinage of the Kushans was copied as far as the Kushano Sasanians in the west and the kingdom of Samatata in Bengal to the east The coinage of the Gupta Empire was also initially derived from the coinage of the Kushan Empire adopting its weight standard techniques and designs following the conquests of Samudragupta in the northwest 129 130 131 The imagery on Gupta coins then became more Indian in both style and subject matter compared to earlier dynasties where Greco Roman and Persian styles were mostly followed 130 132 It has long been suggested that the gold contained in Kushan coins was ultimately of Roman origin and that Roman coins were imported as a consequence of trade and melted in India to mint Kushan coins However a recent archaeometallurgical study of trace elements through proton activation analysis has shown that Kushan gold contains high concentrations of platinum and palladium which rules out the hypothesis of a Roman provenance To this day the origin of Kushan gold remains unknown 133 Contacts with Rome editMain article Indo Roman trade relations Roman coinage among the Kushans nbsp Coin of the Roman Emperor Trajan found together with coins of Kanishka the Great at the Ahin Posh Monastery nbsp Kushan ring with inscription in the Brahmi script with portraits of Roman rulers Septimus Severus and Julia Domna nbsp Indian imitation of a coin of Septimius Severus AD 193 211 Several Roman sources describe the visit of ambassadors from the Kings of Bactria and India during the 2nd century probably referring to the Kushans 134 Historia Augusta speaking of Emperor Hadrian 117 138 tells 134 nbsp Greco Roman gladiator on a glass vessel Begram 2nd centuryReges Bactrianorum legatos ad eum amicitiae petendae causa supplices miserunt The kings of the Bactrians sent supplicant ambassadors to him to seek his friendship 134 Also in 138 according to Aurelius Victor Epitome XV 4 and Appian Praef 7 Antoninus Pius successor to Hadrian received some Indian Bactrian and Hyrcanian ambassadors 134 Some Kushan coins have an effigy of Roma suggesting a strong level of awareness and some level of diplomatic relations 134 The summer capital of the Kushan Empire in Begram has yielded a considerable amount of goods imported from the Roman Empire in particular various types of glassware The Chinese described the presence of Roman goods in the Kushan realm Precious things from Da Qin the Roman Empire can be found there in Tianzhu or Northwestern India as well as fine cotton cloths fine wool carpets perfumes of all sorts sugar candy pepper ginger and black salt Hou Hanshu 135 Parthamaspates of Parthia a client of Rome and ruler of the kingdom of Osroene is known to have traded with the Kushan Empire goods being sent by sea and through the Indus River 136 Contacts with China edit nbsp nbsp 100WESTERNSATRAPSINDO PARTHIANSSABEANSSargatShuleMEROEAKSUMKUCHAWUSUNJushiLOULANOrdoscultureDONGHUTashtykKokelKANGJUKhotanDinlingsSarmatiansROMANEMPIREPARTHIANEMPIREKUSHANEMPIRESATAVA HANASFUNANHANDYNASTYXIONGNU class notpageimage The Kushan Empire and contemporary polities in continental Asia circa 100 AD During the 1st and 2nd century AD the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north putting them at the center of the profitable Central Asian commerce They are related to have collaborated militarily with the Chinese against nomadic incursion particularly when they allied with the Han dynasty general Ban Chao against the Sogdians in 84 when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king of Kashgar 137 Around 85 they also assisted the Chinese general in an attack on Turpan east of the Tarim Basin Kushan coinage in China nbsp A bronze coin of Kanishka the Great found in Khotan Tarim Basin nbsp Eastern Han inscriptions on lead ingot using barbarous Greek alphabet in the style of the Kushans excavated in Shaanxi 1st 2nd century AD Gansu Provincial Museum 138 139 In recognition for their support to the Chinese the Kushans requested a Han princess but were denied 137 140 even after they had sent presents to the Chinese court In retaliation they marched on Ban Chao in 86 with a force of 70 000 but were defeated by a smaller Chinese force 137 140 The Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire during the reign of emperor He of Han 89 106 The Kushans are again recorded to have sent presents to the Chinese court in 158 159 during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han Following these interactions cultural exchanges further increased and Kushan Buddhist missionaries such as Lokaksema became active in the Chinese capital cities of Luoyang and sometimes Nanjing where they particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work They were the first recorded promoters of Hinayana and Mahayana scriptures in China greatly contributing to the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism Decline editKushano Sassanians edit Main article Kushano Sasanians Sasanian control of the Western Kushans nbsp Hormizd I Kushanshah AD 277 286 king of the Indo Sasanians maintained Sasanian rule in former Kushan territories of the northwest Naqsh e Rustam Bahram II panel nbsp The Kushano Sasanians imitated the Kushans in some of their Bactrian coinage Coin of Sasanian ruler Peroz I Kushanshah with Bactrian legend around Peroz the Great Kushan King After the death of Vasudeva I in 225 the Kushan empire split into western and eastern halves The Western Kushans in Afghanistan were soon subjugated by the Persian Sasanian Empire and lost Sogdiana Bactria and Gandhara to them The Sassanian king Shapur I 240 270 claims in his Naqsh e Rostam inscription possession of the territory of the Kushans Kusan sahr as far as Purushapura Peshawar suggesting he controlled Bactria and areas as far as the Hindu Kush or even south of it 141 I the Mazda worshipping lord Shapur king of kings of Iran and An Iran I am the Master of the Domain of Iran Eransahr and possess the territory of Persis Parthian Hindestan the Domain of the Kushan up to the limits of Paskabur and up to Kash Sughd and Chachestan Shapur I s inscription at the Ka ba ye Zartosht Naqsh e Rostam 141 This is also confirmed by the Rag i Bibi inscription in modern Afghanistan 141 The Sasanians deposed the Western dynasty and replaced them with Persian vassals known as the Kushanshas in Bactrian on their coinage KOTHANO THAO Koshano Shao 142 also called Indo Sasanians or Kushano Sasanians The Kushano Sasanians ultimately became very powerful under Hormizd I Kushanshah 277 286 and rebelled against the Sasanian Empire while continuing many aspects of the Kushan culture visible in particular in their titulature and their coinage 143 Little Kushans and Gupta suzerainty edit Gupta control over the Eastern Kushans nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp The expression Devaputra Shahi Shahanu Shahi in Middle Brahmi in the Allahabad pillar Line 23 claimed by Samudragupta to be under his dominion 144 nbsp Coin minted in the Punjab area with the name Samudra nbsp nbsp nbsp Sa mu dra thought to be the Gupta ruler Samudragupta These coins imitate those of the last Kushan ruler Kipunada and precede the coinage of the first Kidarite Huns in northwestern India Circa 350 375 145 146 The Eastern Kushan kingdom also known as the Little Kushans was based in the Punjab Around 270 their territories on the Gangetic plain became independent under local dynasties such as the Yaudheyas Then in the mid 4th century they were subjugated by the Gupta Empire under Samudragupta 147 In his inscription on the Allahabad pillar Samudragupta proclaims that the Devaputra Shahi Shahanushahi referring to the last Kushan rulers being a deformation of the Kushan regnal titles Devaputra Shao and Shaonanoshao Son of God King King of Kings are now under his dominion and that they were forced to self surrender offering their own daughters in marriage and a request for the administration of their own districts and provinces 148 147 149 This suggests that by the time of the Allahabad inscription the Kushans still ruled in Punjab but under the suzerainty of the Gupta Emperor 147 Numimastics indicate that the coinage of the Eastern Kushans was much weakened silver coinage was abandoned altogether and gold coinage was debased This suggests that the Eastern Kushans had lost their central trading role on the trade routes that supplied luxury goods and gold 147 Still the Buddhist art of Gandhara continued to flourish and cities such as Sirsukh near Taxila were established 147 Sasanian Kidarite and Alchon invasions edit Main articles Sasanian Empire Kidarites and Alchon Huns In the east around 350 Shapur II regained the upper hand against the Kushano Sasanian Kingdom and took control of large territories in areas now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan possibly as a consequence of the destruction of the Kushano Sasanians by the Chionites 150 The Kushano Sasanian still ruled in the north Important finds of Sasanian coinage beyond the Indus river in the city of Taxila only start with the reigns of Shapur II r 309 379 and Shapur III r 383 388 suggesting that the expansion of Sasanian control beyond the Indus was the result of the wars of Shapur II with the Chionites and Kushans in 350 358 as described by Ammianus Marcellinus 151 They probably maintained control until the rise of the Kidarites under their ruler Kidara 151 In 360 a Kidarite Hun named Kidara overthrew the Kushano Sasanians and remnants of the old Kushan dynasty and established the Kidarite Kingdom The Kushan style of Kidarite coins indicates they claimed Kushan heritage The Kidarite seem to have been rather prosperous although on a smaller scale than their Kushan predecessors East of the Punjab the former eastern territories of the Kushans were controlled by the mighty Gupta Empire citation needed The remnants of Kushan culture under the Kidarites in the northwest were ultimately wiped out in the end of the 5th century by the invasions of the Alchon Huns sometimes considered as a branch of the Hephthalites and later the Nezak Huns citation needed Rulers editOne of the most recent list of rulers with dates is as follows 152 Heraios c 1 30 first king to call himself Kushan on his coinage nbsp Great Kushans Kujula Kadphises c 50 c 90 nbsp Vima Takto c 90 c 113 alias Soter Megas or Great Saviour nbsp Vima Kadphises c 113 c 127 First great Kushan Emperor nbsp Kanishka the Great 127 c 151 nbsp Huvishka c 151 c 190 nbsp Vasudeva I c 190 c 230 Last great Kushan Emperor nbsp Kanishka II c 230 247 nbsp Vashishka c 247 267 nbsp Little Kushans Kanishka III c 267 270 nbsp Vasudeva II c 270 300 nbsp Mahi c 300 305 153 nbsp Shaka c 305 335 153 nbsp Kipunada c 335 350 153 nbsp See also editHistory of Afghanistan History of Pakistan History of India Mathura Taxila Kucha another Tocharian speaking kingdom with a related etymology Iranians in China Kushan scriptNotes edit a b The Kushans at first retained the Greek language for administrative purposes but soon began to use Bactrian The Bactrian Rabatak inscription discovered in 1993 and deciphered in 2000 records that the Kushan king Kanishka the Great c 127 AD discarded Greek Ionian as the language of administration and adopted Bactrian Arya language 6 The Pali word vaṃsa dynasty affixed to Gushana Kushana i e Gushana vaṃsa Kushan dynasty appears on a dedicatory inscription at Manikiala stupa 7 It began about 127 CE 19 20 21 For example the 12th century historical chronicle from Kashmir the Rajatarangini describes the Central Asia Kushans as Turushka त र ष क a b See also the analysis of Sims Williams amp Cribb 1995 1996 specialists of the field who had a central role in the decipherment For a translation of the full text of the Rabatak inscription see Mukherjee 1995 This translation is quoted in Goyal 2005 p 88 Seated Buddha with inscription starting with nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Maharajasya Kanishkasya Sam 4 Year 4 of the Great King Kanishka Ancient Greek Basileia Kossanῶn Bactrian Koϸano Kosano Sanskrit क ष ण ku ṣa ṇaḥ Brahmi nbsp nbsp nbsp Ku ṣa ṇa BHS Guṣaṇa vaṃsa Parthian 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓 Kusan xsa8r Chinese 貴霜 pinyin Guishuang 15 References edit Romila Thapar 2004 Early India From the Origins to AD 1300 University of California Press p 221 ISBN 978 0 520 24225 8 Burton Stein 2010 A History of India John Wiley amp Sons p 86 ISBN 978 1 4443 2351 1 Peter Robb 2011 A History of India Macmillan International Higher Education p 55 ISBN 978 0 230 34549 2 permanent dead link Hermann Kulke Dietmar Rothermund 2016 A History of India Taylor amp Francis ISBN 978 1 317 24212 3 a b Di Castro Angelo Andrea Hope Colin A 2005 The Barbarisation of Bactria Cultural Interaction in Afghanistan c 300 BCE to 300 CE Melbourne Monash University Press pp 1 18 map visible online page 2 of Hestia a Tabula Iliaca and Poseidon s trident ISBN 978 1876924393 Falk 2001 p 133 Rosenfield 1967 pp 7 amp 8 a b Wurm Stephen A Muhlhausler Peter Tryon Darrell T 11 February 2011 Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific Asia and the Americas Vol I Maps Vol II Texts Walter de Gruyter ISBN 978 3 11 081972 4 a b Bopearachchi 2007 p 45 Liu 2010 p 61 Golden 1992 p 56 a b Afghanistan Central Asian and Sassanian Rule ca 150 B C 700 A D Library of Congress Country Studies 1997 Archived from the original on 15 February 2013 Retrieved 16 August 2012 Turchin Peter Adams Jonathan M Hall Thomas D December 2006 East West Orientation of Historical Empires Journal of World Systems Research 12 2 222 ISSN 1076 156X Retrieved 12 September 2016 Taagepera Rein 1979 Size and Duration of Empires Growth Decline Curves 600 B C to 600 A D Social Science History 3 3 4 132 doi 10 2307 1170959 JSTOR 1170959 a b c Rosenfield 1967 p 7 Anonymous The History of Pakistan The Kushans Archived from the original on 7 July 2015 Retrieved 17 May 2015 Si Yu Ki Buddhist Records of the Western World The mission of Sung Yun and Hwei Săng by Hsuan chih Yang Ta T ang si yu ki Books 1 5 Translated by Samuel Beal London Kegan Paul Trench Trubner amp Co 1906 Hill 2009 pp 29 318 350 a b Falk 2001 pp 121 136 a b Falk 2004 pp 167 176 Hill 2009 pp 29 33 368 371 Runion Meredith L 2007 The history of Afghanistan Westport Greenwood Press p 46 ISBN 978 0 313 33798 7 The Yuezhi people conquered Bactria in the second century BCE and divided the country into five chiefdoms one of which would become the Kushan Empire Recognizing the importance of unification these five tribes combined under the one dominate Kushan tribe and the primary rulers descended from the Yuezhi a b Liu Xinru 2001 The Silk Road Overland Trade and Cultural Interactions in Eurasia In Adas Michael ed Agricultural and pastoral societies in ancient and classical history Philadelphia Temple University Press p 156 ISBN 978 1 56639 832 9 a b c Narain 1990 pp 152 155 W e must identify them Tocharians with the Yueh chih of the Chinese sources C onsensus of scholarly opinion identifies the Yueh chih with the Tokharians T he Indo European ethnic origin of the Yuehchih Tokharians is generally accepted Yueh chih Tokharian people Yueh chih Tokharians a b Beckwith 2009 p 380 The identity of the Tokharoi and Yueh chih people is quite certain and has been clear for at least half a century though this has not become widely known outside the tiny number of philologists who work on early Central Eurasian and early Chinese history and linguistics a b Pulleyblank 1966 pp 9 39 a b Mallory 1997 pp 591 593 T he Tocharians have frequently been identified in Chinese historical sources as a people known as the Yuezhi a b Loewe amp Shaughnessy 1999 pp 87 88 Pulleyblank has identified the Yuezhi Wusun the Dayuan the Kangju and the people of Yanqi all names occurring in the Chinese historical sources for the Han dynasty as Tocharian speakers Dani Ahmad Hasan Masson V M Harmatta J Puri Baij Nath Etemadi G F Litvinskiĭ B A 1992 2005 History of civilizations of Central Asia Paris UNESCO pp 310 ISBN 92 3 102719 0 OCLC 28186754 Contrary to earlier assumptions which regarded Kujula Kadphises as Buddhist on the basis of this epithet dharmasthita steadfast in the Law it is now clear from the wording of a Mathura inscription in which Huvishka bears the same epithet satyadharmasthita that the kingdom was conferred upon him by Sarva and Scamdavira Candavira that is he was a devotee of Siva The Mathura inscription in question is documented in Luders 1961 p 138ff Grenet Frantz 2015 Zoroastrianism among the Kushans In Falk Harry ed Kushan histories Literary sources and selected papers from a symposium at Berlin December 5 to 7 2013 Bremen Hempen Verlag Aldrovandi Cibele Hirata Elaine June 2005 Buddhism Pax Kushana and Greco Roman motifs pattern and purpose in Gandharan iconography Antiquity 79 304 306 315 doi 10 1017 S0003598X00114103 ISSN 0003 598X S2CID 161505956 a b Danielou Alain 2003 A Brief History of India Simon and Schuster p 111 ISBN 9781594777943 Hill 2009 p 36 and notes Yatsenko Sergey A 2012 Yuezhi on Bactrian Embroidery from Textiles Found at Noyon uul Mongolia PDF The Silk Road 10 Francfort Henri Paul 1 January 2020 Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l hellenisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhara 130 av J C 100 apr J C environ Journal des Savants 26 27 Kushan Empire ca 2nd century B C 3rd century A D Thematic Essay Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Metropolitan Museum of Art Retrieved 23 October 2015 Roux 1997 p 90 They are by almost unanimous opinion Indo Europeans probably the most oriental of those who occupied the steppes Mallory amp Mair 2008 pp 270 297 Enoki Koshelenko amp Haidary 1994 pp 171 183 Loewe Michael A N 1979 Introduction In Hulsewe Anthony Francois Paulus ed China in Central Asia The Early Stage 125 BC AD 23 an Annotated Translation of Chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty Brill pp 1 70 ISBN 978 90 04 05884 2 pp 23 24 Banerjee Gauranga Nath 1920 Hellenism in ancient India Calcutta Published by the Author New York Oxford University Press p 92 a b Wink 2002 p 57 Rajatarangini Pandit Ranjit Sitaram 1935 River Of Kings rajatarangini pp I168 I173 Then there ruled in this very land the founders of cities called after their own appellations the three kings named Huska Juska and Kaniska These kings albeit belonging to the Turkish race found refuge in acts of piety they constructed in Suskaletra and other places monasteries Caityas and similar edificies Rosenfield 1967 p 8 KHALCHAYAN Encyclopaedia Iranica Figure 1 a b Grousset 1970 pp 31 32 Lebedynsky 2006 p 62 Lebedynsky 2006 p 15 Fedorov Michael 2004 On the origin of the Kushans with reference to numismatic and anthropological data PDF Oriental Numismatic Society 181 Autumn 32 Archived from the original PDF on 6 October 2019 Retrieved 6 October 2019 nbsp a b Abdullaev Kazim 2007 Nomad Migration in Central Asia in After Alexander Central Asia before Islam Proceedings of the British Academy 133 89 The knights in chain mail armour have analogies in the Khalchayan reliefs depicting a battle of the Yuezhi against a Saka tribe probably the Sakaraules Apart from the chain mail armour worn by the heavy cavalry of the enemies of the Yuezhi the other characteristic sign of these warriors is long side whiskers We think it is possible to identify all these grotesque personages with long side whiskers as enemies of the Yuezhi and relate them to the Sakaraules Indeed these expressive figures with side whiskers differ greatly from the tranquil and majestic faces and poses of the Yuezhi depictions a b c Hill 2009 p 29 Chavannes 1907 pp 190 192 a b c d Benjamin Craig 16 April 2015 The Cambridge World History Volume 4 A World with States Empires and Networks 1200 BCE 900 CE Cambridge University Press p 477 ff ISBN 978 1 316 29830 5 It is generally agreed that the Kushans were one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi a b Starr S Frederick 2013 Lost Enlightenment Central Asia s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane Princeton NJ Princeton University Press p 53 O Brien Patrick Karl Press Oxford University 2002 Atlas of World History Oxford University Press p 46 ISBN 978 0 19 521921 0 Goyal 2005 p 93 The Rabatak inscription claims that in the year 1 Kanishka I s authority was proclaimed in India in all the satrapies and in different cities like Koonadeano Kundina Ozeno Ujjain Kozambo Kausambi Zagedo Saketa Palabotro Pataliputra and Ziri Tambo Janjgir Champa These cities lay to the east and south of Mathura up to which locality Wima had already carried his victorious arm Therefore they must have been captured or subdued by Kanishka I himself Mukherjee B N 1995 The Great Kushana Testament Indian Museum Bulletin Calcutta a b Cribb Joe 1984 The Sino Kharosthi coins of Khotan part 2 Numismatic Chronicle pp 129 152 Schwartzberg Joseph E 1978 A Historical atlas of South Asia Chicago University of Chicago Press p 145 map XIV 1 g ISBN 0226742210 a b c d e f Rosenfield 1993 p 41 Sailendra Nath Sen 1999 p 188 Basham Arthur Llewellyn 1968 Papers on the Date of Kaniṣka Submitted to the Conference on the Date of Kaniṣka London 20 22 April 1960 Brill Archive p 414 Rosenfield 1993 p 41 Malwa and Maharashtra for which it is speculated that the Kushans had an alliance with the Western Kshatrapas Hall D G E 1981 A History of South East Asia Fourth Edition Hong Kong Macmillan Education Ltd p 17 ISBN 0 333 24163 0 Goyal 2005 p 93 The Rabatak inscription claims that in the year 1 Kanishka I s authority was proclaimed in India in all the satrapies and in different cities like Koonadeano Kundina Ozeno Ujjain Kozambo Kausambi Zagedo Saketa Palabotro Pataliputra and Ziri Tambo Janjgir Champa These cities lay to the east and south of Mathura up to which locality Wima had already carried his victorious arm Therefore they must have been captured or subdued by Kanishka I himself Sims Williams Nicholas Bactrian Documents from Ancient Afghanistan Archived from the original on 10 June 2007 Retrieved 24 May 2007 a b Rezakhani 2017b p 201 Puri 1999 p 258 Mukherjee Bratindra Nath 1988 The rise and fall of the Kushaṇa Empire Firma KLM p 269 ISBN 9780836423938 a b Samatata coin The British Museum British Museum display Asian Art room full citation needed Sengupta Nitish 2011 Land of Two Rivers A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib Penguin UK p 39 ISBN 978 81 8475 530 5 Numismatic Digest Numismatic Society of Bombay 2012 p 29 As far as gold coins in Bengal are concerned it was Samatata or South eastern Bengal which issued gold coins This trend of imitating Kushan gold continued and had major impact on the currency pattern of this south eastern zone Ray N R 1982 Sources of the History of India Bihar Orissa Bengal Manipur and Tripura Institute of Historical Studies p 194 A large number of Kushan and Puri Kushan coins have been discovered from different parts of Orissa Scholars have designated the Puri Kushan coins as the Oriya Kushan coins Though the coins are the imitations of Kushan coins they have been abundantly found from different parts of Orissa Grousset 1970 pp 45 46 Hill 2009 p 43 a b RUSANOV D V 1994 The Fortification of Kampir Tepe A Reconstruction Bulletin of the Asia Institute 8 155 160 ISSN 0890 4464 JSTOR 24048772 Rtveladze E 2019 Alexandria on the Oxus Kampir Tepe A fortress city on the Oxus shore Tashkent a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Lee Jonathan L 8 March 2022 Afghanistan A History from 1260 to the Present Reaktion Books ISBN 978 1 78914 019 4 Puri Baij Nath 1965 India under the Kushaṇas Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Bracey Robert 2017 The Date of Kanishka since 1960 Indian Historical Review 44 1 21 61 doi 10 1177 0376983617694717 S2CID 149016806 Schwartzberg Joseph E 1978 A Historical atlas of South Asia Chicago University of Chicago Press pp 25 145 ISBN 0226742210 a b c Rezakhani 2017b p 203 Rosenfield 1967 p 57 Marshak Boris Grenet Frantz 2006 Une peinture kouchane sur toile Comptes rendus des seances de l Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres 150 2 957 doi 10 3406 crai 2006 87101 Liu 2010 p 47 a b c d e f Harmatta 1999 pp 327 328 Boyce Mary 2001 Zoroastrians Their Religious Beliefs and Practices Psychology Press p 83 ISBN 978 0 415 23902 8 Harmatta 1999 p 324 Jongeward David Cribb Joe 2014 Kushan Kushano Sasanian and Kidarite Coins A Catalogue of Coins From the American Numismatic Society PDF New York THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY p Front page illustration Archived from the original PDF on 17 August 2021 Retrieved 7 March 2021 Kujula Kadphises coin The British Museum Dani A H Asimov M S Litvinsky B A Zhang Guang da Samghabadi R Shabani Bosworth C E 1 January 1994 History of Civilizations of Central Asia The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations 700 B C to A UNESCO p 321 ISBN 978 92 3 102846 5 The Cambridge Shorter History of India CUP Archive p 77 Sen Sailendra Nath 1999 Ancient Indian History and Civilization New Age International p 199 ISBN 978 81 224 1198 0 Singh Upinder 2008 A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India From the Stone Age to the 12th Century Pearson Education India p 377 ISBN 978 81 317 1120 0 a b c Harmatta 1999 p 326 Also omitted is the ancient Iranian war god Orlagno whose place and function are occupied by a group of Indian war gods Skando Old Indian Skanda Komaro Old Indian Kumara Maaseno Old Indian Mahasena Bizago Old Indian Visakha and even Ommo Old Indian Uma the consort of Siva Their use as reverse types of Huvishka I is clear evidence for the new trends in religious policy of the Kushan king which was possibly influenced by enlisting Indian warriors into the Kushan army during the campaign against Pataliputra Sivaramamurti 1976 p 56 59 a b Loeschner Hans July 2012 The Stupa of the Kushan Emperor Kanishka the Great PDF Sino Platonic Papers 227 11 a b Bopearachchi 2007 pp 41 53 Sims Williams Nicolas Bactrian Language Encyclopaedia Iranica Vol 3 London Routledge amp Kegan Paul Bopearachchi 2003 Cites H Humbach 1975 p 402 408 K Tanabe 1997 p 277 M Carter 1995 p 152 J Cribb 1997 p 40 a b c Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition full citation needed Panel fragment with the god Shiva Oesho Metropolitan Museum of Art Fleet J F 1908 The Introduction of the Greek Uncial and Cursive Characters into India The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1908 179 note 1 JSTOR 25210545 The reading of the name of the deity on this coin is very much uncertain and disputed Riom Riddhi Rishthi Rise Shrava Satya 1985 The Kushaṇa Numismatics Pranava Prakashan p 29 The name Riom as read by Gardner was read by Cunningham as Ride who equated it with Riddhi the Indian goddess of fortune F W Thomas has read the name as Rhea Perkins J 2007 Three headed Siva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises s Copper Coinage South Asian Studies 23 1 31 37 Fitzwilliam Museum 1992 Errington Elizabeth ed The Crossroads of Asia transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan Ancient India and Iran Trust p 87 ISBN 9780951839911 Rosenfield 1967 p 451 Figure 105 Figure 105 Image pedestal with Sakyamuni flanked by Bodhisattvas and devotees Shotorak Liu 2010 p 42 Liu 2010 p 58 Neelis Jason Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks 2010 p 141 Sailendra Nath Sen 1999 pp 199 200 a b Mahajan V D 2016 Ancient India S Chand Publishing p 330 ISBN 978 93 5253 132 5 Pandit Ranjit Sitaram 1935 River Of Kings rajatarangini p I168 I173 a b c d e f g h Rowland Benjamin 1971 Graeco Bactrian Art and Gandhara Khalchayan and the Gandhara Bodhisattvas Archives of Asian Art 25 29 35 ISSN 0066 6637 JSTOR 20111029 Birmingham Museum of Art 2010 Birmingham Museum of Art guide to the collection Birmingham Ala Birmingham Museum of Art p 51 ISBN 978 1 904832 77 5 Stoneman Richard 2019 The Greek Experience of India From Alexander to the Indo Greeks Princeton University Press pp 439 440 ISBN 9780691185385 Sailendra Nath Sen 1999 p 202 Ghosh N N 1935 Early History of Kausambi Allahabad Law Journal Press p xxi Epigraphia Indica 8 p 179 Seated Buddha with Two Attendants A D 82 Kimbell Art Museum Asian Civilisations Museum Singapore 2007 Krishnan Gauri Parimoo ed The Divine Within Art amp Living Culture of India amp South Asia World Scientific Pub p 113 ISBN 9789810567057 The Buddhist Triad from Haryana or Mathura Year 4 of Kaniska ad 82 Kimbell Art Museum Fort Worth Behrendt Kurt A 2007 The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Metropolitan Museum of Art p 48 Fig 18 ISBN 9781588392244 a b c d Rhi Juhyung 2017 Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Positioning Gandharan Buddhas in Chronology PDF Oxford Archaeopress Archaeology pp 35 51 nbsp a b c d e Ilyasov Djangar 2022 Splendeurs des oasis d Ouzbekistan Paris Louvre Editions pp 68 70 ISBN 978 8412527858 a b Sen Sudipta 2019 Ganges The Many Pasts of an Indian River Yale University Press p 205 ISBN 9780300119169 Vanaja R 1983 Indian Coinage National Museum Known by the term Dinars in early Gupta inscriptions their gold coinage was based on the weight standard of the Kushans i e 8 gms 120 grains It was replaced in the time of Skandagupta by a standard of 80 ratis or 144 grains Mookerji Radhakumud 1997 The Gupta Empire Motilal Banarsidass Publ p 31 ISBN 9788120804401 Gupta inscriptions using the term Dinara for money No 5 9 62 64 in Fleet John Faithfull 1960 Inscriptions Of The Early Gupta Kings And Their Successors a b Mookerji Radhakumud 1997 The Gupta Empire Motilal Banarsidass Publ p 30 ISBN 9788120804401 Higham Charles 2014 Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations Infobase Publishing p 82 ISBN 9781438109961 Pal Pratapaditya 1986 Indian Sculpture Volume I Circa 500 B C A D 700 Los Angeles County Museum of Art with University of California Press pp 73 78 ISBN 9780520059917 Reden Sitta 2 December 2019 Handbook of Ancient Afro Eurasian Economies Volume 1 Contexts Walter de Gruyter GmbH amp Co KG p 505 ISBN 978 3 11 060494 8 a b c d e McLaughlin Raoul 2010 Rome and the Distant East Trade Routes to the Ancient Lands of Arabia India and China A amp C Black p 131 ISBN 9781847252357 Hill 2009 p 31 Ellerbrock Uwe 2021 The Parthians The Forgotten Empire Routledge p 61 ISBN 978 1 000 35848 3 a b c de Crespigny Rafe 2007 A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms 23 220 AD Leiden Koninklijke Brill page 5 6 ISBN 90 04 15605 4 nbsp Joe Cribb 1974 Chinese lead ingots with barbarous Greek inscriptions in Coin Hoards pp 76 8 1 安息铅币 正面 背面 www gansumuseum com Gansu Museum a b Torday Laszlo 1997 Mounted Archers The Beginnings of Central Asian History Durham The Durham Academic Press page 393 ISBN 1 900838 03 6 a b c Rezakhani 2017b pp 202 203 Rezakhani 2017b p 204 Rezakhani 2017b pp 200 210 Eraly Abraham 2011 The First Spring The Golden Age of India Penguin Books India p 38 ISBN 9780670084784 Errington Elizabeth Curtis Vesta Sarkhosh 2007 From Persepolis to the Punjab Exploring Ancient Iran Afghanistan and Pakistan British Museum Press p 88 ISBN 9780714111650 In the Punjab the stylistic progression of the gold series from Kushan to Kidarite is clear imitation staters were issued first in the name of Samudragupta then by Kirada Peroz and finally Kidara Cribb Joe January 2010 The Kidarites the numismatic evidence Coins Art and Chronology II 101 a b c d e Dani Litvinsky amp Zamir Safi 1996 pp 165 166 Lines 23 24 of the Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta Self surrender offering their own daughters in marriage and a request for the administration of their own districts and provinces through the Garuḍa badge by the Devaputra Shahi Shahanushahi and the Saka lords and by rulers occupying all Island countries such as Siṁhala and others Cribb Joe Singh Karan Winter 2017 Two Curious Kidarite Coin Types From 3rd Century Kashmir JONS 230 3 Rezakhani 2017a p 85 a b Ghosh Amalananda 1965 Taxila CUP Archive pp 790 791 Jongeward David Cribb Joe 2014 Kushan Kushano Sasanian and Kidarite Coins A Catalogue of Coins From the American Numismatic Society by David Jongeward and Joe Cribb with Peter Donovan p 4 a b c The Glorious History of Kushana Empire Adesh Katariya 2012 p 69Sources editAvari Burjor 2007 India The Ancient Past London Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 35616 9 Beckwith Christopher I 2009 Empires of the Silk Road A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present Princeton University Press ISBN 978 1 4008 2994 1 Benjamin Craig 2007 The Yuezhi Origin Migration and the Conquest of Northern Bactria ISD ISBN 978 2 503 52429 0 Bopearachchi Osmund 2003 De l Indus a l Oxus Archeologie de l Asie Centrale in French Lattes Association imago musee de Lattes ISBN 2 9516679 2 2 Bopearachchi Osmund 2007 Some Observations on the Chronology of the Early Kushans In Gyselen Rika ed Des Indo Grecs aux Sassanides donnees pour l histoire et la geographie historique Vol XVII Group pour l Etude de la Civilisation du Moyen Orient Chavannes Edouard 1906 Trois Generaux Chinois de la dynastie des Han Orientaux Pan Tch ao 32 102 p C son fils Pan Yong Leang K in 112 p C Chapitre LXXVII duHeou Han chou T oung pao 7 Chavannes Edouard 1907 Les pays d occident d apres leHeou Han chou T oung pao 8 pp 149 244 Dani Ahmad Hasan Litvinsky Boris Abramovich Zamir Safi M H Eastern Kushans Kidarines in Gandhara ans Kashmir and Later Hephthalites In Litvinsky 1996 pp 163 184 Dorn eich Chris M 2008 Chinese sources on the History of the Niusi Wusi Asi oi Rishi ka Arsi Arshi Ruzhi and their Kueishuang Kushan Dynasty Shiji 110 Hanshu 94A The Xiongnu Synopsis of Chinese original Text and several Western Translations with Extant Annotations Berlin To read or download go to 2 Enoki K Koshelenko G A Haidary Z The Yu eh chih and their migrations In Harmatta Puri amp Etemadi 1994 pp 165 183 Faccenna Domenico 1980 Butkara I Swat Pakistan 1956 1962 Volume III 1 in English Rome IsMEO Istituto Italiano Per Il Medio Ed Estremo Oriente Falk Harry 1995 1996 Silk Road Art and Archaeology IV Falk Harry 2001 The yuga of Sphujiddhvaja and the era of the Kuṣaṇas Silk Road Art and Archaeology VII pp 121 136 Falk Harry 2004 The Kaniṣka era in Gupta records Silk Road Art and Archaeology X pp 167 176 Foucher M A 1901 Notes sur la geographie ancienne du Gandhara commentaire a un chaptaire de Hiuen Tsang BEFEO No 4 Oct 1901 pp 322 369 Golden Peter B 1992 An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples Harrassowitz Verlag Goyal S R 2005 Ancient Indian Inscriptions Jodhpur India Kusumanjali Book World Grousset Rene 1970 The Empire of the Steppes A History of Central Asia Rutgers University Press ISBN 978 0 8135 1304 1 Hargreaves H 1910 11 Excavations at Shah ji ki Dheri Archaeological Survey of India pp 25 32 Harmatta Janos Religions in the Kushan Empire In Harmatta Puri amp Etemadi 1999 pp 313 330 Harmatta Janos Puri B N Etemadi G F eds 1994 History of Civilizations of Central Asia Volume II The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations 700 B C to A D 250 Paris UNESCO ISBN 978 92 3 102846 5 Retrieved 29 May 2015 Harmatta Janos Puri B N Etemadi G F eds 1999 1994 History of Civilizations of Central Asia Volume II The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations 700 B C to A D 250 Delhi Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8 1208 1408 0 Retrieved 31 July 2021 Hill John E 2004 The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢 A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE Draft annotated English translation 3 Hill John E 2009 Through the Jade Gate to Rome A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty First to Second Centuries CE BookSurge ISBN 978 1 4392 2134 1 Hoey W The Word Kozola as Used of Kadphises on Ku s han Coins Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1902 pp 428 429 JSTOR 25208419 Iloliev A King of Men Ali ibn Abi Talib in Pamiri Folktales Journal of Shi a Islamic Studies vol 8 no 3 2015 pp 307 323 Project MUSE doi 10 1353 isl 2015 0036 Kennedy J The Later Kushans Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1913 pp 1054 1064 JSTOR 25189078 Konow Sten ed 1929 Kharoshthi Inscriptions with Exception of those of Asoka Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Vol II Part I Reprint Indological Book House Varanasi 1969 Lebedynsky Iaroslav 2006 Les Saces Paris Editions Errance ISBN 2 87772 337 2 Lerner Martin 1984 The flame and the lotus Indian and Southeast Asian art from the Kronos collections New York The Metropolitan Museum of Art ISBN 0 87099 374 7 Litvinsky Boris Abramovich ed 1996 History of Civilizations of Central Asia Volume III The crossroads of civilizations A D 250 to 750 Paris UNESCO ISBN 9789231032110 Liu Xinru Fall 2001 Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi Kushan Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies Journal of World History 12 2 University of Hawaii Press 261 292 doi 10 1353 jwh 2001 0034 S2CID 162211306 Liu Xinru 2010 The Silk Road in World History New York Oxford University Press Loewe Michael Shaughnessy Edward L 1999 The Cambridge History of Ancient China From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC Cambridge University Press doi 10 1017 CHOL9780521470308 ISBN 0 521 47030 7 Mallory J P 1997 Encyclopedia of Indo European Culture Taylor amp Francis ISBN 1 884964 98 2 Mallory J P Mair Victor H 2008 The Tarim Mummies Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West Thames amp Hudson ISBN 978 0 500 28372 1 Masson V M The Forgotten Kushan Empire New Discoveries at Zar Tepe Archaeology vol 37 no 1 1984 pp 32 37 JSTOR 41728802 Narain A K 1990 Indo Europeans in Central Asia In Sinor Denis ed The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia Vol 1 Cambridge University Press pp 151 177 doi 10 1017 CHOL9780521243049 007 ISBN 978 1 139 05489 8 Pulleyblank Edwin G 1966 Chinese and Indo Europeans The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 98 1 2 9 39 doi 10 1017 S0035869X00124566 JSTOR 25202896 S2CID 144332029 Puri Baij Nath The Sakas and Indo Parthians In Harmatta Puri amp Etemadi 1994 pp 184 201 Puri Baij Nath The Kushans In Harmatta Puri amp Etemadi 1999 pp 247 264 Red Sandstone Railing Pillar The British Museum Quarterly vol 30 no 1 2 1965 pp 64 64 JSTOR 4422925 Rezakhani Khodadad 2017a East Iran in Late Antiquity ReOrienting the Sasanians East Iran in Late Antiquity Edinburgh University Press pp 1 256 ISBN 978 1 4744 0030 5 JSTOR 10 3366 j ctt1g04zr8 registration required Rezakhani Khodadad 2017b From the Kushans to the Western Turks In Daryaee Touraj ed King of the Seven Climes A History of the Ancient Iranian World 3000 BCE 651 CE UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies pp 1 236 ISBN 978 0 692 86440 1 Rife J L The Making of Roman India by Grant Parker review American Journal of Philology vol 135 no 4 2014 pp 672 675 Project MUSE doi 10 1353 ajp 2014 0046 Rosenfield John M 1967 The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans University of California Press Rosenfield John M 1993 The Dynastic Art of the Kushans New Delhi Munshiram Manoharlal ISBN 81 215 0579 8 Roux Jean Paul 1997 L Asie Centrale Histoire et Civilization Central Asia History and Civilization in French Fayard ISBN 978 2 213 59894 9 Sailendra Nath Sen 1999 Ancient Indian History and Civilization New Age International ISBN 978 81 224 1198 0 Sarianidi Viktor 1985 The Golden Hoard of Bactria From the Tillya tepe Excavations in Northern Afghanistan Harry N Abrams Inc New York Sims Williams Nicholas Cribb Joe A new Bactrian inscription of Kanishka the Great In Falk 1995 1996 pp 75 142 Sims Williams Nicholas 1998 Further notes on the Bactrian inscription of Rabatak with an Appendix on the names of Kujula Kadphises and Vima Taktu in Chinese Proceedings of the Third European Conference of Iranian Studies Part 1 Old and Middle Iranian Studies Edited by Nicholas Sims Williams Wiesbaden pp 79 93 Sivaramamurti C 1976 Satarudriya Vibhuti of Siva s Iconography Delhi Abhinav Publications Spooner D B 1908 09 Excavations at Shah ji ki Dheri Archaeological Survey of India pp 38 59 Watson Burton Trans 1993 Records of the Grand Historian of China Han Dynasty II Translated from the Shiji of Sima Qian Chapter 123 The Account of Dayuan Columbia University Press Revised Edition ISBN 0 231 08166 9 ISBN 0 231 08167 7 pbk Wink Andre 2002 Al Hind The Slavic Kings and the Islamic conquest 11th 13th centuries BRILL Zurcher E 1968 The Yueh chih and Kaniṣka in the Chinese sources In Basham A L ed Papers on the Date of Kaniṣka Leiden E J Brill pp 346 393 Further reading editBonmann Svenja Halfmann Jakob Korobzow Natalie Bobomulloev Bobomullo 12 July 2023 A Partial Decipherment of the Unknown Kushan Script Transactions of the Philological Society 121 2 293 329 doi 10 1111 1467 968X 12269 S2CID 259851498 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kushan Empire Kushan dynasty in Encyclopaedia Britannica Metropolitan Museum capsule history New documents help fix controversial Kushan dating at the Wayback Machine archived 4 February 2005 Coins of the Kushans on wildwinds com Antique Indian Coins at the Library of Congress Web Archives archived 7 February 2013 Brief Guide to Kushan History Archived 25 September 2004 at the Wayback Machine The CoinIndia Online Catalogue of Kushan Coins Dedicated resource to study of Kushan Empire Archived 25 September 2004 at the Wayback Machine imalayan and Central Asian Studies Journal of Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation Volume 5 Issue 2 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kushan Empire amp oldid 1217406933, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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