Kushan Empire
It spread to encompass much of what is now Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Eastern Iran 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] 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.[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".[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.[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)."[42] 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.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.This proves that Hellenistic populations still remained in Bactria up into the Kushan era, and also explains how the Greek alphabet could have been applied to the Bactrian language.[55] The Kushans "adopted many local beliefs and customs, including Zoroastrianism and the two rising religions in the region, the Greek cults and Buddhism".The great Kushan emperor Vima Kadphises, father of Kanishka, embraced Shaivism, a sect of Hinduism, as surmised by coins minted during the period.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.[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.[61] 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."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.The Hou Hanshu says: "His son, Yangaozhen [probably Vema Tahk (tu) or, possibly, his brother Sadaṣkaṇa], became king in his place.[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.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.[111] 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.[116] During the Kushan Empire, many images of Gandhara share a strong resemblance to the features of Greek, Syrian, Persian and Indian figures.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."[135]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.[135] 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."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.[137] 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.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.[142] 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)[143] 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.
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 ΚΑΝΗ
Ϸ
ΚΟΥ
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:
Basileus Basileon Kanishkoy
"[Coin] of Kanishka, king of kings".
ΗΛΙΟC
Helios
Kanishka monogram (
tamgha
) to the left.
SanskritBactrianAncient GreekKanishkaGangetic plainPataliputraPuruṣapuraTakṣaśilāMathurāGandhari PrakritHinduismBuddhismZoroastrianismDemonym(s)YuezhiKujula KadphisesKipunadaClassical AntiquitySasaniansGuptasHepthalitesKushan dinaraIndo-Greek KingdomIndo-Parthian KingdomIndo-ScythiansNorthern SatrapsWestern SatrapsMaha-meghavahanasSasanian EmpireKushano-Sasanian KingdomNagas of PadmavatiKidaritesNagas of VindhyatabiGupta EmpiresyncreticTajikistanUzbekistanAfghanistanPakistanEastern IranNorthern IndiaSaketaSarnathVaranasiKanishka the GreatIndo-EuropeanTocharianGreco-BactrianShaiviteVima KadphisesVasudeva IIPax KushanaGreek languageBactrian languageKarakoramGandharaspread of Mahayana BuddhismRoman EmpireSasanian PersiaAksumite EmpireHan dynastyAlain DaniélouSogdianaHephthalitesNoin-UlaOld ChineseIranianRecords of the Great HistorianBook of HanXiongnuethnonymGreek alphabetHeraiosGreco-BactriaHindu KushSouth AsiaBrahmi scriptMathuraTukharistanwestern TurksJohn M. RosenfieldKhalchayanMetropolitan Museum of ArtTakht-i SanginSurkh KotalAi-Khanoumartificially deformed skullsBan GuFan YeBook of Later HantyrantBan YongBadakhshanPaktiyaKapishaVema TahkSadaṣkaṇaTianzhuScythianPothowarKhyber PakhtunkhwaBegramCharsaddaHellenisticKharoshthiHeliosVima TaktoBuddhistHellenisedShaivismHindu ShaivismIndian OceanSilk RoadIndus ValleyAral SeaRabatak inscriptionTarim BasinPeshawarTaxilaBrahmiSatrapsKhwarezmToprak-KalaKausambiAllahabad UniversitySanchi