The Kushan Empire originally formed
in the 1st century CE in the territories of
ancient
Bactria on either side of the middle
course of the
Oxus River or
Amu Darya in what is now northern
Afghanistan, and southern
Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan.[2]
During the 1st and early 2nd centuries CE
the Kushans expanded rapidly across the
northern part of the
Indian
subcontinent at least as far as
Saketa and
Sarnath near
Varanasi (Benares) where inscriptions
have been found dated to the first few years
of era of the most famous
Kushan ruler,
Kanishka which apparently began about
127 CE.[3][4][5]
The kings of Kushan branch of the
Yuezhi confederation and they had
diplomatic contacts with
Rome,
Persia and
Han China. While much philosophy, art,
and science was created within its borders,
the only textual record we have of the
empire's history today comes from incidental
remarks in the literature of other nations.[6]
The empire declined from the 3rd century and
fell to the
Sassanid empire and
Gupta Empire.
Origins
Chinese sources describe the Guishuang
(Ch: 貴霜), i.e. the "Kushans", as one
of the five aristocratic tribes of the
Yuezhi, also spelled Yueh-chi,[7]
(Ch: 月氏), a loose confederation of
supposedly Indo-European peoples.[8]
The Yuezhi are also generally considered as
the easternmost speakers of
Indo-European languages, who had been
living in the arid grasslands of eastern
Central Asia, in modern-day
Xinjiang and
Gansu, possibly speaking versions of the
Tocharian
language, until they were driven west by the
Xiongnu in
176–160 BCE.
The five tribes constituting the Yuezhi are
known in Chinese history as Xiūmģ (Ch: 休密),
Guishuang (Ch: 貴霜), Shuangmi (Ch: 雙靡), Xidun
(Ch: 肸頓), and Dūmģ (Ch: 都密).
Historian John Keay contextualizes the
movements of the Kushan within a larger
setting of mass migrations taking place in
the region:
Chinese sources tell of the
construction of the Great Wall in
the third century BC and the repulse
of various marauding tribes. Forced
to head west and eventually south,
these tribes displaced others in an
ethnic knock-on effect which lasted
many decades and spread right across
Central Asia. The
Parthians from
Iran and the
Bactrian Greeks from
Bactria had both been dislodged
by the
Shakas coming down from
somewhere near the
Aral Sea. But the Shakas had in
turn been dislodged by the
Yueh-chi who had themselves been
driven west to
Xinjiang by the
Hiung-nu. The last, otherwise
the
Huns, would happily not reach
India for a long time. But the Yueh-chi
continued to press on the Shakas,
and having forced them out of
Bactria, it was sections or clans of
these Yueh-chi who next began to
move down into India in the second
half of the first century AD."
[9]
The Yuezhi reached the Hellenic kingdom
of
Greco-Bactria, in the
Bactrian territory (northernmost
Afghanistan and Uzbekistan) around
135 BCE. The displaced Greek dynasties
resettled to the southeast in areas of the
Hindu Kush and the
Indus basin (in present day Pakistan),
occupying the western part of the
Indo-Greek Kingdom.
Early
Kushans
Some traces remain of the presence of the
Kushan in the area of
Bactria and
Sogdiana. Archaeological structures are
known in Takht-I-Sangin,
Surkh Kotal (a monumental temple), and
in the palace of
Khalchayan. Various sculptures and
friezes are known, representing horse-riding
archers[10],
and significantly men with
artificially deformed skulls, such as
the Kushan prince of Khalchayan[11]
(a practice well attested in nomadic Central
Asia). On the ruins of ancient Hellenistic
cities such as
Ai-Khanoum, the Kushans are known to
have built fortresses. The earliest
documented ruler, and the first one to
proclaim himself as a Kushan ruler was
Heraios. He calls himself a "Tyrant"
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.
The Chinese history, the
Hou Hanshu, 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. 125
CE:
"More than a hundred years later
[than the conquest of
Bactria by the Da 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."[12][13]
A
multi-cultural Empire
In the
following century, the Guishuang
(Ch: 貴霜) gained prominence over the other
Yuezhi tribes, and welded them into a tight
confederation under yabgu (Commander)
Kujula Kadphises.
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 lying primarily in
Pakistan's Pothowar, and Northwest Frontier
Provinces region but going in an arc to
include Kabul valley and part of
Qandahar in Afghanistan) and established
twin capitals near present-day
Kabul and
Peshawar then known as Kapisa and
Pushklavati respectively.
The Kushans adopted elements of the
Hellenistic culture of
Bactria. They adopted the Greek alphabet
(often corrupted) to suit their own language
(with the additional development of the
letter Ž "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 that date, they used
Kushan language legends (in an adapted Greek
script), combined with legends in Greek
(Greek script) and legends in Pali (Kharoshthi
script).
The Kushans are believed to have been
predominantly
Zoroastrian.[14]
However, from the time of
Wima Takto, many Kushans started
adopting aspects of
Buddhist culture. 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 Wima Kadphises may have
embraced
Saivism, as surmised by coins minted
during the period. The following Kushan
emperors represented a wide variety of
faiths including
Zoroastrianism,
Buddhism, and possibly
Saivism (a sect of
Hinduism).
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 oversaw a
territory that extended to the Aral Sea
through present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan,
and Pakistan into northern India.
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.
Territorial
expansion
Direct archaeological evidence of a
Kushan rule of long duration is basically
available 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.[15]
Other areas of probable rule include
Khwarezm (Russian archaeological
findings)[15]
Kausambi (excavations of the Allahabad
University),[15]
Sanchi and
Sarnath (inscriptions with names and
dates of Kushan kings),[15]
Malwa and
Maharashtra,[16]
Orissa (imitation of Kushan coins, and
large Kushan hoards).[15]
The recently discovered
Rabatak
inscription confirms the account of the
3rd century Chinese history, the
Weilüe, and inscriptions dated early
in the Kanishka era (incept probably 127
CE), that large Kushan dominions expanded
into in the heartland of northern India in
the early 2nd century CE. The lines 4 to 7
of the inscription[17]
describe the cities which were under the
rule of Kanishka, 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).[18][19][20]
Asia in 200 CE (showing the
Kushan Empire and its neighbors)
Northward, in the 2nd century CE, the
Kushans under
Kanishka made various forays into the
Tarim Basin, seemingly the original
ground of their ancestors the Yuezhi, where
they had various contacts with the Chinese.
Both archaeological findings and literary
evidence suggest Kushan rule, in
Kashgar,
Yarkand and
Khotan.[15]
As late as the 3rd century CE, 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.[21]
Main
Kushan rulers
Kujula
Kadphises (30–80)
According to the
Hou Hanshu:
". . . the prince [xihou] of
Guishuang, named Qiujiuque [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."[22]
These conquests probably took place
sometime between 45 and 60, and laid the
basis for the Kushan Empire which was
rapidly expanded by his descendants.
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 have
ruled), and seemingly
Vima Taktu.
Kujula Kadphises was the great
grandfather of Kanishka.
Vima
Taktu (80–105)
Bronze coin of
Vima Takto. Corrupted Greek
legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΩΝ ΣΩΤΗΡ
[ΓΗΕ.] "Basileu[s] Basileuōn
Sōtēr [Megas?]": "The King of
Kings, [Great?] Saviour".
Vima Takt[u] (or Tak[to]; Ancient
Chinese: 阎膏珍 Yangaozhen) is not
mentioned in the
Rabatak
inscription (Sadashkana
is instead. See also the reference to
Sims-William’s article below). He was the
predecessor of
Vima Kadphises,
and
Kanishka I. He expanded the Kushan
Empire into the northwest of the Indian
subcontinent. 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."[23]
Vima
Kadphises (105–127)
Vima Kadphises
(Kushan language: Οοημο Καδφισης) was a
Kushan emperor from around 90–100 CE,
the son of
Sadashkana and the grandson of
Kujula Kadphises,
and the father of Kanishka I, as detailed by
the
Rabatak
inscription.
Vima Kadphises added to the Kushan
territory by his conquests in
Afghanistan and north-west
Pakistan. He issued an extensive series
of coins and inscriptions. He was the first
to introduce gold coinage in India, in
addition to the existing copper and silver
coinage.
Kanishka
I (127–147)
The rule of
Kanishka, fifth Kushan king, who
flourished for at least 28 years from c. 127.
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 (Kaundinya<
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 so long unto (i.e. as far as) the
city of Ziri-tambo (Sri-Champa)."
Rabatak
inscription, Lines 4–6.
His territory was administered from two
capitals: Purushapura (now
Peshawar in northern 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.
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.[24][25]
Kanishka’s era was used as a calendar
reference by the Kushans for about a
century, until the decline of the Kushan
realm.
Vāsishka
Vāsishka was a
Kushan emperor, who seems to have a
short reign following
Kanishka. His rule is recorded 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 the Kanishka era.
Huvishka
(140–183)
Huvishka (Kushan: Οοηϸκι, "Ooishki") was
a
Kushan emperor from the death of
Kanishka (assumed on the best evidence
available to be in 140 CE) until the
succession of
Vasudeva I about forty 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.
Vasudeva
I (191–225)
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 191 to 225 CE. He was
the last great Kushan emperor, and the end
of his rule coincides with the invasion of
the
Sassanids as far as northwestern India,
and the establishment of the
Indo-Sassanids or
Kushanshahs from around 240 CE.
Kushan
deities
Kushan worshipper with
Pharro, Bactria, 3rd century
CE.
[26]
The Kushan religious
pantheon is
extremely varied, as revealed by their coins
and their seals, on which more than 30
different gods appear, belonging to the
Hellenistic, the Iranian, and to a lesser
extent the Indian world. 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).
Representation of entities from Greek
mythology and Hellenistic syncretism are:
The Indic entities represented on coinage
include:
The Iranic entities depicted on coinage
include:
- Αρδοχϸο (ardoxsho,
Ashi Vanghuhi)
- A?αειχ?o (ashaeixsho,
Asha Vahishta)
- Αθϸο (athsho,
Atar)
- Φαρρο (pharro,
Khwarenah)
- Λροοασπο (lrooaspa,
Drvaspa)
- Μαναοβαγο, (manaobago,
Vohu Manah)
- Μαο (mao,
Mah)
- Μιθρο, Μιιρο, Μιορο, Μιυρο (mithro
and variants,
Mithra)
- Μοζδοοανο (mozdooano,
Mazda *vana "Mazda the victorious?")
- Νανα, Ναναια, Ναναϸαο (variations of
pan-Asiatic nana, Sogdian nny,
in a Zoroastrian context
Aredvi Sura Anahita)
- Οαδο (oado
Vata)
- Oαxϸo (oaxsho, "Oxus")
- Ooρoμoζδο (ooromozdo,
Ahura Mazda)
- Οραλαγνο (orlagno,
Verethragna)
- Τιερο (tiero,
Tir)
Additionally,
- Οηϸο (oesho), long considered
to represent Indic
Shiva,[27]
but more recently identified as
Avestan
Vayu conflated with Shiva.[28][29]
- 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.
Some
deities on Kushan coinage
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gold coin of Kanishka I,
with a depiction of the
Buddha, with the legend
"Boddo" in Greek script.
Ahin Posh.
|
Kushan
Carnelian seal
representing the "ΑΔϷΟ" ( adsho
Atar), with
triratana symbol left,
and Kanishka's dynastic mark
right.
|
The
Kushans and Buddhism
Cultural exchanges also flourished,
encouraging the development of
Greco-Buddhism, a fusion of
Hellenistic and
Buddhist cultural elements, that was to
expand into central and northern Asia.
Kanishka is renowned in Buddhist
tradition for having convened a
great Buddhist council in
Kashmir. Kanishka also had the original
Gandhari vernacular, or
Prakrit, Buddhist texts translated into
the language of
Sanskrit. Along with the Indian emperors
Ashoka and
Harsha Vardhana and the
Indo-Greek king
Menander I (Milinda), Kanishka is
considered by Buddhism as one of its
greatest benefactors.
Kushan
art
The art and culture of
Gandhara, at the crossroads of the
Kushan hegemony, 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.
In the iconography, they are never
associated however with the very Hellenistic
"Standing Buddha" statues (See
image), which might therefore correspond
to an earlier historical period. The style
of these friezes incorporating Kushan
devotees is already strongly Indianized,
quite remote from earlier Hellenistic
depictions of the Buddha:
Contacts
with Rome
- See also:
Roman trade with India
A Greco-Roman gladiator on a
glass vessel,
Begram, 2nd century.
Several Roman sources describe the visit
of ambassadors from the Kings of Bactria and
India during the
2nd century, probably referring to the
Kushans.
Historia Augusta, speaking of
Emperor Hadrian (117–138)
tells:
- "Reges Bactrianorum legatos ad
eum, amicitiae petendae causa, supplices
miserunt"
- "The kings of the Bactrians sent
supplicant ambassadors to him, to seek
his friendship."
Also in
138, according to
Aurelius Victor (Epitome‚ XV, 4),
and
Appian (Praef., 7),
Antoninus Pius,
successor to
Hadrian, received some Indian, Bactrian
(Kushan) and Hyrcanian ambassadors.
The
Hou
Hanshu reports: "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."[31]
The summer capital of the Kushan in
Begram has yielded a considerable amount
of goods imported from the Roman Empire, in
particular, various types of glassware.
Contacts
with China
During the 1st and 2nd century, the
Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the
north and occupied parts of the
Tarim Basin, their original grounds,
putting them at the center of the profitable
Central Asian commerce with the
Roman Empire. They are related to have
collaborated militarily with the Chinese
against nomadic incursion, particularly when
they collaborated 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. Around
85, they also assisted the Chinese
general in an attack on
Turpan, east of the Tarim Basin.
In recognition for their support to the
Chinese, the Kushans requested, but were
denied, a
Han princess, 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,
exhausted by the expedition, were finally
defeated by the smaller Chinese force. The
Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the
Chinese Empire during the reign of the
Chinese emperor
Han He (89–106).
Later, around
116, the Kushans under
Kanishka established a kingdom centered
on
Kashgar, also taking control of
Khotan and
Yarkand, which were Chinese dependencies
in the
Tarim Basin, modern
Xinjiang. They introduced the
Brahmi script, the Indian
Prakrit language for administration, and
expanded the influence of
Greco-Buddhist art which developed into
Serindian art.
The Kushans are again recorded to have
sent presents to the Chinese court in
158–159
during the reign of the Chinese emperor
Han Huan.
Following these interactions, cultural
exhanges further increased, and Kushan
Buddhist missionaries, such as
Lokaksema, became active in the Chinese
capital cities of
Loyang 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
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
Sassanid Empire
and lost
Bactria and other territories. In
248 they were defeated again by the
Persians, who deposed the Western dynasty
and replaced them with Persian vassals known
as the
Kushanshas (or Indo-Sassanids).
The Eastern Kushan kingdom 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.
In
360 a Kushan vassal named
Kidara overthrew the old Kushan dynasty
and established the
Kidarite Kingdom.
The Kushan style of Kidarite coins indicates
they considered themselves as Kushans. The
Kidarite seem to have been rather
prosperous, although on a smaller scale than
their Kushan predecessors.
These remnants of the Kushan empire were
ultimately wiped out in the
5th century by the invasions of the
White Huns, and later the expansion of
Islam.
Main
Kushan rulers
