Here is your short Essay on the Kushanas

Around 165 BC the western China was inhabited by many tribes. Yueh-chi were one amongst them. In this year their neighbours Hiung-nu, under the leadership of Chi-yu, attacked and forced them to leave western China.

They could not move towards east since the Great Wall of China was a formidable barrier. Left with little choice they moved further west.

In the process they got divided into two main groups: Little Yueh-chi which migrated towards Tibet, and Great Yueh-chi. The great Yueh-chi, trekking westward, displaced Wu-sun tribe and later Shakas near Syr Darya or Jaxartes. After a few decades they were again expelled from this region and they in turn displaced the Shakas of Ta-hia or Bactria. According to the classical writers, Ta-hia was conquered by the Tocharian, identical with the Yueh-chi of the Chinese annals. By this time the Great Yueh-chi, were divided into five groups: Hieu-mi, Shuang-mi, Kuei-shung, Hi-tun and Tu-mi.

According to a Chinese source, the chief of the Kuei-shung group Kieou-tsieu-kio, organized the other four groups under his leadership into one compact group and marched towards India. This king has been identified with Kujula Kadphises, Kujul Kasa or Kadphises I. He had established his authority in Kabul and Kashmir. Kadphises I probably issued no gold coin but only copper coins which bear remarkable resemblance to Roman dinarii, particularly to those of Claudius.

The two epithets dhramathida and sachadhramathida (steadfast in the true faith) suggest that Kadphises I was either a Buddhist or a Shaiva. On the obverse of his early coins there appears the image of Hermaues and, on the reverse, that of his own. This means that initially he was under the Roman king but on his later coins he calls himself maharajadhiraja. He probably died in AD 64.

Kadphises I was succeeded by his son Vima Kadphises II (Yen-kao-chen). According to the Chinese sources Kadphises II was responsible for the conquest of the Indian interior where he set up a governor to rule in his name. The nameless king of “Soter Megas” coins was most probably the said governor.

Kadphises II became a convert to Shaivism and proclaimed himself as mahishvara on his coins. He was probably the first king to introduce coins of gold in India. All his coins, whether in gold or copper, show unmistakable signs (Shiva with trident bull) of his Shjiva affiliation the obverse of his coins represent him on a couch or standing sacrificing at an alter, or even riding a chariot drawn by two horses.

Kadphises II was succeeded by Kanishka, the greatest of all the Kushana rulers. Following Fergusson, it is now generally accepted that Kanishka was the founder of the Shaka era of AD 78. This era beginning AD 78 came to be described as the Saka-kala or Saka-nripa-kala either because Kanishka was mistakenly considered a Shaka, or more likely because the era was in continuous use throughout the reigns of the Shaka kshatrapas of Western India.

At the time of Kanishka’s consecretion, Kushan kingdom consisted of Afghanistan, a part of Sind, Bactria and the regions of Parthia. He incorporated Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Malwa and Saurashtra into his kingdom. The Chinese and the Tibetans record the tradition of his conflict with the rulers of Saket and Pataliputra from where he took the celebrated Buddhist monk Asvaghosa to his capital Purushapura.

The Sarnath inscription mentions Mahakshatrapa Kharapallana and kshatrapa Vanaspara as governors of the eastern regions whereas general Lalla and kshatrapas Vespasi and Laika were appointed in the northern part. He established a city named Kanishkapur in Kashmir. His most famous battle was with the king of China. He was defeated the first time but came out victorious the second time. He was defeated by Pan-chao, the famous general of the Chinese king Ho-ti. He also took a Chinese prince as a hostage.

Kanishka subjugated the rulers of Khotan, Yarkand and Kashagar who had been tributaries to China. Thus, after the Mauryas, a great empire was established for the first time under Kanishka in which Ganga plains and the valleys of Sindhu and Oxus were included.

The Kushana empire was strategically located between the Chinese kingdom of Heaven in the east, Parthian empire in the west and the rising Roman empire in the far north. The Romans worked out a cordial relationship with the Kushanas in order to secure their trade with China without being in conflict with the Parthians. Kushanas controlled all the three main branches of the famous Silk Route. Consequently north-western India became one of the most prominent commercial centres.

Kanishka’s name and fame is more due to his association with the Buddhist faith. On the advice of Parsva he convened the fourth Council of the Buddhists in the Kundalavana-vihara in Kashmir. Vasumitra was elected President and Asvaghosha Vice-president. According to another tradition the Council was convened at Jalandhar.

The Council collected the texts of the Buddhist canon and prepared commentaries on it, which were engraved on sheets of copper, enclosed in a stone coffer and deposited in a stupa especially erected for the purpose. The Council also prepared an encyclopaedia of Buddhist philosophy called Mahavibhasa.

Kanishka also got a stupa, a matha, and a town constructed at Peshawar in which relics of Buddha were kept. From one inscription it becomes apparent that this stupa was constructed under the guidance of a Greek engineer named Agesilaos.

In the royal court of Kanishka a host of scholars found patronage. Parsva, Vasumitra, Asvaghosha, Nagarjuna, Charaka and Mathara were some of them. During his reign, the images of Bodhisattvas began to be erected in Gandhara style under the influence of Mahayana Buddhism.

At Mathura, we have an image (headless) of Kanishka in which he is represented in the uniform of a warrior. Kanishka mainly issued two types of coins: on one type, the legends appear in Greek and, on the other, the legends are in Iranian. On his copper coins, he is shown as sacrificing on an alter. On his gold coins, issued in imitation of the Roman coins, Kanishka’s image appear on one side and on the other side a deity’s image is engraved. These deities are of Brahmanical, Persian, Greek and Elamite origin.

Kanishka’s successor was Vasishka (AD 101- 105) probably identical with Vaskushana, Vajheska (father of Kanishka II of the Ara inscription) and Jushka of the Rajatarangini. He was the founder of Jushkapura identified with the Modern Zukar near’Srinagar and the township of Jayasvamipura. Vasishka was succeeded by Huvishka.

According to the Rajatarangini Huvishka ruled simultaneously with Vasishka and later with Kanishka II (son of Vasishka). Kanishka II assumed the title kaisar. Huvishka founded the town of Hushkapura in Kashmir (near Baramulla Pass). Huvishka was succeeded by Vasudeva (AD 138-176). He took the title Shaono Shao Vdsudevo Koshano. His name suggests that by his time the Kushanas were totally Indianized.

He was a worshipper of Shiva, as is evident from the figure of Shiva and a bull on his coins. After Vasudeva, Kushana history is not very clear. We find Kanishka 111 and Vasudeva II from the coins issued by them. But their areas of authority are not very clear. According to the Chinese sources, a king named Po-tiao, identified with Vasudeva II, is believed to have sent an ambassador to the Chinese emperor in AD 230.

After Vasudeva II, the Kushana Empire disintegrated completely due to the rise of Sassanians in Iran, Naga-Bharashivas in north India, and that of independent republics like the Yaudheyas, Kunindas and Malavas, in the various parts of north India. In the latter part of the fourth or early fifth century AD the Kushanas came to acquire a new designation – Kidara – and these Kidar-Kushanas ruled in parts of Punjab, north­west Frontier Province and Kashmir. However, their authentic history is difficult to construct.