Kushana Coins

5.1 Do you know?

Description Image Source Kushanas issued coins imitating the coins of

Roman ruler Augustus

Kushana coins portrayed the figure of Siva and

Uma on their coins

Dinara the name of the Kushana gold coins comes from term used for designating the Roman silver coins denarius

5.2 Timeline:

Succession List Timeline according to 78 Succession List taking Timeline according to taking CE as Year 1 of the 127 CE as 127 CE as the Year 1 of 78 CE as Kushana Era commencement of Kushana Era commencement Kushana Era of Kushana Era Yuezhi: Heraos/ Yuezhi: Heraos/Miaos?

st Miaos? c. 1 century BCE c. 1st century CE

KujulaKadphises c. end of 1st century KujulaKadphises c.30-80 CE BCE – early 1stcentury CE VimaTaktu VimaTaktu c. 1st century CE c. 1st – 2nd century CE

VimaKadphises VimaKadphises c.1st century CE c.2nd century CE I (yrs. 1-24) Kanishka I 78 CE –101 CE c. 127—150 CE

Vasishka Known dates 20,22, 28 (yrs. known from 98- 100-106 CE inscriptions28-64) – Conjoint ruler with c.155-191 CE Kanishka I Huvishka (yrs. known from (yrs.67-98) inscriptions28-60) c.194—225 CE c.106-138 CE Kanishka II Known date 41 (c.119 Kanishka II (Year 4-20) CE) c.227-247 CE Conjoint ruler with Huvishka Vasudeva I Known dates 67-98 i.e. Vashiska Year 22-28 145- 176 CE c. 249-255 CE Kanishka III Kanishka III Known dates 141 ? 268 CE Vasudeva II 230-250 or 262 Vasudeva II Last quarter of 3rd century c. third century CE. CE Kushana rule came to an Known only from end before or by 262 CE, numismatic source. i.e. the date of Sassanid victory over Kushanshahr.

5.3 Glossary

Staring Related Term Definition Character Term

A Ardoksho Goddess of Plenty holding a cornucopia on her hand Ardoxo

D Dinara Kushana gold coins were known as dinaras the term Denarius originated from Roman denarius

K Kharoshti An ancient Indian script prevalent in North -West Kharoshthi

O Obol Quarter dinara

P Prakrit An ancient language belonging to the Indo – European

family of languages or MIA Dialect group Y Yuezhi A nomadic tribe in China to which belonged the Yuechi Kushanas

5.4 Web links

Web links https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushan_Empire www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-i-history www.academia.edu/5983438/Revisiting_Kushana_Dynastic_Sanctuaries coinindia.com/galleries-kanishka.html www.academia.edu/7829892/The_Kushanas www.academia.edu/27379341/The_Kushan_Connection https://www.academia.edu/11049999/Kushan_Kushano- Sasanian_and_Kidarite_Coins_A_Catalogue_of_Coins_From_the_American_Numismatic_Society_by_D avid_Jongeward_and_Joe_Cribb_with_Peter_Donovan

5.5 Bibliography

Bibliography Bivar, A.D.H ‘The Kushana Trilingual’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 39, 1976: 330-40

Bopearachchi, Osmund, “Begram deposit: Further study on the Origin of the Kushan Gold” in Bopearachchied From Bactria to Taprobane Vol. I, 2015: 600-1 Bopearachchi, Osmund, “Some observations on the chronology of early Kushans” in Bopearachchi ed. From Bactria to Taprobane Vol. I, 2015: 583-599 Chakravarti, Ranabir “The Kushanas” in Dilip K. Chakrabarti and Makkhan Lal eds., History of Ancient , vol.4, New Delhi, 2014: 35-68 Cribb, Joe, “Rediscovering the Kushans” in VidulaJayaswaledGlory of the KushansRecent Discoveries and Interpretations, 2012: 3-49

Falk, Harry, Tidal waves in the political history of Ancient India, in Oliville ed. Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE, New York, Oxford University Press, 2006:145- 166. Falk, Harry, “The Yuga of Sphujidhavaja and the Era of the Kushans”, Silk Road Art and Archaeology, VII,2001: 121-36. Gobl, R.,System und Chronologies der Munzpragung des Kusanreiches, Vienna:ÖsterreichischeAkademie der Wissenschaften,, 1984 Gupta, P.L., Coins, 1969,National Book trust, New Delhi

Konow, S., Corpus InscriptionumIndicarum, II, 1929: 170 (For Wardak vase inscription see) MacDowall, D.W. ‘The Rabatak Inscription and the Nameless Kushan King’, in Warwick Ball and Leonard Harrow eds., Cairo to Kabul: Afghan and Islamic Studies Presented to Ralph Pinder-Wilson, London, 2002: 163-69 Mukherjee, B.N., ‘The Great Kushan Testament’, Indian Museum Bulletin, XXXII, 1998

Mukherjee, B.N.,Kushana Coins in the Land of Five Rivers, Calcutta: Indian Museum, 1978

Mukherjee, B.N.,Rise and Fall of the Kushana Empire, Calcutta: Firma KLM, 1989 Mukherjee, B.N.,Commentary on Raychaudhuri, PoliticalHistory of Ancient IndiaVIIIthEdition, 1999. Olivelle, Patrick ed., Between the Empires, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Rosenfield, J.M.,Dynastic Art of the Kushans, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967 Sims-Williams and Joe Cribb, ‘A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great’, Silk Road Art and Archaeology, 4, 1995-96:77-97. Sircar, D.C, (chapter on Kushanas) in Majumdar, ed., The Age of Imperial Unity; Bela Lahiri, Indigenous Powers in North India 200 BC-AD 320, Calcutta, University of Calcutta, 1974 Xinru Liu, ‘Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan: Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies’, Journal of World History, XII, 2, 2001: 261-92.