Editorial Note I.3. The Kushanas [The sheer complexity of the sources,which are not always easy to fathom or even to come to grips with, for a single scholar, makes the Kushana phase of the ancient history of north , Afghanistan and Central Asia somewhat insecure, if not downright forbidding, in character. This marks a rare occasion when the entire sweep of the land from beyond Afghanistan to Champa in the middle Ganga Valley was under a single political control, marking no doubt a wide and easy proliferation of contacts between the different components of this vast region. Possibly this is also the first occasion when India and China became sharply conscious of each otherís existence, forming the ground of close contacts since then. There is also a motley of historical questions. Was almost the whole slice of the alluvium from the northwest to Champa/Bhagalpur under the Kushana control, and if so, what was the position of the Bhagirathi delta in relation to this? What was the nature of Kushana occupation of the Ganga Valley beyond Mathura to the east? Was it short-lived or as firm as it was around Mathura? How would we determine Kushana control of a given areaósimply by the distribution of their coins or more positive proof would be needed? In Indian historical and archaeological studies the Kushana phase has been given somewhat extraordinary significance because everything related to the early centuries AD has been relegated to the Kushana phase. This has caused harm to the proper historical understanding of this phase, and one hopes that with more ground research the situation will carry more historical meaning than it does today. One of the major requirements of the related archaeological research is that the phase itself should be clearly defined on the basis of properly bracketed materials.]

h Political History and Administration 36

INTRODUCTION oscillation between centralization and The chronological label, post-Mauryanó decentralization of polity in early India.5 including the history of the Kushana poweró The portrayal of the post-Mauryan phase as refers to a phase of nearly five centuries in a ëdark ageí is quite common in the nationalist/ South Asian history (c. 200 BC to AD 300). These conventional which engages five centuries are located between the fall of primarily with dynastic successions, but rarely the Maurya power (c. 185 BC) and the advent with the relevant political processes. The the Gupta realm (c. AD 320-550). In other words, perception of a ëdark ageí and/or a political crisis the post-Mauryan phase in South Asian political also stems from the presence of a few non- history occupies a position intermediate indigenous ruling houses of West Asian and between two premier political powers, the Central Asian background, which are usually Mauryas and the Guptas.1 Thus, the post- dubbed as ëforeign dynastiesí, active mostly in Mauryan figures in the collection of studies, the northern and western parts of the entitled Between the Empires, as an interlude to subcontinent. As these powers of non- the experiences of empires.2 The political indigenous origin gradually faded out from the historiography of early India is dominated by political scene in the fourth century AD, the ardent search of ëempiresí or paramount coinciding with the advent of the Guptas, the political power(s) which are regularly perceived end of the so-called foreign rule in the hands of to typify a centralized or unitary political entity, the Guptas is often celebrated in the nationalist following the ideals of a universal rulership historiography. The major flaw of this approach (chakravarti/sarvabhauma), celebrated in early is to apply the yardstick of ëforeign/foreignerí Indian treatises on statecraft. This genre of vis-à-vis the homogenized indigenous in the historiography tends to portray the simultaneous context of a remote period when no nation state presence of several powers as a period with well-defined boundaries or frontiers of political uncertainty, marked by existed. Powers like the Bactrian Greeks and decentralization, since the ideal or model polity the Indo-Greeks, the Sakas, the Pahlavas and the is invariably the one of centripetality. The Kushanas, did enter the subcontinent through the absence of a paramount political power, northwestern borderland and were politically therefore, amounts to political instabilityóa dominant in different parts of the north-west.6 deviation, as it were, from the standardized norm The northwestern borderland was separated of a perceived imperial/centralized/paramount from Central Asia and South-western Asia by the polity.3 A paramount, nearly pan-Indian power Hindu Kush mountain which apparently stood like the Mauryas, was absent during the five as a barrier and a frontier at the northwestern centuries of the post-Mauryan phase which also extremes of the subcontinent. However, as witnessed the coexistence of several formidable Romila Thapar cogently argues, the porosity of and competing powers. The post-Mauryan this frontier needs to be recognized. One also period, therefore, thus earned the epithet of a has to take into consideration that in view of the ëdark ageí4 in sharp contrast to the glorious sustained interactionsópolitical, socio-economic history of a dynastic empire like that of the and culturalóbetween the northwestern Mauryas and the Guptas. Recent historiography borderlands with the adjacent areas in Central has exposed the futility of the searches for the and West Asia, the inhabitants of this zone had The Kushanas 37 perhaps little compulsion to consider someone Hellenisticíó and therefore, dynamicó political from West and/or Central Asia as a ëforeignerí.7 formations. The indigenous powers, in his The political situation in the north-west and analysis, chose to be inspired by the orthodox northern India seems to have been more fluid and innate Brahmanical norms. His proposed than the one seen from the point of frozen and binary opposition between extroversion and fixed frontiers of the subcontinent. These introversion thus argues that only the external preliminaries may help situate the political stimuli (preferably from the ëWestí) were history of the Kushanas, the most formidable capable of infusing dynamism in an inherently power during the post-Maurya epoch, holding invariant and static situation in mainland South sway over a vast area within the subcontinent Asia, including political developments there. and beyond. The Kushanas indeed hailed This inaccurate approach implicitly revives the originally from the Central Asian steppe areas discarded colonial and imperialist historiography and entered the subcontinent by invading the that invariably looked Westwards for any northwestern borderland like the Greeks, the laudable aspect of early Indian history.9 As Sakas and the Pahlavas. There were other expected, Falkís study and analysis ignore and powers in different areas of the subcontinent, obliterate the impressive body of literature on contemporary to these rulers of non-indigenous the process of state formationóboth primary and origins, e.g. the Sungas, the Kanvas, the Nagas secondaryóin South Asia from 600 BC to AD 300. in north India, Kharavelas in Kalinga and the The formation of the state society, closely Satavahanas and the Ikshvakus in the Deccan. connected with the second urbanization in the In the far south India, the Cholas, Cheras and subcontinent, demonstrates the ongoing changes the Pandyas under their respective chieftains in political and material milieu. The political and stole the limelight. There were also, especially material culture in the subcontinent absorbed in the Punjab, several non-monarchical polities several Hellenistic, West Asiatic and Central (ganarajyas/ganasamghas). Asiatic traits. But the process did not alternate This unmistakable complexity and dynamics merely between a open and a closed door of South Asian politics has been flattened out situation (Falkís extroversion and introversion). by Falk to a simplistic binary opposition of the We shall come back to this discussion once again forces of extroversion and introversion, in the concluding section of our discussion. compared with the ëtidal wavesí (implying high The Kushana realm was undoubtedly the tide and low tide respectively for extroversion outstanding political power ëbetween the and introversion) in the then political history.8 empiresí. One comes across three broad strands For Falk the Mauryas, the Sakas and the Kushanas in the historiography of the Kushanas, especially represented the extrovert political tendencies, in their political history. A large number of in sharp contrast to the Sungas, the Kanvas and Indian historians, particularly up to 1950s, the Satavahanas who, typical of indigenous presented the Kushanas as one of the ëforeigní powers, remained inward-looking and dynasties with a Central Asian background. conservative. Falkís preference is obviously for Upon entering India, the Kushanas, like other the extroversion in politics, exemplified powers foreign rulers, became a major north Indian like the Mauryas, the Sakas and the Kushanas power and eventually controlled considerable who heavily drew upon ëWesternized/ territories beyond the subcontinent, particularly Political History and Administration 38 parts of Chinese Central Asia. The Kushana subsequent section will elaborate, that the said 12 power waned, according to this historiography, era began in 78 or 127 or AD 144. on account of the decisive blow given to the While this is an engaging problem of the Kushanas by a few non-monarchical powers of Kushana history, the excessive thrust on 10 the Punjab. The availability of diverse sources, determining the Kushana genealogy and especially Chinese accounts of the Han dynasty, chronology has also resulted in the on the other hand, began to demonstrate from marginalization of other crucial issues in the the 1960s onwards that the Kushanas were a Kushana political history. A case in point is the Central Asian nomadic group who captured inadequate attention to the possible political Bactria in north-east Afghanistan. In this second process(es) which led to the transformation of category of Kushana historiography, Bactria the Central Asian nomadic group Yuezhi into a appears as the very base and the spring board sedentary, territorial power, eventually of the Kushana power which expanded to emerging as a mighty imperial entity.13 The northern India, some parts of Chinese Central existing Kushana historiography does take into Asia and also to the north of the river Oxus. The account of the ancient Chinese texts on the decline of the Kushana power is attributed nomadic Yuezhi group, but only rarely the issue primarily to the loss of Bactria in the hands of of the making of the Kushana territorial polity is the Sasanid power around mid-third century AD. In this historiography the overwhelming taken up. The study of this transformation of the importance of Bactria looms large in the making nomadic Yuezhi group to a far-flung empireó of the Kushana power. This genre of works on but not categorized as a nomadic state like the the Kushanas, however, pays considerable Mongol empire of a much later periodóis an attention to the Kushana control over north academic exercise no less significant and Indian plains without losing sight of the primacy exciting than dishing out the intricate details of of Bactria in the Kushana history. It is here that Kushana genealogy and chronology. the Kushana association with South Asian history gains visibility.11 OVERVIEW OF SOURCES OF KUSHANA HISTORY The bulk of writings of the Kushana political The Kushana studies have been constantly history gives a pronounced thrust on determining growing, thanks to the availability of diverse the Kushana chronology, particularly on the sources, though scattered and fragmentary, and initial year of the Kushana/ era in also to the sustained contributions from many relation to the Christian era. Learned and scholars on a truly international scale. The meticulous studies of the Kushana sources, international collaboration in unraveling the past largely epigraphic, numismatic, art-historical and of the Kushanas is a distinctive feature of this field-archaeological materials, have resulted in historiography. One major source of the a rich and growing literature on this problem. Kushana studies is the Chinese textual evidence This is an area of intense scholarly debates as which remembered both the nomadic and experts have offered various and competing territorial aspects of the Kushana political suggestions for locating the beginning of the history. Of great importance in this context are Kushana/Kanishka era. There are three major the Chinese chronicles of the Han dynasty, both views on this subject, as our discussions in a Early and Later Han, of China.14 The impressions The Kushanas 39 of the Kushana connection with the South Asian position.23 Though inscriptions and coins form landmass are available in the account of the the bedrock of the evidence of Kushana political Tusharas or Tukharas in , history, different types of sources need to be particularly the Puranas.15 The term Tukhara, studied in a combined method to offer a denoting the Kushanas, has a correspondence connected narrative of the Kushana history. and resonance to the word Tocharoi which was the designation for the Kushanas in early THE NOMADIC PAST OF THE KUSHANAS Classical texts, for instance in the Geographikon There is little scholarly dispute about the nomadic of Strabo and the Prologue of Pompeius past of the Kushanas prior to the second century 16 Trogus. The long Kushana occupation of BC. The chronicles of the Han dynasties in China Bactria, by removing the erstwhile Greek were aware of the nomadic tribe named Yuezhi, kingdom there, paved the way for designating who figures regularly in these texts along with the Kushanas as Bactrians in the Book of the Laws the Xiongnu. It is from the Yuezhis that the 17 of Countries by Bardesanes of Edessa and the Kushanas subsequently emerged, as our Prologue of Pompei Trogus. There are a number following narrative would show. These texts of archaeological sites marking the Kushana leave an impression that the Yuezhi and the presence or associated with the Kushana rule, Xiongnu lived close to the northern borders of whether in the subcontinent or beyond it: like, China which had already been a sedentary, 18 Khalchayan in southern Uzbekistan, Begram agrarian state-society in sharp contrast to the 19 20 near Kabul in Afghanistan, Taxila in Pakistan mobile nomadic groups active on the vast steppe 21 and Mathura in India , to name only the most lands of Central Asia. Xin ru Liu points out that prominent ones. There are also a impressive the nomadic and the sedentary societies and number of inscriptions issued by or issued polities often stood as contrastive categories, during the reign of the Kushana rulers. These frequently engaging in conflictual encounters.24 inscriptions, including the image inscriptions, are This is particularly seen in the breakdown of either official issues by Kushana rulers or large agrarian polities in the wake of nomadic mention Kushana rulers, along with the names invasions, like that brought about by the warlike of their subordinate rulers and/or functionaries, activities of the Huns (Xiongnu of the ancient or private records of donations mentioning the Chinese texts) in the earlier times and those of 22 reigning Kushana monarchs. In addition to our the Mongols in the first half of the thirteenth understanding of the Kushana political history, century. It is in the context of viewing the the system and nature of the Kushana polity are Xiongnu as a persistent threat and irritant to the to some extent lit up by these epigraphic Chinese sedentary state society that the ancient records. The very find-spots of these inscriptions Chinese accounts referred to the Xiongnu and indicate the inclusion of these areas within the other nomadic communities like the Sek (the Kushana realm and therefore offer evidence of Scythians, the Sakas of Indian literature) and the the extent of Kushana rule. Very large number Yuezhi. These nomadic groups were intimately of coins, mostly in gold and copper, inform us related to the vast steppe lands, dominating the about the names, titles and portraits of Kushana Eurasian landscape and located to the north of rulers for whom the issuing of coins was a the agrarian ecological zone and lying between marker of their independent sovereign the mountains and the deserts. If the non- Political History and Administration 40 sedentary nature of the nomadic communities earliest in the Chinese texts as the Yuezhis.25 often brought them to hostilities against the Chinese annals, narrating the scenario of the pre- settled agrarian societies and polities, the 7th century BC, associated the Yuezhis with the nomadic groups were inherently more mobile Chinese frontier in Gansu where stood the than sedentary communities. The nomads, famous garrison town of Dun huang, built around traversing the steppes often on horses, were 111 BC. The Chinese envoy Zhang Qian, on the better suited to the use of the steppes as a zone other hand, had already reported in 126 BC about of communication, and they regularly the Yuezhi stronghold far to the west of participated in communications and exchanges Dunhuang. This led Liu to seek a different with other sedentary societies. Along with the identification of Dunhuang. She points out that transactions in trade goods, these nomadic the Chinese annals spoke of the fame of the groups also participated in the exchange of ideas Yuezhis for supplying horses which clearly with rich historical consequences. implies their association with the steppe regions. This helps us appreciate the fact that the Liu proposes that the original connotation of ancient Chinese accounts recorded the animosity Dunhuang takes us to the steppe area north of of the Xiongnus vis-à-vis the Chinese state the Silk Road, in other words, to the pasture during the rule of the Qin and the Han dynasties. grounds north of the Tianshan mountains, which The Xiongnus were intent upon extracting she proposes to identify with Qilian of the Shiji. booties and loot from the Chinese rulers, but The earliest territory associated with the never interested in occupying the farming areas Yuezhis, according to Liu, should be located in the Chinese realms. Contrary to this tendency, around the modern oasis town of Turfan. In the the Yuezhis maintained peaceful relation with place-name Turfan, Liu further discerns the the Chinese polities, playing the role of resonance of the Tuharans who are the same as merchants and suppliers of coveted items. Guan the Tocharoi of the Greek sources and the Zhong as early as 645 BC informed about the Tukharas of the Indian textual tradition. Liu also Yuehzhis supplying jade stone to the Chinese reads in the account of the Yuezhi conquest of rulers who felt a strong attachment to jade. The Daxia or Bactria in Afghanistan the find of more than 750 jade items from the tomb correspondence of the name Daxia with of Shang Fuhao in Khotan in Xinjiang bears Tukhara/ Tuhara.26 further testimonies to this. There is little Significantly enough, the term Tukhara has evidence of the nomadic Yuehzhis maintaining a distinct phonetic affinity with Tocharian, a any hostile relation with the Qin and Han rulers language of the centum group of the Indo- of China. European family. Since the Greek accounts To locate the earliest habitat of the Yuehzhis knew the Yuezhis of the Chinese annals as one has to take into consideration the Chinese Tocharoi or Tocharians, there is a distinct textual evidence in conjunction with the possibility of the Yuezhi/Tocharians/Tukharas accounts of the Tocharoi in the Greek texts and had originally belonged to an ethnic stock who the Tusharas/Tukharas of Indian sources. were speakers of an Indo-European language. Pulleyblank demonstrated that Yuezhi, Tukhara/ Stunning reports of the discovery of mummies Tushara and Kushana referred to the different in the graves belonging to the 2nd-1st names of the same people who were mentioned millennium BC from the northern side of the Tarim The Kushanas 41

River basin may suggest, as Bivar argues, the the Yuezhis with the Lake Issykol area was, physical remains of the early ancestors of the however, short-lived as another nomadic group, speakers of the Indo-European Tocharian the Wu-sun swooped down upon the Yuezhis, language (or dialect). Their physical features are forcing the latter to migrate to farther west marked by tall stature, blond hair, flowing towards the plains of modern Kazakhstan which moustache and hairiness of the body. The the migrating Yuezhis appear to have reached 29 Tocharian-speaking Yuezhis, therefore, could around 140 BC. One has to keep in mind in this have remained in the northern parts of the context that the Chinese annals recorded that Central Asian steppe from where they actually the majority of the Yuezhis undertook continuously maintained peaceful interactions the simultaneous and interconnected processes with the sedentary polity in China as suppliers of involuntary migrations and voluntary of horses and jade.27 invasions; a smaller group of the Yuezhis chose A perusal of the Chíien Han-shu suggests not to leave their original area of habitat/ that the rise of the neighbouring and warlike operations. These minority groups were labelled nomadic community of the Xiongnus impacted in the Chinese evidence as the Little Yuehzhis, the position of the Yuezhis in a significant distinct from the more adventurous and bigger manner. The Xiongnu chief Maddun heavily group of the Yuezhis who became known as defeated the Yuezhis around c. 176 BC. This was the Da Yuezhis or the Great Yuehzhis. followed by, as the Shiji records, another The making of the Yuezhi history from now reversal of the Yuezhis in the hands of Jizhu, on is the account of the Da Yuezhis and their son and successor of Xiongnu leader Maddun; activities. The westward migrations of the the ferocity of the Xiongnu attack is retained in Yuezhis from the Lake Issykol area resulted in the memory of the skull of the vanquished their arrival in the plains of the Oxus and the Yuezhi chief having been turned into a drinking Jaxartes where dominated another group of cup for the new Xiongnu chief, Jizhu.28 Scythians who were defeated by the Yuezhis. Compelled to move out from their original These Sakas then invaded the Greek kingdom habitat following these disastrous clashes, the of Bactria, embracing the north-eastern parts of Yuezhis began a long westward migration which modern Afghanistan and the adjoining parts of unleashed triggering effects on the widespread Uzbekistan. The Saka inroads into Bactria led to areas of Central Asia and Afghanistan. The the collapse of the Bactrian Greek kingdom, a Yuezhis came into conflict with another Central point to which we shall return later. The Yuezhis Asian nomadic group, the Sai of the Chinese were in the hot pursuit of the Sakas and they texts, identified with the Scythians of the Greek also reached Bactria. The Yuezhi conquests of accounts and the Sakas of the Indian sources. the plains of the Oxus and the Jaxartes are well According to the Chien Han-shu, the Sai/Saka- represented in the visual arts of Khalchayan in Scythinas were ousted by the Yuezhis from their southern Uzbekistan where Pugochenkovaís stronghold in the Lake Issykol area, sometime excavations recovered the remains of a Yuezhi 30 between 174 and 160 BC. The Sai ruling elite palace. Remarkable sculptures of the (Sai-wang), in their turn, moved southwards and Tocharian princes and rulers show bobbed hair entered the Karakorum areas to reach Jibin (or and slanting eyes, which are interpreted by Bivar northern parts of Kashmir). The association of as signs of Yuezhi marriage alliances with the Political History and Administration 42

Chinese.31 There are several reliefs of battle of Ai Khanoum also. But Bactrain cemeteries, scenes depicting in a grotesque manner the datable from the late second century BC to the vanquished adversaries of the Yuehzhis. There end of first century BC, reveal the presence of is also a scene of the seated figure of the Yuezhi different physical types and diverse funeral chief, flanked by a standing prince who held a customs. These archaeological findings seem to heavy cavalry armour. This scene seems to go along with Straboís description of the variety underline the importance of the cavalry in the of nomadic peoples invading Bactria, military-political successes of the Yuezhis in underlining considerable population Uzbekistan and adjoining areas.32 movements.35 Straboís account also indicates the More momentous political developments penetration of the Tocharians/Yuezhis into unfolded in Bactria, adjoining southern Bactria. Uzbekistan. Noted for the long presence of The Yuezhi advent in Bactria paved the way Greek rulers who became independent of the for major changes in the political history of the Seleucids to gain mastery over Bactria since 223 Yuezhis or the Da Yuezhis. The Hou Han shu, BC, the Bactrian Greek kingdom fell apart around the annals of the Later Han dynasty, was aware 145 BC as a consequence of nomadic invasions of the Yuezhi conquest of Daxia or Bactria thereupon. Writing around the close of the first which, according to this account, was divided century BC, Strabo remembered the collapse of into five clans or chiefs (hsi-hou or yabgus). The the Bactrian Greek realm in the following five hsi hous were Hiu-mi, Shuang-mi, manner: Kueishuang, Hi-tun and Tu-mi. To this should be coupled the report of the Chinese envoy The best known of the Scythian nomads are those Zhang Qian on the Da Yuezhis whose presence who took away Bactriana from the Greeks. I mean to the north of the Oxus River was noted by the the Asioi, Pasianoi. Tokharoi and Sakarouloi, who Chinese envoy.36 This may suggest that the originally came from the country on the other side Yuezhis at this stage controlled both Daxia and of the Iaxartes river that adjoins that of the Sakai areas to the north of the Oxus, the occupation and the Sogdianoi and was occupied by the Sakai.33 of the latter territory being evident also from the The above impression of the demise of the excavations at Khalchayan. Among the five Bactrian Greek kingdom is also corroborated by yabgus, the one named Kueishuang deserves our the archaeological traces of the end of the Greek attention, since this term would subsequently city of Ai Khnoum on the southern bank of the give birth to the dynastic name Kushana. The 34 Amu Darya (Oxus) around 145 BC. Straboís earliest known Kushana ruler is Heraus or account includes in the generic ethnic entity Heraeus whose existence is borne out by coins Sakai or the Scythians the Tocharoi. The bearing his portrait, personal name and also his Tocharoi are certainly the Tocharian-speaking Kushana (Koshano) affiliation.37 The remarkable Yuezhis of the Chinese texts. The Yuezhi inroads similarity between the Khalchayan portraits and into Bactrian Greek realm, contributing to the the figure of Heraus on his coin deserves a final eclipse of the protracted Greek ruler there, special attention. This Yuezhi realm, as we have therefore, are a distinct possibility. One is not already stated, figured in Zhang Qianís report sure if the Tocharoi/Yuezhis were in any way to the Han court. The Shiji underlines the responsible for the destruction of the Greek city importance of Daxia: The Kushanas 43

The country is rich and fertile and there are few the Chinese empire points to the continuation bandits. (It) has a large population, amounting to of their nomadic associations and practices. As more than a million. Its capital is named the city of the vital supplier of the coveted war-animals to Lan-shi; there is a market (where all) kinds of articles China, the Yuezhis had to encounter the are sold.38 challenges from their traditional adversaries, the Daxia or Bactriaís prosperity finds a further Xiongnu, who retained their nomadic way of life mention in the report of Zhang Qian who noted and continued raids on the Chinese empire for the availability of bamboo sticks and cloth in procuring booty. The Xiongnu thus stood as the Daxia where it came from Shen-du or the lower common threat for both the fully sedentary Indus Valley.39 This account hints at the Chinese state and also the Yuezhi realm, the commercial communications between the lower latter in a crucial stage of transition from nomadic Indus Valley and Bactria. Prior to the arrival of to sedentary life. A newly discovered site on the nomadic groups, Bactria under the Greek the border fortress near Dunhuang has yielded rulers had already become famous for its agrarian Chinese documents recording the supply of resources and the availability of gold. The food to the Yuezhi envoy. Moreover, wood slips Yuehzhi occupation of Daxia or Bactria from Niya (Chinese Central Asia) records the evidently strengthened their military and Yuezhi wish to receive a Han (Earlier Han) political position, in addition to enriching the envoy and the Yuezhi complaint of being Yuehzhis considerably. The capture of Bactria, harassed by other people (Xiongnu?). noted for its agrarian resources, for the first time Interestingly enough, it was the chief of Dawan helped the sedentarization of the nomadic (in Ferghana) who helped the Da Yuezhi envoy Yuezhis. write the letter which is recorded in the wood 40 But it was a slow transition to a sedentary slip from Niya. society. The major reason of the Chinese The eventual transformation of the Yuezhis interests in the Yuezhis was to obtain the supply to a sedentary polity took place at the time of of horses for the cavalry of the steadily enlarging the powerful ruler, Kíiu-tsiu-kíio of the Chinese Chinese state. The Yuehzhis seem to have been sources, identified with the Kushana king Kujula the chief supplier of horses, especially those Kadphises from his coins and inscriptions. To from Dawan or Ferghana, close to Sogdiana. If him belongs the credit of, on the testimony of one takes the cue from Liu, the very name the Chinese accounts, subjugating the four other Dawan is derived from Tukhara/Tuhara or the Yuezhi yabgus.41 The Hou Han-shu noted his Tocharian speakers, usually identified with the conquest of Buíta which is usually identified with Yuezhis. Liu informs us of a Yuezhi chief, named Bactra, the capital of Bactria, located near Lou, who is said to have made a tenfold profit modern Majar-i-Shariff in Afghanistan. He also by supplying horses to China and become very invaded Anxi (or the imperial Parthian ruler of rich. The Yuezhis seem to have received from Iran) and conquered Gao-fu or Kabul.42 It is quite the Chinese, in exchange of horses, another clear from this account that for the first time the coveted item, namely the Chinese silk. The Kushana power, now firmly entrenched in Yuezhis, according to Liu, were the initiator of Bactria, crossed the Hindu Kush and annexed the horse for silk transactions. The Yuezhi the Kabul region to its growing realm. The Hou participation in the overland trade of horses with Han-shu noted that Political History and Administration 44

Gao-fu is a large country, (but its) people are weak image of the Roman emperor.46 The long reign and easily conquered. They excel in commerce and of Kujula, who lived according to the Chinese internally (privately) they are very wealthy. The texts for eighty years, seems to have derived (political) allegiance has never been constant; the economic advantages out of the Roman empireís three countries of Tienzhu, Jibin and Anxi have trade with the East. possessed of it when they are strong and lost it when they are weak.43 That the Kushana occupation of Bactria and the areas to the north of the Oxus paid rich The above quote demonstrates that the Kabul dividends in terms of the sedentarization of their region had been a bone of contention among polity is quite unmistakable. But the the rulers of South Asia, northern Kashmir and transformation of the Kushanas to a territorial the Parthians. It was an area coveted by the polity did not preclude the possibilities of long- contending powers who seem to have been distance trade towards the consolidation of eyeing the region for its commercial territorial state system. The immense riches of significance. For the Kushana ruler Gao-fu or the Kushana rulers and royalty are writ large from Kabul would, therefore, be judged as a the Tilliya Tepe (Afghanistan) excavations resourceful area, particularly in view of the yielding 20,000 gold pieces.47 Ranging in date sustained interests of the Kushana/Yuezhis in from 1st century BC to the 1st century AD, the long-distance trade along the Silk Road. Kujula excavations reveal fabulously rich tombs, is possibly the same as prince Kapa figuring in numbering 6, of the Kushana royalty, consisting 44 the Takht-i-Bahi inscription, which may of gold plates, vessels, buckles and small suggest that in the Taxila area the emergent decorative pieces of clothing. Also available Kushana king served the Indo-Parthian ruler from the excavated tombs are bronze mirrors of Gandophares as a subordinate prince. Kujula Chinese workmanship and ivory carvings of also minted coins, mostly in copper, where Indian origin.48 These exotic, precious objects, bilingual legends in Greek (Koshano-Kouzulo interred as grave goods, were clearly procured Kadphizou) and in Prakrit (Kujula-kasasa by the Kushanas through the burgeoning long- Kushana-yabugasa dhrama-thidasa: Kharosthi distance trade. The inherent commercial skills script) were used.45 The bilingual legends of the nomadic Yuezhis stood in good stead for clearly point out that his coins were meant for consolidating of the resource base of the circulation in areas both to the north and south Kushana polity. of the Hindu Kush mountains. A hoard of his rare silver coins have been found from Taxila. GROWING KUSHANA POWER: KUJULAíS If this speaks of his occupation of Taxila, that SUCCESSORS must have been brief, as the Indo-Parthian ruler In terms of tracing the genealogy of the Kushanas Gandophares seems to have taken control over after Kujula, the sources present obstacles and Taxila, advancing from Arachosia (Kandahar) uncertainties. Though the widely accepted view through Drangiana. Kujulaís copper coins were is that Víima Kadphises succeeded Kujula, this obviously borrowed from and modeled on the idea is now questioned. Bailey cited an early gold coins of the Roman emperor Augustus (31 first century AD Kharosthi inscription from Odi BCñAD 14), as the figure of Kujula on the obverse recording the name of Sadashkana as Kujulaís of his coins bore remarkable affinity to the son.49 As Sadashkana appeared with the title The Kushanas 45 devaputra (son of god), the dynastic epithet of examination of the Rabatak inscription, Sims- the Kushanas, it is difficult not to consider him Williams has opposed his critiques and retained as a Kushana prince. It is, however, not clear the original reading of the name Víima Taktu.55 from this record if Sadashkana did actually Mukherjee suggested that the throne-name of ascend the Kushana throne after Kujula; if he at Sadashkana could have been Víima Taktu. Put all did, it appears to have been of a very short differently, Mukherjee considers Sadashkana duration. The inscription, dated in the 14th and Víima Taktu as identical ruler who had a regnal year of Senavarman of Odi, son of very brief, if any at all, reign period. Adiyavarman (possibly a local ruler around Swat Numismatically speaking, the most important in Pakistan), seems to have given greater coin series following the death of Kujula belongs prominence to Senavarman than to the Kushana to a nameless king adorning the grand title in prince. This naturally raises doubt about the Greek, Basileus basileon Soter Megas, showing actual political status of Sadashkana. The very him as king of kings, the great saviour. Three important Rabatak inscriptionó discovered from Kharosthi inscriptions from the north-west, viz. the Puli Khumri area of Afghanistanó mentions Panjtar Stone inscription of year 122, Kalwan one Víima Taktu as the immediate son and copperplate of the year 124 and the Taxila Silver successor of , according to Scroll inscription of the year 136 referring to the Sims-Williams and Cribb, who first edited and Azes era of 57 BC, belong to the period after the 50 56 translated this record. Víima Kadphises also mid-first century AD. These inscriptions do not figures in the same record, but as succeeding name a Kushana king, but introduce the ruler as Víima Taktu and not Kujula directly. The reading a Kushana, as the son of god (devaputra) and as of the name Víima Taktu by Sims-Williams and the king of kings (rajatiraja). The unnamed 51 Cribb has been challenged by Mukherjee ; Kushana ruler in these records, evidently 52 53 Fussman and MacDowall also disagree with powerful and in control over the northwestern the reading of the name Víima Taktu by Cribb frontier of the subcontinent, seems to have been on a unique copper coin with the tamgha of Soter the same as the unnamed Soter Megas of the Megas and Greek legend (obverse) naming Kushana coins. Cribb attempts to identify the OOHMO TAKTI or Ooemo Takti. This Ooemo Soter Megas of the Kushana coins with his Víima Takti is sought to be identified by Cribb with Taktu By combining the Soter Megas of the post- the name Víima Taktu in the Rabatak inscription. Kujula Kushana coins with i) the name Ooemo Cribbís reading of the name Vima Taktu finds a Takti in one unique copper coin and ii) finally major critique from Fussman who thought that with the unnamed formidable Kushana king of the reading was a conjectural restoration of a the three Kharosthi inscriptions of the north-west damaged inscription and coin. Mukherjeeís frontier areas, Cribb argues for the presence of subsequent editing and translation of the Rabatak a powerful Kushana ruler as a successor of record reads the name Sadashkana, whose name Kujula.57 The certainty of the existence of one had first been read in the Odi inscription of Víima Taktu is still not decided in view of the 54 Senavarman. Mukherjee, therefore, seems to scholarly doubts on Cribbís reading and uphold Baileyís original suggestion of interpretation. That the Kushanas in the post- Sadashkana being the direct successor of Kujula Kujula days had already established themselves Kadphises. In a subsequent and fresh in the north-western regions of the subcontinent Political History and Administration 46 is, however, beyond any dispute in view of the (the Roman empire) after his conquest of Shen- inscriptions referring to the anonymous but du and became extremely rich thereafter.61 We formidable Kushana ruler who used both Greek have already pointed out that Shen-du and Prakrit (with Kharosthi script) languages. corresponded to the lower Indus Valley, situated In the light of the Rabatak inscription, the close to the Arabian Sea. The near contemporary third ruler of the Kushana dynasty was Víima Greek text, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea Kadphises. The firm Kushana hold over (by an anonymous navigator/mariner), speaks Afghanistan during his reign is evident from the of the commercial importance of the Indus delta Dasht-i-Nawur inscription, a tri-lingual record in the maritime trade in the western Indian written in Bactrian, Pahlavi and in an as yet Ocean. At the middle (and the only navigable) unidentified language/script.58 Dated in the year of the seven channels of the Indus meeting the 279 (of the Greek era of 174 BC?) the Kushana sea stood a flourishing port, Barbaricum, that association with Bactria and the regions around briskly participated in the sea-borne trade with 62 northern Afghanistan is writ large herein. Víima the eastern Mediterranean areas. Víima figures in an inscription from Mat near Mathura Kadphises must have been attracted by the as a son of the Kushana family (kushanaputra). possibility of economic gains out of the control His control over Mathura in the Ganga-Yamuna of the lower Indus area and annexed it to the doab is further evident from his image from growing Kushana realm. Víima seems to have Mathura showing him seated on the throne in pushed into the lower Indus Valley from full regalian fashion and wearing typical Central the north-western frontier areas of the 63 Asian attiresótrousers, tunic, shoes and a belt.59 subcontinent. In the light of the Chinese account, he seems to The Kushana realm had already become a have conquered in north India the country of formidable territorial power, intent upon Sa-chi or Saketa in the erstwhile Kosala deriving economic gains out of controlling area mahajanapada. This is the first attempt on the and routes noted for long-distance trade. The part of Kushanas to penetrate into the expansive burgeoning economy of the Kushana realm is best Ganga Basin. His reign also marks the beginning indicated by the minting of gold coins for the first of the protracted Kushana political control over time by Víima Kadphises.64 With this began the and association with Mathura.60 The Hou Han striking of gold coins in the subcontinent. shu informs us of his conquest of the Shen-du country, located close to the sea and watered KANISHKA AND HIS ERA by a large river of the same name. The Chinese The maximum territorial expansion of the name Shen-du is clearly derived from the Indian Kushana empire took place in the time of river Sindhu. The Shen-du country was named Kanishka I, the greatest and the most powerful after the mighty river Sindhu or the Indus. As Kushana monarch. The Rabatak inscription, this country was said to have been situated close mentioned above was issued by him. It records to the sea, which seems to have denoted the the instructions and events of his very first regnal Arabian Sea, the area probably stands for the year and also up to his fifth or sixth regnal year.65 lower Indus country, including the Indus delta. The record clearly states that there was an The Kushana ruler, as the Hou Han shu narrates, unbroken line of dynastic succession from the began to engage in commerce with the Da-chin days of Kujula to the accession of Kanishka. This The Kushanas 47

removes all doubts whether there existed two first century AD. The last quarters of the first separate groups of Kushana rulers, namely the century AD and the first year of the second Kadphises group and the Kanishka group. The century would witness the rule of Kanishka I inscription also shows that Kanishka was the (AD 78ñ101), since he is credited with founding 67 fourth, and not the third, ruler of the Kushana the Saka era of AD 78. The immediately house. Before studying the Kushana expansion succeeding date in Kushana inscriptions is the during Kanishkaís reign, one needs to take up year 22 (of the Kanishka/Saka era) which here perhaps the most controversial issue in the records the name of one Vajhesko. This Kushana political history, namely determining Vajheshko appears to have been identical with the date of Kanishkaís reign and the initial year Vaskhushan figuring in inscription of the of an era which was started by Kanishka I. Kanishka era of 24 and 28 (AD 102ñ06). He is Inscriptions demonstrate that Kanishka I ruled Vasishka, proposed to be the immediate for 23 years. That Kanishka I established an era successor to Kanishka I. The next ruler is is best shown by the fact that his regnal , a very powerful and famous Kushana reckoning was continued by his successors for monarch well represented in a large variety of at least a century, if not for an even longer coins and inscriptions. The dates recorded in his period. The issue is not merely to identify an inscriptions range from year 28 to 60, indicating era named after Kanishka I and/or Kushana, but a long reign of over three decades, assignableó to this is related the chronology of the Kushana in terms of the Saka/Kanishka eraófrom AD 106 rule. While the advent of the Kushana/Yuehzhi to 138. Another inscription bearing a date of year rule goes back to the first century BC, it is 41 (i.e. AD 119 as it is dated in the Saka era of AD difficult to push the end of the Kushana rule 78) refers to the ruler Kanishka. As Kanishka Iís beyond mid-third century AD when the Sassanids reign had already ended after his 23 years of of Iran ousted the Kushanas from Bactria and reign, this Kanishka of the Ara inscription is later adjacent regions.66 There is a strong belief, than and different from Kanishka I; he is hence mostly among Indian historians, to identify the labelled by a large number of Indian scholars as Kanishka/Kushana era with the Saka era of AD Kanishka II. No other record informs us about 78. The Saka era, obviously associated with the Kanishka II and it is difficult to accommodate a memory of a non-indigenous ruler(s), can long reign for him. The next Kushana king with logically be attached to the name of Kanishka I, definite regnal years, recorded in his inscriptions, the most powerful monarch among the non- is Vasudeva whose known dates of reign range indigenous ruling houses in early India. from years 64/67 to 98. If his reign is dated in

The beginning of Kanishka Iís reign in AD Saka/Kanishka era of AD 78, he ruled from AD 78 implies that the Kujulaís ruleósupposedly a 145 to 176. Kushana coins moreover reveal the long oneóshould have begun in the second half names of another Kanishka, who is considered of the first century BC. It is difficult to assign as Kanishka III. Similarly, Kushana coins were precise dates for the immediate successor of issued by another Vasudeva, later than and Kujula. If Víimaís gold coins were based on the distinct from the homonymous ruler of an earlier 68 gold coins of the Arsacid (Imperial Parthian) ruler period. He is therefore labelled as Vasudeva II. Gotarzes I (AD 38ñ51), Víima could have Vasudeva IIís name possibly figures in the therefore belonged to the third quarter of the Chinese texts as Po-tíiao whose existence is Political History and Administration 48

dated to c. AD 230. He seems to have been the the Kushana rule became extinct largely on last ruler of the Kushana dynasty which had account of their defeat in the hands of the already become a thing of the past by c. AD 262 Sassanids of Iran. This idea of fixing the initial when the Naqsh-i-Rustam inscription recorded year of Kanishkaís reign in AD 144, of late, has the victory of Sassanid Shahpur I over the few takers. 69 Kushanshahr or the Kushana realm. This In the recent years, Falkís suggestion of chronological and genealogical reconstruction, locating the first year of Kanishka Iís reign in AD suggested by Mukherjee among other Indian 127 has gained considerable currency. In the scholars, thus assigns a nearly three centuries astronomical text, the Yavanajataka of of political existence for the Kushanas. Sphujidhvaja, Falk found the following clue to Mukherjeeís decipherment of an inscription of determine the initial year of Kanishka Iís rule in the year or 140 or 170 (corresponding to AD 218 terms of the Christian/Common era. or 248)70 suggests that it belonged to the reign The elapsed years of the Kushanas in of the last ruler, Vasudeva II who is given the epithet rajatiraja devaputra Sahi. As the combination with 149 (changed into) the time 74 Kushana realm had become a thing of the past of the Sakas. by AD 262, the date of Shahpur Iís record stated Falk points out that the passage means that above, Mukherjee argues that the initial rule of the beginning of the Kushana era, obviously Kanishka I could not be later than AD 92 (262 started by Kanishka I, is to be placed 149 years minus 170= 92).71 In other words, he seems to after the era of the Sakas. As the Saka era started reinforce his earlier position that the initial year in AD 78, 149 years after this time takes one to AD of Kanishkaís rule is to be assigned to the last 227. Falk suggests that this is too late a date in quarter of the first century AD. view of the waning of the Kushana power The alternative dating system was offered around the mid-third century AD. So, following 75 by Rosenfield72 and Ghirshman73 who argued the suggestions of van de Leeuw , he considers for a date of AD 144 as the beginning of the that the date 227 actually speaks of the second Kanishkaís era. They mostly argued on century of the Kushana era. The beginning of epigraphic materials and inscribed images and the Kushana/Kanishka era should, therefore, to tried to provide a chronological framework on be placed 100 years before 227, i.e. AD 127. The the Kushana art. The major problem in this case significant point which emerges from the is to appropriately place the end of Vasudeva Yavanajataka is the distinction of the Saka era Iís reign which witnessed the elapse of the first from the Kushana era. This questions widely held century of the Kanishka era, beginning in AD 144. the notion that Saka era was established by This takes the end of Vasudeva Iís rule in AD Kanishka himself and the Saka era was identical 244. There were a few more Kushana rulers with the Kanishka/Kushana era. Falk is acclaimed known mostly from coins, but also from for solving the riddle of the beginning of the inscriptions and texts. To accommodate the reign- Kanishka/Kushana era; this solution is periods of these successors of , one considered a ëdefinitive one (which) should has then to stretch the political existence of the henceforth provide the basis for converting 76 Kushanas far beyond mid-third century AD when epigraphic datesí. The Kushanas 49

Based on Falk, the Kushana chronology from The suggested and revised Kushana Kanishka Iís accession appears like the chronology is not free from problems and following: scholarly controversy. Falkís and van de Leeuwís much vaunted theory of the omitted Kanishka I (yrs. 1-23) ñ AD 127ñ149-50 hundred in dating the Kushana inscription faces Huvishka (yrs. 28-60) ñ AD 155ñ187-88 a challenge in a Kushana inscription, possibly Vasudeva I (yrs. 64/67-98) AD 159/164ñ225/ from Mathura, recording the year 140 or 170, 227 obviously of the Kushana/Kanishka era.79 First it This seems to have accounted for the demonstrates that there was no need for omitting uninterrupted use of the Kanishka era for the the unit hundred in recording dates in Kushana inscriptions. If dated in the system of AD 127, this first century since its inception in c. AD 127. With record takes us to AD 297, by which time it is the beginning of the new (second) century of nearly impossible to see any Kushana political the Kushana/Kanishka era, the practice of existence in view of their politico-military ouster recording the date in inscriptions was to drop in the hands of the Sassanids. On the other hand, the hundred. Van de Leeuw was the first to if the year 170 refers to the Kushana/Kanishka suggest this omitted hundred theory. The ruler era beginning traditionally in AD 78, then one Vaskushan/ Vasishka had the reign period from reaches the date of AD 248. This date of AD 248 24 to 28 which are interpreted as standing for tallies well with the very last phase of Kushana 124 and 128 years since Kanishkaís reign. There rule that ended around or soon after AD 250. The was a ruler known from coin legend, bearing Kushana inscription of the year 170, more the name Kanishki. His coins show the figure of importantly, strongly argues against the assumed Ardoxo on the reverse. He is taken by several practice of omitting the unit hundred in the post- 77 scholars, including Bivar, as Kanishka II. The Vasudeva I records. It may, therefore, still be Kamra inscription of Vasishka records the name thought that the years 24, 28 and 41 in the of his son Kanishka who is separated from Kushana inscriptions are actually dated without Kanishka II and therefore considered Kanishka an omitted hundred. Falkís chronological table 78 III. Kanishka III issued an inscription in yr 41 cannot explain how Vasishka, ruling from AD 251 which is taken to mean year 141 of the Kushana/ to 255, could have controlled a very extensive Kanishka era, i.e. AD 268. The last Kushana king area including Kamra (in north-west Pakistan), was probably Vasudeva II who ruled, according (Madhya Pradesh) and Isapur (near to this chronology, in the last quarter of the third Mathura, Uttar Pradesh), just around the time of century AD. The chronological table of the post- its collapse before the Sassanid army. One may Vasudeva I phase, favoured by many of the still argue that the Kushanas somehow clung to recent scholars, thus stands as: power for some time around Mathura after having lost some territory in the northwestern Vasishka (1) 24- (1) 28 AD 251ñ255 borderland and Bactria. This may explain the Kanishka II logic of locating Vasudeva II after AD 268. Kanishka III (1) 41 268 Many of the Western scholars seem to have Vasudeva II last quarter of the third century implied that the Guptas directly succeed the AD. Kushanas, possibly in the light of the mention Political History and Administration 50

of a Kushana chieftain (Daivaputra Shahi somewhere between the late first century AD and Shahanushahi) ruling in the northwest in the AD 128. Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta (c. 80 AD 335ñ75). This position conveniently THE KUSHANA EMPIRE AT ITS ZENITH: THE REIGN obliterates the Naga rulers in and around Mathura OF KANISHKA I in the post-Kushana times and prior to the rise From the discussions on the controversial issue of the Guptas. These Naga kings figure in the of the beginning of the Kanishka/Kushana era, Puranic dynastic lists, but more importantly some one can once again pay attention to the political of their names did figure in the coins. Some of expansion of the Kushana realm during the reign the Naga rulers were ousted from Mathura and of Kanishka I, the most famous and formidable Gwalior during the north Indian campaign of of the Kushana rulers. The Rabatak inscription, Samudragupta in the first half of the fourth recording an official instruction in the very first 81 century AD. It is almost impossible to brush aside year of his reign, informs us his commands were at least four decades, if not more than half a being obeyed in the following cities: Sagido, 82 century, of the rule of the Nagas in and around Kosmobo, Palibothro and Srotchompo. The four Mathura. The Kushana chronology proposed by cities are identified respectively with Saketa in Falk does not factor in the Naga presence at the former mahajanapada of Kosala (in present Mathura for a considerable length of time after Uttar Pradesh to the north of the Ganga), Kausambi (the famous city near Allahabad, Uttar the Kushana rule ended at Mathura and before Pradesh), Pataliputra (Patna in Bihar) and Samudraguptaís reign began. If the Kushanas Champa or Sri-champa (near Bhagalpur in were ruling over certain parts of north India well Bihar).83 Saketa could have come under the after c. AD 250, it also does not take into account Kushana occupation already by the time of Víima the presence of a few non-monarchical clans Kadphises, Kanishkaís immediate predecessor. (ganarajyas like the Malavas and ) Kanishkaís sway over this area will also be who dominated the Punjab-Haryana-Rajasthan evident from his two inscriptions from Sahet- tracts during the second half of the third century Mahet, where stood the famous Kosalan city of AD and who were mentioned in Samudraguptaís Sravasti.84 Kanishka Iís hold over Mathura is Allahabad pillar inscription. These non- beyond any doubt, especially in view of his monarchical clans rose to power only after the famous headless statue from Mat near Mathura. exit of the Kushanas. If the Kushana rule is That he expanded the Kushana realm farther to extended to the last quarter of the third century, the east of Mathura is clearly evident from his then it is extremely difficult to locate these non- claim over the cities of Kausambi, Pataliputra monarchical groupsí presence in northern India and Champa. Kosam near Allahabad has yielded before they accepted Samudraguptaís suzerainty an inscription of Kanishka in year 385.An image sometime after AD 335. So, Falkís new dating, inscription from Sarnath near Varanasi, dated in however exciting and scholarly, does not appear his year 3, speaks of his rule in and around as ëdefinitiveí as Bivar claims. The question of Varanasi.86 Significantly enough, the inscriptions conclusively determining the beginning of from Sahet-Mahet, Kosam and Varanasi were Kanishkaís era does not appear to have been inscribed in Brahmi, showing the Kushana decided yet, though it seems to have begun awareness of the currency of Brahmi in the The Kushanas 51

Ganga Valley, while the north-west was a source, which spoke of cities named after Kharosthi-using zone. It is from Kausambi that Kanishka and Huvishka. It is likely that Kashmir he seems to have proceeded to Varanasi. The or parts of it came under Kanishkaís authority, Rabatak inscription for the first time confirms but Kashmir has not so far yielded any Kushana his conquest of Pataliputra, which, according to epigraphic record. Chinese texts, Kanishka raided. Moreover, the Bactria, firmly under Kushana control, Rabatak inscription for the first time establishes enjoyed primacy among different territories the inclusion of Pataliputra in Magadha in within the Kushana realm. This is best evident Kanishkaís empire. The mention of Srotchompo from the Rabatak inscription which categorically or Srichampa in eastern Bihar marks the refers to the replacement of Greek language with easternmost expansion of the Kushana empire Bactrian (a middle Iranian language written in which now stretched to the easternmost part of Greek script) from the very year 1 of Kanishkaís the middle Ganga plains. There are doubts reign.92 From this time onwards, Bactrian was whether the Kushana control over areas to the the sole language employed to inscribe legends east of Mathura continued for a long period, on Kushana coins which were official issues by since no inscription of any successor of Kanishka the Kushana state. Besides Rabatak, Surkhkotal I has so far been found from the areas to the in Afghanistan has yielded Bactrian records east of Mathura. mentioning the construction of a dynastic Kanishka was certainly in possession over sanctuary or a god house93 (bogolagno/ the north-western frontier areas of the bogopouro in Bactrian and equivalent to subcontinent. In the Shah-ji-Dheri relic casket devakula in / Prakrit) at Surkhkotal under inscription, the city of Purushapura (Peshawar the orders of Kanishka I.94 Surkhkotal is also in Pakistan) figures as Kanishkapura, obviously famous for its statue of Kanishka I, who in this named after the Kushana monarch.87 The image wore an attire like the loose salwar, renaming of the city after the reigning Kushana ubiquitous in Afghanistan, and not the usual coat, emperor strongly suggests that this was the trousers, boot of the Kushanas, commonly premier political centre of Kanishka within his depicted in statues and coins.95 The Chinese texts South Asian territories. The Kushana occupation give him the credit for controlling Niya and of Taxila is clear from the remains of the Kushana Khotan in the Xinjiang area of China; this city at modern Shaikhandheri.88 Kanishkaís indicates his control over parts of the southern 96 control over extensive areas in the northwestern Silk Road. parts of the subcontinent becomes obvious from Some other areas within the subcontinent his inscriptions from Zeda, year 11 (near Und, could also have come under Kanishka Iís Pakistan)89 and Manikiala, year 18 (near possessions. If the year 22 figuring in a Sanchi Rawalpindi, Paksitan),90 both in the present inscription of Vaskushana is considered as the Punjab of Pakistan. That Kushana control over the actual date of the record and not referring to the Indus Valley continued uninterrupted during his ëomitted hundredí system, then it probably reign is borne out by Kanishkaís inscription from suggests the Kushana occupation of eastern Suivihar, year 11 (in Bahawalpur, Pakistan).91 during Kanishka Iís reign whose latest Kanishkaís rule over Kashmir figures in the known regnal year is 23.97 In that case, Vasishka of Kalhana, admittedly a late or Vaskushana was ruling over eastern Malwa Political History and Administration 52 as a junior co-ruler of Kanishka I. It is interesting suffered a defeat in the hands of his Han to note that from AD 130 to sometime before AD counterpart who is said to have sent a successful 150 the area around Ujjaiyini in western Malwa expedition under general Pan-chao against the was under the rule of the Western Kshatrapas. Kushanas. The Andhau inscription (c. AD 130) refers to the rule of the Saka Kshatrapa Chashtana98 who POST-KANISHKA I RULERS figures also in the Geography of Ptolemy (c. AD Recent historiography prefers to place Huvishka 150 as regia Tiastenes) ruling over Ozono or (year 28ñ60) as the direct successor to Kanishka Ujjaiyini in ancient . That the title I. This suggestion does not clearly explain the Kshatrapa generally signified a subordinate gap in the Kushana genealogy, chronology and political position (often as a provincial governor political history since there remains a gap of five in a large realm) is beyond doubt from the years between the latest known date of Kanishka epigraphic mentions of the Kshatrapas and the earliest one of Huvishka. Huvishka was Vanasphara, Kharapallana and Vespasi serving indeed a worthy successor to Kanishka as his Kanishka I in dispersed areas of the Kushana inscriptions and coins leave clear impressions realm. There is a distinct possibility that of his power and authority. But if Vasishkaís Kshatrapa too was a subordinate ruler regnal years are considered in terms of the under Kanishka I in the Avanti area, if Kanishkaís omitted 100 theory, his reign is placed from AD year 1 is considered to have begun in AD 127. 251 to 255. Vasishkaís inscriptions are found Around AD 150 Chashtanaís grandson from as dispersed areas as Isapur near Mathura, Rudradaman I assumed on his own accord the Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh and Kamra in the higher title of mahakshtrapa, implying thereby north-west.101 It is not very easy to visualize a that he threw away his allegiance to the Kushana king holding sway over so extensive a 99 Kushanas around AD 150. The extensive areas territory, as is evident from the distribution of of western India under Rudradaman Iís rule, his epigraphic records, in the mid-third century including and the Kathiawad peninsula, AD, precisely at time when the very core of the and over eastern and western Malwa, could well Kushana control was seriously threatened by the have been wrested by him from the Kushanas Sassanid rulers of Iran. The logic of political soon after the end of Kanishka Iís regin (AD 150- geography and political history may still have 51). Kanishka I thus could have held sway over the ground for placing Vasishka immediately a massive area in northern India, in addition to after Kanishka I. Bactria and other parts of Afghanistan touching Of the successors of Kanishka I, the most the southern borders of Uzbekistan during his powerful and prominent was Huvishka who reign of nearly a quarter of a century. His ruled for more than three decades. Several conquest and occupation of sizeable areas to the inscriptions of his reign came from Mathura, but east of Mathura paved the way for the Kushana none to the east of that city. His control over the expansion into the Ganga Valley. We have areas to the west of Kabul will be evident from already indicated the strong possibility of his his inscription at Wardak (year 51).102 His control over eastern and western Malwa,100 if Bactrian records from Surkhkotal leave no room not over certain areas of Gujarat also. Going by for doubt about the firm Kushana hold over the Chinese accounts, it appears that Kanishka I Afghanistan.103 The remains of Kushana dynastic The Kushanas 53 temples at Dalverdjin Tepe and Airtam are the passing away of the Kushana empire. The obvious markers of the Kushana sway over centrality of Bactria in the processes of the Afghanistan and southern Uzbekistan. Huvishka foundation, growth and decay of the Kushana also issued the maximum varieties of gold coins, power can hardly escape our notice. The accommodating an impressive number of the inevitable weakening of the Kushana power, images of divinities from the Indic, Iranian, subsequent to the loss of Bactria, prepared the 104 Central Asian and Hellenistic pantheons. The ground for the political prominence of a few excellence of his gold pieces also bear non-monarchical entities in the Punjab, Haryana, testimonies to the wealth of the empire, derived, Rajasthan and the Malwa plateau (e.g. the to a considerable extent, from long-distance Malavas, the Yaudheyas, the Kunindas, the overland trade. Arjunayanas and suchlike) many of whom The next ruler Vasudeva also enjoyed a long pronounced victories in their seals reign of more than three decades (yrs. 64/67 to (e.g. victory to the Malavas or Malavanam jayah; 98). He is the first ruler of the dynasty to have Malavaganasya jayah). Nationalist assumed a purely Sanskritic name, suggesting the importance of the South Asian factors in the historiography of India used to glorify the role Kushana polity. His epigraphic records of these non-monarchical groups of northern and demonstrate the continuity of the Kushana central India in bringing about the downfall of control over Mathura.105 the Kushana empire. Implicit in such a position The Ara inscription (near Attock, Western as this is that the Kushana rule was terminated Punjab, Pakistan) of Kanishka (III?), son of by indigenous ëdemocraticí/írepublicaní 109 Vashiska, indicates the political sway of the forces. However, some historians negate such Kushanas over the Punjab of Pakistan.106 The last an explanation and do not give centrality to these possible ruler of the dynasty was Vasudeva II, non-monarchical groups for the downfall of the probably corresponding to Po-tíiao of the Chinese Kushanas. The non-monarchical groups at the texts. If Mukherjeeís reading of the year 140/170 most began to enjoy some political prominence (of the Kushana/Kanishka era) in a late Kushana when the Kushana empire had already been inscription107 is taken into consideration, then the tottering on account of its losing Bactria. It is Kushanas were likely to have held sway over however not impossible that these non- Mathura till the very last phase of the political monarchical groups could have represented 110 history. By the time of Vasudeva IIís rule, the ëautonomous spacesí within the strong Kushana realm probably shrank in size. Kushana monarchical polity. The last vestiges However, the area comprising Kushanshahr (or of the Kushana rule are visible in the north- the Kushana realm), according to the Naqsh-i- western frontier region, now a mere shadow of Rustam inscription of Sassanid Shahpur I (AD 262), their past prowess, where a scion of the was still quite extensive. It embraced Pushkbur Kushanas, styled as Daivaputra Shahi (Peshawar) and adjacent areas, Kashgarh, Shanushanushai, acknowledged the supremacy Sogdiana and Shashastan (Tashkent) in Central of Samudragupta (c. AD 335ñ75). It is unlikely Asia108 and certainly Mathura in north India. The that the early Gupta rulers like Chandragupta I loss of Bactria certainly hastened the process of and Samudragupta occupied the political scene, Political History and Administration 54 left vacant with the collapse of the Kushana unanimously held as the foremost element or power, immediately after the fall of the limb of the state. Kushanas. There appears to have been a gap of Amatya: The amatya stands only second in nearly half a century between the fall of the importance to the svami. Most of the theoretical Kushanas and the rise of the Guptas. treatises regard the amatya as equivalent to mantri (minister) and sachiva (secretary), though THE KUSHANA POLITY AND ADMINISTRATION Kautilya clearly differentiates between the The study of the political history of the Kushana amatya and the mantri. Amatya, in the broader period remains incomplete and sense of the term, should denote the high- incomprehensible without a discussion on the ranking functionaries of the state, including Kushana polity. Textual, epigraphic, numismatic ministers. and art-historical materials, though insufficient : It is called rashtra in the and scattered, offer some glimpses of the Manusamhita which places it in the fourth Kushana polity. The period under review marks position. The terms rashtra and janapada stand the spread and consolidation of the monarchical for territory, and more precisely a populated state system. Brahmanical law-books territory. Ancient Indian theorists, therefore, (Dharmasastras) delved into various aspects of clearly recognized the importance of both the kingdom which was considered as the ideal (subject) population and territory as elements polity in these treatises. A state (rajya), of the state. according to the Dharmasastra of Manu and the Durga: Known as pura (city) in the Santiparva of the Mahabharata, consisted of Manusamhita, the term durga does not merely seven limbs (saptanga). The Dharmasastra of mean a fort, but a fortified urban area ópossibly Manu and the Santiparva section of the the capital of a realm. Manu places it in the third Mahabharata belong to a period more or less position, but Kautilya considers it as the fourth coeval with the Kushana rule. The earliest element. known formulation of the concept that the state consisted of seven elements (prakritis) appeared Kosa: The treasury is considered a vital organ in the Arthasastra. Though the number seven is of the state. The Arthasastra understandably constant, the change of the terminology from attaches a great importance to a flourishing prakriti to anga is of crucial significance. The treasury as consideration about financial matters, list in the Arthasastra and that in the according to Kautilya, should precede all other Dharmasastras indeed share many common aspects of statecraft. All theoretical treatises features, though there are also significant underline that the ruler should always be active differences between the two types of treatises. to enrich the treasury by collecting various types The seven elements/limbs are: svami, amatya, of revenue. janapada, durga, kosa, bala and mitra. Bala: Literally meaning force, it is Svami: It stands usually for the king (raja), synonymous with the term danda (rod). So though the possibility of a svami in a non- danda/bala signifies the coercive authority of monarchical polity (vairajya) has not been ruled the ruler who is given the epithet, the wielder out. It is logical therefore to consider the svami of the rod of chastisement (dandadhara). Bala as the head of the state. The svami is and danda, by extension therefore, also denote The Kushanas 55 the army (according to U.N. Ghoshal, the viewed as the most important limb of the body standing army) which indeed was the most politic, each anga or limb has a prescribed and apparent manifestation of the coercive authority specific function which, however significant or of the ruler. otherwise, can be rendered best only by Mitra: The last and seventh element means that specific anga and not by any other a friend, an ally (suhrit according to Manu). The limb (yena yat sadhyate karma tasmin inclusion of an ally in the list of elements of the tachhreshthamuchyate). This concept then state implies that in the view of these normative upholds that each and every limb, in spite of texts, a state should not remain in political their graded importance, was indispensable and isolation, and therefore required the support of beneficial to six others (parasparopakarida). allied/friendly power(s). This represents a more organic view of the state than the one available in the Arthasastra. The order of enumeration of these elements/ limbs of the state is meant for showing the graded The growing importance of monarchy is importance of these elements which were, clearly reflected in the assumption of grandiose therefore, not of equal status. According to this titles of many rulers of this period. Many Greek scheme, each preceding element is more and Saka-Parthian and Kushana monarchs used important than each succeeding element; the titles like rajatiraja, maharaja, shaonanashao svami is the foremost element, followed by the (king of kings). This is in sharp contrast to the amatya, and the mitra, being of least rather simple political epithet of raja used by importance, is placed at the end. Asoka during the heydays of the . The period also witnessed the regular The graded importance of these elements performance of Vedic sacrifices like is judged not in terms of their normal condition, Asvamedha, Rajasuya, etc. with a view to but in the degree of their affliction under augmenting royal power, though the Kushana calamitous condition or distress (vysana). The rulers never performed these royal sacrifices.. greater the degree of affliction of the element/ These sacrifices endowed the performing ruler limb by the calamity, the greater is the with divinity. Spellman considers this as importance of the prakriti/anga. The calamity ëoccasional divinityí claimed by the king who is affects the svami more seriously than that elevated to the exalted position of a deity by affecting the amatya; so, the svami is above the performing a royal sacrifice on a sacred occasion. amatya. U.N. Ghoshal aptly labels this concept as ëpolitical pathologyí. The Arthasastra not only Theoretical treatises of this period uphold considers the svami as the most important the concept of divine creation or divine origin element, but equates the raja with rajya as the of the king. The Manusmriti explains that king epitomizes all other elements Prajapati (the Creator) created the king by (rajarajyamiti prakritisamkshepa). In other combining the essence of divinities like Indra, words, the all-pervasive importance of the king Varuna,Vayu,Yama, Agni, etc. More or less a actually leaves other elements as superfluous similar description also figures in the Ramayana and redundant. By preferring the concept of which presents the king as someone who must anga to that of prakriti, later theorists highlighted not only be always obeyed, but revered too a body politic. Though the svami is unanimously (manyascha pujyascha nityada). Spellman finds Political History and Administration 56 in such a concept the manifestation of ëcorporate represent him as a supramundane being. divinityí. The concept implies something Similarly, Vëima Kadphises appears in some of beyond the literal sense that a king was made his coins as soaring over the cloud, thereby of elements taken from different gods. The king stressing on his superhuman attributes. Among resembles Indra because of his Indra-like many deities figuring on the reverse of the prowess and leadership qualities; like Kubera, Kushana coins, those of Nike (goddess of the god of wealth, he showers wealth; like Agni, victory), Nana (goddess on lion), Shaoreoro (the he purifies all evil by burning it; like Yama, he desirable kingdom), Ardoxo (goddess of fortune) represents death to his enemies, punishes the and suchlike were regularly depicted. As wicked and rewards the virtuous. In view of the circulating coins carried the images of the implied resemblance between the specific Kushana king on the obverse, the special function of a deity and that of the ruler, Spellman position of the ruler vis-à-vis the deities was discerns in such a concept as this element of stressed; the coins must have served the purpose ëfunctional divinityí.111 of the propagation of the cult of the emperor. The most eloquent testimony to the practice The Kushana rulers pushed the claim of their of this concept in a monarchical set-up is offered divinity even further by constructing dynastic by the Kushana polity. The Kushanas regularly sanctuaries (Bogalagno or Bogopouro in presented themselves in their inscriptions and Bactrian and devakula in Prakrit inscriptions). coins as son of god (devaputra) which was their Devakulas were constructed at Mat near Mathura dynastic epithet. The title seems to have been (wherefrom comes the famous seated figure of derived from the Chinese practice of considering Víima), Surkhkotal (in Afghanistan), Khalchayan, the ruler as the son of heaven (Tien tzu). One and Airtam (Uzbekistan). Our knowledge about of the early Kushana monarchs bore the epithet the fifth Kushana devakula stems from the Dom-arta (the upholder of the cosmic order) in Rabatak inscription, recording the construction the Dasht-i-Nabur Bactrian inscription. Vasishka of a bogolagno/bogopouro under Kanishka Iís had the title devamanusha, or a god in human order. appearance (Kamra inscription). This has a striking correspondence to the famous dictum The King Kanishka gave orders to Shafar, the of Manu that even an infant ruler should not be karalrang... to make this sanctuary. .... And he likewise gave orders to make images for these kings: disobeyed as he was verily a great god in human for King Kujula Kadphises (his) great grandfather, form (mahatidevatahyesha nararupena and for King Víma Taktoo (his) grandfather, and for tishthati). The claim for royal divinity and divine Víima Kadphises (his) father and also for himself.112 descent assumes a special position in the Kushana polity. The Kushana rulers did not take The reigning Kushana monarch thus ordered recourse to the performance of various Vedic the installation of the images of his ancestors sacrifice to establish the claim for their divine (Kujula Víima Taktoo and Víima Kadphises) and descent and divine authority. On the other hand, also of himself, obviously for propitiation. The the Kushana rulers were often portrayed on the Kushana monarch was, therefore, deified in his obverse of their coins with a halo behind their lifetime along with his deceased ancestors. The head. The nimbate figure of the ruler was Kushana monarch thus deliberately established certainly designed on the coin to visually a cult of the emperor. In the said bagolgno were The Kushanas 57 also installed the images, by royal order, of the region around modern Peshawar appears to lady Nana and the lady Umma, Aurmuzd, the have been entrusted to two functionaries, Gracious one, Sroshard, Narasa and Mihr.113 according to the Shertala inscription of the year In the epigraphic account of the 39 (therefore belonging to the reign of establishment of this dynastic sanctuary, one Huvishka): they were dandanayaka Bhaharaka finds the instance of the clear deification of the and kshatrapa Pahaka. A similar situation seems reigning Kushana king and his ancestors over to have been prevalent in Mathura too, where three generations. Their names being mentioned was present in the year 74 (that is during the along with a number of divinities, who are time of Vasudeva I) a mahadandanayaka, invoked for strengthening the royal power, Valana by name. His name suggests that he was 115 further underline that the Kushana ruler an Iranaian. projected himself as a revered supramundane When Rudradaman I was ruling as an being. Significantly enough, the Kushana ruler independent mahakshatrapa, the administration accommodated the images of Goddess Nana, a of the Kathiawad region was placed in charge West Asiatic semitic deity with those of Iranian of an amatya, Pahlava Suvisakha. Rudradaman gods like Aurmuzd (Ahumazda), Mihr (Sun-god) I, according to the Junagarh prasasti, had two and Brahmanical divinities like Umma (Uma) types of high-ranking functionaries: and Skanda/Visakha/Kumara (Karttikeya). karmasachiva and matisachiva. The first The administrator of a large region in the appears to have been an important executive Kushana realm was known as kshatrapa, a officer, while the second literally means an system in vogue since the days of the officer offering intellect (mati). The matisachiva Acheaminid rule in north-western India. probably gave counsel to the ruler or the Kanishkaís two administrators at Varanasi, provincial authority and therefore could have possibly an administrative centre, were functioned as a minister.116 In and around Bactria kshatrapas Vanasphara and Kharapallana; were employed an officer with the designation another kshatrapa under Kanishka was Vespasi, karalrang who was probably in charge forts in 114 mentioned in the Manikiala inscription. In the the outlying areas (Iranian kar/kara= lord, same vein, Chashtana and Rudradaman I master; lrang= dranga = a fort in the border). At probably served the Kushanas as provincial the time of the construction of the dynastic governors (kshatrapa).Significantly, both sanctuary at Rabatak, the karalrang or the Vanasphara and Kharapallana were primarily warden of marches was one Safar. Another such military officers (dandanayaka); it also implies warden of the marches was Nukunzoko figuring that there was little differentiation between military and civil administration since a military in the famous Bactrian inscription at Surkhkotal officer was entrusted with the administration of of the time of Huvishka, year 31. He had already a large locality. Another dandanayaka serving figured in the Rabatak inscription, though not a Kanishka I was Lala (Manikiala inscription, year as a karalrang therein. The joint testimony of 18) who also acted as the treasurer (horamurta) these two Bactrian inscriptions clearly bears it of kshatrapa Vespasi. This is another instance out that Nukunzuku served his political masters of the same person holding simultaneous offices for over three decades, holding at least two in civil and military administrations alike. The administrative positions. Political History and Administration 58

Very little is known about the Kushana down that the ruler was entitled to taxes in the military organization which must have been of form of a share of the produce (largely foundational significance for the expansion and agricultural) since he ensured protection of his consolidation of the empire. Going by the early subjects and maintained the ideal social order Indian normative texts, which included the army based on the varnasramadharma. Implicit in this (nala/danda) as one of the seven elements/ theory is a kind of contract or agreement limbs (prakriti/anga) of the state, the armed between the ruler and his subjects as the basis forces should consist of the infantry, cavalry, of the kingís entitlement to taxes: the ruler was chariot and elephant divisions. Kushana entitled to taxes from subjects in lieu of sculptures, especially those from Khalchayan, rendering protection and maintenance (rakshana highlight and celebrate the martial elements in and palana) which were considered as sacred the Kushana polity. One important aspect of the and foremost duties of a ruler. Rudradaman I was Kushana army must have been the cavalry. This lauded for raising in a just manner assumes a particular significance in view of the (yathavapraptaih) levies like bali, sulka and well-known tradition of the Yuezhi expertise in bhaga all of which were well-known revenue horse-riding and horse supplying in the context terms. Bhaga stood for a share in agricultural of the Central Asian steppe region. Habib points produce (usually one-sixth), while bali was an out that the use of the horse-bits probably obligatory impost on land. Sulka denotes tolls rendered advantages to the Greek and Saka and customs which was doubtless raised from invaders, even prior to the advent of the commercial transactions. The Saka-Kushana- Kushanas. No Kushana sculpture demonstrates Satavahana phase in Indian history is noted for the availability and use of the technology of its widespread trade contacts and therefore, it is manufacturing horse-shoes or stirrups. However, no accident that tolls and customs would figure Habib suggests, on the basis of a Mathura among the heads of revenue. One of such taxes sculptures depicting a horse-rider whose toe is was that levied on salt-production which in early shown tucked in a rope-loop that hang from the Indian theoretical treatises was always saddle-cloth. A similar rope-loop is also visible considered as a mining operation and on which in the scene of another horse-rider figuring in a the political authority demanded a levy. contemporary bronze vase, found from Kulu (in Significantly enough, Pliny noted that salt was the Kangra region of Himachal Pradesh). regularly extracted from Mount Oromenus (the Moreover, a horse-rider appears on a seal with Salt Range in Pakistan) and the ruler could raise the tamghan of Kanishka and his toe similarly larger resources from the cess of salt than that rests on a rope-loop. These rope-loops could from even the mines of diamond.118 There were well have been precursors to more developed possibly a few more taxes which were viewed stirrups of later times. The rope-loops as horse- by Rudradaman I as painful who therefore riding devices appear to have enhanced the desisted from collecting such taxes from his 117 efficacy of the Kushana cavalry forces. subjects residing in cities and rural areas A salient feature of administrative system (apidayitva paurajanapadajanam): these were was the mobilization of resources through vishti and pranaya.119 Both the revenue terms revenue measures. The Santiparva of the have been known since the days of the Mahabharata and the Manusamhita often lay Arthasastra; the first denoted forced labour and The Kushanas 59 the second an emergency taxation noted for its along the southern Silk Road), the north-western harshness. In fact, the first epigraphic reference borderlands of the subcontinent, the Punjab of to these two revenue terms figures in the both Pakistan and India and considerable parts Junagarh prasasti. of the north Indian plainsódefinitely up to While monarchical polity was indeed Mathura and at least once, far beyond Mathura surging ahead during the period under review, as far as eastern Bihar in India. The Kushana certain areas in west-central part of Indiaóthe realm was indeed an empire, far larger than an areas of the Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and ordinary kingdom. The label ëempireí also befits Madhya Pradeshówitnessed the presence of a the Kushana polity as it included in it not merely few non-monarchical clans who are mostly a vast territory, but accommodated immense known from their coins and seals. When the diversities of ethnic and linguistic groups, Malavas and the Yaudheyas proclaimed victories religious beliefs and cultural practices. If the as ganas in their seals (Malavanam jayah; dominant political system was monarchical, there Yaudhyeyaganasya jayah), they certainly was the occasional presence of non-monarchical underlined the non-monarchical character of polities in the Punjab plains, Haryana and parts their polity.120 The Dharmasastras do not display of Rajasthan. The management of these a favourable attitude to the gana-samghas which complexities within the framework of a polity were considered as an irritant to the monarchical of considerable longevity cannot but point to the state. prevalence of a superordinate political system which is typical of an empire. AN OVERVIEW A salient feature of this system is about the The broad and hurried overview of the Kushana political integration of the Kushana empire. The times hopes to underline the significance of the integration of Bactria, the central stronghold of Kushana realm in the political history of the the empire, with core areas like the Taxila- subcontinent and its northwestern borderlands. Peshawar zone in the north-western borderland The above study of the politics and polity of the and the Ganga-Yamuna doab area around Kushana times attempts to highlight the Mathura, was done not by politico-administrative complexities of political history beyond dynastic centralization with a view to ensuring a unitary shifts, genealogy and chronology of a particular polity. The system instead was to accommodate, ruling family. Two processes have loomed large within an apparently loose political structure, in our study. The first relates to the transformation diverse regional features. Significantly enough, of the Yuezhi or the Da Yuezhi community from the maximum number of Kushana Bactrian a Central Asian horse-riding nomadic people to inscriptions (Greek script and a Middle Iranian a sedentary polity. It was Bactria and the language) come from Afghanistan, while the southern parts of Uzbekistan that witnessed this northwest witnessed the use of Prakrit language crucial transformation. The second process is and Kharosthi script. Kushana inscriptions from that of the spectacular territorial expansion of Mathura, Sahet-Mahet, Kosam and Sanchi were the Kushana realm into a massive empire written in and Prakrit language. covering Afghanistan, parts of Uzbekistan, parts In the westernmost part of India Sanskrit of Chinese Central Asia (especially the area appeared for the first time as a language of the Political History and Administration 60 court, for writing a political eulogy in the shape polity; both the areas became parts of the of the celebrated eulogy (prasasti) of Mauryan empire.121 The demise of the Maurya Rudradaman I (AD 150). Over and above, this empire did not create any political crisis in these multilinguality and the plurality of scripts, the two areas which once again emerged as Kushana coins, with their widespread important political zones drawing upon the circulation, had their legends invariably political features of the erstwhile empire. The inscribed in Bactrian from the time of Kanishka process of secondary state formation often goes I onwards. The coins also portrayed the Kushana in tandem with the process of secondary ruler in his full regalian glory, often as a nimbate urbanization. While primary urban centres had figure, on the obverse; on the reverse of the first emerged mostly in the middle Ganga plains, coin appeared a wide variety of divinities from which acted as the epicentre for emitting urban the Hellenistic, Indic, Iranian and Central Asian impulses elsewhere in the subcontinent, the pantheons. As these coins with royal portraiture blossoming of both Purushapura and Mathura travelled far and wide, these began to serve as replicated many features of primary urban tools of political propagandaóin addition to their formation. Trade, particularly long-distance primary function as the metallic medium of trade, is suggested to have played a crucial role exchangeófor showing the might and right of in the making of the secondary state society and 122 the Kushana emperor. The construction of the also the secondary urbanization. This once bogolagno/bogopouro/devakula (dynastic again has a bearing on the Kushana politics sanctuaries/god-houses) immensely contributed which derived immense mileage out of the then to the making of the cult of the emperor, so far far-flung commerce. The Kushana realm thus unprecedented in South Asian political first experienced in Bactria a major experience. The Kushana emperors were also transformation to sedentarized politics from their able to design a distinct political iconography by original nomadic pursuits; the second transition dint of their visual depictions in the form of royal arrived as and when the Kushana polity became statues and figures of kings on coins as well. The involved in the process of secondary state cult of the emperor acted as the ideological formation in the South Asian context. The sedentarization of the Kushana polity and the bonding and an element of integration amidst a formation of the empire were not entirely rooted variety of cultural practices. Retention of these to agrarian experiences and resourcesóas many cultural practices did not stand in the way of ancient states did soóbut was considerably political integration, but contributed to it instead. oriented to the gains out of controlling vital trade In South Asia, the Kushana power took roots routes in the vast territory. The Kushanas in two core areas of the Punjab including certainly founded and maintained an empire of Gandhara and the region of Mathura in the considerable duration. However, the Kushana western portion of the Ganga Valley. Both these polity and politics was neither modeled on the areas in the post-Mauryan times underwent the Mauryan system, nor was it emulated by the process of what political anthropologists would Gupta rulers (c. AD 320ñ550), both being prime mark as ësecondary state formationí. Both these exemplars of early Indian empires. The zones in the pre-Mauryan times had already foundational flaw in, and the inadequacy of, the experienced the mahajanapada-like territorial perception of periodic alterity between the forces The Kushanas 61 of extroversion and those of introversion, as primarily attempts the recovery of another argued by Falk, are quite apparent. This essay empire, ëbetween the empiresí, to on the Kushana political history, therefore, historiographical visibility.

NOTES AND REFERENCES 1. Broad overviews of this period, including the 6. K.A. Nilakantha Sastri (ed.). A Comprehensive political, socio-economic and cultural scenario, are , II. Calcutta: Orient Longman, available in Romila Thapar. 2002. Early India from 1957. the Origins to c. AD 1300. London: Allen Lane; 7. Thapar. Early India. The presence of passes, like Upinder Singh. 2008. A History of Ancient and the celebrated Khyber and the Bolan, in the Early . New Delhi: Pearson; Ranabir northwestern borderland, provided considerable Chakravarti. 2012 . Exploring Early India up to c. scope of communications and interactions among AD 1300. New Delhi: MacMillan, (second ed.); J. diverse peoples in the subcontinent and beyond. Harmatta (ed.), History of Humanity, Vol. III, Paris: UNESCO, 1996 situates the history of the 8. Harry Falk, ëTidal Waves in the Political History of subcontinent in the context of Eurasian Ancient Indiaí, in Oliville (ed.), Between the developments. Empires. Falk considered the Maurya realm as an instance of his political extroversion as the Mauryas 2. Patrick Olivelle (ed.). 2006. Between the Empires. were heavily Westernized and influenced by New York: Oxford University Press. Hellenistic traits. Barring Asokaís use of Greek in 3. This sustained search for empires is marked in H.C. some of his edicts in Afghanistan and Taxila and Raychaudhuri. 1996. Political History of Ancient his sending envoys to the courts of five Yavana India with a Commentary by B.N. Mukherjee. New rulers, it is difficult to find the role of Hellenistic Delhi: Oxford University Press, (8th edition); also elements in the Mauryan empire. The Mauryas R.C. Majumdar (ed.). 1966. The Age of Imperial seem to have been inspired by the model of the Unity. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Achaeminid empire, the most formidable power 4. See for instance Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya. 1958. in West Asia immediately preceding the Mauryas. Early History of India. Calcutta: Progressive Falk rarely recognizes that the emergence of the Publishers. pan-Indian Mauryan power was the culmination 5. The basic assumption is that the presence of a of a political process which had begun with the paramount power ensures political unification emergence of competing territorial polities which is propped up by a centralized () in north India in c. 6th century administration. A centralized polity brought about BC. The emergence of the state from the lineage peace and order which are seen as prerequisites society sets in motion the political process that for a stable society and efflorescence in economic eventually transformed Magadha under the and cultural life. For a critique of the notion of a Mauryas as a super-ordinate power on a shift from a centralized order to the crisis of a subcontinental scale. See Romila Thapar, From decentralized polity (and therefore, the fall of the Lineage to State, Bombay: Oxford University golden age to the dark period) see B.D. Press, 1984; also idem, ëThe First Millennium BC in Chattopadhyaya, ëPolitical Processes and Structures North Indiaí, in Romila Thapar (ed.), Recent of Polity in Early Medieval India: Problems of Perspectives of Early Indian History, Bombay: Perspectivesí, in Hermann Kulke, The State in Popular Prakashan, 1995. The formation of the India 1000-1700. New Delhi: Oxford University Mauyra empire need not be explained in terms of Press. 1994. external stimuli, as Falk erroneously argued. Political History and Administration 62

9. Vincent Smith, Early History of India, Oxford: 16. Geographikon of Strabo (c. late first century BC), Clarendon Press, 1913, for instance, marked trn., H.L. Jones, Cambridge (Mass.): Loeb Classical Alexanderís invasion of India in the late fourth Series, 1942. The Trogus source has been used to century BC as the ësheet-anchor of Indian study the history of the Greek kingdom in Bactria. chronologyí. See W.W. Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India, 10. See D.C. Sircarís chapter on Kushanas in Majumdar Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951 (ed.), The Age of Imperial Unity; Bela Lahiri, Non- (second ed.).In Trogus account the Tocharoi has a Indian Powers in Northern India 200 BC-AD 250, marginal presence as they were instrumental, Calcutta, Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay, 1964. among other nomadic groups, for the collapse of the Bactrian Greek kingdom. 11. B.N. Mukherjee, Rise and Fall of the Kushana Empire, Calcutta: Firma KLM, 1989; also the 17. This text leaves disapproving comments on the relevant section of B.N. Mukherjeeís Commentary riches of the Tocharians of Kushanas, and also on Raychaudhuri, Political History of Ancient chastises the promiscuous tendencies among the India (vide footnote 4). Tocharians. 12. Most Indian scholars favour the identification of 18. G.A. Pugochenkova, Khalchayan, Tashkent, 1966. the Saka era of AD 78 with the Kanishka era. J.M. 19. Mortimer Wheeler, Rome beyond the Imperial Rosenfield, Dynastic Art of the Kushans, Berkeley: Frontiers, London, 1958 for the importance of the University of California Press, 1967, proposed the Begram excavations and its archaeological date of AD 144 for the beginning of Kanishka era. treasures. In recent times Harry Falk places the beginning of 20. John Marshall, Taxila, 1951. the Kushana era in AD 127. Relevant discussions are made in a separate section of this essay. For 21. For an archaeological overview of Mathura, see A. the earlier positions on assigning the initial year of Ghosh, An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, the Kanishka era, see A.L. Basham (ed.), Papers I, New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1989; also on the Date of Kanishka. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1968. Dilip K. Chakrabarti, The Oxford Companion of 13. Xinru Liu has in recent times offered an illuminating Indian Archaeology. New Delhi: Oxford University narrative of this major political transformation. Xinri Press, 2006. Liu, ëMigration and Settlement of the Yuezhi- 22. Sten Konow. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Kushana: Interaction and Interdependence of II, 1929; a list of major Kushana inscriptions is Nomadic and Sedentary Societiesí, Journal of available in D.C. Sircar, Select Inscriptions Bearing World History, XII, 2, 2001: 261-92. We have on Indian Hisotry and Civilization., I, Calcutta: heavily drawn on her work for writing the section University of Calcutta, 1965. K.L. Janert (ed.), III of this essay. Mathura Inscriptions by H. Luders, Gottingen, 14. B. Watson (trn.). Sima Qian, Records of the Grand 1961 has a number of Kushana inscriptions from Historians of China, New York: Columbia Mathura. Also important is G. Fussman, University Press, 1961; some of the relevant sources ëDocuments epigraphiques kouchansí, Bulletin de in English translations are conveniently accessible líEcole Francaise díExtreme-Oriente. in Xinru Liu, The Silk Roads, A Brief History with 23. R. Goble. System und Chronologies der Documents. Boston, New York: Bedford St. Martin, Munzpragung des Kusanreiches. Vienna: 2012. sterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 15. For the Tusharas or Tukharas in the Puranic 1984; also B.N. Mukherjee, Kushana Coins in the accounts, see F.E. Pargiter, Dynasties of the Kali Land of Five Rivers. Calcutta: Indian Museum, Age. 1978. The Kushanas 63

24. Liu, ëMigration and Settlement of the Yuezhi- 37. Bivar, ëKushan Dynastic Historyí. Kushaní (see footnote 13). This section has 38. Shi-ji, ch. 123.2a, cited in Mukherjee, Rise and Fall considerably drawn upon Liuís work. of the Kushana Empire. 25. Edwin G. Pulleyblank, ëWhy Tochariansí, Journal 39. The term Shen-du is obviously derived from the of Indo-European Studiesí, XXIII, 1995: 415-30; word Sindhu. It denoted the lower Indus Valley. idem, ëChinese and Indo-Europeansí, Journal f the Later the term Tien zhu, derived from Shen-du, Royal Asiatic Society, 1966: 9-39; A.D.H. Bivar, stood for the entire subcontinent. See, B.N. ëKushan Dynasty: Dynastic Historyí, in Mukherjee, Foreign Names of Indian Encyclopaedia Iranica (accessed online Subcontinent. Mysore: Mythic Society, 1982. www.iranicaonline.og/articles/kushan-dynasty-i- 40. Liu, ëMigration and Settlement of the Yuezhi- history on 14/02/2013). Kushaní. 26. Liu, ëMigration and Settlement of the Yuezhi- 41. Hou Han shu ch 118, cited in Watson, Grand Kushaní. Historians of China II; E. Zurcher, ëThe Yueh- 27. J.P.Mallory and Victor H. Mair, The Tarim Mummies: chih and Kanishka in the Chinese Literatureí, in Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Basham (ed.), Papers on the Date of Peoples, London and New York: Thames and Kanishka:367-68. Also B.N. Mukherjee, An Hudson, 2000; Bivar, ëKushan Dynastic Historyí. Agrippan Source, Studies in Indo-Parthian Liu, ëMigration and Settlement of the Yuezhi- History, Calcutta: Pilgrim, 1969: 155. The scene Kushaní, however, warns against the tendency to depicting a seated Kushana chief, flanked by combine physical types with linguistic and cultural standing chiefs, can be interpreted as visuals traits. She shows that archaeology did not reveal portraying the Kueishuang subordination of four other yabgus. any specific features of the Kushana/Tuharan culture. The difference is more linguistic than in 42. Zurcher, ëThe Yueh-chih and Kanishka in the physical and material traits. Some cultural Chinese Literatureí: 367-68. Zang Qian observed similarities among the Yuezhi, Scythians, Xiongnu that many merchants of Anxi traveled long and Wusun are noticeable. See footnote 17 of Liuís distance, both by land and by boat, to distant article. destinations. 28. Bivar, ëKushan Dynastic Historyí. 43. Zurcher, ëThe Yueh-chih and Kanishka in the Chinese Literatureí: 368. 29. Chien Han-shu, chapter 96A; Also see Liu, The Silk Roads: 44-47. 44. Sten Konow. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, II. Calcutta: Govt. of India, Central Publication 30. G.A. Pugochenkova. Khalchayan. Branch, 1929: 62; also, D.C. Sircar, Select 31. Bivar, ëKushan Dynastic Historyí. Inscriptions Bearing on Indian History and 32. Lolita Nehru, ëKhalchayaní, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Civilization, I, Calcutta: University of Calcutta: 125- 2006 (accessed online www.iranicaonline.org/ 26. articles/khalchayan,on 25/02/2013). 45. Sircar. Select Inscriptions, I: 128. 33. Strabo. Geographikon, XII.8.2; H.L. Jones (trn.). 46. Bivar, ëKushan Dynastic Historyí. J. Cribb, ëThe ëHerausí Coins: Their Attribution to the Kushan 34. Paul Bernard. Fouilles dí Ai Khanoum. King Kujula Kadphisesí in Martin Price, Andrew 35. Liu, ëMigration and Settlement of the Yuezhi- Burnett and Roger Blands (eds.), Essays in Honour Kushaní. of Robert Carson and Kenneth Jenkins. London 36. Liu. The Silk Roads:44-47; also Bivar, ëKushan 1993: 107-34, has attempted to identify Heraues Dynastic Historyí. with Kujula. Bivar finds this suggestionërather Political History and Administration 64

paradoxicalí. Osmund Boppearachhi íNasten, a 58. Sims-Williams. Bactrian Historical Inscriptions. Hitherto Unknown Iranian Ruler in Indiaí, in Joe Sims-Williams, however, proposes to identify the Cribb, Helen Wang and Katsumi Tanabe (eds.), ruler in the Dasht-i-Nawur record with Víima Studies in Silk Road Coins and Culture: Papers Taktoo. Also see A.D.H. Bivar, ëThe Kushana in Honour of Professor Ikuo Hiriyama, Silk Trilingualí, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and Road Art and Archaeology, 6, 1997: 67-73, suggests African Studies, 39, 1976: 330-40. Mukherjee, Rise on numismatic grounds the presence of Nasten, and Fall of the Kushana Empire, seeks to identify son Xstran, an Iranian chieftain around the end of him with Víima Kadphises and places the record the first century BC in Badakhshan or Paktiya. He in terms of the Parthian era of 247 BC, i.e. dated to could have been ousted by Kujula. AD 32. 47. V. Sarianidhi. The Golden Hoard of Bactria: From 59. For a discussion on this image see J.M. Rosenfield, the Tillya-tepe Excavations in Northern Dynastic Art of the Kushans. Berkeley: University Afghanistan, New York: H.N. Abrams, 1985. of Berkeley, 1967. 48. Liu, ëMigration and Settlement of the Yuezhi- 60. Mukherjee. Rise and Fall of the Kushana Empire. Kushaní. 61. Hou Han-shu, cited in Watson, Grand Historians 49. Harold W. Bailey. A Kharosthi Inscription of of China. Senavarma, King of Odi. JRAS, 1980: 21-29; also 62. Lionel Casson (trn.). Periplus Maris Erythraei. Richard Saloman, ëThe Inscription of Senavarma, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989, King of Odií, Indo-Iranian Journal, XXIX, 1986: sections 38-39. Also see Ranabir Chakravarti (ed.), 261-93. Trade in Early India, New Delhi: Oxford University 50. Nicholas Sims-Williams and Joe Cribb. A New Press, 2005 (paperback ed.):64-67. Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great. Silk 63. B.N. Mukherjee. The Economic Factors in Road Art and Archaeology, 4, 1995-96: 77-97. Kushana History. Kolkata: Progressive Publishers, 51. B.N. Mukherjee. The Great Kushan Testament. 2004 (second edn.); also Ranabir Chakravarti, Indian Museum Bulletin, XXXII, 1998. Warfare for Wealth: Early Indian Perspective, Calcutta: Firma KLM, 1986: 92-93. 52. G. Fussman ëLíinscription de Rabatak et líorigine de líere sakaí. Journal Asiatique, 288, 1998: 571- 64. Gobl: System und Chronologie der Munzpragung. 651 The growing power of the Kushan ruler, along with his deriving economic benefits, is evident in the 53. D.W. MacDowall. The Rabatak Inscription and the epithets of Víima in his coins. He is hailed as the Nameless Kushan King. In Warwick Ball and overlord of all beings (sarvalogisvara), lord of the Leonard Harrow (eds.), Cairo to Kabul: Afghan earth (mahisvara), kings of kings (rajatiraja). See and Islamic Studies Presented to Ralph Pinder- Sircar, Select Inscriptions, I: 129, also available Wilson. London, 2002: 163-69. there is the Greek legend on Víimaís coin. 54. Mukherjee. The Great Kushan Testament. 65. Sims-Williams and Cribb. A Newly Discovered 55. Nicholas Sims-Williams. Bactrian Historical Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great; Sims- Inscriptions of the Kushan Period. The Silk Road, Williams, Bactrian Historical Inscriptions, shows X, 2012: 76-80. that the Rabatak inscription recorded events of the 56. For these three inscriptions see Sircar, Select regnal year 5 and 6 of Kanishka. Inscriptions: 130-34. 66. Bivar. Kushan Dynastic History; Mukherjee, Rise 57. J. Cribb. A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka and Fall of the Kushana Empire. the Great, pt. 2. Silk Road Art and Archaeology, 67. On Saka era see D.C. Sircar, Indian Epigraphy, New 4, 1996: 98-142. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1965; Richard The Kushanas 65

Saloman, Indian Epigraphy. New Delhi: Oxford from whom they procured the official seal of the University Press, 1998. Guptas (with the emblem of Garuda: 68. For the coins of Kanishka III and Vasudeva II, see garutmadankasvavishyabhuktisasanayach Gobl, System und Chronologie der Munzpragung; anadyupaya) to rule their own areas. These Mukherjee, Kushana Coins in the Land of Five expressions imply that the Kushana prince along Rivers. with other rulers accepted Samudraguptaís suzerainty, though their areas were not 69. Richard N. Frye. The History of Ancient Iran. incorporated in the Gupta realm. Munchen: Beck, 1984: 371; the relevant extract is also available in Nihar Ranjan Ray, B.D. 81. Naga rulers like Nagasena, Ganapatinaga and Chattopadhyaya, V.R. Mani and Ranabir Achyuta figure in the Allahabad Pillar Inscription as Chakravarti, A Sourcebook of Indian Civilization, having been defeated by Samudragupta. Hyderabad: Orient Longman: 554. Kuvernaga, queen of Chandragupta II (c. 375ñ 414) was surely born in the Naga royal family. In a 70. B.N. Mukherjee. Indian Museum Bulletin, XXII, glaring mistake and misunderstanding of the basic 1987: 28-29. This record is actually an image chronology of the Gupta rule, Hans Loeschner, inscription from a San Fransisco museum. ëNotes on the Yuezhi-Kusha Relationship and 71. See Mukherjeeís Commentary to Political History Kushan Chronologyí (paper presented 2008-04- of Ancient India (by Raychaudhuri). 15; internet source accessed 25 February, 2012) 72. Rosenfield. Dynastic Art of the Kushans. places Samudragupta at AD 320 (page 27). He obviously is completely ignorant about 73. R. Ghirshman. Iran, Penguin: Harmondsworth, Samudraguptaís father and immediate 1954. predecessor, Chandragupta I who actually came 74. Harry Falk. The Yuga of Sphujidhvaja and the Era to power in AD 320 and established on that occasion of the Kushanas. Silk Road Art and Archaeology, the Gupta era of AD 320. This is a case in point of VII, 2001: 121-36. many of the Western scholarsí inability to integrate 75. J.E. Lohuizen van de Leeuw. The Scythian Art, for the political history of South Asia with that of Bactria, the theory of the omitted hundred in dating the both of which were of crucial significance for the Kushana epigraphic records. Kushana power. 76. Bivar. Kushan Dynastic History. 82. See Sims-Willaims and Cribb. ëA Newly Discovered 77. Bivar. Kushan Dynastic History. Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Greatí; Mukhejee, ëThe Great Kushana Testamentí. 78. For Kamra inscription see B.N. Mukherjee. Kamra Relevant extracts with some discussions are Inscription of Vajheshka (Vasishka)í,Indian available in Ray, Chattopadhyaya, Mani and Museum Bulletin, VII, 1973: 111-17. Chakravarti, A Sourcebook of Indian Civilization: 79. Mukherjee. Indian Museum Bulletin, XXII: 28-29. 599-600. 80. A recent overview of the Gupta dynastic/political 83. The identifications of Sagido and Srotchompo were history is available in Ranabir Chakravarti, Exploring first suggested by Ranabir Chakravarti which is Early India, chapter VI. Sircar, Select Inscriptions, acknowledged by Sims-Williams, ëA Newly I: 262-68 for the text of the Allahabad Pillar Discovered Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Inscription. This Kushana prince along with a Saka Greatí:83. chief (Sakamurunda) and all islanders including the 84. Sircar. Select Inscriptions I: 144-45. island of Sri Lanka are said to have offered submission (atmanivedana) and sought marriage 85. Select Inscriptions I: 135-36. alliances (kanyopayanadana)with the Gupta ruler 86. Sircar. Select Inscriptions I: 136-38. Political History and Administration 66

87. B.N. Mukherjee. The Shaji-ki-Dheri Casket Kanishkaí. Sims-Wiiliams, ëBactrain Historical Inscription. British Museum Quarterly, XXVIII, Inscriptionsí: 78. 1964: 39-46. 95. Rosenfield, Dynastic Art of the Kushans for the 88. Marshall, Taxila, An Illustrated Account of the Kanishka images from Surkhkotal. The portrayals Archaeological Excavations Carried out at Taxila of royal figures in the Kushana numismatic art are under the Orders of the Government of India discussed (with relevant illustrations) by B.N. between the Years 1913 and 1934. Cambridge: Mukherjee, Numismatic Art of India, II. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 1951. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 2007: 89. Sircar. Select Inscriptions, I: 140-41Kanishka I in 115-19. Suchandra Ghosh, ëRevisiting Kushan this inscription has the epithet marjhaka which Dynastic Sanctuariesí, Proceedings of Indian comes close to the word gahapati in Pali texts. History Congress, 72 seseeion (Patiala, 2011), The gahapati of the Pali text was no ordinary 2012: 213-19, has argued that Kanishka was householder (grihapati in Sanskrit), but an deliberately depicted in the Surkhkotal sculpture enormously rich person with a pre-eminent status. with a salwar like garment with a view to The epithet seems to indicate the fabulous riches emphasizing the Kushana rulerís adaptation to the Kanishka probably amassed. For gahapati see N. common male attires in Afghanistan. The Kushana Wagle, Society at the Time of Buddha, Bombay: coins, meant for circulation over a wide territory, Popular Prakashan, 1966; Uma Chakravarti, presented the Kushana royal figures in the typical Everyday Lives, Everyday Histories: Beyond the Central Asian attires of coat, boot, belt and shoes. Kings and Brahamnas of ëAncientí India, New 96. Mukherjee. Rise and Fall of the . Delhi: Tulika, 2006. 97. Mukherjee. The Economic Factors in Kushan 90. Sircar. Select Inscriptions I: 142-43. History. 91. Sircar. Select Inscriptions I: 139-40. 98. Sircar. Select Inscriptions, I: 173-75. 92. It goes to the credit of W.B. Henning for designating 99. This claim of Rudradaman I figures in his famous this middle Iranian language as Bactrian. I also Junagarh Rock Inscription. See Sircar, I: 175-80. As demonstrates how Bactria experienced the Rudradaman I figures as a kshatrapa, along with absorption of both Iranian and Hellenistic cultural his grandfather Chashtana in the Andhau inscription elements. The relevant passage in English of AD 130, it seems likely that the grandfather and translation reads: ìAnd he issued a Greek edict and the grandson were jointly serving a Kushana then he put it into Aryanî. Sims-Williams and Cribb, overlord. Rudradamanís assumption of the title ëA Newly Discovered Bactrian Inscriptioní: 78. The Mahakshatrapa, evidently a higher one than mere term Aryan denotes Bactrian here. kshatrapa, thus suggests that he and his 93. The English expression ëgod houseí as an grandfather served the Kushana overlord from AD equivalent to the word devakula figures in Irfan 130 to 150. In AD 150 Rudradaman probably Habib, Post-Mauryan India 200 BC-AD300, New became independent of the Kushana supremacy. Delhi: Tulika, 2012. 100. Eastern and Western Malwa figure respectively as 94. Sims-Williams. Bactrian Historical Inscriptions. This Akara and Avanti (purvapara Akaravanti) not only record from Surkhkotal was actually inscribed in the Junagarh inscription of Rudradaman I, but during the reign of Huvishka, but it recorded also in the Nasik Prasasti of certain important event of the reign of Kanishka. of the Satavahana family (of the Deccan; see Sircar, The relevant section in Englsih translation tells us: Select Inscriptions, I: 203-07 for the Nasik prasasti. ëThis citadel (is) the temple of Kanishka, the The name Akara literally means a mine. Eastern Victorius, which was named(?) by the Lord, King Malwa was designated as Akara, probably for the The Kushanas 67

mineral wealth available there in the form of Kushana Testamentí: 17 reads the names of deities diamond mines close to the Panna diamond fields Komaro, Maaseno and Bizago, corresponding to in the present Madhya Pradesh. The Kushana Kumara, Mahasena and Visakhaóall being interests in conquering the area around Sanchi in different names of the god, Karttikeya. Irfan Habib, eastern Malwa could have been prompted by the Post-Mauryan India suggests that the present motive of capturing the diamond mines there. See, name of the province Baglan in Afghanistan, Mukherjee, The Economic Factors in Kushana yielding the Rabatak inscription, carries the History. memory of the construction of the Kushana 101. Sircar. Select Inscriptions, I: 149-50 and 150-51 bagolagno/bagalango (dynastic sanctuary). respectively for Vasishkaís inscriptions from Isapur 114. Sircar. Select Inscriptions I: 136-37 and 142-43. and Sanchi. His Kamra inscription has been studied 115. For these dandanayakas/mahadandanayaka by B.N.Mukherjee, Indian Museum Bulletin, XXII, during Huvishkaís and Vasudeva Iís time, see 1973. Irfan Habib, Post-Mauryan India: 80. The 102. Konow. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, II: 170. mahadandanayaka was obviously higher in rank 103. This inscription belongs to the year 31 and speaks than a dandanayaka. of the reconstruction of a dynastic, sanctuary, 116. Sircar. Select Inscriptions I: 175-80. The record originally established during the reign of Kanishka. informs us that amatya Suvisakhaís plan to repair Sims-Williams, ëBactrian Historical Inscriptionsí: 78- the damaged Sudarsana lake was objected to by 79. The citadel of Kanishka suffered from the lack the executive officers (karmasachiva) and the of water and Huvishkaís officer Nukunzuk repaired counselor (matisachiva) on the grounds of the the temple and caused the construction of a well enormous expenditure to be incurred by the to ensure the regular supply of water to the shrine. administration. These objections of royal functionaries were overruled by the higher political 104. Gobl. authority. 105. Sircar. Select Inscriptions I: 161-63, for the 117. The importance of the rope-loop is discussed by Vasudevaís Mathura inscriptions. Habib, Post-Mauryan India: 81 and 83. For the 106. Sircar. Select Inscriptions, I: 154-55. figure of the horse-rider and his rope-loop in a 107. B.N. Mukherjee. Indian Museum Bulletin, 1987. bronze vase from Kulu, see Elizabeth Errington, Joe Cribb and Maggie Claringbull (eds.), The 108. R.N. Frye. History of Ancient Iran: 371. Crossroads of Asia. Cambridge:Ancient India and 109. See for example, K.P. Jaiswal, Hindu Polity. Iran Trust. 1992. Calcutta, 1915. 118. In a Buddhist relic casket inscription (in Kharosthi, 110. For the concept of ëautonomous spaceí see B.D. provenance unknown but possibly from the Chattopadhyaya, Studying Early India. New Delhi: northwestern frontier regions) dated in c. AD 19 Permanent Black, 2004. figures the name of the donor of the casket. He 111. Ghoshal. A History of Indian Political Ideas, was a salt dealer (lonagahapati, i.e lavana Oxford University Press, Bombay, 1966; Spellman, gahapati). See, B.N.Mukherjee, ëFarewell to Political Theories of Ancient India. Oxford: Bhogamayaí, South Asian Studies XIII, 1997: 141- Clarendon Press, 1964. 44. 112. Sims-Williams and Cribb. A Newly Discovered 119. Sircar. Select Inscriptions I: 179-80. Bactrian Inscription: 78. 120. Nine such non-monarchical clans figure in the 113. Sims-Williams and Cribb. A Newly Discovered Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudragupta. These Bactrian Inscription: 78. Mukherjee, ëThe Great are sometime designated as ëtribal statesí, a Political History and Administration 68

problematic term to describe them as these polities Chattopadhyaya, Studying Early India. The close issued seals and copper coins. For the history of correspondence between the spread of the state these groups, known mostly from their coins, see society and proliferation of urban settlements K.K. Dasgupta, A Tribal History of India: A figures prominently in F.R. Allchin, Bridget Allchin, Numismatic Approach. Calcutta: K.P.Bagchi, R. Conningham and D.K. Chakrabarti, The 1976. Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia, 121. For this process see Thapar, From Lineage to Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. On State; idem, Early India; idem, ëThe Empire as a the specific importance of trade in Kushana politics Stateí, H.J.M Claessen and Peter Skalnik (eds.), The see, B.D. Chattopadhyaya, ëDynastic Patterns of Study of the State. The Hague: Mouton, 1978. the Northern Subcontinent: Commercial and 122. Sudarsan Senaviratne, ëKalinga and Andhra: Case Cultural Links (c. 200 BCñAD 300), in History of Studies of Secondary State Formationí, in The Study Humanity, III, Paris: UNESCO, 1996: 368-77; also of the State. The intimate connection and John Thorley, ëThe Roman Empire and the correlation between secondary state formation and Kushansí, Greece and Rome, second series XXVI, secondary urbanization is discussed by B.D. 1979: 181-90. [RC]