View source for Kushan Empire

{{Short description|30–375 AD empire in Central and South Asia}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2023}}

{{Infobox former country
| native_name            = {{native name|xbc|Κοϸανο}}<br />{{native name|grc|Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν}}<br />{{native name|sa|कुषाण वंश}}
| conventional_long_name = Kushan Empire
| common_name            = Kushan Empire
| era                    = Classical Antiquity
| event_start            = [[Kujula Kadphises]] unites [[Yuezhi]] tribes into a confederation
| year_start             = 30
| event_end              = Subjugated by the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanians]], [[Gupta Empire|Guptas]], and [[Hepthalites]]<ref name="lcwb2">{{cite web |title=Afghanistan: Central Asian and Sassanian Rule, ca. 150 B.C.-700 A.D. |publisher=[[Library of Congress Country Studies]] |year=1997 |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+af0005) |access-date=16 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130215230002/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+af0005) |archive-date=15 February 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| year_end               = 375
| p1                     = Indo-Greek Kingdom
| flag_p1                = Map_of_the_Indo-Greeks.png
| p2                     = Indo-Parthian Kingdom
| flag_p2                = Map_of_the_Indo-Parthians.png
| p3                     = Indo-Scythians
| flag_p3                = Map_of_the_Indo-Scythians.png
| p4                     = Northern Satraps
| flag_p4                = Map_of_the_Northern_Satraps_(Northern_Sakas).jpg
| p5                     = Western Satraps
| flag_p5                = Map_of_the_Western_Satraps.png
| p6                     = Maha-meghavahanas
| flag_p6                = Map_of_the_Maha-Meghavahanas.png
| s1                     = Sasanian Empire
| flag_s1                = Derafsh_Kaviani_flag_of_the_late_Sassanid_Empire.svg
| s2                     = Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom
| flag_s2                = Map_of_the_Kushano-Sasanian_Kingdom.svg
| s3                     = Gupta Empire
| flag_s3                = Map_of_the_Gupta_Empire.png
| s5                     = Nagas of Padmavati
| s6                     = Nagas of Vindhyatabi
| s4                     = Kidarites
| flag_s4                = Kidarite_Tamga.png
| image_map              = File:Joppen 1907 India in the 2nd Century A.D.jpg
| map_width              = 270
| image_map_caption      = A map of India in the 2nd century AD showing the extent of the Kushan Empire (in green) during the reign of [[Kanishka]]. Most historians consider the empire to have variously extended as far east as the middle Ganges plain,<ref>{{cite book|author=Romila Thapar|title=Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300|year=2004|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24225-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5irrXX0apQC&pg=PA221|page=221}}</ref> to Varanasi on the confluence of the [[Ganges]] and the [[Yamuna|Jumna]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Burton Stein|title=A History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY4zdTDwMAQC&pg=PA86|date= 2010|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4443-2351-1|page=86}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Peter Robb|title=A History of India|publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQ-2VH1LO_EC&pg=PA55|year=2011|isbn=978-0-230-34549-2|page=55}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> or probably even [[Pataliputra]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Hermann Kulke|author2=Dietmar Rothermund |title=A History of India|publisher=Taylor & Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYelDQAAQBAJ|year=2016|isbn=978-1-317-24212-3}}</ref><ref name="AADC">{{cite book |last1=Di Castro |first1=Angelo Andrea |last2=Hope |first2=Colin A. |chapter=The Barbarisation of Bactria |title=Cultural Interaction in Afghanistan c 300 BCE to 300 CE |date=2005 |publisher=Monash University Press |location=Melbourne |isbn=978-1876924393 |pages=1-18, map visible online page 2 of [http://www.ascs.org.au/news/ascs33/DI%20CASTRO.pdf Hestia, a Tabula Iliaca and Poseidon's trident]}}</ref>
| capital                = [[Peshawar]] ([[History of Peshawar|''Puruṣapura'']])<br />[[Taxila]] (''Takṣaśilā'')<br />[[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]] (''Mathurā'')
| common_languages       = [[Koine Greek|Greek]] (official until {{Circa|127}}){{refn|group=note |name="The Bactrian 2000 p. 133"|The Kushans at first retained the [[Greek language]] for administrative purposes but soon began to use Bactrian. The Bactrian [[Rabatak inscription]] (discovered in 1993 and deciphered in 2000) records that the Kushan king [[Kanishka the Great]] ({{Circa|127&nbsp;AD}}), discarded Greek (Ionian) as the language of administration and adopted Bactrian ("Arya language").{{sfn|Falk|2001|p=133}}}}<br />[[Bactrian language|Bactrian]]{{refn|group=note|name="The Bactrian 2000 p. 133"}} (official from {{Circa|127}}){{refn|group=note|The Pali word ''vaṃśa'' (dynasty) affixed to ''Gushana'' (Kushana), i.e. Gushana-vaṃśa (Kushan dynasty) appears on a dedicatory inscription at [[Mankiala|Manikiala stupa]].{{sfn|Rosenfield|1967|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA7 7 & 8]}}}}<br>[[Gandhari Prakrit]]<ref name="SAW">{{cite book |last1=Wurm |first1=Stephen A. |last2=Mühlhäusler |first2=Peter |last3=Tryon |first3=Darrell T. |title=Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas: Vol I: Maps. Vol II: Texts |date=11 February 2011 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-081972-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFW1BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA952 |language=en}}</ref><br>Hybrid [[Sanskrit]]<ref name="SAW"/>
| religion               = [[Mahayana|Buddhism]]{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=61}}<br />[[Hinduism]]{{sfn|Bopearachchi|2007|p=45}}<br />[[Zoroastrianism]]{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=56}}
| demonym                = Kushanas ([[Yuezhi]])
| currency               = [[Kushan Coinage|Kushan drachma]]
| government_type        = Monarchy
| leader1                = [[Kujula Kadphises]]
| year_leader1           = 30–80
| leader2                = [[Kipunada]]
| year_leader2           = 350–375
| title_leader           = Emperor
| stat_year1             = 200 (low-end estimate of peak area)
| stat_area1             = 2000000
| ref_area1              = <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Turchin|first1=Peter|last2=Adams|first2=Jonathan M.|last3=Hall|first3=Thomas D | title = East-West Orientation of Historical Empires | journal = Journal of World-Systems Research|date=December 2006 |volume=12|issue=2 |page=222 |url =http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/369/381|access-date=12 September 2016 |issn= 1076-156X}}</ref>
| stat_year2             = 200 (high-end estimate of peak area)
| stat_area2             = 2500000
| ref_area2              = <ref name="Taagepera132">{{cite journal|date=1979|title=Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.|jstor=1170959|journal=[[Social Science History]]|volume=3|issue=3/4|page=132|doi=10.2307/1170959|last1=Taagepera|first1=Rein}}</ref>
}}

The '''Kushan Empire''' ({{lang-grc|Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν}}; {{lang-xbc|Κοϸανο}}, {{transliteration|xbc|Košano}}; {{lang-sa|कुषाण वंश}}; [[Brahmi]]: [[File:Gupta allahabad ku.jpg|16px]] [[File:Gupta gujarat ssaa.jpg|12px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka nn.svg|14px]], ''{{IAST|Ku-ṣā-ṇa}}''; [[Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit|BHS]]: {{IAST|Guṣāṇa-vaṃśa}}; {{lang-xpr|𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓}}, {{lang|xpr-Latn|Kušan-xšaθr}}; {{zh|t=[[wikt:貴霜|貴霜]]|p=Guìshuāng}}<ref name="JMR7">{{harvnb|Rosenfield|1967|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA7 7]}}</ref>) was a [[Syncretism|syncretic]] empire, formed by the [[Yuezhi]], in the [[Bactria|Bactrian]] territories in the early 1st century. They belonged to [[Kushan (clan)|Kushan]] clan of the [[Gurjar|Gujjars]].

It spread to encompass much of what is now [[Uzbekistan]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Pakistan]] and [[Northern India]],<ref>{{cite web |author=Anonymous |title=The History of Pakistan: The Kushans |url=http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm |access-date=17 May 2015 |archive-date=7 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707162312/http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |translator=Samuel Beal |title=Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World. The mission of Sung-Yun and Hwei-Săng [by Hsüan-chih Yang] Ta-T'ang si-yu-ki. Books 1–5 |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. |place=London |year=1906 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hD9AxsfuV-wC}}</ref>{{sfn|Hill|2009|pp=29, 318–350}} at least as far as [[Saketa]] and [[Sarnath]] near [[Varanasi]] (Benares), where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan Emperor [[Kanishka the Great]].{{refn|group=note|It began about 127 CE.{{sfn|Falk|2001|pp=121–136}}{{sfn|Falk|2004|pp=167–176}}{{sfn|Hill|2009|pp=29, 33, 368–371}}}} The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the [[Yuezhi]] confederation,<ref>{{cite book |last=Runion |first=Meredith L. |title=The history of Afghanistan |year=2007 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport |isbn=978-0-313-33798-7 |page=46 |quote=The Yuezhi people conquered Bactria in the second century BCE. and divided the country into five chiefdoms, one of which would become the Kushan Empire. Recognizing the importance of unification, these five tribes combined under the one dominate Kushan tribe, and the primary rulers descended from the Yuezhi.}}</ref><ref name=liu156>{{cite book |last=Liu |first=Xinru |chapter=The Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Interactions in Eurasia |editor=Adas, Michael |title=Agricultural and pastoral societies in ancient and classical history |year=2001 |publisher=Temple University Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-1-56639-832-9 |page=156}}</ref> an [[Indo-European peoples|Indo-European]] nomadic people of possible [[Tocharians|Tocharian]] origin,<ref name="Narain"/><ref name="Beckwith_380"/><ref name="Pulleyblank"/><ref name="EOIC"/><ref name="TCHAC"/> who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient [[Bactria]].<ref name=liu156/> The founder of the dynasty, [[Kujula Kadphises]], followed Greek religious ideas and iconography after the [[Greco-Bactrian]] tradition, and was also a follower of the [[Shaivism|Shaivite]] sect of [[Hinduism]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=History of civilizations of Central Asia |author1=Dani, Ahmad Hasan |author2=Masson, V. M. |author3=Harmatta, J. |author4=Puri, Baij Nath |author5=Etemadi, G. F. |author6=Litvinskiĭ, B. A. |date=1992–2005 |publisher=UNESCO |location=Paris |isbn=92-3-102719-0 |pages=[https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000097871 310] |oclc=28186754|quote="Contrary to earlier assumptions, which regarded Kujula Kadphises as Buddhist on the basis of this epithet [dharmasthita- "steadfast in the Law"], it is now clear from the wording of a Mathura inscription, in which Huvishka bears the same epithet satyadharmasthita that the kingdom was conferred upon him by Sarva and Scamdavira (Candavira), that is, he was a devotee of Siva."}}<br>The Mathura inscription in question is documented in [https://www.indianculture.gov.in/ebooks/mathura-inscriptions Lüders 1961, p.138ff]</ref> The Kushans in general were also great patrons of [[Buddhism]], and, starting with Emperor Kanishka, they also employed elements of [[Zoroastrianism]] in their pantheon.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Zoroastrianism among the Kushans |year=2015 |first=Frantz |last=Grenet |editor-last=Falk |editor-first=Harry |title=Kushan histories. Literary sources and selected papers from a symposium at Berlin, December 5 to 7, 2013 |place=Bremen |publisher=Hempen Verlag}}</ref> They played an important role in the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and China, ushering in a period of relative peace for 200 years, sometimes described as "[[Pax Kushana]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Aldrovandi |first1=Cibele |last2=Hirata |first2=Elaine |title=Buddhism, Pax Kushana and Greco-Roman motifs: pattern and purpose in Gandharan iconography |journal=Antiquity |date=June 2005 |volume=79 |issue=304 |pages=306–315 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00114103 |s2cid=161505956 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/buddhism-pax-kushana-and-grecoroman-motifs-pattern-and-purpose-in-gandharan-iconography/2D71B3DA60DB2549959DA7BDE49B9E69 |language=en |issn=0003-598X}}</ref>

The Kushans possibly used the [[Greek language]] initially for administrative purposes but soon began to use the [[Bactrian language]]. Kanishka sent his armies north of the [[Karakoram|Karakoram mountains]]. A direct road from [[Gandhara]] to China remained under Kushan control for more than a century, encouraged travel across the [[Karakoram]] and facilitated the [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|spread of Mahayana Buddhism]] to China. The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the [[Roman Empire]], [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian Persia]], the [[Aksumite Empire]] and the [[Han dynasty]] of China. The Kushan Empire was at the center of trade relations between the Roman Empire and China: according to [[Alain Daniélou]], "for a time, the Kushana Empire was the centerpoint of the major civilizations".<ref name="A Brief History of India">{{cite book |last1=Daniélou |first1=Alain |title=A Brief History of India |date=2003 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781594777943 |page=111 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlwoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT111}}</ref> While much philosophy, art, and science was created within its borders, the only textual record of the empire's history today comes from inscriptions and accounts in other languages, particularly Chinese.{{sfn|Hill|2009|p=36 and notes}}

The Kushan Empire fragmented into semi-independent kingdoms in the 3rd century AD, which fell to the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanians]] invading from the west and establishing the [[Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom]] in the areas of [[Sogdiana]], [[Bactria]] and [[Gandhara]]. In the 4th century, the [[Gupta Empire|Guptas]], an Indian dynasty, also pressed from the east. The last of the Kushan and Kushano-Sasanian kingdoms were eventually overwhelmed by invaders from the north, known as the [[Kidarites]], and later the [[Hephthalites]].<ref name="lcwb2"/>

==Origins==
[[File:Noin-Ula nobleman and priest over fire altar.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Yuezhi]] nobleman and priest over a fire altar. [[Noin-Ula]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yatsenko |first1=Sergey A. |title=Yuezhi on Bactrian Embroidery from Textiles Found at Noyon uul, Mongolia |journal=The Silk Road |date=2012 |volume=10 |url=http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/newsletter/vol10/SilkRoad_10_2012_yatsenko.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Francfort |first1=Henri-Paul |title=Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l'hellénisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhāra (130 av. J.-C.-100 apr. J.-C. environ) |journal=Journal des Savants |date=1 January 2020 |pages=26–27 |url=https://www.academia.edu/45042820 |language=en}}</ref>]]
Chinese sources describe the ''Guìshuāng'' ([[wikt:貴霜|貴霜]], [[Old Chinese]]: ''*kuj-s  [s]raŋ''), ''i.e.'' the Kushans, as one of the five aristocratic tribes of the [[Yuezhi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/TOAH/HD/kush/hd_kush.htm |title=Kushan Empire (ca. 2nd century B.C.–3rd century A.D.) {{pipe}} Thematic Essay {{pipe}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=23 October 2015}}</ref> Many scholars believe that the Yuezhi were a people of [[Indo-European peoples|Indo-European]] origin.<ref name="Narain">{{harvnb|Narain|1990|pp=152–155}} "[W]e must identify them [Tocharians] with the Yueh-chih of the Chinese sources... [C]onsensus of scholarly opinion identifies the Yueh-chih with the Tokharians... [T]he Indo-European ethnic origin of the Yuehchih = Tokharians is generally accepted... Yueh-chih = Tokharian people... Yueh-chih = Tokharians..."</ref><ref name="Roux">{{harvnb|Roux|1997|p=90}} "They are, by almost unanimous opinion, Indo-Europeans, probably the most oriental of those who occupied the steppes."</ref> A specifically [[Tocharians|Tocharian]] origin of the Yuezhi is often suggested.<ref name="Narain"/><ref name="Beckwith_380">{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|p=380}} "The identity of the Tokharoi and Yüeh-chih people is quite certain, and has been clear for at least half a century, though this has not become widely known outside the tiny number of philologists who work on early Central Eurasian and early Chinese history and linguistics."</ref><ref name="Pulleyblank">{{harvnb|Pulleyblank|1966|pp=9–39}}</ref><ref name="EOIC">{{harvnb|Mallory|1997|pp=591–593}} "[T]he Tocharians have frequently been identified in Chinese historical sources as a people known as the Yuezhi..."</ref><ref name="TCHAC">{{harvnb|Loewe|Shaughnessy|1999|pp=87–88}} "Pulleyblank has identified the Yuezhi... Wusun... the Dayuan... the Kangju... and the people of Yanqi... all names occurring in the Chinese historical sources for the Han dynasty, as Tocharian speakers."</ref>{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2008|pp=270–297}} An [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]], specifically [[Saka]],<ref name="Enoki 1994 171–183">{{harvnb|Enoki|Koshelenko|Haidary|1994|pp=171–183}}; {{harvnb|Puri|1994|pp=184–191}}</ref> origin, also has some support among scholars.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Girshman |first1=Roman |author-link=Roman Ghirshman |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/851961/ancient-Iran/32124/The-Seleucids |title=Ancient Iran: The movement of Iranian peoples |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |access-date=29 May 2015 |quote=At the end of the 3rd century, there began in Chinese Turkistan a long migration of the Yuezhi, an Iranian people who invaded Bactria about 130&nbsp;bc, putting an end to the Greco-Bactrian kingdom there. (In the 1st century bc they created the Kushān dynasty, whose rule extended from Afghanistan to the Ganges River and from Russian Turkistan to the estuary of the Indus.)}}</ref> Others suggest that the Yuezhi might have originally been a nomadic Iranian people, who were then partially assimilated by settled Tocharians, thus containing both Iranian and Tocharian elements.{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2008|p=318}}

The Yuezhi were described in the ''[[Records of the Great Historian]]'' and the ''[[Book of Han]]'' as living in the grasslands of eastern Xinjiang and northwestern part of [[Gansu]], in the northwest of modern-day China, until their King was beheaded by the [[Xiongnu]] (匈奴) who were also at war with China, which eventually forced them to migrate west in 176–160&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite book |first=Michael A.N. |last=Loewe |chapter=Introduction |pages=1–70 |title=China in Central Asia: The Early Stage: 125 BC – AD 23; an Annotated Translation of Chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty |editor-first=Anthony François Paulus |editor-last=Hulsewé |publisher=Brill |year=1979 |isbn=978-90-04-05884-2}} pp. 23–24.</ref> The five tribes constituting the Yuezhi are known in Chinese history as ''Xiūmì'' (休密), ''Guìshuāng'' (貴霜), ''Shuāngmǐ'' (雙靡), ''Xìdùn'' (肸頓), and ''Dūmì'' (都密).

[[File:Koshanoy.jpg|thumb|right|The [[ethnonym]] "KO[[Sho (letter)|Ϸ]][[Sho (letter)|Ϸ]]ANO" (''Koshshano'', "Kushan") in [[Greek alphabet]] (with the addition of the letter [[Sho (letter)|Ϸ]], "''Sh''") on a coin of the first known Kushan ruler [[Heraios]] (1st century AD).]]
The Yuezhi reached the Hellenic kingdom of [[Greco-Bactria]] (in northern Afghanistan and Uzbekistan) around 135&nbsp;BC. The displaced Greek dynasties resettled to the southeast in areas of the [[Hindu Kush]] (in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan) and the [[Indus river|Indus]] basin (in present-day Pakistan and India), occupying the western part of the [[Indo-Greeks|Indo-Greek Kingdom]].

In [[South Asia]], Kushan emperors regularly used the dynastic name ''ΚΟϷΑΝΟ'' ("Koshano") on their coinage.<ref name="JMR7"/> Several inscriptions in [[Sanskrit]] in the [[Brahmi script]], such as the [[Mathura]] inscription of the statue of [[Vima Kadphises]], refer to the Kushan Emperor as [[File:Gupta allahabad ku.jpg|16px]] [[File:Gupta gujarat ssaa.jpg|12px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka nn.svg|14px]], ''Ku-ṣā-ṇa'' ("Kushana").<ref name="JMR7"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Banerjee |first1=Gauranga Nath |title=Hellenism in ancient India |date=1920 |publisher=Calcutta: Published by the Author; New York: Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/hellenisminancie00bane/page/92 92] |url=https://archive.org/details/hellenisminancie00bane}}</ref> Some later Indian literary sources referred to the Kushans as ''Turushka'', a name which in later Sanskrit sources{{refn|group=note|For example, the 12th century historical chronicle from [[Kashmir]], the ''[[Rajatarangini]]'', describes the [[Central Asia]] Kushans as ''Turushka'' (तुरुष्क).}} was confused with [[Turkic peoples|Turk]], "probably due to the fact that [[Tokharistan|Tukharistan]] passed into the hands of the [[Western Turkic Khaganate|western Turks]] in the seventh century".{{sfn|Wink|2002|p=57}}<ref>''[[Rajatarangini]]'' {{cite book |quote=Then there ruled in this very land the founders of cities called after their own appellations the three kings named [[Huvishka|Huska]], [[Vashishka|Juska]] and [[Kanishka|Kaniska]] (...) These kings albeit belonging to the Turkish race found refuge in acts of piety; they constructed in Suskaletra and other places [[vihara|monasteries]], [[Chaitya|Caityas]] and similar edificies<!--sic-->. |last1=Pandit |first1=Ranjit Sitaram |title=River Of Kings (rajatarangini) |date=1935 |pages=I168–I173 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.530051/page/n65}}</ref> According to [[John M. Rosenfield]], ''Turushka'', ''Tukhāra'' or ''Tukhāra'' are variations of the word ''Tokhari'' in Indian writings.<ref>{{harvnb|Rosenfield|1967|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA8 8]}}</ref> Yet, according to Wink, "nowadays no historian considers them to be Turkish-Mongoloid or "Hun", although there is no doubt about their Central-Asian origin."{{sfn|Wink|2002|p=57}}

==Early Kushans==
{{multiple image
| align    = right
| perrow=2
| caption_align=center
| direction =horizontal
| header=Kushan portraits
| total_width=310
| image2   = Heraios coin portrait.jpg
| caption2 = The first king to call himself "Kushan" on his coinage: [[Heraios]] (AD 1–30)
| image3   = Kushan devotee portrait.jpg
| caption3 = Kushan devotee (2nd century AD). [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] (detail)
| image1   = Kalchayan Prince portrait.jpg
| caption1 = Head of a [[Yuezhi]] prince ([[Khalchayan]] palace, [[Uzbekistan]])<ref>{{cite book |title=KHALCHAYAN – Encyclopaedia Iranica |at=Figure 1 |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/khalchayan#prettyPhoto[content]/0/}}</ref>
| image4   = Kushan Empire Vima Kadphises Circa CE 100-127, portrait.jpg
| caption4 = Portrait of Kushan emperor [[Vima Kadphises]], AD 100-127
| footer=
}}
Some traces remain of the presence of the Kushans in the area of Bactria and [[Sogdiana]] in the 2nd-1st century BC, where they had displaced the [[Sakas]], who moved further south.<ref name=Rene/> Archaeological structures are known in [[Takht-i Sangin]], [[Surkh Kotal]] (a monumental temple), and in the palace of [[Khalchayan]]. On the ruins of ancient Hellenistic cities such as [[Ai-Khanoum]], the Kushans are known to have built fortresses. Various sculptures and friezes from this period are known, representing horse-riding archers,{{sfn|Lebedynsky|2006|p=62}} and, significantly, men such as the [[:File:Kalchayan_Prince_profile.jpg|Kushan prince of Khalchayan]] with [[Artificial cranial deformation|artificially deformed skulls]], a practice well attested in nomadic Central Asia.{{sfn|Lebedynsky|2006|p=15}}<ref name="RSC">{{cite journal |last1=Fedorov |first1=Michael |title=On the origin of the Kushans with reference to numismatic and anthropological data |journal=Oriental Numismatic Society |date=2004 |volume=181 |issue=Autumn |page=32 |url=http://orientalnumismaticsociety.org/JONS/Files/ONS_181.pdf |access-date=6 October 2019 |archive-date=6 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006154907/http://orientalnumismaticsociety.org/JONS/Files/ONS_181.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{free access}}</ref> Some of the Khalchayan sculptural scenes are also thought to depict the Kushans fighting against the [[Saka]]s.<ref name="KA"/> In these portrayals, the Yuezhis are shown with a majestic demeanour, whereas the Sakas are typically represented with side-whiskers, and more or less grotesque facial expressions.<ref name="KA">{{cite journal |quote=The knights in chain-mail armour have analogies in the Khalchayan reliefs depicting a battle of the Yuezhi against a Saka tribe (probably the Sakaraules). Apart from the chain-mail armour worn by the heavy cavalry of the enemies of the Yuezhi, the other characteristic sign of these warriors is long side-whiskers (...)  We think it is possible to identify all these grotesque personages with long side-whiskers as enemies of the Yuezhi and relate them to the Sakaraules (...) Indeed these expressive figures with side-whiskers differ greatly from the tranquil and majestic faces and poses of the Yuezhi depictions. |last1=Abdullaev |first1=Kazim |title=Nomad Migration in Central Asia (in After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam) |journal=Proceedings of the British Academy |date=2007 |volume=133 |page=89 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6864202}}</ref>

The Chinese first referred to these people as the Yuezhi and said they established the Kushan Empire, although the relationship between the Yuezhi and the Kushans is still unclear. [[Ban Gu]]'s ''[[Book of Han]]'' tells us the Kushans (Kuei-shuang) divided up Bactria in 128&nbsp;BC. [[Fan Ye (historian)|Fan Ye]]'s ''[[Book of Later Han]]'' "relates how the chief of the Kushans, Ch'iu-shiu-ch'ueh (the Kujula Kadphises of coins), founded by means of the submission of the other Yueh-chih clans the Kushan Empire."<ref name=Rene>{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppes00grou/page/32 31-32]}}</ref>

The earliest documented ruler, and the first one to proclaim himself as a Kushan ruler, was [[Heraios]]. He calls himself a "[[tyrant]]" in [[Greco-Bactria|Greek]] on his coins, and also exhibits skull deformation. He may have been an ally of the Greeks, and he shared the same style of coinage. Heraios may have been the father of the first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

The Chinese ''[[Book of Later Han]]'' chronicles then gives an account of the formation of the Kushan empire based on a report made by the Chinese general [[Ban Yong]] to the Chinese Emperor {{Circa|AD 125}}:

{{blockquote|More than a hundred years later [than the conquest of Bactria by the Yuezhi], the prince [''xihou''] of Guishuang ([[Badakhshan]]) established himself as king, and his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang (Kushan) King. He invaded Anxi (Indo-Parthia), and took the Gaofu ([[Kabul]]) region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda ([[Kapisi (city)|Paktiya]]) and Jibin ([[Kapisi (city)|Kapisha]] and [[Gandhara]]). Qiujiuque (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died. His son, Yangaozhen [probably [[Vima Takto|Vema Tahk]] (tu) or, possibly, his brother [[Sadaṣkaṇa]] ], became king in his place. He defeated [[Tianzhu (India)|Tianzhu]] [North-western India] and installed Generals to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang [Kushan] king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi.|''Book of Later Han''.{{sfn|Hill|2009|p=29}}{{sfn|Chavannes|1907|pp=190–192}}}}

==Diverse cultural influences==
In the 1st century BC, the ''Guishuang'' (Ch: 貴霜) gained prominence over the other Yuezhi tribes, and welded them into a tight confederation under commander Kujula Kadphises.<ref name="CWH">{{cite book |last1=Benjamin |first1=Craig |title=The Cambridge World History: Volume 4, A World with States, Empires and Networks 1200 BCE–900 CE |date=16 April 2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-29830-5 |page=477 ff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAFuCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT477|quote="It is generally agreed that the Kushans were one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi..."}}</ref> The name ''Guishuang'' was adopted in the West and modified into ''Kushan'' to designate the confederation, although the Chinese continued to call them ''Yuezhi''.

Gradually wresting control of the area from the [[Indo-Scythians|Scythian]] tribes, the Kushans expanded south into the region traditionally known as [[Gandhara]] (an area primarily in [[Pakistan]]'s [[Pothohar Plateau|Pothowar]] and [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] region) and established twin capitals in [[Begram]].<ref name="Starr, p. 53">{{cite book |first=S. Frederick |last=Starr |title=Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane |place=Princeton, NJ |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2013 |page=53}}</ref> and [[Charsadda]], then known as Kapisa and Pushklavati respectively.<ref name="CWH"/>

[[File:Kushan script.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Greek alphabet]] (narrow columns) with Kushan script (wide columns)]]
The Kushans adopted elements of the [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic]] culture of Bactria. They adopted the [[Greek alphabet]] to suit their own language (with the additional development of the letter Þ "sh", as in "Kushan") and soon began minting coinage on the Greek model. On their coins they used Greek language legends combined with Pali legends (in the [[Kharoshthi]] script), until the first few years of the reign of Kanishka. After the middle of Kanishka's reign, they used Kushan language legends (in an adapted Greek script), combined with legends in Greek (Greek script) and legends in Prakrit (Kharoshthi script).

[[File:Kanishka I Greek legend and Helios.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Early gold coin of Kanishka I with Greek language legend and Hellenistic divinity [[Helios]]. (c. AD 120).<br />'''Obverse:''' Kanishka standing, clad in heavy Kushan coat and long boots, flames emanating from shoulders, holding a standard in his left hand, and making a sacrifice over an altar. Greek legend:<div class="center">ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΚΑΝΗ''Ϸ''ΚΟΥ<br />''Basileus Basileon Kanishkoy''<br />"[Coin] of Kanishka, king of kings".</div>'''Reverse:''' Standing Helios in Hellenistic style, forming a benediction gesture with the right hand. Legend in Greek script:<div class="center">ΗΛΙΟΣ ''Helios''</div>Kanishka monogram (''tamgha'') to the left.]]
The Kushans "adopted many local beliefs and customs, including [[Zoroastrianism]] and the two rising religions in the region, the Greek cults and [[Buddhism]]".<ref name="Starr, p. 53"/> From the time of [[Vima Takto]], many Kushans started adopting aspects of [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] culture, and like the Egyptians, they absorbed the strong remnants of the Greek culture of the Hellenistic Kingdoms, becoming at least partly [[Hellenise]]d. The great Kushan emperor [[Vima Kadphises]] may have embraced [[Shaivism]] (a sect of [[Hinduism]]), as surmised by coins minted during the period.{{sfn|Bopearachchi|2007|p=45}} The following Kushan emperors represented a wide variety of faiths including [[Mahayana|Buddhism]], Zoroastrianism and [[Shaivism]].

The rule of the Kushans linked the seagoing trade of the [[Indian Ocean]] with the commerce of the [[Silk Road]] through the long-civilized [[Indus Valley]]. At the height of the dynasty, the Kushans loosely ruled a territory that extended to the [[Aral Sea]] through present-day [[Uzbekistan]], [[Afghanistan]], and [[Pakistan]] into northern India.<ref name="CWH"/>

The loose unity and comparative peace of such a vast expanse encouraged long-distance trade, brought Chinese silks to [[Rome]], and created strings of flourishing urban centers.<ref name="CWH"/>

==Territorial expansion==
[[File:Map of the Kushan Empire.png|thumb|Kushan territories (full line) and maximum extent of Kushan control under [[Kanishka the Great]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=Patrick Karl |last2=Press |first2=Oxford University |title=Atlas of World History |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-521921-0 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA46}}</ref> The extent of Kushan control is notably documented in the [[Rabatak inscription]].<ref name="AADC"/><ref>{{harvnb|Goyal|2005|p=93}}. "The Rabatak inscription claims that in the year 1 Kanishka I's authority was proclaimed in India, in all the satrapies and in different cities like Koonadeano (Kundina), Ozeno ([[Ujjain]]), Kozambo (Kausambi), Zagedo ([[Saketa]]), Palabotro ([[Pataliputra]]), and Ziri-Tambo (Janjgir-Champa). These cities lay to the east and south of Mathura, up to which locality Wima had already carried his victorious arm. Therefore they must have been captured or subdued by Kanishka I himself."</ref>{{refn|group=note|name=decipherment|1=See also the analysis of {{harvp|Sims-Williams|Cribb|1995–1996}}, specialists of the field, who had a central role in the decipherment.}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mukherjee |first=B.N. |title=The Great Kushana Testament |journal=Indian Museum Bulletin |place=Calcutta |date=1995}}</ref> The northern expansion into the [[Tarim Basin]] is mainly suggested by coin finds and Chinese chronicles.<ref name="SKK"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwartzberg |first1=Joseph E. |title=A Historical atlas of South Asia |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |page=145, map XIV.1(g) |isbn=0226742210 |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=182}}</ref>]]
Rosenfield notes that archaeological evidence of a Kushan rule of long duration is present in an area stretching from Surkh Kotal, [[Begram]], the summer capital of the Kushans, [[Peshawar]], the capital under Kanishka I, [[Taxila]], and [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]], the winter capital of the Kushans.{{sfn|Rosenfield|1993|p=41}} The Kushans introduced for the first time a form of governance which consisted of ''Kshatrapas'' ([[Brahmi]]:[[File:Gupta ashoka kss.jpg|13px]]<sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka tr.jpg|13px]]</sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka p.svg|11px]], ''Kṣatrapa'', "[[Satrap]]s") and ''Mahakshatrapa'' ([[Brahmi]]:[[File:Gupta ashoka m.svg|13px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka h.svg|13px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka kss.jpg|13px]]<sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka tr.jpg|13px]]</sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka p.svg|11px]], ''Mahakṣatrapa'', "Great [[Satrap]]s").{{sfn|Sailendra Nath Sen|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA188 188]}}

Other areas of probable rule include [[Khwarezm]] and its capital city of [[Toprak-Kala]],{{sfn|Rosenfield|1993|p=41}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Basham |first1=Arthur Llewellyn |title=Papers on the Date of Kaniṣka: Submitted to the Conference on the Date of Kaniṣka, London, 20-22 April 1960 |year=1968 |publisher=Brill Archive |page=414|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ks4UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA414}}</ref> [[Kausambi]] (excavations of [[Allahabad University]]),{{sfn|Rosenfield|1993|p=41}} [[Sanchi]] and [[Sarnath]] (inscriptions with names and dates of Kushan kings),{{sfn|Rosenfield|1993|p=41}} [[Malwa]] and [[Maharashtra]],<ref>{{harvnb|Rosenfield|1993|p=41}}. "Malwa and Maharashtra, for which it is speculated that the Kushans had an alliance with the [[Western Kshatrapas]]".</ref> and [[Odisha]] (imitation of Kushan coins, and large Kushan hoards).{{sfn|Rosenfield|1993|p=41}}

[[File:Eurasia 2nd century and Kushan Empire.jpg|thumb|left|Map showing the four empires of Eurasia in the 2nd century AD. "For a time, the Kushan Empire was the centerpoint of the major civilizations".<ref name="A Brief History of India"/>]]
Kushan [[invasions]] in the 1st century AD had been given as an explanation for the [[Human migration|migration]] of [[Indian people|Indians]] from the [[Indian Subcontinent]] toward [[Southeast Asia]] according to proponents of a [[Greater India]] theory by 20th-century Indian [[nationalists]]. However, there is no evidence to support this hypothesis.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hall|first=D.G.E.|title=A History of South-East Asia, Fourth Edition|year=1981|publisher=Macmillan Education Ltd.|location=Hong Kong|isbn=0-333-24163-0|pages=17}}</ref>

{{clarify span|text=The [[Rabatak inscription]], discovered in 1993, confirms the account of the Hou Hanshu, [[Weilüe]], and inscriptions dated early in the Kanishka era (incept probably AD 127), that large Kushan dominions expanded into the heartland of northern India in the early 2nd century AD.|explain=Long and confusing sentence (probably because of bad grammer)|date=July 2021}} Lines 4 to 7 of the inscription describe the cities which were under the rule of Kanishka,{{refn|group=note|For a translation of the full text of the Rabatak inscription see: {{harvp|Mukherjee|1995}}. This translation is quoted in: {{harvp|Goyal|2005|p=88}}.}} among which six names are identifiable: [[Ujjain]], [[Kundina]], [[Saketa]], [[Kausambi]], [[Pataliputra]], and [[Janjgir-Champa|Champa]] (although the text is not clear whether Champa was a possession of Kanishka or just beyond it).<ref>{{harvnb|Goyal|2005|p=93}}. "The Rabatak inscription claims that in the year 1 Kanishka I's authority was proclaimed in India, in all the satrapies and in different cities like Koonadeano (Kundina), Ozeno (Ujjain), Kozambo (Kausambi), Zagedo (Saketa), Palabotro (Pataliputra) and Ziri-Tambo (Janjgir-Champa). These cities lay to the east and south of Mathura, up to which locality Wima had already carried his victorious arm. Therefore they must have been captured or subdued by Kanishka I himself."</ref>{{refn|group=note|name=decipherment}}<ref>{{cite web
|last=Sims-Williams
|first=Nicholas
|author-link=Nicholas Sims-Williams
|title=Bactrian Documents from Ancient Afghanistan
|url=http://www.gengo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~hkum/bactrian.html
|access-date=24 May 2007
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610192252/http://www.gengo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~hkum/bactrian.html
|archive-date=10 June 2007
}}</ref>{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017b|p=201}} The Buddhist text ''Śrīdharmapiṭakanidānasūtra''—known via a Chinese translation made in AD 472—refers to the conquest of Pataliputra by Kanishka.{{sfn|Puri|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DguGWP0vGY8C&pg=PA258 258]}} A 2nd century stone inscription by a Great Satrap named [[Rupiamma]] was discovered in [[Pauni]], south of the [[Narmada river]], suggesting that Kushan control extended this far south, although this could alternatively have been controlled by the [[Western Satraps]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mukherjee |first1=Bratindra Nath |title=The rise and fall of the Kushāṇa Empire |date=1988 |page=269 |isbn=9780836423938 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ig1uAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>

[[File:Bengal. Samatata. Coin of Vira Jadamarah imitative of Kushan coinage of Kanishka I. Circa 2nd-3rd century CE.jpg|thumb|Eastern reach as far as [[Bengal]]: [[Samatata]] coinage of king Vira Jadamarah, in imitation of the [[Kushan coinage]] of [[Kanishka I]]. The text of the legend is a meaningless imitation. [[Bengal]], circa 2nd-3rd century AD.<ref name="Samatata coin">{{cite web |title=Samatata coin |url=https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3412701&page=1&partId=1 |website=The British Museum}}</ref>]]
In the East, as late as the 3rd century AD, decorated coins of Huvishka were dedicated at [[Bodh Gaya]] together with other gold offerings under the "Enlightenment Throne" of the Buddha, suggesting direct Kushan influence in the area during that period.<ref>British Museum display, Asian Art room.{{full citation needed|date=July 2021}}</ref> Coins of the Kushans are found in abundance as far as [[Bengal]], and the ancient Bengali state of [[Samatata]] issued coins copied from the coinage of Kanishka I, although probably only as a result of commercial influence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sengupta |first1=Nitish |title=Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib |date=2011 |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=978-81-8475-530-5 |page=39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TI8GQioaoL4C&pg=PT39}}</ref><ref name="Samatata coin"/><ref>{{cite book |quote=As far as gold coins in Bengal are concerned it was Samatata or South-eastern Bengal which issued gold coins  ... This trend of imitating Kushan gold continued and had major impact on the currency pattern of this south-eastern zone. |title=Numismatic Digest |date=2012 |publisher=Numismatic Society of Bombay |page=29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C83R2wM0caIC}}</ref> Coins in imitation of Kushan coinage have also been found abundantly in the eastern state of [[Orissa]].<ref>{{cite book |quote=A large number of Kushan and Puri Kushan coins have been discovered from different parts of Orissa. Scholars have designated the Puri Kushan coins as the Oriya Kushan coins. Though the coins are the imitations of Kushan coins they have been abundantly found from different parts of Orissa. |last1=Ray |first1=N. R. |year=1982 |title=Sources of the History of India: Bihar, Orissa, Bengal, Manipur, and Tripura |publisher=Institute of Historical Studies |page=194 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_gW2AAAAIAAJ}}</ref>

In the West, the Kushan state covered the [[Paratarajas|Pārata state]] of [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]], western [[Pakistan]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Uzbekistan]], and [[Turkmenistan]]. [[Turkmenistan]] was known for the Kushan Buddhist city of [[Merv]].{{sfn|Rosenfield|1993|p=41}}

Northward, in the 1st century AD, the [[Kujula Kadphises]] sent an army to the [[Tarim Basin]] to support the city-state of [[Kucha]], which had been resisting the Chinese invasion of the region, but they retreated after minor encounters.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|pp=45-46}} In the 2nd century AD, the Kushans under Kanishka made various forays into the [[Tarim Basin]], where they had various contacts with the Chinese. Kanishka held areas of the [[Tarim Basin]] apparently corresponding to the ancient regions held by the [[Yuezhi|Yüeh-zhi]], the possible ancestors of the Kushan. There was Kushan influence on coinage in [[Kashgar]], [[Yarkent County|Yarkand]], and [[Hotan|Khotan]].<ref name="SKK">{{cite magazine|last=Cribb |first=Joe|title=The Sino-Kharosthi coins of Khotan part 2|url=https://www.academia.edu/33275660 |date=1984 |magazine=Numismatic Chronicle |pages=129–152}}</ref> According to Chinese chronicles, the Kushans (referred to as [[Da Yuezhi]] in Chinese sources) requested, but were denied, a [[Han Chinese|Han]] princess, even though they had sent presents to the Chinese court. In retaliation, they marched on Ban Chao in AD 90 with a force of 70,000 but were defeated by the smaller Chinese force. Chinese chronicles relate battles between the Kushans and the Chinese general [[Ban Chao]].{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017b|p=201}} The Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire. The regions of the Tarim Basin were all ultimately conquered by [[Ban Chao]]. Later, during the [[Emperor An of Han|Yuánchū]] period (AD 114–120), the Kushans sent a military force to install Chenpan, who had been a hostage among them, as king of [[Kashgar]].{{sfn|Hill|2009|p=43}}

===Kushan fortresses===
Several Kushan fortresses are known, particularly in [[Bactria]], which were often rebuilt on top of [[Hellenistic]] fortifications, as in [[Kampir Tepe]].<ref name="DVR">{{cite journal |last1=RUSANOV |first1=D. V. |title=The Fortification of Kampir-Tepe: A Reconstruction |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |date=1994 |volume=8 |pages=155–160 |jstor=24048772 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24048772 |issn=0890-4464}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Rtveladze|first=E|title=Alexandria on the Oxus - Kampir Tepe: A fortress city on the Oxus shore|year=2019|location=Tashkent|pages=}}</ref> They are often characterised by arrow-shaped [[Loophole (firearm)|loopholes]] for archers.<ref name="DVR"/>

<gallery class="center" widths="200px" heights="120px">
File:Kampir_Tepe_archeological_site.jpg|The Kushan fortress of [[Kampir Tepe]]
File:Ayaz_Kala_(Khorezm,_Ouzbékistan)_(5608879653).jpg|The fortress of [[Ayaz Kala]]
File:Françoise_Foliot_-_Afghanistan_152.jpg|The fortress of Shahr-e Zuhak.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Jonathan L. |title=Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present |date=8 March 2022 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-78914-019-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=asR9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 |language=en}}</ref>
File:Staircase,_Surkh_Kotal,_2–4_century_CE.jpg|The temple and fortress of [[Surkh Kotal]]
</gallery>

==Main Kushan rulers==
Kushan rulers are recorded for a period of about three centuries, from circa AD 30 to circa 375, until the invasions of the [[Kidarites]]. They ruled around the same time as the [[Western Satraps]], the [[Satavahanas]], and the first [[Gupta Empire]] rulers.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

=== Kujula Kadphises (c. 30 – c. 80) ===
{{Main|Kujula Kadphises}}
{{Kushan rulers}}
{{blockquote|...the prince [elavoor] of Guishuang, named thilac [Kujula Kadphises], attacked and exterminated the four other xihou. He established himself as king, and his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang [Kushan] King. He invaded Anxi [Indo-Parthia] and took the Gaofu [Kabul] region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda [Paktiya] and Jibin [Kapisha and Gandhara]. Qiujiuque [Kujula Kadphises] was more than eighty years old when he died."|[[Book of the Later Han|Hou Hanshu]]{{sfn|Hill|2009|p=29}}|title=|source=}}

These conquests by [[Kujula Kadphises]] probably took place sometime between AD 45 and 60 and laid the basis for the Kushan Empire which was rapidly expanded by his descendants.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Kujula issued an extensive series of coins and fathered at least two sons, [[Sadashkana|Sadaṣkaṇa]] (who is known from only two inscriptions, especially the Rabatak inscription, and apparently never ruled), and seemingly Vima Takto.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Kujula Kadphises was the great-grandfather of Kanishka.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

===Vima Taktu or Sadashkana (c. 80 – c. 95)===
{{Main|Vima Takto}}
[[Vima Takto]] (Ancient Chinese: 閻膏珍 ''Yangaozhen'') is mentioned in the Rabatak inscription (another son, Sadashkana, is mentioned in an inscription of Senavarman, the King of Odi). He was the predecessor of Vima Kadphises, and Kanishka I. He expanded the Kushan Empire into the northwest of South Asia. The Hou Hanshu says:

{{blockquote|"His son, Yangaozhen [probably Vema Tahk (tu) or, possibly, his brother Sadaṣkaṇa], became king in his place. He defeated Tianzhu [North-western India] and installed Generals to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang [Kushan] king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi."|Hou Hanshu{{sfn|Hill|2009|p=29}}}}

===Vima Kadphises (c. 95 – c. 127)===
{{Main|Vima Kadphises}}
[[Vima Kadphises]] (Kushan language: Οοημο Καδφισης) was a Kushan emperor from around AD 95–127, the son of Sadashkana and the grandson of Kujula Kadphises, and the father of Kanishka I, as detailed by the Rabatak inscription.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Vima Kadphises added to the Kushan territory by his conquests in Bactria. He issued an extensive series of coins and inscriptions. He issued gold coins in addition to the existing copper and silver coinage.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

===Kanishka I (c. 127 – c. 150)===
{{Main|Kanishka}}
{{multiple image
| align    = right
| direction =vertical
| header=Mathura statue of Kanishka
| total_width=250
| image1   = Kanishka enhanced.jpg
| caption1 = Statue of [[Kanishka]] in long coat and boots, holding a [[Mace (bludgeon)|mace]] and a [[sword]], in the [[Mathura Museum]]. An inscription runs along the bottom of the coat.
| image2   = Kanishka statue inscription.jpg
| caption2 = The inscription is in middle [[Brahmi script]]:<br /> [[File:Gupta ashoka m.svg|12px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka haa.jpg|14px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad raa.jpg|10px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka j.svg|12px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad raa.jpg|10px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka j.svg|12px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad dhi.jpg|10px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad raa.jpg|10px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka j.svg|12px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka d.svg|12px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka v.svg|12px]]<sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka pu.jpg|12px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka tr.jpg|12px]]</sub> [[File:Gupta ashoka kaa.svg|14px]]<sup>[[File:Gupta ashoka nni.jpg|14px]]</sup><sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka ssk.jpg|16px]]</sub><br />''Mahārāja Rājadhirāja Devaputra Kāṇiṣka''<br />"The Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, Kanishka".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Puri |first1=Baij Nath |title=India under the Kushāṇas |date=1965 |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bxZuAAAAMAAJ}}</ref><br />[[Mathura art]], [[Mathura Museum]]
| caption_align = center
| footer=
}}
The rule of [[Kanishka I|Kanishka the Great]], fourth Kushan king, lasted for about 23 years from c. AD 127.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bracey |first1=Robert |title=The Date of Kanishka since 1960 |journal=Indian Historical Review |date=2017 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=21–61 |doi=10.1177/0376983617694717 |s2cid=149016806 |url=https://www.academia.edu/32448882}}</ref> Upon his accession, Kanishka ruled a huge territory (virtually all of northern India), south to Ujjain and Kundina and east beyond Pataliputra, according to the Rabatak inscription:
{{Blockquote|In the year one, it has been proclaimed unto India, unto the whole realm of the governing class, including Koonadeano (Kaundiny, [[Kundina]]) and the city of Ozeno (Ozene, [[Ujjain]]) and the city of Zageda ([[Saketa]]) and the city of Kozambo ([[Kausambi]]) and the city of Palabotro ([[Pataliputra]]) and as far as the city of Ziri-tambo ([[Sri-Champa]]), whatever rulers and other important persons (they might have) he had submitted to (his) will, and he had submitted all India to (his) will.|Rabatak inscription, Lines 4–8}}

His territory was administered from two capitals: Purushapura (now [[Peshawar]] in northwestern [[Pakistan]]) and [[Mathura]], in northern India. He is also credited (along with [[Raja Dab]]) for building the massive, ancient [[Fort at Bathinda]] ([[Qila Mubarak]]), in the modern city of [[Bathinda]], Indian [[Punjab (India)|Punjab]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

The Kushans also had a summer capital in [[Bagram]] (then known as Kapisa), where the "Begram Treasure", comprising works of art from Greece to China, has been found. According to the Rabatak inscription, Kanishka was the son of Vima Kadphises, the grandson of Sadashkana, and the great-grandson of Kujula Kadphises. Kanishka's era is now generally accepted to have begun in 127 on the basis of Harry Falk's ground-breaking research.{{sfn|Falk|2001|pp=121–136}}{{sfn|Falk|2004|pp=167–176}} Kanishka's era was used as a calendar reference by the Kushans for about a century, until the decline of the Kushan realm.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

===Huvishka (c. 150 – c. 180)===
{{Main|Huvishka}}
[[Huvishka]] (Kushan: Οοηϸκι, "Ooishki") was a Kushan emperor from the death of Kanishka (assumed on the best evidence available to be in 150) until the succession of [[Vasudeva I]] about thirty years later. His rule was a period of retrenchment and consolidation for the Empire. In particular he devoted time and effort early in his reign to the exertion of greater control over the city of Mathura.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

===Vasudeva I (c. 190 – c. 230)===
{{Main|Vasudeva I}}
[[Vasudeva I]] (Kushan: Βαζοδηο "Bazodeo", Chinese: 波調 "Bodiao") was the last of the "Great Kushans". Named inscriptions dating from year 64 to 98 of Kanishka's era suggest his reign extended from at least AD 191 to 225. He was the last great Kushan emperor, and the end of his rule coincides with the invasion of the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanians]] as far as northwestern India, and the establishment of the [[Indo-Sasanians]] or ''Kushanshahs'' in what is nowadays Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India from around AD 240.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

{{South Asia in 350 CE||Location of the Little Kushans in the northwestern part of the subcontinent, and contemporary South Asian polities circa 350 CE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwartzberg |first1=Joseph E. |title=A Historical atlas of South Asia |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |pages=25, 145|isbn=0226742210 |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=062}}</ref>|{{Annotation|75|25|[[File:Rectangle (plain).svg|55px]]}}}}

===Vāsishka (c. 247 – c. 267)===
{{Main|Vāsishka}}
[[Vāsishka]] was a Kushan emperor who seems to have had a 20-year reign following [[Kanishka II]]. His rule is recorded at [[Mathura]], in [[Gandhara]] and as far south as Sanchi (near [[Vidisa]]), where several inscriptions in his name have been found, dated to the year 22 (the Sanchi inscription of "Vaksushana" – i.e., Vasishka Kushana) and year 28 (the Sanchi inscription of Vasaska – i.e., Vasishka) of a possible second Kanishka era.{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017b|p=203}}<ref>{{harvnb|Rosenfield|1967|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA57 57]}}</ref>

=== Little Kushans (AD 270 – 350) ===
Following territory losses in the west ([[Bactria]] lost to the [[Kushano-Sasanians]]), and in the east (loss of [[Mathura]] to the [[Gupta Empire]]), several "Little Kushans" are known, who ruled locally in the area of [[Punjab]] with their capital at [[Taxila]]: [[Vasudeva II]] (270 – 300), [[Mahi (Kushan)|Mahi]] (300 – 305), [[Shaka (Kushan)|Shaka]] (305 – 335) and [[Kipunada]] (335 – 350).{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017b|p=203}} They probably were vassals of the [[Gupta Empire]], until the invasion of the [[Kidarites]] destroyed the last remains of Kushan rule.{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017b|p=203}}

==Kushan deities==
[[File:Kumara, The Divine General LACMA M.85.279.3.jpg|thumb|upright|Kumara/[[Kartikeya]] with a [[Kushan]] devotee, 2nd century AD]]
[[File:Gandhara, omaggio di un re kushana al bodhisattva, II-III sec.JPG|thumb|Kushan prince, said to be [[Huvishka]], making a donation to a [[Boddhisattva]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marshak |first1=Boris |last2=Grenet |first2=Frantz |title=Une peinture kouchane sur toile |journal=Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres |date=2006 |volume=150 |issue=2 |pages=957|doi=10.3406/crai.2006.87101 }}</ref>]]
[[File:Relief Showing Shiva Linga Worshipped by Saka Devotees - Kushan Period - Dampier Nagar - ACCN 36-2661 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-23 5614.JPG|thumb|[[Shiva]] [[Linga]] worshipped by Kushan devotees, circa 2nd century AD]]
The Kushan religious [[Pantheon (gods)|pantheon]] is extremely varied, as revealed by their coins that were made in gold, silver, and copper. These coins contained more than thirty different gods, belonging mainly to their own Iranian, as well as Greek and Indian worlds as well. Kushan coins had images of Kushan Kings, Buddha, and figures from the Indo-Aryan and Iranian<!-- Bactrian/Arachosian/etc == Eastern Iranian, which is _not_ "Persian", which is western Iranian--> pantheons.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=47}} Greek deities, with Greek names are represented on early coins. During Kanishka's reign, the language of the coinage changes to [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]] (though it remained in Greek script for all kings). After Huvishka, only two divinities appear on the coins: ''Ardoxsho'' and ''[[Oesho]]'' (see details below).<ref name="AHH327">{{harvnb|Harmatta|1999|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DguGWP0vGY8C&pg=PA327 327–328]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Boyce |first1=Mary |title=Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices |year=2001 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-23902-8 |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a6gbxVfjtUEC&pg=PA83}}</ref>

The Iranian entities depicted on coinage include:
* ''[[Ardoxsho]]'' (Αρδοχþο): [[Ashi Vanghuhi]] [[File:Kushan king Huvishka coin.jpg|30px]]
* ''[[Ashaeixsho]]'' (Aþαειχþo, "Best righteousness"): [[Asha Vahishta]] [[File:Huvishka with Ashaiexsho.jpg|30px]]
* ''[[Atsho|Athsho]]'' (Αθþο, "The Royal fire"): [[Atar]]<ref name="AHH327"/> [[File:Huvishka with Athsho.jpg|30px]]
* ''[[Pharro]]'' (Φαρρο, "Royal splendour"): [[Khwarenah]] [[File:Huvishka. Circa CE 152-192 diademed.jpg|30px]]
* ''Lrooaspa'' (Λροοασπο): [[Drvaspa]] [[File:Coin of the Kushan king Kanishka.jpg|30px]]
* ''Manaobago'' (Μαναοβαγο): [[Vohu Manah]]{{sfn|Harmatta|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DguGWP0vGY8C&pg=PA324 324]}} [[File:Kanishka I with Manaobago.jpg|30px|Kanishka I with Manaobago.]]
* ''Mao'' (Μαο, the Lunar deity): [[Mah]] [[File:Huvishka with Mao.jpg|30px]]
* ''Mithro'' and variants (Μιθρο, Μιιρο, Μιορο, Μιυρο): [[Mithra]] [[File:Kanishka I with Miiro.jpg|30px|Kanishka I with Miiro]]
* ''Mozdooano'' (Μοζδοοανο, "Mazda the victorious?"): [[Ahura Mazda|Mazda *vana]]<ref name="AHH327"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jongeward |first1=David |last2=Cribb |first2=Joe |title=Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins A Catalogue of Coins From the American Numismatic Society |date=2014 |publisher=THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY |location=New York |page=Front page illustration |url=http://numismatics.org/pocketchange/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/KushanCoinageIntro.pdf |access-date=7 March 2021 |archive-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817081146/http://numismatics.org/pocketchange/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/KushanCoinageIntro.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[File:Coin_of_Kanishka_depicting_Mozdoano.jpg|30px|Coin of Kanishka depicting Mozdoano.]]
* ''[[Nana (Bactrian goddess)|Nana]]'' (Νανα, Ναναια, Ναναϸαο): variations of pan-Asiatic ''Nana'', Sogdian ''Nny'', [[Anahita]]<ref name="AHH327"/> [[File:Kanishka I with Nana.jpg|30px|Kanishka I with Nana]]
* ''Oado'' (Οαδο): [[Vata-Vayu|Vata]] [[File:Kanishka I and Oado.jpg|30px|Kanishka I and Oado]]
* ''Oaxsho'' (Oαxþo): "Oxus"
* ''Ooromozdo'' (Οορομοζδο): [[Ahura Mazda]] [[File:Huvihska with Ahuramazda.jpg|30px]]
* ''[[Ořlagno]]'' (Οραλαγνο): [[Verethragna]], the Iranian god of war [[File:Coin of Kanisha I showing Verethragna.jpg|30px]]
* ''[[Rishti]]'' (Ριϸτι, "Uprightness"): [[Arshtat]]<ref name="AHH327"/> [[File:Huvishka with Rishti.jpg|30px]]
* ''[[Shaoreoro]]'' (Ϸαορηορο, "Best royal power", Archetypal ruler): [[Khshathra Vairya]]<ref name="AHH327"/> [[File:Huvishka and Shaoreoro.jpg|30px]]
* ''Tiero'' (Τιερο): [[Tishtrya|Tir]]

Representation of entities from Greek mythology and Hellenistic syncretism are:
* ''Zaoou'' (Ζαοου):<ref>{{cite web |title=Kujula Kadphises coin |website=The British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1922-0213-64}}</ref> [[Zeus]] [[File:Kujula Kadphises with Zeus.jpg|30px|Coin of Kujula Kadphises. '''Obv''' Kujula seated cross legged facing, Kharoshti legend: ''Kuyula Kadaphasa Kushanasa''. '''Rev''' Zeus on the reverse, Greek legend: ΚΟΖΟΛΑ XOPANOY ZAOOY.]] 
* ''Ēlios'' (Ηλιος): [[Helios]] [[File:Kanishka_I_Greek_legend_and_Helios.jpg|30px]]
* ''Ēphaēstos'' (Ηφαηστος): [[Hephaistos]]
* ''Oa nēndo'' (Οα νηνδο): [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]] [[File:Huvishka with Nike.jpg|30px|Huvishka with Nike]]
* ''Salēnē'' (Ϲαληνη):<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dani |first1=A. H. |last2=Asimov |first2=M. S. |last3=Litvinsky |first3=B. A. |last4=Zhang |first4=Guang-da |last5=Samghabadi |first5=R. Shabani |last6=Bosworth |first6=C. E. |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations, 700 B. C. to A |date=1 January 1994 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-102846-5 |page=321 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9U6RlVVjpakC&pg=PA321 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge Shorter History of India |publisher=CUP Archive |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_48AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA77 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sen |first1=Sailendra Nath |title=Ancient Indian History and Civilization |date=1999 |publisher=New Age International |isbn=978-81-224-1198-0 |page=199 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA199 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Upinder |title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century |date=2008 |publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=978-81-317-1120-0 |page=377 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA377 |language=en}}</ref> [[Selene]] [[File:Kanishka I. Circa AD 127-151. Monolingual Greek issue. Main mint in Baktria Early phase. Obverse BACIΛЄYC BACIΛЄωN KANHÞKOY, Reverse CAΛHNH to right, Selene, wearing lunar horns.jpg|30px|Kanishka with Selene]]
* ''Anēmos'' (Ανημος): [[Anemos]] [[File:A43 Kouchan Kanishka 4unit 1ar (8300885384).jpg|30px]]
* ''Ērakilo'' (Ηρακιλο): [[Heracles]] [[File:Dinar, Kushan Empire, Depiction of Hercules, 152-192 AD.jpg|30px]]
* ''Sarapo'' (Ϲαραπο): the Greco-Egyptian god [[Sarapis]] [[File:Huvishka with seated god Serapis ("Sarapo").jpg|30px]]

The Indic entities represented on coinage include:<ref name="MA">{{harvnb|Harmatta|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DguGWP0vGY8C&pg=PA326 326]}}. "Also omitted is the ancient Iranian war god Orlagno, whose place and function are occupied by a group of Indian war gods, Skando (Old Indian Skanda), Komaro (Old Indian Kumara), Maaseno (Old Indian Mahāsena), Bizago (Old Indian Viśākha), and even Ommo (Old Indian Umā), the consort of Siva. Their use as reverse types of Huvishka I is clear evidence for the new trends in religious policy of the Kushan king, which was possibly influenced by enlisting Indian warriors into the Kushan army during the campaign against Pataliputra."</ref>
* ''Boddo'' (Βοδδο): the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] [[File:Coin of Kanishka I.jpg|30px]]
* ''Shakamano Boddho'' (Ϸακαμανο Βοδδο): [[Shakyamuni Buddha]] [[File:Kanishka I and Buddha Sakyamuni.jpg|30px|Kanishka I and Buddha Sakyamuni]]
* ''Metrago Boddo'' (Μετραγο Βοδδο): the bodhisattava [[Maitreya]] [[File:Kanishka I with Maitreya.jpg|30px|Coin of Kanishka with the Bodhisattva Maitreya "Metrago Boudo".]]
* ''Maaseno'' (Μαασηνο): [[Kartikeya|Mahāsena]] [[File:Huvishka Maaseno.jpg|30px]] [[File:Huvishka with Maasena and attendants.jpg|30px|Huvishka with Maasena and attendants]]
* ''Skando-Komaro'' (Σκανδο-kομαρο): [[Murugan|Skanda]]-[[Kartikeya|Kumara]] [[File:Huvishka with Skando-Komaro and Bizago.jpg|30px|Huvishka with Skando-Komaro and Bizago]]
* ''Bizago'': [[Viśākha]]<ref name="MA"/> [[File:Huvishka with Skando-Komaro and Bizago.jpg|30px|Huvishka with Skando-Komaro and Bizago]]
* ''Ommo'': [[Umā]], the consort of Siva.<ref name="MA"/> [[File:Huvishka with Ommo and Oesho.jpg|30px|Coinage of [[Kushan]] ruler [[Huvishka]] with, on the reverse, the divine couple ''Ommo'' ("ΟΜΜΟ", Umā) holding lotus flower, and ''[[Oesho]]'' ("ΟΗϷΟ", [[Shiva]]) with four arms holding attributes. Circa 150-180 CE.]]
* ''[[Oesho]]'' (Οηϸο): long considered to represent Indic [[Shiva]],{{sfn|Sivaramamurti|1976|p=56-59}}<ref name="sino-platonic.org">{{cite journal |last=Loeschner |first=Hans |title=The Stūpa of the Kushan Emperor Kanishka the Great |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |volume=227 |date=July 2012 |page=11 |url=http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp227_kanishka_stupa_casket.pdf}}</ref>{{sfn|Bopearachchi|2007|pp=41–53}} but also identified as [[Avestan]] [[Vayu-Vata|Vayu]] conflated with Shiva.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sims-Williams |first=Nicolas|chapter=Bactrian Language|title=Encyclopaedia Iranica|volume=3|location=London |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bopearachchi|2003}}. Cites H. Humbach, 1975, p.402-408. K.Tanabe, 1997, p.277, M.Carter, 1995, p.152. J.Cribb, 1997, p.40.</ref> [[File:Huvishka Oesho coin.jpg|30px]]
* Two copper coins of Huvishka bear a "Ganesa" legend, but instead of depicting the typical [[theriomorphic]] figure of [[Ganesha]], have a figure of an archer holding a full-length bow with string inwards and an arrow. This is typically a depiction of [[Rudra]], but in the case of these two coins is generally assumed to represent Shiva.

{{Gallery|align=center
|title= Images of Kushan worshippers
|lines= 4
|width= 160
|height= 140
|File:ZeusSerapisOhrmazdWithWorshipperBactria3rdCenturyCE.jpg|Kushan worshipper with Zeus/Serapis/Ohrmazd, Bactria, 3rd century AD.<ref name="ReferenceA">Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition.{{fcn|date=July 2021}}</ref>
|File:PharroAndWorshipperBactria3rdCenturyCE.jpg|Kushan worshipper with [[Pharro]], Bactria, 3rd century AD.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
|File:ShivaOeshoBactria3rdCenturyCE.jpg|Kushan worshipper with Shiva/Oesho, Bactria, 3rd century AD.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
|File:Shiva-Oesho wall painting, Kushan, 3rd century CE.jpg|[[Shiva]]-Oesho wall painting with fragment of a worshipper, Bactria, 3rd century AD.<ref>{{cite web |title=Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/327832}}</ref>
}}
<gallery class="center" mode="packed" heights="100px" caption="Deities on Kushan coinage and seals">
File:MahasenaHuvishka.jpg|Mahasena on a coin of Huvishka
File:CoinOfHuvishkaWithOisho.JPG|Four-faced Oesho
File:CoinOfHuvishkaWithRishtiAsRoma.JPG|Rishti or Riom<ref>{{cite journal |quote=The reading of the name of the deity on this coin is very much uncertain and disputed (Riom, Riddhi, Rishthi, Rise....) |last1=Fleet |first1=J.F. |title=The Introduction of the Greek Uncial and Cursive Characters into India |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |year=1908 |volume=1908 |page=179, note 1 |jstor=25210545}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |quote=The name Riom as read by Gardner, was read by Cunningham as Ride, who equated it with Riddhi, the Indian goddess of fortune. F.W. Thomas has read the name as Rhea |last1=Shrava |first1=Satya |title=The Kushāṇa Numismatics |year=1985 |publisher=Pranava Prakashan |page=29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_1EaAAAAYAAJ}}</ref>
File:Manaobago.JPG|Manaobago
File:CoinOfHuvishkaWithPharro.JPG|Pharro
File:CoinOfHuvishkaWithArdochsho.JPG|Ardochsho
File:KanihkaIOishoShiva.jpg|Oesho or Shiva
File:KanihkaIOishoShivaCoin2.jpg|Oesho or Shiva with bull
File:SkandaAndVisakhaHuvishkaCoin.jpg|Skanda and Visakha
File:AdshoCarnelianSeal.jpg|Kushan [[Carnelian]] seal representing the "ΑΔϷΟ" (''adsho'' Atar), with [[triratana]] symbol left, and Kanishka the Great's dynastic mark right
File:Coin of Kanishka I.jpg|Coin of [[Kanishka I]], with a depiction of the [[Buddha]] and legend "Boddo" in Greek script
File:Dinar, Kushan Empire, Depiction of Hercules, 152-192 AD.jpg|Herakles.
File:Coin of Kujula Kadphises.jpg|Buddha
File:Wima Kadphises.jpg|Coin of [[Vima Kadphises]]. Deity [[Oesho]] on the reverse, thought to be [[Shiva]],<ref name="sino-platonic.org"/>{{sfn|Bopearachchi|2007|pp=41–53}}<ref>Perkins, J. (2007). Three-headed Śiva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises's Copper Coinage. South Asian Studies, 23(1), 31–37</ref> or the Zoroastrian [[Vayu-Vata|Vayu]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Errington |editor-first1=Elizabeth |author=Fitzwilliam Museum |title=The Crossroads of Asia: transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan |date=1992 |publisher=Ancient India and Iran Trust |isbn=9780951839911 |page=87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfLpAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>
</gallery>

==Kushans and Buddhism==
[[File:Ahin_Posh_stupa_reconstitution,_Simpson_1878.jpg|thumb|The [[Ahin Posh]] stupa was dedicated in the 2nd century AD under the Kushans, and contained coins of Kushan and Roman Emperors.]]
[[File:Buddha triad monk layman Guimet MG21157.jpg|thumb|Early Mahayana Buddhist triad. From left to right, a Kushan devotee, [[Maitreya]], the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], [[Avalokitesvara]], and a Buddhist monk. 2nd–3rd century, [[Shotorak monastery|Shotorak]].{{sfn|Rosenfield|1967|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PT97 p. 451, Figure 105]|ps=: "Figure 105: Image pedestal with Sakyamuni flanked by Bodhisattvas and devotees. Shotorak."}}]]

The Kushans inherited the [[Greco-Buddhist]] traditions of the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]] they replaced, and their patronage of Buddhist institutions allowed them to grow as a commercial power.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=42}} Between the mid-1st century and the mid-3rd century, Buddhism, patronised by the Kushans, extended to China and other Asian countries through the [[Silk Road]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Kanishka is renowned in Buddhist tradition for having convened a [[Buddhist Councils#The fourth Buddhist council|great Buddhist council]] in [[Kashmir]]. Along with his predecessors in the region, the Indo-Greek king [[Menander I]] (Milinda) and the Indian emperors [[Ashoka]] and [[Harsha|Harsha Vardhana]], Kanishka is considered by Buddhism as one of its greatest benefactors.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

During the 1st century AD, Buddhist books were being produced and carried by monks, and their trader patrons. Also, monasteries were being established along these land routes that went from China and other parts of Asia. With the development of Buddhist books, it caused a new written language called Gandhara. Gandhara consists of eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. Scholars are said to have found many Buddhist scrolls that contained the Gandhari language.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=58}}

The reign of Huvishka corresponds to the first known epigraphic evidence of the Buddha [[Amitabha]], on the bottom part of a 2nd-century statue which has been found in Govindo-Nagar, and now at the [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]] Museum. The statue is dated to "the 28th year of the reign of Huvishka", and dedicated to "Amitabha Buddha" by a family of merchants. There is also some evidence that Huvishka himself was a follower of [[Mahayana]] Buddhism. A [[Sanskrit]] manuscript fragment in the [[Schoyen Collection|Schøyen Collection]] describes Huvishka as one who has "set forth in the Mahāyāna."<ref>Neelis, Jason. ''Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks.'' 2010. p. 141</ref>

The 12th century historical chronicle ''[[Rajatarangini]]'' mentions in detail the rule of the Kushan kings and their benevolence towards Buddhism:{{sfn|Sailendra Nath Sen|1999|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA199 199–200]}}<ref name="VDM">{{cite book |last1=Mahajan |first1=V.D |title=Ancient India |date=2016 |publisher=S. Chand Publishing |isbn=978-93-5253-132-5 |page=330 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7TJlDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA330}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Then there ruled in this very land the founders of cities called after their own appellations the three kings named [[Huvishka|Huska]], [[Vashishka|Juska]] and [[Kanishka|Kaniska]] (...) These kings albeit belonging to the Turkish race found refuge in acts of piety; they constructed in Suskaletra and other places [[vihara|monasteries]], [[Chaitya|Caityas]] and similar edificies<!--sic-->. During the glorious period of their regime the kingdom of [[Kashmir]] was for the most part an appanage of the Buddhists who had acquired lustre by renunciation. At this time since the Nirvana of the blessed [[Sakyamuni|Sakya Simha]] in this terrestrial world one hundred fifty years, it is said, had elapsed. And a Bodhisattva was in this country the sole supreme ruler of the land; he was the illustrious [[Nagarjuna]] who dwelt in Sadarhadvana.|''[[Rajatarangini]]'' (I168-I173)<ref name="VDM"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pandit |first1=Ranjit Sitaram |title=River Of Kings (rajatarangini) |date=1935 |page=I168–I173 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.530051/page/n65 }}</ref>}}

==Kushan art==
{{main|Kushan art|Greco-Buddhist art|Art of Mathura}}
{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=300|caption_align=center
| align    = right
| direction =horizontal
| image1   = Kushan prince portrait.jpg
| image2   = Gandhara, testa di bodhisattva, 190-210 dc ca..JPG
| footer=Portrait of a Kushan prince from [[Khalchayan]] (left), and head of a Gandhara [[Bodhisattava]] (right), said to have similar characteristics ([[Philadelphia Museum of Art]]).<ref name="BR"/>
}}
The art and culture of Gandhara, at the crossroads of the Kushan hegemony, developed the traditions of [[Greco-Buddhist art]] and are the best known expressions of Kushan influences to Westerners. Several direct depictions of Kushans are known from Gandhara, where they are represented with a tunic, belt and trousers and play the role of devotees to the Buddha, as well as the [[Bodhisattva]] and future Buddha Maitreya.<ref name="BR"/>

According to Benjamin Rowland, the first expression of Kushan art appears at [[Khalchayan]] at the end of the 2nd century BC.<ref name="BR"/> It is derived from [[Hellenistic art]], and possibly from the art of the cities of [[Ai-Khanoum]] and [[Nisa, Turkmenistan|Nysa]], and clearly has similarities with the later [[Greco-Buddhist art|Art of Gandhara]], and may even have been at the origin of its development.<ref name="BR"/> Rowland particularly draws attention to the similarity of the ethnic types represented at Khalchayan and in the art of Gandhara, and also in the style of portraiture itself.<ref name="BR">{{cite journal |last1=Rowland |first1=Benjamin |title=Graeco-Bactrian Art and Gandhāra: Khalchayan and the Gandhāra Bodhisattvas |journal=Archives of Asian Art |date=1971 |volume=25 |pages=29–35 |jstor=20111029 |issn=0066-6637}}</ref> For example, Rowland find a great proximity between [[:File:KushanHead.jpg|the famous head of a Yuezhi prince]] from Khalchayan, and the head of Gandharan [[Bodhisattva]]s, giving the example of the Gandharan head of a Bodhisattva in the [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]].<ref name="BR"/> The similarity of the Gandhara Bodhisattva with the portrait of the Kushan ruler [[Heraios]] is also striking.<ref name="BR"/> According to Rowland the Bactrian art of Khalchayan thus survived for several centuries through its influence in the art of Gandhara, thanks to the patronage of the [[Kushans]].<ref name="BR"/>

During the Kushan Empire, many images of [[Gandhara]] share a strong resemblance to the features of Greek, Syrian, Persian and Indian figures. These Western-looking stylistic signatures often include heavy drapery and curly hair,<ref name=BMA>{{cite book|last=[[Birmingham Museum of Art]]|title=Birmingham Museum of Art: guide to the collection|year=2010|publisher=Birmingham Museum of Art|location=[Birmingham, Ala]|isbn=978-1-904832-77-5|pages=51|url=http://artsbma.org}}</ref> representing a composite (the Greeks, for example, often possessed curly hair).{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

As the Kushans took control of the area of [[Mathura]] as well, the [[Art of Mathura]] developed considerably, and free-standing statues of the [[Buddha]] came to be mass-produced around this time, possibly encouraged by doctrinal changes in Buddhism allowing to depart from the [[aniconism]] that had prevailed in the Buddhist sculptures at Mathura, [[Bharhut]] or [[Sanchi]] from the end of the 2nd century BC.<ref name="RS439">{{cite book |last1=Stoneman |first1=Richard |title=The Greek Experience of India: From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks |date=2019 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691185385 |pages=439–440 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8MFnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA439}}</ref> The artistic cultural influence of kushans declined slowly due to Hellenistic Greek and Indian influences.{{sfn|Sailendra Nath Sen|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA202 202]}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="170px" class="center" style="font-size: 90%" caption="'''Dated Buddhist statuary under the Kushans'''">
File:Standing Bodhisattva Dedicated by Buddhamitra Year 2 of Kanishka.jpg|[[Kanishka I]]:<br />[[Kosambi]] Bodhisattva, inscribed "Year 2 of Kanishka" (AD 129).<ref>{{cite book |last=Ghosh |first=N. N. |year=1935 |title=Early History of Kausambi |publisher=Allahabad Law Journal Press |page=[https://archive.org/stream/earlyhistoryofka035153mbp#page/n25/mode/2up xxi] |url=https://archive.org/stream/earlyhistoryofka035153mbp}}</ref>
File:Bodhisattva dedicated by Bhikshu Bala at Sarnath 123 CE.jpg|[[Kanishka I]]:<br />''[[Bala Bodhisattva]]'', [[Sarnath]], inscribed "Year 3 of Kanishka" (AD 130).<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/EpigraphiaIndica/Epigraphia_Indica#page/n235/mode/2up Epigraphia Indica 8 p.179]</ref>
File:Kimbell seated Buddha with attendants, Mathura.jpg|[[Kanishka I]]:<br />''[[Kimbell seated Bodhisattva]]'', with inscription "Year 4 of Kanishka" (AD 131).{{refn|group=note|1=Seated Buddha with inscription starting with [[File:Gupta_ashoka_m.svg|10px]] [[File:Gupta_ashoka_haa.jpg|12px]] [[File:Gupta_allahabad_raa.jpg|8px]] [[File:Gupta_ashoka_j.svg|10px]]<sub>[[File:Gupta_ashoka_sya.svg|16px]]</sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka kaa.svg|12px]]<sup>[[File:Gupta ashoka nni.jpg|12px]]</sup><sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka ssk.jpg|13px]] [[File:Gupta_ashoka_sya.svg|16px]]</sub><sup>[[File:Gupta ashoka sam.jpg|12px]]</sup>'''<big>𑁕</big>''' ''Maharajasya Kanishkasya Sam 4'' "Year 4 of the Great King Kanishka".}}<ref>{{cite web |title=''Seated Buddha with Two Attendants'', A.D. 82 |publisher=Kimbell Art Museum |url=https://www.kimbellart.org/collection/ap-198606}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |quote=The Buddhist Triad, from Haryana or Mathura, Year 4 of Kaniska (ad 82). Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. |author=Asian Civilisations Museum (Singapore) |editor-last=Krishnan |editor-first=Gauri Parimoo |title=The Divine Within: Art & Living Culture of India & South Asia |date=2007 |publisher=World Scientific Pub |isbn=9789810567057 |page=113 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-ny6Kmvu6cC}}</ref> Another similar statue has "Year 32 of Kanishka".<ref>{{cite book |last=Behrendt |first=Kurt A. |title=The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art |date=2007 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=9781588392244 |page=48, Fig. 18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJ3eCZVlT48C}}</ref>
File:Loriya Tangai Buddha.jpg|[[Kanishka I]]:<br />Buddha from [[Loriyan Tangai]] with inscription mentioning the  "year 318" of the [[Yavana era]] (AD 143).<ref name="PC"/>
File:Hashtnagar Buddha and piedestal.jpg|[[Vasudeva I]]:<br />[[Hashtnagar]] Buddha and its piedestal, inscribed with "year 384" of the [[Yavana era]] (c. AD 209).<ref name="PC">{{cite book |last1=Rhi |first1=Juhyung |title=Problems of Chronology in Gandharan. Positioning Gandharan Buddhas in Chronology |date=2017 |publisher=Archaeopress Archaeology |location=Oxford |pages=35–51 |url=http://www.carc.ox.ac.uk/PublicFiles/media/Final%20e-version%20Problems%20of%20Chronology%20in%20Gandharan%20Art.pdf}}{{free access}}</ref>
File:Mamane Dheri sculpture Year 89.jpg |[[Vasudeva I]]:<br />Mamane Dheri Buddha, inscribed with "Year 89", probably of the [[Kanishka]] era (AD 216).<ref name="PC"/>
File:Hariti (Gandhara).jpg|[[Kanishka II]]:<br />Statue of [[Hariti]] from Skarah Dheri, [[Gandhara]],  "Year 399" of the Yavana era (AD 244).<ref name="PC"/>
</gallery>

===Kushan monetary system===
{{main|Kushan coinage}}
[[File:Dalverzin Tepe gold ingots.jpg |thumb|Kushan gold ingots, from the [[Dalverzin Tepe]] treasure, 1st century CE]]
The Kushans used gold ingots as part of their monetary system, as shown by the gold treasure discovered in 1972 in [[Dalverzin Tepe]].<ref name="SPL68"/> The main objects from the treasure were circular and parallelepipedic ingots, followed by various decorative objects and jewellery items.<ref name="SPL68"/> The circular ingots used to be progressively cut up as needed, depending on the amount required for a transaction.<ref name="SPL68"/> On the contrary, the parallelepipedic ingots were used to stock wealth in a not-divisible form; these ingots bear inscriptions in [[Kharoshthi]] mentioning their weight and the god [[Mitra]] (protector of contractual relations)<ref name="SPL68">{{cite book |last1=Ilyasov |first1=Djangar |title=Splendeurs des oasis d'Ouzbékistan |date=2022 |publisher=Louvre Editions |location=Paris |isbn=978-8412527858 |pages=68–70}}</ref> These ingots are all ttributed to the monetary system of the Kushan Empire.<ref name="SPL68"/>

The coinage of the Kushans was abundant and an important tool of propaganda in promoting each Kushan ruler.<ref name="Sen">{{cite book |last1=Sen |first1=Sudipta |title=Ganges: The Many Pasts of an Indian River |date=2019 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300119169 |page=205 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHN_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA205}}</ref> One of the names for Kushan coins was ''[[Dinar]]a'', which ultimately came from the Roman name ''[[Denarius]] [[aureus]]''.<ref name="Sen"/><ref>{{cite book |quote=Known by the term [[Dinar]]s in early Gupta inscriptions, their gold coinage was based on the weight standard of the Kushans i.e. 8 gms/120 grains. It was replaced in the time of [[Skandagupta]] by a standard of 80 ratis or 144 grains. |last1=Vanaja |first1=R. |title=Indian Coinage |date=1983 |publisher=National Museum |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVdmAAAAMAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mookerji |first1=Radhakumud |title=The Gupta Empire |date=1997 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=9788120804401 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uYXDB2gIYbwC&pg=PA31}}</ref> The coinage of the Kushans was copied as far as the [[Kushano-Sasanians]] in the west, and the kingdom of [[Samatata]] in [[Bengal]] to the east. The coinage of the [[Gupta Empire]] was also initially derived from the coinage of the Kushan Empire, adopting its weight standard, techniques and designs, following the conquests of [[Samudragupta]] in the northwest.<ref>Gupta inscriptions using the term "Dinara" for money: No 5-9, 62, 64 in {{cite book |last1=Fleet |first1=John Faithfull |title=Inscriptions Of The Early Gupta Kings And Their Successors |date=1960 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.463254/page/n229}}</ref><ref name="RM">{{cite book |last1=Mookerji |first1=Radhakumud |title=The Gupta Empire |date=1997 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=9788120804401 |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uYXDB2gIYbwC&pg=PA30}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Higham |first1=Charles |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations |date=2014 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=9781438109961 |page=82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1c1UIEVH9gC&pg=PA82}}</ref> The imagery on Gupta coins then became more Indian in both style and subject matter compared to earlier dynasties, where Greco-Roman and Persian styles were mostly followed.<ref name="RM"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pal |first1=Pratapaditya |title=Indian Sculpture. Volume I: Circa 500 B.C.-A.D. 700 |date=1986 |publisher=Los Angeles County Museum of Art with University of California Press |isbn=9780520059917 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec00losa/page/73 73], 78 |url=https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec00losa |url-access=registration}}</ref>

It has long been suggested that the gold contained in Kushan coins was ultimately of Roman origin, and that Roman coins were imported as a consequence of trade and melted in India to mint Kushan coins. However, a recent [[archaeometallurgy|archaeometallurgical study]] of trace elements through proton activation analysis has shown that Kushan gold contains high concentrations of [[platinum]] and [[palladium]], which rules out the hypothesis of a Roman provenance. To this day, the origin of Kushan gold remains unknown.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reden |first1=Sitta |title=Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies: Volume 1: Contexts |date=2 December 2019 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-060494-8 |page=505 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H_UEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT505 |language=en}}</ref>

==Contacts with Rome==
{{Main|Indo-Roman trade relations}}
{{multiple image|perrow=2/1|total_width=300|caption_align=center
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| header=Roman coinage among the Kushans
| image1   = TrajanCoinAhinposhBuddhistMonasteryAfghanistan.jpg
| caption1 = Coin of the Roman Emperor [[Trajan]], found together with coins of Kanishka the Great at the [[Ahin Posh]] Monastery
| image2   = Kushan ring with Septimus Severus and Julia Domna.jpg
| caption2 = [[Kushan]] ring with inscription in the [[Brahmi script]], with portraits of Roman rulers [[Septimus Severus]] and [[Julia Domna]]
| image3= Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. Indian imitation.jpg
|caption3=Indian imitation of a coin of Septimius Severus. AD 193-211
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Several Roman sources describe the visit of ambassadors from the Kings of Bactria and India during the 2nd century, probably referring to the Kushans.<ref name="RML131"/>

[[Historia Augusta]], speaking of [[Hadrian|Emperor Hadrian]] (117–138) tells:<ref name="RML131"/>

[[File:BegramGladiator.JPG|thumb|upright|left|Greco-Roman [[gladiator]] on a glass vessel, Begram, 2nd century]]
{{blockquote|''Reges Bactrianorum legatos ad eum, amicitiae petendae causa, supplices miserunt''
"The kings of the Bactrians sent supplicant ambassadors to him, to seek his friendship."<ref name="RML131"/>}}

Also in 138, according to [[Aurelius Victor]] (''Epitome''‚ XV, 4), and [[Appian]] (''Praef.'', 7), [[Antoninus Pius]], successor to Hadrian, received some Indian, Bactrian, and [[Hyrcanian]] ambassadors.<ref name="RML131">{{cite book |last1=McLaughlin |first1=Raoul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gzJf1KgqrWQC&pg=PA131 |title=Rome and the Distant East: Trade Routes to the Ancient Lands of Arabia, India and China |date=2010 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9781847252357 |page=131}}</ref>

Some Kushan coins have an effigy of "Roma", suggesting a strong level of awareness and some level of diplomatic relations.<ref name="RML131"/>

The summer capital of the Kushan Empire in Begram has yielded a considerable amount of goods imported from the Roman Empire—in particular, various types of glassware. The Chinese described the presence of Roman goods in the Kushan realm:

{{blockquote|"Precious things from ''Da Qin'' [the Roman Empire] can be found there [in Tianzhu or Northwestern India], as well as fine [[cotton]] cloths, fine wool carpets, perfumes of all sorts, [[sugar candy]], [[Black pepper|pepper]], [[ginger]], and black salt."|Hou Hanshu{{sfn|Hill|2009|p=31}}}}

[[Parthamaspates of Parthia]], a client of Rome and ruler of the kingdom of [[Osroene]], is known to have traded with the Kushan Empire, goods being sent by sea and through the [[Indus River]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ellerbrock |first1=Uwe |title=The Parthians: The Forgotten Empire |date=2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-35848-3 |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pFEXEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA61}}</ref>

==Contacts with China==
{{Continental Asia in 100 CE|right|The Kushan Empire and contemporary polities in continental Asia circa 100 AD.||Map_of_the_Kushan_Empire_(large).png}}
During the 1st and 2nd century AD, the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north, putting them at the center of the profitable Central Asian commerce. They are related to have collaborated militarily with the Chinese against nomadic incursion, particularly when they allied with the [[Han dynasty]] general [[Ban Chao]] against the Sogdians in 84, when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king of Kashgar.<ref name="de crespigny 2007 5-6">de Crespigny, Rafe. (2007). ''A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220&nbsp;AD)''. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill. page 5-6. {{ISBN|90-04-15605-4}}.</ref> Around 85, they also assisted the Chinese general in an attack on [[Turpan]], east of the Tarim Basin.

{{multiple image
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| direction =horizontal
| header=Kushan coinage in China
| total_width=300
| image1   = KanishkaICoinFoundInKhotan.jpg
| caption1 = A bronze coin of Kanishka the Great found in [[Kingdom of Khotan|Khotan]], [[Tarim Basin]].
| image2   = Eastern Han ingot imprints with barbarous Greek inscriptions.jpg
| caption2 = [[Eastern Han]] inscriptions on lead ingot, using barbarous Greek alphabet in the style of the [[Kushans]], excavated in [[Shaanxi]], 1st–2nd century AD.<ref>Joe Cribb, 1974, "Chinese lead ingots with barbarous Greek inscriptions in Coin Hoards" pp.76–8 [https://www.academia.edu/33859218/Chinese_lead_ingots_with_barbarous_Greek_inscriptions_in_Coin_Hoards_vol.IV_London_1978_pp.76-8?auto=download]</ref>
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In recognition for their support to the Chinese, the Kushans requested a Han princess, but were denied,<ref name="de crespigny 2007 5-6"/><ref name=torday1997-393>Torday, Laszlo. (1997). ''Mounted Archers: The Beginnings of Central Asian History''. Durham: The Durham Academic Press. page 393. {{ISBN|1-900838-03-6}}.</ref> even after they had sent presents to the Chinese court. In retaliation, they marched on Ban Chao in 86 with a force of 70,000, but were defeated by a smaller Chinese force.<ref name="de crespigny 2007 5-6"/><ref name=torday1997-393/> The Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire during the reign of emperor [[Emperor He of Han China|He of Han]] (89–106).

The Kushans are again recorded to have sent presents to the Chinese court in 158–159 during the reign of [[Emperor Huan of Han]].

Following these interactions, cultural exchanges further increased, and Kushan Buddhist missionaries, such as [[Lokaksema (Buddhist monk)|Lokaksema]], became active in the Chinese capital cities of [[Luoyang]] and sometimes [[Nanjing]], where they particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. They were the first recorded promoters of Hinayana and Mahayana scriptures in China, greatly contributing to the [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism]].

==Decline==
===Kushano-Sassanians===
{{main|Kushano-Sasanians}}
{{multiple image
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| header=Sasanian control of the Western Kushans
| total_width=400
| image1   = Hormizd I Kushanshah on the Naqsh-e Rustam Bahram II panel.jpg
| caption1 = [[Hormizd I Kushanshah]] (AD 277–286), king of the [[Indo-Sasanians]], maintained [[Sasanian]] rule in former Kushan territories of the northwest. [[Naqsh-e Rustam]] [[Bahram II]] panel.
| image2   = Peroz I Kushanshah.jpg
| caption2 = The Kushano-Sasanians imitated the Kushans in some of their Bactrian coinage. Coin of Sasanian ruler [[Peroz I Kushanshah]], with [[Bactrian script|Bactrian]] legend around "Peroz the Great Kushan King"
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After the death of [[Vasudeva I]] in 225, the Kushan empire split into western and eastern halves. The Western Kushans (in Afghanistan) were soon subjugated by the Persian [[Sasanian Empire]] and lost [[Sogdiana]], [[Bactria]], and [[Gandhara]] to them. The Sassanian king [[Shapur I]] (240–270) claims in his [[Naqsh-e Rostam]] inscription possession of the territory of the Kushans (Kūšān šahr) as far as "Purushapura" ([[Peshawar]]), suggesting he controlled [[Bactria]] and areas as far as the [[Hindu-Kush]] or even south of it:{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017b|pp=202–203}}

{{blockquote|I, the Mazda-worshipping lord, Shapur, king of kings of Iran and An-Iran... (I) am the Master of the Domain of Iran (Ērānšahr) and possess the territory of Persis, Parthian... Hindestan, the Domain of the Kushan up to the limits of Paškabur and up to Kash, Sughd, and Chachestan.|[[Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht]], [[Naqsh-e Rostam]]{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017b|pp=202–203}}}}

This is also confirmed by the [[Rag-i-Bibi]] inscription in modern [[Afghanistan]].{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017b|pp=202–203}}

The Sasanians deposed the Western dynasty and replaced them with Persian vassals known as the [[Kushansha]]s (in [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]] on their coinage: KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ ''Koshano Shao''){{sfn|Rezakhani|2017b|p=204}} also called [[Indo-Sasanians]] or [[Kushano-Sasanians]]. The Kushano-Sasanians ultimately became very powerful under [[Hormizd I Kushanshah]] (277–286) and rebelled against the Sasanian Empire, while continuing many aspects of the Kushan culture, visible in particular in their titulature and their coinage.{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017b|pp=200–210}}

==="Little Kushans" and Gupta suzerainty===
{{multiple image
| align    = right
| direction =vertical
| header=Gupta control over the Eastern Kushans
| total_width=270
| image1   = Daivaputra Shaahi Shaahaanu Shaahi.jpg
| caption1 = <sup>[[File:Gupta allahabad de.svg|22px]]</sup>[[File:Gupta allahabad v.svg|13px]]<sub>[[File:Gupta allahabad pu.jpg|13px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka tr.jpg|15px]]</sub>[[File:Gupta allahabad ssa.jpg|13px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad hi.jpg|15px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad ssa.jpg|13px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad haa.jpg|13px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad nu.jpg|17px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad ssa.jpg|13px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad hi.jpg|15px]]<br>The expression ''Devaputra Shāhi Shāhānu Shāhi'' in Middle [[Brahmi]] in the [[Allahabad pillar]] (Line 23), claimed by [[Samudragupta]] to be under his dominion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eraly |first1=Abraham |title=The First Spring: The Golden Age of India |date=2011 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=9780670084784 |page=38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=te1sqTzTxD8C&pg=PA38}}</ref>
| image2   = Samudra Gandhara coin, Punjabi mint Circa CE 350-375.jpg
| caption2 = Coin minted in the [[Punjab]] area with the name "Samudra" ([[File:Gupta ashoka s.svg|13px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad mu.jpg|11px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad dr.jpg|12px]] ''Sa-mu-dra''), thought to be the Gupta ruler [[Samudragupta]]. These coins imitate those of the last Kushan ruler [[Kipunada]], and precede the coinage of the first [[Kidarites|Kidarite Huns]] in northwestern India. Circa 350-375.<ref>{{cite book |quote=In the Punjab the stylistic progression of the gold series from Kushan to Kidarite is clear: imitation staters were issued first in the name of Samudragupta, then by Kirada, "Peroz" and finally Kidara |last1=Errington |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Curtis |first2=Vesta Sarkhosh |title=From Persepolis to the Punjab: Exploring Ancient Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan |date=2007 |publisher=British Museum Press |isbn=9780714111650 |page=88 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x2cuAQAAIAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cribb |first1=Joe |title=The Kidarites, the numismatic evidence |journal=Coins, Art and Chronology II |date=January 2010 |url=https://www.academia.edu/38112559 |page=101}}</ref>
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The Eastern Kushan kingdom, also known as the "Little Kushans", was based in the Punjab. Around 270 their territories on the Gangetic plain became independent under local dynasties such as the [[Yaudheyas]]. Then in the mid-4th century they were subjugated by the Gupta Empire under [[Samudragupta]].<ref name="HCCA166">{{harvnb|Dani |Litvinsky |Zamir Safi|1996|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA165 165]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA166 166]}}</ref> In his inscription on the [[Allahabad pillar]] Samudragupta proclaims that the ''Dēvaputra-Shāhi-Shāhānushāhi'' (referring to the last Kushan rulers, being a deformation of the Kushan regnal titles ''Devaputra'', ''Shao'' and ''Shaonanoshao'': "Son of God, King, King of Kings") are now under his dominion, and that they were forced to "self-surrender, offering (their own) daughters in marriage and a request for the administration of their own districts and provinces".<ref>Lines 23-24 of the [[Allahabad pillar]] inscription of Samudragupta: "Self-surrender, offering (their own) daughters in marriage and a request for the administration of their own districts and provinces through the Garuḍa badge, by the Dēvaputra-Shāhi-Shāhānushāhi and the Śaka lords and by (rulers) occupying all Island countries, such as Siṁhala and others."</ref><ref name="HCCA166"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cribb |first1=Joe |last2=Singh |first2=Karan |title=Two Curious Kidarite Coin Types From 3rd Century Kashmir |journal=JONS |volume=230 |date=Winter 2017 |page=3 |url=https://www.academia.edu/36983254}}</ref> This suggests that by the time of the Allahabad inscription the Kushans still ruled in [[Punjab]], but under the suzerainty of the Gupta Emperor.<ref name="HCCA166"/>

Numimastics indicate that the coinage of the Eastern Kushans was much weakened: silver coinage was abandoned altogether, and gold coinage was debased. This suggests that the Eastern Kushans had lost their central trading role on the trade routes that supplied luxury goods and [[gold]].<ref name="HCCA166"/> Still, the [[Greco-Buddhist art|Buddhist art of Gandhara]] continued to flourish, and cities such as [[Sirsukh]] near [[Taxila]] were established.<ref name="HCCA166"/>

===Sasanian, Kidarite and Alchon invasions===
{{main|Sasanian Empire|Kidarites|Alchon Huns}}
In the east around 350, Shapur II regained the upper hand against the [[Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom]] and took control of large territories in areas now known as [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]], possibly as a consequence of the destruction of the Kushano-Sasanians by the [[Chionites]].{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017a|p=85}} The Kushano-Sasanian still ruled in the north. Important finds of Sasanian coinage beyond the [[Indus river]] in the city of [[Taxila]] only start with the reigns of Shapur II (r.309-379) and [[Shapur III]] (r.383-388), suggesting that the expansion of Sasanian control beyond the Indus was the result of the wars of Shapur II "with the [[Kidarites|Chionites]] and Kushans" in 350-358 as described by [[Ammianus Marcellinus]].<ref name="AG">{{cite book |last1=Ghosh |first1=Amalananda |title=Taxila |date=1965 |publisher=CUP Archive |pages=790–791 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0NA3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA787}}</ref> They probably maintained control until the rise of the [[Kidarites]] under their ruler [[Kidara]].<ref name="AG"/>

In 360 a [[Kidarites|Kidarite Hun]] named [[Kidara]] overthrew the [[Kushano-Sasanians]] and remnants of the old Kushan dynasty, and established the [[Kidarite Kingdom]]. The Kushan style of Kidarite coins indicates they claimed Kushan heritage. The Kidarite seem to have been rather prosperous, although on a smaller scale than their Kushan predecessors. East of the [[Punjab]], the former eastern territories of the Kushans were controlled by the mighty [[Gupta Empire]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

The remnants of Kushan culture under the Kidarites in the northwest were ultimately wiped out in the end of the 5th century by the invasions of the [[Alchon Huns]] (sometimes considered as a branch of the [[Hephthalites]]), and later the [[Nezak Huns]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

==Rulers==
One of the most recent list of rulers with dates is as follows:<ref name="KKSK">{{cite book |last1=Jongeward |first1=David |last2=Cribb |first2=Joe |title=Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins A Catalogue of Coins From the American Numismatic Society by David Jongeward and Joe Cribb with Peter Donovan |date=2014 |page=4 |url=https://www.academia.edu/11049999}}</ref>
* [[Heraios]] ({{Circa|1}} – 30), first king to call himself "Kushan" on his coinage [[File:Heraios coin.jpg|50px]]
;"Great Kushans";
* [[Kujula Kadphises]] ({{Circa|50|90}}) [[File:Kujula Kadphises. Laureate Julio-Claudian style.jpg|50px]]
* [[Vima Takto]] ({{Circa|90|113}}), alias Soter Megas or "Great Saviour." [[File:Coin of Vima Takto.jpg|50px]]
* [[Vima Kadphises]] ({{Circa|113|127}}) First great Kushan Emperor [[File:Vima Kadphises with ithyphallic Shiva.jpg|50px]]
* [[Kanishka the Great]] (127 – {{Circa|151}}) [[File:Kanishka I Greek legend and Helios.jpg|50px]]
* [[Huvishka]] ({{Circa|151|190}}) [[File:Huvishka Maaseno.jpg|50px]]
* [[Vasudeva I]] ({{Circa|190|230}}) Last great Kushan Emperor [[File:VASUDEVA I.jpg|50px]]
* [[Kanishka II]] ({{Circa|230}} – 247) [[File:Coin of KanishkaII.jpg|50px]]
* [[Vashishka]] ({{Circa|247}} – 267) [[File:Vasishka.jpg|50px]]
;"Little Kushans";
* [[Kanishka III]] ({{Circa|267}} – 270) [[File:Kanishka III Circa AD 267-270.jpg|50px]]
* [[Vasudeva II]] ({{Circa|270}} – 300) [[File:Coin of VasudevaII.jpg|50px]]
* [[Mahi (Kushan)|Mahi]] ({{Circa|300}} – 305)<ref name="Katariya">[https://books.google.com/books?id=P7TpDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 The Glorious History of Kushana Empire, Adesh Katariya, 2012, p.69]</ref> [[File:Mahi Kushan 4th century CE.jpg|50px]]
* [[Shaka (Kushan)|Shaka]] ({{Circa|305}} – 335)<ref name="Katariya"/> [[File:Kushan Empire Shaka Circa AD 325-345.jpg|50px]]
* [[Kipunada]] ({{Circa|335}} – 350)<ref name="Katariya"/> [[File:Kipunada.jpg|50px]]

{{Kushans}}

==See also==
* [[History of Afghanistan]]
* [[History of Pakistan]]
* [[History of India]]
* [[Mathura]]
* [[Taxila]]
* [[Kucha]], another Tocharian-speaking kingdom (with [[Kucha#Etymology|a related etymology]])
* [[Iranians in China]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
{{History of India}}
{{History of Afghanistan}}
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{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal |title=A Partial Decipherment of the Unknown Kushan Script |journal=Transactions of the Philological Society |author1-first=Svenja |author1-last=Bonmann |author2-first=Jakob |author2-last=Halfmann |author3-first=Natalie |author3-last=Korobzow |author4-first=Bobomullo |author4-last=Bobomulloev |date=12 July 2023 |doi=10.1111/1467-968X.12269 |s2cid=259851498 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-968X.12269}}

==External links==

* [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/325483/Kushan-dynasty Kushan dynasty] in [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]
* [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kush/hd_kush.htm Metropolitan Museum capsule history]
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050204064550/http://www.grifterrec.com/coins/kushan/kushan.html |title=New documents help fix controversial Kushan dating |date=4 February 2005}}
* [http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/indo_scythians/i.html Coins of the Kushans on wildwinds.com]
* {{webarchive |url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20130207084302/http://home.comcast.net/~pankajtandon/home.html |title=Antique Indian Coins |date=7 February 2013}}
* [http://www.kushan.org/ Brief Guide to Kushan History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040925185831/http://www.kushan.org/ |date=25 September 2004 }}
* [http://coinindia.com/galleries-kushan.html The CoinIndia Online Catalogue of Kushan Coins]
* [http://www.kushan.org/ Dedicated resource to study of Kushan Empire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040925185831/http://www.kushan.org/ |date=25 September 2004 }}
* [http://www.himalayanresearch.org/pdf/2000-2002/vol05%20N2final.pdf imalayan and Central Asian Studies: Journal of Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation Volume 5 Issue 2]

{{Central Asian history}}
{{Rulers of Ancient Central Asia}}
{{Ancient South Asia and Central Asia}}
{{Middle kingdoms of India}}
{{Empires}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Uttarakhand}}

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