The Kushans

The Kushanas, originally belonged to western China. They are also called Yueh-chis. The Kushanas after defeating Shakas and Pahlavas created a big empire in Pakistan. The first prominent ruler of the Kushana dynasty was Kujula Kadphises.

He was succeeded by his son Wema Kadphises. Next ruler was Kanishka. He was the most famous of the Kushanas. He probably ascended the throne in AD 78, and started a new era, now known as the Shaka era. It was under Kanishka that the Kushana empire reached its maximum territorial limits.

His empire extended from Central Asia to north India and included Varanasi, Kaushambi and Sravasti in Uttar Pradesh. The political significance of Kanishka’s rule lies in the fact that he integrated central Asia with north India as part of a single empire. It resulted in the intermingling of different cultures and increase in inter regional trading activities.

Kanishka is famous in history as a great patron of Buddhism. He convened the fourth Buddhist Council at Kundalavana (present day Harwan near Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir) in which a large number of Buddhist scholars took part. It was in this council that Buddhism got split into two schools - Hinayana and Mahayana.

Kanishka also patronized the Gandhara and Mathura schools of sculptural art.

He built in the city of Purushpura (present day Peshawar), his capital, a giant stupa to house the Buddha’s relics. The building was still intact with all its magnificence when the Chinese pilgrim Fa-hsien visited the area later in the early fifth century AD. The Kushana power gradually declined from the early third century AD.

Kushana Polity and Administration

Nothing much is known about the administrative machinery of the Kushanas. Perhaps the whole empire was divided into provinces, each ruled by a mahakshatrapa (a military governor), who was assisted by a kshatrapa; but how many provinces were there in the empire, is not known.

Sources indicate that Kushana horsemen wore trousers while riding. A headless statue of Kanishka found at Mathura reflects the same. A prominent feature of Kushana polity was the title of devaputra, i.e., son of God, used by the Kushana kings. It indicates the claim to divinity by the Kushana kings.

Contribution of the Kushanas

The Kushanas occupy a special place in the ancient Indian history because of their contribution to various aspects of life. Their vast empire helped in the growth of internal and external trade. It resulted in the rise of new urban centres. The rich state of economy under the Kushanas is also evidenced by the large number of gold and copper coins that they struck.

Even in literature and medicine, India made progress. Charaka, known as father of Ayurveda, wrote a book on medicine called Charaksamhita whereas Asvaghosha, a Buddhist scholar, wrote Buddhacharita, a full length biography of the Buddha. Both these scholars were believed to be the contemporaries of king Kanishka.

The Kushanas patronized the Gandhara and the Mathura schools of sculptural art which are known for producing the earliest images of Buddha and Buddhisattavas.

Contacts with Central Asia

Invasions of the Bactrian Greeks and Saka-Pahilavas on India and its subsequent political contact with Central Asia under the Kushanas resulted in immense cultural intermingling between the two regions. These foreign groups gradually lost their foreign identity and were incorporated in the Brahmanical society lower grade as kshatriyas. Many of them adopted Buddhism.

Central Asian contacts also brought to India new methods of making coins. The crude punch-marked coins which were used earlier gradually gave way to refined Greek style coins containing legends and the bust of the ruler. This new format became the model for the subsequent coinage in India.

Besides, Indians also borrowed from central Asians, particularly the Greeks, knowledge of astronomy. Early Indian literary works on astronomy frequently quote the Greek astronomers who are referred to as yavanacharya.

Indians also learned the art of making horoscopes from the Greeks. Central Asian contacts brought a fresh wave in the art of sculpture making. Buddhist sculptures of the Gandhara school evolved as a result of the amalgamation of the Indian and the Greek styles.