The Kushan Dynasty ruled between 30-375 CE in areas of modern day Afghanistan and northern India. The Kushans were originally from the Yuezhi confederation and migrated to the region in the 1st century CE under the leadership of Kujula Kadphises. Major Kushan rulers included Kujula Kadphises, Vima Kadphises, and the powerful emperor Kanishka, who expanded the empire and patronized Buddhism. The Kushan Empire dominated trade between Rome, China, and South Asia and facilitated the spread of Gandhara art and Mahayana Buddhism. The empire fragmented in the 3rd century CE due to invasions and was eventually overwhelmed by the

1. Kushana Dynasty
(30-375 CE)
Sachin Kr. Tiwary

2. •The Kushans were
Syncretic Empire of one of
five branches of the Yuezhi
in the Bactrian territories in
the early 1st century.
•Yuezhi confederation
(The Yuezhi were an ancient
Indo-European people first
described in Chinese
histories as nomadic
pastoralists living in an arid
grassland area in the
western part of the modern
Chinese province of Gansu,
during the 1st millennium
BCE),

4. Kushan Empire
Kushans were one of five branches
of the Yuezhi tribes..
(Xiūmì, Guìshuāng, Shuāngmǐ,
Xìdùn and Dūmì)..
They had diplomatic contacts with
the Roman Empire, Sasanian
Persia, the Aksumite Empire and
the Han dynasty of China…
Kushans used the Greek language
for administrative purposes, but
soon began to use Bactrian and
Sanskrit languages...
Capital of Kushana= Bagram,
Peshawar, Taxila, Mathura…
Religion-Buddhism, Jainism,
Hinduism, Zoroastrianism…

5. • In an around 100 BCE,
the Guishuang gained
prominence over the other
Yuezhi tribes, and welded
them into a tight
confederation
under yabgu (Commander)
Kujula Kadphises.
• The name Guishuang was
adopted in the West and
modified into Kushan to
designate the confederation,
although the Chinese
continued to call
them Yuezhi.

6. Nomenclature
Heraios - on Coins, Mural (Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City), T.C. (Khaltchain palace (Uzbekistan)
The first known Kushan king Heraios (1–30 CE), from his coinage.
Koshshanoy

7. SOURCES:
Literature
• The Records of the Grand Historian, also known by its Chinese name Shiji,
is a monumental history of ancient China written by Han dynasty official
Sima Qian which was started by his father, Sima.
• The Book of Han or History of the Former Han is a history of China finished
in 111, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor
in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE.
– It is also called the Book of Former Han.
– The Book of the Later Han, also known as the History of the Later Han and by
its Chinese name Hou Hanshu, is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers
the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Later or
Eastern Han.
• Ban Gu was a Chinese historian, politician, and poet best known for his part
in compiling the Book of Han, the second of China's 24 dynastic
histories. Fan Ye, courtesy name Weizong, was a Chinese historian and
politician of the Liu Song dynasty during the Southern and Northern
dynasties period. He was the compiler of the historical text Book of the
Later Han.
• Chinese travelers like Hwen-tsang, Fa-hi-an, Shung-yung.
• Chinese and Tibetan Myths.
• Raajtarangini of Kalhan.

8. Archaeological [Epigraphs,
Numismatics, Architecture- Art]:
• Epigraphs- 12 inscriptions of
Kanishka (Sarnath, Sanchi,
Kausambi, Mathura etc.)
– The Rabatak inscription written on a
rock in the Bactrian language and
the Greek script at the site of
Rabatak, near Surkh Kotal in
Afghanistan.
– Khwarezm, Kausambi, Sanchi and
Sarnath (inscriptions with names
and dates of Kushan kings),
• Coins/ Numismatics-
Malwa and Maharashtra and Odish
a (imitation of Kushan coins, and
large Kushan hoards).
• Monuments (Stupa, Monastery),
Art- Stupas built by Kanishka, An
image of Kings himself from
Mathura, Afghanistan, Mathura
School of Art and Gandhara School
of Art.
• Excavations- Uncountable sites.
SOURCES:

10. Rabatak inscription on a rock in the Bactrian language and the Greek
script, found in 1993 at the site of Rabatak, near Surkh
Kotal in Afghanistan. It is related to Kanishka,2nd century CE.

11. WHY THEY MOVED TO Indian Subcontinent?:
• The head of the Yuezhi was beheaded by the Huns from Siberia who were
also at war with China, which eventually forced them to migrate west in
176–160 BCE.
• The Yuezhi reached the Hellenic kingdom of Greco-Bactria (in northern
Afghanistan and Uzbekistan) around 135 BC.
• The displaced Greek dynasties resettled to the southeast in areas of
the Hindu Kush and the Indus basin (in present-day Afghanistan and
Pakistan), occupying the western part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom.

12. RULERS:
Their contemporary dynasties
in India were Western
Satraps, Satvahan on the
south and Gupta on the
north.
•
Heraios (c.01-30 CE)
• Kujula Kadphises (c. 30-80)
• Vima Taktu or Sadashkana
(c. 80-95)
• Vima Kadphises (c. 95-127)
• Kanishka I (c. 127-140)
• Huvishka (c. 160-190)
• Vasudeva I (c. 190-230)
• Vāsishka (c. 247-267)
• Kanishka III (c. 267-270)
• Vasudeva II (c. 270-300)
• Mahi (c. 300-305)
• Shaka (c. 305-335)
• Kipunada (c. 335-350 CE)

13. KUJULA KADPHISES-
He was the great grandfather of
Kanishka. While his times he extended
his control between Oxus to Indus
River.
Today’s Afghanistan, Bactria, Eastern part
of Iran and north-western India was
under his control.
He defeated the last Greek ruler
Hermaeus.
Title- Obv.: Basileos Sterossy Hermaiou:
"King Hermaeus, the Saviour".
Rev: Herakles standing with club and lion
skin. Kharoṣṭhī legend: KUJULA
KASASA KUSHANA YAVUGASA
DHARMATHIDASA "Kujula Kadphises
ruler of the Kushans, steadfast in the
Law ("Dharma").
He is considered as the founder of
Kushana dynasty.

14. VIMA TAKTU OR SADASHKANA-
Vima Taktu 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.
Title- Basileu Basileuon Soter Megas":
"The King of Kings, Great Saviour".

15. VIMA KADPHISES-
He was the son of Sadashkana and
the grandson of Kujula
Kadphises, and the father of
Kanishka I, as detailed by the
Rabatak inscription.
He expanded his territory upto
Taxila and north India and
established full control over
Bactria.
His title was Maharaja,
Rajadhirajwat and Basileus
Basileuon Soter Megas Ooemo
Kadphises"): "King of Kings
Vima Kadphises the Great
Saviour" on the coins issued by
him.
He has described as The Winner of
India in Chinese sources.
He was follower of Hinduism as he
issued coins with the word
Maheshwar.
Vima Kadphises Circa, 1st Century CE
Mat, Mathura, Government Museum

16. KANISHKA-
His regal year is disputed among the scholars:
• 58 BCE (John Faithfull Fleet),
• 78 CE (Rapson and Raichaudhary,
• 125 CE (Sir John Marshall),
• 278 CE (D.R.Bhandarkar).
• According to his inscription Rabatak his empire
was from North Afghanistan to Bihar (East to
West), Kashmir to Vindhyan range (North to
South).
His territory was administered from two capitals:
• Purushapura (Peshawar, Pakistan) and
Mathura, in northern India.
• Kanishka's era is now generally accepted to
have begun in 127 CE on the basis of Harry
Falk's research.
Title- Mahārāja Rājadhirāja Devaputra Kāṇiṣka-
"The Great King, King of Kings, Son of God,
Kanishka"

17. Mahārāja Rājadhirāja Devaputra Kāṇiṣka
"The Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, Kanishka"
King Portraits
Kanishka in
1. Long coat
2. Boots
3. holding a mace
4. Sword
Displayed in the
Mathura Museum, Mathura, U.P..
On Coins,
On Stone image such as:
Mat, Mathura, India;
Khalchayan in Uzbekistan;
Surkh Kotal in Afghanistan

18. King Portraits

19. War-
• The Book of the Later Han, Hou Hanshu, states that
general Ban Chao fought battles near Khotan with a
Kushan army of 70,000 men led by an otherwise
unknown Kushan viceroy named Xie in 90 AD. Ban
Chao claimed to be victorious, forcing the Kushans to
retreat by use of a scorched-earth policy.
• The territories of Kashgar, Khotan and Yarkand were
Chinese dependencies in the Tarim Basin,
modern Xinjiang. Several coins of Kanishka have
been found in the Tarim Basin.
• It is believed that Ban Chao and his son Ban Yang
won it and Kanishka was defeated in the war.
• The reason behind this was to control both the land
(the Silk Road) and sea trade routes between South
Asia and Rome seems to have been one of Kanishka's
chief imperial goals.
• Similarly he fought to the Parthians, because they
were the enemy of Kushan on western side and had
control over the trade route. Kanishka wanted to
control on that trade route.
Religion-
• Buddhism, Hindus, Jainism. Spread to Central Asia and
China.

20. VASUDEVA I-
He was the last great Kushan
emperor, and the end of his
rule coincides with the
invasion of the 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 240 CE.

22. Art of Kushana Period
Context: 1. Religious:
(Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Folk)- Art objects (Images of
religious deity) and Architectures (Stupas, Pillars, Monasteries)
2. Secular: Art Specimens (Portraits of Kings/Dynastic Arts- John Rosenfield,
Toys, Coins etc.) and Architecture (Building Architecture for habitation in
Excavations)
3. Ritualistic Architecture: Burials
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Pakistan, Brass. Height 33.7 cm
Kumara, Gandhara Region

23. Context: Pillars, Stupa
Mohenjodaro, Pakistan
Mankiala Stupa, Rawalpindi

24. Art of Kushana Period
Techniques: 1. Free Satnding Chiselled sculptures (Stone, Ivory),
2. High Relief (Rock Cut Sculptures),
3. Moulded (Terracotta, Stucco, Metal),
4. Handmade (Terracotta, Stucoo)..

25. Stupa (relic mound), Dharmacakra (wheel of law), Triratna
(three jewels), Astamangala (eight auspicious symbols),
and Caityavriksha (sacred tree) or with an image of a
Tirthankara (saviour)….
Jainism

26. DECLINE:
• The Kushan empire fragmented into semi-independent
kingdoms in the 300 CE, which fell to
the Sasanians invading from the west, establishing
the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom in the areas
of Sogdiana, Bactria and Gandhara.
• In the 400 CE, the Guptas 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 (The Kidarites were a
dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia
and South Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries CE. In India as
Huna), and
• The Hepthalites from the north (The Hephthalites (or
Ephthalites), sometimes called the White Huns, were a
people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to 8th
centuries).

27. IMPORTANCE OF THIS PERIOD:
• 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 center
point of the major civilizations".
• The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the Roman
Empire, Sasanian Persia, the Aksumite Empire and the Han
dynasty of China.
• Philosophy 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.
• Kanishka facilitate the spread of Mahayana Buddhism to
China.
• Gandhara and Mathura School of art flourished during this
period.
• Images of Indian God-goddesses and the image of Lord
Buddha get fame during this period.

28. Relics Kanishka (c. 127–150 CE) Casket, Sahi-ji-ki-
heri, Peshawar,
in the British Museum
1899 engraving showing the remnants of the
Kanishka Stupa in Shaji-ki-Dheri

29. Thank you
Any Questions ?