Reign of Kanishka, the height of the Kushan Empire, c. 127–150

Reign of Kanishka, the height of the Kushan Empire

Under Kanishka, the greatest of the Kushan kings, an empire stretching from Bactria to the Ganges plain was ruled from Purushapura (Peshawar) and Mathura. Bactrian replaced Greek on his coins, his realm linked the Silk Road with India, and Buddhist tradition remembers him as a great patron of the faith. By the now accepted chronology he reigned c. 127–150.

Date

c. 127 – c. 150year known, approximate · duration: ≈ 23 years

Place

Purushapura (Peshawar)today: Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan · South Asia

Participants

Kanishka, Kushan Empire

Threads

South Asia (1st–5th c.)

Also known as

Kanishka the Great; Kanishka era; Kaniṣka; Канишка Великий; Эра Канишки

Kanishka was the great-grandson of Kujula Kadphises, as the Rabatak inscription, found in northern Afghanistan in 1993, records. The inscription speaks of the first year of his reign, when his rule was proclaimed in cities of the Ganges plain such as Saketa, Kausambi and Pataliputra, and one phrase of uncertain translation may refer to a change from the “Ionian” (Greek) to the “Aryan” language — Bactrian written in Greek letters, which did replace Greek on his coins early in his reign. His coins show a mixed pantheon of Greek, Iranian and Indian gods and, on a few rare issues, the Buddha with the legend BODDO. At Purushapura he built a huge stupa, which the Chinese pilgrim Faxian, early in the 5th century, called the highest of all towers; excavations at its base in 1908–1909 found a reliquary casket with an inscription naming Kanishka. Buddhist tradition also credits him with convening the Fourth Council, and the art of Gandhara and Mathura flourished under the Kushans.

His date was debated for a century. Older works identified his accession with the beginning of the Shaka era in 78; since Harry Falk’s study of 2001 the era of Kanishka is generally held to have begun in 127, and his reign is dated c. 127–150, although some Russian-language reference works place it in the first third of the 2nd century (103–125). After him, from about 150, Huvishka reigned for some thirty to forty years.

Connections

Related events

Gandharan art: the first images of the Buddhabetween 30 BC and AD 100 · South AsiaGandharan art flourished under the Kushans; some of Kanishka’s coins show the Buddha

Kushans conquer Gandhara and Taxilabetween 50 and 70 · South AsiaKujula Kadphises, Kanishka’s great-grandfather, brought the Kushans into Gandhara

Fourth Buddhist Council in Kashmir (tradition)between 127 and 150 (?) · South Asiaby tradition the council was convened by Kanishka

The Rabatak inscription of Kanishkabetween 132 and 150 · Central and Northern Asiathe inscription records Kanishka’s first year and his rule over cities of India

Lokaksema translates the first Mahayana sutras into Chinese179 · East AsiaLokakṣema came from the Kushan lands of Gandhara

Same participants

Adjacent events in the thread

Reign of Kanishka, the height of the Kushan Empire

Connections

Related events

Same participants

Adjacent events in the thread

Meanwhile in the world

Western and Central Europe

Eastern Europe

Balkans and Anatolia

Middle East and Egypt

Africa

Central and Northern Asia

East Asia

Southeast Asia and Oceania

North America

Latin America

The same period

Sources