Gold coin of Kanishka I with a representation of the Buddha (c.120 AD). Obv: "RAONANAO RAOKA NHRKI KORANO" (Kanishka the Kushan, King of Kings) in Greek script. Rev: "BODDO" (The Buddha) in Greek script. Kanishka was a king of the Kushan Empire in South Asia, in the 2nd century of the common era, famous for his military, political, and spiritual achievements. His capital was in the modern city of Peshawar in Pakistan.
A great Kushan king
Kanishka was a Kushan of Yuezhi ethnicity. He probably spoke an Indo-European language related to Tocharian, and he used the Greek script in his inscriptions.
Kanishka was the successor of Vima Kadphises, demonstrated by an impressive geneaology of the Kushan kings, known as the Rabatak inscription. A significant amount of what is known about Kanishka was preserved because of his spiritual merit and the Buddhist religious tradition. Along with the Indian king Ashoka, the Indo-Greek king Menander I (Milinda), and Harshavardhan, he is considered one of the greatest Buddhist kings.
In spite of the acknowledged dominance of the Kushana empire during his reign, until recently scholars have not been able to agree on the period of his reign. There have been three conferences to resolve this date. In recent years the debate has focused around the relatively narrow period between AD 100 and AD144 as the likely date of ascension. Though recent discoveries have claimed to put the solution beyond doubt a full discussion is quite complex.
Conquests in India and Central Asia Kanishka's empire was certainly vast. It extended from the Oxus in the west to Varanasi and Mathura in the east and from Kashmir in the North to the cost of Gujarat in the south, including Malwa.
Knowledge of his hold over Central Asia is less well established. Chinese records indicate that general Pan Chao fought battles with a Kushan army at Khotan in AD 90, probably headed by Kujula Kadphises. Though he claimed to be victorious (Kujula Kadphises is recorded has having paid tribute to China), the region fell to Kushan forces shortly afterwards, probably under Kanishka's rule. As a result, the territory of the Kushans extended to Kashgar, Khotan and Yarkand, which were Chinese dependencies in the Tarim Basin, modern Xinjiang.
Also controlling the land and sea trade routes between South Asia and Rome seems to have been one of Kanishka's chief imperial goals.
Kanishka and Buddhism A great deal of information about the Kushana kings has been gathered from their coins. Kanishka's coins show Hindu, Buddhist, Greek, Persian and even Sumerian-Elamite images of gods. This is demonstrative of religious syncretism in his beliefs. His reputation in Buddhist tradition is based mainly on his having convened the 4th Buddhist Council in Kashmir. This council is attributed with having encouraged the spread of Mahayana Buddhism.
His greatest contribution to Buddhist architecture is the great stupa at Peshawar. Archaeologists in the twentieth century ascertained that this stupa had a diameter of 286 feet. Reports of Chinese pilgrims indicate that its height was 600 to 700 (Chinese) "feet" (= roughly 180-210 metres or 591-689 ft.). Certainly this would rank among the wonders of the ancient world.
He provided encouragement to both the Gandhara school of Greco-Buddhist Art and the Mathura school of Hindu art (An inescapable religious syncretism pervades Kushana rule). Kanishka personally seems to have embraced both Buddhism and the Persian cult of Mithra.
Transmission of Buddhism to China Main article: Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
Kanishka's expansion into the Tarim Basin probably initiated the transmission of Buddhism to China.
Buddhist monks from the region of Gandhara played a key role in the development and the transmission of Buddhist ideas in the direction of northern Asia from the middle of the second century CE. The Kushan monk, Lokaksema (c. 178 CE), became the first translators of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures into Chinese and established a translation bureau at the Chinese capital Loyang. Central Asian and East Asian Buddhist monks appear to have maintained strong exchanges for the following centuries.
Kanishka was probably succeeded by Huvishka. How and when this came about is still uncertain. The fact that there were other Kushana kings called Kanishka is just another complicating factor.
The airplane that was destroyed in the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 was named after him.
See also
External links
References - Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund (1991). A History of India. Rupa and Co.
- Foucher, M. A. 1901. "Notes sur la geographie ancienne du Gandhra (commentaire un chaptaire de Hiuen-Tsang)." BEFEO No. 4, Oct. 1901, pp. 322-369.
- Hargreaves, H. (1910-11): "Excavations at Shāh-jī-kī Dhērī"; Archaeological Survey of India, 1910-11, pp. 25-32.
- Spooner, D. B. 1908-9. "Excavations at Shāh-jī-kī Dhērī."; Archaeological Survey of India, 1908-9, pp. 38-59.
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