Kushan Empire (60–240 CE)
Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: Regional History or Period History
Forum Name: History of the South Asian subcontinent
Forum Discription: The Indian sub-continent and South Central Asia
URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15583
Printed Date: 12-May-2024 at 10:00
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Topic: Kushan Empire (60–240 CE)
Posted By: Jay.
Subject: Kushan Empire (60–240 CE)
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2006 at 18:26
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I know I haven't posted for a long time in the board, and for that I'm sorry. Alas, I've decided to write a new article on the Kushan Empire. Cheers, guys.
KUSHAN EMPIRE (60–240 CE) Descendents of the Yüeh-Chih who had destroyed the Bactrian Greek kingdom centuries earlier, the Kushans had developped a vibrant, wealthy, and diverse civilization. Control of important trade routes lead to the influences of Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, and other religious strains.  The main Kushan rulers were the following:
· Heraios ,who was probably the first of the Kushan kings. He may have been an ally of the Greeks, and he shared the same style of coinage.
· Kujula Kadphises who set himself up as king of a kingdom called Guishuang. He invaded Anxi (
· Vima Kadphises was the son of Vima Taktu (Ruler of Kushan in 80-105) and the father of Kanishka I. He issued an extensive series of coins and inscriptions.
· The rule of Kanishka I, the second great Kushan emperor, fifth Kushan king, who flourished for at least 28 years from c. 127,
The Kushan Empire saw rising success, especially when having contacts with Rome, during the 2nd century, and with China during the 1st and 2nd century.
 Under recent pressure from the Steppe, the ruling dynasty passed to the "Chionite" Kidarites, while maintaining their culture. New arrivals, the Hephthalites, are a more serious threat to their way of life, and migration into South Asia looks promising. Nevertheless, from the 3rd century the Kushan empire began to fragment. Vasudeva I had perished around 225 and the Kushan empire was divided into western and eastern halves. Around 270, the Kushans lost their territories on the Gangetic plain, where the Gupta Empire was established around 320. The Kushan empire were ultimately wiped out in the 5th century by the invasions of the White Huns and later the expansion of Islam. The end of the Kushans could be considered the end of Hellenism in South Asia. sources: wikipedia, ask, about, Histo-India btw, this is our 200th topic. Congrats! ------------- Samo Sloga Srbina Spasava Only Unity Can Save the Serb |
Replies:
Posted By: Gun Powder Ma
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2006 at 19:00
There is an interesting article on the relations between Rome and the Kushans: John Thorley, “The Roman Empire and the Kushans,” Greece & Rome, 2nd Ser., Vol. 26, No. 2. (Oct., 1979), pp. 181-190 Drop me an email within the next 24 hours in case you are interested.  |
Posted By: TeldeInduz
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2006 at 19:11
Sounds good Jay, but you know my opinion on this 
The end of the Kushans could be considered the end of Hellenism in India.
(South Asia would be a better word IMHO). ------------- Quoo-ray sha quadou sarre................. |
Posted By: rider
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2006 at 23:03
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Great, albeit a little short. Can you guys make similiar short introductions to other Empires/Kingdoms of the area (SA) too perhaps? ------------- |
Posted By: Imperator Invictus
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2006 at 23:37
That's a pretty good article about economic history of that period, along with some general information about the Kushans. Sadly, that seems the only article about the Kushans published in a popular western Journal in the past several decades. Have you seen any other publications on the Kushans recnetly? What I'm particularly interested in is how they justified the map boundaries of the Kushan empire. What is the evidence to draw the boundaries? |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 20-Oct-2006 at 19:42
| again even this empire was mostly based in pakistan, with some extention in northern india. |
Posted By: Vivek Sharma
Date Posted: 26-Oct-2006 at 04:56
Height of dreaming !!!!! ------------- PATTON NAGAR, Brains win over Brawn |
Posted By: M. Nachiappan
Date Posted: 08-Nov-2006 at 01:59
As I am from Tamilnadu, I always used to get surprised about the depiction of Karttikeya in his coins!
 Karttikeya with lance and cock
 Karttikeya with Lakshmi
 The six-headed Karttikeya
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Posted By: Rasoolpuri
Date Posted: 08-Nov-2006 at 11:50
| What was language (lingua franca)in the period of Kanshka |
Posted By: maqsad
Date Posted: 08-Nov-2006 at 15:37
| Amongst the commoners it must have been prakriti. Amongst the intelligencia it was probably pre-vedic sanscrit aka avestan and during and after panini it was probably vedic sanskrit. Rulers? Maybe prakriti who knows. |
Posted By: jayeshks
Date Posted: 09-Nov-2006 at 01:45
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Vedic Sanskrit is the Sanskrit of the Vedas, it's much older than Panini. Panini defined 'classical' Sanskrit, the language that has more or less survived to the present day. The Kushans are thought to have spoken Tocharian (as that's where they came from) and most of the people living in the regions which would later become part of the Kushan empire spoke Bactrian (which is Iranic), written in aramaic during Achaemenid times. After Alexander's conquest, Greek was introduced. During the Kushans' reign, the official language was apparently first Greek written in Greek script, then Bactrian was given equal status but also written in Greek script and then a new script using both Greek and Aramaic elements was devised. Sanskrit was used liturgically once the empire embraced Buddhism. I'd guess that that Bactrian would have still been the most common language during Kanishka's time. ------------- Once you relinquish your freedom for the sake of "understood necessity,"...you cede your claim to the truth. - Heda Margolius Kovaly |
Posted By: maqsad
Date Posted: 09-Nov-2006 at 02:36
| I thought when panini was around most of the area that is pakistan spoke prakriti? And I thought Vedic Hinduism was started just as panini finished overhauling sanskrit grammar. I mean did he not convert avestan/sanskrit into the more refined and grammatically restructured sanskrit with all his rules etc? |
Posted By: jayeshks
Date Posted: 09-Nov-2006 at 10:37
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Nope. Vedic Sanskrit is from at least the 2nd millenium BC. It's very close to Avestan and has many distinctions from classical Sanskrit. Panini's grammar came around the same time as the emergence of Buddhism (middle of 1st millenium BC). Prakrit just means 'vernacular' like 'vulgar Latin' it's not an actual language but a term to describe any dialect spoken by commonfolk. 'Prakriti' means nature and 'Prakrit' that which comes from nature where as 'Sanskrit' means that which is refined. Even during Mauryan times, Iranic languages and Greek were common west of the Indus. I'm sure some Indic and Dravidian languages were spoken as well but I think their speakers would have been in the minority in most Kushan areas (the empire was west of Indus for all intents and purposes for most of its existence)
------------- Once you relinquish your freedom for the sake of "understood necessity,"...you cede your claim to the truth. - Heda Margolius Kovaly |
Posted By: Vedam
Date Posted: 09-Nov-2006 at 11:51
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Vedic sanskrit is from the the second millenium BC to around 500BC and includes the whole Vedic Corpus ie Vedas, Brahmanas, Upanishads.
Classical sanskrit is around Paninis time of 500BC to 500AD and includes the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana.
Although Vedic Sanskrit and Avestan are closely related they are not the identical eg Avestan "h" becomes "S" in sanskrit as in Hindu/sindu.
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Posted By: M. Nachiappan
Date Posted: 10-Nov-2006 at 06:24
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Language and script are two different entities.
A language can exist without a script.
The same script can be used for mor than one or many languages.
The date of creation of script cannot be the date of language spoken by the language-speaking people.
The same language spokemn by the same language-speaking people differ from place to place.
In due course of time, they may appear different languages keeping the root verbs and important vocabulary.
So one cannot date the language with the available script, that too on available material evidences like inscription, coin, manuscript etc., or date the modified / changed languages of the same language.
One cannot forget the advanced IVC people living there only dating from c.9000 BCE with peak period of c. 2250-1950 BCE, but historians call them "illiterate" i.e, "pre-historic", as they did not have a script. Of course, the existence of "undeciphered script / symbols / glyphs" on the seals is different story.
Therefore, Sanskrit cannot be dated by Panini's grammar or the speaking of Prakrit etc.
Kushanas could not have come from vaccum.
That is why I mentioned about the "appearance" of "Tamil God Karttikeya" on the Kushana coins.
Can anyone say how Kushanas depicted Murugan exactly fitting the description of Sangam literature dated from c.500-300 BCE in his coins, when they were separated from thousands of kilometres?
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Posted By: maqsad
Date Posted: 11-Nov-2006 at 02:08
| Am I understanding this right? The lands west of the Indus had Sanskrit/Avestan based languages spoken commonly by everyone even 4000 years ago? The accents of most north indians today are different entirely from the accents of most afghans and persians, hinting at adoption of a foreign tongue by one of the two groups. |
Posted By: jayeshks
Date Posted: 12-Nov-2006 at 15:13
You don't have to be a Tamil to know about Hindu deities. The Kushans patronized Greek gods at first and then Hindu gods later on. Kartikeya is mentioned even in the Vedas and Brahmanas. I don' t see the problem here. Maqsad, I didn't understand your point. North Indians don't speak the same languages as Afghans or Iranians. How can you compare accents?  ------------- Once you relinquish your freedom for the sake of "understood necessity,"...you cede your claim to the truth. - Heda Margolius Kovaly |
Posted By: maqsad
Date Posted: 12-Nov-2006 at 23:31
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Well someone said 4000 years ago North India and Afghanistan spoke the same language "prakriti" in different dialects. If North Indians Or Afghans or Iranis speak a language other than their mothertongues their accents are different. I have noticed a similarity between North Indian accents and Afghan/Persian accents regardless of the fact that both groups speak an "Indo European" tongue and supposedly have been for thousands of years. It made me wonder if one of the two groups was speaking a language that was very different from the adopted "prakriti" or "proto indo european" or avestan or whatever it was....and thus resulted in different accents. Phonology I think that its called? The study of how vowells, consonants etc are used by a certain linguistic group. |
Posted By: M. Nachiappan
Date Posted: 13-Nov-2006 at 02:41
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1. Considering the distance, you have not answered.
2. You have mentioned that, "The Kushans patronized Greek gods at first and then Hindu gods later on". Kindly give the evidence to that effect.
3. As "Kartikeya is mentioned even in the Vedas and Brahmanas" and so also in Sangam literature, how would you correlate and corroborate?
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