Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas, Western Kshatrapas

Indo-Greeks, Shakas, Kushanas, and the Western Kshatrapas

The period beginning around 200 BCE did not witness a single large empire on the scale of the Mauryas, but it is remarkable for the intimate and widespread contact it established between Central Asia and India. A succession of foreign ruling dynasties — the Indo-Greeks, the Shakas, the Shaka-Pahlavas, and finally the Kushanas — swept into north-western India, leaving behind a lasting legacy in coinage, art, religion, and administrative practice. For UPSC History Optional aspirants, understanding this sequence of invasions, the numismatic evidence that reconstructs much of their history, and the Kushana Empire’s own political and cultural significance is essential to the study of post-Mauryan India.

Background: Central Asian Contact after the Mauryas

• In the eastern and central parts of India, and in the Deccan, the Mauryas were succeeded by several native ruling dynasties, such as the Shungas, the Kanvas, and the Satavahanas.
• In north-western India, however, they were succeeded by a series of ruling dynasties originating from Central Asia — of these, the Kushans became the most famous.

Foreign Invasion of North-West India

The Indo-Greeks (Indo-Bactrians)

• A series of invasions began around 200 BCE. The first to cross the Hindu Kush were the Greeks, who ruled Bactria, situated south of the Oxus river in the area now covered by north Afghanistan; the invaders arrived one after another, though some ruled simultaneously.
  • The Bactrian Greeks who ruled over parts of north-western India between the second century BCE and the early first century CE are known as the Indo-Greeks or Indo-Bactrians.
• One important cause of these invasions was the weakness of the Seleucid Empire, established in Bactria and the adjoining areas of Iran known as Parthia.
  • The Greeks of Bactria had originally been satraps (subordinate rulers) of the Seleucid Empire of West Asia. Around the mid-third century BCE, Diodotus I revolted against the Seleucids and established an independent Bactrian Greek kingdom.
  • On account of growing pressure from the Scythian tribes, later Greek rulers were unable to sustain their power in this area. With the construction of the Chinese wall, the Scythians were pushed back from the Chinese border, and consequently turned their attention towards the neighbouring Greeks and Parthians.
  • Pushed by the Scythian tribes in turn, the Bactrian Greeks were themselves forced to invade India; the successors of Ashoka were too weak to stem this tide of foreign invasion.

Demetrius, Apollodotus, and Menander’s Conquests

• From Taxila, Demetrius, the Greek ruler of Bactria, sent two of his commanders, Apollodotus and Menander, on further conquests. Apollodotus conquered Sindh and marched as far as Ujjain, while Menander extended his rule up to Mathura and attempted from there to capture Pataliputra — though he was stopped by the army of Vasumitra, grandson of Pushyamitra Sunga.
• By the beginning of the second century BCE, the Indo-Greeks occupied a large part of north-western India — a considerably larger area than that conquered by Alexander — pushing forward as far as Ayodhya and Pataliputra.
  • Around 145 BCE, they lost their hold over Bactria itself, but continued to rule the north-western part of the subcontinent for a few decades more.
  • The Greeks, however, failed to establish a united rule in India — two Greek dynasties ruled north-western India simultaneously, on parallel lines.

Menander (165–145 BCE)

• The most important Indo-Greek ruler was Menander, also known as Milinda. He had his capital at Sakala (Sialkot) in Punjab, and invaded the Ganga-Yamuna doab.
  • He is known for the variety and wide circulation of coins across his dominions, and was converted to Buddhism by Nagasena (also known as Nagarjuna).
  • Menander posed Nagasena many questions relating to Buddhism, and these questions, along with Nagasena’s answers, were recorded in a Buddhist text in Pali known as the Milinda Panho (“The Questions of Milinda”).
• Menander’s rule extended over parts of both Bactria and north-western India. A fragmentary Kharoshthi inscription in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan refers to relics of the Buddha being enshrined — presumably in a stupa — during the reign of a king named Minedra, identifiable with Menander.
  • Plutarch tells us that after Menander’s death, there was a conflict over his ashes.
• The Besnagar pillar inscription suggests that the rule of Antialkidas extended as far as Taxila, since his ambassador Heliodorus is described as a native of that city; Heliodorus, this Greek ambassador, became a Vaishnavite and erected the Garuda Pillar at Besnagar.
• The Greek influence in India lasted for more than a century after Menander’s death.

Decline of Indo-Greek Rule

• Indo-Greek rule over the Gandhara region came to an end owing to conflicts with the Parthians and Shakas; their control over the area east of the Jhelum ended in the late first century BCE or early first century CE, following defeat at the hands of the Kshatrapa ruler Rajuvula.
• The names of many Indo-Greek rulers are known from their coins.
  • Over-struck coins indicate either hostile relations between the two rulers in question, or the fact that one succeeded the other; the sheer number of kings within a relatively short period suggests that some of them ruled concurrently.

Importance of Indo-Greek Rule

• Indo-Greek rule is important in Indian history chiefly because of the large number of coins the Greeks issued.
  • The Indo-Greeks were the first rulers in India to issue coins that can be definitively attributed to particular kings — something not possible for the earlier punch-marked coins, which cannot be assigned with certainty to any particular dynasty. They were also the first to issue gold coins in India, a practice that increased further under the Kushans.
  • The Greeks also introduced the practice of military governorship, known as strategos, for maintaining the power of the new rulers over conquered populations.
• The Greek rule introduced features of Hellenistic art to the north-west frontier of India — Gandhara art was largely Hellenistic in its beginnings, but grew progressively more Indian and less Greek over time.
  • The idea of representing the Buddha as a human figure (idol worship) originated with the Greeks. The Greeks also contributed to the development of Indian theatre, through the use of curtains (Yavanika), the stage manager (Sutradhara), and the backstage area (Nepathya).
  • Indian astrology came to be influenced by Greek ideas — the Sanskrit term horasastra, used for astrology, derives from the Greek term “horoscope.”

Coins of the Graeco-Bactrians

• The Indo-Greek coins that circulated north of the Hindu Kush were made of gold, silver, copper, and nickel; they followed the Attic weight standard and bore Greek legends, with royal portraits on the obverse, while the reverse generally depicted Greek deities (such as Zeus, Apollo, and Athena) alongside the name and title of the king.
• The Indo-Greek coins that circulated south of the Hindu Kush, by contrast, were made of silver and copper and were often square in shape; they carried bilingual inscriptions in Greek and Kharoshthi (more rarely, Brahmi), and followed an Indian weight standard.
  • Royal portraits still appear on the obverse, but the reverse motifs include religious symbols of Indian rather than Greek inspiration. An interesting coin series was that of king Agathocles, depicting the god Samkarshana Balarama on the obverse and Vasudeva Krishna on the reverse.
  • The coins of the Shakas, Parthians, and Kshatrapas all followed the basic features of Indo-Greek coinage, including bilingual and bi-script legends.

The Shaka and Western Kshatrapas

• The Greeks were followed by the Shakas. The Shakas, or Scythians, destroyed Greek power in both Bactria and India, and controlled a much larger part of India than the Greeks ever had; the history of Shaka rule in India is known largely through inscriptions and coins.

Maues and the Foundation of Shaka Rule

• The founder of Shaka rule in India, in the first century BCE, was Maues. An inscription found at Taxila mentions a Shaka king named Moga and his kshatrapa (governor), Patika; Moga is identified with Maues, whose name appears on several copper and silver coins similar to those issued by the Indo-Greeks.
  • It is likely that Maues conquered the Gandhara region from the Indo-Greeks, though the latter soon recovered some of their lost ground.
• Some coins suggest the practice of conjoint rule — Spalirises and Azes I appear to have been co-rulers for a time. The Vikrama era of 58/57 BCE (still used in India today) was once thought to mark the accession of Azes I (son of Maues).

The Two Groups of Shakas

• There were two main groups of Shakas: the Northern Satraps, ruling from Taxila (later overthrown by the Parthians), and the Western Satraps, ruling over Maharashtra.
• The Shakas faced no effective resistance from the rulers and peoples of India — except that, around 57–58 BCE, the king of Ujjain fought effectively against the Shakas and succeeded in driving them out during his reign. He called himself Vikramaditya, and the era known as Vikrama Samvat is reckoned from his victory over the Shakas in 57 BCE.

Vikramaditya and the Vikrama Era

• From this time onwards, Vikramaditya became a coveted title — whoever achieved anything great adopted it. As a result, Indian history records as many as fourteen Vikramadityas, of whom Chandragupta II of the Gupta dynasty is the most famous.
  • The title continued to be fashionable among Indian kings until the twelfth century, and was especially prevalent in western India and the western Deccan.
• Although the Shakas established their rule in different parts of the country, only those who ruled in western India held power for any considerable length of time — for about four centuries or so. They benefited from the sea-borne trade of Gujarat and issued numerous silver coins.
• In the early centuries CE, there were two important lines of Kshatrapa rulers — the Kshaharatas and the Kardamakas.

The Kshaharatas

• The Kshaharata dynasty included rulers such as Bhumaka and Nahapana.

Bhumaka

• Bhumaka appears to have originally owed allegiance to Kanishka. His coins, bearing legends in Brahmi and Kharoshthi, have been found in coastal Gujarat, with some also occurring in Malwa and the Ajmer area.

Nahapana

• More is known about the reign of Nahapana (c. 119–125 CE). Apart from his coins, several inscriptions are dated to an era, probably the Shaka era of 78 CE.
  • In his earlier inscriptions, Nahapana bears the title kshatrapa, and in his later ones, mahakshatrapa and rajan; on his gold and silver coins, he is simply styled rajan. Since none of his inscriptions mention any overlord, he appears to have ruled more or less independently.
• Nahapana’s coins have been found in the Ajmer area of Rajasthan and the Nashik area of Maharashtra; an inscription of one of his amatyas, named Aryaman, has been found at Junnar in Pune district.
  • At its height, his kingdom seems to have included Malwa, Gujarat, Saurashtra, northern Maharashtra, and parts of Rajasthan and the lower Indus valley. His capital, Minnagara, can perhaps be identified with Doha, midway between Ujjain and Broach.
  • Nahapana’s son-in-law, Ushavadata, served as viceroy of the southern part of the kingdom; several of his donative inscriptions have been found in the Nashik and Karle caves.

Conflict between the Shaka Kshatrapas and Satavahanas

• The Shaka Kshatrapas were involved in prolonged conflict with the Satavahanas, a powerful dynasty with its stronghold in the Deccan; control over certain areas — especially those providing access to the western seaboard — appears to have frequently changed hands.
  • The Nashik and Pune areas, for instance, seem to have been conquered from the Satavahanas by either Nahapana or one of his predecessors.
• However, in 124–25 CE, Nahapana was apparently killed by the Satavahana ruler Gautamiputra Satakarni, who wrested the southern territories of the Kshaharata kingdom from him.
  • This is evident from the discovery of Gautamiputra’s inscriptions in the Nashik and Pune districts, his re-striking of Nahapana’s coins, and certain statements made in an inscription of Gautamiputra’s mother, Gautami Balashri.

The Kardamakas

• At about the time the Kshaharata dynasty came to an end, another line of Shaka Kshatrapas, known as the Kardamakas, came to the fore in western India.

Chashtana

• The founder of this dynasty was Chashtana, styled kshatrapa on his earlier coins and mahakshatrapa on his later ones, with the additional title of rajan occurring throughout.
  • Chashtana may originally have ruled the Sind area as a subordinate of the Kushanas; after Nahapana’s death, he appears to have served as viceroy of the south-western provinces of the Kushana empire.
• The Kardamakas had a practice of appointing senior and junior rulers, styled mahakshatrapa and kshatrapa respectively — for instance, during the lifetime of mahakshatrapa Chashtana, his son Jayadaman, and later his grandson Rudradaman I, held the rank of kshatrapa.
  • Chashtana was succeeded as mahakshatrapa by Rudradaman I; both rulers succeeded in winning back some of the territories that Gautamiputra Satakarni had conquered from Nahapana.

Rudradaman I (130–150 CE)

• The most famous Shaka ruler in India was Rudradaman I, known from his coins but even more so from his Junagarh inscription, dated to the Shaka year 72 (150–51 CE).
  • He ruled not only Sindh, but also a substantial part of Gujarat, Konkan, the Narmada valley, Malwa, and Kathiawar; he is famous in history for the repairs he undertook to the Sudarshana lake, in the semi-arid zone of Kathiawar, which had been used for irrigation since Mauryan times.
• Rudradaman was a great lover of Sanskrit — though he had Central Asian ancestors, he issued the first-ever long inscription in chaste Sanskrit, since all earlier long inscriptions in India had been composed in Prakrit, which Ashoka had made the state language.
• During the late second century CE, the Satavahana king Yajna Satakarni won back some of the southern territories of the Kardamakas.

The Junagarh Inscription

• A rock at Junagadh in Gujarat bears a set of Ashokan edicts, an inscription of the Kardamaka ruler Rudradaman, and an inscription of the Gupta king Skandagupta.
  • While Ashoka’s inscriptions record his discourses on dhamma, the other two together tell a unique story of the construction, maintenance, and repair of a single water reservoir over roughly a thousand years.

Rudradaman’s Inscription: The Sudarshana Lake

• Rudradaman’s inscription consists of twenty lines of writing, in the Brahmi script and the Sanskrit language, composed in an elegant and literary style — in fact, this is the first long inscription in Sanskrit found anywhere in the subcontinent.
• The inscription’s purpose is to record the restoration of a reservoir called the Sudarshana lake by the mahakshatrapa Rudradaman.
  • Construction of this reservoir had originally begun under Vaishya Pushyagupta, provincial governor under Chandragupta Maurya, and was completed by the Yavana Tushaspha, governor of the area during Ashoka’s reign.
• The inscription goes on to describe how, many years later, during Rudradaman’s reign, in the winter of the Shaka year 72 (150 CE), a terrible storm tore apart the lake’s embankments — all its water flowed out, and the lake came to resemble a sandy desert; the Sudarshana (“beautiful to look at”) lake had become durdarshana (“ugly to look at”), and the people lamented this terrible event.
  • So great was the damage that Rudradaman’s own officers believed the lake beyond repair, but Rudradaman ordered the work done regardless.
  • The work was supervised by the provincial governor of Anarta and Surashtra, the amatya Suvishakha, praised in the inscription as an exemplary officer — able, patient, self-controlled, upright, honest, and free of arrogance.
  • The lake was reinforced and made three times as strong, in both length and breadth, on all sides, in a remarkably short time — all without oppressing the inhabitants of towns and villages through taxes, forced labour, or any other imposition.
• The inscription states that Rudradaman undertook all this to benefit cows and Brahmanas for a thousand years, and for the sake of righteousness (dharma) and fame (kirti).

Eulogy (Prashasti) of Rudradaman

• The inscription also contains an eloquent eulogy (prashasti) of Rudradaman, whose genealogy includes his father Jayadaman and grandfather Chashtana.
  • He is said to have destroyed the Yaudheyas, who had grown arrogant, claiming to be heroes by defeating all the Kshatriyas; the inscription proclaims his wide conquests over areas including Malwa, Saurashtra, Gujarat, northern Konkan, and the Maheshwar area on the Narmada.
  • It states that he twice defeated Satakarni, lord of the Dakshinapatha, but declined to destroy him, since Satakarni was a close relative — this Satakarni appears to be Gautamiputra Satakarni, whose son Vasishthiputra Pulumavi seems to have married Rudradaman’s daughter.
• We are told that the towns, villages, and markets of this king were never troubled by robbers, snakes, wild beasts, or disease, and that his subjects, attached to him, attained the goals of dharma, artha, and kama through his prowess.
• The elaborate, poetic description of Rudradaman portrays him as one:
  • who had been chosen by all varnas as their lord and protector;
  • who had vowed never to kill men except in battle, and who was moved by compassion;
  • who reinstated deposed kings, and who, by raising his hand, had earned the strong attachment of dharma;
  • who had earned wide fame through his knowledge and practice of grammar, music, logic, and other great sciences;
  • who was skilled in the control of horses, elephants, and chariots, in the use of sword and shield, and in face-to-face combat;
  • who was generous, in the habit of bestowing gifts and honours, showed respect to others, and avoided disrespect;
  • whose treasury overflowed through rightfully obtained tribute, tolls, and shares;
  • who composed Sanskrit kavyas in both prose and verse;
  • whose body bore the most excellent marks and signs of auspicious length, dimension, height, voice, gait, complexion, vigour, and strength; and
  • who had been wreathed with many garlands at the svayamvaras of numerous kings’ daughters.
• The inscription, taken as a whole, offers a portrait of the ideal king, according to the standards and idiom of its time.
• As for the Sudarshana lake itself, Skandagupta’s inscription tells us that it burst its banks again in 455–56 CE, during the reign of this Gupta king, who likewise had it repaired.

The Shaka-Pahlavas (Scytho-Parthians)

• Shaka domination in north-western India was followed by that of the Parthians, and in many ancient Indian Sanskrit texts, the two peoples are mentioned together as Shaka-Pahlavas; indeed, both ruled over parts of India in parallel for some time.
• The Parthians (or Pahlavas) had originally lived in Iran, from where they moved into India; compared to the Greeks and Shakas, they occupied only a small portion of north-western India, in the first century CE. The history of Scytho-Parthian rule in India is known largely through inscriptions and coins.
  • The Shakas and Scytho-Parthians ruled through governors or subordinate rulers known as kshatrapas and mahakshatrapas, who played an important role in the expansion of the empire; various kshatrapas are known to us from their inscriptions and coins.
  • Azes I appears to have extended his control into the north-west of the subcontinent, while Azilises pushed further east, into the Mathura area.
• The most famous Parthian king was Gondophernes, during whose reign St Thomas is said to have come to India to propagate Christianity.
  • The successors of Gondophernes were ultimately ousted from north-western India by the Kushanas. In time, the Parthians, like the Shakas before them, became an integral part of Indian polity and society.

The Kushanas

• The Parthians were followed by the Kushans, also known as the Yuechis. The Kushanas were one of the five branches of the Yuchi tribe, whose original home lay in Central Asia.
  • A series of tribal movements in Central Asia produced ripple effects across the region — the Hiung-nu defeated the Yueh-chi, who then moved westwards, displacing other tribes in turn.
• A nomadic people from the steppes of north Central Asia, living in the neighbourhood of China, the Kushans first occupied Bactria (north Afghanistan), where they displaced the Shakas.
  • They gradually moved into the Kabul valley and seized Gandhara by crossing the Hindu Kush, replacing the rule of the Greeks and Parthians in these areas, and eventually established their authority over the lower Indus basin and the greater part of the Gangetic basin.

The Central Asian Empire

• Their empire extended from the Oxus to the Ganges — from Khorasan in Central Asia to Pataliputra in Bihar. A substantial part of Central Asia (included in the former USSR), a portion of Iran, a portion of Afghanistan, almost the whole of Pakistan, and almost the whole of northern India were all brought under one rule by the Kushans, which is why the Kushan empire in India is sometimes called a Central Asian empire.
  • This empire created a unique opportunity for the interaction of peoples and cultures, giving rise to a new type of culture that embraced nine modern countries.
• There were two successive dynasties of Kushans. The Kushana dynasty itself was founded by a house of chiefs called Kadphises, who ruled for twenty-eight years from around 50 CE, under two kings.

Kujula Kadphises (Kadphises I)

• In the early first century CE, Kujula Kadphises (Kadphises I) amalgamated the five principalities and laid the foundations of a unified Kushana empire.
  • He issued coins south of the Hindu Kush, minting copper coins in imitation of Roman coins — the discovery of his coins south of the Hindu Kush suggests that Kushana movement into the Indian subcontinent began in his time.

Vima Kadphises

• Kadphises I’s son, Vima Kadphises, began as a co-ruler with his father before going on to rule independently. He conquered Kandahar from the Parthians, and during his reign, the Kushanas pressed further east, establishing control over the Indus valley and the Mathura region.
  • He issued gold coins bearing high-sounding titles such as “Lord of the Whole World,” and was himself a devotee of Lord Shiva. While the coins of Kadphises I suggest an association with Buddhism, those of Vima instead proclaim him a devotee of Shiva.
• The house of Kadphises was succeeded by that of Kanishka.

Kanishka

• The Kushana Empire reached its zenith during the reign of Kanishka, who was not only a great conqueror but also a patron of religion and art.
  • His reign began in 78 CE, and his successors dated their inscriptions to an era beginning from this year — this era came to be known as the Shaka era, and is still used by the Government of India today.
  • The Rabatak inscription, from Afghanistan, is composed in the Bactrian language and Greek script, and gives valuable information about Kanishka’s reign.

Kanishka’s Conquests

• At the time of his accession, Kanishka’s empire already included Afghanistan, Gandhara, Sind, and Punjab; he subsequently conquered Magadha, extending his power as far as Pataliputra and Bodh Gaya.
  • According to Kalhana, Kanishka invaded and occupied Kashmir. His coins have been found at sites such as Mathura, Sravasti, Kausambi, and Benares, suggesting he must have conquered the greater part of the Gangetic plain.
• He also fought against the Chinese, acquiring some of their territories — during his first expedition, he was defeated by the Chinese general Pancho, but in a second expedition, he was successful, scoring a victory over Panyang, Pancho’s son.
  • Kanishka annexed the territories of Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan; the incorporation of these regions proved a major stimulus to trade.
• Kanishka’s empire was thus a vast one, extending from Gandhara in the west to Benares in the east, and from Kashmir in the north to Malwa in the south. His capital was Purushapura (modern Peshawar), with Mathura as another important city of his empire.

Trade and Kushana Expansion

• B.N. Mukherjee has suggested that the presence of diamond mines in Akara (eastern Malwa) and the trade potential of the lower Indus country contributed to Kushana expansion into these regions.
  • The Kushanas grew wealthy and powerful through their conquest of the lower Indus region, no doubt owing to the growing importance of ports on the Makran coast within Indian Ocean trade networks; Mukherjee further argues that there existed a connection between the decline of this trade and the decline of the Kushana empire itself.
• Towards the end of his long reign, Kanishka appears to have led an unsuccessful military expedition into Central Asia against the Chinese, and was defeated, forced to pay tribute to the emperor Ho-ti.

Kanishka as a Patron of Buddhism

• Kanishka is celebrated in Buddhist texts as a great patron of Buddhism. Buddhist chaityas and viharas were built in various places, and he is supposed to have enshrined the Buddha’s relics in a stupa at Purushapura, which became the centre of a major monastery; his coins, too, bore images of the Buddha.
• He held a Fourth Buddhist Council in Kashmir, at which the doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism were finalised — held at the Kundalavana monastery, near Srinagar, under the presidency of Vasumitra, and attended by around 500 monks.
  • The Council prepared an authoritative commentary on the Tripitakas, and the Mahayana doctrine was given its final shape in the age of Kanishka.
  • Mahayana Buddhism, which came into vogue at this time, differed in many respects from the religion originally taught by the Buddha and propagated by Ashoka — the Buddha now came to be worshipped with flowers, garments, perfumes, and lamps, and image worship and ritual developed accordingly within Mahayana Buddhism.
• Kanishka is said to have patronised Buddhist scholars such as Ashvaghosha, Vasumitra, and Nagarjuna.
  • Ashvaghosha was a great philosopher, poet, and dramatist, and author of the Buddhacharita; Nagarjuna, from south India, likewise adorned Kanishka’s court.
  • The famous physician Charaka was also patronised by Kanishka, who additionally sent missionaries to Central Asia and China to propagate the new faith.

Kanishka’s Religious Eclecticism

• At the same time, Kanishka’s own coinage depicts motifs drawn from a great variety of Indian, Greek, and West Asian religious traditions — besides the Buddha and Shiva, they include representations of Persian gods such as Atash (a fire god) and Mithra (a sun god), and Greek deities such as Helios (a sun god) and Selene (a moon goddess).
  • This variety of religious motifs is usually taken as reflecting the king’s personal religious eclecticism, or his attitude of religious “tolerance”; at the level of royal policy, it can also be seen as an acknowledgement of the religious diversity within the empire, and an attempt by these kings to connect themselves with the deities worshipped throughout their realm.
• The Kushana Empire began as a Central Asian kingdom before expanding into Afghanistan and north-western India, with Bactria remaining its centre — reflected, for instance, in the use of the Bactrian language in Kanishka’s coins and inscriptions.
  • In India itself, the two important political centres of Kushana power were Purushapura (Peshawar) and Mathura.

King as Divine

• The Kushana kings adopted the title devaputra. Historians have described this as an exaltation of royal status to the point of projecting the king as divine — an idea quite common in other ancient empires as well.
  • It has been suggested that the shrine at Mat, near Mathura, may have served as a sanctuary where images of these kings were themselves worshipped.
• The Kushana Empire consisted of various tiers of control: some areas remained under the direct control of the kings, while others were governed by subordinate rulers bearing the title kshatrapa or mahakshatrapa — some of whom merely acknowledged Kushana paramountcy and paid tribute, while others recognised Kushana suzerainty while remaining largely autonomous.

Later Kushana Rulers and Decline

• The immediate successors of Kanishka were Vasishka, Huvishka, Kanishka II, and Vasudeva I. A massive rock at Hunza bears a number of Kharoshthi inscriptions naming Kadphises, Kanishka, Huvishka, and various kshatrapas and mahakshatrapas.
• The empire began declining from the time of Vasudeva I, around the mid-second century CE, with Vasudeva II as the last Kushana emperor.
  • The decline of the Kushanas allowed several previously subdued polities to resurface — the Shaka Kshatrapas came to the fore once more in western and central India, while coins, seals, sealings, and inscriptions attest to various monarchies and ganas across northern India, such as the Malavas, the Yaudheya gana, and various Naga kings.
  • Inscriptions and coins also name various local dynasties ruling from Ahichchhatra, Ayodhya, and Kaushambi.

The Indo-Sassanians

• By the middle of the third century CE, the Sassanians had occupied the lower Indus region, initially calling this region Hindu — not in a religious sense, but in reference to the peoples of the Indus.
  • A Sassanian inscription of 262 CE uses the term Hindustan for this region — the term later used for India in Mughal and modern times was thus first employed as early as the third century CE.
• The Sassanians, also known as the Indo-Sassanians, ruled in India for less than a century, but contributed to the Indian economy through the issue of a large number of coins.

Numismatic Evidence and the Political-Economic Outlook of the Kushanas

• Numismatics refers to the study of coins; coins are linked to monetary history and also form an important source for the political history of India — and the numismatic evidence of this period offers valuable insight into the political and economic outlook of the Kushanas.
• The Kushanas were the first dynasty of the subcontinent to mint large quantities of gold coins, while also issuing many copper coins of low denominational value — indicating the increasing spread of the money economy; the wide distribution of Kushana coins likewise indicates the flourishing trade of the period.
  • Coins issued jointly by Kujula Kadphises and his son Vima Kadphises reflect the practice of conjoint rule; while the coins of Kujula suggest an association with Buddhism, those of Vima proclaim him a devotee of Shiva.
• Kushana coins depict, on the reverse, deities belonging to the Brahmanical, Buddhist, Greek, Roman, and other pantheons — a variety of religious motifs usually taken as reflecting the king’s personal religious eclecticism and attitude of tolerance, and, at the level of royal policy, as an acknowledgment of the empire’s religious diversity and an attempt to gain legitimacy in the eyes of its subjects.
  • The presence of Greek and Roman deities on Kushana coins has been interpreted as reflecting the importance of Indo-Roman trade during this period; Roman coins have themselves been found at places such as Taxila and Mathura, though since the Kushanas possessed a well-established currency system of their own, they may also have melted down and re-minted Roman coins.
• The discovery of Kushana coins in far-off places suggests that the Kushana empire expanded further east into the Ganga valley and southwards into the Malwa region, with Kushana influence felt in western and central India as well — though the discovery of Kushana coins as far east as Bengal and Odisha does not necessarily indicate that Kushana political control extended quite so far.
  • A number of city coins, issued by the urban administrations of cities such as Ujjayini, Kaushambi, Vidisha, Varanasi, and Taxila, indicate a degree of autonomy and authority held by local city administrations, while a handful of nigama coins reflect the power and authority of merchant guilds.
• It can thus be concluded that numismatic evidence helps illuminate the political and economic outlook of the Kushanas in a number of ways — though such evidence needs to be corroborated with other sources, such as literary texts and inscriptions, to present a complete and conclusive picture.

Deities Depicted on Kushana Coins

• The early Kushan kings issued numerous gold coins of a higher degree of metallic purity than is found even in the Gupta gold coins.
  • Although Kushan gold coins are found mainly to the west of the Indus, their inscriptions are distributed not only across north-western India and Sindh, but also at Mathura, Shravasti, Kaushambi, and Varanasi — showing that, besides the Ganga-Yamuna doab, the Kushans had established their authority across the greater part of the middle Gangetic basin as well.
  • Kushan coins, inscriptions, structures, and sculpture found at Mathura show that it served as their second capital in India, the first being Purushapura (Peshawar), where Kanishka erected a monastery and a huge stupa, or relic tower, that excited the wonder of foreign travellers.
• Important deities depicted on Kushana coins include:
  • Greek deities — Herakles (Hercules), Zero (Zeus), and Helios (the sun god);
  • Iranian deities — Mithra (sun), Mao (moon), Oado (wind), and Nana (a nature goddess);
  • Hindu deities — Oheso (Shiva), Ommo (Uma, consort of Shiva), and Vasudeva (Vishnu); and
  • Buddhist — Boddo (the Buddha).

Examining the Significance of the Deities Depicted on the Coins

Significance for Trade

• One interpretation holds that these coins were minted with an eye to foreign trade, particularly Roman trade, and thus reflect the religious beliefs current within these trading zones.
  • This proposition, however, can be challenged — the Kushana empire enjoyed a generally favourable balance of trade, and even the copper coins, which were not minted with foreign trade in mind, display this same variety of religious motifs.

Kushana Cultural Horizon and Religious Syncretism

• The variety of religious motifs is more broadly taken as reflecting the king’s own personal religious eclecticism, or his attitude of religious tolerance; it can be seen as an acknowledgement of the religious diversity within the empire, and as an attempt by these kings to connect themselves with the deities worshipped throughout their realm — the coins, in this sense, reflecting the beliefs of various ethnic or ideological communities within the polyglot Kushana empire.
  • It remains difficult, however, to explain the relative rarity of Buddhist emblems, given that all other sources attest clearly to the flourishing of Buddhism within the Kushana Empire; more surprisingly still, Jaina deities and symbols are entirely absent from Kushana coinage.

Nature of Society

• The deities depicted also offer insight into the nature of Kushana society — the depiction of the Buddha, for instance, indicates the prevalence of a non-Brahmanical social environment, characterised by trade, urbanisation, and economic growth.
  • This Buddhist-influenced society was dominated largely by traders and artisans, gave little weight to varna hierarchy, and provided relatively easy social access to foreign ruling groups.

Effort to Gain Legitimacy

• The depiction of Indian gods on Kushana coins is also significant, indicating the efforts of the Kushanas — who were, after all, originally Central Asian — to adopt Brahmanism and thereby gain legitimacy; this process contributed to the emergence of the so-called Vrata-Kshatriyas.

John M. Rosenfield’s Interpretation

• John M. Rosenfield, author of Dynastic Arts of the Kushans, offers the explanation that these deities functioned as divine companions and supporters of the Kushana monarchy.
  • He observes that Kushana coinage served as a vehicle of propaganda, directly expressing the ideology of the ruling house — cumulatively, these coins express a “concern with material abundance and prosperity, with military triumph, with legitimacy of rule, and with the divine sanction and support of the ruling house.”
• Whatever the precise motivation behind this innovation, the deities depicted on Kushana coins remain one of the most extraordinary facets of the dynasty.

Counter-Struck Coins of Ancient India

• Counter-struck coins refer to coins struck by one ruler and later re-struck by another; the original strike is known as the “undertype,” and the second, later strike as the “overtype.”
• Evidence of counter-struck coins relates particularly to the Satavahanas and the Western Kshatrapas:
  • The silver coins of Nahapana (a Western Kshatrapa) were re-struck by the Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni with his own symbols.
  • Similarly, silver coins of Nahapana were re-struck by the Satavahana king Shiva Satakarni.
  • Conversely, coins of Shiva Satakarni were themselves re-struck by the Western Kshatrapa Nahapana.
• Counter-struck coins offer several indications:
  • They indicate changes in political control and political sway, representing the defeat of one power and the victory of another.
  • They also indicate a deliberate approach of retaining a similar coin design with only slight modification, simply to signal the change of ruling authority.
  • They can, in some cases, also indicate a scarcity of a particular metal.

Polity under the Central Asian Rulers

• The Central Asian conquerors imposed their rule upon numerous petty native princes, leading to the development of a feudatory organisation. The Kushans adopted the grand title of “king of kings,” indicating that they collected tribute from numerous smaller princes.
• The Shakas and Kushans together strengthened the idea of the divine origin of kingship. Where Ashoka had called himself merely “dear to the gods,” the Kushan kings called themselves “sons of god” (Devaputra) — a title adopted by the Kushans from the Chinese, who referred to their own emperor as the “son of heaven,” and naturally employed in India to legitimise royal authority.
  • The Brahmanical lawmaker Manu likewise instructs people to respect the king even if he is a child, since he is a great god ruling in human form.
• The Kushans strengthened the satrap system of government first adopted by the Shakas — the Kushan Empire was divided into smaller units, governed by kshatraps or satraps, marking the true beginning of the Kshatrapa system.
  • They also introduced the curious practice of hereditary dual rule, whereby both father and son ruled the same kingdom simultaneously — suggesting a relatively lower degree of centralisation under these rulers.
• The Greeks, meanwhile, had already introduced the practice of military governorship, with governors known as strategos, necessary for maintaining the power of the new rulers over the populations they had conquered.

Conclusion

The centuries following the fall of the Mauryas saw a remarkable succession of Central Asian powers — Indo-Greeks, Shakas, Shaka-Pahlavas, and finally the Kushanas — sweep into north-western India, each leaving behind a distinctive legacy in coinage, administration, and religious life. From Menander’s conversion to Buddhism and the Milinda Panho, through Rudradaman’s Sanskrit eulogy at Junagarh, to Kanishka’s patronage of Mahayana Buddhism and his empire’s extraordinary religious syncretism as revealed on its coinage, this period demonstrates how thoroughly India’s north-west became a zone of cultural fusion between Central Asia, Persia, Greece, and the subcontinent itself. For UPSC History Optional aspirants, the numismatic and epigraphic record of this era — read carefully alongside literary sources — remains indispensable for reconstructing the political, economic, and religious history of post-Mauryan India.