Kanishka

Also called: Kanishka I · Topic: Post-Mauryan India: Shungas to Kushanas · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"

Meaning

Kanishka (also called Kanishka I) was the most famous ruler of the Kushana dynasty, a family of kings from Central Asia who ruled parts of Central Asia, Afghanistan and north India. His accession (coming to the throne) is placed at c. 78 CE, but this date is uncertain.

He matters because his reign shows three big changes of the post-Mauryan age:

• Kings now claimed to be close to god.
• Gold coins came into wide use, as India joined Silk Route trade.
• Buddhist art took new forms in Gandhara.

Explanation

Background: who Kanishka was and the date problem

• The Kushanas came from Central Asia. At their peak, their empire ran from Central Asia into large parts of north India.
• They ruled northern India, Afghanistan, and possibly Central Asian land north of the Kashmir region [3].
• The NCERT books themselves give different dates:
• Class 12 places the Kushanas in c. 1st century BCE – 1st century CE. It puts Kanishka's accession at c. 78 CE and marks that date as uncertain.

• Class 7 says the Kushanas entered India "probably in the 2nd century CE".

• 78 CE is also the starting year of the Shaka era (a way of counting years that India's national calendar still uses). Many historians say Kanishka started it, but this is debated because his own date is not fixed.

• Exam rule: treat every Kushana date as approximate. If a question gives 78 CE for Kanishka, accept it.

Divine kingship: statues and titles

• Kanishka pushed a new idea of kingship. In this idea the king was not only powerful but also close to god.
• Very large statues of Kushana rulers were set up in shrines at Mat, near Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), and in Afghanistan.

• A shrine is normally the place kept for a god. So some historians say the Kushanas saw themselves as godlike.

• The headless Kanishka statue from Mat:

• It is about 1.85 metres tall. It was made in Mathura around the late 1st century CE. Today it is in the Archaeological Museum, Mathura [2].
• The king wears heavy boots, a tunic and a long coat, and leans on a mace (a heavy club used as a weapon) [2].
• This is Central Asian dress. The king shows off his steppe (Central Asian grassland) origin. He does not hide it.

• Royal portraits from the Mathura workshops are stiff and face straight forward. They show a belted tunic, high boots and a conical cap (a cap shaped like a cone) [2].

• The inscription on the statue is in Brahmi, the script used in most early Indian inscriptions:

• maharaja rajadhiraja devaputra Kanishka
• maharaja = great king (an Indian title)
• rajadhiraja = king of kings (a title borrowed from Iran or Central Asia)
• devaputra = son of god. This was possibly copied from Chinese emperors, who were called "sons of heaven".

Coins: money that carried a message

• Kanishka used coins to advertise his rule.
• One coin shows the king holding a spear, with the title "King of Kings". The other side shows the Buddha, labelled BOΔΔO in Greek script.
• Another coin type shows Shiva with his bull Nandi.

• His coins honoured Zoroastrian, Greek and Brahmanical gods as well as the Buddha [3]. (Zoroastrian means belonging to the old religion of Iran.)

• The message: a strong ruler who supports many faiths, not one state religion.

• The first gold coins in India:
• The Kushanas issued the first gold coins in India, from about the 1st century CE.
• They come from the largest hoards of this period. (A hoard is a buried lot of coins found together.)
• Their weight is almost the same as the Roman aureus (the Roman gold coin) and Parthian coins (coins of the Parthians, who ruled Iran).
• Because the weight matched, traders far away could accept them without weighing them again. This shows that India was linked to a much wider trading world.
• Kushana gold follows a Roman weight standard. On these coins the rulers appear next to Near Eastern and South Asian gods [3].
• Britannica dates the Great Kushan gold coins to the 2nd and early 3rd centuries CE [3]. For the exam, keep the NCERT date of c. 1st century CE.

Results: trade, Buddhism and art

• The Silk Route made the empire rich.
• The Kushanas controlled large parts of the Silk Route, the land trade roads that linked China, Central Asia, India and the West.
• Under Kanishka, contact with the Roman Empire along the Silk Road greatly increased trade and the exchange of ideas [3].

• Gandhara could reach the overland silk routes directly and had links to ports on the Arabian Sea [3].

• Art grew under his patronage.

• Kanishka supported art and culture.

• In the Gandhara school of art, images of the Buddha show Greek and Roman features [3].

• Buddhism: Kanishka is traditionally seen as a patron of Buddhism. He is linked with the rise of Mahayana Buddhism, the branch of Buddhism that worships the Buddha in image form. His Buddha coins and the Gandhara Buddha images fit this link.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: post-Mauryan India (c. 185 BCE – 300 CE). Kanishka's accession is c. 78 CE (uncertain). Class 7 NCERT says the Kushanas entered India "probably in the 2nd century CE".
• Dynasty: the Kushanas, from Central Asia.
• Region: Central Asia, Afghanistan and north India, including Gandhara and Mathura.
• Key sites:
• Mat, near Mathura (Uttar Pradesh): a shrine with royal statues. A group of royal portrait sculptures was found in this village [2].

• A shrine in Afghanistan: another place with colossal (very large) Kushana royal statues.

• How we know:

• Sculpture: the headless Kanishka statue, about 1.85 m tall, now in the Archaeological Museum, Mathura [2].
• Inscription: the Brahmi legend maharaja rajadhiraja devaputra Kanishka on the statue.
• Coins: gold issues showing the Buddha (BOΔΔO), Shiva with Nandi, and Zoroastrian and Greek gods [3]. They are found across north India and Central Asia.
• Textbooks: NCERT Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation", and Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns".

Don't confuse with

• Ashoka's devanampiya:* Ashoka called himself "beloved of the gods". Kanishka's devaputra means "*son of god". Kanishka's title is a much stronger claim to be divine.
• Shakas and the Shaka era: the Shakas were a different Central Asian people. The Shaka era (78 CE) carries their name, but it is often credited to Kanishka, a Kushana. That link is debated.
• Gupta gold coins: the Guptas are famous for gold coins, but the Kushanas issued the first gold coins in India (c. 1st century CE).
• Gandhara school vs Mathura school: Gandhara images of the Buddha show Greek and Roman features [3]. Kanishka's own portrait statue comes from a Mathura workshop and is stiff and front-facing, in Central Asian dress [2].

Prelims Hooks

• Full legend on the Kanishka statue: maharaja rajadhiraja devaputra Kanishka, in Brahmi script. Devaputra = "son of god", possibly copied from the Chinese "sons of heaven".
• Headless Kanishka statue: Mat, near Mathura. It is about 1.85 m tall, from the late 1st century CE, and kept in the Archaeological Museum, Mathura. It shows boots, tunic and coat, and the king leans on a mace [2].
• The Buddha on Kanishka's coin is labelled BOΔΔO in Greek script. Another coin type shows Shiva with Nandi.
• First gold coins in India: Kushanas. Their weight is almost the same as the Roman aureus and Parthian coins.
• Kanishka's accession c. 78 CE (Class 12, flagged uncertain). Class 7 says the Kushanas came "probably in the 2nd century CE".
• Kanishka's coins honoured Zoroastrian, Greek and Brahmanical gods plus the Buddha [3].

Mains Points

• Kingship became divine, not just powerful.
• Ashoka was "beloved of the gods". Kanishka was devaputra, "son of god", and his statue stood inside a shrine.

• Argument: a foreign dynasty ruling a new land used a religious claim to make its power look legitimate (rightful).

• One inscription, three worlds.

• Maharaja is Indian. Rajadhiraja is Iranian or Central Asian. Devaputra may echo China.

• Together with coins that honour Buddhist, Brahmanical, Zoroastrian and Greek gods [3], this shows India as part of a connected Eurasia. It also shows a deliberate policy of backing many faiths to win the loyalty of many peoples.

• Trade, money, art and kingship form one chain.

• Control of the Silk Route paid for gold coins on a Roman weight standard.
• The same roads carried Greek and Roman art forms into Gandhara Buddha images [3].
• In an answer, link economy → art → kingship in one argument instead of treating them as separate topics.

Related concepts

• Kushanas
• Kujula Kadphises
• Vima Kadphises
• Huvishka
• Divine kingship
• Devaputra
• Kanishka's coins
• Rabatak inscription
• Kanishka casket

Read more

• The Kushanas and divine kingship