The Kushan kingdom, which flourished at the turn of our era in Central Asia, is little known: its inhabitants, roughly ousting the local rulers, came to the territory of modern Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia from nowhere, and after three and a half centuries they disappeared into history without a trace, as if they did not exist never.
However, without a trace - the word is inaccurate. The mysterious kingdom has left a diplomatic memory of itself in the vastness from Rome to China and created a surprisingly eclectic culture, where Hellenism combined with Buddhism.
Chinese chroniclers, travelers, scouts wrote about this empire. The Roman chroniclers knew about her. Her name - Kushanshahr - is found in several inscriptions of the Sassanid kings. Both ancient Armenian and Syrian writers reported about the long wars between the Sassanids and the Kushans.
However, modern historians first learned about this kingdom, comparable in power to Rome, Parthia and China, only in the middle of the 19th century. Just then, several owners of European numismatic collections drew attention to the Hellenistic coins with the names of the kings of some Kushan engraved on them. According to the geography of the finds, archaeologists soon established that the country that emerged from the abyss of the past was formed south of the Amu Darya on the ruins of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom - the eastern fragment of the empire of Alexander the Great. And having unwound the chain further, they were amazed to discover a huge state with a territory of thousands of square kilometers. It was inhabited by dozens of peoples - carriers of dozens of cultures.
Nomads vs. Nomads
Three centuries before the beginning of the new era, a complex geopolitical spectacle was played out in the vast expanses of Central Asia and the Far East. The Qin Empire resorted to cunning tactics - maneuvered between temporary allies in order to curb the main enemies - the Huns, the formidable nomads of the northern steppes. At first, the Chinese were successfully helped in this by one of the five Tocharian-speaking tribes. In the documents of the Celestial Empire, they were called Guishuans (hence the "Kushans" later) and were part of the conglomerate of nomadic Yuezhi tribes.
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Luck turned away from them when at the end of the 3rd century BC. e. Maodun, a prince from the Xiongnu tribe, was taken hostage by the Yuezhi, while his father Touman not only was not afraid of the death of the heir, but even hoped that he would be killed. However, Maodun, who managed to escape from captivity, took the life of an insidious parent and conquered the Yuezhi tribes. But some of them managed to escape Maodun's revenge. They, thrown away from the western limits of the ancient Chinese world, had to cross the eastern borders of the Greek world.
Year after year, the "people of the moon" (as the name Yuezhi is often translated) retreated further and further to the west and there, in turn, invaded the state of Dasia, which the Greeks called Bactria. Its relatively reliable story begins with the capture of these lands by the Persian king Cyrus. And a few centuries later, Bactria was easily conquered by Alexander the Great, turning it into a province of his empire. Later, this territory went to the commander Alexander Seleucus. Finally, around 225 BC. e. his heirs, the Seleucids, allocated Bactria into a separate possession, which was headed by the satrap Diodotus. "It turned out" Greco-Bactrian kingdom. It turned out to be quite successful and even incorporated the lands of northern India. The famous historian and geographer Strabo testified: “Those Greeks who gave freedom to Bactria became so powerful in its fertile lands,that they began to own not only Ariana, but also India … and they subjugated more tribes than Alexander. " Meanwhile, the king of Bactria, Euphilem, crossed the Hindu Kush and conquered eastern Iran and the Indus valley, conquering new territories. One might get the impression that the great empire of Alexander was revived again in the East, but not for long - these possessions were rapidly disintegrating in the hands of the conquerors. It is authentically known that by about 135 BC. e. the people who spoke one of the Tocharian languages already owned the lands of Bactriana in the north of present-day Afghanistan, in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. At this time, the Chinese ambassador Zhang Qian informs his emperor that the "Big Yuezhi" is a powerful kingdom with a population of about 400 thousand people, but claims that they all live "moving after the cattle." According to his testimony,even the capital of the Kushans in those days was more like a giant caravanserai than a city.
However, to all appearances, the conquerors of Bactria soon began to actively build their fortresses on the ruins of its cities. And where urban civilization begins, a state mythology arises. And now the Kushans have their own cultural hero - King Gerayos, similar to the legendary Scorpio, the first pharaoh of Egypt. The name of Geraios later came to be considered one of the titles of the Kushan kings, but at the initial stage it most likely indicated a specific person. On coins, Geraios is called "tyrant" - hence the title from the name in those days was different.
The following information about the events of the Kushan history appears only after 40 AD. e. At this time, the leader, called by the Chinese Qiujutsiu, and identified by the coins as Kujula Kadfiz by the Western numismatists, united all the Tocharian tribes under his rule. Then he took the title of "king of all Kushans" and placed his headquarters in the Kabul valley.
It is difficult to imagine how these nomads changed and how Hellenized, but it is a fact: like other barbarian peoples who conquered a more highly developed civilization, they were conquered by it themselves. It is known, after all, that, sitting in the saddle, one can subjugate a country, but it is impossible to rule it from a horse's croup. The Kushans adopted a lot from the life of the Bactrians (they lived side by side with the Greek population until the 3rd century) and on this borrowing they created their own unique way of life. As for the relationship with the former allies - the Chinese, the ambassadors of the Han dynasty, who from time to time persuaded the Kushans to an alliance with the emperor, now had to leave with nothing. The new kingdom turned out to be too far from China and its interests to get involved in old conflicts. This policy has yielded results:the subjects of Kujula are gradually taking over mediatory control on the roads of the Great Silk Road. Rich duties levied on countless caravans flow into the treasury.
Kushan reliquary and coins of the 2nd century. The inscription on a vessel found in the Afghan Wardak says that it once contained particles of the Buddha's body.
But soon a peaceful existence gave way to a new era of expansion: the Kushans conquered northern India and southern Pakistan, which had previously belonged to the Parthians. The successor of Kujula, who settled in Gandhar, was Soter Megas (in Greek "the great savior"). Coins with his image are found south of the Hindu Kush. For a long time, this ruler remained an absolute mystery to researchers. But not so long ago, an inscription surfaced in Peshawar mentioning the ruler of Wim Takto. Historians connected him with the character depicted on the statue of Vima in Mathura (in the vicinity of Agra), and during further research it turned out that Vima and Soter are one person. The authors of this theory also managed to prove that this ruler was from the steppes of Eurasia. And his Greek title "Great Savior" was intended only to emphasize the civilization of the king and the legitimacy of his power.
From the Aral to the Ganges
Having spread their influence throughout Hindustan, the Kushans developed regular trade with the ports of the Persian Gulf. According to reasonable assumptions by historians, by the end of the 1st century AD. e. they owned vast territories from the Aral Sea to the Ganges and East Turkestan. From this historical moment, the era of the highest power and prosperity began in the empire.
The Chinese chronicles confirm that the conquest of the Indus Valley was the reason for the great enrichment of the Kushans. The land there is incredibly fertile, the population is just enough to successfully cultivate it, and even from the "Da Qing" itself (that is, from Rome) merchants get here. And these are not fairy tales - Roman sources also confirm: the citizens of the empire then traveled to the ports of the modern state of Gujarat for trade purposes. Ho-Han-shu (History of the Late Han Dynasty) states: "… there you can find precious things from the Da Qing, fine cotton fabrics, excellent woolen carpets, incense of all kinds, sweets, pepper, ginger and black salt."
The Kushan state continued to grow. Under the four following rulers after Kujula, it expanded noticeably - first to the south, to India, then again to the northeast. Vima Takto captured the area of modern Punjab, his successor Vima Kadfiz finally established himself in that part of Afghanistan that had not previously submitted to the Kushans. The greatest among the Kushan kings was Kanishka, who ruled for about 30 years starting from 127. The grandeur of his possessions is confirmed by archaeological finds: from Surkh-Kotal, Begram and Peshawar to Taxila and Mathura (where, according to legend, Krishna was born). The territory of the kingdom already covered Kosambi and Sanchi in the very depths of Hindustan. Then he conquered Sarnath (where at the beginning of the last century inscriptions with the names and dates of the reign of the Kushan kings were found), Malwa and Maharashtra, then Orissa - in the northeast of the subcontinent. That,that Kanishka belonged to huge areas even south of the Deccan plateau, is confirmed by the Rabatak inscription, found in 1993 in Afghanistan. It is a 500-kilogram piece of rock engraved with words in the Bactrian language in the Greek alphabet. Under Kanishka, the Kushans took possession of Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan. Then, already in the III century, the coins of another king, Huvishka, together with other offerings of gold, will be placed on the “throne of enlightenment” already in Bodhgaya (according to legend, Buddha reached the highest state of mind here). This vast geography shows that the Kushans under Kanishka and Huvishka became a powerful people of Central Asia and occupied all the cult outposts associated with Buddhism - the main unifying ideology of their multinational state.confirmed by the Rabatak inscription found in 1993 in Afghanistan. It is a 500-kilogram piece of rock engraved with words in the Bactrian language in the Greek alphabet. Under Kanishka, the Kushans took possession of Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan. Then, already in the III century, the coins of another king, Huvishka, together with other offerings of gold, will be placed on the “throne of enlightenment” already in Bodhgaya (according to legend, Buddha reached the highest state of mind here). This vast geography shows that the Kushans under Kanishka and Huvishka became a powerful people of Central Asia and occupied all the cult outposts associated with Buddhism - the main unifying ideology of their multinational state.confirmed by the Rabatak inscription found in 1993 in Afghanistan. It is a 500-kilogram piece of rock engraved with words in the Bactrian language in the Greek alphabet. Under Kanishka, the Kushans took possession of Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan. Then, already in the 3rd century, the coins of another of their king, Huvishka, along with other offerings of gold, will be placed on the “throne of enlightenment” already in Bodhgaya (according to legend, Buddha reached the highest state of mind here). This vast geography shows that the Kushans under Kanishka and Huvishka became a powerful people of Central Asia and occupied all the cult outposts associated with Buddhism - the main unifying ideology of their multinational state.which is engraved with words in the Bactrian language in the Greek alphabet. Under Kanishka, the Kushans took possession of Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan. Then, already in the III century, the coins of another king, Huvishka, together with other offerings of gold, will be placed on the “throne of enlightenment” already in Bodhgaya (according to legend, Buddha reached the highest state of mind here). This vast geography shows that the Kushans under Kanishka and Huvishka became a powerful people of Central Asia and occupied all the cult outposts associated with Buddhism - the main unifying ideology of their multinational state.which is engraved with words in the Bactrian language in the Greek alphabet. Under Kanishka, the Kushans took possession of Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan. Then, already in the III century, the coins of another king, Huvishka, together with other offerings of gold, will be placed on the “throne of enlightenment” already in Bodhgaya (according to legend, Buddha reached the highest state of mind here). This vast geography shows that the Kushans under Kanishka and Huvishka became a powerful people of Central Asia and occupied all the cult outposts associated with Buddhism - the main unifying ideology of their multinational state.along with other offerings of gold will be placed on the "throne of enlightenment" already in Bodhgaya (according to legend, Buddha reached the highest state of mind here). This vast geography shows that the Kushans under Kanishka and Huvishka became a powerful people of Central Asia and occupied all the cult outposts associated with Buddhism - the main unifying ideology of their multinational state.along with other offerings of gold will be placed on the "throne of enlightenment" already in Bodhgaya (according to legend, Buddha reached the highest state of mind here). This vast geography shows that the Kushans under Kanishka and Huvishka became a powerful people of Central Asia and occupied all the cult outposts associated with Buddhism - the main unifying ideology of their multinational state.
The followers of Prince Siddhartha Gautama roamed India and Bactria several centuries before the appearance of the Kushans here. Under the new government, Buddhism initially did not undergo much change. However, in the matter of state recognition and support of this religion, a decisive step was taken only under Kanishka. This ruler, designated on the coins as "The King of Kings, Kanishka of Kushan", gained true fame as an elderly man by ancient standards, having ascended the throne at forty. By this age, he had already become a Buddhist. Oddly enough, most of the documentary information about this ruler has been preserved in Chinese sources. In the middle of the II century, the most famous biographer of Kanishka, the Chinese traveler Xuan-Tsang, wrote down such a legend about this pious king in Kashmir. He, they say,He devoted all his free time from state concerns to studying the sutras, and for this purpose he invited a new monk to his place every day to talk about the teachings of Shakyamuni. During these conversations, the ruler realized that representatives of different schools understand their faith in completely different ways and do not see a compromise in their interpretations. And then Kanishka made a fateful decision: to convene a council of the most prominent theorists of Buddhism in order to build bridges between them. As a result of the selection, 500 people became delegates, who arrived in Kashmir. Alas, the tsar failed to achieve his goal. The conversation turned out to be not only difficult, but led to the final disintegration of religion into two main currents that still exist - the Great Chariot (Mahayana) and the Small (Hinayana). During these conversations, the ruler realized that representatives of different schools understand their faith in completely different ways and do not see a compromise in their interpretations. And then Kanishka made a fateful decision: to convene a council of the most prominent theorists of Buddhism in order to build bridges between them. As a result of the selection, 500 people became delegates, who arrived in Kashmir. Alas, the tsar failed to achieve his goal. The conversation turned out to be not only difficult, but led to the final disintegration of religion into two main currents that still exist - the Great Chariot (Mahayana) and the Small (Hinayana). During these conversations, the ruler realized that representatives of different schools understand their faith in completely different ways and do not see a compromise in their interpretations. And then Kanishka made a fateful decision: to convene a council of the most prominent theorists of Buddhism in order to build bridges between them. As a result of the selection, 500 people became delegates, who arrived in Kashmir. Alas, the tsar failed to achieve his goal. The conversation turned out to be not only difficult, but led to the final disintegration of religion into two main currents that still exist - the Great Chariot (Mahayana) and the Small (Hinayana).who arrived in Kashmir. Alas, the tsar failed to achieve his goal. The conversation turned out to be not only difficult, but led to the final disintegration of religion into two main currents that still exist - the Great Chariot (Mahayana) and the Small (Hinayana).who arrived in Kashmir. Alas, the tsar failed to achieve his goal. The conversation turned out to be not only difficult, but led to the final disintegration of religion into two main currents that still exist - the Great Chariot (Mahayana) and the Small (Hinayana).
The sovereign himself declared himself to be a supporter of the latter, if only because, according to the Hinayana, any person can be a full-fledged Buddhist, not just a monk who has left the world. But he preferred to provide state patronage to the Mahayans, for he considered that this particular teaching would suit his subjects perfectly. The government of the empire clearly needed a religion in which all its citizens, engaged in what we would today call "social activities", would turn into a single cultural and spiritual force. According to the Russian Buddhist Andrei Zelinsky, the union of the "altar and throne" gave the Mahayans the opportunity to firmly stand on their feet, and the Kushans to expand the sphere of their political influence not only in their own country, but also far beyond its borders.
However, the historicity of the Kanishka cathedral has not yet been proven. But the indisputable fact is that in the second half of the II century, that is, immediately after the reign of the Kushan reformer, Buddhist missionaries poured eastward, primarily to China, where this teaching flourished. And they were all Mahayana devotees.
As for the lands of the Kushan kingdom itself, there was no mass conversion of the population to Buddhism. Despite the truly grandiose scale of temple construction, the ubiquitous organization of monasteries, which were actively supported by Kanishka and his deputies, in the same Bactria, for example, local cults and their own pre-Buddhist dynastic cult of the Kushan were firmly established - the structures of Khalchayan and Surkh-Kotal are evidence of this.
But besides Buddhist reforms and military achievements, Kanishka became famous for other transformations: for example, he abandoned the old chronology, which was led from a certain event long forgotten by all the Kushans (history does not tell from which one), and introduced a new one - from his own accession to the throne. In addition, the sovereign brought order to the monetary system. If earlier in it a strict canon was not observed (bilingual Persian-Greek coins were minted, and those on the reverse of which the Hindu god Shiva flaunted), then this sovereign ordered to issue coins with a legend only in Bactrian. Actually, the Kushan writing system used the Greek alphabet with the addition of the letter "sh" to convey the words of the Tocharian group.
Complete disintegration period
Three more powerful kings followed Kanishka - Huvishka, Vashishka and Vasudeva. After the death of the latter, about 225, the country first split into western and eastern parts. As if in unison with the decline of the Roman Empire, trade with which supported the welfare of the Kushan state, the latter entered a period of continuous decline.
True, two centuries after the death of Vasudeva, the new rulers of the former imperial regions tried to restore their power, claiming that they inherited it from the Great Kushan House. This inheritance went to three dynasties - the Kushanshahs, the Younger Kushans and the Kidarites, who consistently lasted until the 5th century. The chronicle of the fall of the kingdom has come down to us in a fragmentary and contradictory form. In 224-240, the troops of the Iranian Sassanids invaded the lands of Bactria and North India. By the end of the century, the Kushans also lost power over their lands in the Ganges valley …
Then, however, for a short time, power over the main territories of the former empire began to belong to the Kushanshah dynasty - its ambassadors came to Sassanid Artashir I, brought assurances of vassal loyalty and in return received a "label" for the kingdom, as they would say in Russia during the Mongol yoke. In any case, the heir of Artashir Shapur in one of the rock inscriptions for which the Persians became so famous, about 248 declares that the supreme ruler of the Kushan land is he; and a little later, in Balkh, they begin to mint an Iranian coin, copying a number of elements from the time of Vasudeva. It also contains the title “Kushanshah, King of the Kushans”, apparently belonging to the “governor” - a vassal.
In the IV century, Indians intervened in the relationship between the Sassanids and the Kushanshahs. The representative of the House of Guptas, Samudragupta, also issued copies of Vasudeva's coins and in his Allah-Bad inscription declared that he had allowed certain “devaputra-shahi-shahanushahi” (divine sons of kingship) to rule on his behalf in the Punjab and Gandhar. What is this title? In former times, it was sometimes used by the Kushan kings, but the names of the sovereigns are not named here! So the words of Samudragupta may well mean that one of the desperate late Kushan princes simply entered into an alliance with the Indians in order to somehow resist the Sassanids and Kushanshahs.
Finally, in the middle of the 4th century in Balkh, a certain Kidara created a short-lived kingdom, later called Kidar. Kidara considered himself a Kushan and tried to confirm this fact traditionally - by minting a coin that was in circulation throughout the once Kushan territory. At first, his successors acted quite successfully, and even conquered - for the last time in the history of the Kushan era - several old provinces of Kanishka. But they did not reach the power of their predecessors. Their empire turned out to be weak: in the 5th century, when another wave of nomads - "white" Hephthalite Huns poured into Central Asia, it came to an end.
And, apparently, in these events lies the final finale of the Kushan history, in which the names of dynasties and the names of kings are only the outer side. Historians have yet to explore the "blank spots" of the great Kushan kingdom. The third greatest empire of antiquity, in contrast to imperial Rome and the Chinese state of Han, fate unfairly brought the sand of time. Will we ever discover the secrets hidden underneath?
APPROXIMATE CHRONOLOGY OF THE KUSHAN KINGDOM
176-160 biennium BC e. - expulsion of Yuezhi from the Tarim River basin in Xinjiang
Around 135 BC e. - Yuezhi reach Bactria
About 1-30 BC n. e. - the reign of Geraios, the legendary first king of the Kushan
Around 30-80 n. e. - reign of Kujula Kadfiz
Around 80-105 AD - reign of Vima Takto
Around 105-127 - reign of Vima Kadfiz
127 - about 147 - reign of Kanishka I the Great
138 AD - Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius receives Bactrian (Kushan) ambassadors
Around 151-155 - Vashishka's board
Around 155-187 - board of Huvishka
Around 191-230 - the reign of Vasudeva I
Around 240 - the establishment of a vassal (from Sassanid Iran) power of the Kushanshahs on parts of the Kushan lands
Mid-4th century - the rise of Kidar in Balkh, foundation of the Kidarite state
V century - the invasion of the "white" Huns-Hephthalites
Dinara Dubrovskaya