Kushan Empire

Kushan Empire Κοϸανο  (Bactrian) Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν  (Ancient Greek) कुषाणसाम्राज्यम्  (Sanskrit)
30–375
Flag
Map of Kushan empire at its greatest extent.[1][2]
Capital	Puruṣapura Takṣaśilā Mathura[3]
Common languages	Greek (official until c. 127)[note 1] Bactrian[note 1] (official from c. 127)[note 2] Gandhari Prakrit[6]
Religion	Hinduism[7] Buddhism[8] Zoroastrianism[9]
Demonym(s)	Kushanas
Government	Monarchy
Emperor
• 30–80	Kujula Kadphises (first)
• 350–375	Kipunada (last)
Historical era	Classical Antiquity
• Kujula Kadphises unites Yuezhi tribes into a confederation	30
• Subjugated by the Sasanians, Guptas and Hepthalites[10]	375
Area
200 (low-end estimate of peak area)[11]	2,000,000 km^2 (770,000 sq mi)
200 (high-end estimate of peak area)[12]	3.5–4,000,000 km^2 (1.4–1,544,408.6 sq mi)
Currency	Kushan drachma
Preceded by Succeeded by Indo-Greek Kingdom Indo-Parthian Kingdom Indo-Scythians Northern Satraps Western Satraps Maha-meghavahanas Sasanian Empire Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom Nagas of Padmavati Kidarites Nagas of Vindhyatabi

The Kushan or kasana Empire was first formed in the early 1st century AD. It was located in Afghanistan, most of Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and parts of northwest India.^[13][14]

The Kushan were a branch of the Yuezhi or tibetian confederation.^[15][16] Previously a nomadic people living in eastern Central Asia, the Yuezhi moved southwest and settled in ancient Bactria.^[16]

Notes

1. The Kushans at first retained the Greek language for administrative purposes but soon began to use Bactrian. The Bactrian Rabatak inscription (discovered in 1993 and deciphered in 2000) records that the Kushan king Kanishka the Great (c. 127 AD), discarded Greek (Ionian) as the language of administration and adopted Bactrian ("Arya language").^[4]
2. The Pali word vaṃśa (dynasty) affixed to Gushana (Kushana), i.e. Gushana-vaṃśa (Kushan dynasty) appears on a dedicatory inscription at Manikiala stupa.^[5]

References

1. Romila Thapar (2004). Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. University of California Press. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-520-24225-8.
2. Burton Stein (2010). A History of India. John Wiley & Sons. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-4443-2351-1.
3. Rosenfield, John M. (1993). The Dynastic Art of the Kushans. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ISBN 81-215-0579-8.
4. Falk 2001, p. 133. sfn error: no target: CITEREFFalk2001 (help)
5. Rosenfield 1967, pp. 7 & 8. sfn error: no target: CITEREFRosenfield1967 (help)
6. Wurm, Stephen A.; Mühlhäusler, Peter; Tryon, Darrell T. (11 February 2011). Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas: Vol I: Maps. Vol II: Texts. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-081972-4.
7. Bopearachchi 2007, p. 45. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBopearachchi2007 (help)
8. Liu 2010, p. 61. sfn error: no target: CITEREFLiu2010 (help)
9. Golden 1992, p. 56. sfn error: no target: CITEREFGolden1992 (help)
10. "Afghanistan: Central Asian and Sassanian Rule, ca. 150 B.C.-700 A.D." Library of Congress Country Studies. 1997. Archived from the original on 15 February 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
11. Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222. ISSN 1076-156X. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
12. Taagepera, Rein (1979). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.". Social Science History. 3 (3/4): 132. doi:10.2307/1170959. JSTOR 1170959.
13. Hill (2009), pp. 29, 318–350
14. The Dynasty Arts of the Kushans, University of California Press, 1967, p. 5
15. Runion, Meredith L. (2007). The history of Afghanistan. Westport: Greenwood Press. p. 46. ISBN 9780313337987. The Yuezhi people conquered Bactria in the second century B.C.E. and divided the country into five chiefdoms, one of which would become the Kushan Empire. Recognizing the importance of unification, these five tribes combined under the one dominate Kushan tribe, and the primary rulers descended from the Yuezhi.
16. Liu, Xinrui (2001). Adas, Michael (ed.). Agricultural and pastoral societies in ancient and classical history. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. p. 156. ISBN 9781566398329.