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Kushan Empire in
India
Vima Takto (Soter Megas) – King, circa 80-100 A.D.
Bronze Tetradrachm 20mm (8.27 grams)
Reference: Göbl, Kushan pl. 176, 19.1 var. (bust left); Senior B17.1; Donum
Burns 58; MACW 2928
No legend, radiate, diademed, and draped bust right, holding sceptre,
three-pronged tamgha behind.
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΩΝ ΣΩΤΗΡ ΜΕΓΑΣ “Basileu Basileon Sotir Megas”: “The King of
Kings, Great Saviour”., King riding right on horseback, holding
sceptre; three-pronged tamgha symbol of Soter Megas before.
The Kushan Empire was founded by Kujulu Kadphises, whose son was Vima Takto.
Kadphises and, intially, Vima Takto issued coins that were largely imitative of
the peoples they conquered. One of the most recognizable coins of the period
bears an obverse portrait and a horseman on the back. The legend reads only
Soter Megas – the Great Savior, and the actual name of the issuing king long
remained unknown. The discovery of the Rabatak inscription, though, changed
Kushan history by providing evidence to verify the elusive identity of ‘Soter
Megas’. His name was Vima Tak[to] (the last syllable is still uncertain).
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Vima Takto or Vima Taktu was a
Kushan
emperor reigned c. 80–90 CE.
Rule
Vima Takto was long known as “The nameless King”, since his coins only showed
the legend “The King of Kings, Great Saviour”, until the discovery of the
Rabatak inscription
helped connect his name
with the title on the coins.
Vima Takto’s empire covered northwestern
India
and
Bactria
towards
China
, where Kushan presence has been asserted
in the Tarim Basin
. Under his reign, embassies were
also sent to the Chinese court.
Genealogy
He is mentioned in the Chinese Historical Chronicle of the
Hou Hanshu
, in relation to his father
Kujula Kadphises
:
“Qiujiuque (Ch: 丘就卻) [Kujula Kadphises] was more than eighty years old when
he died. His son, Yangaozhen (Ch:閻高珍) [probably Vema Tahk(tu) or, possibly, his
brother Sadaṣkaṇa], became king in his place. He defeated Tianzhu [North-western
India] and installed Generals to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became
extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang [Kushan] king,
but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi.”
The connection of Vima Takto with other Kushan rulers is described in the
Rabatak inscription
, which was written by
Kanishka
. Kanishka makes the list of the kings
who ruled up to his time: Kujula Kadphises as his great-grandfather, Vima Takto
as his grandfather,
Vima Kadphises
as his father, and himself
Kanishka:
“… for King
Kujula Kadphises
(his) great grandfather,
and for King Vima Taktu (his) grandfather, and for King
Vima Kadphises
(his) father, and *also for
himself, King Kanishka” (Cribb and Sims-Williams 1995/6: 80)
A later inscription found at Vima’s sanctuary at Mat, also records that he
was the grandfather of
Huvishka
.
Preceded by:
Kujula Kadphises
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Kushan Ruler
(80–90 CE) |
Succeeded by:
Vima Kadphises
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The Kushan Empire
was an empire originally formed in the early 1st century CE under
Kujula Kadphises
in the territories of the
former
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
around the Oxus River (Amu
Darya), and later based near
Kabul
,
Afghanistan
. The Kushans spread from the
Kabul River Valley
to also encompass much of
the
Indo-Greek Kingdom
, from which they took their
first official language (Greek),
Bactrian
alphabet,
Greco-Buddhist
religion, coinage system, and
art
. They absorbed the
Central Asian
tribes that had previously
conquered parts of the northern central
Iranian Plateau
once ruled by the
Parthians
, and reached their peak under the
Buddhist
emperor
Kanishka
(127–151), whose realm stretched from
Turfan
in the
Tarim Basin
to
Pataliputra
on the
Gangetic Plain
.
The Kushans were one of five branches of the
Yuezhi
confederation, a possibly
Iranian
or
Tocharian
,
Indo-European
nomadic people who had migrated
from the Tarim Basin
and settled in ancient
Bactria
. Their official language, the
Indo-European
Bactrian language
, is closely related to the
modern
Afghan languages
.
During the 1st and early 2nd centuries CE, the Kushans expanded across the
northern parts of the
Indian subcontinent
at least as far as
Saketa
and
Sarnath
near
Varanasi
(Benares), where inscriptions have
been found dating to the era of the Kushan emperor
Kanishka
, which began about 127 CE Around
152 AD, Kanishka sent his armies north of the
Karakoram mountains
. They captured territories
as far as Kashgar
,
Khotan
and
Yarkant
, in the
Tarim Basin
of modern-day
Xinjiang
,
China
. A direct road from
Gandhara
to China was opened which remained
under Kushan control for more than 100 years. The security offered by the
Kushans encouraged travel across the
Khunjerab Pass
and facilitated the
spread of Mahayana Buddhism
to China.
The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the
Roman Empire
,
Sassanid Persia
,
Aksumite Empire
and
Han China
. While much philosophy, art, and
science was created within its borders, the only textual record we have of the
empire’s history today comes from inscriptions and accounts in other languages,
particularly Chinese. The Kushan control fragmented into semi-independent
kingdoms in the 3rd century AD, which fell to the
Sassanians
who targeted from the west. In the
fourth century, the
Guptas
, an Indian dynasty also pressed from the
east. The last of the Kushan and Sassanian kingdoms were eventually overwhelmed
by the
Hepthalites
, another
Indo-European people
from the north.
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