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INDIA. Kushano-Sasanian. Imitating Vasudeva I (ca. AD 190-230).
Gold dinar (27mm, 12h). Posthumous issue, struck circa 255-310 A.D.
Reference: ANS Kushan 1702
Certification: ANACS EF 45 6292330
ÞOONOÞO BO-HOOÞO VOBANO, Vasudeva standing facing, nimbate head left wearing conical helmet, flames on right shoulder, trident in left hand, sacrificing over altar with right hand; filleted trident to left, triple pellets under left arm, W/O in right field, t in lower right field, pellet above tetraskelion between legs, pellet to right of altar.
OÞHO, Oesho (Siva) standing facing, leaning right, head surrounded by partial halo, hair with crescent topknot and curls outlining face, erect lingammmm, two arms, diadem in right hand, trident in left; the bull Nandi standing left behind, three pellets below head, tamgha to left.
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Vāsudeva I was a Kushan emperor, last of the “Great Kushans.” Named inscriptions dating from year 64 to 98 of Kanishka’s era suggest his reign extended from at least 191 to 232 CE. He ruled in northern India and central asia and still minted in coins in Balkh (Bactria) as well, although he probably had to deal with the rise of the Sasanians and the first incursions of the Kushano-Sasanians in the northwest of his territory.
The last named inscription of his predecessor, Huvishka, was in the year 60=187 CE, and the Chinese evidence suggests he was still ruling as late as 229 CE.
His name “Vāsudeva”, is that of the popular Hindu God Vāsudeva, later assimilated with Krishna, and he was the first Kushan king to be named after the Indian God. He converted to Hinduism during his reign. His name reinforces the notion that his center of power was in Mathura.
.jpg/270px-Kushan_Empire_(highlighted).jpg) The Kushan Empire was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of modern-day territory of Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India, 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 the Great. Emperor Kanishka and the Kushans in general were great patrons of Buddhism, as well as Zoroastrianism. They played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent and its spread to Central Asia and China.
The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, an Indo-European nomadic people of possible Tocharian origin, who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient Bactria.
The Kushans possibly used the Greek language initially for administrative purposes, but soon began to use Bactrian language. Kanishka sent his armies north of the Karakoram mountains. A direct road from Gandhara to China remained under Kushan control for more than a century, encouraging travel across the Karakoram and facilitating the spread of Mahayana Buddhism to China.
The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the Roman Empire, Sasanian Persia, the Aksumite Empire and the Han dynasty of China. The Kushan Empire was at the center of trade relations between the Roman Empire and China: according to Alain Daniélou, “for a time, the Kushana Empire was the centerpoint of the major civilizations”. While much philosophy, art, and science was created within its borders, the only textual record of the empire’s history today comes from inscriptions and accounts in other languages, particularly Chinese.
The Kushan empire fragmented into semi-independent kingdoms in the 3rd century AD, which fell to the Sasanians invading from the west, establishing the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom in the areas of Sogdiana, Bactria and Gandhara. In the 4th century, the Guptas, an Indian dynasty also pressed from the east. The last of the Kushan and Kushano-Sasanian kingdoms were eventually overwhelmed by invaders from the north, known as the Kidarites, and then the Hephthalites.
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