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Gondophares (Gudapharasa on his coins) was the first king of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom. He seems to have ruled from 21 CE for at least 26 years. He took over the Kabul valley and the Punjab area from the Kushan king Kujula Kadphises. The extent of his territory is indicated by the distribution of 19th century finds of his coins. He assumed the Hellenistic title autokratôr that was adopted by his Arsacid rivals to the West.
St Thomas
Gondophares is connected to St Thomas in early Christian traditions embodied in the Acts of Thomas. In that miracle-filled romance Thomas was sold in Syria to Habban, an envoy of Gondophares, and travelled in slavery by sea to India, was presented to Gondophares, and undertook the erection of the building the king required. Passing on to the realm of another king, named in the Syrian versions as "Mazdai" (compare Mazda), he allegedly suffered martyrdom before being redeemed. St Thomas thereafter went to Kerala and baptized the natives, whose descendants form the Saint Thomas Christians.
The fanciful legendary material of much of the Acts, which approaches the genre of Romance, as well as some of its unmistakably unorthodox theology, made its historicity dismissible for many centuries. "Gondophares" was dismissed as an invention. Then in 1854 General Alexander Cunningham reported (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal vol.xxiii. pp.679-712) that since the British had been in Afghanistan an estimated 30,000 coins bearing Greek and Indian legends had been found in Afghanistan and the Punjab. The mintings covered three centuries after the conquests of Alexander: coins in the hoards were minted for Scythian conquerors and for Parthian kings such as Gondophares, who thereby emerged from pious legend into history (Medlycott 1905).
Chronology
On the coins of Gondophares, the royal names are Parthian, but the other legends of the coins are in Greek and Kharoṣṭhī. A votive inscription of the 26th year of Gudavhara or Gondophares, is reported to have been found on a stone at Takht-i-Bahi, northeast of Peshawar with a date in the year 103 of an unspecified era reckoning. This era is likely to have been the Malva or Vikrama era, founded in 57 BCE, this would give a date of 20 CE for his ascension (see Hindu calendar). The stone was formerly in the museum at Lahore. The point is especially important for those Christians who consider that a germ of history is embedded in the Acts of Thomas.
The Indo-Parthian kingdom with its capital at Kabul barely lasted one century. It started to fragment under Gondophares' successor Abdagases I. The eastern part was conquered by the Kushans around 75 CE.
After that point the kingdom was essentially restricted to Afghanistan. The last Indo-Parthian king, Pakores (100-135 CE), only ruled Sakastan and Turan.
Coin types
| Preceded by: Parthian Suren Princes (In Gandhara and Punjab) Kushan King: Kujula Kadphises | Indo-Parthian Ruler (21-47 CE) | Succeeded by: ... Abdagases I |
See also
External links
- A.E. Medlycott, India and the Apostle Thomas, London 1905: Chapter i: "The Apostle Thomas and Gondophares the Indian king"
- Coins of Gondophares
- Indo-Parthian coinage
"Gondophares"