Kanishka

Kanishka (Kushan language: KANHÞKI, Ancient Chinese: 迦腻色伽) was a king of the Kushan Empire in South Asia, in the 2nd century of the common era, famous for his military, political, and spiritual achievements. His capital was in the modern city of Peshawar in Pakistan.

Kanishka is also the name of the AirIndia Flight 182 (Toronto to New Delhi) which was bombed mid-air on June 23, 1985 killing all 329 people on board. This was considered one of the worst acts of terrorism in Canada.

A great Kushan king

Kanishka was a Kushan of Yuezhi ethnicity. He probably spoke an Indo-European language related to Tocharian, and he used the Greek script in his inscriptions.

Kanishka was the successor of Vima Kadphises, as demonstrated by an impressive geneaology of the Kushan kings, known as the Rabatak inscription. A significant amount of what is known about Kanishka was preserved because of his spiritual merit and the Buddhist religious tradition. Along with the Indian king Ashoka, the Indo-Greek king Menander I (Milinda), and Harshavardhana, he is considered one of the greatest Buddhist kings.

In spite of the acknowledged dominance of the Kushan empire during his reign, until recently scholars have not been able to agree on the period of his reign. There have been three conferences to resolve this date. In recent years the debate has focused around the relatively narrow period between AD 100 and AD144 as the likely date of ascension, although recent discoveries call even these theories into question.

Conquests in India and Central Asia

Kanishka's empire was certainly vast. It extended from the Oxus in the west to Varanasi and Mathura in the east (the Rabatak inscription even claims he held Pataliputra), and from Kashmir in the North to the coast of Gujarat in the south, including Malwa.

Knowledge of his hold over Central Asia is less well established. Chinese records indicate that general Ban Chao fought battles with a Kushan army at Khotan in AD 90, probably headed by Kujula Kadphises. Though he claimed to be victorious (Kujula Kadphises is recorded has having paid tribute to China), the region fell to Kushan forces shortly afterwards, probably under Kanishka's rule. As a result, the territory of the Kushans extended to Kashgar, Khotan and Yarkand, which were Chinese dependencies in the Tarim Basin, modern Xinjiang. Several coins of Kanishka have been found in the Tarim Basin.

Also controlling the land and sea trade routes between South Asia and Rome seems to have been one of Kanishka's chief imperial goals.

Kanishka's coinage

Kanishka's coins show Hindu, Buddhist, Greek, Persian and even Sumerian-Elamite images of gods. They are demonstrative of religious syncretism in his beliefs. Kanishka's coins at the beginning of his reign were written in the Greek language, with the Greek script, and depicted Greek divinities. Later in his reign, Kanishka ordered that the Bactrian language be used (the Iranian language the Kushans apparently spoke), and Greek divinities were replaced by corresponding Iranian ones. All of Kanishka's coins (even the Bactria language) were written in corrupted Greek script, with the addition of the Kushan letter Þ, pronounced "Sh", as in the word "Kushan".

Hellenistic phase

A few coins at the beginning of his reign have a legend in the Greek language and Greek script: BACIΛEΥC BACIΛEWΝ KANHÞKOY ("Basileus Basileon Kanishkou"): "King of Kings Kanishka". This is a heretoforth unknown form in Greek, which is nevertheless proper grammatically (nominative form), indicating that Greek was still a "living" language among the Kushans at that time.

Greek deities, with Greek names are represented on these early coins:

HΛIOC (Sun god Helios), HΦAHCTOC (Fire god Hephaistos), CAΛHNH (Moon god Selene), ANHMOC (Wind god Anemos)

Iranian/Indian phase

Following the transition to the Bactrian language on coins, numerous Iranian divinities were adopted in replacement (and extension) of Greek ones:

MAO (Moon god Mao), OAΔO (Wind god Oado)
MIΘPO ("Mitro", Mithra), MIIPO, MIOPO, MIYPO
NANA, NANAIA, MANAOBAΓO, NANAÞAO
ΛPOOACΠO, ΦAPPO, OPΛAΓNO, AθÞO, APΔOXÞO, MOZΔOOANO, ΦAPPO

One or two Indian divinities were used as well:

BOΔΔO ("Boddo", the name of the Buddha in its Greek form)
OHÞO ("Oesho", long considered as the Hindu god Shiva, although recent studies tend to indicate that Oisho is an Iranian god, derived from Herakles, with admitedly many of the attributes of Shiva H.Humback, 1975, p.402-408. K.Tanabe, 1997, p.277, M.Carter, 1995, p.152. J.Cribb, 1997, p.40. References cited in "De l'Indus à l'Oxus".)

Kanishka and Buddhism

Kanishka's reputation in Buddhist tradition is based mainly on his having convened the 4th Buddhist Council in Kashmir. This council is attributed with having encouraged the spread of Mahayana Buddhism.

He provided encouragement to both the Gandhara school of Greco-Buddhist Art and the Mathura school of Hindu art (An inescapable religious syncretism pervades Kushana rule). Kanishka personally seems to have embraced both Buddhism and the Persian cult of Mithra.

His greatest contribution to Buddhist architecture is the great stupa at Peshawar. Archaeologists rediscovered it in 1908-1909 ascertained that this stupa had a diameter of 286 feet. Reports of Chinese pilgrims such as Xuan Zang indicate that its height was 600 to 700 (Chinese) "feet" (= roughly 180-210 metres or 591-689 ft.). Certainly this would rank among the wonders of the ancient world.

Kanishka is said to have been particularly close to the Buddhist scholar Ashvaghosha, who became his religious advisor.

Buddhist coinage

The Buddhist coins of Kanishka are comparatively few. They all display Kanishka himself on the obverse, and the Buddha standing on the reverse, in Hellenistic style. Like all coins of Kanishka, their design is rather rough and proportions tend to be imprecise, and the image of the Buddha is slightly corrupted, as seen in the huge oversize ears, and the feet spread apart in the same fashion as the Kushan king, indicating a rather rough imitation of pre-existing Hellenistic images.

Kanishka's Buddha coins all bear the mention "Boddo" in Greek script, with a few known exceptions which seem to indicate the name "Siddhartha Gautama".

Kanishka casket

The "Kanishka casket" or "Kanishka reliquary", dated to the first year of Kanishka's reign in 127 CE, was discovered in a deposit chamber under Kanishka's stupa, during the archeological excavations in 1908-1909 in Shah-ji-Dheri on the outskirts of Peshawar. It is today at the Peshawar Museum, and a copy is in the British Museum. It is said to have contained three bone fragments of the Buddha, which are now housed in Mandalay, Burma.

The casket is dedicated in Kharoshthi. The inscription reads:

"(*mahara)jasa kanishkasa kanishka-pure nagare aya gadha-karae deya-dharme sarva-satvana hita-suhartha bhavatu mahasenasa sagharaki dasa agisala nava-karmi ana*kanishkasa vihare mahasenasa sangharame"

Buddha relics.JPG in Peshawar, Pakistan, now in Mandalay, Burma. Teresa Merrigan, 2005]] The text is signed by the maker, a Greek artist named Agesilas, who oversaw work at Kanishka's stupas (caitya), confirming the direct involvement of Greeks with Buddhist realizations at such a late date: "The servant Agisalaos, the superintendent of works at the vihara of Kanishka in the monastery of Mahasena" ("dasa agisala nava-karmi ana*kaniskasa vihara mahasenasa sangharame").

The lid of the casket shows the Buddha on a lotus pedestal, and worshipped by Brahma and Indra. The edge of the lid is decorated by a frieze of flying geese. The body of the casket represents a Kushan monarch, probably Kanishka in person, with the Iranian sun and moon gods on his side. On the sides are two images of a seated Buddha, worshiped by royal figures. A garland, supported by cherubs goes around the scene in typical Hellenistic style.

Transmission of Buddhism to China

Main article: Silk Road transmission of Buddhism

Kanishka's expansion into the Tarim Basin probably initiated the transmission of Buddhism to China.

Buddhist monks from the region of Gandhara played a key role in the development and the transmission of Buddhist ideas in the direction of northern Asia from the middle of the second century CE. The Kushan monk, Lokaksema (c. 178 CE), became the first translators of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures into Chinese and established a translation bureau at the Chinese capital Loyang. Central Asian and East Asian Buddhist monks appear to have maintained strong exchanges for the following centuries.

Kanishka was probably succeeded by Huvishka. How and when this came about is still uncertain. The fact that there were other Kushana kings called Kanishka is just another complicating factor.

The airplane that was destroyed in the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 was named after him.

Preceded by:
Vima Kadphises

Kushan Ruler

Succeeded by:
Huvishka

Image:Kanishka-Mozdoano.jpg|Kanishka with the divinity Mozdoano.

Notes

External links

References

Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund (1991). A History of India. Rupa and Co.
Foucher, M. A. 1901. "Notes sur la geographie ancienne du Gandhâra (commentaire à un chapitre de Hiuen-Tsang)." BEFEO No. 4, Oct. 1901, pp. 322-369.
Hargreaves, H. (1910-11): "Excavations at Shāh-jī-kī Dhērī"; Archaeological Survey of India, 1910-11, pp. 25-32.
Spooner, D. B. 1908-9. "Excavations at Shāh-jī-kī Dhērī."; Archaeological Survey of India, 1908-9, pp. 38-59.
"De l'Indus à l'Oxus. Archéologie de l'Asie Centrale", 2003, ISBN 2951667922

Kushan empire

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