Kushan Empire - Revision history

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	{{Infobox former country		{{Infobox former country
	\| native_name = {{native name\|xbc\|Κοϸανο}}<br />{{native name\|grc\|Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν}}<br />{{native name\|sa\|कुषाण वंश}}		\| native_name = {{native name\|xbc\|Κοϸανο}}<br />{{native name\|grc\|Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν}}<br />{{native name\|sa\|कुषाण वंश}}
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	The '''Kushan Empire''' ({{lang-grc\|Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν}}; {{lang-xbc\|Κοϸανο}}, {{transliteration\|xbc\|Košano}}; {{lang-sa\|कुषाण वंश}}; [[Brahmi]]: [[File:Gupta allahabad ku.jpg\|16px]] [[File:Gupta gujarat ssaa.jpg\|12px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka nn.svg\|14px]], ''{{IAST\|Ku-ṣā-ṇa}}''; [[Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit\|BHS]]: {{IAST\|Guṣāṇa-vaṃśa}}; {{lang-xpr\|𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓}}, {{lang\|xpr-Latn\|Kušan-xšaθr}}; {{zh\|t=[[wikt:貴霜\|貴霜]]\|p=Guìshuāng}}<ref name="JMR7">{{harvnb\|Rosenfield\|1967\|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA7 7]}}</ref>) was a [[Syncretism\|syncretic]] empire, formed by the [[Yuezhi]], in the [[Bactria\|Bactrian]] territories in the early 1st century. ~~It spread~~ to ~~encompass much of what is now~~ [[~~Uzbekistan]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Pakistan]] and [[Northern India]],<ref>{{cite web~~ \|author=Anonymous \|title=The History of Pakistan: The Kushans \|url=http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm \|access-date=17 May 2015 \|archive-date=7 July 2015 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707162312/http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm \|url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|translator=Samuel Beal \|title=Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World. The mission of Sung-Yun and Hwei-Săng [by Hsüan-chih Yang] Ta-T'ang si-yu-ki. Books 1–5 \|publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. \|place=London \|year=1906 \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hD9AxsfuV-wC}}</ref>{{sfn\|Hill\|2009\|pp=29, 318–350}} 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~~]].~~{{refn\|group=note\|It began about 127 CE.{{sfn\|Falk\|2001\|pp=121–136}}{{sfn\|Falk\|2004\|pp=167–176}}{{sfn\|Hill\|2009\|pp=29, 33, 368–371}}}}~~		The '''Kushan Empire''' ({{lang-grc\|Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν}}; {{lang-xbc\|Κοϸανο}}, {{transliteration\|xbc\|Košano}}; {{lang-sa\|कुषाण वंश}}; [[Brahmi]]: [[File:Gupta allahabad ku.jpg\|16px]] [[File:Gupta gujarat ssaa.jpg\|12px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka nn.svg\|14px]], ''{{IAST\|Ku-ṣā-ṇa}}''; [[Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit\|BHS]]: {{IAST\|Guṣāṇa-vaṃśa}}; {{lang-xpr\|𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓}}, {{lang\|xpr-Latn\|Kušan-xšaθr}}; {{zh\|t=[[wikt:貴霜\|貴霜]]\|p=Guìshuāng}}<ref name="JMR7">{{harvnb\|Rosenfield\|1967\|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA7 7]}}</ref>) was a [[Syncretism\|syncretic]] empire, formed by the [[Yuezhi]], in the [[Bactria\|Bactrian]] territories in the early 1st century. They belonged to [[Kushan (clan)\|Kushan]] clan of the [[Gurjar\|Gujjars]].

	The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the [[Yuezhi]] confederation,<ref>{{cite book \|last=Runion \|first=Meredith L. \|title=The history of Afghanistan \|year=2007 \|publisher=Greenwood Press \|location=Westport \|isbn=978-0-313-33798-7 \|page=46 \|quote=The Yuezhi people conquered Bactria in the second century BCE. 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.}}</ref><ref name=liu156>{{cite book \|last=Liu \|first=Xinru \|chapter=The Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Interactions in Eurasia \|editor=Adas, Michael \|title=Agricultural and pastoral societies in ancient and classical history \|year=2001 \|publisher=Temple University Press \|location=Philadelphia \|isbn=978-1-56639-832-9 \|page=156}}</ref> an [[Indo-European peoples\|Indo-European]] nomadic people of possible [[Tocharians\|Tocharian]] origin,<ref name="Narain"/><ref name="Beckwith_380"/><ref name="Pulleyblank"/><ref name="EOIC"/><ref name="TCHAC"/> who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient [[Bactria]].<ref name=liu156/> The founder of the dynasty, [[Kujula Kadphises]], followed Greek religious ideas and iconography after the [[Greco-Bactrian]] tradition, and was also a follower of the [[Shaivism\|Shaivite]] sect of [[Hinduism]].<ref>{{Cite book \|title=History of civilizations of Central Asia \|author1=Dani, Ahmad Hasan \|author2=Masson, V. M. \|author3=Harmatta, J. \|author4=Puri, Baij Nath \|author5=Etemadi, G. F. \|author6=Litvinskiĭ, B. A. \|date=1992–2005 \|publisher=UNESCO \|location=Paris \|isbn=92-3-102719-0 \|pages=[https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000097871 310] \|oclc=28186754\|quote="Contrary to earlier assumptions, which regarded Kujula Kadphises as Buddhist on the basis of this epithet [dharmasthita- "steadfast in the Law"], it is now clear from the wording of a Mathura inscription, in which Huvishka bears the same epithet satyadharmasthita that the kingdom was conferred upon him by Sarva and Scamdavira (Candavira), that is, he was a devotee of Siva."}}<br>The Mathura inscription in question is documented in [https://www.indianculture.gov.in/ebooks/mathura-inscriptions Lüders 1961, p.138ff]</ref> The Kushans in general were also great patrons of [[Buddhism]], and, starting with Emperor Kanishka, they also employed elements of [[Zoroastrianism]] in their pantheon.<ref>{{cite book \|chapter=Zoroastrianism among the Kushans \|year=2015 \|first=Frantz \|last=Grenet \|editor-last=Falk \|editor-first=Harry \|title=Kushan histories. Literary sources and selected papers from a symposium at Berlin, December 5 to 7, 2013 \|place=Bremen \|publisher=Hempen Verlag}}</ref> They played an important role in the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and China, ushering in a period of relative peace for 200 years, sometimes described as "[[Pax Kushana]]".<ref>{{cite journal \|last1=Aldrovandi \|first1=Cibele \|last2=Hirata \|first2=Elaine \|title=Buddhism, Pax Kushana and Greco-Roman motifs: pattern and purpose in Gandharan iconography \|journal=Antiquity \|date=June 2005 \|volume=79 \|issue=304 \|pages=306–315 \|doi=10.1017/S0003598X00114103 \|s2cid=161505956 \|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/buddhism-pax-kushana-and-grecoroman-motifs-pattern-and-purpose-in-gandharan-iconography/2D71B3DA60DB2549959DA7BDE49B9E69 \|language=en \|issn=0003-598X}}</ref>		It spread to encompass much of what is now [[Uzbekistan]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Pakistan]] and [[Northern India]],<ref>{{cite web \|author=Anonymous \|title=The History of Pakistan: The Kushans \|url=http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm \|access-date=17 May 2015 \|archive-date=7 July 2015 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707162312/http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm \|url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|translator=Samuel Beal \|title=Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World. The mission of Sung-Yun and Hwei-Săng [by Hsüan-chih Yang] Ta-T'ang si-yu-ki. Books 1–5 \|publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. \|place=London \|year=1906 \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hD9AxsfuV-wC}}</ref>{{sfn\|Hill\|2009\|pp=29, 318–350}} 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]].{{refn\|group=note\|It began about 127 CE.{{sfn\|Falk\|2001\|pp=121–136}}{{sfn\|Falk\|2004\|pp=167–176}}{{sfn\|Hill\|2009\|pp=29, 33, 368–371}}}} The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the [[Yuezhi]] confederation,<ref>{{cite book \|last=Runion \|first=Meredith L. \|title=The history of Afghanistan \|year=2007 \|publisher=Greenwood Press \|location=Westport \|isbn=978-0-313-33798-7 \|page=46 \|quote=The Yuezhi people conquered Bactria in the second century BCE. 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.}}</ref><ref name=liu156>{{cite book \|last=Liu \|first=Xinru \|chapter=The Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Interactions in Eurasia \|editor=Adas, Michael \|title=Agricultural and pastoral societies in ancient and classical history \|year=2001 \|publisher=Temple University Press \|location=Philadelphia \|isbn=978-1-56639-832-9 \|page=156}}</ref> an [[Indo-European peoples\|Indo-European]] nomadic people of possible [[Tocharians\|Tocharian]] origin,<ref name="Narain"/><ref name="Beckwith_380"/><ref name="Pulleyblank"/><ref name="EOIC"/><ref name="TCHAC"/> who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient [[Bactria]].<ref name=liu156/> The founder of the dynasty, [[Kujula Kadphises]], followed Greek religious ideas and iconography after the [[Greco-Bactrian]] tradition, and was also a follower of the [[Shaivism\|Shaivite]] sect of [[Hinduism]].<ref>{{Cite book \|title=History of civilizations of Central Asia \|author1=Dani, Ahmad Hasan \|author2=Masson, V. M. \|author3=Harmatta, J. \|author4=Puri, Baij Nath \|author5=Etemadi, G. F. \|author6=Litvinskiĭ, B. A. \|date=1992–2005 \|publisher=UNESCO \|location=Paris \|isbn=92-3-102719-0 \|pages=[https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000097871 310] \|oclc=28186754\|quote="Contrary to earlier assumptions, which regarded Kujula Kadphises as Buddhist on the basis of this epithet [dharmasthita- "steadfast in the Law"], it is now clear from the wording of a Mathura inscription, in which Huvishka bears the same epithet satyadharmasthita that the kingdom was conferred upon him by Sarva and Scamdavira (Candavira), that is, he was a devotee of Siva."}}<br>The Mathura inscription in question is documented in [https://www.indianculture.gov.in/ebooks/mathura-inscriptions Lüders 1961, p.138ff]</ref> The Kushans in general were also great patrons of [[Buddhism]], and, starting with Emperor Kanishka, they also employed elements of [[Zoroastrianism]] in their pantheon.<ref>{{cite book \|chapter=Zoroastrianism among the Kushans \|year=2015 \|first=Frantz \|last=Grenet \|editor-last=Falk \|editor-first=Harry \|title=Kushan histories. Literary sources and selected papers from a symposium at Berlin, December 5 to 7, 2013 \|place=Bremen \|publisher=Hempen Verlag}}</ref> They played an important role in the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and China, ushering in a period of relative peace for 200 years, sometimes described as "[[Pax Kushana]]".<ref>{{cite journal \|last1=Aldrovandi \|first1=Cibele \|last2=Hirata \|first2=Elaine \|title=Buddhism, Pax Kushana and Greco-Roman motifs: pattern and purpose in Gandharan iconography \|journal=Antiquity \|date=June 2005 \|volume=79 \|issue=304 \|pages=306–315 \|doi=10.1017/S0003598X00114103 \|s2cid=161505956 \|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/buddhism-pax-kushana-and-grecoroman-motifs-pattern-and-purpose-in-gandharan-iconography/2D71B3DA60DB2549959DA7BDE49B9E69 \|language=en \|issn=0003-598X}}</ref>

	The Kushans possibly used the [[Greek language]] initially for administrative purposes but soon began to use the [[Bactrian language]]. Kanishka sent his armies north of the [[Karakoram\|Karakoram mountains]]. A direct road from [[Gandhara]] to China remained under Kushan control for more than a century, encouraged travel across the [[Karakoram]] and facilitated the [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism\|spread of Mahayana Buddhism]] to China. The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the [[Roman Empire]], [[Sasanian 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".<ref name="A Brief History of India">{{cite book \|last1=Daniélou \|first1=Alain \|title=A Brief History of India \|date=2003 \|publisher=Simon and Schuster \|isbn=9781594777943 \|page=111 \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlwoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT111}}</ref> 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.{{sfn\|Hill\|2009\|p=36 and notes}}		The Kushans possibly used the [[Greek language]] initially for administrative purposes but soon began to use the [[Bactrian language]]. Kanishka sent his armies north of the [[Karakoram\|Karakoram mountains]]. A direct road from [[Gandhara]] to China remained under Kushan control for more than a century, encouraged travel across the [[Karakoram]] and facilitated the [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism\|spread of Mahayana Buddhism]] to China. The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the [[Roman Empire]], [[Sasanian 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".<ref name="A Brief History of India">{{cite book \|last1=Daniélou \|first1=Alain \|title=A Brief History of India \|date=2003 \|publisher=Simon and Schuster \|isbn=9781594777943 \|page=111 \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlwoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT111}}</ref> 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.{{sfn\|Hill\|2009\|p=36 and notes}}

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	{{Short description\|30–375 AD empire in Central and South Asia}}		{{Short description\|30–375 AD empire in Central and South Asia}}
	~~{{Redirect\|Kushan\|the fictional video game race\|Homeworld\|the East African Kingdom\|Kingdom of Kush}}~~
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=May 2023}}~~
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	{{Infobox former country		{{Infobox former country

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{{Infobox Former Country
|native_name = {{lang|sa|कुषाण राजवंश}} ''{{transl|sa|Kuṣāṇ Rājavaṃśa}}''
|conventional_long_name = Kushan Empire
|common_name = Kushan Empire
|era = Classical Antiquity
|status =
|event_start = [[Kujula Kadphises]] unites [[Yuezhi]] tribes into a confederation.
|year_start = 30
|date_start =
|event1 =
|date_event1 =
|event_end = Subjugated by the [[Gupta Empire]].
|year_end = 375
|date_end =
|p1 = Maurya Empire
|p2 = Indo-Scythians
|s1 = Gupta Empire
|s2 = Sassanid Empire
|flag_type =
|image_coat =
|image_map = Kushanmap.jpg
|image_map_caption = Kushan territories (full line) and maximum extent of Kushan dominions under [[Kanishka]] (dotted line), according to the [[Rabatak inscription]].<ref>"The Rabatak inscription claims that in the year 1 Kanishka I's authority was proclaimed in India, in all the satrapies and in different cities like Koonadeano (Kundina), Ozeno ([[Ujjain]]), Kozambo (Kausambi), Zagedo ([[Saketa]]), Palabotro ([[Pataliputra]]) and Ziri-Tambo (Janjgir-Champa). These cities lay to the east and south of Mathura, up to which locality Wima had already carried his victorious arm. Therefore they must have been captured or subdued by Kanishka I himself." "Ancient Indian Inscriptions", S. R. Goyal, p. 93. See also the analysis of [[Sims-Williams]] and J.Cribb, who had a central role in the decipherment: "A new Bactrian inscription of Kanishka the Great", in "Silk Road Art and Archaeology" No4, 1995–1996. Also Mukherjee B.N. "The Great Kushanan Testament", Indian Museum Bulletin.</ref>
|capital = [[Peshawar]] [[Begram]] [[Taxila]] [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]]
|common_languages = [[Pali]] [[Prakrit]] [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]] [[Sanskrit]] [[Greek language|Greek]]
|religion = [[Hinduism]] [[Buddhism]] [[Zoroastrianism]] [[Greco-Buddhism]] [[Ancient Greek religion]]
|currency = [[Kushan Coinage|Kushan Drachm]]
|government_type = Monarchy
|leader1 = [[Kujula Kadphises]]
|year_leader1 = c. 60-c. 80
|leader2 = [[Kipunada]]
|year_leader2 = 350–375
|title_leader = Emperor
|today = {{flag|Afghanistan}} {{flag|India}} {{flag|Iran}} {{flag|Pakistan}} {{Flag|Tajikistan}} {{flag|Uzbekistan}}
}}

The '''Kushan Empire''' ({{lang-sa|कुषाण राजवंश}} (''Kuṣāṇ Rājavaṃśa''), [[Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit|BHS]]: ''{{IAST|Guṣāṇa-vaṃśa}}'', [[Parthian language|Parthian]]: ''Kušanxšaθr''<ref>''The Dynasty Arts of the Kushans'', University of California Press, 1967, [https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA7&dq=Kushan+Sanskrit&hl=en&ei=UvPDTbbwC9zZ4waLkdijBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Kushan%20Sanskrit&f=false p. 5]</ref>) was first formed in the early 1st century AD. It was in eastern and northern [[Afghanistan]] and the north-west of [[India]].<ref>Hill (2009), pp. 29, 318–350</ref>

The Kushan were a branch of the [[Yuezhi]] confederation.<ref>{{cite book | last=Runion | first=Meredith L. | title=The history of Afghanistan | url=https://archive.org/details/historyafghanist00runi | year=2007 | publisher=Greenwood Press | location=Westport | isbn=9780313337987 | page=[https://archive.org/details/historyafghanist00runi/page/n66 46] | quote=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.}}</ref><ref name=liu156>{{cite book | last=Liu | first=Xinrui | title=Agricultural and pastoral societies in ancient and classical history | year=2001 | publisher=Temple University Press | location=Philadelphia | isbn=9781566398329 | page=156 | editor=Adas, Michael}}</ref> Previously a nomadic people living in eastern Central Asia, the Yuezhi moved southwest and settled in ancient [[Bactria]].<ref name=liu156/>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{hist-stub}}

[[Category:History of Iran]]
[[Category:History of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Former empires]]
[[Category:1st-century establishments]]
[[Category:History of India]]
[[Category:Disestablishments in Asia]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:02, 5 December 2023
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	{{Infobox former country		{{Infobox former country
	\| native_name = {{native name\|xbc\|Κοϸανο}}<br />{{native name\|grc\|Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν}}<br />{{native name\|sa\|कुषाण वंश}}		\| native_name = {{native name\|xbc\|Κοϸανο}}<br />{{native name\|grc\|Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν}}<br />{{native name\|sa\|कुषाण वंश}}
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	The '''Kushan Empire''' ({{lang-grc\|Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν}}; {{lang-xbc\|Κοϸανο}}, {{transliteration\|xbc\|Košano}}; {{lang-sa\|कुषाण वंश}}; [[Brahmi]]: [[File:Gupta allahabad ku.jpg\|16px]] [[File:Gupta gujarat ssaa.jpg\|12px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka nn.svg\|14px]], ''{{IAST\|Ku-ṣā-ṇa}}''; [[Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit\|BHS]]: {{IAST\|Guṣāṇa-vaṃśa}}; {{lang-xpr\|𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓}}, {{lang\|xpr-Latn\|Kušan-xšaθr}}; {{zh\|t=[[wikt:貴霜\|貴霜]]\|p=Guìshuāng}}<ref name="JMR7">{{harvnb\|Rosenfield\|1967\|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA7 7]}}</ref>) was a [[Syncretism\|syncretic]] empire, formed by the [[Yuezhi]], in the [[Bactria\|Bactrian]] territories in the early 1st century. ~~It spread~~ to ~~encompass much of what is now~~ [[~~Uzbekistan]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Pakistan]] and [[Northern India]],<ref>{{cite web~~ \|author=Anonymous \|title=The History of Pakistan: The Kushans \|url=http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm \|access-date=17 May 2015 \|archive-date=7 July 2015 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707162312/http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm \|url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|translator=Samuel Beal \|title=Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World. The mission of Sung-Yun and Hwei-Săng [by Hsüan-chih Yang] Ta-T'ang si-yu-ki. Books 1–5 \|publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. \|place=London \|year=1906 \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hD9AxsfuV-wC}}</ref>{{sfn\|Hill\|2009\|pp=29, 318–350}} 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~~]].~~{{refn\|group=note\|It began about 127 CE.{{sfn\|Falk\|2001\|pp=121–136}}{{sfn\|Falk\|2004\|pp=167–176}}{{sfn\|Hill\|2009\|pp=29, 33, 368–371}}}}~~		The '''Kushan Empire''' ({{lang-grc\|Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν}}; {{lang-xbc\|Κοϸανο}}, {{transliteration\|xbc\|Košano}}; {{lang-sa\|कुषाण वंश}}; [[Brahmi]]: [[File:Gupta allahabad ku.jpg\|16px]] [[File:Gupta gujarat ssaa.jpg\|12px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka nn.svg\|14px]], ''{{IAST\|Ku-ṣā-ṇa}}''; [[Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit\|BHS]]: {{IAST\|Guṣāṇa-vaṃśa}}; {{lang-xpr\|𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓}}, {{lang\|xpr-Latn\|Kušan-xšaθr}}; {{zh\|t=[[wikt:貴霜\|貴霜]]\|p=Guìshuāng}}<ref name="JMR7">{{harvnb\|Rosenfield\|1967\|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA7 7]}}</ref>) was a [[Syncretism\|syncretic]] empire, formed by the [[Yuezhi]], in the [[Bactria\|Bactrian]] territories in the early 1st century. They belonged to [[Kushan (clan)\|Kushan]] clan of the [[Gurjar\|Gujjars]].

	The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the [[Yuezhi]] confederation,<ref>{{cite book \|last=Runion \|first=Meredith L. \|title=The history of Afghanistan \|year=2007 \|publisher=Greenwood Press \|location=Westport \|isbn=978-0-313-33798-7 \|page=46 \|quote=The Yuezhi people conquered Bactria in the second century BCE. 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.}}</ref><ref name=liu156>{{cite book \|last=Liu \|first=Xinru \|chapter=The Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Interactions in Eurasia \|editor=Adas, Michael \|title=Agricultural and pastoral societies in ancient and classical history \|year=2001 \|publisher=Temple University Press \|location=Philadelphia \|isbn=978-1-56639-832-9 \|page=156}}</ref> an [[Indo-European peoples\|Indo-European]] nomadic people of possible [[Tocharians\|Tocharian]] origin,<ref name="Narain"/><ref name="Beckwith_380"/><ref name="Pulleyblank"/><ref name="EOIC"/><ref name="TCHAC"/> who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient [[Bactria]].<ref name=liu156/> The founder of the dynasty, [[Kujula Kadphises]], followed Greek religious ideas and iconography after the [[Greco-Bactrian]] tradition, and was also a follower of the [[Shaivism\|Shaivite]] sect of [[Hinduism]].<ref>{{Cite book \|title=History of civilizations of Central Asia \|author1=Dani, Ahmad Hasan \|author2=Masson, V. M. \|author3=Harmatta, J. \|author4=Puri, Baij Nath \|author5=Etemadi, G. F. \|author6=Litvinskiĭ, B. A. \|date=1992–2005 \|publisher=UNESCO \|location=Paris \|isbn=92-3-102719-0 \|pages=[https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000097871 310] \|oclc=28186754\|quote="Contrary to earlier assumptions, which regarded Kujula Kadphises as Buddhist on the basis of this epithet [dharmasthita- "steadfast in the Law"], it is now clear from the wording of a Mathura inscription, in which Huvishka bears the same epithet satyadharmasthita that the kingdom was conferred upon him by Sarva and Scamdavira (Candavira), that is, he was a devotee of Siva."}}<br>The Mathura inscription in question is documented in [https://www.indianculture.gov.in/ebooks/mathura-inscriptions Lüders 1961, p.138ff]</ref> The Kushans in general were also great patrons of [[Buddhism]], and, starting with Emperor Kanishka, they also employed elements of [[Zoroastrianism]] in their pantheon.<ref>{{cite book \|chapter=Zoroastrianism among the Kushans \|year=2015 \|first=Frantz \|last=Grenet \|editor-last=Falk \|editor-first=Harry \|title=Kushan histories. Literary sources and selected papers from a symposium at Berlin, December 5 to 7, 2013 \|place=Bremen \|publisher=Hempen Verlag}}</ref> They played an important role in the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and China, ushering in a period of relative peace for 200 years, sometimes described as "[[Pax Kushana]]".<ref>{{cite journal \|last1=Aldrovandi \|first1=Cibele \|last2=Hirata \|first2=Elaine \|title=Buddhism, Pax Kushana and Greco-Roman motifs: pattern and purpose in Gandharan iconography \|journal=Antiquity \|date=June 2005 \|volume=79 \|issue=304 \|pages=306–315 \|doi=10.1017/S0003598X00114103 \|s2cid=161505956 \|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/buddhism-pax-kushana-and-grecoroman-motifs-pattern-and-purpose-in-gandharan-iconography/2D71B3DA60DB2549959DA7BDE49B9E69 \|language=en \|issn=0003-598X}}</ref>		It spread to encompass much of what is now [[Uzbekistan]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Pakistan]] and [[Northern India]],<ref>{{cite web \|author=Anonymous \|title=The History of Pakistan: The Kushans \|url=http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm \|access-date=17 May 2015 \|archive-date=7 July 2015 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707162312/http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm \|url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|translator=Samuel Beal \|title=Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World. The mission of Sung-Yun and Hwei-Săng [by Hsüan-chih Yang] Ta-T'ang si-yu-ki. Books 1–5 \|publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. \|place=London \|year=1906 \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hD9AxsfuV-wC}}</ref>{{sfn\|Hill\|2009\|pp=29, 318–350}} 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]].{{refn\|group=note\|It began about 127 CE.{{sfn\|Falk\|2001\|pp=121–136}}{{sfn\|Falk\|2004\|pp=167–176}}{{sfn\|Hill\|2009\|pp=29, 33, 368–371}}}} The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the [[Yuezhi]] confederation,<ref>{{cite book \|last=Runion \|first=Meredith L. \|title=The history of Afghanistan \|year=2007 \|publisher=Greenwood Press \|location=Westport \|isbn=978-0-313-33798-7 \|page=46 \|quote=The Yuezhi people conquered Bactria in the second century BCE. 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.}}</ref><ref name=liu156>{{cite book \|last=Liu \|first=Xinru \|chapter=The Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Interactions in Eurasia \|editor=Adas, Michael \|title=Agricultural and pastoral societies in ancient and classical history \|year=2001 \|publisher=Temple University Press \|location=Philadelphia \|isbn=978-1-56639-832-9 \|page=156}}</ref> an [[Indo-European peoples\|Indo-European]] nomadic people of possible [[Tocharians\|Tocharian]] origin,<ref name="Narain"/><ref name="Beckwith_380"/><ref name="Pulleyblank"/><ref name="EOIC"/><ref name="TCHAC"/> who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient [[Bactria]].<ref name=liu156/> The founder of the dynasty, [[Kujula Kadphises]], followed Greek religious ideas and iconography after the [[Greco-Bactrian]] tradition, and was also a follower of the [[Shaivism\|Shaivite]] sect of [[Hinduism]].<ref>{{Cite book \|title=History of civilizations of Central Asia \|author1=Dani, Ahmad Hasan \|author2=Masson, V. M. \|author3=Harmatta, J. \|author4=Puri, Baij Nath \|author5=Etemadi, G. F. \|author6=Litvinskiĭ, B. A. \|date=1992–2005 \|publisher=UNESCO \|location=Paris \|isbn=92-3-102719-0 \|pages=[https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000097871 310] \|oclc=28186754\|quote="Contrary to earlier assumptions, which regarded Kujula Kadphises as Buddhist on the basis of this epithet [dharmasthita- "steadfast in the Law"], it is now clear from the wording of a Mathura inscription, in which Huvishka bears the same epithet satyadharmasthita that the kingdom was conferred upon him by Sarva and Scamdavira (Candavira), that is, he was a devotee of Siva."}}<br>The Mathura inscription in question is documented in [https://www.indianculture.gov.in/ebooks/mathura-inscriptions Lüders 1961, p.138ff]</ref> The Kushans in general were also great patrons of [[Buddhism]], and, starting with Emperor Kanishka, they also employed elements of [[Zoroastrianism]] in their pantheon.<ref>{{cite book \|chapter=Zoroastrianism among the Kushans \|year=2015 \|first=Frantz \|last=Grenet \|editor-last=Falk \|editor-first=Harry \|title=Kushan histories. Literary sources and selected papers from a symposium at Berlin, December 5 to 7, 2013 \|place=Bremen \|publisher=Hempen Verlag}}</ref> They played an important role in the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and China, ushering in a period of relative peace for 200 years, sometimes described as "[[Pax Kushana]]".<ref>{{cite journal \|last1=Aldrovandi \|first1=Cibele \|last2=Hirata \|first2=Elaine \|title=Buddhism, Pax Kushana and Greco-Roman motifs: pattern and purpose in Gandharan iconography \|journal=Antiquity \|date=June 2005 \|volume=79 \|issue=304 \|pages=306–315 \|doi=10.1017/S0003598X00114103 \|s2cid=161505956 \|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/buddhism-pax-kushana-and-grecoroman-motifs-pattern-and-purpose-in-gandharan-iconography/2D71B3DA60DB2549959DA7BDE49B9E69 \|language=en \|issn=0003-598X}}</ref>

	The Kushans possibly used the [[Greek language]] initially for administrative purposes but soon began to use the [[Bactrian language]]. Kanishka sent his armies north of the [[Karakoram\|Karakoram mountains]]. A direct road from [[Gandhara]] to China remained under Kushan control for more than a century, encouraged travel across the [[Karakoram]] and facilitated the [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism\|spread of Mahayana Buddhism]] to China. The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the [[Roman Empire]], [[Sasanian 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".<ref name="A Brief History of India">{{cite book \|last1=Daniélou \|first1=Alain \|title=A Brief History of India \|date=2003 \|publisher=Simon and Schuster \|isbn=9781594777943 \|page=111 \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlwoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT111}}</ref> 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.{{sfn\|Hill\|2009\|p=36 and notes}}		The Kushans possibly used the [[Greek language]] initially for administrative purposes but soon began to use the [[Bactrian language]]. Kanishka sent his armies north of the [[Karakoram\|Karakoram mountains]]. A direct road from [[Gandhara]] to China remained under Kushan control for more than a century, encouraged travel across the [[Karakoram]] and facilitated the [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism\|spread of Mahayana Buddhism]] to China. The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the [[Roman Empire]], [[Sasanian 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".<ref name="A Brief History of India">{{cite book \|last1=Daniélou \|first1=Alain \|title=A Brief History of India \|date=2003 \|publisher=Simon and Schuster \|isbn=9781594777943 \|page=111 \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlwoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT111}}</ref> 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.{{sfn\|Hill\|2009\|p=36 and notes}}