Kanishka
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- Kanishka is also the name of the Air India Flight 182, bombed mid-air on June 23, 1985
| Kanishka I | ||
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| Kushan king | ||
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| Gold coin of Kanishka I (c.120 AD). Kanishka standing, clad in heavy Kushan coat and long boots, flames emanating from shoulders, holding standard in his left hand, and making a sacrifice over an altar. Kushan-language legend in Greek script (with the addition of the Kushan Ϸ "sh" letter): ϷΑΟΝΑΝΟϷΑΟ ΚΑΝΗϷΚΙ ΚΟϷΑΝΟ ("Shaonanoshao Kanishki Koshano"): "King of Kings, Kanishka the Kushan". | ||
| Reign | Kushan: 120 CE - 150 CE | |
Kanishka (Kushan language: ΚΑΝΗϷΚΙ, 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 at the location of the modern city of Peshawar in Pakistan, with a second capital at Mathura in India.
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[edit] 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.[1] [2]
A number of legends about Kanishka were preserved in Buddhist religious traditions. Along with the Indian king Ashoka, the Indo-Greek king Menander I (Milinda), and Harshavardhana, he is considered by Buddhists to have been one of the greatest Buddhist kings.
Kanishka's era is now generally accepted to have begun in 127 CE on the basis of Harry Falk's ground-breaking research.[3] [4] Kanishka's era was used as a calendar reference by the Kushans for about a century, until the decline of the Kushan realm.
[edit] 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.
Obv:: Chinese characters: LUH (六) TCHU TSIEN "Six tchu (of) money"
Rev:: Depiction of a horse. Prakrit legend in Kharoshthi script: GUGRAMAYA.
Knowledge of his hold over Central Asia is less well established. Chinese records indicate that general Ban Chao fought battles with a Kushan army of 70,000 men led by an otherwise unknown Kushan Viceroy named Xie (Chinese: 謝) near Khotan in 90 CE. Though Ban Chao claimed to be victorious, forcing the Kushans to retreat by use of a scorched-earth policy the region fell to Kushan forces in the early 2nd century.[5] As a result, for a period (until the Chinese regained control c. 127 CE) [6] 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.
Controlling both the land and sea trade routes between South Asia and Rome seems to have been one of Kanishka's chief imperial goals.
[edit] Kanishka's coinage
Obv: Kanishka standing, clad in heavy Kushan coat and long boots, flames emanating from shoulders, holding standard in his left hand, and making a sacrifice over an altar. Greek legend ΒΑϹΙΛΕΥϹ ΒΑϹΙΛΕΩΝ ΚΑΝΗϷΚΟΥ "King of Kings Kanishka".
Rev: Standing Helios in Hellenistic style, forming a benediction gesture with the right hand. Legend in Greek script: ΗΛΙΟϹ "Helios". Kanishka monogram (tamgha) to the left.
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 Bactrian language) were written in corrupted Greek script, with the addition of the Kushan letter Ϸ, pronounced "Sh", as in the word "Kushan".
Kanishka is shown as a profusely bearded man in a long coat and trousers, with flames emanating from his shoulders. He wears large rounded boots, and is armed with a long sword similar to a scimitar as well as a lance. He is often shown making a sacrifice on a small altar.
[edit] Hellenistic phase
A few coins at the beginning of his reign have a legend in the Greek language and Greek script: ΒΑϹΙΛΕΥϹ ΒΑϹΙΛΕΩΝ ΚΑΝΗϷΚΟΥ ("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:
- ΗΛΙΟϹ (Sun god Helios), ΗΦΑΗϹΤΟϹ (Fire god Hephaistos), ϹΑΛΗΝΗ (Moon god Selene), ΑΝΗΜΟϹ (Wind god Anemos)
[edit] Iranian/Indian phase
Following the transition to the Bactrian language on coins, numerous Iranian divinities were adopted in replacement (and extension) of Greek ones:
- ΜΑΟ (Moon god Mao), ΟΑΔΟ (Wind god Oado)
- ΜΙΘΡΟ ("Mitro", Mithra), ΜΙΙΡΟ, ΜΙΟΡΟ, ΜΙΥΡΟ
- ΝΑΝΑ, ΝΑΝΑΙΑ, ΜΑΝΑΟΒΑΓΟ, ΝΑΝΑϷΑΟ
- ΛΡΟΟΑϹΠΟ, ΦΑΡΡΟ, ΟΡΑΛΑΓΝΟ, ΑΘϷΟ, ΑΡΔΟΧϷΟ, ΜΟΖΔΟΟΑΝΟ, ΦΑΡΡΟ
Only a few Indian divinities were used as well:
- ΒΟΔΔΟ ("Boddo", the name of the Buddha in its Greek form), ϷΑΚΑΜΑΝΟ ΒΟΔΔΟ ("Shakamano Boddho", the historical Shakyamuni Buddha), ΜΕΤΡΑΓΟ ΒΟΔΔΟ ("Metrago Boddo", the bodhisattava Maitreya).
- ΟΗϷΟ ("Oesho", long considered as the Hindu god Shiva, although recent studies tend to indicate that Oisho is an Iranian god, derived from Herakles, with admittedly many of the attributes of Shiva [7])
[edit] Kanishka and Buddhism
Obv: Kanishka standing, clad in heavy Kushan coat and long boots, flames emanating from shoulders, holding standard in his left hand, and making a sacrifice over an altar. Kushan-language legend in Greek script (with the addition of the Kushan Ϸ "sh" letter): ϷΑΟΝΑΝΟϷΑΟ ΚΑΝΗϷΚΙ ΚΟϷΑΝΟ ("Shaonanoshao Kanishki Koshano"): "King of Kings, Kanishka the Kushan".
Rev: Standing Buddha in Hellenistic style, forming the gesture of "no fear" (abhaya mudra) with his right hand, and holding a pleat of his robe in his left hand. Legend in Greek script: ΒΟΔΔΟ "Boddo", for the Buddha. Kanishka monogram (tamgha) to the right.
Kanishka's reputation in Buddhist tradition is based mainly on the Buddhist tradition that he convened the 4th Buddhist Council in Kashmir.
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 was the Kanishka stupa at Peshawar. Archaeologists rediscovered the base of 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.) and was covered with jewels.[8] Certainly this immense multi-storied building ranks 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.
[edit] Buddhist coinage
The Buddhist coins of Kanishka are comparatively very few (well under one percent of all known coins of Kanishka). Several of them display Kanishka himself on the obverse, and the Buddha standing on the reverse, in Hellenistic style. A few also show the Shakyamuni Buddha and Maitreya. 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.
Three types of Kanishka's Buddhist coins are known:
[edit] The Buddha
The standing Buddha in Hellenistic style, bearing the mention "Boddo" in Greek script, holding the left corner of his cloack in his hand, and forming the abhaya mudra. Only six Kushan coins of the Buddha are known (the sixth one is the centerpiece of an ancient piece of jewelry, consisting in a Kanishka Buddha coin decorated with a ring of heart-shaped ruby stones). All these coins were minted in gold under Kanishka I, but are quite small (about the size of an obol) compared to the other gold coins of Kanishka.
The Buddha is represented wearing the monastic robe, the antaravasaka, the uttarasanga, and the overcoat sanghati.
The ears are extremely large and long, a symbolic exaggeration possibly rendered necessary by the small size of the coins, but otherwise visible in some later Gandharan statues of the Buddha typically dated to the 3rd-4th century CE. He has an abundant topknot covering the usnisha, often highly stylicized in a curly or often globular manner, also visible on later Buddha statues of Gandhara.
In general, the representation of the Buddha on these coins is already highly symbolic, and quite distant from the more naturalistic and Hellenistic images seen in early Gandhara sculptures. On several design, a mustache is apparent. The palm of his right hand bears the Chakra mark, and his brow bear the urna. An aureola, formed by one, two or three lines, surrounds him.
[edit] The "Shakyamuni Buddha"
The Shakyamuni Buddha (with the legend "Sakamano Boudo", ie Shakamuni Buddha, another name for the historic Buddha Siddharta Gautama), standing to front, with left hand on hip and forming the abhaya mudra with the right hand. All these coins are in copper only, and usually rather worn.
The gown of the Shakyamuni Buddha is quite light compared to that on the coins in the name of Buddha, clearly showing the outline of the body, in a nearly transparent way. These are probably the first two layers of monastic clothing the antaravasaka and the uttarasanga. Also, his gown is folded over the left arm (rather than being held in the left hand as above), a feature only otherwise known in the Bimaran casket and suggestive of a scarf-like uttariya. He has an abundant topknot covering the ushnisha, and a simple or double halo, sometimes radiating, surrounds his head.
[edit] The "Maitreya Buddha"
The Bodhisattva Maitreya (with the legend "Metrago Boudo") cross-legged on a throne, holding a water pot, and also forming the Abhaya mudra. These coins are only known in copper and are badly worn. On the clearest coins, Maitreya seems to be wearing the armbands of an Indian prince, a feature often seen on the staruary of Maitreya. The throne is decorated with small columns, suggesting that the coin representation of Maitreya was directly copied from pre-existing statuary with such well-known features. The qualification of "Buddha" for Maitreya is inaccurate, as he is instead a Bodhisattva (he is the Buddha of the future). This may indicate a limited knowledge of Buddhist cosmology on the part of the Kushans.
The iconography of these three types is very different from that of the other deities depicted in Kanishka's coinage. Whether Kanishka's deities are all shown from the side, the Buddhas only are shown frontally, indicating that they were copied from contemporary frontal representations of the standing and seated Buddhas in statuary.[9] Both representations of the Buddha and Shakyamuni have both shoulders covered by their monastic gown, indicating that the statues used as models were from the Gandhara school of art, rather than Mathura.
[edit] 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.[10] [11] 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"
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.
[edit] Kanishka in Buddhist tradition
In Buddhist tradition, Kanishka is often described as a violent, faithless ruler before his conversion to Buddhism, as in the Sri-dharma-pitaka-nidana sutra:
- "At this time the King of Ngan-si (Pahlava) was very stupid and of a violent nature….There was a bhikshu (monk) arhat who seeing the evil deeds done by the king wished to make him repent. So by his supernatural force he caused the king to see the torments of hell. The king was terrified and repented." Śri-dharma-piṭaka-nidāna sūtra [12]
Additionally, the arrival of Kanishka was reportedly foretold by the Buddha, as well as the construction of his stupa:
- ". . . the Buddha, pointing to a small boy making a mud tope….[said] that on that spot Kaṇiṣka would erect a tope by his name." Vinaya sutra [13]
The same story is repeated in a Khotanese scroll found at Dunhuang, which first described how Kanishka would arrive 400 years after the death of the Buddha. The account also describes how Kanishka came to raise his stupa:
- "A desire thus arose in [Kanishka to build a vast stupa]….at that time the four world-regents learnt the mind of the king. So for his sake they took the form of young boys….[and] began a stūpa of mud....the boys said to [Kanishka] ‘We are making the Kaṇiṣka-stūpa.’….At that time the boys changed their form....[and] said to him, ‘Great king, by you according to the Buddha’s prophecy is a Saṅghārāma to be built wholly (?) with a large stūpa and hither relics must be invited which the meritorious good beings...will bring." [14]
Chinese pilgrims to India, such as Xuanzang, who travelled there around 630 CE also relays the story:
- "Kaṇiṣka became sovereign of all Jambudvīpa (Indian subcontinent) but he did not believe in Karma, and he treated Buddhism with contumely. When he was hunting in the wild country a white hare appeared; the king gave a chase and the hare suddenly disappeared at [the site of the future stupa]….[when the construction of the stūpa was not going as planned] the king now lost patience and threw the [project] up….[but] the king became alarmed, as he [realized] he was evidently contending with supernatural powers, so he confessed his errors and made submission. These two topes are still in existence and were resorted to for cures by people afflicted with diseases." [15]
[edit] 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.
 Kanishka with the divinity Mozdoano. |
 Coin of Kanishka. |
[edit] References
- ^ Nicholas Sims-Williams and Joe Cribb (1995/6): "A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great." Silk Road Art and Archaeology 4 (1996), pp. 75-142.
- ^ Nicholas Sims-Williams (1998): "Further notes on the Bactrian inscription of Rabatak, with an Appendix on the names of Kujula Kadphises and Vima Taktu in Chinese." Proceedings of the Third European Conference of Iranian Studies Part 1: Old and Middle Iranian Studies. Edited by Nicholas Sims-Williams. Wiesbaden. 1998, pp. 79-93.
- ^ Falk, Harry (2001): “The yuga of Sphujiddhvaja and the era of the Kuṣâṇas.” Silk Road Art and Archaeology VII, pp. 121-136.
- ^ Falk, Harry (2004): “The Kaniṣka era in Gupta records.” Silk Road Art and Archaeology X (2004), pp. 167-176.
- ^ Chavannes, Édouard. “Trois Généraux Chinois de la dynastie des Han Orientaux. Pan Tch’ao (32-102 p. C.); – son fils Pan Yong; – Leang K’in (112 p. C.). Chapitre LXXVII du Heou Han chou.” T’oung pao 7, p. 232 and note 3.
- ^ Hill, John E. 2003. "Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu." 2nd Draft Edition. [1]
- ^ 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".
- ^ Dobbins, K. Walton. (1971). The Stūpa and Vihāra of Kanishka I. The Asiatic Society of Bengal Monograph Series, Vol. XVIII. Calcutta.
- ^ The Crossroads of Asia, p201
- ^ H. Hargreaves, H. (1910-11): "Excavations at Shāh-jī-kī Dhērī"; Archaeological Survey of India, 1910-11, pp. 25-32.
- ^ D. B. Spooner (1908-9): "Excavations at Shāh-jī-kī Dhērī."; Archaeological Survey of India, 1908-9, pp. 38-59.
- ^ Kumar, Baldev. 1973. The Early Kuṣāṇas. Page 95 New Delhi, Sterling Publishers.
- ^ Kumar, Baldev. 1973. The Early Kuṣāṇas. Page 91 New Delhi, Sterling Publishers.
- ^ Kumar, Baldev. 1973. The Early Kuṣāṇas. Page 89 New Delhi, Sterling Publishers.
- ^ Xuanzang, quoted in: Kumar, Baldev. 1973. The Early Kuṣāṇas. Page 93. New Delhi, Sterling Publishers.
- Kulke, Hermann; Rothermund, Dietmar (1998). A history of India. London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-15481-2 ISBN 0-415-15482-0.
- 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.
- Bopearachchi, Osmund (2003). De l'Indus à l'Oxus, Archéologie de l'Asie Centrale (in French). Lattes: Association imago-musée de Lattes. ISBN 2-9516679-2-2.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Coins of Kanishka
- Controversy regarding the beginning of the Kanishka Era.
- A rough guide to Kushana history.
- Kanishka Buddhist coins
- Photograph of the Kanishka casket
- Headless Statue of Kanishka
| Preceded by: Vima Kadphises |
Kushan Ruler | Succeeded by: Huvishka |
