Trade to Treasure

TRADE TO TREASURE Page 1! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE TRADE TO TREASURE Mriganika Singh Tanwar Roll No. 41 SYBA A UID 18BA057 Aekta Daga SYBA A Roll No. 42 UID 18BA052 DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY JAI HIND COLLEGE Page 2! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE TABLE OF CONTENTS I. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT II. METHODOLOGY III. OBJECTIVES IV. ABSTRACT V. APPENDIX VI. INTRODUCTION VII. SILK ROUTE VII.I Silk Production and Silk Trade VII.II Geographic Range VII.III Beyond Silk VII.IV Maritime Trade VII. V Routes of Dialogue VII. VI Culture of Caravans VIII. INDUS AGE VIII. I Commodities VIII. II Indus and Mesopotamian Trade VIII. III Other Foreign Trades IX. MAURYAN AGE IX. I Trade to Profits IX. II Coinage X. KUSHAN AGE X. I Origin X. II Kanishka X. III Coinage X. IV Trade Page 3! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE X. V Foreign Trade Expansion X. VI Trade Commodities X. VII Silk Route during Kushan Age X. VIII Begram X. IX. Decline XI. EVOLUTION OF SILK ROUTE XII. CONCLUSION XIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY Page 4! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE I. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I respect and thank Ms. Archana Mishra, for providing us an opportunity to do the project work in Jai Hind College as our assessment for History. And for giving us the encouragement which made us complete the work duly. I also thank this institution which gave us the opportunity to do this wonderful project on such a topic which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and i came to know about so many new things I am really thankful to them. She took keen interest on our project work and guided us all along, till the completion of our project work by providing all the necessary information for developing a good system. We are extremely thankful to her for providing such a nice support although she had a busy schedule managing the many assessments. The success and final outcome of this project required a lot of guidance and support and we am extremely privileged to have got this all along directly or indirectly till the completion of our project. All that we have done is only due to such supervision and assistance and we would not forget to thank them. Many people, especially my classmates have made valuable comment suggestions on my paper which gave me an inspiration to improve the quality of the assignment in a limited time frame. And for the idealising channels and fresh dimensions we have received. We would also like to thank our College Library to provide us with books and articles for research. Page 5! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE II. METHODOLOGY It is known that a disciplined research technique is vital for a good research paper. For the competition of this paper the methodology that we have used sources of data as much as possible. It Is after reading, knowing and thinking about various areas of research We have relied mainly on secondary sources which includes books, research papers and maps. Even while using Internet Services to read a few articles on the related topic we have used maximum discretion to avoid any unauthorised content. We have only considered the well established articles from appropriate sites. Only after a thorough read to the various sources of data, we have summarised the knowledge we gained. There is more of a coherent read and a comparative study. There was a lack of of sources on the related topic, which did not enable us to specify the pages referred at all times. But name of every source referred is written. After reading all the related books, were we able to compose the whole article. We followed the lines of evolution of Silk Road to study and compare the three ages in Early India. Scope The scope of this paper is to understand the concept of trading in the history of India. And the scope is to understand the emergence of Silk Route in the Asia and its evolution through change in the Dynasties. It will enable us to comprehend the great benefit Silk Route has provided for cross cultural movements and expansion of trades. It will also help us to do a detail study on the Indus Valley Civilisation, Mauryan Age and Kushan Age. To learn the contribution of Silk Route in the History of India and also Asia. Page 6! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE III. OBJECTIVES 1. To gain knowledge and insight about the emergence of utilisation of the famous Silk Routes from the History of India. 2. To be able to do a detailed study about the Indus Valley Civilization, Mauryan Age and Kushan Age. 3. To understand the gradual evolution of Trade and Trade Routes in early India with the help of studying and comparing all the three ages simultaneously. 4. To be able to plot events and sites with the help of maps. 5. To learn the absolute importance of maps in the study of History. 6. To realise the importance of history gathered through Epistemology. 7. To understand the vitality of Historical Sources to understand evolution. Page 7! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE IV. ABSTRACT “Good ideas and innovation travel easily—and far.” ― John Major “To follow the Silk Road is to follow a ghost. It flows through the heart of Asia, but it has officially vanished leaving behind the pattern of its restlessness: counterfeit boarders, unmapped peoples. The road forks and wanders wherever you are. It is not a single way, but many: a web of choices.” ― Colin Thubron, Shadow of the Silk Road “The ‘road’ was not an actual ‘road’ but a stretch of shifting, unmarked paths across massive expanses of deserts and mountains. .. The quantity of cargo transported along these treacherous routes was small.” ― Philip Bowring Good ideas travel easily and far along trade routes, and the Silk Road was no exception to that rule. Historically, these ideas spread along trade routes. It looks at the great Eurasian Silk Roads as a transmitter of people, goods, ideas, beliefs and inventions. The Silk Road was a vast trade network connecting Eurasia and North Africa via land and sea routes. It earned its name from Chinese silk, a highly valued commodity that merchants transported along these trade networks. Advances in technology and increased political stability caused an increase in trade. The opening of more trade routes caused travellers to exchange many things: animals, spices, ideas, and diseases. Established when the Han Dynasty in China officially opened trade with the West in 130 B.C., the Silk Road routes remained in use until 1453 A.D., when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with China and closed them. Although it’s been nearly 600 years since the Silk Road has been used for international trade, the routes had a lasting impact on commerce, culture and history that resonates even today. Page 8! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE V. APPENDIX The Silk Road Source:britannica.com Page 9! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE Indus Valley Civilisation Source: McIntosh, Jane (2008). The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives. ISBN 978-1-57607-907-2. Source: ancient.eu Page 10 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE Mauryan Empire Map Source: mapsofindia.com Page 11 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE Kushan Age Map Source: mapsofindia.com Page 12 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE VI. INTRODUCTION “The merchants used to move about in the rivers as they wished, as if in tanks, in the forest as if in their own houses. As he (the king) used to protect the earth so she too gave him gems out of mines, corns from fields and elephants from forests.” 1 Ancient India with its extensive coastline and budding economic activities, fostered inland and maritime activity to an extent that it bore the title of the country of mariners. Trade was both foreign and inland, sea borne and land borne, export and import. Many of the then flourished ports received the various commodities of export quantities from all quarters of India which naturally required the established trade routes throughout India. The routes were linked through multiple land routes which led to the sea ports or river basins and from there trade was carried forward to far off lands. In the topics that follow we have extensively discussed about the importance of these trade routes through the course of time. This paper is focused on Silk Route and its evolution through three different periods beginning from Indus Valley Civilisation which does not have written accounts but material remains could be traced as far as Mesopotamia. When people first settled down into larger towns in Mesopotamia and Egypt, self-sufficiency – the idea that one had to produce absolutely everything that one wanted or needed – started to fade. A farmer could by then trade grain for meat, or milk for a pot, at the local market, which was seldom too far away. Cities started to work the same way, realising that they could acquire goods they didn't have at hand from other cities far away, where the climate and natural resources produced different things. This longer-distance trade was slow and often dangerous, but was lucrative for the middlemen willing to make the journey.The first long-distance trade occurred between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley in around 3000 BC, historians believe. Long-distance trade in these early times was limited almost exclusively to luxury goods like spices, textiles and precious metals. Cities that were rich in these commodities became financially rich, too, satiating the appetites of other surrounding regions for jewellery, fancy robes and imported delicacies. By the second millennium BC, former backwater island Cyprus had become a major Mediterranean player by ferrying its vast copper resources to the Near East and Egypt, regions wealthy due to their own natural resources such as papyrus and wool. Phoenicia, famous for its seafaring expertise, hawked its valuable cedar wood and linen dyes all over the Mediterranean. China prospered by trading jade, spices and later, silk. Britain shared its abundance of tin. The domestication of camels around 1000 BC helped encourage trade routes over land, called caravans which linked India with the Mediterranean. Like an ancient version of the Wild West frontier, towns began sprouting up like never before anywhere that a pit-stop or caravan-to-ship port was necessary. We then move to second phase which is the Mauyan dynasty from 322 BC - 185 BC under Ashoka the Great. This period was not just important from the business point of view. What made Magadh one of the most important destinations for the silk route travellers was not just the trade of silk, spices, incense and textiles, but also peace, prosperity, science and knowledge. Ideas were traded and propagated by Buddhism ambassadors sent out by Ashoka to countries far east, China and Ceylon. Trade became more of a cultural exchange with the consolidation of territories of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal under his rule. 1 Raghuvamsha: Kalidasa, XVII, 64,66 Page 13 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE The final phase focus on the trade after the establishment of the Kushan empire by the great ruler Kanishka during 2nd century C.E. Under the rule of the Kushans, northwest India and adjoining regions participated both in seagoing trade and in commerce along the Silk Road to China. The use of Greek alphabet and gold coins for exchange of goods through caravans was observed. Under Kanishka’s rule, at the height of the dynasty, Kushan controlled a large territory ranging from the Aral Sea through areas that include present-day U z b e k i s t a n , Afghanistan, and Pakistan into northern India as far east as Benares and as far south as Sanchi. It was also a period of great wealth marked by extensive mercantile activities and a flourishing of urban life,Buddhist thought, and the visual arts. The Gandhara region at the core of the Kushan empire was home to a multiethnic society tolerant of religious differences. Desirable for its strategic location, with direct access to the overland silk routes and links to the ports on the Arabian Sea, this period saw many conquests for economic benefits through trade. Lastly, we conclude with the evolution of trade route over the course of time from a mere collection of routes to a much bigger network linking people from east to west. Silk route not just played a major role in encouraging trade but also led to explorations, annexations, exchange and innovation. Page 14 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE VII. SILK ROUTE Human beings have always moved from place to place and traded with their neighbours, exchanging goods, skills and ideas. Throughout history, Eurasia was criss-crossed with communication routes and paths of trade, which gradually linked up to form what are known today as the Silk Roads, routes across both land and sea, along which silk and many other goods were exchanged between people from across the world. The Silk Road was an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, including North Africa and Europe. These routes extend from Southern Europe through Arabia, Somalia, Egypt, Persia, India and Java till it reaches China. These trade routes enabled people to transport and trade goods, especially luxuries such as silk, satins, musk, rubies, diamonds, pearls, and rhubarb from different parts of the world. The Silk road trade routes extended over 8,000 kilometers (5,000 mi). 2Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, Persian, Arabian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine civilisations. 'Silk Road' is in fact a relatively recent term, and for the majority of their long history, these ancient roads had no particular name. In the mid-nineteenth century, the German geologist, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen, named the trade and communication network Die Seidenstrasse (the Silk Road), and the term, also used in the plural, continues to stir imaginations with its evocative mystery. Although the term Silk Road implies a continuous journey, very few travellers traveled the route from end to end. For the most part, goods were transported by a series of agents on varying routes and trade took place in the bustling mercantile markets of oasis towns. The Central Asian part of the trade route was initiated around 114 B.C.E. by the Han Dynasty largely through the missions and explorations of Zhang Qian, although earlier trade across the continents had already existed. In the late Middle Ages, use of the Silk Road declined as sea trade increased. The Silk Road provided a conduit not only for silk, but also offered a very important path for cultural, religious and technological transmission by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads, and urban dwellers from China to the Mediterranean Sea for thousands of years. Travellers along the Silk Roads were attracted not only by trade but also by the intellectual and cultural exchange that was taking place in cities along the Silk Roads, many of which developed into hubs of culture and learning. Science, arts and literature, as well as crafts and technologies were thus shared and disseminated into societies along the lengths of these routes, and in this way, languages, religions and cultures developed and influenced each other. Social interaction was one important advantage of the silk route that allowed the traders and travellers to write their accounts about the different lands they discover on their journey. This sense of adventure lured people to take risk and find new markets to trade their goods. VII.I Silk Production and the Silk Trade Silk is a textile of ancient Chinese origin, woven from the protein fibre produced by the silkworm to make its cocoon, and was developed, according to Chinese tradition, sometime around the year 2,700 BC. Regarded as an extremely high value product, it was reserved for the exclusive usage of the Chinese imperial court for the making of cloths, drapes, banners, and other items of prestige. Its 2 The Silk Roads Project: Integral Study of the Silk Roads, Roads If dialogues 988-1997, UNESCO Page 15 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE production was kept a fiercely guarded secret within China for some 3,000 years, with imperial decrees sentencing to death anyone who revealed to a foreigner the process of its production. The Chinese monopoly on silk production however did not mean that the product was restricted to the Chinese Empire – on the contrary, silk was used as a diplomatic gift, and was also traded extensively, first of all with China’s immediate neighbours, and subsequently further afield, becoming one of China’s chief exports under the Han dynasty (206 BC –220 AD). Indeed, Chinese cloths from this period have been found in Egypt, in northern Mongolia, and elsewhere. At some point during the 1st century BC, silk was introduced to the Roman Empire, where it was considered an exotic luxury and became extremely popular, with imperial edicts being issued to control prices. Its popularity c o n t i n u e d throughout the Middle Ages, with detailed Byzantine regulations for the manufacture of silk clothes, illustrating its importance as a quintessentially royal fabric and an important source of revenue for the crown. Additionally, the needs of the Byzantine Church for silk garments and hangings were substantial. This luxury item was thus one of the early impetuses in the development of trading routes from Europe to the Far East. Knowledge about silk production was very valuable and, despite the efforts of the Chinese emperor to keep it a closely guarded secret, it did eventually spread beyond China, first to India and Japan, then to the Persian Empire and finally to the west in the 6th century AD. This was described by the historian Procopius, writing in the 6th century: “About the same time [ca. 550] there came from India certain monks; and when they had satisfied Justinian Augustus that the Romans no longer should buy silk from the Persians, they promised the emperor in an interview that they would provide the materials for making silk so that never should the Romans seek business of this kind from their enemy the Persians, or from any other people whatsoever. They said that they were formerly in Serinda, which they call the region frequented by the people of the Indies, and there they learned perfectly the art of making silk. Moreover, to the emperor who plied them with many questions as to whether he might have the secret, the monks replied that certain worms were manufacturers of silk, nature itself forcing them to keep always at work; the worms could certainly not be brought here alive, but they could be grown easily and without difficulty; the eggs of single hatchings are innumerable; as soon as they are laid men cover them with dung and keep them warm for as long as it is necessary so that they produce insects. Page 16 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE When they had announced these tidings, led on by liberal promises of the emperor to prove the fact, they returned to India. When they had brought the eggs to Byzantium, the method having been learned, as I have said, they changed them by metamorphosis into worms which feed on the leaves of mulberry. Thus began the art of making silk from that time on in the Roman Empire.” VII.II Geographic Range The Silk Road in the first century C.E. was a busy route, as it extends westwards from the commercial centers of North China, the continental Silk Road divides into northern and southern routes to avoid the Taklamakan Desert, and Lop Nur. The northern route travels northwest through the Chinese province of Gansu, and splits into three further routes, two of them following the mountain ranges to the north and south of the Taklamakan Desert to rejoin at Kashgar; and the other going north of the Tian Shan mountains through Turfan, Talgar and Almaty (in what is now southeast Kazakhstan). The routes split west of Kashgar with one branch heading down the Alai Valley towards Termez and Balkh, while the other traveled through Kokand in the Fergana Valley, and then west across the Karakum Desert towards Merv, joining the southern route briefly. One of the branch routes turned northwest to the north of the Aral and Caspian seas then on to the Black Sea.Yet another route started at Xi'an, passed through the Western corridor beyond the Yellow Rivers, Xinjiang, Fergana (in present-day eastern Uzbekistan), Persia (Iran), and Iraq before joining the western boundary of the Roman Empire. A route for caravans, the northern Silk Road brought to China many goods such as "dates, saffron powder and pistachio nuts from Persia; frankincense, aloes and myrrh from Somalia; sandalwood from India; glass bottles from Egypt, and other expensive and desirable goods from other parts of the world. In exchange, the caravans sent back bolts of silk brocade, lacquer ware and porcelain. The southern route is mainly a single route running through northern India, then the Turkestan– Khorasan region into Mesopotamia and Anatolia; having southward spurs enabling the journey to be completed by sea from various points. It runs south through the Sichuan Basin in China and crosses the high mountains into northeast India, probably via the Ancient tea route. It then travels west along the Brahmaputra and Ganges river plains, possibly joining the Grand Trunk Road west of Varanasi. It runs through northern Pakistan and over the Hindu Kush mountains, into Afghanistan, to rejoin the northern route briefly near Merv in present day Turkmenistan. It then follows a nearly straight line west through mountainous northern Iran and the northern tip of the Syrian Desert to the Levant. From there, Mediterranean trading ships plied regular routes to Italy, and land routes went either north through Anatolia or south to North Africa. Another branch road traveled from Herat through Susa to Charax Spasinu at the head of the Persian Gulf and across to Petra and on to Alexandria and other eastern Mediterranean ports from where ships carried the cargoes to Rome. As it can be seen, the silk route not only served the purpose on land, it was a medium to connect several water routes also that led to far off lands. This allowed large quantities of goods to be transported. With the domestication of pack animals and the development of shipping technology both increased the capacity for prehistoric peoples to carry heavier loads over greater distances, cultural exchanges and trade developed rapidly. In addition, grassland provided fertile grazing, Page 17 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE water, and easy passage for caravans. The vast grassland steppes of Asia enabled merchants to travel immense distances, from the shores of the Pacific to Africa and deep into Europe, without trespassing on agricultural lands and arousing hostility. VII.III Beyond Silk However, whilst the silk trade was one of the earliest catalysts for the trade routes across Central Asia, it was only one of a wide range of products that was traded between east and west, and which included textiles, spices, grain, vegetables and fruit, animal hides, tools, wood work, metal work, religious objects, art work, precious stones and much more. Indeed, the Silk Roads became more popular and increasingly well-travelled over the course of the Middle Ages, and were still in use in the 19th century, a testimony not only to their usefulness but also to their flexibility and adaptability to the changing demands of society.3 Nor did these trading paths follow only one trail – merchants had a wide choice of different routes crossing a variety of regions of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Far East, as well as the maritime routes, which transported goods from China and South East Asia through the Indian Ocean to Africa, India and the Near East. These routes developed over time and according to shifting geopolitical contexts throughout history. For example, merchants from the Roman Empire would try to avoid crossing the territory of the Parthians, Rome’s enemies, and therefore took routes to the north, across the Caucasus region and over the Caspian Sea. Similarly, whilst extensive trade took place over the network of rivers that crossed the Central Asian steppes in the early Middle Ages, their water levels rose and fell, and sometimes dried up altogether, and trade routes shifted accordingly. VII.IV Maritime Trade 3 History of Civilizations of Central Asia, UNESCO Page 18 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE Maritime trade was another extremely important branch of this global trade network. Most famously used for the transportation of spices, the maritime trade routes have also been known as the Spice Roads, supplying markets across the world with cinnamon, pepper, ginger, cloves and nutmeg from the Moluccas islands in Indonesia (known as the Spice Islands), as well as a wide range of other goods. Textiles, woodwork, precious stones, metalwork, incense, timber, and saffron were all traded by the merchants travelling these routes, which stretched over 15,000 kilometres, from the west coast of J apan, past the Chinese coast, through South East Asia, and past India to reach the Middle East and so to the Mediterranean. The history of these maritime routes can be traced back thousands of years, to links between the Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilisation. The early Middle Ages saw an expansion of this network, as sailors from the Arabian Peninsula forged new trading routes across the Arabian Sea and into the Indian Ocean. Indeed, maritime trading links were established between Arabia and China from as early as the 8th century AD. Technological advances in the science of navigation, in astronomy, and also in the techniques of ship building combined to make longdistance sea travel increasingly practical. Lively coastal cities grew up around the most frequently visited ports along these routes, such as Zanzibar, Alexandria, Muscat, and Goa, and these cities became wealthy centres for the exchange of goods, ideas, languages and beliefs, with large markets and continually changing populations of merchants and sailors. VII. V Routes of Dialogue Perhaps the most lasting legacy of the Silk Roads has been their role in bringing cultures and peoples in contact with each other, and facilitating exchange between them. On a practical level, merchants had to learn the languages and customs of the countries they travelled through, in order to negotiate successfully. Cultural interaction was a vital aspect of material exchange. Moreover, many travellers ventured onto the Silk Roads in order to partake in this process of intellectual and cultural exchange that was taking place in cities along the routes. Knowledge about science, arts and literature, as well as crafts and technologies was shared across the Silk Roads, and in this way, languages, religions and cultures developed and influenced each other. One of the most famous technical advances to have been propagated worldwide by the Silk Roads was the technique of making paper, as well as the development of printing press technology. Similarly, irrigation systems across Central Asia share features that were spread by travellers who not only carried their own cultural knowledge, but also absorbed that of the societies in which they found themselves. Indeed, the man who is often credited with founding the Silk Roads by opening up the first route from China to the West in the 2nd century BC, General Zhang Qian, was on a diplomatic mission rather than a trading expedition. Sent to the West in 139 BC by the Han Emperor Wudi to ensure alliances against the Xiongnu, the hereditary enemies of the Chinese, Zhang Qian was captured and imprisoned by them. Thirteen years later he escaped and made his way back to China. Pleased with the wealth of detail and accuracy of his reports, the emperor sent Zhang Qian on another mission in 119 BC to visit several neighbouring peoples, establishing early routes from China to Central Asia. Religion and a quest for knowledge were further inspirations to travel along these routes. Buddhist monks from China made pilgrimages to India to bring back sacred texts, and their travel diaries are an extraordinary source of information. The diary of Xuan Zang (whose 25-year journal lasted from 629 to 654 AD) not only has an enormous historical value, but also inspired a comic novel in the sixteenth century, the 'Pilgrimage to the West', which has become one of the great Chinese classics. During the Middle Ages, European monks undertook diplomatic and religious missions to the east, Page 19 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE notably Giovanni da Pian del Carpini, sent by Pope Innocent IV on a mission to the Mongols from 1245 to 1247, and William of Rubruck, a Flemish Franciscan monk sent by King Louis IX of France again to the Mongol hordes from 1253 to 1255. Perhaps the most famous was the Venetian explorer, Marco Polo, whose travels lasted for more than 20 years between 1271 and 1292, and whose account of his experiences became extremely popular in Europe after his death. The routes were also fundamental in the dissemination of religions throughout Eurasia. Buddhism is one example of a religion that travelled the Silk Roads, with Buddhist art and shrines being found as far apart as Bamiyan in Afghanistan, Mount Wutai in China, and Borobudur in Indonesia. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and Manicheism spread in the same way, as travellers absorbed the cultures they encountered and then carried them back to their homelands with them. Thus, for example, Hinduism and subsequently Islam were introduced into Indonesia and Malaysia by Silk Road merchants travelling the maritime trade routes from India and Arabia. VII. VI Culture of Caravans The process of travelling the Silk Roads developed along with the roads themselves. In the Middle Ages, caravans consisting of horses or camels were the standard means of transporting goods across land. Caravanserais, large guest houses or inns designed to welcome travelling merchants, played a vital role in facilitating the passage of people and goods along these routes. Found along the Silk Roads from Turkey to China, they provided not only a regular opportunity for merchants to eat well, rest and prepare themselves in safety for their onward journey, and also to exchange goods, trade with local markets and buy local products, and to meet other merchant travellers, and in doing so, to exchange cultures, languages and ideas. As trade routes developed and became more lucrative, caravanserais became more of a necessity, and their construction intensified across Central Asia from the 10th century onwards, and continued until as late as the 19th century. Caravanserais were ideally positioned within a day’s journey of each other, so as to prevent merchants from spending days or nights exposed to the dangers of the road. On average, this resulted in a caravanserai every 30 to 40 kilometres in well-maintained areas. Maritime traders had different challenges to face on their lengthy journeys. The development of sailing technology, and in particular of ship-building knowledge, increased the safety of sea travel throughout the Middle Ages. Ports grew up on coasts along these maritime trading routes, providing vital opportunities for merchants not only to trade and disembark, but also to take on fresh water supplies, with one of the greatest threats to sailors in the Middle Ages being a lack of drinking water. Pirates were another risk faced by all merchant ships along the maritime Silk Roads, as their lucrative cargos made them attractive targets. Page 20 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE VIII. INDUS AGE The Indus Valley Civilisation is the oldest known civilisation in Asia stretching from the Arabian Sea to the Himalayas and from the deserts of India to Persia. It was founded around 3000 B.C. and flourished from 2600 to 1900 B.C. Regarded as the world’s oldest advanced civic culture, embracing 1500 or so settlements and covering 280,000 square miles, it is believed to have been a collection of states.4 In order for such a vast expanse of land to have parallels in culture proves that they needed trade routes, be it inland or overseas to have existed. Much about this civilisation is unknown because the written language has not been deciphered and no other culture with written language describes them. However, archaeological excavations have been made and artefacts of Indus cities have been traced to as far as Mesopotamia. Large settlements around which the civilisation was centred - Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, had regular links with the smaller settlements. Traces of pottery and similarity in drainage pattern, contraction of houses and burial practices show that there was regular cultural exchange through inland routes which allowed the settlements to adapt these ideas. The Indus Valley civilisation was bound together by a common art and written language, and possibly by religion and trade as well. The Indus Valley civilisation cities were linked by the Indus river. 5 The people of the Indus valley began trading on a wide scale at an early age. In the first k n o w n seafaring voyages, which may have taken place as early as 3500 B.C., Mesopotamians traveled across the Persian Gulf between Persia and India. Mohenjodaro is the most ancient site dating back to the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, and exercised a considerable influence on the subsequent development of urbanization on the Indian peninsula. The site is located on the right bank of the Indus River, 400 km from Karachi, in Pakistan's Sind Province. Centre of the Indus Valley civilisation, one of the largest in the Old World, this 5,000-year-old city is the earliest manifestation of urbanisation in South Asia. Factor like the urban structures, the proximity to waterways and town planning suggest the involvement of a higher authority, maybe a ruler or a chief, in which case organised trade might have been possible to communicate with the other settlements and bring in specialised goods from other cities to 4 Mike Edwards: National Geographic, June 2000 5 Santi Menon: Discover magazine, Dec 1998 Page 21 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE Mohenjo-Daro.6 Although there is no such sign of a great ruler, but scholars believe such large scale planning of town required a strong ruler to coerce workers to do the work. It may also be the possibility that Mohenjo-Daro prospered more than the other settlements because it served as a market for artisans and traders, foreign and domestic to come and sell their products. Harappa, the sister city of Mohenjo-Daro was located along the Rawa River in a fertile flood plain. These locations do indicate that the water routes play a major role in the establishment of a big settlement. Transport of goods might have been easier via the water. Harappa's location at the crossroads of important trade routes helped it p r o s p e r. T h i s suggests the first interaction of these settlements across the continents. Now before silk road came into being, these routes were unnamed. These routes which later on became part of the Silk Route7 were used by the traders to communicate with the other deveoplments in the Middle east and Chinese civilisations in the north. Another site which is often believed to have connections via water routes is Dholovira, 5000-yearold city in the desolate Rann area of Kutch in far western India that once stood on an island in a marsh, periodically flooded by the Arabian Sea. Scholars believe that Dholavira may have supplied salt to the Indus Area and beyond, and that it was once connected to the Arabian Sea by a channel or canal thought no evidence of such a waterway has been found. VIII. I Commodities The Indus trade network stretched from India to Syria. The Indus people imported raw materials like lapis lazuli from Afghanistan; clam and conch shells from the Arabian Sea; timber from the Himalayas; silver, jade and gold from Central Asia; and tin, copper and green amozite, perhaps from Rajasthan or the Gujarat area of India. Evidence of maritime trade with Mesopotamia (about 1,500 miles form the Indus area) includes ivory, pearls, beads, timber and grain from the Indus area found in Mesopotamian tombs. Similarities between pottery in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley is further evidence of trade between the two regions. The presence of a standardized weight and measurement system shows that the trade system was sophisticated, extensive and organized. Certain towns became known for specialized crafts: for 6 Charles Higham: Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Cultures 7 The two words Road and Route are to be used interchangeably. Page 22 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE example, Lothal for carnelian beads; Balakot for bangles, and the Rohri Hills for flint blades and tools. Some large brick-making and pottery making factories were located in the Cholistan desert. At Shortugai in Afghanistan, the Harappans established a colony to mine lapis lazuli. There is no evidence of exchange through a standardised medium like coins, but products brought from the Mesopotamia, Iran and Central Asia were traded for raw materials and precious metals.There are number of archeological sites near Karachi that were probably used as ports. VIII. II Indus and Mesopotamian Trade The Sumerians established trade links with cultures in Anatolia, Syria, Persia and the Indus Valley. These individual trade routes collectively made the Silk route we know today. Similarities between pottery in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley indicate that trade probably occurred between the two regions. Art such as sculpture production and metal making travelled along the Silk route. During the reign of the pharaoh Pepi I (2332 to 2283 B.C.) Egypt traded with Mesopotamian cities as far north as Ebla in Syria near the border of present-day Turkey. The Sumerians traded for gold and silver from Indus Valley, Egypt, Nubia and Turkey; ivory from Africa and the Indus Valley; agate, carnelian, wood from Iran; obsidian and copper from Turkey; diorite, silver and copper from Oman and coast of Arabian Sea; carved beads from the Indus valley; translucent stone from Oran and Turkmenistan; seashell from the Gulf of Oman. Raw blocks of lapis lazuli are thought to have been brought from Afghanistan by donkey and on foot. Tin may have come from as far away as Malaysia but most likely came from Turkey or Europe. Many goods that traveled through the Persian Gulf went through the island of Bahrain. There was an early Bronze Age trade network between Mesopotamia, Dilmun (Bahrain), Elam (southwestern Iran), Bactria (Afghanistan) and the Indus Valley. Dillum was a city-state on the island of Bahrain thrived from around 3200 B.C. to 1200 B.C. and described in Sumerian literature as the city of the gods.8 Archeologists have found temples and settlements on Dillum, dated to 2200 B.C. The earliest settlements in the Persian Gulf date back to the 4th millennium B.C. The are usually associated with the Umm an-Nar culture, which was centered in the present- day United Arab Emirates. Little is known about them. he ancient Magan culture thrived along the coasts of the Persian Gulf during the early Bronze Age (2500-2000 B.C.) in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Ancient myths from Sumer refer to ships from Magan carrying valued woods, copper and diorite stone. Archeologists refers to people in Magan as the Barbar culture. Based on artefacts found at its archeological site it was involved in trade with Mesopotamia, Iran, Arabia, Afghanistan and the Indus Valley. Objects from the Indus Valley found at Magan sites in Oman include three-sided prism seals and Indus Valley pottery. Sumerian texts, dated to 2300 B.C., describe Magan ships, Joan Aruz, Wallenfels: Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium Bc from the Mediterranean to the Indus , Metripolitan Museum, Yale University Press, 2003 8 Page 23 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE with a cargo capacity of 20 tons, sailing up the Gulf of Oman and stopping at Dilum to stock up on fresh water before carrying on to Mesopotamia. The texts also said Magan was south of Sumer and Dillum, was visited by travellers from the Indus Valley, and had high mountains, where diorite, or gabbro, was quarried to use to make black statues. VIII. III Other Foreign Trades • The ancient people of Sahara were importing domesticated animals, mainly goats, sheep and donkey, which couldn’t be breaded in their homeland due to climate restrictions. As a result between 6000 and 4000 B.C.E. traders started making contact with Southwest Asian cities. Foreign artifacts are found dating to fifth millennium B.C.E. on the route which proves the existence of contact between these countries. • By the second half of fourth millennium B.C.E. trade of gemstones was in demand. Trade of luxurious items led the kings/rulers/chiefs to send their officials in search for unique items across borders. Afghanistan which was part of the Indus valley civilisation or Badakshan as it was known then, had one of the most precious gemstone which was in demand during that period because of its spender, Lapis Lazuli. In order to acquire this stone, trade routes were developed, as far as Mesopotamia and Egypt. • The expansion of Scythian Iranian cultures stretching from the Hungarian plain and the Carpathians to the Chinese Kansu Corridor and linking Iran, and the Middle East with Northern India and the Punjab, undoubtedly played an important role in the development of the Silk Road.9 Scythians accompanied the Assyrian Esarhaddon on his invasion of Egypt, and their distinctive triangular arrowheads have been found as far south as Aswan. These Massimo Vidale: Growing in a Foreign World : Gor a History if the “Meluhha Villages” in Mesopotamia in the 3rd Millennium BC 9 Page 24 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE nomadic peoples were dependent upon neighbouring settled populations for a number of important technologies, and in addition to raiding vulnerable settlements for these commodities, also encouraged long distance merchants as a source of income through the enforced payment of tariffs. Soghdian Scythian merchants played a vital role in later periods in the development of the Silk Road. 10 • From the second millennium B.C.E. nephrite jade was being traded from mines in the region of Yarkand and Khotan to China. Significantly, these mines were not very far from the lapis lazuli and spinel ("Balas Ruby") mines in Badakhshan and, although separated by the formidable Pamir Mountains, routes across them were, apparently, in use from very early times. Gold was introduced from Central Asia which led Chinese jade carvers to make imitation designs of the steppes adopting the Scythian-style animal art of steppes. For this they required gold which was found abundant in Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and Sindh province of Indus Valley Civilisation. This shows a possibility that gold was traded by this route on a regular basis. • Alternate routes like the Persian Royal Road constructed in the fifth century B.C.E. to connect Susa to Anatolia, led the travellers to explore beyond the Aegean Sea in the west and rugged mountainous regions of Afghanistan and beyond in the east. By the time of Herodotus (c. 475 B.C.E.), the Persian Royal Road ran some 2,857 km from the city of Susa on the lower Tigris to the port of Smyrna (modern İzmir in Turkey) on the Aegean Sea. It was maintained and protected by the Achaemenid Empire (c. 500–330 B.C.E.) and had postal stations and relays at regular intervals. By having fresh horses and riders ready at each relay, royal couriers could carry messages the entire distance in nine days, though normal travellers took about three months.10 This Royal Road linked into many other routes. Some of these, such as the routes to India and Central Asia, were also protected by the Achaemenids, encouraging regular contact between India, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. There are accounts in Esther of dispatches being sent from Susa to provinces as far out as India and Cush during the reign of Xerxes (485–465 B.C.E.). • The first major step in opening the Silk Road between the East and the West came with the expansion of Alexander the Great's empire into Central Asia. In August 329 B.C.E., at the mouth of the Fergana Valley in Tajikistan he founded the city of Alexandria Eschate or "Alexandria The Furthest." This later became a major staging point on the northern Silk Route. In 323 B.C.E., Alexander the Great’s successors, the Ptolemaic dynasty, took control of Egypt. They actively promoted trade with Mesopotamia, India, and East Africa through their Red Sea ports and over land. This was assisted by a number of intermediaries, especially the Nabataeans and other Arabs. • The "Silk Road" essentially came into being from the first century B.C.E., following the efforts by China to consolidate a road to the Western world and India, both through direct settlements in the area of the Tarim Basin and diplomatic relations with the countries of the Dayuan, Parthians, and Bactrians further west. The Han Dynasty Chinese army regularly policed the trade route against nomadic bandit forces generally identified as the Xiongnu/ Huns. Han general Ban Chao led an army of 70,000 mounted infantry and light cavalry troops in the first century C.E. to secure the trade routes, reaching far west across central Seminar for Arabian Studies, British Museum London, 24-26th July 2015 Page 25 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE Asia to the doorstep of Europe, and setting up base on the shores of the Caspian Sea in cooperation with the Parthian Kingdom under Pacorus II of Parthia. A maritime "Silk Route" opened up between Chinese-controlled Giao Chỉ (centred in modern Vietnam) probably by the first century. It extended, via ports on the coasts of India and Sri Lanka, all the way to Roman- controlled ports in Egypt and the Nabataean territories on the northeastern coast of the Red Sea. • Soon after the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 B.C.E., regular communications and trade between India, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, China, the Middle East, Africa and Europe blossomed on an unprecedented scale. The travellers allegedly penetrated farthest east along the Silk Road from the Mediterranean world, probably with the aim of regularising contacts and reducing the role of middlemen. The wars and social unrest in the East repeatedly obstructed movement along the Silk Road, which also led the traders to expand the Silk routes and link them to sea routes for optimum trade. Land and maritime routes were closely linked, and novel products, technologies and ideas began to spread across the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. Intercontinental trade and communication became regular, organised, and protected by the "Great Powers." Intense trade with the Roman Empire followed soon, confirmed by the Roman craze for Chinese silk and Indian spices and gemstone. The importation of Chinese silk caused a huge outflow of gold, and silk clothes were considered to be decadent and immoral given the translucent material which exposed the skin. Regardless it was found that the cloth was in demand not only in Europe but Indian and Persian royalty. 11 11Dennys Frenez: The Indus Civilization Trade with Oman Peninsula, University of Sologna Page 26 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE IX. MAURYAN AGE Silk Road, a series of trade routes, that connected the east and west stretching some 4000 miles like a multilayered necklace, had India like a pendant in the center, and Magadh as a precious stone set in it. What made Magadh one of the most important destinations for the silk route travelers was not just the trade of silk, spices, incense and textiles, but also peace, prosperity, science and knowledge. Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Mauryan dynasty, made Patliputra (modern Patna) its capital, and allowed political stability in this region. Ashoka the Great, further expanded the Mauryan empire, and India finally was united as one large nation that included modern day Afghanistan, Pakistan and a part of Nepal. The unification of such vast territorial expanse of land opened new scope for trade routes to flourish. Under the rule of the Mauryan dynasty, from 322 BC -185 BC, international trade was allowed through Khyber Pass. This also helped Jainism and Buddhism to spread in Asia and Mediterranean. During the time of Ashoka, Buddhist ambassadors were sent out to the countries in the far east and Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) to establish Buddhism.12 Ashoka built many Buddhist temples, stupas and pillars that shows his support to Buddhism and faith in Buddhist philosophy. It was during the Ashoka’s reign that tourism for the first time developed its roots in India. Being the center of power, peace and education, Magadh remained the greatest attraction for the travelers and scholars like Faxian (FaHien) and Xuanzang (Hieun Tsang) which further expanded the purpose of Silk Roads. Silk Route brought in with it religious elements as well. Mauryan empire attracted spiritual energies from different diasporas. Gaya became an important destination for tourists and pilgrims from all over the world.It was spiritual hub not only for Hindu and Jain traditions but became the birthplace of Buddhism, after prince Siddhartha as a monk attained enlightenment under a Pipal tree there. Finally, Islam came to Gaya with Hazrat Ata Hussain Fani, a Sufi saint of the Chisti order. It is believed that he traveled to Mecca at a very young age, and was spiritually guided by Prophet Muhammad to go to Gaya to spread the messages of Islam. It attracted people not only to see the temples and monuments but also to seek knowledge and find deep meanings of life. IX. I Trade of Profits The State had a special responsibility in the matter of Trade. Its revenue depended upon a profitable disposal of the vast quantities of various goods which were constantly accumulating in its hands in its factories and workshops under circumstances described. The State thus became the biggest trader in the country, and had to control its entire trade to safe-guard its own interests. The control of trade was based on the State control of Prices. 12 Magadh:Ancient and modern, kalpna singh-Chitnis, the university of lowa, 2015 Page 27 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE The system of control was based on certain inevitable provisions. Goods could not be sold at the place of their origin, field, or factory. They were to be carried to the appointed markets (panya-sala) where the dealer had to declare particulars as to the quantity, quality and the prices of his goods, which were examined and registered in the books. Every trader had to get a license for sale. A trader from outside had to obtain a passport in addition. The State had to undertake a heavy and irksome responsibility in protecting the public, customers and consumers, against unauthorised prices and fraudulent transactions. It had to post an army of spies or market inspectors on the trade-routes to detect false declarations as to goods and apprize merchants of same. Apart from the State control of prices was the State control of weights and Measures. The official standard was made a little lower than the public so as to provide a convenient source of revenue in the difference which amounted to a vyaji of 5 per cent. It was like the seignorage charge on the minting of coins. Trade was taxed all along its way by export and import duties, octroi and excise. Its progress through the country was punctuated by halts enforced for payment of taxes at different stages. The foreign merchants were mulcted of their profits on the frontiers, by road taxes (vartani) and tolls, and by octroi at the gates of cities, which were carefully guarded by officers in charge of the Customs Houses provided even with a dounane and a place for detention for merchants evading the law. But if Trade was thus taxed, it received compensation in the protection assured to it in those olden days when life and property were not secure everywhere. The transit of goods was guarded all along its way. Any loss suffered in transit was to be made good by the Government officer in charge of the locality through which they passed. Trade had to be protected in those days against the gangs of dacoits who were abroad (chora-ganas), the turbulent Mlechchha tribes (like the Kiratas) and the wild people of the forests (Atavikas) who were all out for plunder. The inland trade was carried on by carts and caravans. Boats were invented by that period and hence it is believed that the traders carried bulk goods in the boats through the rivers into inner parts of settlements. There is some evidence as to the sea-borne foreign trade of those days, though it is scanty. The testimony of the Pali Texts to the existence of an overland trade-route is c o n f i r m e d b y P a n i n i ’s m e n t i o n o f Uttarapatha (V. 1, 77). He speaks of travellers going by Uttarapatha (Uttarapathena gachchhati) and of goods gathered by that route (Uttarapathena ahritam). According to Strabo, the river Oxus in the time of Alexander was quite navigable so that goods from India were carried down this river to the Caspian Sea on their way to the west. Page 28 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE As Warming ton points out (Commerce between Roman Empire and India, p. 121); there were three natural approaches to India from the west: 1. Where the mountains of Afghanistan become very narrow just north of the head of the Kabul River where only the Hindukush separates the basins of the Oxus, and the Indus; 2. 500 miles to the west and south-west, where the Afghan mountains end and open up an easy way over 400 miles of plateau from Herat to Kandahar and to Kabul, along the Helmund valley, and another way from south-east of Kandahar into the Indus lowlands through the Bolan or the Mula Pass; 3. By way of the deserts of Makran or along the coast of Baluchistana. The Uttarapatha of Panini must have been the first or the second of above routes. It may be noted that Chandragupta Maurya’s conquest of these regions by which the boundaries of his empire were practically extended up to Persia must have resulted in an increase of India’s trade with the west along these routes. Famous merchandise which was exported during this period was pearls, gems, diamonds, corals, fragrant woods, skins, blankets, silks, linen, textiles, etc. IX. II Coinage The Maurya Empire was based upon a money-economy. The literary references to the use of coins are older than their actual finds. Coins were stamped during this period. That these coins were issued by a government authority and not by private individuals, there is not the slightest doubt. Only a central authority could have carried out such an apparently complicated, but no doubt— system of punching the Mauryan symbols the coins in regular series. Gold was obtained from the beds of rivers like the Indus or extracted from the earth or from ore by smelting. Since a part of the Punjab came under the dominion of the Achaemenian (Hakhamani) Emperors of ancient Persia, it was natural that their money must have come into India in the wake of their conquest. But it is not easy to prove it by actual finds of Persian coins in India. Since gold was in demand during that period possibilities are that trade of gold was carried across Persia and China in exchange for luxurious materials like silks or gemstones or metals. However the inflow of gold and silver in India was also high. This shows that trade was carried in a systematic manner by exchange of a standard currency or gold. Gold was flowing into India from the Silk roads. Meaning of trade shifted from necessity to profit. 13 13 Kalpana Singh Chitnis: Ancient and Modern, University of Iowa, 2015 Page 29 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE X. KUSHAN AGE Kushan Empire is one of the most interesting dynasties which ruled over the land of Jammu and Kashmir.The word Kushan derives from the Chinese term Guishang, used in historical writings to describe one b r a n c h o f t h e Yu e z h i — a l o o s e confederation of Indo-European tribes that had been driven out of northwestern China in 176–160 BC, migrated south, and reached Bactria (Tajikistan and northwest Afghanistan) around 135 BC. Kushan empire in the 1st century was formed by Yuezhi in the Bactrian region. Yuezhi are a group of nomads who inhabited territories near Dunhuang. This empire was an amalgamation of different religions.The first self-proclaimed Kushan king, Heraios (ruled: 1–30 AD), was one short step away from being a Yuezhi tribesman. Thus it fell to his successor Kujula Kadphises (ruled: 30-80 AD) to assume the role of a true monarch and unite the disparate and quarrelsome Yuezhi tribes under the Kushan banner during the 1st century AD. X. I Origin After being sent from the Central Asia homelands, Sakas migrated to western and northwestern India. Similarly, Kushans had come from northwester India after migrating through Central Asia in the last centuries of BCE.14 They were a subset of Yuezhi. After the conflict with Xiongnu Yuezhi’s left from Dunhuang to Bactria during the Tim elf 165-128 BCE. This migration caused the migration of Sakas to come to the subcontinents of India during the time of decline of Indo-Greeks. By the middle go first venture Kushan power extended to Gandhara and Taxilla (now Pakistan). As the Kushans p r o g r e s s e d f u r t h e r, K u j u l a Kadphises adopted the title of "Great King, King of Kings" on coins patterned on those of Saka and Parthian rulers. The first Kushan ruler was Kujula Kadphises. Kushan was during first to third century. During that time the economic, religious and cultural contact between South Asia and Central Asia had increased. After gradually wresting control of Bactria from the 14 Idem: “The History of Eastern Iran,” in Camb. Hist. Iran III/1, 1983b. Page 30 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE Scythians and the Indo-Parthians, Kujula Kadphises moved the Kushantribes into the region known as Gandhara (northeast Afghanistan and northern Pakistan) with the main capital located at Taxila (northwestern Pakistan) and the summer capital at Begram (known in ancient times as Kapisa, near the present-day Bagram Air Base), which also served as a major trading centre. 15 From these two capitals, plus other settlements and trading posts farther north, the Kushans became master traders , adopted the Greek alphabet and struck their own gold coins featuring Kushan royal portraits, Greek mottos and symbols inspired by Roman coins that were widely used at that time to purchase goods from caravans along the Silk Road. The archaeological excavations, inscriptions, art evidences and coins directly reflect the connections between the Kushan Empire and long distance trade and cultural exchanged between the northwestern Indian subcontinent and the silk routes. There are new materials as well which clears the chronological and genealogical issues and exhibit the cross culture significance during the early centuries CE. More than 2,500 coins of Kujula Kadphises were found in the latest strata of excavations at the site of Sirkap at Taxila. Although an absolute chronology is very difficult to establish for the long reign of Kujula Kadphises, numismatic evidence reflects the growth of Kushan hegemony following the reign of the IndoParthian ruler Gondophares after 46 CE. Kanishka was a Buddhist emperor who expanded the Kushan Empire east into the middle of the Indian subcontinent, and north into China. Around 152 CE, the emperor. The historians divide the reign of the Kushans into three periods: a) the Early Kushans, b) the Great Kushans and c) the Later Kushans. In the nineties of the last century archaeologists found the so called Rabatak Inscription in Afghanistan. The explanation of this epigraph gave an approximate answer to the much debated dating and relationship of the Kushan rulers.15 According to the explanation, the son of Kujula Kadphises was Vima Taktu - the great conqueror of the Punjab and of the north-western part of India; Vima Taktu’s son was Vima Kadphises – he also conquered further territories in India – and his son was Kanishka I: the Great Kanishka (about 110 – 134 A.D.). He was the most famous and most talented Kushan king, who extended his empire to the East. The father of Kujula Kadphises was most probably Heraios, the last king of the Indo-Greek Principality, but he called himself Kushan Sanab on his coins. One of the best Kushan researchers, the Englishman Robert Bracey, considers this name a title, not a personal name. Its meaning is Lord or Great Lord. X. II Kanishka Kanishka was the greatest ruler of the Kushan Empire, a realm that covered much of present-day India, Pakistan, Iran and other parts of central Asia and China during the first and second centuries. Under his influence, the developing religious philosophy of Mahayana Buddhism was spread to areas of central Asia and China and gained a prominent following in the areas under his control. A supporter of the arts who embraced ideas from the many peoples of his region, Kanishka also helped bring about a new era of sculpture that combined Buddhist themes with representational approaches adopted from other cultures, particularly the Roman Empire. Kushan ruler Kanishka (flourished c. 78-c. 103 A.D.) controlled an empire covering most of India, Iran, and central Asia in the first and second centuries. With his conversion to and official support of Mahayana Buddhism, Jamsheed Choksy: “The Enigmatic Origins of the Tokharians,” in Carlo C. Cereti and F. Vajifdar, eds., Ātaš-e Dorun: The Fire Within: Jamshid Soroush Soroushian Commemorative Volume, San Diego, 2003. 15 Page 31 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE the religion underwent a period of substantial growth, gaining converts throughout the Kushan realm, including parts of China. This growth was attended by a blossoming of Buddhist iconography, sculpture, and architecture. The Kushan Empire reached its greatest extent during the reign of Kaniska, whose legacy as a powerful emperor is preserved in inscriptions, textual traditions, archaeological remains, and coins. According to the Rabatak Bactrian inscription, the Kushan realm at the time of Kaniska extended to the cities of Saketa, Kausambi, Pataliputra, and Sri-Campa in the Ganges-Yamuna valley. A colossal statue of Kaniska near Mathura with a Brahmi inscription labelling him "Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, Kaniska" shows that he fulfilled the role of "Universal Emperor" (chakravartin). Kaniska is credited with the construction of an immense stupa described by Chinese pilgrims in Peshawar, where archeological remains of its 87 square meter cruciform foundation have been excavated. Buddhist literary sources portray Kaniska as a major patron of Buddhism modeled after the ideal of Asoka. Buddhist imagery appears on some of Kaniska's coins, but his coins also depict a wide variety of Iranian, Greek, and Indian gods and goddesses. Kanishka sent his armies north to capture territories in present-day western China, and south into 16A direct road from modern central India. the Kushan Empire and China, as well as the security offered by the Kushan Empire, facilitated trade with the Roman Empire, Sassanid Persia, Aksumite Empire, and Han China. anishka's religious policies, combined with artistic influences arriving from the western Greco-Roman and Iranian cultures resulted in the development of a new trend in sculpture that represented Buddhist themes in a more naturalistic, popular style. The emperor was also responsible for some impressive architectural accomplishments. In Peshawar he oversaw the construction of a 638-foot tall Buddhist shrine. The building, which was known across Asia for its magnificence, was composed of a five-stage base, a second section comprised of a 13-story structure of carved wood, and the crowning detail of an iron column decorated with umbrellas of gilded copper. Kanishka is reputed to have been an enthusiastic patron of scholarship and the arts who brought scientists and writers to his court. There is one new feature in Kanishkaʼs construction; it combines regnal and dynastic expressions: “in the year 18 of Kanishka” sounds merely regnal, “in the year 33 of Huvishka”, however, combines the ongoing year number with the name of the ruler. The fact that the second century again started with a king called Kanishka (II) led to numerous complications, because “in the year 18 of Kanishka” could mean year 18 of Kanishka I, or year 118 of Kanishka II. Art historical analysis, numismatic sequences, and paleography unite to clearly separate the two Kushan centuries, so that the sequence Kanishka (I), Huvishka, Vāsudeva, Kanishka (II), Vāsishka, Idem: “A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great,” pt. 2: “The Rabatak Inscription, Its Historical Implication and Numismatic Context,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 4, 1995-96. 16 Page 32 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE Kanishka (III) is today more or less undisputed. With regard to the absolute dates of these kings, we have no fixed years. No Kushan year occurs with reference to more than one king, so that we could use it as a borderline, ending one rule and starting the next. There are always a number of unmentioned years between the last year of one king and the first of his successor. Because of these unmentioned years, the dates of all reigns are known only in part. Even 127 CE, year 1 of Kanishka I, need not be the first year of his reign, though it must be one of his first years.17 There is no available information about the death of Kanishka. A relic casket bearing an inscription of Kanishka, however, was found early in the twentieth century and now resides at the museum in Peshawar. Despite the dearth of concrete information, the effects of Kanishka's rule are evident in the cultural and religious history of India, China, and central Asia.18 The spread of Mahayana Buddhism that was made possible by his support provided a strong base for the religion. In addition, this development also affected the retention of Hinduism by many Indian people, who considered Kanishka and his religion to be a foreign presence. Research will probably never reveal a complete picture of Kanishka's life, but the numerous artistic and architectural artifacts surviving from his reign testify to his recognition of the value of the ideas and traditions of a multitude of cultures. X. III Coinage The notion of a Kushan Dynasty or of a Kushan Period is entirely that of modern historians. Although the term Kushan is known in ancient sources, it is often used to refer to a dynasty other than the one designated by modern historians. Their well-known, beautiful gold coins prove their richness. On the obverse of the coins appear the images of kings with Bactrian inscriptions in Greek characters. On the reverse appear the images of either Greek, Persian or Hindu gods; later the symbols of Buddhism, such as the Wheel of Religion or the Dharma Chakra. The images of the kings are shown in Central Asian costume, a belted broadcloth tunic, felt boots and a large sword. They intended to demonstrate, even in their attire, that they were different from the subjugated people. Chinese chronicles employed the term Yuezhi, and at least one Indian source likely designated the dynasty we are discussing as muruṇḍa. Even the term Kushan as it appears on coins —koshano in Bactrian—is absent on the coins of two kings of the dynasty, while it is employed liberally among their contemporaries, the Kushano-Sasanian, or Kushanshah, kings and the Kidarites. In addition, many 3rd-century and later sources use the term to describe the region of Bactria. That the thirteen kings of the dynasty—Kujula Kadphises, Wima Takto, Wima Kadphises, Kanishka I, Huvishka, Vasudeva I, Kanishka II, Vasishka, Kanishka III, Vasudeva II, Shaka, and Kipunadha are viewed as a discrete entity distinct from the Kushanshahs in Bactria, the Kidarites, and the usurper Maśra, is largely a function of the relationship between numismatic and epigraphic studies.19 The cohesion of the group rests on establishing either that the coins were issued successively, in most cases from the same mints, or that the kings named are related to each other by epigraphic evidence. Today, modern constructs include thirteen kings who ruled from the mid-1st century until 17 Basham, Arthur L: Papers on the Date of Kanishka, E. J. Brill (Leiden, Netherlands), 1968. 18 Bopearachchi, O: (2007). Some observations on the chronology of the early Kushans. Res Orientales K. R. Jayaswal: “The Statue of Wema Kadphises and Kushan Chronology,” Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society 6, 1920 19 Page 33 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE the late fourth, although exact details can vary In the late 19th century when Alexander Cunningham wrote the first account of Kushan coinage (1892), he included only five kings: Kujula Kadphises, Wima Kadphises, Kanishka, Huvishka, and Vasudeva. Some coins of Kujula and those of his son Wima Takto were classified instead as Saka. All of Vasudeva’s successors were excluded, even though Cunningham was able to correctly classify the coins as part of the same series the year before. The seventh to ninth kings— Kanishka II, Vasishka, Kanishka III—whose coins were correctly identified by Cunningham, were usually excluded from accounts of the dynasty until the ordering of late Kushan inscriptions was substantially revised following studies by Lohuizen van Leeuw and John Rosenfield . The final kings are still absent in many accounts, because the attribution of their coinage and the identification of Shaka in a Gupta-period inscription were made only recently. The coins issued under the kings are presented below in chronological order. The gradual visual evolution of the designs should make the numismatic connection apparent, and epigraphic relations will be referred to where significant. Evidence is found for subsequent plague deaths in Southern Arabia, and even in China, as the virus spread along the flourishing trade routes. There is a series of copper coins with unique and highly artistic reverse sides, all of them reading yodhavade. Most of these pieces can be traced back to the mountain sanctuary called Kashmir Smast, in the foothills of the Himalayas just above Mardan. If related to Skt. yodhapati, the coinage would go back to a “warlord,” or better “warrior-lord.” The coinage of Vasishka remained unrecognized for a long time, but Robert Göbl claimed to have identified it from a wellpreserved specimen at Peshawar. By this date, in the third century, the coinage becomes difficult to read, since the flans are increasingly smaller than the dies, and parts of the marginal legend disappear off the flan. The Bactrian inscriptions are, moreover, frequently blundered. The obverse legend starting at 5 or 11 o’clock is said to be disposed BA – ZHÞKO (ba – zēško). However, few legible specimens can be adduced, and identification may largely depend on the specific Brāhmi akṣaras in the reverse fields. There are also believed to be issues attributable to a second Vasudeva, but the gold coinage, though copious, becomes increasingly obscure and fragmented in structure, with names of apparently local rulers appearing in Brāhmi script on the flans. With the inauguration of the Gupta dynasty in Bihar from 320 CE, the epoch of the Kushan successors was at an end. X. IV Trade Page 34 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE The Kushans became affluent through trade, particularly with Rome, as their large issues of gold coins show. These coins, which exhibit the figures of Greek, Roman, Iranian, Hindu, and Buddhist deities and bear inscriptions in adapted Greek letters, are witness to the toleration and to the syncretism in religion and art that prevailed in the Kushan empire. Both internal and external trade and commerce flourished in the Kushan period. The development of trade and the strengthening of economic ties resulted, above all, from the consolidation of the supremacy of the Kushan Empire, the expansion of agriculture and the growth of handicraft production. As is clear from the mass of archaeological material from various ancient sites of the period, trade between the Central Asian provinces increased greatly. Items of trade included products of handicrafts and agriculture, and both consumer goods and luxury articles. Consumer goods such as cereals, fruit, textiles, pottery, timber, etc. probably formed items of regular and extensive trade within the country, which demanded the minting of local coinages in different regions – Chorasmia, Margiana, Samarkand, Bukhara and Chach – serving as a medium of exchange in retail transactions. A large quantity of copper currency and a few gold coins belonging to various Kushan rulers, so far found in Kashmir, testify beyond doubt to the existence of a brisk internal and external trade. Probably the copper coins formed a medium of exchange with the Kushan empire, and gold coins were used in the conduct of external trade which mainly involved imports and exports of costly goods. Certainly, the Kushan occupation linked Kashmir not only with India and Central Asia but also with the world as Kushans controlled the silk route which connected China with the West. The Kushans had also trade relations with the Roman empire. That during the Kushans trade received as unprecedented boost is evidenced by the fact that it is for the first time in Kashmir history that such a large quantity of coins have been found. Unfortunately the lack of sources prevents us from giving details of the imports and exports. It is only the oblique evidence that tells us a little about the commodity structure of external trade. The most important imports were the Central Asian horses, iron, copper, gold, silk, shawl wool and perhaps salt. In addition to the Gandhara School of sculpture and art, vehicle of the Prakrit-speaking Buddhist element of the population and probably financed by the profits of traders, the Kushan empire seems to have supported another, dynastically oriented, school of sculpture, coinage, and glyptic that one may call the Royal Kushan school. This was chiefly devoted to renderings of royal figures, sculptured in the round, or engraved in high relief, and portraying court scenes and finery, equestrian figures, and elephant- or camel-riders. The agricultural regions of Central Asia were at this time conducting a particularly vigorous trade with livestock-breeders of the nomadic steppe zone. They were linked by a trade route that ran along the Syr Darya. This caravan route, which linked the northern regions of Ferghana and ancient Chach with the regions of the lower and middle Syr Darya and the Aral Sea area, served as a kind of two-way transmission line for the agricultural areas. Cereals, fruit, handicraft products and weapons were transported along this route to the nomads of the north; in exchange, furs and skins, meat and milk products, livestock and raw materials for weaving were accepted in the south by the sedentary peoples. It is not surprising, therefore, that this period witnessed the growth of major cities in the Syr Darya basin, ruins of which have been found at Akhsikent, Kanka and Shahrukhiya, Otrar and Dzhetî-Asar. The aspects of ancient Silk Road trade and exchange most often considered by archaeologists and historians are those which might be categorized as «official» and/or commercial trade. The focus usually remains on actual commodities traded, on the organization of that trade – that is, through governments or private merchants – and on the methods and particular routes by which such commodities traveled. Only to a lesser degree is examination made of the nature and extent of Page 35 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE indirect cultural exchange which often, if less obviously, occurs alongside official or commercial trade. What ideas were exchanged along with objects when peoples met during the course of extended cross-cultural contacts? What new forms, images, constructions sparked the imagination of artisans and technicians such that they were moved to incorporate them in their work? X. V Foreign Trade Expansion Foreign trade also expanded considerably in this period. The main trans-Asian trade routes passing through Central Asia linked the Mediterranean countries with India and the Far East. Substantial overland trade was conducted with India. The most convenient route from India passed through the cities of Taxila and Peshawar, and along the Kabul river valley into Bactria. From there merchants travelled by boat down the Amu Darya, over the Caspian Sea and across Transcaucasia to the Black Sea. They also made their way to southern Siberia. The Silk Route from China to the Mediterranean countries had a branch linking Bactria to Barygaza (Broach), which had established regular maritime links with the countries of Western Asia. This branch acquired greater importance when contact between Bactria and the West was suspended because of international politics. In about 127 b.c. Chang Ch’ien discovered in Bactria some bamboo articles and textile goods which had come from Szu-chuan via India. During the period under consideration, the rulers of different countries and provinces played an active role in international trade and enjoyed a monopoly of trade in certain goods. They used to dispatch their ambassadors with large quantities of merchandise and valuable gifts, and formed their own trading guilds. For example, in Book 2 of the Mahabharata (second to fourth century a.d.), there is a reference to gifts brought to Yudhishtra, the King of the Kurus, at Indraprastha (the site of modern Delhi) by emissaries of various peoples, among them Central Asians. From Vahlika (Bactria) came ‘woollen blankets, of good proportions, beautifully dyed, pleasant to the touch’, various fabrics, sheepskins, weapons and precious stones, and the Sakas and Tocharians used to bring horses ‘capable of covering long distances’.20 X. VI Trade Commodities 20 Pliny, XII. 31: vid E.H.Warmington. The commerce between the Roman Empire and India, 2nd edition. Page 36 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE The main exports from India were spices (pepper, ginger, saffron, betel), perfumes and medicines (sandalwood oil, spikenard, musk, cinnamon, aloe, bdellium), lacquers and dyes (indigo, cinnabar), silk, rice, sugar, vegetable oils (sesame, coconut oils), cotton, precious woods (teak, sandalwood, ebony), pearls, precious and semi-precious stones (diamonds, sapphires, rubies, jasper, etc.), ivory, exotic animals and slaves. At the same time, India imported precious metals (gold, silver) and nonferrous metals (copper, tin, lead, antimony), horses, purple dye, coral, wine, slaves and artistic pottery and glassware. According to a report by Pliny the Elder (XII, 8) dating from the second half of the first century a.d., the value of imports into India, East Turkestan and Arabia totalled 100 million sesterces. Some of these imports undoubtedly came from the Central Asian provinces of the Kushan Empire. Moreover, there is evidence of Bactrian merchants travelling to the confines of the Roman Empire, particularly to Alexandria in Egypt, one of the leading commercial centres, and of Roman merchants visiting Central Asia, where a fairly large number of Roman objects and swords have been found, testifying to the existence of trade links between the Roman Empire and Central Asia. Intensive trade was also conducted during this period with Han China, which exported silk, nephrite, lacquerware, hides, iron and nickel. Central Asian merchants exported glass, precious stones and ornaments to China. Luxury goods were the main articles of trade, as was usually the case in ancient times. The Sogdians played an important role in the development of trade links with China. In Tun-huang (East Turkestan), letters in the Sogdian language have been found, dating back to the early fourth century a.d. (or to the end of the second century a.d.). One of them notes that 100 freemen from Samarkand were living in Tun-huang. W. B. Henning estimates that the number of Sogdians (including slaves and their families) in Tun-huang must have totalled 1,000. Several letters contain information on merchandise, trade, prices, etc. The Sogdians living in East Turkestan maintained close contact with their home town in Samarkand. Despite the problems associated with the succession to Kujula and the still uncertain status of Vima Taktu, with the opening of the next reign, namely that of Vima Kadphises, a unified coinage attests an undivided kingdom and rising prosperity. Besides a standardized and well-executed copper currency, an important gold coinage makes its appearance, clear evidence of spectacular commercial activity. This no doubt resulted from expanding trade on the Silk Road, on the one hand with China exporting that staple commodity together with lacquer and, no doubt, other typical manufactures; and on the other hand with Rome’s imports of those and other eastern luxuries being largely financed, as in South India, by volumes of silver, and also of gold, coins. Other western exports certainly included fine glassware, art objects, and “nice-looking girls for concubinage”. At the same time, local products from India, most typically ivory, would have traveled in both directions. Kashmir did not produce war horses. As cavalry formed an important limbs of Kushan army , war horses had to be imported from Central Asia - the fact which remained good till our recent time. s. Same is true of the metals as except for a later evidence regarding the availability of copper mines and collections of gold from Sindh river we have no contemporary evidence of the availability of any metal in Kashmir. The archaeological evidence shows that silken cloth was rampantly used by the rich sections of the society. The silk was in all probability imported from China. For salt Kashmir has always remained dependent upon Punjab rock salt being solely used in Kashmir till 1947. At the height of the dynasty, the Kushans loosely ruled a territory that extended to the Aral Sea through present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, into northern India. They had diplomatic contacts with the Roman Empire, Sassanid Persia, Aksumite Empire, and Han China. Page 37 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE The Kushan Empire linked the seagoing trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the Silk Road, via the Indus Valley, while providing security that encouraged travel across the Khunjerab Pass and facilitated the spread of Mahayana Buddhism to China.21 X. VII Silk Route during Kushan Age The Classical World System (200 BCE-500CE) was based on connections of trade, war, Hellenism, and religion. The Silk Road was a huge factor in connecting the four major Classical World cores. Although the Han and Roman empires never came in direct contact, the Silk Road trade from China was fueled by Roman demand. Rome was the consumer, China was the producer. Ideas were carried along the Silk Road as well as goods. The Silk Road allowed goods and ideas to be exchanged over huge distances, from China to Rome. The Kushan Empire had diplomatic contacts with Rome, Parthia, and China. They taxed the Han Empire's Silk Road trade. The Kushans traded with the Parthians for horses so they had a strong connection. The Parthian Empire also taxed Silk Road trade. Throughout their histories, because they shared a border, the Kushan Empire and the Han Empire interacted a lot. The Kushan Empire helped the Chinese fight a nomadic incursion and attack a region. The Kushan Empire attacked China after they didn't receive a Chinese princess. They were defeated, and had to pay tribute to the Chinese. The Parthians and Romans often fought for Mesopotamia and Armenia. They also had fights about control of the Silk Road. 22 By positioning themselves at the center of the Silk Road, midway between China and India in the east and the Mediterranean world in the west, the Kushans became a world power second only to China and Rome and the first unified force in Afghanistan to dispense rather than receive authority. Major role in the development of international trade during the Kushan period was played by the Silk Route, the main trans-Asian caravan route, which, from the second century b.c. onwards, linked China, India and Central Asia with the countries of the Mediterranean. It owed its name to the fact that the principal commodity carried was Chinese silk. The Silk Route began at Ch’ang-an, the capital of China at that time, and ran westward along the edge of the Gobi Desert, passing through Lan-chou to Tun-huang. At Tun-huang, it divided into two, one branch going south and the other north. The northern route followed a straight line from Tun-huang to Turfan, crossing the sand-dunes of the White Dragon salt desert, which at one time had been part of the Lop Nor lake bed. That was the most difficult stretch of the Silk Route, and the trade caravan guides – usually Sogdians or Bactrians – preferred to bypass the sand-dunes of the White Dragon and make a large detour to the north on the way to Turfan. From Turfan the Silk Route went through Ch’iu-tzu into Aksu, then ˘ from Kashgar to Ferghana via Samarkand, and on to Antioch in Margiana. The southern route from Tun-huang went via Khotan and Yarkand to the capital of Bactria, and then to Zariaspa and Antioch in Margiana, where the two roads joined. From Margiana the Silk Route ran west to Hecatompylos, the ancient capital of Parthia, and thence to Media, Ecbatana and Mesopotamia, and across the Euphrates to the ancient ports on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. There was a constant struggle between the Chinese and the Central Asians, and between the Parthians and the Romans, to establish control over the Silk Route and so dominate international trade. As early as the first century b.c., Han China took control of the eastern section and launched a 21 Afghanistan: Central Asian and Sassanian Rule, ca. 150 B.C.-700 A.D." United States: Library of Congress Country Studies. 1997. Elizabeth Errington: “Numismatic Evidence for Dating the Kanishka Reliquary,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 8, 2002. 22 Page 38 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE military campaign against Ferghana. From that time onwards, China had direct trade relations with Bactria. According to Szu-ma Ch’ien, from the years 115–114 b.c. onwards, more than ten missions a year were sent from Ferghana to the West. Caravans made their way unimpeded to Bactria, India and Sogdiana, reached Parthia and penetrated even further west. The seizure of the Silk Route, which made it possible to maintain regular and direct contacts between Han China and the states of Central Asia and the West, laid the foundations for cultural and trade exchanges. From Central Asia, China received grapes, lucerne, beans, pomegranates, saffron and nut trees; the acquisition from Ferghana of the war-horses needed for the new Chinese cavalry was of particular importance.23 Parthian merchants tried to prevent the establishment of direct trade links between the Roman Empire and China. Merchants from the Kushan Empire also competed with the Parthians and tried to become major intermediaries. The basic means of transport in this international caravan trade was the camel. The accounts of travellers suggest that some of the most difficult stretches of the Silk Route were passable only because of the superior qualities of the Bactrian two-humped camel. X. VIII Begram Sixty kilometres northwest of Kabul, near today's city of Charikar, at the junction of the Ghorband and the Panjshir valley, the summer capital of the Kushan empire was built, known as Kapisa. Located at a key passage point along the Silk Road between Kabul and Bamiyan, Begram was destroyed by Achaemenid emperor Cyrus, restored by his successor Darius, and then fortified and rebuilt by Alexander the Great as fortress Alexandria of the Caucasus, which made it a key city in the defence of the Graeco-Bactrian Kingdom. Surrounded by a high brick wall and reinforced with towers at the angles, Begram's main street along the Kushan summer palace was bordered with workshops and shops. Precious carved ivories from India, lacquer boxes from China, glass and bronze from Eqypt and Rome, plaster decorative reliefs and other Silk Road trade goods were displayed and sold and perhaps kept in inventory for the purpose of making duplicates on site. Despite the capture of Kapiza (Begram) by the Sassanians circa 241 AD, two storerooms of Silk Road trade goods, sealed up to escape detection, sat in place for nearly seventeen centuries until they were discovered by French archaeologists who excavated Begram in the 1930s. 24 Each piece of the world famous "Begram Treasure" testifies to the rich trade that took place during the Kushan era and the likely existence of similar workshop emporiums at various points along the Silk Road and throughout the civilized world. Such discoveries renew our facination with the skilled workmanship and highly refined and cultured citizenry under the Kushans. Begram is particularly interesting in light of the theme of this conference volume, which seeks to examine commercial and cultural exchanges between Central Asia and India. Objects found at this ancient site of Begram, in modern Afghanistan, offer a rare opportunity to examine the region’s trade. In one location were discovered artifacts of broad international progeny: Chinese lacquers, Roman bronzes, glassware and plaster models and Indianesque ivory and bone objects. But more than just official trade, the Begram ivory and bone objects in particular offer an excellent opportunity to view elements of the region’s indirect cultural exchange. The Begram site is most famous for the discovery during the 1937 and 1939 campaigns (Hackin 1939, 1954), under the direction of Joseph Nicholas Sims-Williams – Joe Cribb: “A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great” in “Silk Road Art and Archeology”, No.4. 1995. 23 24 Procopius: “The Persian War”, Vol.1. Tr. by H.B. Dewing, 2005, Guttenberg E-book, Harvard University Press Page 39 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE Hackin, of a large number of extraordinary objects neatly stored in two, apparently anciently sealedoff, rooms in that part of the New Royal Cit which the excavators came to refer to as the «Palace». As will be discussed shortly, however, the appellation «Palace» for this structure, and the excavators’ reference to the finds as a royal «treasure» or «hoard», may result from a misapprehension by these early researchers concerning the nature and the dating of the finds. X. IX Decline After the death of Emperor Vasudeva I in 225, the Kushan Empire split into western and eastern halves. The western Kushans in Afghanistan were soon conquered by the Persian Sassanid Empire. In 248 CE, they were defeated again by Persians, who deposed the western dynasty and replaced them with Persian vassals— cities or kingdoms that forfeited foreign policy independence, in exchange for full autonomy and, in some cases, formal tribute—known as the Indo-Sassanids, or Kushanshas. The eastern Kushan kingdom was based in the Punjab. Around 270 CE, their territories on the Gangetic Plain became independent under local dynasties, such as the Yaudheyas. In the mid-4th century they were subjugated by the Gupta Empire under its leader, Samudragupta. The last of the Kushan and Sassanian kingdoms were eventually overwhelmed by the Hepthalites, another Indo-European people from the north. After their defeat, the Kushans lived as vassals both in India and Bactria25. In Bactria they were vassals of the Sassanians but they enjoyed relative independence. They had their own governors, the so called mahakshatrapas and they could mint their coins but in poorer quality. In India, the Gupta kings were tolerant with them; actually the Kushans mingled with the Indians, and some tribes consider themselves the descendants of the Kushans, e.g. the Jaudheyas in the North, the Kumindas in Kashmir and the Nagas in the East. Some Kushans, primarily the soldiers and the chiefs, retreated to the Oxus Valley, their previous territory, but a major part of them fled to Khorezm, their former tributary. Kanishka I. had had good relations with the Khorezmians; the Kushans adopted the irrigation system and the town-planning from them. The territory of Khorezm was situated on the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea. Near this place, the western branch of the Hsiungnus (Huns), proceeding southward, met the Kushans. They joined together and made a tribal confederation called the Seven Tribes, that Majumdar, R. C: The History and Culture of the Indian People, Volume 2: The Age of Imperial Unity, 5th ed., Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan (Bombay, India), 198 25 Page 40 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE is the Hephtalites. Hephta means seven in Greek. The famous Greek historian, Procopius, mentions them by this name a hundred years later. The number five or seven (tribes) occurred among the Central Asian tribal unions quite often. The odd numbers of the unions had a practical reason, as the majority could make a decision only in this way. The name Hephtalite was a Greek one – actually given by Procopius, - but the Chinese Annals called them Ye-ta; the Persian sources called them Haftrai and, according to the Armenian sources they were Haital. In Sanskrit their name was Shweta Hans meaning White Hans. The Sasanians deposed the Western dynasty and replaced them with Persian vassals known as the Kushanshas (in Bactrian on their coinage: KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ Koshano Shao) also called IndoSasanians or Kushano-Sasanians. The Kushano-Sasanians ultimately became very powerful under Hormizd I Kushanshah (277–286 CE) and rebelled against the Sasanian Empire, while continuing many aspects of the Kushan culture, visible in particular in their titulature and their coinage. Page 41 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE XI. EVOLUTION OF SILK ROUTE Silk road, also known as Silk Route linking the west to east helped lay the foundations for the modern world in several respects, successfully helping great civilisations to germinate. Silk went westward, and wools, gold, and silver went east. The world also received Nestorian Christianity and Buddhism via the Silk Road. Originating at Xi’an (Sian), the 4,000-mile (6,400-km) road, actually a caravan tract, followed the Great Wall of China to the northwest, bypassed the Takla Makan Desert, climbed the Pamirs (mountains), crossed Afghanistan, and went on to the Levant; from there the merchandise was shipped across the Mediterranean Sea. Few persons traveled the entire route, and goods were handled in a staggered progression by middlemen. With the gradual loss of Roman territory in Asia and the rise of Arabian power in the Levant, the Silk Road became increasingly unsafe and untraveled. In the 13th and 14th centuries the route was revived under the Mongols, and at that time the Venetian Marco Polo used it to travel to Cathay (China). It is now widely thought that the route was one of the main ways that plague bacteria responsible for the Black Death pandemic in Europe in the mid-14th century moved westward from Asia. 26 In the late 15th century, the Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, navigated round the Cape of Good Hope, thereby connecting European sailors with these South East Asian maritime routes for the first time and initiating direct European involvement in this trade. By the 16th and 17th centuries, these routes and their lucrative trade had become subject of fierce rivalries between the Portuguese, Dutch, and British. The conquest of ports along the maritime routes brought both wealth and security, as they effectively governed the passage of maritime trade and also allowed ruling powers to claim monopolies on these exotic and highly sought-after goods, as well as gathering the substantial taxes levied on merchant vessels. Many great figures had made significant contributions to the development of the Silk Road. Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria Eschate during the Greek empire which later became a major staging point on the northern Silk Route. Not to mention those Chinese kings had subsequently sent numerous embassies to Syria, Anxi, Tiaozhi and Tianzhu over the years to keep the long-term trading connections with those Silk Road region countries. These connections marked the beginning of the Silk Route trade network had extended to the Roman Empire and the Silk Road finally reached its peak during the Byzantine Empire time in the west. Today, the ancient Silk Road is more like a historical textbook for everyone to read and to catch about what happened during that ancient time. It played a significant role in the development of the civilisations of China, the Korea, Japan, the India, Persia, Europe, the Horn of Africa and Arabia, opening long-distance political and economic relations between the civilisations. 27 Part of the Silk Road still exists, in the form of a paved highway connecting Pakistan and the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, China. The old road has been the impetus behind a United Nations plan for a trans-Asian highway, and a railway counterpart of the road has been proposed by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). The road inspired cellist Yo-Yo Ma to found the Silk Road Project in 1999, which explored cultural traditions along its route and beyond as a means for connecting arts worldwide across cultures. 26 Claire Cock Starkey: 8 Trade Routes that shaped the World: Sept 20, 2016 27 Britannica, Silk Road, 02 june 2019 Page 42 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE XII. CONCLUSION As it can be now seen and realised that Silk Route has played a major role in not just shaping the face of India but of Asia. It has emerged and evolved and made a huge difference From roads to routes it by itself had to undergone a huge journey. Despite what its evocative name suggests, what we know today as the Silk Road was not a route by means of which this fabric was exchanged, nor was it a single route or path that crossed the Asian continent to link the Far East with the West. Rather, it was a network of commercial, cultural and technological (and also disease) exchange routes that radiated from Central Asia. For 1,500 years these routes allowed China to be connected to the Mediterranean, playing a decisive role in the passage to the Modern Age. This framework of roads had its roots in the network of routes that started in Persia and along which emissaries with messages galloped throughout the empire in the 4th century BC. However, in its final configuration, the Silk Road was officially opened in 130 BC, when the Chinese emperor sent his ambassador Zhang Quian on a diplomatic mission in search of new allies. In addition to pacts, the ambassador returned with a new breed of horses and saddles and stirrups used by western warriors. This is the first example of the Silk Road’s main function throughout history: the exchange of knowledge and technology. The current view among historians is that the Silk Road —in service from its opening in 130 B.C. until the 14th century— was used by traders, religious, artists, fugitives and bandits, but above all by refugees and populations of emigrants or displaced persons. In addition to Chinese goods like silk and porcelain making their way to the West, techniques of silkworm-raising, gunpowder, compass, copper smelting, paper-making and printing. Also reached the lands of Central Asia, Iran and Rome one after another through the land and sea routes of the Silk Road. At the same time, goods and properties, astronomy, calendar, mathematics, medical science, music and arts etc. also flowed into China from Central Asia and the West via the Silk Road. It is believed that it was precisely these groups of migrant populations who brought with them knowledge, tools, culture, products or crops (and with them possibly new techniques and irrigation systems). The ancient Silk Road not only gave life to a few new cities and contributed to the continuous development of many existing cities along the route, it also promoted economic and social development of the countries and regions along the route through exchanges in goods, services, religion, culture and technology, thus putting in place significant historical foundation for the development of the present day Silk Road. They fostered a cultural and technological “globalisation” that was literally going to change the world. Page 43 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE XIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY • McIntosh: Jane (2008), The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives. • Raghuvamsha: Kalidasa, XVII, 64,66 • The Silk Roads Project: Integral Study of the Silk Roads, Roads If dialoguet 988-1997, UNESCO • History of Civilizations of Central Asia, UNESCO • Mike Edwards: National Geographic, June 2000 • Santi Menon: Discover magazine, Dec 1998 • Charles Higham: Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Cultures • Dennys Frenez: The Indus Civilization Trade with Oman Peninsula, University of Sologna • Seminar for Arabian Studies, British Museum London, 24-26th July 2015 • Massimo Vidale: Growing in a Foreign World : Gor a History if the “Meluhha Villages” in Mesopotamia in the 3rd Millennium BC • Joan Aruz, Wallenfels: Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium Bc from the Mediterranean to the Indus , Metripolitan Museum, Yale University Press, 2003 • Kalpana Singh Chitnis: Ancient and Modern, University of Iowa, 2015 • Magadh:Ancient and modern, kalpna singh-Chitnis, the university of lowa, 2015 • Britannica, Silk Road, 02 june 2019 • Claire Cock Starkey: 8 Trade Routes that shaped the World: Sept 20, 2016 • Idem: “The History of Eastern Iran,” in Camb. Hist. Iran III/1, 1983b. • Elizabeth Errington: “Numismatic Evidence for Dating the Kanishka Reliquary,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 8, 2002. • Jamsheed Choksy: “The Enigmatic Origins of the Tokharians,” in Carlo C. Cereti and F. Vajifdar, eds., Ātaš-e Dorun: The Fire Within: Jamshid Soroush Soroushian Commemorative Volume, San Diego, 2003. • Bopearachchi, O: (2007). Some observations on the chronology of the early Kushans. Res Orientales • K. R. Jayaswal: “The Statue of Wema Kadphises and Kushan Chronology,” Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society 6, 1920 Page 44 ! of 45 ! TRADE TO TREASURE • Pliny, XII. 31: vid E.H.Warmington. The commerce between the Roman Empire and India, 2 nd edition. • Afghanistan: Central Asian and Sassanian Rule, ca. 150 B.C.-700 A.D." United States: Library of Congress Country Studies. 1997. • Idem: “A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great,” pt. 2: “The Rabatak Inscription, Its Historical Implication and Numismatic Context,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 4, 1995-96. • Nicholas Sims-Williams – Joe Cribb: “A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great” in “Silk Road Art and Archeology”, No.4. 1995. • Procopius: “The Persian War”, Vol.1. Tr. by H.B. Dewing, 2005, Guttenberg E-book, Harvard University Press • Basham, Arthur L: Papers on the Date of Kanishka, E. J. Brill (Leiden, Netherlands), 1968. • Majumdar, R. C: The History and Culture of the Indian People, Volume 2: The Age of Imperial Unity, 5th ed., Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan (Bombay, India), 1980. • ancient.eu • Brittanica.com • mapsofindia.com • http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-parent • http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-parent • https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-kushan-empire/ Page 45 ! of 45 !