Kushan history

Essays in Honour of Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah's Promotion of Jain Studies, edited by Christine Chojnacki and Basile Leclère, Bengaluru: Sapna Book House (Proceedings of the international workshop "The Constitution of a Literary Legacy and the Tradition of Patronage in Jainism" organized by Christine Chojnacki and Basile Leclère at Lyon 3 University, France,  15-17 September 2016).

The Greeks, Kushans, Huns and Gurjars occupy a vast time space in the historical chronology of the Indian subcontinent but their contribution to the making of present day culture has not been analyzed enough in the academic institutions and intellectual circles of their respective demographic and geographic inhabitation, extension and influence.

A narrative history of Central Asia after the Greek dynasties and before Islam

Central Asia is commonly imagined as the marginal land on the periphery of Chinese and Middle Eastern civilisations. At best, it is understood as a series of disconnected areas that served as stop-overs along the Silk Road.
However, in the mediaeval period, this region rose to prominence and importance as one of the centres of Persian-Islamic culture, from the Seljuks to the Mongols and Timur.

Khodadad Rezakhani tells the back story of this rise to prominence, the story of the famed Kushans and mysterious ‘Asian Huns’, and their role in shaping both the Sasanian Empire and the rest of the Middle East.

Contextualises Persian history in relation to the history of Central Asia
Extends the concept of late antiquity further east than is usually done
Surveys the history of Iran and Central Asia between 200 and 800 bc and contextualises the rise of Islam in both regions

The Panchala kingdom in northern India produced a long series of copper coinage for several centuries. Two new kings have now been discovered through their coins: Rajnyah Bhanumitra and Rajnyah Vijayamitra. The presence of these independent kings - with their royal titles and complex iconography - indicates that Panchala coinage continued well into the Kushan era and there was no long interlude during Kushan rule in northern India. This paper presents the coins of these two Panchala kings and discusses the importance of this discovery.

A short presentation of the Joint Pakistani-Italian-French Archaeological Expedition at Banbhore, on the Indus' delta. Preliminary results, objectives and aims of a project on an important site on the Indus' delta, from Kushans to Islamic age.

This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the history and culture of the Parthian Empire, which existed for almost 500 years from 247 BC to 224 AD. The Parthians were Rome's great opponents in the east, but comparatively little is known about them. The Parthians focuses on the rise, expansion, flowering and decline of the Parthian Empire and covers both the wars with the Romans in the west and the nomads in the east. Sources include the small amount from the Empire itself, as well as those from outside the Parthian world, such as Greek, Roman and Chinese documents.

FOR  DETAILED  TABLE OF  CONTENTS and FOREWORD please open --> download

The HAN-SHU or "Book of the Han (Dynasty)" was compiled by the Ban family (father Biao, son Gu and daughter Zhao) in the first century CE. 
It deals with the history of the First (Western) Han Dynasty and includes the short-lived Xin Dynasty (together 206 BCE to 23 CE).
Chapter 96 A+B, on "The Western Regions", is an all-important source on the history of Central and South Asia - in a time when other contemporary sources are scarce.
In this compilation, the Chinese original text is shown together with the translations into German by De Groot (1926) and into English by Wylie (1881) and Hulsewé/Loewe (1979).
So far, the very important ancient annotations to the Hanshu by Yan Shigu (active in the 7th century) have never been translated in toto.

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Parts of this paper were presented in Mumbai and has benefited from valuable comments at that seminar. The paper will discuss production and circulation of coins using a mathematical model. The details of the model are discussed in the attached document.

This paper was published after a single day event celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Coins & Medals department of the British Museum, at which I was asked to talk about South Asian coins. I wanted to spend the paper trying to explore ways in which new ways of doing (at least new for South and Central Asian ancient numismatics) history were transforming the stories told about the period I work on, which is primarily the Kushan dynasty. I talk about the use of die studies to understand numismatics and about the concept of a coinage tradition which was introduced in a number of articles by Joe Cribb. I even spend a few lines talking about wikipedia, and had I been more presient I suspect I would have spent more than that (since then I've had the chance to see a Wikithon at a public institution and become involved in a collaborative project which has highlighted both the strengths and weaknessess of just how radically different wikipedia's model is from traditional scholarship).
Anyway the paper should not be seen as research but as op-ed on what I think is worth doing in South and Central Asian numismatics.

The ceramic – and particularly fine ware – production in Bactria / Tokharistan of the Kushan-Sasanian period shows typical characteristics
both in morphological and decorative treatment that make it different from the preceding production of the Great Kushan period. In this study, I would like to shed some more light on the decoration of fine ware cups with a simple motif: the frontal depiction of a lion head / face. Sources of origin, symbolic meaning, spatial distribution and importance for dating of the given pottery group and related issues is addressed.

A presentation on Kushan Coinage and History by Joe Cribb, Robert Bracey and Lauren Morris
Accessible on line from:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/rec/WN_aDxiMRriTFuoOgZ_WM09ug?meetingId=IPG1GpAT-dxWRMXIj8ZX2VSed1yU2ECe6SHLv4I4JIOXw8XM1T-FJ5cO7LAXRlR2.7iB94Plmtqzdmh1f&playId=&action=play&_x_zm_rtaid=hCfsvtUJTguECvjfh4mz1A.1627128217974.8df0d4862290b7d4758230239bb5646f&_x_zm_rhtaid=358

This is an analysis of how coins are attributed to mints and how those mints are located in Kushan studies. It gives a number of examples of attribution, including a lengthy and previously unpublished account of the organization of the control marks on the coinage of Shaka (the penultimate Kushan Emperor), followed by a section which examines the evidence for different sites acting as mints.
Errata: On page 127 I go to some trouble to explain the relative positions of Sarghoda (in the north) and Dada Fatehpur (in the south) and that they are linked, respectively to Mint B and Mint A. I then put A in brackets for the northern mint and B for the southern. These should be the other way round.

A survey of the scholarship relating to the Bimaran Casket, found in Afghanistan in 1834 by Charles Masson and now housed in the British Museum. This gold reliquary has been at the cetre of the debate about the chronology of Gandharan Art since the late nineteenth century, prompting claims that the images of the Buddha on it are the earliest representations of the Buddha. Discourse has continued to the present day, with varying views about its date and relevance to the chronology of Buddhist imagery.

This article was prepared with W.A Oddy. Essentially it just introduces a programme of research that Andrew Oddy undertook in the late 1970s and early 1980s on Gold coins of Central and South Asia. He carried out extensive specific gravity tests (a measure of density) on the coins which made it possible to understand the gradual debasement of those coins. An analysis of that work was published by Andrew with Joe Cribb in Ex Moneta, 1998. However the results themselves only existed on file cards. The link takes you to a complete spreadsheet of the data.

I prepared this paper in 2008 but it wasn't published until 2012. As a result some things moved on in that period. I've spoken to people very sceptical about the Sarapis theory I quoted part way through and one new god has shown up in the Kushan pantheon since. I would not insist as strong as this reads on the essential unity of the pantheon (though I'm more convinced than I was about the essentially closed nature of the royal pantheon).
In this paper I looked at the evidence for Kushan royal patronage (particularly that of the gold coinage) and how that is interpreted. A lot of existing literature sees the gold coinage as reflecting a variety of different religious beliefs which the king's patronised. I argued two-fold that the apparent diversity is a very narrow window, essentially the reigns of Kanishka and Huvishka (and in a recent ONS talk I explained how the greatest diversity belongs to an even narrower period in the reign of Huvishka); and secondly that the pantheon can be seen as much more coherent than it is often given credit for.
This is a big topic, there is a lot here I skim over or don't tackle (such as the identification of the 'archer' on Huvishka's copper). However, I think the thrust of the argument that the coins reflect, often mediated through workers who don't understand, a religious practice that is coherent, and essentially detached from other religious activity in the period.

В книге советского археолога рассказывается о работе Со­ветско-афганской археологической экспедиции в конце 1978 — начале 1979 г. на городище Тиллп-Топе («Золотой холм») возле г. Шибиргана на севере Афганистана. Экспедиции обнаружила шесть захоронений I в. до н.э.— 1 в. н.э. со множеством золо­тых изделий, многие из которых оказались подлинными сокро­вищами искусства.

(222 plates of illustrations will be in special file. The pages' numeration is special for each big chapter. For real book numeration move the cursor to the right border of each pages / 222 таблицы иллюстраций будут в специальном файле. Нумерация по техническим причинам – отдельная для каждого большого раздела. Подлинную нумерацию стрнице в книге можно выяснить, подведя курсор к правой границе каждой страницы).
ABSTRACT:
In this book, you will find a complex research of the clothes of Iranian-speaking peoples beginning from their appearance in the world politics and in the written sources of the 7th–6th cc. BC and up to the Islamization of Iran and Transoxiana in the 7th–8th cc. AD. The accessories of the costume (except belts), the military costume, the rulers’ crowns and the costume materials themselves are not the subject matter of the text; but the hairstyle and sometimes tattoos are being under consideration. The first three chapters are devoted to analysis of the main periods of pre-Islamic history of the Iranian world (the time bounds being different for different regions): [1] the Achaemenid-Scythian time (the 7th–6th cc. BC — 4th–3rd cc. BC, for Transoxiana—up to the mid. of the 2nd cc. BC); [2] the Parthian-Sarmatian time (the 4th/3rd cc. BC — the 3rd/4th cc. AD); [3] the Sassanid and Early Medieval time (the 3/4th — the 7/8th cc. AD). The sections of these chapters deal with materials on the 13 peoples: (1) the Persians of the Achaemenian time; (2) the Early Scythians; (3) the Scythians of the “classic” period (the 5th–4th cc. BC); (4) the “Pazyrykians” of the Altai; (5) the Chorasmians (for all the 3 periods); (6) the Parnes—Parthians of Iran; (7) the Sarmatians and Early Alans; (8) the Yuech-chihs / Kushans of Bactria; (9) the Sogdians (the 2nd and 3rd periods); (10) the Indo-Scythians of Gandhara; 11) the Persians of the Sassanid time; (12) the Khotano-Sakas of Southern Xinjiang (the 2nd and 3rd periods); (13) the Tokharistanians (with other ethnic elements). As far as each of the above-mentioned peoples is concerned the above-stated ideas are analyzed and new materials (including unpublished ones) are taken into account, the details of many depictions are defined and the data on peoples are generalized for the first time. First of all, we have studied the costume of these 13 peoples, which gives the most abundant and many-sided information on the costume as clothes in real life are a mass phenomenon and can be studied productively and correctly only in big series (in case of single depictions rare costume elements and the looks of gods of foreign origin are mistakenly taken for typical ones).
The main tasks of the book are: 1. The reconstruction of the look of the ethnic clothing complex for each of the above-mentioned peoples: the silhouette, the cut (the information about the latter is limited) and the decorative prin-ciples, the last task being the most labour-intensive. The results allow of a reliable attribution of many artifacts from museums and private collections. 2. Eliciting the aesthetical ideal of different ethnic groups reflected in the costume; the analysis of the depictions of supposed representatives of a certain people in the art of other countries for defining the degree of the authenticity in the costume depiction and its representativeness for this ethnic group. 3. The comparative analysis of the costume of each separately taken synchronous people in each of the three main historical epochs; the analysis of the costume of each ethnic group in different periods for defining the character of the costume evolution and heredity. 4. The retrospective eliciting of the look of the original costume of the most ancient Iranians and the “costume” traces of the Iranian penetration to the west of Iran. 5. Eliciting the type of the costume contacts of ancient Iranian-speaking peoples and the difference in their importance. 6. The analysis of the summarized data on the least studied significant functions of the costume aiming at eliciting the specificity of the Iranian world and some of its peoples.
We suggest a complex approach including following elements: (1) dealing with all kinds of sources alongside ob-serving the most possible scope of facts on each studied people (in case of a technical impossibility, the representative statistic excerpts are studied); (2) the proper selection of the costume décor remnants from burials under analysis (only the accounts and publications of high quality are used) excluding significantly fragmented and stylized depictions and, for some regions, images of gods; (3) the analysis of the material according to the linguistic and ethnic principles—not a regional one (which is not typical for modern research on the costume history); (4) considering all the main costume attributes of the ethnic group as a single costume complex that reflects the specificity of the people; 5) the description of the costume of each ethnic group according to the common program in chapters 1–3; (6) considering ethnic complexes against the background of the synchronous neighbouring ones and both earlier and later ones up to their successors in the 19th–20th cc. AD (otherwise the rightfulness of most conclusions is difficult to guarantee); (7) the analysis of costume evolution of separate ethnic groups under the influence of different factors; (8) compiling a special summary tables on the costume of each people (each drawing in them not being an exact copy of a definite depiction, but given in the most appropriate foreshortening without unnecessary details interfering with perception).
MORE INFORMATION: 2nd Internet ed., Moscow: X-lab, 2011: http://www.narodko.ru/article/yatsenko/eurazia/ .

CONTENTS:
PREFACE 5
CHAPTER 1. The Achaemenian-Scythian time (7th/6th cc. — 4th/3rd cc. BC) 29
1.1. The Persians 29
1.2. The European Scythians 47
1.3. The Pazyryk culture of the Altai Mountains 83
1.4. The Khorasmians 102
The main conclusions 106
CHAPTER 2. The Parthian-Sarmatian time (3rd cc. BC — 3rd/4th cc. AD) 112
2.1. Parthian Iran 113
2.2. The Sarmatians, the Early Alans and the “Late Scythians” 131
2.3. The Yuech-chihs/Kushans 170
2.4. The Khorasmians 187
2.5. The Indo-Scythians 192
2.6. The Sogdians 197
2.7. The Khotano-Sakas 201
The main conclusions 207
CHAPTER 3. The Sasanian and Early Medieval (Pre-Islamic) time (3rd/4th–7th/8th cc. AD) 212
3.1. Sasanian Iran 213
3.2. The Sogdians 231
3.3. Tokharistan and the neighboring regions to the South 247
3.4. The Khorasmians 262
3.4. The Khotano-Sakas 266
The main conclusions 274
CHAPTER 4. The mechanisms of the costume contacts and
the ways of evolution of the costume of ancient Iranians.
The symbolism of costume 279
4.1. The mechanisms of the costume contacts 280
4.2. The ways of evolution of the costume of various peoples 314
4.3. The sign functions of the costume 322
The main conclusions 362
CONCLUSION 364
APPENDIX. The suggestions on the methods of fixation and description of the costume relics
in burial complexes 367
Glossary 370
BIBLIOGRAPHY 371
Abbreviations 416
List of Iluustrations (in English)          418
List of illustrations (in Russian) 423
Illustrations 435-657
Summary                    658
Contents                      663

This book examines, in the light of numerous iconographies, the syncretism of three deities associated with the sun, the Indian Sūrya, the Greek Helios, and the Iranian Mithra. The Gandhāran statue of the Bodhisattva Siddhārtha in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, wearing a headdress depicting the sun god in the guise of a Bodhisattva, performing the abhayamudrā ("the gesture of fearlessness") standing frontally in a chariot drawn by four horses, was the starting point for this study. This syncretic image of the Greek Helios and the Indian Sūrya with Buddhist overtones is a direct result of the cross-cultural nature of Gandharān art. The evolution of sun-god imagery in central India and in the Great Gandhāra owed much to the worship of the Indian Sūrya and the Greek Helios as creators of the universe and source of all life. Nor is it surprising that this remarkably syncretic image emerged in the Kuṣāṇ period as a Buddhist icon, perhaps even a Buddha. The earliest representations of the sun god in India, Central Asia, and China took place in a Buddhist context. Sūrya in the railing at the Mahābodhi Temple, at the Bhājā Vihāra cave, and in the lintel from the Huviška Vihāra at Jamalpur represent Sūrya synchronised with the Buddha's 'achievement of dispelling the darkness of ignorance.' Likewise, the Sun god dressed similarly to a Bodhisattva but in the guise of Indian Sūrya and Greek Helios in the headdress of the Bodhisattva Siddhārtha in the Royal Ontario Museum and the Sun god taking the form of Iranian Mithra at Bāmiyān also symbolise the Buddha who will 'blaze forth in this world to dispel the darkness of delusion.'

The New DNA studies and research by Chinese archeologists have substantiated that revolt in Bactria was led by Indo-Iranian tribes against the rule of Macedonian Greeks and was not an invasion of migrating Yehzhi tribe of China. Yehzhi's involvement was none or minimal and after their brief stay they moved on to west over Dane River in Roman Dacia. These findings are a result of new discoveries and reconciliation of various ancient Chinese historical sources. The article corrects chronological errors suggested from ancient Bamboo annals. One can easily conclude that the revolt that elevated the Kushan tribe to the forefront was due to indigenous revolt. The conclusion is Kushan was native to ancient India and not foreigner as originally stipulated.

Abstract
The anonymous Soter Megas coins of the Kushan period have posed the problem of their attribution since they were first discovered in the early 19th century. This study, based on an examination of over a thousand examples, shows that their issue probably began in the final years of the first Kushan king Kujula Kadphises (c. AD 50 – 90) and continued through the reign of his son and successor Wima Takto (c. AD 90 – 110). All the former attributions are examined and analysed in the light of a new classification based on a re-examination of the coins.
The coins issued without a king’s name after those with the name of the first Kushan king Kujula Kadphises have for long presented a problem for Kushan studies, because, although it is widely agreed that they are Kushan issues, they mostly lack the name of the ruler issuing them. These anonymous coins, referred to in earlier numismatic literature as issues of the ‘nameless king’, are also known as ‘Soter Megas’ coins because of the Greek titles ΣΩΤΗΡ ΜΕΓΑΣ (meaning the Great Saviour, or the Saviour, the Great) which appear on them. These epithets follow the imperial title ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΩΝ (Basileus basileuōn), which literally translates as ‘ruling king’, but is probably meant to represent ‘king of kings’, as it is so translated on bilingual Greek-Prakrit (Kharoshthi) coins of this series (Konow 1929: lxix). This ‘vast and mysterious coinage’ (Rosenfield 1967: 18) has been found in large numbers over an area stretching from north of the Oxus River in current day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, through Afghanistan and Pakistan and into northern India.