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The End of the Kushan Empire

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The End of Empires

Abstract

The reasons for the end of the Kushan Empire are, due to a loss and lack of sources, difficult to determine. However, some things are certain: the end of rule came at different times in different regions, and it was related to the attempts of the Sasanians in the West and the Guptas in the East to establish their own imperial rule. The expansion of these two empires had political and military as well as economic consequences, as the Kushan, due to the loss of territory and the new potent neighbours, lost significant sources of income (taxes, customs, duties, etc.), which until then had ensured subservient loyalty and made military ventures and infrastructural investments possible. The political and economic setbacks may also have exacerbated the tensions within the ruling dynasty that are common in monarchical systems (for example, over succession to the throne or sinecures and offices and titles). However, the end of Kushan rule in Central Asia and Northern India should not be thought of as a radical break, but rather as a process of transformation: Kushan legacy in the administration, culture (language, art) and self-image of the new Iranian and Indian lords in the former Kushan territories makes this obvious.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Rezakhani (2022); Further new summarizing works on the Kushan Empire: Schindel (2015), Benjamin (2018, 176–203, 245–249), Rezakhani (2017a: 46–71, 2017b: 200–203), Morris (2020a: 74–88); See also the monographic study of the Kushan Empire by Mukherjee (1988).

  2. 2.

    Benjamin (2018: 249).

  3. 3.

    It makes a big difference, to mention only the two most important scholarly chronological settings, the beginning of the so-called Era of Kanishka 78 A.D. Loeschner (2012a, b); 127 A.D. Falk (2001); or first quarter of the third century Schindel (2009, 2014); and the era of the Kushano-Sasanians ca. 270, Jongeward and Cribb (2015); 300 Schindel (2012, 2015, 2020); or 350 A.D. Göbl (1984), whether Kanishka I was a contemporary of the Parthian kings and Han rulers of the 1st/second century A.D. or of Ardashir I and the Chinese rulers of the time of the Three Kingdoms. And it is significant whether, for example, Ormies, the rebellious brother of the Sasanid Wahram II, can be identified with a Kushano-Sasanian vassal ruler, or whether the end of Kushan rule in Bactria came about not until around the year 300 or even 350 A.D.

  4. 4.

    Discussion in: Hoo and Wiesehöfer (2022).

  5. 5.

    For the Rabatak-Inscription that gives us the predecessors of Kanishka I, see Sims-Williams (1996, 1998, 2004, 2012: 77–78).

  6. 6.

    On Afghanistan as a cradle of ancient empires, see Canepa (2020).

  7. 7.

    For the Kushan monuments in Afghanistan, cf. Ball (2019, passim).

  8. 8.

    For the deities on Kushan coins, see Jongeward and Cribb (2015: 259–301), Sinisi (2017).

  9. 9.

    But see the critical assessment of Morris (2020b: 685–687) against the more optimistic view of Seland (2013).

  10. 10.

    See Coloru (2009: 53), Graf (2018: 473–477), Morris (2020b: 683–685).

  11. 11.

    Convincingly deconstructed by Morris (2020b: 685–687); Cf. Graf (2018: 448) regarding the Roman Silk Trade; See also Ruffing (2019).

  12. 12.

    For these routes, see Coloru (2009: 270); On Parthian activities on the Silk Routes see Daryaee (2020); − It has to be emphasized that the Achaemenid Empire and its successor states – among them the Greco-Bactrian kingdom – played an important role for long-distance exchange in Eurasia: Brosseder (2015: 215).

  13. 13.

    On the term Silk Roads and its problematical character, see Rezakhani (2010), Benjamin (2018: 3–14), Despite all shortcomings the term ‘Silk Roads’, which allegedly was coined by Ferdinand von Richthofen but see Mertens (2019); does have a distinguished heuristic value. – On the connection between the trade on the Silk Roads and Buddhism, see Liu (1988, 2019), Lam (2013), Neelis (2011); See also Yang (2013: 85) on the relations between the Kushans and the Chinese.

  14. 14.

    Rezakhani (2017a: 63); On these Kushan expeditions, see Vorderstrasse (2020: 181–191).

  15. 15.

    Rezakhani (2017a: 65), Lam (2013: 437–440), Morris (2020a: 85–86).

  16. 16.

    Mukherjee (1988: 369–371), Lam (2013: 442–443); See also Morris (2020b: 680, 688); − Nevertheless, at least the increase of areas dedicated to food production already started in the time of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom: Coloru (2009, 272); − See Mukherjee (1988, 365–368) for epigraphic evidence for relatively wealthy traders in the Kushan Empire; See also ibd. 372–377 for the development of a wealthy upper social stratum in the Kushan Empire which challenged the traditional Indian caste-system and fostered social mobility.

  17. 17.

    This view was already put forward by Mukherjee (1988: 361); At least, there is evidence that Central Asia and especially the region of Sogdiana was a central point for Eurasian exchange: Brosseder (2015: 272–276); On the Bactrian connections to the North, see Minardi (2018: 134–139).

  18. 18.

    Mukherjee (1988: 368–369).

  19. 19.

    Herrmann (1968: 22–27), Morris (2020a: 63).

  20. 20.

    Morris (2020a: 63).

  21. 21.

    Herrmann (1968: 29–57, 2019: 187), Moorey (1999: 85–87), Cunliffe (2016: 125–126).

  22. 22.

    Briant (2002: 386, 739–740).

  23. 23.

    Clarysse and Thompson (2007: 278–279).

  24. 24.

    Coloru (2009: 273).

  25. 25.

    Liu (1988: 92–94).

  26. 26.

    Hansen (2017: 318).

  27. 27.

    Cf. de la Vaissière (2005: 18).

  28. 28.

    For Kanishka and the Rabatak inscription, see Sims-Williams and Cribb (1996), Cribb (1999), Göbl (1999). For the „self-made deification“of the Kushan (and Kushan religious policy), cf. most recently Falk (2015–2019): „But in the end we can only say that the Kushans presented themselves as gods on earth, but how far they felt ‘godly’ themselves we will never know” (p. 45).

  29. 29.

    For the spread of Buddhism, cf. Heirman and Bumbacher (2007), Neelis (2011: 132–144).

  30. 30.

    For the tamghas, see Jongeward and Cribb (2015: 303–306).

  31. 31.

    Sinisi (2017), Falk (2015–2019).

  32. 32.

    Hoo and Wiesehöfer (2022).

  33. 33.

    On the empire’s administration, see now Bracey (2020: 115–140).

  34. 34.

    Loeschner (2012a, b).

  35. 35.

    Rezakhani (2022); for the „Aryan language“; see Sims-Williams (1996), Sims-Williams (1998); for the Achaemenid ‚model‘, cf. Wiesehöfer (2021) (with the older literature).

  36. 36.

    Huvishka: Jongeward and Cribb (2015: 89–133, particularly pp. 89–92), Vasudeva I.: Jongeward and Cribb (2015: 135–147, especially pp. 135–137).

  37. 37.

    For the late Kushan rulers, cf. Jongeward and Cribb (2015: 149–178, particularly pp. 149–151).

  38. 38.

    Wiesehöfer (2007).

  39. 39.

    Ruffing (2020).

  40. 40.

    Haslinger and van Laak (2018: 21–23).

  41. 41.

    Vorderstrasse (2020: 170–175).

  42. 42.

    Rezakhani (2022, 318).

  43. 43.

    Scott (2009).

  44. 44.

    Bracey (2020: 142–143).

  45. 45.

    Bracey (2020: 148).

  46. 46.

    Morris (2020a: 55–57).

  47. 47.

    Coloru (2009: 231–235), Benjamin (2018: 181–183), Rezakhani (2017a: 49–54).

  48. 48.

    Canepa (2020: 47–51).

  49. 49.

    Rezakhani (2017a: 48–49), Daryaee (2020: 219) implies economic reasons for the Sasanian attack on the Kushan Empire.

  50. 50.

    Jongeward and Cribb (2015).

  51. 51.

    Schindel (2015).

  52. 52.

    Göbl (1984).

  53. 53.

    Gyselen (2019: 140).

  54. 54.

    See Shayegan (2020/2021).

  55. 55.

    But see Rezakhani (2017a: 48).

  56. 56.

    Wiesehöfer (2017), Huyse (1999), Potts (2018: 287–288), Gyselen (2019: 140).

  57. 57.

    Most probably, the latter three territories were not part of Kushanshahr (Huyse 1999: 2, 36 f.; Gyselen 2019: 140; different view: Grenet and Sims-Williams 1987: 113 n. 50).

  58. 58.

    Wiesehöfer (2017).

  59. 59.

    For a summary of the history of this dynasty, see (with partly very different dates and assessments): Jongeward and Cribb (2015: 197–226), Schindel (2015), Rezakhani (2017a: 72–86).

  60. 60.

    Sinisi (2015).

  61. 61.

    For the term and its history, cf. Alram (2016).

  62. 62.

    Jongeward and Cribb (2015: 149).

  63. 63.

    Lüders (1961: 125 f).

  64. 64.

    Vasishka I: Jongeward and Cribb (2015: 164–168).

  65. 65.

    The Brahmi monograms later also characterize the coins of the Kidarites in Gandhara and the Gupta in India, while Bactrian dominates the coin legends of the Kushano-Sasanians and later the Kidarites in Eastern Iran and that of the Alkhan (Jongeward and Cribb 2015: 6–8).

  66. 66.

    Jongeward and Cribb (2015: 174–178).

  67. 67.

    Jongeward and Cribb (2015: 227).

  68. 68.

    Alram (2016).

  69. 69.

    Most recently: Shayegan (2020/2021).

  70. 70.

    Schindel (2015: 147–149).

  71. 71.

    Rezakhani (2022).

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    Josef Wiesehöfer

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Wiesehöfer, J., Ruffing, K. (2022). The End of the Kushan Empire. In: Gehler, M., Rollinger, R., Strobl, P. (eds) The End of Empires. Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien. Studies in Universal and Cultural History. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-36876-0_11

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