2017-07-20 Thu

Ancient India played a crucial role as world’s greatest civilisations and the religion aspect of it cannot be ignored. But no matter how much we dig into history, we are still lagging behind and know very little about the Kushans, a dynasty that controlled some parts of India nearly 2,000 years ago. Even written records aren’t enough as much of the information is sketchy, imprecise and lacking in detail. No one is quite sure about the language the Kushans spoke, whether it was an Indo-European tongue or related to Chinese.

Everyone knows that the Kushans originated from western China and swept into the Indian subcontinent in the second century BCE. Many believed that they were a branch of the Yuezhi, fierce nomadic horsemen, who can be viewed as a prototype for the later Huns and Mongols. None know the actual meaning of Kushan, but it could derive from the Chinese Guishang, an aristocratic tribe of the Yuezhi. They went to Bactria and conquered modern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, where they adopted the native forms of dress, the Greek alphabet and a mixture of Iranian and Greek religion.

By the time they reached India, the Kushan culture was a rich blend of Chinese, Iranian, Afghan, Greek and Indian customs, beliefs and modes of dress.

A lot can be learnt about the Kushans from their coinage, which is rich and filled with fascinating symbolism. Vima Kadphises was a mysterious man, much just like the culture itself. But there is one thing for sure and that is that he was full of himself. He was the first Kushan King to strike gold coins and these are some of the largest and most impressive pieces of any contemporary culture.

His gold distater, or double-dinar, weighs in at 15.95 grams, twice the weight of the only other widely circulating gold coin of the time, Roman gold aureus. The large flan size gave the die engraver scope to portray not just the head or bust of Vima Kadphises but his entire robed royal figure, seated on an elaborate cushioned throne. He wears a Greek-style diadem and an unusually elongated skull cap that could actually reflect the shape of his head: Like the Huns, the Kushans seem to have artificially elongated the skulls of their male rulers from infancy.

On the reverse, the Lord Shiva is showcased, who is popularly known as the creator, destroyer and transformer of all things. Lord Shiva stands with the sacred bull Nandi, guardian of the gates of Kailasa, Shiva's heavenly abode.

The deities are part of the Hindu pantheon; also the coin showcases the Buddhist triaratna (three jewels). That purely indicated that Vima Kadphises may have practised the Buddhist faith. His son, Kanishka too was a vocal proponent of Buddhism. In any case, the reigns of Vima Kadphises and Kanishka represented the apogee of Kushan fortunes, and their beautiful coins are one of the few ways they left an enduring stamp on history.