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Kanishka II
Kanishka II (Brahmi: ''Kā-ṇi-ṣka'') was one of the emperors of the Kushan Empire from around 225–245 CE. He succeeded Vasudeva I who is considered to be the last great Kushan emperor. Rule While he upheld Kushan rule in northern India, it is likely that Kanishka II lost the western part of his empire, namely Bactria/Tokharistan to the Sasanian Shapur I (240-272 CE), whose conquests would be consolidated by the Kushano-Sassanians. In his inscriptions at Naqsh-e Rostam Shapur now claimed that he controlled the realm of the Kushans (Kūšān šahr) "up to Purushapura" (Peshawar), suggesting that he may have expanding even beyond the Hindu-Kush at the expense of the Kushans. The rock inscription at Rag-i-Bibi further support this view. Several overstrikes by the Kushano-Sasanian Peroz I Kushanshah over coins of Kanishka II are known, and it is from the time of Peroz that the first Kushano-Sasanian coins were issued south of the Hindu-Kush. Kanishka II may have retaken ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kushan
The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of modern-day territory of, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and northern India, at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi (Benares), where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan Emperor Kanishka the Great. The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, an Indo-European nomadic people of possible Tocharian origin, who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient Bactria. The founder of the dynasty, Kujula Kadphises, followed Greek religious ideas and iconography after the Greco-Bactrian tradition, and being a follower of Shaivism. The Kushans in general ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where it is the largest city. Peshawar is primarily populated by Pashtuns, who comprise the second-largest ethnic group in the country. Situated in the Valley of Peshawar, a broad area situated east of the historic Khyber Pass, Peshawar's recorded history dates back to at least 539 BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in South Asia. Peshawer is among the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the country. The area encompassing modern-day Peshawar is mentioned in Vedic scriptures; it served as the capital of the Kushan Empire during the rule of Kanishka and was home to the Kanishka Stupa, which was among the tallest buildings in the ancient world. Peshawar was then ruled by the Hepht ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yavana Era
The Yavana Era, or Yona (Prakrit: ''Yoṇaṇa vaṣaye'') was a computational era used in the Indian subcontinent from the 2nd century BCE for several centuries thereafter, probably starting in 174 BCE.Des Indo-Grecs aux Sassanides: données pour l'histoire et la géographie historique, Rika Gyselen, Peeters Publishers, 2007, p.103-10/ref> It was initially thought that the era started around 180-170 BCE, and corresponded to accession to the Greco-Bactrian throne of Eucratides, who solidified Hellenic presence in the Northern regions of India. The Greeks in India flourished under the reign of the illustrious, Menander - greatest of the Yavana rulers, who campaigned as far as Pataliputra, and South Asia. It is now equated with the formerly theorized "Old Śaka era". Harry Falk and others have suggested that the Yavana era actually started in 174 BCE, based on a reevaluation of the Azes era which is now thought to have started in 47/46 BCE. The exact historical event corresponding t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gandhara
Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Valley and Swat river valley, though the cultural influence of "Greater Gandhara" extended across the Indus river to the Taxila region in Potohar Plateau and westwards into the Kabul Valley in Afghanistan, and northwards up to the Karakoram range. Gandhara has a deep rooted history of Hinduism mentioned in Indian scripts and epics including Rig Veda, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Famed for its unique Gandharan style of art which is influenced by the classical Hellenistic styles, Gandhara attained its height from the 1st century to the 5th century CE under the Kushan Empire, who had their capital at Peshawar (''Puruṣapura''). Gandhara "flourished at the crossroads of India, Central Asia, and the Middle East," connecting trade routes and abs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hariti
Hārītī (Sanskrit), also known as , ja, text=鬼子母神, translit=Kishimojin, is both a revered goddess and demon, depending on the Buddhist tradition. She is one of the Twenty-Four Protective Deities of Mahayana Buddhism. In her positive aspects, she is regarded for the protection of children, easy delivery and happy child rearing, while her negative aspects include the belief of her terror towards irresponsible parents and unruly children. In both Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, she is venerated as a protector deity, but in many folk traditions is often recognized as a female demon of misery and unhappiness towards children and parents. Iconography The iconography of Hārītī shows similarities to the Greek goddess Tyche and may have been transmitted to east Asia through the influence of Greco-Buddhism. In Greek art, Tyche was depicted in the presence of children, carrying a cornucopia (horn of plenty), an emblematic gubernaculum (ship's rudder), and the whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ardoksho
Ardoksho (Bactrian script Αρδοχϸο), also Romanised as Ardochsho, Ardokhsho and Ardoxsho, the Iranic goddess of wealth was a female deity of the Kushan Empire, in Central and South Asia during the early part of the 1st millennium CE. She is considered as an east Iranian goddess and alternate name of Lakshmi. She is known in the Avesta as Ashi. She has often been regarded as analogous to the deity Hariti, found in some varieties of Buddhism. Analogies have also been drawn with the Persian goddess Anahita, the Greek Tyche, the Roman Fortuna and the Hindu Shri. During the middle of the Kushan era, Ardoksho was usually the only deity other than a male counterpart, Oesho, depicted on Kushan coins. File:Kushan king Huvishka coin.jpg, Coin of Huvishka (150–180 CE), with standing Ardoksho and her name in Greek script. File:Vasishka. Circa 222-240 CE with goddess Ardoksho enthroned.jpg, Coin of Vasishka (222-240 CE) with goddess Ardoksho enthroned, and her name in Greek script ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oesho
Oesho ( xbc, Οηϸο) is a deity found on coins of 2nd to 6th-century, particularly the 2nd-century Kushan era. He was apparently one of the titular deities of the Kushan dynasty. Oesho is an early Kushan deity that is regarded as an amalgamation of Shiva. By the time of the Kushan emperor Ooishki (Bactrian Οοηϸκι; often Romanised as Huvishka), who reigned in 140–180 CE, Oesho and the female deity Ardoksho (''Ardoxsho''; ''Ardochsho''; ''Ardokhsho'') were the only deities appearing on Kushan coins. Connections Connections to several contemporaneous deities worshipped by neighbouring cultures have been suggested. * During the Kushan era, Oesho was often linked to the Hindu concept of Ishvara, which was embodied by the god Shiva; Oesho may share the same etymology as Ishvara and/or represent a variant of the word in the Bactrian language spoken by the Kushans. * Similarities have retrospectively been identified with the Avestan Vayu. * Some later representations, evident ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kapiśa
The Kingdom of Kapisa (known in contemporary Chinese sources as and ) was a state located in what is now Afghanistan during the late 1st millennium CE. Its capital was the city of Kapisa. The kingdom stretched from the Hindu Kush in the north to Bamiyan and Kandahar in the south and west, out as far as the modern Jalalabad District in the east. The name Kapisa appears to be a Sanskritized form of an older name for the area, from prehistory. Following its conquest in 329 BCE by Alexander the Great, the area was known in the Hellenic world as Alexandria on the Caucasus, although the older name appears to have survived. In around 600 CE, the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang made a pilgrimage to Kapisa, and described there the cultivation of rice and wheat, and a king of the Suli tribe. In his chronicle, he relates that in Kapisa were over 6,000 monks of the Mahayana school of Buddhism. In a 7th-century Chinese chronicle, the Book of Sui, Kapisa appears to be known as the kingdom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peroz I Kushanshah
Peroz I Kushanshah (Bactrian script: ''Πιρωςο Κοϸανο ϸαηο'') was Kushanshah of the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom from 245 to 275. He was the successor of Ardashir I Kushanshah. He was an energetic ruler, who minted coins in Balkh, Herat, and Gandhara. Under him, the Kushano-Sasanians further expanded their domains into the west, pushing the weakened Kushan Empire to Mathura in North India. Peroz I Kushanshah was succeeded by Hormizd I Kushanshah in 275. Name "Peroz" is a Middle Persian name, meaning "victorious". Peroz I Kushanshah was notably the first ruler from the Sasanian family to use this name. Centuries later, the name would be used again by the imperial line of the Sasanians, commencing with Peroz I (). Reign "Kushano-Sasanian" is a historiographic term used by modern scholars when referring to a dynasty of monarchs who supplanted the Kushan Empire in the Bactria region, and ultimately in both Kabulistan and Gandhara as well. According to the histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kushano-Sasanian
Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom (also called Kushanshahs, KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ ''or Koshano Shao'' in Bactrian, or Indo-Sasanians) is a historiographic term used by modern scholars to refer to a branch of the Sasanian Persians who established their rule in Bactria during the 3rd and 4th centuries CE at the expense of the declining Kushans. They captured the provinces of Sogdiana, Bactria and Gandhara from the Kushans in 225 CE. The Sasanians established governors for the Sasanian Empire, who minted their own coinage and took the title of Kushanshas, i.e. "Kings of the Kushans". They are sometimes considered as forming a "sub-kingdom" inside the Sasanian Empire.The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, Michael Maas, Cambridge University Press, 201p.284 ff/ref> This administration continued until 360-370 CE, when the Kushano-Sasanians lost much of its domains to the invading Kidarite Huns, whilst the rest was incorporated into the imperial Sasanian Empire. Later, the Kidarites were in turn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rag-i-Bibi
Rag-i-Bibi (''Veins of the Lady'') refers to a Sassanian rock relief on a cliff in modern Afghanistan. It first became known to western scholarship in 2002. It is located about a kilometre south of Shamarq and 10 km south of Puli Khumri. Rag-i-Bibi is the local name of the relief, which refers to Fatimah the daughter of Muhammad, who is venerated by the Shiites. The relief is 4.9 m high and 6.5 m wide. It has been largely destroyed, partially by weathering and partially by Taliban iconoclasm. At the end of Taliban rule, local villagers reported the relief to local authorities, since they feared it would be damaged. Thus, individual Taliban were conscious of the relief and damaged it on the grounds that local residents "worshipped" it. The relief shows a Sassanian king hunting an Indian rhinoceros. The king reins in a galloping horse. His figure would be about 2.4 m high if it were standing upright. Three figures stand around the king. Behind the ruler's horse, another two can be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu-Kush
The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan". into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the western section of the ''Hindu Kush Himalayan Region'' (''HKH''); to the north, near its northeastern end, the Hindu Kush buttresses the Pamir Mountains near the point where the borders of China, Pakistan and Afghanistan meet, after which it runs southwest through Pakistan and into Afghanistan near their border. The eastern end of the Hindu Kush in the north merges with the Karakoram Range.Karakoram Range: MOUNTAINS, ASIA Encyclopædia Britannica Towards its sout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
