Kashmir Under the Kushanas

From Central Asia to the Valley of Kashmir, the Kushanas carved an empire of warriors, scholars, and artisans. Through towns, temples, and trade routes, the valley became a theater of culture, religion, and ambition.

- Mohsin Nazir Parray

The story begins in the windswept plains of Kansu, in the eastern reaches of China.

Here, the Kusanas, warriors with restless eyes and dreams of empire, first gathered under Kujula Kadphises.

He gazed westward, imagining lands beyond mountains, rivers, and deserts. One march led to another. Kucha, Aksu, and the steppes of Kyrgyzstan fell under his command.

By thirty CE, Kabul, Gandhara, Taxila, and Kashmir bowed before him. The empire he forged spanned from Central Asia to the heart of India.

Kujula's coins, unearthed along the Tarakpura route near Sopore, whisper of his footsteps. These paths linked Kashmir to Gilgit, Chitral, Yasin, Badakhshan, and far-off China.

Travelers, merchants, and soldiers streamed along them, carrying silk, ideas, and rituals. The valley was no longer a secluded paradise. It was a nexus of the known world.

From Kujula came Vima Tak, a son stepping into his father's shadow, and then Vima Kadphises, whose brief reign is remembered only in a single copper coin.

Their presence was subtle, but the empire's momentum pressed forward, preparing the stage for Kaniska I.

Kaniska arrived like a storm, around 100 CE. His gaze fell on Kashmir, and he saw opportunity.

Kalhana writes of Kaniska building a town, establishing mathas, and erecting chaityas. Coins minted under his rule testify to wealth and order. He called together Buddhist scholars from across the empire, hosting the Fourth Buddhist Council in the valley.

Hiuen Tsang, visiting centuries later, found the memory alive, the valley still echoing with Kaniska's vision. Kaniskapur endured, a living monument to his ambition.

Juska, likely Vasiska, followed, and then Huvishka, whose reign spanned 34 years.