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Kanishka

Also called: Kanishka the Great, Kanishka I

Kushan emperor at the height of the dynasty (early 2nd century) who ruled from Central Asia to the Ganges and patronised Buddhism

A Kushan king who styled himself "king of kings" and "son of god". The Rabatak inscription in Bactria records that he made Bactrian rather than Greek the official language. He is said to have raised a great stupa at his capital Purushapura and to have honoured the Buddhist poet Ashvaghosha. His headless statue from Mathura, in long coat and boots, shows the steppe origins of the Kushan kings, and his gold coins bear Greek, Iranian and Indian gods side by side.

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1 related event

  1. 1
    AD 127The Kushan Empire and Kanishkamonarch

    The Kushans, risen from the Yuezhi, ruled Central Asia and northern India. Under Kanishka they reached their height, controlling Silk Road trade and patronising Buddhism.

Themes this person appears in

  • Ancient China and India770 BC – AD 220

    From the Hundred Schools of the Warring States to the unified empires of Qin and Han, and from the Buddha to the Maurya and Kushan empires — the millennium that shaped East and South Asian civilisation