History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c15.s3.45

c15.s3.45

79. The K u s h a n s about 280 A.D. were placed between two fires. Varahrān II, who reigned on the Sassanian throne from 275 to 292 A.D., subjugated Seistan. It may be assumed that P r a v a r a s e n a I, who undertook four aśvamedhas and must have launched at least four campaigns, carried on the Bhāraśiva policy of weakening and destroying the Kushan power. Between 301 and 309 A.D. the Kushans seek the protection of H o r m a z d II, who marries the daughter of the king of Kabul, that is, the Kushan king. This is just the time of the vigour of Pravarasena I, and at this juncture the Kushan king gives up India, which no more remains his ‘imperial’ seat. He withdraws himself into Afghanistan, outside India proper, for his safety, and throws himself completely into the arms of the Sassanian king. Whatever territory still lingered in the Western Punjab was due to that protection. And the protection required could be only against Pravarasena I, the Hindu Samrāṭ.