The Vakataka–Gupta Age (circa 200–550 A.D.) c8.s2: 2. Vāsudeva II

The Vākāṭaka–Gupta Age (circa 200–550 A.D.) c8.s2

Language: English

2. Vāsudeva II

c8.s2.2

Kanishka III was succeeded by Vāsudeva II, who was probably his son, governing the important and turbulent province of Seistan. His existence also is known only from numismatic evidence.¹

¹ Coins of Vāsudeva II have to be differentiated from those of Vāsudeva I, because they show greater degeneration in Greek script and permit the initials of the names of governors. The monogram is also different.

c8.s2.4

During the reign of Vāsudeva II, the Kushān empire seems to have been partitioned among the provincial governors, who were already aspiring for independence during the preceding reign. Coins of Vāsudeva II are rather rare and show only the Śiva and Bull type (Pl. I, 2), which was prevailing in Bactria and Afghanistan. It is thus probable that Vāsudeva II could control only these provinces and his governors in the Punjab and Seistan had become independent. Letters *Radha*, *Phri* and *Ha* which appear on some of his coins may be portions of the names of some of his governors, who were still loyal to him.

c8.s2.5

The position of the Kushāns towards the end of the reign of Vāsudeva II became very critical. The Gangetic plain had been already lost² and provincial governors had become independent in the Punjab. A tribe named Jouan-Jouan was threatening them from the north-east from beyond the Oxus.³ The Sassanians, who had now founded a powerful kingdom in Persia, were casting their covetous eyes on the fair valley of the Oxus, which used to form part of the Persian empire under the Achaemenians. Under such circumstances, therefore, it was but natural for Vāsudeva II to try to enlist help from outside quarters. We would not be, therefore, wrong in identifying him with P'o-tiao, the king of the great Kushāṇas, who is known to have sent an embassy to Chinese court to ask for help in *c.* 230 A.D. No outside help could, however, save the Kushāṇas. Their days were now numbered. They had to fight hard against the Jouan-Jouans, and were weakened by the struggle. They had lost their rich Indian provinces, which replenished their treasury. Ardeshir I took advantage of the situation and succeeded in establishing his own supremacy over Bactria in *c.* 238 A.D. He started the practice of sending the crown-prince as governor over the new province, as was often done by the Achaemenians also six hundred years earlier. The crown-prince so deputed had the privilege of issuing his own coins with the title *Kushān Shāh*, the king of the Kushāṇas. From 252 A.D. onwards this title was changed into *Kushān-Shahān-Shāh*, the King of the kings of the Kushāṇas.¹

c8.s2.6

² Chap. II will show how the Yaudheyas and the Nāgas reasserted their independence in this region.

c8.s2.7

³ Num. Supp. XLVII, 25.

c8.s2.8

¹ Herzfeld, *Kushāṇo-Sassanian Coins*, p. 39.

c8.s2.9

That the Kushāṇa prince overthrown by the Sassanians was Vāsudeva II is made fairly certain by the evidence of the Kushāṇo-Sassanian coinage, which was issued by the royal governors of Bactria. The coins of this series have on the reverse Śiva and the Bull, which was the only type issued by Vāsudeva II, and which is known to have been current in Bactria. Following the usual practice of conquerors in ancient Bactria and India, the Sassanians imitated the coinage of the king whom they supplanted. He must, therefore, have been Vāsudeva II and none else.