The Vakataka–Gupta Age (circa 200–550 A.D.) c8.s2.5

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