The Vakataka–Gupta Age (circa 200–550 A.D.) c8.s5: 5. The Kidāra Kushāṇas
The Vākāṭaka–Gupta Age (circa 200–550 A.D.) c8.s5
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5. The Kidāra Kushāṇas
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The rule of the Shākas and the Shiladas came to an end in c. 340 A.D. with the rise of a tribe, which is sometimes described as the Little Kushāṇa and sometimes as Kidāra Kushāṇa. Its chief Kidāra,¹ whose capital was at Peshawar, was originally a feudatory of the Sassanians, who were then supreme in Afghanistan and the Indus valley. On his early coins, the bust of Kidāra is seen facing right, a convention which had to be followed by all the feudatories of the Sassanian empire. In course of time, however, Kidāra conquered Kashmir and the Central Punjab.² He now felt himself strong enough to assume independence and began to issue coins with the bust facing to the front, which was the privilege of the Sassanian emperor only (Pl. I. 5). This step, probably taken in c. 355 A.D., evoked imperial anger and reprisal. We find Shapur II encamped at Kabul in 356-57 A.D. and pursuing operations against his rebellious feudatory.³ He was successful in this venture; Kidāra was compelled to acknowledge his suzerainty. We find him sending assistance to his liege lord in 359 A.D. when he was engaged in his Mesopotamian campaign.
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¹ Cunningham had placed Kidāra in c. 425 A.D. (Later Indo-Scythians, p. 185) but Major Martin has now adduced fairly conclusive numismatic evidence to show that this chief must have flourished about a century earlier. See Num. Supp. XLVII, 30 ff.
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² The Purāṇas mention a Mlechchha king ruling over these territories contemporaneously with the Guptas; DKA. p. 55. Most probably he is the Kidāra king.
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³ Num. Supp. XLVII, 31.
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The closer association with the imperial army probably enabled Kidāra to realise its weak points and he began to mature plans for reasserting his independence. He secured the good-will of Samudra-gupta, who had by this time extended his sphere of influence to the Punjab, by sending him presents along with professions of allegiance, and delivered his blows against Shapur II in 367-8 A.D. Kidāra was successful in his undertaking; he annihilated one Sassanian army and drove away another, though it was being led by Shapur himself. These victories enabled Kidāra to consolidate his power in Gandhāra, Kashmir and the Western and Central Punjab. He appointed a number of Satraps to rule these provinces. Varo Shāhi, Piroch and Buddhabala, whose names are preserved on his coins,¹ were three among them; there may have been others as well.
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¹ Ibid. 41-2.
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Kidāra was succeeded by his son Piro in *c.* 375 A.D. He must have naturally attempted to extend his power further eastward in the Punjab when the strong arm of Samudra-gupta was removed by death at about this time. To check this growing menace, Rama-gupta, the successor of Samudra-gupta, seems to have undertaken an expedition against him in the Punjab, but was signally defeated and compelled to conclude an ignoble peace, requiring the surrender of the Gupta crowned queen. A glance at the features of Piro² shows that he was a cruel and lascivious ruler, who could well have imposed the above condition on his vanquished adversary.
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² Num. Supp. XLVII, Plates I and II, Nos. 15-21.
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The success of Piro was, however, short-lived. Shapur III (383-88 A.D.) took steps to avenge the defeat inflicted upon his predecessor and broke Piro's power. He was compelled to acknowledge the Sassanian suzerainty and issue coins as a feudatory, with the bust facing to right instead of facing to front. Chandra-gupta II also seems to have hammered Piro from the east³; we do not know, however, whether his attack was before or after the defeat inflicted by Shapur III. The Gupta armies seem to have pursued him right up to the Indus.
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³ This is on the assumption that king Chandra of the Meharauli Pillar inscription is Chandra-gupta II. This assumption is the most probable one, but it has not yet been accepted by a few scholars.
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The Guptas do not seem to have followed their victories in the Punjab to their logical conclusion by annexing the province and stationing their garrison in the Khyber pass. In fact we have very little evidence of the Gupta influence in the Punjab apart from that of the Shorkot inscription, which seems to have been dated in the year 83 of the Gupta era. Nor was the province under the Sassanian sphere of influence, for no coins of Sassanian emperors or their feudatories who ruled later than Shapur III have been found in the *stūpas* of the Punjab or Afghanistan.
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Numismatic evidence shows that a number of petty rulers like Kṛtavīrya, Śilāditya, Sarvayaśas, Bhāsvan, Kuśala and Prakāśa were ruling in the Punjab during the first half of the 5th century A.D. They were probably Kidāra Kuṣāṇa rulers, for the name Kidāra appears on their coins on the obverse. Their names would show that they had been completely Hinduised by this time. They were probably professing allegiance to the Guptas, when it became necessary to do so. It must be admitted that neither Chandra-gupta II nor Kumāra-gupta showed keen interest in securing an effective hold over the Punjab. The expedition of Chandra-gupta II to the Indus appears to have been a mere raid, for it does not seem that he took any steps to occupy the Punjab or to garrison the north-western frontier in an effective manner. The local Kidāra chiefs, referred to above, were swept away easily and completely when the Hūṇa avalanche broke in its full fury by the middle of the 5th century.
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CHAPTER II
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NEW INDIAN STATES IN RAJPUTANA AND MADHYADEŚA (c. 200 to c. 350 A.D.)
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The history of the United Provinces during the 3rd century A.D. is still shrouded in considerable mystery. Kanishka was most probably ruling over Benares in 81 A.D. but no inscription of his successors has been found east of Mathura. It is, however, not unlikely that *Madhyadeśa* or the upper Gangetic plain continued to be under the Kushāṇa sphere of influence, if not under Kushāṇa administration, down to the death of Vāsudeva I in *c.* 180 A.D.; for seventeen coins of Huvishka and a coin-mould of Vāsudeva were found at Bhita in the Allahabad district.¹ It was during the reign of Kanishka III, the successor of Vāsudeva I, that the upper Gangetic plain slipped out of the Kushāṇa control; coins of neither this ruler nor those of any of his successors are found in this region.
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¹ *ASI.* 1911-12, pp. 63-5.
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There is, however, no unanimity of views as to the causes and circumstances that led to the disintegration of the Kushāṇa empire in its eastern portion. Which powers drove out the Kushāṇas from the United Provinces and Rajputana, what part did each of them play in this achievement, and where precisely they were ruling, are questions upon which there is a sharp difference of opinion among the scholars.