Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c18.s3.33

c18.s3.33

"K'iu-tsiu-k'io," or Kadphises I, was succeeded by his son **Yen-kao-tchen**, the Vima, Wima or Wema Kadphises of the coins, who is usually designated as **Kadphises II**. We have already seen that he conquered Tien-tchou or the Indian interior, probably Taxila, and set up a chief who governed in the name of the Yueh-Chi. According to Sten Konow³ and Smith⁴ it was Kadphises II who established the Śaka Era of A.D. 78. If this view be accepted then he was possibly the overlord of Nahapāna, and was the Kushān monarch who was defeated by the Chinese between A.D. 73 and 102 and compelled to pay tribute to the emperor Ho-ti (A.D. 89-105). But there is no direct evidence that Kadphises II established any era. No inscription or coin of this monarch contains any date which is referable to an *era of his institution*. On the contrary we have evidence that Kanishka did establish an era, that is to say, his method of dating was continued by his successors, and we have dates ranging probably from the year 1 to 99.⁵