Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c18.s3.42

c18.s3.42

We learn from Yu-Houan, the author of the *Wei-lio*⁴ which was composed between A.D. 239-265 and covers the period of the Wei down to the reign of the emperor Ming (227-239),⁵ that the Yueh-chi power was flourishing in Kipin (Kāpiśa-Gandhāra), Ta-hia (Oxus valley), Kao-fou (Kābul) and Tien-tchou (India) as late as the second quarter of the third century A.D. But the early Chinese annalists are silent about the names of the successors of Yen-kao-tchen (Kadphises II). Chinese sources, however, refer to a king of the Ta-Yueh-chi named Po-tiao or Puā-d'ieu (possibly Vāsudeva) who sent an embassy to the Chinese emperor in the year 230.⁶ Inscriptions discovered in India have preserved the names with dates of the following great Kushān sovereigns besides the Kadphises group, viz., **Kanishka I** (1-23),⁷ Vāsishka (24-28),⁸ Huvishka (28-60),¹ Kanishka II, son of Vā-jheshka (41), and Vāsudeva (67-98).² Huvishka, Vā-jheshka and Kanishka II are probably referred to by Kalhaṇa as Hushka, Jushka and Kanishka who apparently ruled conjointly. It will be seen that Kanishka II ruled in the year 41, a date which falls within the reign of Huvishka (28-60). Thus the account of Kalhaṇa is confirmed by epigraphic evidence.