Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c18.s3.62

c18.s3.62

3. Dr. R. C. Majumdar thought that the era founded by Kanishka was the Traikuṭaka-Kalachuri-Chedi era of 248 A.D.² Prof. Jouveau-Dubreuil points out that this is not possible.³ "In fact, the reign of Vāsudeva, the last of the Kushāns, came to an end 100 years after the beginning of the reign of Kanishka. Numerous inscriptions prove that Vāsudeva reigned at Mathurā. It is certain that this country, over which extended the empire of Vāsudeva, was occupied about 350 A.D. by the Yaudheyas and the Nāgas and it is probable that they reigned in this place nearly one century before they were subjugated by Samudragupta. The capitals of the Nāgas were Mathurā, Kāntipura and Padmāvatī." The Kushān (?) realm in the Indian borderland was, in A.D. 360, ruled by Grumbates.⁴ The theory of Dr. Majumdar cannot, moreover, be reconciled with the Tibetan tradition which makes Kanishka a contemporary of king Vijayakīrti of Khotan,⁵ and the Indian tradition which makes Huvishka a contemporary of Nāgārjuna, and hence of a king of the Imperial Sātavāhana line, who can hardly be placed later than the second century A.D., as he is described as 'lord of the three seas' and sovereign of (South) Kośala (in the Upper Deccan).¹ Lastly, the catalogues of the Chinese Tripiṭaka state that An-Shih-Kāo (148-170 A.D.) translated the *Mārgabhūmi Sūtra* of Saṅgharaksha who was the chaplain of Kanishka.² This shows conclusively that Kanishka flourished before 170 A.D.³ The arguments against the theory of Dr. Majumdar are equally applicable to the surmise of Sir R. G. Bhandarkar who placed Kanishka's accesssion in A.D. 278.