Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c18.s3.89

c18.s3.89

Kanishka completed the Kushān conquest of Upper India and ruled over a wide realm which extended from Kāpiśa,⁴ Gandhāra and Kaśmīra to Benares. Traditions of his conflict with the rulers of Soked (Sāketa) and Pāṭaliputra in Eastern India are preserved by Tibetan and Chinese writers.⁵ Epigraphic records give us contemporary notices of him, with dates, not only from Peshāwar and possibly from Zeda (near Uṇḍ) in the Yuzufzai country, but also from Māṇikiāla near Rāwalpindi, from Sui Vihār about 16 miles south-west of Bahāwalpur (north of Sind), from Mathurā and Śrāvastī, and from Sārnāth near Benares.⁶ His coins are found in considerable quantities as far eastwards as Ghāzīpur and Gorakhpur.⁷ The eastern portion of his empire was apparently governed by the *Mahā-Kshatrapa* Kharapallāna and the *Kshatrapa* Vanashpara. In the northern portion we find the general Lala and the Satraps Vespasi and Liaka. He fixed his own residence at Peshāwar (Purushapura) and possibly established Kanishkapura¹ in Kaśmīra. It is, however, more probable that Kanishkapura was established by his namesake of the Ārā inscription. After making himself master of the south (*i.e.*, India) Kanishka turned to the west and defeated the king of the Parthians.² In his old age he led an army against the north and died in an attempt to cross the Tsung-ling mountains (Tāghdumbāsh Pāmīr) between the Pāmīr Plateau and Khotan. The Northern expedition is apparently referred to by Hiuen-Tsang who speaks of his rule in the territory to the east of the Tsung-ling mountains, and of a Chinese Prince detained as a hostage at his court.