[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924) › c28.55 # The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c28.55 The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c28.55 - **Language:** English ### [c28.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c28.55) ¹ No definite proof of the length of this reign can be given, but the extent of the conquests made by Kadphises II and the large volume of his coinage are certain indications that his reign was protracted. Cunningham assigned it a duration of forty years. My presentation of the history of Kanishka is largely based on the original and valuable essay by Mr. R. D. Banerji of the Indian Museum, entitled 'The Scythian Period of Indian History' (\*Ind. Ant.\*, 1908, pp. 25–75). Prof. Lüders's view that the Kanishka of the Ara record may have been the grandson of the Kanishka of the years 3 and 11 (\*Sitzungsber. d. kön. preuss. Akad. d. Wissensch.\*, 1912, p. 827) is accepted by Sten Konow (\*op. cit.\*, p. 266 n., \*ante\*), who takes Vajheshka to be an alternative form of Vasishka (p. 819). He further explains his views in \*Ep. Ind.\*, xiv, pp. 130 ff. This view apparently is also accepted by K. P. Jayaswal in a paper on the 'Statue of Wema Kadphises and Kushān Chronology' (\*J. B. O. Res. Soc.\*, vi, pp. 12–22). The point requires further elucidation. I think that Prof. Lüders is right, and Sten Konow agrees (p. 805 n.), in reading \*Kaïsarasa\* 'Caesar', as a title of Kanishka in the Ara inscription, but the reading is not sufficiently clear to justify stress being laid upon it. The name of Kanishka is sometimes spelled Kāṇishka and the form Kanishtha (Kaniṣṭa), transliterated by the Chinese as Kanit'a, also occurs. In all probability the Śaka era was founded by Kadphises II; and possibly a new era, running from the accession or from the enthronement of Kanishka, came into use in Northern India, including Kābul, and continued in use in the reigns of his successors. Private inscriptions certainly so dated extend from the year 3 to the year 99. The evidence from Taxila makes it quite clear that the Kadphises kings preceded Kanishka. - [Previous: c28.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c28.54) - [Next: c28.56](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c28.56) - [Up: c28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c28) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c28.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c28.55) · Pramāṇa