Midway through the Parthian era, around the 1st century CE, a group called the Kushans who asserted their autonomy from Iran-Shahrs Parthian overlords and brought under their control several of Iran-Shahrs eastern kingdoms. Origins of Khushans was Chinese tribal. The Kushan King Kanishka’s empire was vast. It extended from southern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, north of the Amu Darya (Oxus) in the north west to Northern India, as far as Mathura in the south east. His territory also included Kashmir, where there was a town Kanishkapur, named after him not far from the Baramula Pass. However King Kanishka was highly influenced by Zoroastrianism and Vedicism before he accepted Mahayana Buddhism. The coins minted by him have been found in Khotan with Greek inscriptions describing various Avestan and Vedic deities. They also acknowledge Zoroastrianism and Vedicism as two influential religious ideologies in his empire that co existed in peace. Here are some of the coins with Avesthan deities ~
Posted on: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 04:06:32 +0000