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KADPHISES II
463
copied the issues of Augustus or those of his immediate successors preferably Claudius (A. D. 41-54)," and used the titles Yavuga (chief), Mahārāja, Rājātirāja (the great king, the king of kings) and “ Sachadhrama thita”, "Steadfast in the True Faith" (of the Buddha ? ).
“K'ieou-tsieon-k‘io," or Kadphises I, was succeeded by his son Yen-kao-tchen, the Vima, Wima or Wema Kadphises of the coins, who is usually designated as Kadphises II. We have already seen that he conquered Tien-tchou or the Indian interior, probably Taxila, and set up a chief who governed in the name of the Yue-chi. According to Sten Konows and Smith “it was Kadphises II who established the Saka Era of A. D. 78. If this view be accepted then he was possibly the overlord of Nalapāna, and was the Kushān monarch who was defeated by the Chinese between A.D. 73 and 102 and compelled to pay tribute to the emperor Ho-ti (A.D. 89105). But there is 'no direct evidence that Kadphises II established any era. No inscription or coin of this monarch contains any date which is referable to an era of his institution. On the contrary we have evidence that Kanishka did establish an era, that is to say, his method of dating was continued by his successors, and we have dates ranging probably from the year 1 to 99.
The conquests of the Kadphises kings opened up the path of commerce between China and the Roman Empire and India. Roman gold began to pour into this country in payment for silk, spice and gems. Kad phises II began to issue gold coins. He had a bilingual gold and copper
1 The Cambridge Shorter History. 74, 75. 2 Smith, Catalogue, 67 ; Konow, Corpus, II. i. lxiv f. ; Wbitehead, 181. 3. Ep. Ind., XIV. p. 141. 4 The Oxford History of India, p 128.
5 A gold coin of Wima or Vima, (NC 1934, 232) gives him the title Basileus Basilewn Soter Megas (Tarn, Greeks, 354 n 5). This throws welcome light on the problem of the identification of the nameless king Soter Megas.
