Book Title: Political History Of Ancient India
Author(s): Hemchandra Raychaudhari
Publisher: University of Calcutta

Previous | Next

Page 507
________________ 478 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA The last notable king of Kanishka's line was Vāsudeva I. His dates range from the year 671 to 98. i. e.. A. D. 145 to 176 according to the system of chronology adopted in these pages. He does not appear to have been a Buddhist. His coins exhibit the figure of Siva attended by Nandi. There can be no doubt that he reverted to Śaivism, the religion professed by his great predecessor Kadphises II. A king named Vāsudeva is mentioned in the Kavya Mimāṁsā as a patron of poets and a Sabhāpati, apparently ‘President of a Society' (of learned men). That the Kushān Age was a period of great literary activity is proved by the works of Ašvaghosha, Nāgārjuna and others. It was also a period of religious ferment and missionary activity. It witnessed the development of Saivism and the allied cult of Kārtikeya, of the Mahāyāna form of Buddhism and the cults of Mihira and of Vasudeva-Krishņa, and it saw the introduction of Buddhism into China by Kāśyapa Mātanga (c. 61-68 A.D.). “The dynasty of Kanishka opened the way for Indian civilization to Central and Eastern Asia." The inscriptions of Vāsudeva have been found only in the Mathurā region. From this it is not unreasonable to surmise that he gradually lost his hold over the northwestern portion of the Kushān dominions. About the middle of the third century A.D., we hear of the existence of no less than four kingdoms all dependent on the Yue-chi,' and ruled probably by princes of the Yue-chi stock 2 1 Mr. M. Nagor makes mention of an inscription incised on the base of a stone image of the Buddha acquired from Pālikherā (Mathura Museum, no 2907) which records the installation of the image in the year 67 during the reign of Vasudeva. 2 Cf. Kennedy, JRAS, 1913, 1060 f. Among the successors of Vasudeva I may be mentioned Kanishka (III); Vasu (Whitehead, Indo-Greek Coins, pp. 211-12; cf. RDB, JASB, Vol. IV (1908), 81 ff; Altekar, N.H.I.P. VI. 14 n) or Vasudeva II.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714