UNIT 7 KUSHAN DYNASTY

UNIT VII (10 MARKS) CENTRAL ASIAN CONTACTS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE  TO KUSHANS.
Gandhara  and Mathura School of Art.   Science & Technology.   Trade & Commerce.

 KUSHANS: Kushan Dynasty (1st century BC-230AD), rulers of an ancient empire stretching from Central Asia to northern India. The dynasty emerged from the Yue-chi, a semi nomadic people of northwestern China. The Yue-chi overran the area from modern Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan by about 125 BC, but they were not united under a single ruler. Between 27 and 2 BC, one of the Yue-chi kings, Kadphises, brought them together into a single confederation and established a ruling dynasty. In the 1st century AD, the Kushanas (named for the Hindu Kush mountains) took over Kashmir and most of northwestern India. They reached their greatest strength under Kanishka, who ruled in the late 1st century. Kanishka commanded the Central Asian territories as well as northern India. There, the Kushanas extended as far south as Gujarat in the west, the Narmada River in central India, and Bihar in the east. Kanishka’s armies also campaigned in Bengal to the east and Parthia to the west.
The Kushanas pacified the Central Asia trade routes, enabling many commercial and cultural contacts. Cities flourished, and the Silk Road linking Rome to China thrived. Buddhism migrated from India to China along the trade routes and the Kushana kings exchanged ambassadors with the emperors of Rome. An influential school of art blossomed at Mathura, a Kushana capital, while the art of Gandhara blended Indian and Greco-Roman styles. Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism, and some of his monuments remain. After his death the Indian part of the empire lasted for about 70 years before disintegrating into several principalities, some of which survived for another century or more. The surviving Central Asian empire lasted until about 230, when the Sassanids overwhelmed it.
GHANDHARA SCHOOL OF ART:
Indian craftsmen came into contact with the central Asians, the Greeks & the Romans, especially in the north-western regions of India known as Gandhara. This gave rise to the new kind of art known as Gandhara Art in which images of the Buddha were made in the Graeco-Roman style. The hair of the Buddha was fashioned in the Graeco-Roman style. During the Kushan rule, the Gandhara art reached its Zenith. The Gandhara artists built beautiful large-size images of the Buddha, Budhisatavas and the Kushan rulers. They depicted scenes from the life of the Buddha on stone. Most of the specimens founded at Taxila are in stucco (lime), cement, terracotta (baked clay) and clay. The Gandhara art greatly influenced other schools of Indian sculpture.
The Greek influence is discernible even in the field of the temple and palace architecture. Some of the walls and pillars of sun temple at Taxila are executed in the Greek style. The Indians also learnt the art of cutting rock caves. In Maharashtra, there are several rock cut caves.                     
MATHURA SCHOOL OF ART: The influence of the Gandhara art also spread to Mathura although it was primarily a centre of indigenous art. Mathura produced beautiful images of the Buddha, but it is also famous for the headless erect statue of Kanishka whose name is inscribed on its lower part. It also produced several stone images of Vardhamana Mahavira. The Mathura school of art flourished in the early centuries of the Christian era, and its products made of red sandstone are found even outside Mathura. A significant dimension of Mathura art is that it also produced images of kings and other notables. At present the Mathura Museum possesses the largest collection of sculptures of Kushan times in India.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: Indian astronomy & astrology profited from contact with the Greeks. We notice many greek terms about the movement of planets in the Sanskrit texts. Indian astrology came to be influenced by the Greek ideas, & from the Greek term horoscope was derived the term horasastra used for astrology in Sanskrit. However, the Indians did not owe anything to striking to the Greeks in medicine, botany, and chemistry. These three subjects were dealt with by Charaka & Susruta.
In the field of techonology also the Indians seem to have profited from contact with the central Asians. Kanishka is represented as wearing trousers & long boots. Possibly the practice of making leather shoes began in India during this period. The Kushan copper coins in india were imitations of the roman coins. Similarly, gold coins in India were struck by the Kushans in imitation of the Roman gold coins. Working in glass during this period was  influenced by foreign ideas & practices. Glass making made progress during this period.
They introduced better cavalry and the use of the riding horse on a large scale. They made common the use of reins & saddles. The kushans introduced turbans, tunic, trousers, and heavy long coat.  The central Asians also brought in cap, Hemet and boots which were  used by warriors.
TRADE & COMMERCE: the movement of foreigners into established firmly the basis of regular trade contact between central Asia and India.  As a result India received a good deal of gold from the Altai mountains in central Asia. Gold also may have been received in India through trade with the Roman empire. The Kushans controlled the silk route, which started from china & passed through their empire in central Asia & Afghanistan to Iran, & western Asia which formed part of the Roman empire in the eastern Mediterranean zone. This route was a source of great income to the Kushans, & they built a large prosperous empire because of the tolls levied from the traders. The Kushans were the first rulers in india to issue golden coins on a wide scale.