Kanishka's war with Parthia

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Kanishka's war with Parthia
Map of the Parthian Empire and Kushan Empire (focused).png
The Parthian Empire ( ) with the Kushan Empire ( ) and zones of territorial contention. [1] [2] [3]
DatePossibly between c. 130 CE to c. 140 CE
Location
Possibly west of Kushan territory
Result Kushan victory [4] [5] [6]
Belligerents
Kushan Empire Parthian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Kanishka I Vologases III [7]
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

Kanishka's war with Parthia was a war that may have taken place between Kanishka I of the Kushan Empire and the Parthians. The king of Parthia is said to have attacked Kanishka I and been defeated in battle. [5] [6] [8]

Contents

Campaign

A Buddhist text translated into Chinese in 470 under the title Fu fazang yinyuan zhuan (付法藏因緣傳, A History of the Buddha's Successors) [9] carried in the Historical Tales section of the Tripiṭaka as number 2058, [10] is the solitary source attesting this conflict. [11] [12] : 339  It is possible that the Kushans fought an earlier war against Parthia in conjunction with Trajan's Parthian campaign in 115 CE. [13] : 189 

The text recounts a war between Kanishka I and the Eastern Parthian King, not named in the original, but determined by later scholars to have been Vologases III. [7] As the war commenced, the Parthian king attacked the Kushan Empire with an army consisting of mounted bowmen, armoured soldiers, archers on foot and spearmen. [14] : 386  This seemingly took place around the middle of the 2nd century. The Parthians may have been seeking to reclaim lands previously conquered by the Kushans. [13] : 189  Kanishka responded with a counteroffensive, ending in a brutal melee. The text records the patently inflated figure of 900,000 Parthian deaths, described as "slaughter". [14] : 386  It is mentioned that both sides attacked each other incessantly in the battle until Kanishka won. [15] This tale emphasises that Kanishka's actions were mitigated by the cruelty and stubbornness of the Parthian king. [16]

Aftermath

Kanishka was victorious but was shocked to see the sufferings that he had caused. He decided to repent and seek guidance from religious leaders. [15]

After Kanishka decided to launch the second expedition on China. The expedition turned out to be successful as the Chinese were defeated and Kanishka I annexed the provinces of Kashgar, Yarkhand and Khotan from the Han Empire. His Empire then stretched from central Asia to central India including Gandhara, Kashmir and the Pamir region. [4]

References

  1. ↑ Coatsworth, John; Cole, Juan; Hanagan, Michael P.; Perdue, Peter C.; Tilly, Charles; Tilly, Louise (16 March 2015). Global Connections: Volume 1, To 1500: Politics, Exchange, and Social Life in World History. Cambridge University Press. p. 138. ISBN   978-1-316-29777-3.
  2. ↑ Atlas of World History. Oxford University Press. 2002. p. 51. ISBN   978-0-19-521921-0.
  3. ↑ Fauve, Jeroen (2021). The European Handbook of Central Asian Studies. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 403. ISBN   978-3-8382-1518-1.
  4. 1 2 Daniélou, Alain (2003). A Brief History of India. Translated by Kenneth F. Hurry. Simon and Schuster. ISBN   978-1-59477-794-3.
  5. 1 2 B. N. Mukherjee (1988). The Rise And Fall Of The Kushāṇa Empire. Calcutta: Firma KLM. p. 83.
  6. 1 2 Rosenfield, John M. (1967). The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. University of California Press. LCCN   65-14981.
  7. 1 2 Ghirshman, Roman (1965) [1954]. Iran: From the earliest times to the Islamic conquest . Baltimore: Penguin Books. p. 262. ISBN   9780140202397.
  8. ↑ McLaughlin, Raoul (11 November 2016). The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy & the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia & Han China. Pen and Sword. ISBN   978-1-4738-8981-1.
  9. ↑ "History of the Buddha's Successors, A". Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism. Nichiren Buddhism Library. 2002.
  10. ↑ 付法藏因緣傳. Taishō Tripiṭaka大正新修大藏經. Tokyo. 1929. p. 316. no. 2058.
  11. ↑ Benjamin, Craig (2018). Empires of Ancient Eurasia: The First Silk Roads Era, 100 BCE – 250 CE. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 191–192. doi:10.1017/9781316335567. ISBN   9781316335567.
  12. ↑ Benjamin, Craig (2021). "The Kushan Empire". In Bang, Peter Fibiger; Bayly, C. A.; Scheidel, Walter (eds.). The Oxford World History of Empire: Volume Two: The History of Empires. Oxford University Press. pp. 325–346. doi:10.1093/oso/9780197532768.003.0011. ISBN   978-0-19-753278-2.
  13. 1 2 John Thorley (1979), "The Roman Empire and the Kushans", Greece & Rome, 26 (2): 181–190, doi:10.1017/S0017383500026930, JSTOR   642511, S2CID   163043267 .
  14. 1 2 Zürcher, Erik (1968). "The Yüeh-chih and Kaniṣka in Chinese Sources". In Basham, Arthur Llewellyn (ed.). Papers on the Date of Kaniṣka: Submitted to the Conference on the Date of Kaniṣka, London, 20–22 April 1960. Brill. pp. 346–390. ISBN   978-90-04-00151-0.
  15. 1 2 McLaughlin, Raoul (2016). The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy & the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia & Han China. Pen and Sword. ISBN   978-1-4738-8981-1.
  16. ↑ Wilson, Paul David (2020). The Kushans and the Emergence of the Early Silk Roads (Masters of Archaeology thesis). University of Sydney. p. 47.
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