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Kanishka I, Kanishka or Kanishka the Great, was an emperor of the Kushan dynasty, under whose reign the empire reached its zenith. He is famous for his military, political, and spiritual achievements. A descendant of Kujula Kadphises, founder of the Kushan empire, Kanishka came to rule an empire extending from Central Asia and Gandhara to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain. The main capital of his empire was located at Puruṣapura (Peshawar) in Gandhara, with another major capital at Mathura. Coins of Kanishka were found in Tripuri.
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Gandhāran Buddhism refers to the Buddhist culture of ancient Gandhāra which was a major center of Buddhism in northwestern Pakistan from the 3rd century BCE to approximately 1200 CE. Ancient Gandhāra corresponds to modern day north Pakistan, mainly the Peshawar valley and Potohar plateau as well as Afghanistan's Jalalabad. The region has yielded the Gandhāran Buddhist texts written in Gāndhārī Prakrit the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered. Gandhāra was also home to a unique Buddhist artistic and architectural culture which blended elements from Indian, Hellenistic, Roman and Parthian art. Buddhist Gandhāra was also influential as the gateway through which Buddhism spread to Central Asia and China.
References
- ↑ "Xinru Liu". Department of History, The College of New Jersey. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ↑ Book Review of Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Religious Exchanges, A.D. 1-600 by Jagdish P. Sharma The American Historical Review, Vol. 96, No. 1 (Feb., 1991), pp. 229-230
- ↑ Book Review of Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Religious Exchanges, A.D. 1-600 in Indian Economic Social History Review 1989; 26; 121 Book Review by Shereen Ratnagar
- ↑ "Home Page of Xinru Liu". tcnj.edu. Retrieved 2015-04-05.
- ↑ Dionysus and drama in the Buddhist art of Gandhara Pia Brancaccio and Xinru Liu Journal of Global History, Volume 4, Issue 02, July 2009, pp 219-244
- ↑ Liu, X. (1997). Silk and Religion: An Exploration of Material Life and the Thought of People, AD 600-1200. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195644524 . Retrieved 2015-04-05.
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