VOGELSANG, Willem (2002) The Afghans, Oxford, Blackwell
The Rise of the Kushans In the first century of the modern era, a new powerful dynasty rose in North Afghanistan and Gandhara. These were the Kushans. Their origins lie among the waves of migrants, most of them of Scythian origin, that in preceding years had penetrated onto the Plateau. Most of the newcomers had settled in the plains and along the foothills of Bactria, north and south of the Amu Darya, and here also lay the original centre of Kushan power. It subsequently spread from Bactria, across the Hindu Kush, towards the Kabul valley and Gandhara. Eventually, the Kushans also dominated the greater part of northern India as well as large parts of South Central Asia. Yet their name is hardly ever mentioned in Classical sources. Instead they are sometimes referred to as the Bactrians, thus recalling the works of Herodotus and Ctesias who also at times used the name of the Bactrians to indicate the much earlier waves of Scythians.
One of the most renowned Kushan kings was Kanishka, who reigned in the second century AD and has become known in Buddhist sources as a great propagator of the Buddhist faith. Whether this renown is based on reality or not remains an open question; what is clear is that during the Kushan period, roughly from the late first to the early third centuries AD, Buddhism spread from Northwest India, via Afghanistan, deep into Central Asia. With the Kushans, Afghanistan truly became the crossroads of Asia.
Kushan domination followed in the footsteps of the Scythian and Scythian related immigrants that in the preceding years had spread from the steppes of Central Asia onto the eastern parts of the Iranian Plateau and down into the plains of northern India. In this way the establishment of Kushan authority may be compared to the history of the Scythians of the early first millennium and the succeeding empires of the Medes and Persians. The main difference is the fact that the first wave of Scythians moved west, while the second wave was impeded from doing so by the Parthians and mainly moved east, towards the Indian subcontinent. In both cases, the lands of what is now Afghanistan played, literally, a pivotal role.
The story of the Kushan rise to power is told in various Chinese sources. They inform their readers that the Kushans formed one of the five sub-groups of the Yuezhi in ancient Bactria. In the Hou Han Shu (Later Han Annals), the story is told as follows:
Formerly, when the Yüeh-chih had been routed by the Hsiung-nu, they moved to Ta-hsia (Bactria?) and divided the country into five hsi hou (yabghu): Hsin-mi, Shuang-mi, Kuei-shuang, His (or Pa)-tun, and Tu-mi (TermezlTirmidh?). More than a hundred years passed, the yabghu of Kuei-shuang, (called) Ch’iu-chiu-ch’ueh, attacked and destroyed (the other) four yabghu, set himself up as king. The kingdom was called Kuei-shuang. The king invaded An-hsi (Parthia), took the country of Kao-fu (Kabul?). 1-fe also destroyed P’u-ta and Chi-pin, and completely subjugated them. Ch’iu-chiu-ch’Ueh died at the age of more than eighty. Yen-kao-chen succeeded him as king. He in turn destroyed T’ien-chu (northern India) and placed a general to supervise and govern there. Since that time the Yueh-chih have become most rich and prosperous. (People of) many countries speak of the king of Kueishuang, but in China they are called Ta Yüeh-chih, according to their old name.
The story of the Han Annals is supported by numismatic and other evidence. The earliest copper coins referring to a leader of the Kushans are apparently those by the enigmatic Heraus or Heraeus, although his identity remains a problem. His coins were replaced by those of Kujula Kadphises, who is apparently the Ch’iu-chiuch’üeh (Qiujiuque) of the Chinese sources. He was a close contemporary of Gondophares, since his coins are often overstrikes of those of the Indo-Parthian king from south of the Hindu Kush. This information, plus the Chinese annals, suggest that Kujula Kadphises took the Kabul valley from the Indo-Parthians under Gondophares and his successor, Abdagases, whose coins are also widely found in this part of the world. The Kushan ruler probably also took the heartland of Gandhara further to the east from the last Indo-Parthian ruler there, Sasan. In this way, Kujula Kadphises became the first ruler north and south of the Hindu Kush passes after the fall of the GraecoBactrians.
According to the Hou Han shu, and if our identifications are correct, Kujula Kadphises was succeeded by Yangaozhen (Yen-kaochen), who extended the Kushan empire to the east, deep into the Indian subcontinent. The problem is that none of the names of Kushan kings known from coins and other sources corresponds to Yangaozhen. Numismatic evidence indicates that Kujula was succeeded by a king who on his coins calls himself ‘Soter Megas’, the Great Saviour. The copper coins of this ‘nameless king’ are known from a wide area stretching from Bactria in the northwest to Mathura in northern India, and he actually was the Kushan ruler who introduced a uniform coinage system all over the empire. Before that, Kujula Kadphises had simply copied the various types of coins used by his predecessors in the various lands that he had subjugated. The new ‘imperial’ copper coins of Soter Megas show the rayed head of (supposedly) Mithra on the obverse and a man on horseback on the reverse (thus continuing the earlier tradition started by the Saka rulers Azes and Azilises). There are some varieties, but the reverse of all coins carries the Greek legend ‘King of Kings, Great Saviour’ (Soter Megas). The Indo-Parthian ruler of South Afghanistan, Pacores, overstruck this type, thereby indicating the independence of South Afghanistan and the relative chronology of the two rulers.
The identity of Soter Megas has probably finally been established with the discovery, in March 1993, of a monumental inscription that was found near the village of Rabatak, some 40km east of Samangan (Haybak), in northern Afghanistan. The text dates to the time of King Kanishka, the most famous Kushan king of the second century AD. The text, although its reading is not without problems, refers to Kanishka’s great-grandfather, named Kujula Kadphises, to his grandfather, who is called Vima Tak[to], and his father, Vima Kadphises. If the reading is correct, it would identify Soter Megas with Vima Tak[to]. Whether he should also be identified with the Yangaozhen of the Hou Han shu remains a moot point. It is very well possible that the name in the Chinese sources is simply incorrectly transmitted. It is also possible that the Chinese name represents a title or another name carried by the king.
The Great Kushans Soter Megas, or Vima Tak(to], was succeeded by Vima (II) Kadphises and the so-called Great Kushans: Kanishka, Huvishka and Vasudeva. Vima (II) Kadphises was the first to issue, apart from coppers, also gold coins. In doing so he consciously copied the Roman aureus. As with all other Kushans, he did not issue silver coins, as had been the custom of the Graeco-Bactrians, Indo-Greeks and Parthians. The gold issues are characterized by the representation of the Indian god Shiva (called Oeso) on the reverse. The obverse shows a sitting or riding figure, with a heavy coat and boots, before an altar, apparently representing the king. Gold coins of Vima Kadphises, together with those of his son Kanishka, were, among other places, found at the Buddhist sanctuary of Shiwaki, 11km south of Kabul. Together with these coins, which were recovered in a steatite vase inside the remains of a stupa, was a gold coin of the Roman emperor Trajan (AD 98—117), which means that the deposit with Vima Kadphises’s coins was made after AD 98.
The gold coins of his succesor, Kanishka, show on the obverse the standing king in Central Asian garb. On the reverse they depict various Indian, Greek or Iranian gods. Iranian deities, however, predominate, and this is especially the case with Kanishka’s copper coins. They include, in Bactrian, Mioro (Mithra), Moa (the Moon), Athsho (Fire) and Oado (the Wind). Indian Shiva and originally Mesopotamian Nana are also sometimes depicted. The legends of Kanishka’s early coins are in Greek script and language, but on his later coins, the Greek script is used to write Bactrian. These and other coins illustrate the highly diverse nature of religious beliefs in the Kushan empire, and at the same time it undermines the traditional fame of Kanishka as the great propagator of the Buddhist faith. It seems more likely that he, as so many politicians before and after him, was merely opportunistic and seeking a situation that would best support his power base.
Under Kanishka’s successor, Huvishka, the gold coins of Kanishka remained in production, but his copper coins are different. They show three variations on the obverse: the king on an elephant; the king seated cross-legged; and the king reclining on a couch. Coins of Huvishka, together with those of Vima II Kadphises and Kanishka, were found in the Ahin Posh Tope (stupa), some two km south of Jalalabad. Together with these Kushan coins, a number of Roman aurei were recovered, including those of the emperors Domitian (AD 81—96), Trajan (AD 98—117), and of Sabina, wife of Hadrian (AD 117—38), thus giving a datum postquem for the deposit of AD 117.
Huvishka was succeeded by Vasudeva, traditionally the last of the so-called Great Kushans. His name (Sanskrit Vásudeva) is identical to that of the Hindu god Krishna (son of Vasudeva), a reincarnation of Vishnu. He issued mainly two types of gold coins. The first shows Shiva and a bull on the reverse and the king standing at an altar on the obverse, a type of coin that would remain popular in the western lands also after the fall of the Kushans. The other type shows an enthroned (Bactrian) Ardochsho (Verethraghna) on the reverse and carries a Brahmi legend. The latter coins were copied later by Indian kings, including those of the powerful Gupta dynasty of northern India. The copper coins of Vasudeva and his successors show a great variety and include coins with Shiva and the bull and coins with Ardochsho.
The extent of Kushan control in modern Afghanistan is still unknown. There is no doubt that the north of the country (ancient Bactria) and the Kabul valley fell under Kushan sway for most of the time, but whether the south and west were ever under Kushan domination remains uncertain. The south probably remained at least nominally autonomous. Here the Indo-Parthian kings continued to rule what was called Sakastan. In this way, the Kushan kingdom centred on the mountain passes across the Hindu Kush, and the Kabul area was therefore of extreme importance. It constituted the axis of the Empire, connecting the fertile Bactrian plains in the northwest with the plains of India in the southeast. The lands of modern South Afghanistan seem to have been left to the Sakas and their Parthian overlords.
Kushan Monuments One of the most imposing Kushan monuments in Afghanistan is the maiestic temple site of Surkh Kotal, north of the Hindu Kush passes and not far south of Rabatak. Here, a monumental stairway of some 55 metres high leads in four flights to a sanctuary on top of a hill overlooking the vast plains. At the foot of the stairway is a large well, which is approached via another long flight of stairs, built carefully in line with the rest of the complex. The sanctuary was built as a temple dedicated to the divine kingship of the Kushan rulers. As such, it may have been one of a series of temples that were built all over the Kushan empire. The main celia on top of the steps is often described as a fire temple, but there is no evidence to support this, and the fire in the celia may have been ‘dynastic’, rather than ‘divine’.
The whole plan of the complex and its building techniques are described by its excavator, the French archaeologist D. Schlumberger, as being mainly Iranian in character, in spite of its (Greek-style) rectangular towers and other Hellenistic features. Other finds at the site, which was excavated between 1952 and 1963, also testify to its Iranian/Kushan character. In the sanctuary on top, the remains were found of three statues, probably representing Kushan rulers, who are shown in a frontal position. They wear trousers and a long mantle. As such, the statues are very unlike anything Greek or Roman. Parallels can be found further west, in the art of the Parthians who dominated the rest of the Iranian Plateau. The effigies from Surkh Kotal also very much resemble the famous Kanishka statue from Mathura, in northern India. The inscription placed on the mantle of this effigy tells it all: ‘The Great King, the King of Kings, His Majesty Kanishka’.
The site has yielded a number of inscriptions, written in Greek script but in the (Iranian) Bactrian language, very similar to the above-described text from Rabatak. One of these texts, the so-called Great Inscription, mentions Kanishka Oanindo, ‘Kanishka the Victorious’. It was placed at the main entrance to the staircase. The text tells that the temple was originally built on the orders of Kanishka and was restored by a local overseer called Nukunzuk after a period of decline when the water supply to the temple had dried up. Earlier versions of the text were found scattered among the wails of the well at the foot of the monumental staircase.
Another Kushan text, in various versions, was discovered in 1967 near the Dasht-i Nawar plain, about 50km west of Ghazni and south of the Hindu Kush watershed. The group of inscriptions, five in total, was placed at a height of more than 4,000 metres. Unfortunately the reading of the texts is still problematic and it is not even known whether all five inscriptions, in different scripts and languages, contain the same message. One version is written in the same Greek script and Bactrian language as were used at Surkh Kotal and at Rabatak. Next to it is an apparently identical text in Middle Indian and with Kharoshthi script. The same text is also written in a hitherto unknown language (perhaps Saka), apparently in Kharoshthi script. The two other inscriptions are in Greek and Kharoshthi script respectively, but impossible to read. The Bactrian and Middle Indian texts refer to Vima, but whether this is Vima Kadphises or his predecessor, Vima Tak[to], is still unclear. The location of these inscriptions is of great interest. Nowadays this part of Afghanistan is only thinly populated, but in Kushan times the situation may have been very different. Archaeological exploration in this part of Afghanistan may one day elucidate this problem. One of the most fascinating sites that await controlled archaeological excavations is that of Wardak, some 30km northwest of Ghazni." Surveys have shown that the site reflects a large fortified urban settlement with a regular street plan. Outside the ramparts there are the remains of other structures, including a number of stupas and what appears to be a monastic complex. From one of the stupas an inscribed relic casket was obtained that is now in the British Museum.
Excavations at Begram, north of Kabul, have shown the extent of Kushan contacts with the outside world. Begram, ancient Capisa, was located at a place that was of great strategic importance to the Kushans. It dominated the life-line between their Bactrian possessions and those in the Indian subcontinent. The importance of Capisa was of course not merely strategic, but also economic. During the Kushan period, Afghanistan was linked up to the famous Silk Road between the Near East and China. The Silk Road itself passed north of modern Afghanistan, via ancient Sogdia where now lie the cities of Bukhara and Samarqand. A branch of the Silk Road, however, led across Afghanistan to the Indian subcontinent. Some of the merchandise ftom China was thus carried across modern Afghanistan to the Indus valley and vice versa: western goods, brought to the Indian coast by sea, together with Indian goods were transported up north to South Central Asia and hence to China. In times of war between the Roman empire and the Parthians, the southern route via the Indian possessions of the Kushans formed an attractive alternative, the more so since the goods could be transferred by boat to and from India via the Egyptian Red Sea coast.
The large site of Begram lies about 50km north of Kabul and some eight km east of modern Charikar, near the confluence of the Panjshir and Ghorband rivers. The site was partly excavated by French archaeologists between 1936 and 1946. It covers an area of about 800 metres from north to south and about 450 metres from east to west. In the northwest lies the citadel, the Burj-i Abdullah, which may date back to the Achaemenid period. In the south there was a large building, apparently a palace. The ramparts of the settlement were built of square sun-dried bricks on a stone foundation, very much following building traditions introduced by the Greeks. The walls were strengthened by square towers, again according to western traditions.
The most fascinating finds from the site include a large collection of art objects, including a bronze statue of Serapis/Heracles and one of Harpocrates, Indian ivories, Chinese lacquer ware and western glass. The latter group included an 18cm high transparent glass vase with carved decorations. It depicted the Pharos lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the world. The date of all these finds is difficult to establish. In general the objects should be placed in a period between the first century BC and the early third century AD. The present whereabouts of these objects are unknown; they were housed in the Kabul Museum that was looted in the early 1990s.
Gandhara Art The above finds indicate that the Kushan empire remained in close contact with developments in the West. This is made very clear by the so-called Gandhara art that flourished in ancient Gandhara and beyond in the early centuries of the first millennium and later. Gandhara art is mainly characterized by the amalgamation of GraecoRoman and Indian traditions. The indigenous curved gable was used next to the Classical triangular pediment. The round pilasters with a bell-shaped capital of Indian tradition remained in use, but the Classical flat pilaster with a Corinthian capital was also very popular, and so were Classical motifs including atlantes, tritons and putti with garlands. This eclectic art style was developed in ancient Gandhara, hence its name, but it soon spread to lands far beyond. It is found along the trade routes between Northwest India, via Afghanistan and Central Asia, towards China.
In the first centuries of the first millennium, Gandhara art was time and again fed by artists and artistic impressions from the Roman world, and it is evident that the Kushans kept in close touch with developments in the Mediterranean. I referred to this point before when discussing the introduction by the Kushan kings of golden coins that so clearly imitate Roman issues. In time, however, western influence was replaced by more pronounced Iranian, Indian and Central Asian aspects. The influence from India became stronger, and the refinement and elegance of the Gupta art of northern India, which flourished between the early fourth and late sixth centuries AD, is found with many artistic products from Afghanistan. In secluded valleys in modern Afghanistan, as at Funduqistan along the Ghorband river, Buddhist statues and paintings were made as late as the seventh century AD that are almost completely ‘Indian’.
Gandhara art is in the main Buddhist art. Statues of Buddha abound, together with reliefs depicting episodes from his life and previous incarnations. Its popularity indicates the strength of the Buddhist faith in this part of the world in the early centuries of the first millennium. At first, Buddha was mostly indicated by symbols, such as his throne or his footsteps. The idea of depicting Buddha as a person, which developed almost simultaneously in Gandhara and in the Ganges valley (the so-called Mathura Art), was related to a growing movement in the early centuries of the modern era towards personal devotion. This movement would later lead, throughout the first millennium, to the replacement of the Hinayâna (a derogatory term meaning ‘Little Vehicle’) branch of Buddhism, which places emphasis on doctrine, by the Mahâydna (‘Great Vehicle’) branch. The latter is more concerned with personal adoration of the Buddha and his emissaries. In this way, in early Gandhara art the statues mostly depict Buddha himself (Buddha Sákyámuni) or the Buddha of the Future (Maitreya). Later there are statues of the so-called Bodhisattvas, as for instance Avalokiteshvara, who is usually depicted with a lotus in his left hand. The Bodhisattvas are mythical beings who renounced their place in heaven and reincarnated in order to help all creatures on earth. In Gandhara art, the Bodhisattvas are often depicted as the princes of their time, dressed in kilts, turbans and with considerable amounts of jewellery. Their appearance may well represent that of the patrons who provided the means to erect the statue.
Initially the Gandharan artists used stone for their products, and especially the blue schist and green phyllite from the region. This material, however, is difficult to use and in later years the craftsmen almost exclusively used stucco and lime plaster. This development is often described as reflecting western (Iranian) influence. This may well be the case, for the use of stucco was at that time very popular in Iran. Furthermore, it should be realized that the artistic products of the Gandharan craftsmen and architects were brightly coloured. At Tepe Maranlan, just east of Kabul, the remains have been found of stucco still covered with plaster that was coloured pink, red, brown and blue.
Chinese visitors to the region in the first millennium AD describe the many monuments that they found. Many of these monuments, although in ruins, can still be seen today. The stupas and viháras or sanghârámas (monasteries) testify to the prosperity of the Buddhist community. One of these complexes is located just southeast of Kabul, at Guldarra. It includes two stupas and a fortified monastery and is generally dated to the third and fourth centuries AD. Nearby, close to the village of Shiwaki, lie the ruins of another stupa and monastery. Highly interesting and spectacular was the Minar-i Chakri, a 19 metre high pillar crowned by a lotus motif, and originally perhaps also by the Buddhist symbol of the wheel (Sanskrit Chakra). It stood some 15km southeast of Kabul on top of a pass looking across the Kabul valley. The tower collapsed in March 1998. Another conspicuous column nearby was that of Surkh Minar, which collapsed in l964.
In Kabul itself, a Buddhist monastery and stupa were found in 1930 on a spur of the Kuh-i Shir Darwaza (the mountain which borders Kabul to the south). Incidentally it would indicate that the city of Kabul, or at least a settlement at this place, would date back to at least the pre-Islamic period. Another famous Buddhist monastery was that of Shotorak, some 65km northeast of Kabul and about four km north of Begrarn/Capisa. The ruins are located along the Panjshir river and were excavated by French archaeologists in 1936/7. It included the monastery proper and some ten stupas. The buildings were decorated with schist bas reliefs depicting the life of the Buddha.
A very important Buddhist centre was Hadda, located in a flat plain some eight km south of modern Jalalabad. It is the Nagarahara of Indian and Chinese writers. It was a sacred place for the Buddhists and attracted large numbers of pilgrims. It was perhaps the most important settlement in the Jalalabad area during the first half of the first millennium, and its ruins cover an area of some 15 square km. All over the place are the ruins of stupas (more than one thousand), monasteries and other buildings. Excavations since 1923 have yielded large numbers of stucco sculpture, reliquaries, coins and inscriptions.
Another maior centre of Buddhist art is the famous valley of Bamiyan. This valley lies some 240 km west of Kabul, at an altitude of about 2,500 metres above sea level, in the middle of the Afghan Mountains. The valley itself stretches for about 4.5 km from east to west, and approximately 3.5 km from north to south. Nearby are other valleys, with similar Buddhist monuments, as for instance those of Fuladi" and Kakrak. The Bamiyan valley lies along one of the major thoroughfares across the Hindu Kush and was used as a staging post ever since at least the time of the GraecoBactrians, since some of their coins have been found in the valley. The northern rock face of the Bamiyan valley is honeycombed by artificial caves that served as living quarters, meeting places and sanctuaries for the Buddhists living there. Most conspicuous, although their present state is unknown, are the two huge Buddha statues." The one to the east is 55 metres high and it is probably the largest statue in the world. Some 1,500 metres to the west is another statue, which is 38 metres high. The two statues are of great interest, but not only because of their height. Originally, both statues must have been brilliantly coloured. The walls of the caves in which the statues are placed are decorated with paintings; those in the cave of the small Buddha recall Sasanian art from Iran, especially from the sixth and seventh centuries. The paintings along the large Buddha are Indian in style. Of course the Buddha statues need not, and cannot be dated to the time of the paintings. All we know for certain is that when the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang visited the valley in about AD 632, the two Buddha statues were there. What is important is the eclectic nature of much of the artwork at Bamiyan. This is of course not surprising, considering the character of the site and its location between Central Asia, Iran and India.
Bamiyan is not the only place in Afghanistan where caves were hewn out of the rock and inhabited by Buddhists. Unfortunately, the date of these various sites is often difficult to establish. One of the most spectacular sites is that of Takht-i Rustam, near Samangan (Haybak), north of the Hindu Kush passes. It includes a complex of a stupa with monastery, hewn out of the rock. Other caves have been found near Jalalabad and at the site of Humay Qal'a, southwest of Ghazni
Buddhism and Gandhara art, however evolved, long outlasted the reign of its ertswhile patrons, the Kushan kings, that came to an end in the third century AD. Serious decline, and the destruction of many Buddhist buildings, only started in or around the sixth century AD when Turkic newcomers from Central Asia overran the land. Yet, in many places Buddhism and developed forms of Gandhara art, however ‘Indianized’, lived on. The stupa that overlooks the present ruins of Old Qandahar in ancient Arachosia was still in use after c.650. The Buddhist sanctuary at Funduqistan near Bamiyan may likewise date to the late seventh or early eighth century, as shown by the many Arabo-Sasanian coins that were found there.
While Gandhara art continued to develop in the Indo-Iranian borderlands and Buddhism was still spreading, the political power of their main patrons, the Kushan rulers, slowly diminished. The decline of Kushan rule in Afghanistan in the third century AD coincided with the fall of the Parthians and the rise of a revived Iran under the leadership of a new dynasty, that of the Sasanians. For the next four hundred years, until the advent of Islam in the mid-seventh century, the Sasanians would be the dominant power on the Iranian Plateau. During all these years, however, Sasanian hold on the Hindu Kush passes and the lands immediately to the north and south would be continuously challenged by wave after wave of yet more groups of Central Asian migrants.