إمبراطورية الكوشان

امبراطورية كـوشـان Kushan Empire Κοϸανο (بخترية) Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν (Ancient Greek) कुषाणसाम्राज्यम् (سنسكريتية)
30–375
أراضي كوشان (الخط المتصل) وأقصى اتساع لممتلكات كوشان في عهد كانيشكا (خط منقط)، حسب نقش ربتك.
العاصمة	Peshawar (Puruṣapura) Taxila (Takṣaśilā) Mathura (Mathurā)
اللغات الشائعة	Greek (official until 127ح. 127) Bactrian (official from 127ح. 127) Gandhari Prakrit Hybrid Sanskrit
الدين	Hinduism Buddhism Zoroastrianism
صفة المواطن	Kushanas (Yuezhi)
الحكومة	Monarchy
Emperor
• 30–80	Kujula Kadphises (first)
• 350–375	Kipunada (last)
الحقبة التاريخية	القِدم الكلاسيكي
• كوجولا كادفيسس يوحد قبائل يويژي في تحالف	30
• خضوعها لـSasanians and Hepthalites	375
Area
200 (low-end estimate of peak area)	2,000,000 km2 (770,000 sq mi)
200 (high-end estimate of peak area)	2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi)
Currency	Kushan drachma
سبقها تلاها Indo-Greek Kingdom Indo-Parthian Kingdom Indo-Scythians Northern Satraps Western Satraps Maha-meghavahanas Sasanian Empire Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom Nagas of Padmavati Kidarites Nagas of Vindhyatabi

امبراطورية كوشان Kushan Empire (ح. القرون الأول-الثالث) كانت دولة باكترية امتدت في أوج عظمتها الثقافية، حوالي 105-250 م، من تاجيكستان الحالية إلى أفغانستان، پاكستان نزولاً إلى وادي نهر الگنج في شمال الهند. الامبراطورية أنشأتها قبيلة كوشان من تحالف يويژي ، المعتقـَد بكونه من شعب هندو-اوروبي من شرق حوض تريم، الصين، والمحتمل علاقتها بالطخاريين. وكانت لهم اتصالات دبلوماسية مع الامبراطورية الرومانية، الساسانية والصين، ولعدة قرون كانوا مركز التجارة بين الشرق والغرب.

كوشان، إمبراطورية. إمبراطورية كوشان دولة ازدهرت في المنطقة التي تُشكل الآن باكستان وأفغانستان وشمال غربي الهند في الفترة من منتصف القرن الأول قبل الميلاد تقريبًا إلى منتصف القرن الثالث الميلادي. وقد أسس كوجولا كادفيسز الإمبراطورية عندما قام بتوحيد خمس قبائل من وسط آسيا. وقام مع هذه القبائل بغزو مُلْكَي كابول وكشمير. ووسع خلفاء كوجالا كادفيسز من رقعة الإمبراطورية لتشمل وادي نهر السِّند وغربي وادي نهر الگنج. وكان كانيشكا من أشهر حكام كوشان. كانيشكا.

وكان للإمبراطورية أهميتها كجسر بين مختلف الحضارات. وفتح أباطرة كوشان طريق القزّ وقاموا بحمايتها، وهي طريق رئيسية للقوافل المحملة بالحرير وغيره من البضائع الثمينة القادمة من الصين إلى الهند والشرق الأوسط. وكانت السفن تغادر الموانئ الهندية متجهة إلى الإمبراطورية الرومانية محملة بالحرير والتوابل والمراهم. وكانت روما ترد على ذلك بإرسال العملات الذهبية والعديد من السلع المتميزة. وعبر هذه الطرق التجارية كانت الأفكار والعادات تنتقل أيضًا بين شعوب آسيا الوسطى والصين والهند وفارس.

كانت البوذية الديانة الرئيسية لإمبراطورية كوشان. وقام البوذيون بنشر الدين في جميع أنحاء الإمبراطورية وفي الصين. ونقش النحاتون في مدينتي جاندهارا وماتهورا أول صُوَر لبوذا على الحجارة. وصاغ الفنانون في جاندهارا تماثيلهم البوذية على غرار تماثيل الآلهة اليونانية والرومانية.

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 الأصول

Yuezhi nobleman and priest over a fire altar. Noin-Ula.

The ethnonym "KOϷϷANO" (Koshshano, "كوشان") بالأبجدية اليونانية (with the addition of the letter Ϸ, "Sh") على عملة أول حاكم كوشاني معروف هرايوس (القرن الأول م).

تترادراخم فضية من أول حاكم معروف يسمي نفسه "كوشان" ("كوسانو" على عملاته) وهو الحاكم هرايوس (1-30).

المصادر الصينية تصف گوي‌شوانگ (بالصينية: 貴霜)، وتعني "كوشانا Kushans"، كواحدة من خمس قبائل أرستقراطية في يويژي، والتي تـُنطق كذلك يويه-چي Yueh-chi، (Ch: 月氏), a loose confederation of supposedly Indo-European peoples. كما يـُعتبر اليويژي عموماً كأقصى الشعوب شرقاً الناطقة باحدى اللغات الهندو-اوروبية، والذين كانوا يعيشون في المراعي القاحلة في شرق آسيا الوسطى، في شينجيانگ المعاصرة وگانسو، والمحتمل تحدثهم بلهجات من اللغة الطخارية، حتى تم طردهم غرباً من قـِبل [[شيونگ&38204;نو]] في 176-160 ق.م.. القبائل الخمس المكونة لليويژي يـُعرفوا في التاريخ الصيني بالأسماء شيومي (ص: 休密), گوي‌شوانگ (ص: 貴霜), شوانگ‌مي (ص: 雙靡), شي‌دون (ص: 肸頓)، و دومي (ص: 都密).

المؤرخ جون كي يضع تحركات الكوشان في السياق الأكبر للهجرات العظمى التي شهدتها المنطقة:

سرد تمغات كوشانية ملكية.

تتحدث المصادر الصينية عن تشييد السور العظيم في القرن الثالث ق.م. وصد مختلف القبائل المغيرة. مجبرة إياها على التوجه غرباً ولاحقاً جنوباً، وقد حلت هذه القبائل محل قبائل أخرى فيما يشبه تأثير الدومينو الذي استمر لعدة عقود وانتشر في أرجاء آسيا الوسطى. كل من الپارثيين من إيران و اليونان الباكتريين من باكتريا طـُردا من مناطقهم من قِبل الشاكاس الآتين من تخوم بحر آرال. إلا أن الشاكاس، بدورهم، طردهم يويه-چي الذي طـُردوا بدورهم غرباً إلى شينجيانگ بواسطة [[شيونگ&38204;نو|هيونگ-نو]]. آخر تلك القبائل، الهون، لم يصلوا الهند، لحسن الحظ، لفترة طويلة. ولكن اليويه-چي واصلوا الضغط على الشاكاس، وبنجاحهم في طرد الشاكاس من باكتريا، فإن أقسام أو أفخاذ من هؤلاء اليويه-چي هم من واصلوا التقدم جنوباً إلى الهند في النصف الثاني من القرن الأول الميلادي."

In South Asia, Kushan emperors regularly used the dynastic name ΚΟϷΑΝΟ ("Koshano") on their coinage. Several inscriptions in Sanskrit in the Brahmi script, such as the Mathura inscription of the statue of Vima Kadphises, refer to the Kushan Emperor as , Ku-ṣā-ṇa ("كوشانا"). Some later Indian literary sources referred to the Kushans as Turushka, a name which in later Sanskrit sources was confused with Turk, "probably due to the fact that Tukharistan passed into the hands of the western Turks in the seventh century". According to John M. Rosenfield, Turushka, Tukhāra or Tukhāra are variations of the word Tokhari in Indian writings. Yet, according to Wink, "nowadays no historian considers them to be Turkish-Mongoloid or "Hun", although there is no doubt about their Central-Asian origin."

 الكوشان المبكرون

پورتريهات للكوشان

رأس أمير يوى‌ژي (قصر خلچايان، أوزبكستان)

The first king to call himself "Kushan" on his coinage: Heraios (AD 1–30)

عابد كوشاني (القرن الثاني م). متحف متروپوليتان للفنون (تفصيلة)

Portrait of Kushan emperor Vima Kadphises, AD 100-127

Some traces remain of the presence of the Kushans in the area of Bactria and Sogdiana in the 2nd-1st century BC, where they had displaced the Sakas, who moved further south. Archaeological structures are known in Takht-i Sangin, Surkh Kotal (a monumental temple), and in the palace of Khalchayan. On the ruins of ancient Hellenistic cities such as Ai-Khanoum, the Kushans are known to have built fortresses. Various sculptures and friezes from this period are known, representing horse-riding archers, and, significantly, men such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan with artificially deformed skulls, a practice well attested in nomadic Central Asia. Some of the Khalchayan sculptural scenes are also thought to depict the Kushans fighting against the Sakas. In these portrayals, the Yuezhis are shown with a majestic demeanour, whereas the Sakas are typically represented with side-whiskers, and more or less grotesque facial expressions.

The Chinese first referred to these people as the Yuezhi and said they established the Kushan Empire, although the relationship between the Yuezhi and the Kushans is still unclear. Ban Gu's Book of Han tells us the Kushans (Kuei-shuang) divided up Bactria in 128 BC. Fan Ye's Book of Later Han "relates how the chief of the Kushans, Ch'iu-shiu-ch'ueh (the Kujula Kadphises of coins), founded by means of the submission of the other Yueh-chih clans the Kushan Empire."

The earliest documented ruler, and the first one to proclaim himself as a Kushan ruler, was Heraios. He calls himself a "tyrant" in Greek on his coins, and also exhibits skull deformation. He may have been an ally of the Greeks, and he shared the same style of coinage. Heraios may have been the father of the first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises.

The Chinese Book of Later Han chronicles then gives an account of the formation of the Kushan empire based on a report made by the Chinese general Ban Yong to the Chinese Emperor AD 125ح. AD 125:

More than a hundred years later [than the conquest of Bactria by the Yuezhi], the prince [xihou] of Guishuang (Badakhshan) established himself as king, and his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang (Kushan) King. He invaded Anxi (Indo-Parthia), and took the Gaofu (Kabul) region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda (Paktiya) and Jibin (Kapisha and Gandhara). Qiujiuque (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died. His son, Yangaozhen [probably Vema Tahk (tu) or, possibly, his brother Sadaṣkaṇa ], became king in his place. He defeated Tianzhu [North-western India] and installed Generals to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang [Kushan] king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi.

— Book of Later Han.

 التأثيرات الثقافية المتعددة

In the 1st century BC, the Guishuang (Ch: 貴霜) gained prominence over the other Yuezhi tribes, and welded them into a tight confederation under commander Kujula Kadphises. The name Guishuang was adopted in the West and modified into Kushan to designate the confederation, although the Chinese continued to call them Yuezhi.

Gradually wresting control of the area from the Scythian tribes, the Kushans expanded south into the region traditionally known as Gandhara (an area primarily in Pakistan's Pothowar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region) and established twin capitals in Begram and Charsadda, then known as Kapisa and Pushklavati respectively.

Greek alphabet (narrow columns) with Kushan script (wide columns)

The Kushans adopted elements of the Hellenistic culture of Bactria. They adopted the Greek alphabet to suit their own language (with the additional development of the letter Þ "sh", as in "Kushan") and soon began minting coinage on the Greek model. On their coins they used Greek language legends combined with Pali legends (in the Kharoshthi script), until the first few years of the reign of Kanishka. After the middle of Kanishka's reign, they used Kushan language legends (in an adapted Greek script), combined with legends in Greek (Greek script) and legends in Prakrit (Kharoshthi script).

Early gold coin of Kanishka I with Greek language legend and Hellenistic divinity Helios. (c. AD 120).
Obverse: Kanishka standing, clad in heavy Kushan coat and long boots, flames emanating from shoulders, holding a standard in his left hand, and making a sacrifice over an altar. Greek legend:

ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΚΑΝΗϷΚΟΥ
Basileus Basileon Kanishkoy
"[Coin] of Kanishka, king of kings".

Reverse: Standing Helios in Hellenistic style, forming a benediction gesture with the right hand. Legend in Greek script:

ΗΛΙΟΣ Helios

Kanishka monogram (tamgha) to the left.

The Kushans "adopted many local beliefs and customs, including Zoroastrianism and the two rising religions in the region, the Greek cults and Buddhism". From the time of Vima Takto, many Kushans started adopting aspects of Buddhist culture, and like the Egyptians, they absorbed the strong remnants of the Greek culture of the Hellenistic Kingdoms, becoming at least partly Hellenised. The great Kushan emperor Vima Kadphises, father of Kanishka, embraced Shaivism, a sect of Hinduism, as surmised by coins minted during the period. The following Kushan emperors represented a wide variety of faiths including Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and Hindu Shaivism.

The rule of the Kushans linked the seagoing trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the Silk Road through the long-civilized Indus Valley. At the height of the dynasty, the Kushans loosely ruled a territory that extended to the Aral Sea through present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India.

The loose unity and comparative peace of such a vast expanse encouraged long-distance trade, brought Chinese silks to Rome, and created strings of flourishing urban centers.

تقي بوذي برداء كوشاني، ماثورا، القرن الثاني. الرداء الكوشاني يُصوَّر عموماً كرداء صلب، ويُعتقد أنه كثيراً ما كان يُصنع من الجلد (Francine Tissot, "Gandhara").

نظام الكتابة الكوشاني استعمل الأبجدية اليونانية، مع اضافة الحرف شو.

آسيا في 200 م (تبيّن امبراطورية كوشان وجيرانها.

 التوسع الإقليمي

Kushan territories (full line) and maximum extent of Kushan control under Kanishka the Great. The extent of Kushan control is notably documented in the Rabatak inscription. The northern expansion into the Tarim Basin is mainly suggested by coin finds and Chinese chronicles.

Rosenfield notes that archaeological evidence of a Kushan rule of long duration is present in an area stretching from Surkh Kotal, Begram, the summer capital of the Kushans, Peshawar, the capital under Kanishka I, Taxila, and Mathura, the winter capital of the Kushans. The Kushans introduced for the first time a form of governance which consisted of Kshatrapas (Brahmi:, Kṣatrapa, "Satraps") and Mahakshatrapa (Brahmi: , Mahakṣatrapa, "Great Satraps").

Other areas of probable rule include Khwarezm and its capital city of Toprak-Kala, Kausambi (excavations of Allahabad University), Sanchi and Sarnath (inscriptions with names and dates of Kushan kings), Malwa and Maharashtra, and Odisha (imitation of Kushan coins, and large Kushan hoards).

Map showing the four empires of Eurasia in the 2nd century AD. "For a time, the Kushan Empire was the centerpoint of the major civilizations".

Kushan invasions in the 1st century AD had been given as an explanation for the migration of Indians from the Indian Subcontinent toward Southeast Asia according to proponents of a Greater India theory by 20th-century Indian nationalists. However, there is no evidence to support this hypothesis.

The Rabatak inscription, discovered in 1993, confirms the account of the Hou Hanshu, Weilüe, and inscriptions dated early in the Kanishka era (incept probably AD 127), that large Kushan dominions expanded into the heartland of northern India in the early 2nd century AD.^[clarify] Lines 4 to 7 of the inscription describe the cities which were under the rule of Kanishka, among which six names are identifiable: Ujjain, Kundina, Saketa, Kausambi, Pataliputra, and Champa (although the text is not clear whether Champa was a possession of Kanishka or just beyond it). The Buddhist text Śrīdharmapiṭakanidānasūtra—known via a Chinese translation made in AD 472—refers to the conquest of Pataliputra by Kanishka. A 2nd century stone inscription by a Great Satrap named Rupiamma was discovered in Pauni, south of the Narmada river, suggesting that Kushan control extended this far south, although this could alternatively have been controlled by the Western Satraps.

Eastern reach as far as Bengal: Samatata coinage of king Vira Jadamarah, in imitation of the Kushan coinage of Kanishka I. The text of the legend is a meaningless imitation. Bengal, circa 2nd-3rd century AD.

In the East, as late as the 3rd century AD, decorated coins of Huvishka were dedicated at Bodh Gaya together with other gold offerings under the "Enlightenment Throne" of the Buddha, suggesting direct Kushan influence in the area during that period. Coins of the Kushans are found in abundance as far as Bengal, and the ancient Bengali state of Samatata issued coins copied from the coinage of Kanishka I, although probably only as a result of commercial influence. Coins in imitation of Kushan coinage have also been found abundantly in the eastern state of Orissa.

In the West, the Kushan state covered the Pārata state of Balochistan, western Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan was known for the Kushan Buddhist city of Merv.

Northward, in the 1st century AD, the Kujula Kadphises sent an army to the Tarim Basin to support the city-state of Kucha, which had been resisting the Chinese invasion of the region, but they retreated after minor encounters. In the 2nd century AD, the Kushans under Kanishka made various forays into the Tarim Basin, where they had various contacts with the Chinese. Kanishka held areas of the Tarim Basin apparently corresponding to the ancient regions held by the Yüeh-zhi, the possible ancestors of the Kushan. There was Kushan influence on coinage in Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan. According to Chinese chronicles, the Kushans (referred to as Da Yuezhi in Chinese sources) requested, but were denied, a Han princess, even though they had sent presents to the Chinese court. In retaliation, they marched on Ban Chao in AD 90 with a force of 70,000 but were defeated by the smaller Chinese force. Chinese chronicles relate battles between the Kushans and the Chinese general Ban Chao. The Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire. The regions of the Tarim Basin were all ultimately conquered by Ban Chao. Later, during the Yuánchū period (AD 114–120), the Kushans sent a military force to install Chenpan, who had been a hostage among them, as king of Kashgar.

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 Kushan fortresses

Several Kushan fortresses are known, particularly in Bactria, which were often rebuilt on top of Hellenistic fortifications, as in Kampir Tepe. They are often characterised by arrow-shaped loopholes for archers.

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  The Kushan fortress of Kampir Tepe

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  The fortress of Ayaz Kala

• 

  The fortress of Shahr-e Zuhak.

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  The temple and fortress of Surkh Kotal

نحت لجندي أجنبي يرمي رمحاً، هان متأخر، الممالك الثلاث، القرن الثالث الميلادي، الصين.

Offerings found in Bodh Gaya تحت "عرش التنوير لبوذا"، مع عملة مزخرفة للامبراطور الكوشاني هوڤيشكا، القرن الثالث الميلادي. المتحف البريطاني.

 التاريخ

Kushan rulers are recorded for a period of about three centuries, from circa 30 CE to circa 375 CE, until the invasions of the Kidarites. They ruled around the same time as the Western Satraps, the Satavahanas, and the first Gupta Empire rulers.

 كوجولا كادفيسس (30–80)

تترادراخم من كوجولا كادفيسس (30–80 م) على طراز هرمايوس.

 ڤيما تاكتو (80–105)

عملة برونزية من ڤيما تاكتو. Corrupted Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΩΝ ΣΩΤΗΡ [ΓΗΕ.] "Basileu[s] Basileuōn Sōtēr [Megas?]": "The King of Kings, [Great?] Saviour".

 ڤيما كادفيسس (105–127)

ڤيما كادفيسس.

ڤيما كادفيسس (Kushan language: Οοημο Καδφισης) was a Kushan emperor from around 90–100 CE, the son of Sadashkana وحفيد كوجولا كادفيسس، وأبو كانيشكا الأول، كما يذكر نقش ربتك.

 كانيشكا الأول (127–147)

المقالة الرئيسية: Kanishka

Mathura statue of Kanishka

Statue of Kanishka in long coat and boots, holding a mace and a sword, in the Mathura Museum. An inscription runs along the bottom of the coat.

The inscription is in middle Brahmi script:

Mahārāja Rājadhirāja Devaputra Kāṇiṣka
"The Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, Kanishka".
Mathura art, Mathura Museum

The rule of Kanishka the Great, fourth Kushan king, lasted for about 23 years from c. AD 127. Upon his accession, Kanishka ruled a huge territory (virtually all of northern India), south to Ujjain and Kundina and east beyond Pataliputra, according to the Rabatak inscription:

In the year one, it has been proclaimed unto India, unto the whole realm of the governing class, including Koonadeano (Kaundiny, Kundina) and the city of Ozeno (Ozene, Ujjain) and the city of Zageda (Saketa) and the city of Kozambo (Kausambi) and the city of Palabotro (Pataliputra) and as far as the city of Ziri-tambo (Sri-Champa), whatever rulers and other important persons (they might have) he had submitted to (his) will, and he had submitted all India to (his) will.

— Rabatak inscription, Lines 4–8

His territory was administered from two capitals: Purushapura (now Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan) and Mathura, in northern India. He is also credited (along with Raja Dab) for building the massive, ancient Fort at Bathinda (Qila Mubarak), in the modern city of Bathinda, Indian Punjab.

The Kushans also had a summer capital in Bagram (then known as Kapisa), where the "Begram Treasure", comprising works of art from Greece to China, has been found. According to the Rabatak inscription, Kanishka was the son of Vima Kadphises, the grandson of Sadashkana, and the great-grandson of Kujula Kadphises. Kanishka's era is now generally accepted to have begun in 127 on the basis of Harry Falk's ground-breaking research. Kanishka's era was used as a calendar reference by the Kushans for about a century, until the decline of the Kushan realm.

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 هوڤيشكا (140–183)

المقالة الرئيسية: Huvishka

Huvishka (Kushan: Οοηϸκι, "Ooishki") was a Kushan emperor from the death of Kanishka (assumed on the best evidence available to be in 150) until the succession of Vasudeva I about thirty years later. His rule was a period of retrenchment and consolidation for the Empire. In particular he devoted time and effort early in his reign to the exertion of greater control over the city of Mathura.

 ڤاسودڤا الأول (191–225)

عملة ذهبية من ڤاسودڤا الأول.

المقالة الرئيسية: Vasudeva I

Vasudeva I (Kushan: Βαζοδηο "Bazodeo", Chinese: 波調 "Bodiao") was the last of the "Great Kushans". Named inscriptions dating from year 64 to 98 of Kanishka's era suggest his reign extended from at least AD 191 to 225. He was the last great Kushan emperor, and the end of his rule coincides with the invasion of the Sasanians as far as northwestern India, and the establishment of the Indo-Sasanians or Kushanshahs in what is nowadays Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India from around AD 240.

 Vāsishka (c. 247 – c. 267)

المقالة الرئيسية: Vāsishka

Vāsishka was a Kushan emperor who seems to have had a 20-year reign following Kanishka II. His rule is recorded at Mathura, in Gandhara and as far south as Sanchi (near Vidisa), where several inscriptions in his name have been found, dated to the year 22 (the Sanchi inscription of "Vaksushana" – i.e., Vasishka Kushana) and year 28 (the Sanchi inscription of Vasaska – i.e., Vasishka) of a possible second Kanishka era.

 Little Kushans (AD 270 – 350)

Following territory losses in the west (Bactria lost to the Kushano-Sasanians), and in the east (loss of Mathura to the Gupta Empire), several "Little Kushans" are known, who ruled locally in the area of Punjab with their capital at Taxila: Vasudeva II (270 – 300), Mahi (300 – 305), Shaka (305 – 335) and Kipunada (335 – 350). They probably were vassals of the Gupta Empire, until the invasion of the Kidarites destroyed the last remains of Kushan rule.

 آلهة الكوشان

متعبد كوشاني مع زيوس/سراپيس/Ohrmazd, باكتريا، القرن الثالث الميلادي.

عابد كوشاني مع فارّو، باكتريا، القرن الثالث الميلاد.

عابد كوشاني مع شيڤا/Oesho، باكتريا، القرن الثالث الميلادي.

 بعض الآلهة على العملات

• 

  Mahasena on a coin of هوڤيشكا.

• 

  أويشو ذو الأربع أوجه.

• 

  Rishti.

• 

  Manaobago.

• 

  Pharro.

• 

  Ardochsho.

• 

  Oisho

• 

  Oisho with bull.

• 

  Skanda and Visakha.

• 

  Gold coin of Kanishka I, with a depiction of the Buddha, with the legend "Boddo" بخط يوناني. Ahin Posh.

• 

  Kushan Carnelian seal representing the "ΑΔϷΟ" (adsho Atar), with triratana symbol left, and Kanishka's dynastic mark right.

 الكوشان والبوذية

The Ahin Posh stupa was dedicated in the 2nd century AD under the Kushans, and contained coins of Kushan and Roman Emperors.

ثالوث المهايانا البوذي المبكر. من اليسار إلى اليمين، متعبد كوشاني، بوذيساتڤا مايتريا، البوذا، البوذيساتڤا Avalokitesvara، و راهب بوذي. القرن الثاني أو الثالث، گندهارا.

The Kushans inherited the Greco-Buddhist traditions of the Indo-Greek Kingdom they replaced, and their patronage of Buddhist institutions allowed them to grow as a commercial power. Between the mid-1st century and the mid-3rd century, Buddhism, patronised by the Kushans, extended to China and other Asian countries through the Silk Road.

Kanishka is renowned in Buddhist tradition for having convened a great Buddhist council in Kashmir. Along with his predecessors in the region, the Indo-Greek king Menander I (Milinda) and the Indian emperors Ashoka and Harsha Vardhana, Kanishka is considered by Buddhism as one of its greatest benefactors.

During the 1st century AD, Buddhist books were being produced and carried by monks, and their trader patrons. Also, monasteries were being established along these land routes that went from China and other parts of Asia. With the development of Buddhist books, it caused a new written language called Gandhara. Gandhara consists of eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. Scholars are said to have found many Buddhist scrolls that contained the Gandhari language.

The reign of Huvishka corresponds to the first known epigraphic evidence of the Buddha Amitabha, on the bottom part of a 2nd-century statue which has been found in Govindo-Nagar, and now at the Mathura Museum. The statue is dated to "the 28th year of the reign of Huvishka", and dedicated to "Amitabha Buddha" by a family of merchants. There is also some evidence that Huvishka himself was a follower of Mahayana Buddhism. A Sanskrit manuscript fragment in the Schøyen Collection describes Huvishka as one who has "set forth in the Mahāyāna."

The 12th century historical chronicle Rajatarangini mentions in detail the rule of the Kushan kings and their benevolence towards Buddhism:

Then there ruled in this very land the founders of cities called after their own appellations the three kings named Huska, Juska and Kaniska (...) These kings albeit belonging to the Turkish race found refuge in acts of piety; they constructed in Suskaletra and other places monasteries, Caityas and similar edificies. During the glorious period of their regime the kingdom of Kashmir was for the most part an appanage of the Buddhists who had acquired lustre by renunciation. At this time since the Nirvana of the blessed Sakya Simha in this terrestrial world one hundred fifty years, it is said, had elapsed. And a Bodhisattva was in this country the sole supreme ruler of the land; he was the illustrious Nagarjuna who dwelt in Sadarhadvana.

— Rajatarangini (I168-I173)

 الفن الكوشاني

المقالة الرئيسية: Kushan art, Greco-Buddhist art, and Art of Mathura

Portrait of a Kushan prince from Khalchayan (left), and head of a Gandhara Bodhisattava (right), said to have similar characteristics (Philadelphia Museum of Art).

The art and culture of Gandhara, at the crossroads of the Kushan hegemony, developed the traditions of Greco-Buddhist art and are the best known expressions of Kushan influences to Westerners. Several direct depictions of Kushans are known from Gandhara, where they are represented with a tunic, belt and trousers and play the role of devotees to the Buddha, as well as the Bodhisattva and future Buddha Maitreya.

According to Benjamin Rowland, the first expression of Kushan art appears at Khalchayan at the end of the 2nd century BC. It is derived from Hellenistic art, and possibly from the art of the cities of Ai-Khanoum and Nysa, and clearly has similarities with the later Art of Gandhara, and may even have been at the origin of its development. Rowland particularly draws attention to the similarity of the ethnic types represented at Khalchayan and in the art of Gandhara, and also in the style of portraiture itself. For example, Rowland find a great proximity between the famous head of a Yuezhi prince from Khalchayan, and the head of Gandharan Bodhisattvas, giving the example of the Gandharan head of a Bodhisattva in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The similarity of the Gandhara Bodhisattva with the portrait of the Kushan ruler Heraios is also striking. According to Rowland the Bactrian art of Khalchayan thus survived for several centuries through its influence in the art of Gandhara, thanks to the patronage of the Kushans.

During the Kushan Empire, many images of Gandhara share a strong resemblance to the features of Greek, Syrian, Persian and Indian figures. These Western-looking stylistic signatures often include heavy drapery and curly hair, representing a composite (the Greeks, for example, often possessed curly hair).

As the Kushans took control of the area of Mathura as well, the Art of Mathura developed considerably, and free-standing statues of the Buddha came to be mass-produced around this time, possibly encouraged by doctrinal changes in Buddhism allowing to depart from the aniconism that had prevailed in the Buddhist sculptures at Mathura, Bharhut or Sanchi from the end of the 2nd century BC. The artistic cultural influence of kushans declined slowly due to Hellenistic Greek and Indian influences.

• 

  Kushan costume.

• 

  Detail of the face of a Kushan devotee.

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  Flaming Buddha with Kushan devotees around Maitreya.

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  Maitreya, with Kushan devotee couple. 2nd century Gandhara.

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  Detail of Kushan devotee.

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  Maitreya, with Kushan devotees, left and right. 2nd century Gandhara.

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  Maitreya, with Indian (left) and Kushan (right) devotees.

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  Kushans worshipping the Buddha's bowl. 2nd century Gandhara.

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  The "Kanishka casket", with the Buddha surrounded by Brahma and Indra, and Kanishka on the lower part, 127.

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  Buddha triad and kneeling Kushan devotee couple. 3rd century.

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  Stucco head of a Kushan man. Gandhara.

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  Kushan devotee in the traditional costume with tunic and boots, 2nd century, Gandhara.

• 

  Butkara stupa under the Kushans.

 النظام النقدي للكوشان

المقالة الرئيسية: Kushan coinage

Kushan gold ingots, from the Dalverzin Tepe treasure, 1st century CE

The Kushans used gold ingots as part of their monetary system, as shown by the gold treasure discovered in 1972 in Dalverzin Tepe. The main objects from the treasure were circular and parallelepipedic ingots, followed by various decorative objects and jewellery items. The circular ingots used to be progressively cut up as needed, depending on the amount required for a transaction. On the contrary, the parallelepipedic ingots were used to stock wealth in a not-divisible form; these ingots bear inscriptions in Kharoshthi mentioning their weight and the god Mitra (protector of contractual relations) These ingots are all attributed to the monetary system of the Kushan Empire.

The coinage of the Kushans was abundant and an important tool of propaganda in promoting each Kushan ruler. One of the names for Kushan coins was Dinara, which ultimately came from the Roman name Denarius aureus. The coinage of the Kushans was copied as far as the Kushano-Sasanians in the west, and the kingdom of Samatata in Bengal to the east. The coinage of the Gupta Empire was also initially derived from the coinage of the Kushan Empire, adopting its weight standard, techniques and designs, following the conquests of Samudragupta in the northwest. The imagery on Gupta coins then became more Indian in both style and subject matter compared to earlier dynasties, where Greco-Roman and Persian styles were mostly followed.

It has long been suggested that the gold contained in Kushan coins was ultimately of Roman origin, and that Roman coins were imported as a consequence of trade and melted in India to mint Kushan coins. However, a recent archaeometallurgical study of trace elements through proton activation analysis has shown that Kushan gold contains high concentrations of platinum and palladium, which rules out the hypothesis of a Roman provenance. To this day, the origin of Kushan gold remains unknown.

 الإتصال بروما

المقالة الرئيسية: Indo-Roman trade relations

Roman coinage among the Kushans

Coin of the Roman Emperor Trajan, found together with coins of Kanishka the Great at the Ahin Posh Monastery

Kushan ring with inscription in the Brahmi script, with portraits of Roman rulers Septimus Severus and Julia Domna

Indian imitation of a coin of Septimius Severus. AD 193-211

Several Roman sources describe the visit of ambassadors from the Kings of Bactria and India during the 2nd century, probably referring to the Kushans.

Historia Augusta, speaking of Emperor Hadrian (117–138) tells:

مجالد يوناني-روماني على آنية زجاجية، بگرام، القرن الثاني.

A coin of the Roman Emperor Trajan, found together with coins of Kanishka, at the Ahin Posh Buddhist Monastery, Afghanistan.

Reges Bactrianorum legatos ad eum, amicitiae petendae causa, supplices miserunt "The kings of the Bactrians sent supplicant ambassadors to him, to seek his friendship."

Also in 138, according to Aurelius Victor (Epitome‚ XV, 4), and Appian (Praef., 7), Antoninus Pius, successor to Hadrian, received some Indian, Bactrian, and Hyrcanian ambassadors.

Some Kushan coins have an effigy of "Roma", suggesting a strong level of awareness and some level of diplomatic relations.

The summer capital of the Kushan Empire in Begram has yielded a considerable amount of goods imported from the Roman Empire—in particular, various types of glassware. The Chinese described the presence of Roman goods in the Kushan realm:

"Precious things from Da Qin [the Roman Empire] can be found there [in Tianzhu or Northwestern India], as well as fine cotton cloths, fine wool carpets, perfumes of all sorts, sugar candy, pepper, ginger, and black salt."

— Hou Hanshu

Parthamaspates of Parthia, a client of Rome and ruler of the kingdom of Osroene, is known to have traded with the Kushan Empire, goods being sent by sea and through the Indus River.

انظر أيضاً: التجارة الرومانية مع الهند

 الإتصال بالصين

قالب:Continental Asia in 100 CE During the 1st and 2nd century AD, the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north, putting them at the center of the profitable Central Asian commerce. They are related to have collaborated militarily with the Chinese against nomadic incursion, particularly when they allied with the Han dynasty general Ban Chao against the Sogdians in 84, when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king of Kashgar. Around 85, they also assisted the Chinese general in an attack on Turpan, east of the Tarim Basin.

Kushan coinage in China

عملة برونزية من كانيشكا عـُثر عليها في خوتان، حوض تريم..

Eastern Han inscriptions on lead ingot, using barbarous Greek alphabet in the style of the Kushans, excavated in Shaanxi, 1st–2nd century AD. Gansu Provincial Museum.

الراهب البوذي الكوشاني لوكاكسما، أول مترجم معروف لنصوص مهايانا البوذية إلى الصينية، حوالي 170.

In recognition for their support to the Chinese, the Kushans requested a Han princess, but were denied, even after they had sent presents to the Chinese court. In retaliation, they marched on Ban Chao in 86 with a force of 70,000, but were defeated by a smaller Chinese force. The Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire during the reign of emperor He of Han (89–106).

The Kushans are again recorded to have sent presents to the Chinese court in 158–159 during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han.

Following these interactions, cultural exchanges further increased, and Kushan Buddhist missionaries, such as Lokaksema, became active in the Chinese capital cities of Luoyang and sometimes Nanjing, where they particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. They were the first recorded promoters of Hinayana and Mahayana scriptures in China, greatly contributing to the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism.

 الإضمحلال

 Kushano-Sassanians

المقالة الرئيسية: Kushano-Sasanians

Sasanian control of the Western Kushans

Hormizd I Kushanshah (AD 277–286), king of the Indo-Sasanians, maintained Sasanian rule in former Kushan territories of the northwest. Naqsh-e Rustam Bahram II panel.

The Kushano-Sasanians imitated the Kushans in some of their Bactrian coinage. Coin of Sasanian ruler Peroz I Kushanshah, with Bactrian legend around "Peroz the Great Kushan King"

After the death of Vasudeva I in 225, the Kushan empire split into western and eastern halves. The Western Kushans (in Afghanistan) were soon subjugated by the Persian Sasanian Empire and lost Sogdiana, Bactria, and Gandhara to them. The Sassanian king Shapur I (240–270) claims in his Naqsh-e Rostam inscription possession of the territory of the Kushans (Kūšān šahr) as far as "Purushapura" (Peshawar), suggesting he controlled Bactria and areas as far as the Hindu-Kush or even south of it:

I, the Mazda-worshipping lord, Shapur, king of kings of Iran and An-Iran... (I) am the Master of the Domain of Iran (Ērānšahr) and possess the territory of Persis, Parthian... Hindestan, the Domain of the Kushan up to the limits of Paškabur and up to Kash, Sughd, and Chachestan.

— Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht, Naqsh-e Rostam

This is also confirmed by the Rag-i-Bibi inscription in modern Afghanistan.

The Sasanians deposed the Western dynasty and replaced them with Persian vassals known as the Kushanshas (in Bactrian on their coinage: KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ Koshano Shao) also called Indo-Sasanians or Kushano-Sasanians. The Kushano-Sasanians ultimately became very powerful under Hormizd I Kushanshah (277–286) and rebelled against the Sasanian Empire, while continuing many aspects of the Kushan culture, visible in particular in their titulature and their coinage.

 "Little Kushans" and Gupta suzerainty

Gupta control over the Eastern Kushans

The expression Devaputra Shāhi Shāhānu Shāhi in Middle Brahmi in the Allahabad pillar (Line 23), claimed by Samudragupta to be under his dominion.

Coin minted in the Punjab area with the name "Samudra" ( Sa-mu-dra), thought to be the Gupta ruler Samudragupta. These coins imitate those of the last Kushan ruler Kipunada, and precede the coinage of the first Kidarite Huns in northwestern India. Circa 350-375.

The Eastern Kushan kingdom, also known as the "Little Kushans", was based in the Punjab. Around 270 their territories on the Gangetic plain became independent under local dynasties such as the Yaudheyas. Then in the mid-4th century they were subjugated by the Gupta Empire under Samudragupta. In his inscription on the Allahabad pillar Samudragupta proclaims that the Dēvaputra-Shāhi-Shāhānushāhi (referring to the last Kushan rulers, being a deformation of the Kushan regnal titles Devaputra, Shao and Shaonanoshao: "Son of God, King, King of Kings") are now under his dominion, and that they were forced to "self-surrender, offering (their own) daughters in marriage and a request for the administration of their own districts and provinces". This suggests that by the time of the Allahabad inscription the Kushans still ruled in Punjab, but under the suzerainty of the Gupta Emperor.

Numimastics indicate that the coinage of the Eastern Kushans was much weakened: silver coinage was abandoned altogether, and gold coinage was debased. This suggests that the Eastern Kushans had lost their central trading role on the trade routes that supplied luxury goods and gold. Still, the Buddhist art of Gandhara continued to flourish, and cities such as Sirsukh near Taxila were established.

 Sasanian, Kidarite and Alchon invasions

المقالة الرئيسية: Sasanian Empire, Kidarites, and Alchon Huns

In the east around 350, Shapur II regained the upper hand against the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom and took control of large territories in areas now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan, possibly as a consequence of the destruction of the Kushano-Sasanians by the Chionites. The Kushano-Sasanian still ruled in the north. Important finds of Sasanian coinage beyond the Indus River in the city of Taxila only start with the reigns of Shapur II (r.309-379) and Shapur III (r.383-388), suggesting that the expansion of Sasanian control beyond the Indus was the result of the wars of Shapur II "with the Chionites and Kushans" in 350-358 as described by Ammianus Marcellinus. They probably maintained control until the rise of the Kidarites under their ruler Kidara.

In 360 a Kidarite Hun named Kidara overthrew the Kushano-Sasanians and remnants of the old Kushan dynasty, and established the Kidarite Kingdom. The Kushan style of Kidarite coins indicates they claimed Kushan heritage. The Kidarite seem to have been rather prosperous, although on a smaller scale than their Kushan predecessors. East of the Punjab, the former eastern territories of the Kushans were controlled by the mighty Gupta Empire.

The remnants of Kushan culture under the Kidarites in the northwest were ultimately wiped out in the end of the 5th century by the invasions of the Alchon Huns (sometimes considered as a branch of the Hephthalites), and later the Nezak Huns.

 الحكام

One of the most recent list of rulers with dates is as follows:

• Heraios (c. 1 - 30), first Kushan ruler, generally Kushan ruling period is disputed
• Kujula Kadphises (c. 30 - c. 80)
• Vima Takto, (c. 80 - c. 105) alias Soter Megas or "Great Saviour."
• Vima Kadphises (c. 105 - c. 127) the first great Kushan emperor
• Kanishka I (127 - c. 147)
• Vāsishka (c. 151 - c. 155)
• Huvishka (c. 155 - c. 187)
• Vasudeva I (c. 191 - to at least 230), the last of the great Kushan emperors
• Kanishka II (c. 226 - 240)
• Vashishka (c. 240 - 250)
• Kanishka III (c. 255 - 275)
• Vasudeva II (c. 290 - 310)
  • Vasudeva III reported son of Vasudeva III,a King, uncertain.
    • Vasudeva IV reported possible child of Vasudeva III,ruling in Kandahar, uncertain
      • Vasudeva of Kabul reported Possible child of Vasudeva IV,ruling in Kabul, uncertain.
• Chhu (c. 310? - 325?)
• شاكا الأول (c. 325 - 345)
• كيپونادا (ح. 350 - 375)

 معرض الصور

• 

  Kushan devotee (Mathura).

 انظر ايضاً

تاريخ جنوب آسيا (شبه القارة الهندية)
العصر الحجري	70,000–3300 ق.م.
• ثقافة مهرگره	• 7000–3300 ق.م.
حضارة وادي الإندوس	3300–1700 ق.م.
ثقافة هرپـّان المتأخرة	1700–1300 ق.م.
الفترة الڤيدية	1500–500 ق.م.
العصر الحديدي	1200–300 ق.م.
• مهاجناپادا	• 700–300 ق.م.
• امبراطورية ماگادا	• 545 ق.م. - 550
• امبراطورية موريا	• 321–184 ق.م.
الممالك الوسيطة	250 ق.م.–1279 م
• امبراطورية چولا	• 250 ق.م.–1070 م
• ساتاڤاهانا	• 230 ق.م.–220 م
• امبراطورية كوشان	• 60–240
• امبراطورية گوپتا	• 280–550
• امبراطورية پالا	• 750–1174
• أسرة چالوكيا	• 543–753
• راشتراكوتا	• 753–982
• امبراطورية چالوكيا الغربية	• 973–1189
• مملكة هويسالا	1040–1346
• امبراطورية كاكاتيا	1083–1323
السلطنات الإسلامية	1206–1596
• سلطنة دلهي	• 1206–1526
• سلطنات الدكن	• 1490–1596
مملكة أهوم	1228–1826
امبراطورية ڤيجايانگرا	1336–1646
سلطنة المغول	1526–1858
امبراطورية ماراثا	1674–1818
سلطنة دراني	1747–1823
اتحاد السيخ	1716–1799
امبراطورية السيخ	1801–1849
الممالك الإقليمية 1100–1800 مملكة كوتشين 1102–1949 م مملكة تراڤانكوره 1102–1949 م مملكة أهوم 1228–1826 مملكة چيترادورگا 1300–1779 م مملكة گره‌وال 1358–1803 م مملكة ميسور 1399–1947 مملكة كلادي 1499–1763 م مملكة ثوندايمان 1650–1948 م مملكة مدوراي 1559–1736 م مملكة ثنجاڤور 1572–1918 م مملكة ماراڤا 1600–1750 م
شركة الهند الشرقية البريطانية	1757–1858
الراج البريطاني	1858–1947
الدول المعاصرة	1947–الحاضر
تواريخ الأمم بنگلادش • بوتان • جمهورية الهند المالديڤ • نيپال • پاكستان • سري لانكا
تواريخ إقليمية أسام • بلوشستان • البنغال هيماچال پرادش • اوريسا • المناطق الپاكستانية شمال الهند • جنوب الهند • التبت
تآريخ متخصصة العملات • الأسرات • الاقتصاد علم الهنديات • اللغة • الأدب • البحري العسكري • العلم والتكنولوجيا • خط زمني

• Gujjar
• Yuezhi
• Pre-Islamic period of Afghanistan
• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
• Indo-Greek Kingdom
• Indo-Scythians
• Indo-Parthian Kingdom
• Indo-Sassanid
• Greco-Buddhism
• Kushanshahr

 الهامش

الموسوعة المعرفية الشاملة

 المصادر

• Avari, Burjor (2007). India: The Ancient Past. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-35616-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Bopearachchi, Osmund (2003). De l'Indus à l'Oxus, Archéologie de l'Asie Centrale (in French). Lattes: Association imago-musée de Lattes. ISBN 2-9516679-2-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Faccenna, Domenico (1980). Butkara I (Swāt, Pakistan) 1956-1962, Volume III 1 (in English). Rome: IsMEO (Istituto Italiano Per Il Medio Ed Estremo Oriente).
• Falk, Harry. 1995-1996. Silk Road Art and Archaeology IV.
• Falk, Harry. 2001. "The yuga of Sphujiddhvaja and the era of the Kuṣāṇas." Silk Road Art and Archaeology VII, pp. 121-136.
• Falk, Harry. 2004. "The Kaniṣka era in Gupta records." Harry Falk. Silk Road Art and Archaeology X , pp. 167-176.
• Goyal, S. R. "Ancient Indian Inscriptions" Kusumanjali Book World, Jodhpur (India), 2005.
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu. Draft annotated English translation.[2]
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [3]
• Keay, John (2000). India: A History. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3797-0. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Lebedynsky, Iaroslav (2006). Les Saces. Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2877723372. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Rosenfield, John M. (1993). The Dynastic Art of the Kushans. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ISBN 8121505798. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Sivaramamurti, C. (1976). Śatarudrīya: Vibhūti of Śiva's Iconography. Delhi: Abhinav Publications. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

 للاستزادة

• Foucher, M. A. 1901. "Notes sur la geographie ancienne du Gandhâra (commentaire à un chaptaire de Hiuen-Tsang)." BEFEO No. 4, Oct. 1901, pp. 322-369.
• Hargreaves, H. (1910-11): "Excavations at Shāh-jī-kī Dhērī"; Archaeological Survey of India, 1910-11, pp. 25-32.
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