Kujula Kadphises
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Kujula Kadphises (30-80 CE) (Kushan language: KOZOΛA KAΔAΦEC, Pali: Kujula Kasasa, Ancient Chinese:丘就卻) was a Kushan prince who united the Yuezhi confederation during the 1st century CE, and became the first Kushan emperor. According to the Rabatak inscription, he was the grandfather of the great Kushan king Kanishka I.
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History
The rise of Kujula Kadphises is described in the Chinese historical chronicle Hou Hanshu:
"More than a hundred years later (after their invasion of Bactria), the xihou (Ch:翖侯, "Allied Prince") of Guishuang (Badakhshan and the adjoining territories north of the Oxus), named Qiujiu Que (Ch: 丘就卻 "Ch’iu-chiu-ch’üeh", Kujula Kadphises) attacked and exterminated the four other xihou ("Allied Princes"). He set himself up as king of a kingdom called Guishang (Kushan). He invaded Anxi (Parthia) and took the Gaofu (Ch:高附 "Kao-fu", Kabul) region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puta (Parthuaia, 55 CE) and Kipin (Ch: 罽賓 "Khi-pin", Kapisa-Peshawar). Qiujiu Que (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died." (Hou Hanshu, trans. John Hill).
In the process of their expansion eastward, Kujula Kadphises and his son Vima Takto seem to have displaced the Indo-Parthian kingdom, established in northwestern India by the Parthian Gondophares since around 20CE:
"His son, Yan Gaozhen (Ch:閻高珍) (Vima Takto), became king in his place. He returned and defeated Tianzhu (Northwestern India) and installed a General 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." (Hou Hanshu, trans. John Hill).
Coinage
Most of Kujula's coins were Hellenic in inspiration. These coins used the portrait, name and title of the Indo-Greek king Hermaeus on the obverse, indicating Kujula's wish to relate himself to the Indo-Greek king. Since the Kushans and their predecessors the Yuezhi were conversant with the Greek language and Greek coinage, the adoption of Hermaeus cannot have been accidental: it either expressed a filiation of Kujula Kadphises to Hermaeus by alliance (possibly through Sapadbizes or Heraios), or simply a wish to show himself as heir to the Indo-Greek tradition and prestige, possibly to accommodate Greek populations. These coins bear the name of Kujula Kadphises in Kharoshti, with representations of the Greek demi-god Heracles on the back, and titles ("Yavugasa") presenting Kujula as a "ruler" (not actual king), and a probable Buddhist ("Dharmathidasa", follower of the Dharma). Later coins, possibly posthumous, did describe Kujula as "Maharajasa", or "Great King".
Greek script
The Greek script on the coins of Kujula (and all the Kushans with him) is barbarized. For example, ΣTHPOΣΣΥ on his Hermaeus coins is thought to be a deformation of ΣΩTHPOΣ (Sotiros), the traditional title of Hermaeus on his coins. The Greek word for "king" BACIΛEΩΣ should be written BAΣIΛEΩΣ. The Kushans also added one character to the Greek script: it is the Þ letter, corresponding to the sound "Sh", as in "Kushan".
Buddha coins
Image:KujulaBuddha.jpg Some coins of Kujula also represent a cross-legged seated figure, said to be one of the first known representations of the Buddha on a coin (Whitehead). Unfortunately, Whitehead's attribution of this coin to Kujula, and the claim that the seated figure on the obverse represents the Buddha, is now known to be incorrect. The correct attribution of this coin is to the Kushan king Huvishka, who was Kujula's great-great-grandson. The obverse shows Huvishka seated on a couch. The first known coins carrying a representation of the Buddha were issued by Kujula's Great-grandson (and Huvishka's father) Kanishka I.
Roman-style coins
Some fewer coins of Kujula Kadphises also adopted a Roman style, with effigies closely resembling Caesar Augustus, although all the legends were then associated with Kujula himself. Such influences are linked to exchanges with the Roman Empire around that date.
| Preceded by: Heraios | Kushan Ruler (30-80 CE) | Succeeded by: Vima Takto (In Gandhara and Punjab:) Indo-Parthian king Gondophares |