Kanishka (Kanishka the Great), (Sanskrit: कनिष्क, Bactrian language:Κανηϸκι, Middle Chinese: 迦腻色伽 (Ka-ni-sak-ka > New Chinese: Jianisejia)) was an emperor of the Kushan dynasty (127–151) who ruled an empire extending from Turfan in the Tarim Basin to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plainand famous for his military, political, and spiritual achievements. His main capital was at Purushpura (Peshawar in present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Pakistan) with regional capitals at the location of present-day Bagram inAfghanistan and Mathura in India.
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Genealogy
Kanishka was a Kushan of probableYuezhi ethnicity. He used an Eastern Iranian, Indo-European language known as Bactrian (called "αρια," i. e. "Aryan" in the Rabatak inscription), which appears in Greek script in his inscriptions, though it is not certain what language the Kushans originally spoke; possibly some form ofTocharian – a "centum" Indo-European language. The "Aryan" language of the inscription was a "satem" Middle Iranian language,[1] possibly the one spoken in "Arya" or "Ariana" (the region around modern Herat) and was, therefore, quite possibly unrelated to the original language of the Kushans (or the Yuezhi), but adopted by them to facilitate communication with local people.
Kanishka was the successor of Vima Kadphises, as demonstrated by an impressive genealogy of the Kushan kings, known as the Rabatak inscription.[2][3] The connection of Kanishka with other Kushan rulers is described in the Rabatak inscription as Kanishka makes the list of the kings who ruled up to his time: Kujula Kadphises as his great-grandfather, Vima Taktu as his grandfather, Vima Kadphises as his father, and himself Kanishka:
A number of legends about Kanishka, a great patron of Buddhism, were preserved in Buddhist religious traditions. He is considered by Buddhists to have been one of the greatest Buddhist kings.
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