The coinage of foreign invading tribes (135 B.C. – 250 A.D.) Part VI

The Indo-Greeks declined first in Bactria because of hordes of foreigners like Shakas (Indo-Scythians), Pahlavas (Indo-Parthians) and Kushans who took over their territories. The Shakas snatched Bactria from its last Bactro-Greek ruler, Heliocles around 135 B.C. and later spread to the Indian territories of the Indo-Greeks. Two lines of Shaka invaders are known from their coins in India, one called Vonones ruling Baluchistan (Gadrosia) and Kandahar (Arachosia) and the other dynasty under Maues (Moga?) around Indus region in Punjab.
Maues issued coins in silver and copper with Indian and Greek images like a copper coin with elephant’s head on obverse and a Greek symbol, Caduceus on the reverse. He introduced elements of his nomadic past by introducing a silver coin with the image of the king on a horse with spear that became the prototype of all nomadic coinage issued later.

The Kushans rose from a Central Asian tribe called Yuezhi by the Chinese sources and lorded over a huge kingdom stretching from Bactria to as far as Mathura in North India. The Kushans began their tryst with India under Kujula Kadphises (r. 30-80 A.D.) around 45-60 A.D.
Kujula issued a coinage in copper on the lines of last Indo-Greek ruler of India, Hermaeus with the title ‘Koshano’. He introduced a distinct coin with images of an Indian bull and a Bactrian double-humped camel with Kharosthi and Bactrian legends. He was briefly succeeded by his son/successor, Vima Takto (80-90 A.D.) who issued a nameless coinage with the title ‘Soter Megas’ (Great saviour).
However, his successor, Vima Kadphises (90-100 A.D.) changed the paradigm of Indian coinage by introducing gold coinage for the first time. His coinage, probably fashioned after Roman gold coinage pouring into India through Indo-Roman trade, was issued as double dinara, dinara, half dinara and so on. The coins portray the king as an elderly stocky bearded man dressed in a long coat with huge boots in various poses like seated on a low couch or cross-legged on a lump of clouds/rocks or standing at a sacrificial altar or riding a horse carriage. Vima Kadphises’ coins feature the first images of Shiva with his bull, Nandi on the reverse with Kharosthi inscriptions.
He was succeeded by the most famous Kushana ruler, Kanishka I (100-127 A.D.?) who was content with being portrayed in the ‘standing-sacrificer’ pose but used images of Indo-Aryan, Greek, Iranian and even Sumero-Elamite deities, demonstrating wide syncretism in his religious beliefs. Kanishka's coins began his reign by issuing coins with Greek deities with Greek inscriptions.
His later coins use the Bactrian language with a corrupted Greek script (using the letter Ϸ to represent sh as in the word 'Kushan' and 'Kanishka') and the Greek deities were replaced by Persian deities. Later he included Indian deities like Lakshmi (called Ardoksho, a Bactrian name) Shiva (Oesho ~ Eeshwar) , Parvati, Karthikeya (Mahaseno) and Buddha (Boddho) on his coins and issued them from his twin capital cities Purushpura (modern Peshawar) and Mathura which were under Kanishka’s direct rule.
Kanishka’s successors Huvishka I and Vasudeva I continued his style of coinage till the Kushan dynasty was routed by local rulers at the beginning of the third century. The Kushans were thus responsible for the introduction of gold coins into the sub-continent with richer imagery of both the kings and deities that inspired later rulers.