Week 2 - April 22, 2002
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Buddha, The Enlightened One |
| Kushan Kingdom. Kanishka I. Circa
100-140 AD. AV Stater (7.93 gm). RAONANAO RAOKA NHRKI KORANO (Kanishka the
Kushan, King of Kings); King standing to front, head turned left, holding
standard in left hand, sacrificing with right over cylindrical altar,
flames emanate from his shoulders / BODDO and Tamgha either side of Buddha
standing to front and wearing samghati, a long pleated garment; the head
is to front with eyes wide open and large moustache, ashnisha on crown of
head, urna between eyebrows and surrounded by a double circular nimbus;
behind the body, oval shaped aureole; left hand holds a pleat of the
samghati, the right is raised in the gesture of renunciation, Abhaya Wudra.
References: Göbl 66 = BMC 16 (found at Ahin
Posh, Afghanistan); Silk Road Coins, The Hirayama Collection, 51,
same reverse die (cover coin). Third example extant, the Boston specimen,
with this obverse die, having been lost. |
| Buddhism is one of the great pan-Asian
religions and philosophical movements which has also attracted adherents
in the West. The religion is based on the teaching of Siddhartha Gautama,
commonly known as The Buddha, who lived approximately 563 to 483 BC. The
word Buddha¹, meaning awakened or enlightened one, is a title, not a
proper name. Siddhartha Gautama was born a prince in the kingdom Sakyas
situated on what is now the border area between India and Nepal. At the
age of 29, desiring to know the path that leads to the ending of all
impermanence and anguish, and desiring to ensure his permanent well-being,
he renounced everything of the world, becoming a homeless ascetic, vowing
to find the path to ultimate enlightenment and resolving to teach others
what he had discovered about the four truths and the chain of causation to
achieve Nirvana. The Kushans were one branch of the Yue Chi, a loose confederation of Indo-European nomadic tribes who had been living in northwestern China until they were driven west by the Turko-Mongol Hiug-nu in about 170 BC. The Yue Chi reached Bactria (northwest Afghanistan and Tajikistan) in the second century BC and divided the country into five chiefdoms which by the first century BC were united under king Kujula. Gradually wresting control of the area from the Scytho-Parthians, the Yue Chi moved south into the northwest Indian region of Gandhara, now parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which had suffered many conquests and had been ruled by the Mauryans, Alexander the Great, his Indo-Greek successors, Scythians and Parthians. With its capital established near Kabul the Kushan Empire was soon acknowledged as one of the great powers, the others being China, Rome and Parthia. The Kushans adopted a form of the Greek alphabet and initially made coins directly copying Bactrian Greek and Parthian issues. Kujula's son Kadphises II was the first Indian ruler to strike gold coins reminiscent of the Roman aurei circulating along the caravan routes. Under the rule of Kanishka, the third Kushan emperor, the Kushan empire reached its greatest extent, a territory ranging from the Aral Sea through areas that include present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan into northern India as far east as Benares and as far south as Sanchi. The empire was administered from two capitals: Peshawar near the Khyber Pass, and Mathura in northern India. The discovery of the Rabatak inscription has helped confirm what Joe Cribb earlier proposed, i.e., that the Kanishka Era started between 100 AD and 120 AD. It was a period of great wealth marked by extensive mercantile activities, seagoing trade and commerce along the Silk Route to China. A multi-ethnic society developed, tolerant of religious differences and marked by an eclectic culture vividly expressive in the visual arts. Kanishka¹s coinage displays a remarkable pantheon of deities of this cosmopolitan empire, drawing on the traditions of Iranian , Greco-Roman, and Indian cultures. This gold stater, the most remarkable coin in the series, bears one of the first known representations of Buddha. |
| Barry Murphy - Email |
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