page_title: Kanishka
section_title: Iranian / Indic phase
hierarchical_section_title: Kanishka / Kanishka's coins / Iranian / Indic phase
caption_attribution_description: Kushan divinity Adsho (carnelian seal). British Museum. Personal photograph 2005.
context_page_description: Kanishka I, or Kanishka the Great, an emperor of the Kushan dynasty in the second century, is famous for his military, political, and spiritual achievements. A descendant of Kujula Kadphises, founder of the Kushan empire, Kanishka came to rule an empire in Bactria extending to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain. The main capital of his empire was located at Puruṣapura in Gandhara, with another major capital at Kapisa.
  His conquests and patronage of Buddhism played an important role in the development of the Silk Road, and in the transmission of Mahayana Buddhism from Gandhara across the Karakoram range to China. Around 127 CE, he replaced Greek by Bactrian as the official language of administration in the empire.
  Earlier scholars believed that Kanishka ascended the Kushan throne in 78 CE, and that this date was used as the beginning of the Saka calendar era. However, historians no longer regard this date as that of Kanishka's accession. Falk estimates that Kanishka came to the throne in 127 CE.
context_section_description: Following the transition to the Bactrian language on coins, Iranian and Indic divinities replace the Greek ones:
  ΑΡΔΟΧϷΟ (ardoxsho, Ashi Vanghuhi)
  ΛΡΟΟΑΣΠΟ (lrooaspo, Drvaspa)
  ΑΘϷΟ (adsho, Atar)
  ΦΑΡΡΟ (pharro, personified khwarenah)
  ΜΑΟ (mao, Mah)
  ΜΙΘΡΟ, ΜΙΙΡΟ, ΜΙΟΡΟ, ΜΙΥΡΟ (mithro, miiro, mioro, miuro, variants of Mithra)
  ΜΟΖΔΟΟΑΝΟ (mozdaooano, "Mazda the victorious?")
  ΝΑΝΑ, ΝΑΝΑΙΑ, ΝΑΝΑϷΑΟ (variants of pan-Asiatic Nana, Sogdian nny, in a Zoroastrian context Aredvi Sura Anahita)
  ΜΑΝΑΟΒΑΓΟ (manaobago, Vohu Manah )
  ΟΑΔΟ (oado, Vata)
  ΟΡΑΛΑΓΝΟ (orlagno, Verethragna)
  Only a few Buddhist divinities were used as well:
  ΒΟΔΔΟ (boddo, Buddha),
  ϷΑΚΑΜΑΝΟ ΒΟΔΔΟ (shakamano boddho, Shakyamuni Buddha)
  ΜΕΤΡΑΓΟ ΒΟΔΔΟ (metrago boddo, the bodhisattava Maitreya)
  Only a few Hindu divinities were used as well:
  ΟΗϷΟ (oesho, Shiva).  A recent study indicate that oesho may be Avestan Vayu conflated with Shiva.
caption: Kushan Carnelian seal representing the Iranian divinity Adsho (ΑΘϷΟ legend in Greek letters), with triratana symbol left, and Kanishka's dynastic mark right. The divinity uses stirrups.
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