page_title: Huvishka
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Huvishka / Religion
caption_attribution_description: English: Huvishka. Circa AD 152-192. AV Dinar (19mm, 8.01 g, 12h). Mint II (B). 1st emission. ÞAONANOÞAO OOhÞKI KOÞA(retrograde h)O, nimbate, diademed, and crowned half-length bust facing on clouds, head left, holding mace-scepter in right hand, left hand on hilt of sword / MAACh(retrograde h)O, Maaseno, nimbate and crowned, standing facing, holding bird-tipped and filleted scepter in right hand, left hand on hilt of sword; tamgha to left.
context_page_description: Huvishka was the emperor of the Kushan Empire from the death of Kanishka until the succession of Vasudeva I about thirty years later.
  His rule was a period of consolidation for the Empire. Huvishka's territory encompassed Balkh in Bactria to Mathura in India, locations were it is known that he minted his coinage. His reign seems to have been essentially peaceful, consolidating Kushan power in northern India, and moving the center of the Kushan Empire to the southern capital city of Mathura.
context_section_description: Huvishka was the son of Kanishka. His reign is also known as the golden age of Kushan rule. The reign of Huvishka corresponds to the first known epigraphic evidence of the Buddha Amitabha, on the bottom part of a 2nd-century statue which has been found in Govindo-Nagar, and now at the Mathura Museum. The statue is dated to "the 28th year of the reign of Huvishka", and dedicated to "Amitabha Buddha" by a family of merchants. There is also some evidence that Huvishka himself was a follower of Mahāyāna Buddhism. A Sanskrit manuscript fragment in the Schøyen Collection describes Huvishka as one who has "set forth in the Mahāyāna."
  Compared to his predecessor Kanishka, Huvishka was worshipper of Shiva.
  He also incorporates in his coins for the first and unique time in Kushan coinage the Hellenistic-Egyptian Serapis (under the name Σαραπο, "Sarapo"), and the Goddess Roma (thought to represent "Roma aeterna"), under the name "Riom" (Greek: ΡΙΟΜ).
  Some of the coins of Huvishka also featured Maaseno on his coins, the Kushan incarnation of the Hindu god Karttikeya, or Skanda, whose epithet was "Mahasena". This god being particularly important to the Yaudheyas, it may have been incorporated into Kushan coinage when the Kushans expanded into Yaudheya territory in order to establish control of the Mathura area. It may also have been adopted as a way to appease the warlike Yaudheyas. In effect, the Kushans became the suzerains of the Yaudheyas in the area.
caption: Coin of Kushan ruler Huvishka (152-192 CE), featuring Maaseno, the incarnation of the Karttikeya of the Yaudheyas.
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