Question

What is the date of Sarnath Buddhist image inscription of Kanishka?
1. 78 A. D.
2. 81 A. D.
3. 98 A. D.
4. 121 A. D.

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 2 : 81 A. D.

The correct answer is 81 A. D.

• Inscriptions during Kanishka Reign
  • The inscriptions issued by the Kushan rulers or in areas under their rule include texts in Bactrian, written in Greek script, and in Prakrit written in Brāhmi or Kharoṣṭhi script.
  • Naturally enough, the Bactrian inscriptions were mostly found in Bactria and the Indian inscriptions in the Kushan territories to the south and east of the Hindu Kush.
  • Sarnath Buddhist image inscription of Kanishka happened during 81 A.D.
  • The use of the Greek language in Kushan inscriptions is rare and probably ceased at about the same time that Greek was superseded by Bactrian on the coinage, early in the reign of Kanishka I.
  • A few Kushan inscriptions are written in an undeciphered script; one can only speculate about the language which this conceals.

• Kanishka
  • Kaniska is the greatest king of the Kushan dynasty that ruled over the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan, and possibly areas of Central Asia north of the Kashmir region.
  • He is chiefly remembered as a great patron of Buddhism.
  • Most of what is known about Kaniska derives from Chinese sources, particularly Buddhist writings.
  • His accession has been estimated as occurring between 78 and 144 CE; his reign is believed to have lasted 23 years.
  • The year 78 marks the beginning of the Shaka era, a system of dating that Kaniska might have initiated.
  • Through inheritance and conquest, Kaniska’s kingdom covered an area extending from Bukhara (now in Uzbekistan) in the west to Patna in the Ganges (Ganga) River valley in the east and from the Pamirs (now in Tajikistan) in the north to central India in the south.
  • His capital probably was Purusapura (Peshawar, now in Pakistan).
  • He may have crossed the Pamirs and subjugated the kings of the city-states of Khotan (Hotan), Kashgar, and Yarkand (now in the Xinjiang region of China), who had previously been tributaries of the Han emperors of China.
  • Buddhism first appeared in China in the 2nd century CE.