Kujula Kadphises

Chinese accounts

Coin of Kujula Kadphises. Circa AD 30/50-80.
Obv Laureate Julio-Claudian style head right. Greek legend Greek legend around: ΚΟΖΟΛΑ ΚΑΔΑΦΕϹ XOPANOV ZAOOV.
Rev Kujula Kadphises seated right, raising hand; tripartite symbol to left. Legend Khushanasa Yauasa Kuyula Kaphasa Sacha Dhramatidasa.

The rise of Kujula Kadphises is described in the Chinese historical chronicle, the Hou Hanshu:

More than a hundred years later, the prince [xihou] of Guishuang, named Qiujiuque [Kujula Kadphises], attacked and exterminated the four other xihou. He established himself as king, and his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang [Kushan] King. He invaded Anxi [Indo-Parthia], and took the Gaofu [Kabul] region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda [Paktiya] and Jibin [Kapisha and Gandhara]. Qiujiuque [Kujula Kadphises] was more than eighty years old when he died.^[4]

In the process of their expansion eastward, Kujula Kadphises and his son Vima Takto seem to have displaced the Indo-Parthian kingdom, established in northwestern India by the Parthian Gondophares since around 20CE:

His son, Yangaozhen [probably Vema Tahk(tu) or, possibly, his brother Sadaṣkaṇa], became king in his place. He defeated Tianzhu [North-western India] and installed Generals to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang [Kushan] king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi.^[5]

This invasion of Kujula Kadphises is thought to have occurred during the reign of Abdagases and Sases, the successors of Gondophares, after 45 CE.

Genealogy according to the Rabatak inscription

Kujula Kadphises coin. Obv Helmeted soldier head right. Rev Warrior standing right, holding shield and spear.

The connection of Kujula with other Kushan rulers is described in the Rabatak inscription, discovered in Rbatak, Afghanistan some years ago, which was written by Kanishka. Kanishka makes the list of the kings who ruled up to his time: Kujula Kadphises as his great-grandfather, Vima Taktu as his grandfather, Vima Kadphises as his father, and himself Kanishka:

And he [Kanishka] gave orders to make images of the same, (namely) of these gods who are written herein, and he gave orders to make (them) for these kings: for King Kujula Kadphises (his) great grandfather, and for King Vima Taktu (his) grandfather, and for King Vima Kadphises (his) father, and for himself, King Kanishka.^[6]

Greek script

The Greek script on the coins of Kujula (and all the Kushans with him) is barbarized. For example, ΣΤΗΡΟΣΣΥ on his Hermaeus coins is thought to be a deformation of ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ (Sotiros), the traditional title of Hermaeus on his coins. The Greek word for "king" is written ΒΑϹΙΛΕΩΣ, with both a lunate sigma (Ϲ) and a normal sigma (Σ) in the same word.

The Kushans also added one character to the Greek script: it is the letter Ϸ, corresponding to the sound "Sh", as in "Kushan".

"Buddha" coins

Coin of Kujula Kadphises.
Obv Kujula seated cross legged facing, Kharoshti legend: Kuyula Kadaphasa Kushanasa.
Rev Zeus on the reverse, Greek legend: ΚΟΖΟΛΑ XOPANOY ZAOOY.

Kujula Kadphises Tetradrachm. Obv Brahma bull standing right, with Buddhist Triratana above. Blundered Greek legend. Rev Camel standing right. Kharoshthi legend Maharayasa Rayatirayasa Kuyula Kara Kapasa.

Some coins of Kujula also represent a cross-legged seated figure, formerly said to be one of the first known representations of the Buddha on a coin (Whitehead). Unfortunately, Whitehead's attribution of this coin to Kujula, and the claim that the seated figure on the obverse represents the Buddha, is now known to be incorrect. The correct attribution of this coin is to the Kushan king Huvishka, who was Kujula's great-great-grandson. The obverse shows Huvishka seated on a couch. The first known coins carrying a representation of the Buddha were issued by Kujula's Great-grandson (and Huvishka's father) Kanishka I.

Roman-style coins

Coin of Kujula Kadphises, in the style of the Roman emperor Augustus. Legend in Kushan language, corrupted Greek script: ΚΟΖΟΛΑ ΚΑΔΑΦΕΣ ΧΟϷΑΝΟΥ ΖΑΟΟΥ ("Kozola Kadaphes Koshanou Zaoou"): "Kudjula Kadphises, ruler of the Kushans". British Museum.

Some fewer coins of Kujula Kadphises also adopted a Roman style, with effigies closely resembling Caesar Augustus, although all the legends were then associated with Kujula himself. Such influences are linked to exchanges with the Roman Empire around that date.

Bibliography

• "Catalogue of coins in the Panjab Museum, Lahore. Vol. I Indo-Greek coins", Whitehead, Argonaut Inc. Publishers, Chicago.
• Chavannes, Édouard (1907). Les pays d'occident d'après le Heou Han chou. T’oung pao 8. pp. 149-244.
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu. Draft annotated English translation.
• Hill, John E. (2009). Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, First to Second Centuries CE. BookSurge. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.