Oesho

Oesho (Bactrian: Οηϸο) was a Kushan deity represented on Kushan coins. He was apparently one of the titular deities of the dynasty. He is generally identified with Shiva.[1]

Three-faced Oesho on coin of Huvishka, with traditional attributes: thunder (vajra), trident, club (Daṇḍa), vase. Bactrian legend Οηϸο[1]
Kushan worshipper with Oesho, Bactria, 3rd century CE.[2]

By the time of the Kushan emperor Ooishki (Bactrian Οοηϸκι; often Romanised as Huvishka), who reigned in 140–180 CE, Oesho and the female deity Ardoksho (Ardoxsho; Ardochsho; Ardokhsho) were the only deities appearing on Kushan coins.

Connections to several contemporaneous deities worshipped by neighbouring cultures have been suggested.

  • During the Kushan era, Oesho was often linked to the Hindu concept of Ishvara, which was embodied by the god Shiva;[3] Oesho may share the same etymology as Ishvara and/or represent a variant of the word in the Bactrian language spoken by the Kushans.[4][5]
  • Similarities have retrospectively been identified with the Avestan Vayu.[6][7]
  • Some later representations, evidently influenced by Greco-Bactrian culture, depict Oesho with a trishula, the traditional implement of Shiva, similar to a trident that is part of Poseidon’s iconography.[8]
  • Oesho, with a second human face, and the head of a horned animal
  • Coin of the Kushan king Kanishka II with, on the reverse, a depiction of Oesho and the word "Oesho" in modified Greek script.

Notes
  1. Rosenfield, John M. (1967). The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. University of California Press. p. 93.
  2. Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition
  3. Sivaramamurti, p. 56-59.
  4. The Dynasty Arts of the Kushans. University of California Press. 1967. pp. 92–93.
  5. Blurton, T. Richard (1993). Hindu Art. Harvard University Press. p. 84. ISBN 0-674-39189-6.
  6. Sims-Williams, Nicolas. "Bactrian Language". Encyclopaedia Iranica. 3. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  7. H. Humbach, 1975, p.402-408. K.Tanabe, 1997, p.277, M.Carter, 1995, p.152. J.Cribb, 1997, p.40. References cited in "De l'Indus à l'Oxus".
  8. Coins of Vima Kadphises

References
  • Bopearachchi, Osmund (2003). De l'Indus à l'Oxus, Archéologie de l'Asie Centrale (in French). Lattes: Association imago-musée de Lattes. ISBN 2-9516679-2-2.
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