6_Glorious_Epochs_of_Indian_History

3RD GLORIOUS EPOCH 99
who were crueller and more blood-thirsty than even the
Sakas, till they came to occupy the Punjab. However, even
in those miserable days the Indian resistance to Kushan
aggression gradually became so hot and determined that the
Kushan hordes could not make any headway in the Indian
territories this side of the Punjab.
EMPEROR KANISHKA
236. After the death of Wima Kadphises, Kanishka
ascended the Kushan-throne in 78 A. D. (in the 'opinion of
some historians in 120 A. D.^^.) ! His achievements were un­
rivalled, his ambition was boundless. It is needless to give
any detailed account in these pages. Some events, however,
have to be recounted here so far as they fall within the scope
of this book. Kanishka subdued all the nomadic, plundering
and marauding bands of the Saka-Kushans on both sides
of the Himalayas (Hindukush ?) as also all the smaller or
bigger centres of political power and forged them all into
an extensive empire^®. He proclaimed himself as the
Emperor of the Kushans and founded his capital at Purush-
pur (Peshawar of today). Thereupon he marched on the Sakas
who had established their power from Malava to Sindh and
who, being defeated by the Andhras, had acknowledged their
paramountcy^'. But the same Indian States which had been
incessantly fighting the Sakas for over a century and had
been by now thoroughly exhausted in their attempt to put
down these aggressors, had to face this new calamity of the
Kushan onslaughts and as such they found it extremely
difficult to do so. Being defeated in one or two battles, the
Satavahanas themselves had to withdraw their forces from
the north of the Narmada river to the south in order to build
up a strong defence for their own territory against Kanishka's
conquests. By that time Kanishka had conquerred all the
Saka states of Malava, Gujarath, Sourashtra and Sindh^*.
Naturally, the Sakas in those regions renounced their al­
legiance to the Andhras and paid the^pbeissance to their new
lord. Emperor Kanishka^^. Over and above, Kanishka's