Eastern Expansion of the Kusana Empire

In the article “Eastern Expansion of the Kusāṇa Empire,” Parmeshwari Lal Gupta critically examines Sri Adris Banerji’s assertion that the Kusāṇa dynasty extended its political control deep into eastern India. Banerji had compiled numismatic, epigraphic and sculptural evidence to argue that the Kusāṇa kings conquered Magadha and held sway over Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal and parts of Orissa. Gupta opens by summarizing Banerji’s list of inscriptions from Sārnāth, Saheṭ‑Maheṭ and Gaya that mention King Kaniṣka. He adds a further inscription from Kauśāmbī but notes that its dating and iconographic style do not firmly associate it with the Kusāṇa period. This leads him to question whether any of these finds demonstrate political sovereignty. Gupta emphasizes that the so‑called “Kusāṇa script” refers merely to a developed form of Brahmi used throughout northern India. The images and sculptures bearing this script were produced in the Mathurā workshops and transported to places where they have been discovered, so their presence does not prove Kusāṇa rule. He shows that the scarcity of Kusāṇa inscriptions in Bihar contrasts sharply with the abundance of local inscriptions and coins that continue to cite indigenous kings, implying political independence. Turning to coinage, Gupta analyses the distribution of Kusāṇa copper, silver and gold coins across India. He argues that coins typically circulate short distances because ancient economies relied on local issues; long‑distance distribution generally results from trade, not conquest. The occasional finds of Kusāṇa coins in eastern provinces may be due to later economic exchanges. He illustrates this by comparing the circulation of Indo‑Greek and Indo‑Scythian coins, which are absent in regions they never ruled. Gupta also reconstructs the histories of regional states like Kauśāmbī, Pancāla and Ayodhyā, demonstrating that they had their own dynasties whose autonomy persisted through the Kusāṇa era. By correlating numismatic data with literary and archaeological sources, he concludes that the Kusāṇa Empire’s eastern boundary probably lay around Kānyakubja and that there is little evidence for political control beyond this. The spread of Kusāṇa artefacts eastward reflects economic interactions and cultural influence rather than imperial domination. His study encourages scholars to weigh epigraphic and numismatic evidence carefully and to distinguish between cultural diffusion and political expansion.

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