The Kushan Empire

 

The Kushan Empire was build under Kujula Kadphises, it was an empire in South Asia formed nearly in 1st century AD. The Kushans spread fromthe Kabul river valley to defeat other Central Asian Tribes

 and reached their peak under the 

Buddhist Emperor Kanishka (127-151) 

whose power was spread from Turfan in the Tarim Basin to Pataliputra in the Gangetic plane.

Under Kaniska I (flourished 1st century ce) and his successors, the Kushan kingdom reached its peak. It was acknowledged as one of the four great Asian powers of its time (the others being China, Rome, and Parthia). The Kushans were instrumental in spreading Buddhism in Central Asia and China and in developing Mahayana Buddhism and the Gandhara and Mathura schools of art.

The Kushans became affluent through trade, particularly with Rome, as their large issues of gold coins show. These coins, which exhibit the figures of Greek, Roman, Iranian, Hindu, and Buddhist deities and bear inscriptions in adapted Greek letters, are witness to the toleration and to the syncretism in religion and art that prevailed in the Kushan empire. After the rise of the Sāsānian dynasty in Iran and of local powers in northern India, Kushan rule declined.