Huvishka c. 150-190 CE

2nd/3rd Century CE relief showing a Kushan King (probably Huvishka) making a donation to Buddha (a Bodhisattva). Museo d'Arte Orientale, in the historic 18th-century seat of Palazzo Mazzonis, Torino, Italy

Huvishka, the documented successor of Kanishka I, ruled for more than three decades. His reign is best reconstructed from inscriptions and an exceptionally rich coinage. What stands out from his reign is an imperial mint that deployed a broad pantheon on coins, a shift of monetary and administrative practice toward Bactrian (in Greek script), and an early‐reign reduction in the copper standard - all within a still‑prosperous, Silk‑Road‑facing economy.

KUSHAN: Huvishka, ca. 152-192, AE full unit: King seated on elephant, holding goad, Bactrian legend around // Siva standing left, raising right hand and holding trident in left hand, tamgha to left, OhÞO to right.

Timeline of Huvishka (dates by KE - Kanishka Era and CE - Common Era)

Mathurā inscriptions record Huvishka from "Year 28" to "Year 60" of the Kanishka era (circa 154–186 CE). A Kharoṣṭhī inscription on the Wardak reliquary vase (Afghanistan) dated to "Year 51" attests his authority in the northwest.

KUSHAN: Huvishka. Circa AD 152-192. Æ Tetradrachm. Huvishka, holding ankuśa (elephant goad), right on elephant / MAO, Ardoxsho standing left, holding cornucopia; tamgha to left. MK 882; Donum Burns 357.

He follows Kanishka I, but the precise familial tie is debated; tamgha evidence has even prompted suggestions of a collateral branch. A coin reported with the Brāhmī legend “Kanika, son of Huvishka” implies Huvishka himself had a son so named.

In the 2nd century the coinage largely abandons Greek-Kharoṣṭhī bilingualism for Bactrian written in Greek script; exceptions persist early in Huvishka’s reign at Gandhāran and Kashmiri copper mints. The main copper production center remained Begram, while regular gold issues were struck at Balkh. (Encyclopaedia Iranica, A.D.H Bivar 2013)

Huvishka’s reverses display a notably wide repertoire - Ardochsho, Miiro/Mithra, Mao, Nana, Vēš (often rendered with Śiva‑like iconography), even Herakles - signaling an imperial idiom intelligible across Iranian, South Asian, and Hellenistic audiences. (Encyclopaedia Iranica, R. Bracey, 2016)

KUSHAN: Huvishka. Circa AD 152-192. Æ Tetradrachm. Huvishka riding elephant right, holding trident and goad / Mao standing facing, head left, extending arm and placing hand on hilt of sword; tamgha to left. MK 869

Weight‑standard table (Huvishka coinage)

Early under Huvishka the standard copper tetradrachm drops from ≈ 16 g to ≈ 11 g and fractional copper largely ceases, while the ≈ 8 g gold denomination remains stable- an inflection numismatists use to periodize the coinage. The opulent gold series, nonetheless, points to sustained wealth from long‑distance trade. (Encyclopaedia Iranica, R. Bracey, 2016)

Epigraphic notices from Mathurā include a later record of a monastery bearing his name (“Huvishka‑vihāra”), reflecting how his reign was memorialized in regional religious landscapes.

References

Epigraphy & inscriptions

• Lüders, Heinrich. Mathura Inscriptions: Unpublished Papers. Edited by Klaus L. Janert. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1961. (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Philologisch‑Historische Klasse, 3. Folge, Nr.

• Konow, Sten. Kharoshṭhī Inscriptions with the Exception of Those of Aśoka. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol. 2, Part 2. Calcutta: Government of India, Central Publication Branch, 1929.

• Sims‑Williams, Nicholas. “Bactrian Historical Inscriptions of the Kushan Period.” The Silk Road 10 (2012): 76–80.

Numismatics (typology, chronology, metrology)

• Göbl, Robert. System und Chronologie der Münzprägung des Kušānreiches. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1984. (Veröffentlichungen der Numismatischen Kommission der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Sonderband).

• Jongeward, David, and Joe Cribb, with Peter Donovan. Kushan, Kushano‑Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins: A Catalogue of Coins from the American Numismatic Society. New York: American Numismatic Society, 2015.

• Cribb, Joe, and Robert Bracey. Kushan Coins and History: A Type Catalogue of Kushan, Kushano‑Sasanian and Kidarite Hun Coins Based on the Collection of the British Museum. London: British Museum, 2025.

Encyclopaedia Iranica

• Bivar, A. D. H. “HUVIŠKA.” Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published December 15, 2004; last updated June 11, 2013. Full text: .

• Bracey, Robert. “KUSHAN DYNASTY IV. Coinage of the Kushans.” Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published August 10, 2016; last updated August 17, 2016.

• Sims‑Williams, Nicholas, and Harry Falk. “KUSHAN DYNASTY II. Inscriptions of the Kushans.” Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published December 8, 2014; last updated December 15, 2014.

Art history & historical context

• Rosenfield, John M. The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967.

• Harmatta, János, ed., with B. N. Puri and G. F. Etemadi, co‑eds. History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. II: The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations, 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1994.