Indian Rulers
Kanishka
the Great Kushan
Kanishka was an Indian emperor active in the 2nd c. AD during the Kushan period from the state of Kushan. Was assassinated.
Historical Note
Greatest of the Kushans, ruling from the Oxus to Varanasi. Convened the Fourth Buddhist Council, which transmitted the Mahayana to China. Patronized Gandharan art, the first to give the Buddha a human face. Smothered in his sleep, says the chronicle, by exhausted soldiers.