DescriptionHuvishka’s accession date is approximate. Mitchiner uses 158 AD, Wikipedia gives 150 AD. Neither has much to say about what he did. During his reign there was a loss of influence in the east, and if the decline in weight of the copper coinage is an indication, a decline of economic health. An increase in nomad activity in the north coincided with the end of his reign.The Kushans started as nomads but became cosmopolitan when they conquered Gandhara in western Pakistan. They controlled their section of the Silk Road trade, and patronized Buddhism.The earliest ancient Indian coins were the “bent bar” punchmarked silvers of the Achaemenid Persians occupying Gandhara in northwest Pakistan. By the 3rd century BC coins were in general use in most of India and Ceylon, and in subsequent centuries struck round coins in gold, silver, and copper came into use throughout the subcontinent and beyond to Southeast Asia and Pacific islands to Java and beyond.
