Kuṣāṇa Emperors and Indian Buddhism: Political, Economic and Cultural Factors Responsible for the Spread of Buddhism through Eurasia

Abstract

This essay provides an updated evaluation of the diffusion of Buddhism throughout Eurasia during the Kuṣāṇa period (ca. 30 CE–375 CE). Recent studies and evidence have challenged established arguments about the nature of Buddhism in the Kuṣāṇa Empire. Perceptions have shifted about the role of the Kuṣāṇa rulers in the spread of Buddhism, while debate concerning Gandhāran art has been renewed. This new overview will help to alert readers to the most important findings of recent years and the scholarly advances that have recalibrated specialists' understandings of the political, economic and cultural factors that defined the multilayered relationship between the Kuṣāṇas and India's Buddhist communities.