Tocharians

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 40. Chapters: Kushan Empire, Tocharian languages, Yuezhi, Kanishka, Tarim mummies, Silk Road transmission of Buddhism, Kujula Kadphises, Rabatak inscription, Vima Kadphises, Huvishka, Surkh Kotal, Vasudeva I, Tocharian script, Kanishka casket, Qila Mubarak, Vima Takto, Kanishka stupa, Shaka Kushan, Koi Krylgan Kala, Heraios, Sapadbizes, Gushi culture, Phryni, Kanishka II, Buddhamitra, Khalchayan, Dilbarjin, Chhu, Kanishka III, Vasudeva II, Agesiles, Kipunada, Shaka I, Vasudeva III, Vashishka. Excerpt: The Kushan Empire (BHS , Parthian KuSanxSa¿r) originally formed in the early 1st century AD under Kujula Kadphises in the territories of ancient Bactria on either side of the middle course of the Oxus (or Amu Darya) in what is now northern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, and southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. During the 1st and early 2nd centuries AD the Kushans expanded rapidly across the northern part of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi (Benares) where inscriptions have been found dated to the first few years of era of the most famous Kushan ruler, Kanishka which apparently began about 127 AD. The Kushan kings were a branch of the Yuezhi confederation(possibly intermarried with local families). Previously a nomadic people residing in the steppes northwest of China, they moved southwest and settled in northern Afghanistan. They had diplomatic contacts with the Roman Empire, the Sassanid Empire of Persia and Han China. While much philosophy, art, and science was created within its borders, the only textual record we have of the empire's history today comes from inscriptions and accounts in other languages, particularly Chinese. The empire declined from the 3rd century and fell to the Sassanid and Gupta Empires. Listing of Kushan royal tamgasChinese sources describe the Guishuang (Ch: ¿¿), i.e. the Kushans, as one of the five aristocratic tribes of the Yuezhi (Ch: ¿¿), a loose confederation of Indo-European peoples. The Yuezhi are generally considered the easternmost speakers of Indo-European languages, who had been living in the arid grasslands of eastern Central Asia's Tarim Basin, in modern-day Xinjiang and western part of Gansu, possibly speaking versions of the Tocharian language, until they were driven west by the Xiongnu in 176-160 BC. The five tribes constituting the Yuezhi are known in Chinese history as Xiumì (Ch: ¿¿), Guishuang (Ch: ¿¿), Shuangmi (Ch: ¿¿), Xidun (Ch: ¿¿), and Dumì (Ch: ¿¿). Historian John Keay co