TAXILA OF THE KUSHANAS
Peak of Buddhist and Gandhara Art

In Taxila the Parthians were succeed, in the 1^st century A.D. by the great Kushanas, who had succession of rulers Kujula Kadphises, his son Vima I Takto, his son Vima II, Kadphises, his son Kanishka, followed by Vasishka and his son Kanishka II, and Huvishka and Vasudeve I. Of them the greatest was Kanishka I, who started, from the beginning of his reign (about 78 A.D.), anew era which continued for 99 years. These king began a new series of gold and copper coins, with standing or sitting royal portrait, boring the title of Shao-nao-Shao (Shain Shah). Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism, and the portrayed the figure of the Buddha on his coins. They were followed by the little Kushanas, Kanishka III and Vasudeva II, who lost their Indian possessions of Mathura. Towards the end of the 3^rd century A.D. they were pressed from the west by the Sassanian rulers of Iran who established their suzerainty and started a new series of Indo-Sassanian coins. It is an their time that new local dynasties, as subsidiary rulers rose up. One of them was Gadakhara or Gakkhara, as known from coins but tradition remembers them as Kiyanis. Their kings, peraya, Kirada and Samudra, issued coins of the type of the Kushanas and of the Sassanians. Finally came the Kider Kushanas, who gradually asserted their independence and continued to rule until the coming of the Huns in the middle of the 5^th century A.D.

It was in the time of the Great Kushanas that Gandhara art took its final form and new sect of Buddhism, popularly known as Mahayana, become common in Gandhara. Figures of Buddha, his life story, Bodhisattvas and of the goddess Hariti were beautiful produced in schist stone, stucco and terracotta and large number of monasteries were built. From the of the little Kushanas big size of Buddha statues began to be erected in stucco. Sassanians brought their own influence on Gandhara art but both the art and religion flourished. Buddhist monks and men of learning went on missionary activity along the Silk Road to central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, thus carrying the Gandhara art to those countries.

Kushana City of Sirsuk And Mohra Moradu and Jaulian Monasteries

Mohra Moradu is a small village, approachable by foot from the university  at Mahal, or from the eastern gate of Sirkap. Today we drive from the main Khanpur road. On this site there was a Muslim Ziaratgah, sometime associated with the of Panch-Pir. The approach from the village is through a gap, which leads to a bowl like valley, drained by a rivulet. Here we have a stupa on the western side and the monastery on the eastern, both erected in the second century A.D. in the of the Great Kushanas. In the monastery coins of the Hun ruler Truman and of the Turki shahi Samanta Deva have been found. The monastery has been described by Hiuen Tsang in the early 7^th century A.D. the stupa stands on a double rectangular terrace with an off-set projection for the steps on the east. The plinth walls were decorated with stucco reliefs, which go right upto the top of the drum. In the bays between the pilasters were groups of Buddha's with attendant Bodhisattvas and Devas. The monastery consists of a square court with cells around and additional halls for assembly and other rooms for kitchen, refectory and guardroom. There are a number of niches added to the outer wall of the cell, which enshrined Buddhist figures. In addition, one cell had a complete stupa later installed inside, the like of which is now in Taxila Museum. Some stucco sculptures have also been removed to Taxila Museum. The open court is at a lower level with a place for the lustral bath.