Kanishka, << kuh NIHSH kuh >> (?-A.D. 100?), was the greatest ruler of the Kushan Empire. He expanded the empire’s power over what is now Pakistan, Afghanistan, and northwest India. Under Kanishka, Kushan wealth and culture reached their peaks.
Kanishka adopted Buddhism as the empire’s official religion and called together a council of Buddhist monks and philosophers. He sent Buddhist missionaries to China. At his capital, near Peshawar, he built a famous towering monument to house relics of Buddha.
Kanishka supported the Gandharan school of sculpture, one of the first schools to produce stone images of Buddha. Earlier, sculptors had created things only associated with Buddha, such as his footprints. Kanishka probably adopted the Saka Era, a calendar system still used by the Indian government.
