skanda-kārttikeya’s cult between the empires 149

CHAPTER SEVEN

DEVELOPMENTS IN SKANDA-KĀRTTIKEYA’S CULT

BETWEEN THE EMPIRES

This chapter examines the impact of the Kuṣāṇa era changes to Kārtti­
keya’s cult during the period of that empire’s collapse in the third cen-
tury ce through to the rise of the next major empire in the north, the
Gupta Empire, in the fourth century ce. The moment is a pivotal one
in the history of Skanda’s cult because two directions for the tradition
are open. One could have the Mathurā-based Mātṛ and Graha tradi-
tions establish themselves as the ‘Indian’ version of Skanda’s cult and
dominate the tradition related to this figure. The other has the Mahā­
sena version of the deity and its appeal to political and military leaders
come to dominance during this period. The evidence from the mate-
rial culture for this period all suggest that the Mahāsena cult rises to
prominence. The martial and political use of the deity spreads across
India largely at the expense of the Graha and Mātṛ cults.
During the period between the Kuṣāṇa and Gupta Empires a num-
ber of smaller kingdoms and states develop in north India. The
Yaudheyas return to rule a large region in the north. The Western
Kṣatrapas continue to rule in the Malwā region and in Gujarat. The
Sātavāhana Empire, that existed to the south of the Kuṣāṇa Empire,
begins to disintegrate and is replaced by several independent king-
doms. The Ikṣvāku dynasty in Nāgārjunakoṇḍa, Andhra Pradesh, is
one such kingdom. We will explore each of these groups for evidence
of Kārttikeya’s cult with a particular focus on the Yaudheyas and
Ikṣvākus.

Yaudheya Coins: The Class Six Issues

Yaudheya class six coin issues are post-Kuṣāṇa. There is something of

a normative pattern of numismatic stylistic borrowing as one political
group replaces another in north India. The incoming power usually
borrows from the coin designs of the previous rulers to maintain an
already accepted currency for trade. What is clear from Yaudheya
coinage is that their class three issues do not borrow from Kuṣāṇa
150 chapter seven

coinage, while their class six coinage does (Allan 1936: cl; Dasgupta
1974: 212).1 Class six coinage is usually dated to the third or fourth
century ce (Allan 1936: cl). The re-birth of the Yaudheya state seems
to come just after the decline of the Kuṣāṇa Empire, and their class six
coinage provides us with the next step in the development of this deity
before the rise of the Gupta Empire. Archaeological sites suggest that
the Yaudheya state reaches its height during this period with finds in
the Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (Mann 2007b:
92-101).
Yaudheya class six coinage is much more uniform than their class
three issues and has sparked less debate among scholars. The obverse
of the coins illustrated in figures 26 a, c and e depict a single-headed
deity holding a spear in his right hand and his left hand on his hip.
There are small oblongs on either side of his head that probably repre-
sent ears and below these dots that represent earrings. He wears a
headdress that appears as a horizontal bar over his head, above which
is a triangle-shaped object resting on the bar on one of its points. The
headdress may represent a turban or top knot. He also wears a neck-
lace, and there is a sash around his waist that runs down between his
legs. There are circles just above his feet that either represents the bot-
tom of his clothing, or the top of boots. To his left is a bird that faces
him. The bird has been variously identified as a cock or a peacock.
There is a Brāhmī legend around the outer edge which reads:
“Yaudheya­gaṇasya jaya” (Dasgupta 1974: 209), which I take to mean
‘glory to the Yaudheya assembly (or group)’. With Prakash (1965:
136-137), I take jaya to be a general term for benediction among war-
riors and not to refer to an actual victory.2 The reverse of the coin
shows a single-headed female figure who stands frontally and looks to
the right. Her right arm is raised, and her fingers are arranged to have

1
  There are also Yaudheya class six over-strikes and re-strikes of original Kuṣāṇa
copper currency. Such over-strikes suggest that the Yaudheyas were the immediate
successors of the Kuṣāṇas in this region. Yaudheya coins of this type have been dis-
cussed by Handa (1982), Kumar (1991) and by Kumar and Ahmad (1993). Over-
struck coins take an original issue, heat it and hammer it with a new die (Kumar and
Ahmad 1993: 50). A re-struck coin has part of its original metal shaved off and new
metal added, forming a new blank coin.
2
  Altekar champions an understanding of jaya as a marker of a victory over the
Kuṣāṇas (1967: 30). He hypothesizes: “The credit of giving the first blow to the
Kushāṇa empire really belongs to the Yaudheyas” (1967: 28). It seems reasonable to
assume that the Yaudheyas played some role in the fall of the Kuṣāṇas in this region,
but the dynamics of the fall of this empire remain obscure.