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During the Kushan era, Oesho was often linked to the Hindu concept of Ishvara, which was embodied by the god Shiva; [3] Oesho may share the same etymology as Ishvara and/or represent a variant of the word in the Bactrian language spoken by the Kushans. [4] [5] Similarities have retrospectively been identified with the Avestan Vayu. [6] [7]
Kushan-era image of Shashthi between Skanda and Vishakha, c. 2nd century CE Three-faced four-armed Oesho with attributes, often identified with Shiva , on a coin of Huvishka . [ 60 ]
The Kushan Empire (c. 30 –c. 375 AD) [a] was a syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Eastern Iran and Northern India, [16] [17] [18] at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath, near Varanasi, where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the ...
The mythology of Ardhanarishvara – which mainly originates in the Puranic canons – was developed later to explain existent images of the deity that had emerged in the Kushan era. [11] [20] [45] The unnamed half-female form of Shiva is also alluded to in the epic Mahabharata. In Book XIII, Upamanyu praises Shiva rhetorically asking if there ...
Numismatics research suggests that numerous coins of the ancient Kushan Empire (30–375 CE) that have survived, were images of a god who is probably Shiva. [135] The Shiva in Kushan coins is referred to as Oesho of unclear etymology and origins, but the simultaneous presence of Indra and Shiva in the Kushan era artwork suggest that they were ...
Legend in Kushan language and Greek script (with the Kushan letter Ϸ "sh"): ϷΑΟΝΑΝΟϷΑΟ ΒΑΖΟΔΗΟ ΚΟϷΑΝΟ ("Shaonanoshao Bazodeo Koshano"): "King of kings, Vasudeva the Kushan". Rev: ΟΗϷΟ ( oesho ), Hindu god Shiva , holding a trisula scepter, with the bull Nandi .
Kushan-era image of Shashthi between Skanda and Vishakha, c. 2nd century CE Three-faced four-armed Oesho with attributes, often identified with Shiva , on a coin of Huvishka . [ 222 ]
Other evidence that is possibly linked to the importance of Shaivism in ancient times are in epigraphy and numismatics, such as in the form of prominent Shiva-like reliefs on Kushan Empire era gold coins. However, this is controversial, as an alternate hypothesis for these reliefs is based on Zoroastrian Oesho.