Vasudeva I
Kushan emperor from c.191 to c.232
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Through Common Era, Kushan Empire and Hindus
The last named inscription of his predecessor, Huvishka, was in the year 60 of the Kanishka era (187 CE), and the Chinese evidence suggests he was still ruling as late as 229 CE.
His name "Vāsudeva", is that of the popular Hindu God Vāsudeva, which refers to Krishna, and he was the first Kushan king to be named after the Indian God. He converted to Hinduism during his reign. His name reinforces the notion that his center of power was in Mathura.
Contacts with China
In the Chinese historical chronicle Records of the Three Kingdoms, he is recorded to have sent tribute to Emperor Ming of Wei in 229 CE (3rd year of Taihe 太和):
King of the Greater Yuezhi, Bodiao (波調) (Vāsudeva), sent his envoy to present tribute and His Majesty granted him a title of "King of the Greater Yuezhi Intimate with Wei (魏)".
He is the last Kushan ruler to be mentioned in Chinese sources. His rule corresponds to the retreat of Chinese power from Central Asia, and it is thought that Vasudeva may have filled the power vacuum in that area. The great expansion of the Dharmaguptaka Buddhist group in Central Asia during this period has also been related to this event.
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Coinage
The coinage of Vasudeva consisted in gold dinars and quarter dinars, as well as copper coins. Vasudeva almost entirely removed the pantheon of deities displayed in the coinage of Kanishka and Huvishka. Apart from a few coins with the effigies of Mao and Nana, all of Vasudeva's coins feature Oesho on the reverse, who is generally identified as Shiva. On the obverse, Vasudeva restored the royal imagery of Kanishka, with the standing, making a sacrifice over an altar, although he holds a trident rather than Kanishka's spear and he appears nimbate. Another trident is sometimes also added over the small sacrificial altar. At the end of his rule, Vasudeva introduced the nandipada symbol () on his coinage.
Sassanid invasion in the northwest
Vasudeva I was the last great Kushan emperor, and the end of his rule coincides with the invasion of the Sassanians as far as northwestern India, and the establishment of the Indo-Sassanians or Kushanshahs from around 240 CE. Vasudeva I may have lost the territory of Bactria with its capital in Balkh to Ardashir I Kushanshah. Thereafter, Kushan rule would be restricted to their eastern territories, in western and central Punjab.
Statuary
The relatively peaceful reign of Vasudeva is marked by an important artistic production, in particular in the area of statuary. Several Buddhist statues are dated to the reign of Vasudeva, and are important markers for the chronology of Buddhist art.
An inscription on the base of the Buddha statue of Vasudeva I is also known from the Mathura Museum: "In the 93rd year of Maharaja Devaputra Vasudeva...", probably corresponding to c. 171 CE, or 220 CE with the more recent definition of the Kanishka era as starting in 127 CE. A partially preserved Sakyamuni statue, also from Mathura, has the date "Year 94", although without mentioning Vasudeva specifically.
Dedications in the name of Vasudeva, with dates, also appear on Jain statuary discovered in Mathura.