BI Drachm - Kanishka I

Kanishka I's accession date remains one of the most debated problems in South Asian chronology — scholars have proposed dates ranging across nearly two centuries, with 127 CE now the most broadly accepted anchor. His reign saw the Kushan Empire at its administrative and territorial peak, controlling the Silk Road corridors linking Rome, Parthia, and China simultaneously. The billon composition reflects a deliberate debasement policy: earlier Kushan coinage ran to high gold, but Kanishka's mint introduced silver-copper alloys for smaller denominations to facilitate lower-value transactions across an increasingly monetized provincial economy.