A strong Kushan Empire achieves unified and a strong India

Albert.Nik

Banned
In the era of Antiquity,a confederation called Yuezhi(Tocharians but might have had Iranian components too) began migrating westwards into the regions of Bactria and Sogdia which were then well established parts of India. The religions were mostly syncretism of Greek religion,Vedic religion,Buddhism and Iranian religions. The Yuezhi seem to have adopted a similar version. They established a huge empire which saw unification India had not seen since the Graeco-Bactrian and Mauryan Empires. So what if the empire stayed powerful in large parts of India(till Madhya pradesh in the South and Varanasi in the east in OTL but even in parts of South in ATL),Central Asia,Tarim basin and Afghanistan? This was probably the last unified empire Would the Hunnic tribes stopped earlier from causing massive destruction they did in OTL and instead assimilated as law obeying citizens of the Kushan Empire? Islamic expansion stopped at the borders of mid Iran? How would they behave with the Sassanids and the Byzantines/Romans? A Zoroastrian survival? How would Indian religions look without the Islamic invasions which caused the hardening of Hinduism? How would China and Mongolia do? How would the ethnic makeup of India be? The surviving descendants of Kushans include Pashtuns,Punjabis,Uyghurs,Tajiks,Jats,Gujjars,some Kashmiris and Rajputs,etc. Would a greater Kushan India see a greater presence of these peoples? Tocharians survive and are integral in Central Asia and India? Punjab was the richest part and one of the most influential part of India before partition(which does not happen in this TL). Since we could see a greater Punjab in this timeline,how richer and stronger would India be? Since Mughals and British cannot touch such a powerful country,how might they develop(just give light references to this)? How would Islam fare? Would it be a small religion in the Middle East?
PS: Please keep political correctness out of this thread.
 
The Kushan Empire did not cover a major part of India, the South and the East. It was confined to the northwestern parts of the subcontinent. It is also a little difficult to view it as a pure Indian empire like Mauryas, Guptas, Palas, Cholas etc. A thread based on the Kushan Empire, I think, will be new and interesting as it will be a deviation from the common India based threads. Welcome to the Kushan dominated India!
 
Would the Hunnic tribes stopped earlier from causing massive destruction they did in OTL and instead assimilated as law obeying citizens of the Kushan Empire?
For the Kushan Empire to last until the times of OTL's Sveta Huna invasions, it would have to be a truly long-lived Indian Empire. What could cause this?

Either way, if it remains stable, then the Hun challenge is already fulfilled. If we follow the hypothesis that the Kidarites and Hephtalites both originated somewhere between Sogdia, Kashgar, Kashmir and Bactria, and the Kushans maintain peace and stability there, then there's not going to be any Sveta Huna invasions.

Islamic expansion stopped at the borders of mid Iran?
With such an early PoD, Islam is not a given. If the Kushana establish a firmly Buddhist empire, they could renew Buddhist missionary activity Westward, too, like in Ashoka's time, and with strengthened Buddhist influences in the Arabian peninsula (most likely its coastal fringes), the religious makeup of 7th century Arabia is so altered that I'm not sure Islam must arise.

But if it does, the big question is how Sassanids and Kushans will have coexisted over centuries. If they warred all the time, which I suppose they might have - which would have interesting implications for the (Eastern) Roman Empire -, then maybe the Caliphate's attacks on the Sassanids are supported by the Kushans at first. How things would turn out later is a different question and depends on lots of details.

How would they behave with the Sassanids and the Byzantines/Romans? A Zoroastrian survival?
Yes indeed, the former is the big question. The Byzzies are too far away to matter for them. The Sassanids are certainly weakened by having strong empires surrounding them on all sides (except for the steppe which isn't much better as a border). Zoroastrian survival is not made likelier at all.

How would Indian religions look without the Islamic invasions which caused the hardening of Hinduism?
First of all, we need a reason why the Kushans are so strong and stable over such a long period. It requires both structural reasons and cultural cohesion. For the latter, the only option I see is Buddhism because it's already been around in all the places mentioned and it has had a history as an imperial religion already, so the Kushan Emperors might style themselves as restorers of Ashoka's old glory days. That could mean Buddhism forming an umbrella over all the various Hindu cults. Some groups might insist that Buddhism is Nastika, and harden in opposition to it, but many more Indians would simply both worship their deities and the Buddha...

How would China and Mongolia do?
"Mongolia" is still a backwater in the 1st millennium BCE, first as the heartland of the Rouran, later as the Eastern part of the continent-spanning Göktürk Empire, if this one isn't butterflied. It might well be because the Silk Road which it controlled IOTL would be Kushan-controlled ITTL, unless you posit that Turkic nomadic attackers pry away parts of the huge Kushan Empire over time in the North. Other than that, China would be linked even closer with India.

How would the ethnic makeup of India be?
That depends on what happens after the fall of the Kushans, for at some point, they must fall, like all empires do.
IOTL, we do not know much about the change of the ethnic makeup caused by Kushan rule.

Tocharians survive and are integral in Central Asia and India?
They survived IOTL way beyond the limit of how long a plausible Kushan Empire could ever last anyway. But if a large Tokharian-language Buddhist canon exists alongside Pali and others, it could indeed remain a prestigious language over a longer period of time. Or, it could be replaced earlier if the continuity of the Kushan Empire and its official Indian-based Pali canon mean that the Tarim Basin Indianizes culturally and linguistically.

Since Mughals and British cannot touch such a powerful country
Wait, we're really entering ASB territory now. That's way too long. (And even if it weren't, then at least both Mughals and British would be butterflied.)

PS: Please keep political correctness out of this thread.
I don't know what you want to say with this, but I think I don't like it.
 

Srihari14

Banned
Few effects I can think if -
  1. Islamic invasion stop at present day Afghanistan, thus central Asia remain non Islamic
  2. Iran still falls to Islamic empire, but Zoroastrianism survives in India and central Asia in large numbers
  3. India without the Islamic invasions would be better off
  4. Central Asians would still invade middle East and south Asia, however, they would adopt the religion of the place they conquer
  5. Over a period of time kushan empire conquers south Asia
  6. South East Asia still remains Hindu/Buddhist
  7. Religious demographics of India would be 85 Hindu 5 Zoroastrian 5 Buddhism 5 others
 

Albert.Nik

Banned
Few effects I can think if -
  1. Islamic invasion stop at present day Afghanistan, thus central Asia remain non Islamic
  2. Iran still falls to Islamic empire, but Zoroastrianism survives in India and central Asia in large numbers
  3. India without the Islamic invasions would be better off
  4. Central Asians would still invade middle East and south Asia, however, they would adopt the religion of the place they conquer
  5. Over a period of time kushan empire conquers south Asia
  6. South East Asia still remains Hindu/Buddhist
  7. Religious demographics of India would be 85 Hindu 5 Zoroastrian 5 Buddhism 5 others
Well,Kushans were Central Asian Indo-European Tocharians with a mix of ancient Iranian peoples themselves(when it was majority Caucasian). So then Central Asia was a part of India so they are never considered invaders. Sogdia,Bactria,Tarim basin,Green parts of South Uzbekistan have been erstwhile parts of Greater India in Central Asia at the time of Kushans,Sogdians,Bactrians,Indo-Greeks,Scythians,etc. However today,these people are limited to Genetic admixture in India after the antiquity collapsed.
Well I wouldnt limit Buddhists to 5 percent. They would be at least 10-20%+. Zoroastrianism is uncertain. Both Vedic religion and Zoroastrianism come from the same Historical Iranian religion. Would they merge as two long lost family members meet after a long time? I predict a Monotheist mixed Polytheism like Zoroastrianism/Zurvinism to be the mainstay with elements from Iranian Religions like Vedic,Sogdian and Scythian ones,Tocharian religions and many other central Asian ones and Buddhism with a significant minority if not majority,others I would predict some ancient smaller ethnic religions which are quite connected to the main religions as well as a few South Indian ethnic religions prevalent in various surviving tribes as it does today in remote parts(according to Census,they are counted under Hinduism). Islamic empire wouldn't be able to make inroads easily into Persia or Indian subcontinent. Languages spoken would be Persian/Kurdish of the Western Iranian family,Avestan and its twin,Vedic-Sanskrit/Mitanni like language of the main Iranian family would be used for religious purposes and spoken in good number of pockets like Coptic in Egyptian churches,Sogdian,Bactrian and Scythian dialects would be present among a large amount of inhabitants,Greek would be present widely in large parts of North India as it was during antiquity and would be the language of Greek inhabitants and used by Greek Buddhists and Hellenic syncretism followers,Tocharian language would be present among the large Tocharian settlers in the empire,Dravidian languages prevalent in good parts of India though settlers would be Tocharian or Iranian,they would adopt Dravidian languages in the Southern parts as a second language(Iranian or Tocharian being the first). In OTL,Dravidian became the first language only due to the breakdown of Indo-Iranian languages of Sanskrit and Avestan. The later Central Asian invaders who invaded India in the Islamic period would be assimilated into India making some Indians look like Hungarians in those regions and some language families like Turkic,Mongolic language are present. But since Islam hasn't reached those places,they would practice Tengrist mix instead. Uralic,Caucasian(like Chechen and Circassian) peoples might also come into contact.
 

Albert.Nik

Banned
With large Kushan/Yuezhi Tocharian settlements in India and eventual population inversion occurring by mid Antiquity or earlier,the people in this region would be identical to North and Western Europeans and speaking Centum languages and more advanced and sophistication,I can see a Buddhist-Pagan Hybrid gentle Monotheism with touches from Vedism become a majority religion like in Europe how Christianity adopted local customs. But these Europeans of the East would be different in cultures a bit as Kushan cities in the Tarim basin were mostly urbanized unlike the Germanic tribes who established rural settlements across Europe. The caste system would get eliminated with now identical looking and homogeneous people with such a large majority. I can see a Rome of the East. Eventually,they might even set eyes on the rich South East Asia but probably they will manage them with their sphere of influence but there would be Tocharian settlers there too. Australia,if they could manage to get a hold of,the population of Australia would be quite identical to OTL Australian population but Linguistically,they would be Tocharian and Scythian/Sogdian and Culturally and technologically different. Could they sail into Africa Early? You can keep the capital in OTL Punjab or Kashmir which has a good climate and good resources for settlements from where they could begin the Southern and Eastern expeditions as I described above.
 
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