I, Kanishka

Chapter 1: Riding the Sun

The young rider in the lead raised his right arm high − the palm of his hand faced the morning sun as it climbed above the top of the hill in front of him. The green jade ring on his middle finger shifted to a golden hue. The young rider, tall bearded and in light chain armor, now near the summit of the hill, beckoned his fellow horsemen to come to a halt. Taking their cue from him, twelve armored horsemen who had followed the leader on the slope of the hill, came to a disciplined halt fifty yards behind, holding the reins tight and their horses still, arrested in their ascent. The lead horseman gripped the gilded hilt of his long sword. Unsheathing it from its scabbard in a flash, he pointed the sword at the sun as it peeked above the hill. Commanding his followers not to follow, the leader charged his black steed ahead, avoiding boulders in its path, rounding patches of pine and rhododendron and nettles – horse and rider in unison galloping up the hill as though once the summit was reached they would pounce upon the rising sun.

“Kanishka, the pride of the Yue Chi, the worthy son of Vima Kadphises, the great-grandson of Kujula who conquered the mountains around the Hindu Kush, divined to be king by Mihira, the sun god and Oesho, the god of all gods, you will lead us to greatness more expansive than the ocean, higher than the Hindu Kush from beyond which our fathers came.”

Their swords raised, the twelve horsemen bowed their heads before the rider at the summit as he turned to face them, the sun behind him a halo in the sky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top: Dr. Basu in Mathura, India to collect historical lore to write the history based fiction, I, Kanishka.

Bottonm: With a local historian at Kanishka excavation site on the outskirts of Mathura, India.