This event was organized by Shailendra Bhandare and held from the 15th to 17th of October 2004. It was well attended with speakers from a variety of institutions. 

Several of the papers that were of interest to Kushan studies and that by Joe Cribb will have a profound impact upon the understanding of Kushan chronology. The papers will be edited and released as a collection in about two years (fingers' crossed), and I will refrain from further comment on them until they are available. However, I will comment on the general implications for Kushan Chronology.

Kushan Chronology

What became very obvious over three days, with such a large number of Kushan specialists present, was that the basic framework of the chronology is now far better established than it was in the past. Though a lot of tinkering at the edges remains to be done everyone who has worked directly on the problem was confident, to within about 10 years, of the chronology. This is a remarkable step from the 1960 conference where the range under discussion was nearly 200 years. This represents both new sources and the meshing together of the last 40 years of intensive study. 

The Azes-Vikrama Era

One of the effects of putting the Kushan era on a much more solid basis is to provide a backbone for further research. The other effect is to challenge the chronological foundations of related periods. One of these is the equation of the Azes era to the Vikrama era of 58BC. And there is no doubt that in the next few years the site of chronological debate will focus on the fixing of the Azes era to a specific year (and quite possibly not the 58BC it has previously been assigned to).