Languages and Literature in the Kushan Empire

There remains much to be discovered about the languages and literature of the Kushan Empire, to the extent that a new language in an unknown script has been discovered recently. Sanskrit and Prakrit are both literary languages that pre-date the Kushan Empire, whilst Bactrian developed to become a ‘literary’ language in this era. Sogdian is also important, spoken by the merchants who were engaged in the silk trade and who thus traversed Central Asia.