月支

(月支國) The Yuezhi, or 'Indo-Scythians', 月氏 (國) and a country they at one time occupied, i. e. 都貨羅 Tukhara, Tokharestan, or Badakshan. Driven out from the northern curve of the Yellow River by the Huns, <emph>circa</emph> 165 B. C., they conquered Bactria 大夏, the Punjab, Kashmir, 'and the greater part of India. ' Their expulsion from the north of Shansi was the cause of the famous journey of Zhangqian of the Han dynasty and the beginning of Chinese expansion to the north-west. Kanishka, king of the Yuezhi towards the end of the first century A. D., became the great protector and propagator of Buddhism.