The Kushana empire in India was founded by:

The Kushana empire was founded by Kujula Kadphises (Kadphises I), in the 1st century CE.

About Kujula Kadphises:

• He was a chief of the Kushana (Guishuang) tribe, one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi people, who had settled in Bactria (northern Afghanistan).
• He united the five Yuezhi tribes under his rule.
• He conquered parts of Afghanistan, including Kabul and Kandahar, and parts of north-western India (Gandhara), defeating the Indo-Greeks and the Indo-Parthians.
• He ruled for a long time, and is said to have died at the age of more than 80.

His coins:

• He issued copper coins, many of which imitated the coins of the Indo-Greek king Hermaeus, and later Roman coins.
• His coins carried titles in Greek and in Kharosthi script.
• Some of his coins call him "dharmathida" (steadfast in the Dharma), which may suggest an interest in Buddhism.

The Rabatak inscription:

• This inscription, written in the Bactrian language (in Greek script), was discovered in 1993 at Rabatak, in northern Afghanistan.
• It was issued by Kanishka, and lists the genealogy of the Kushana kings: Kujula Kadphises (his great-grandfather), Vima Taktu (his grandfather), Vima Kadphises (his father), and Kanishka himself.
• It has helped historians to correct the order of the early Kushana kings.

The Kushana rulers:

• Kujula Kadphises: the founder.
• Vima Taktu (Soter Megas): the second ruler.
• Vima Kadphises: the third ruler.
• Kanishka: the greatest ruler.
• Huvishka and Vasudeva I: later rulers.

About the Yuezhi:

• They were a nomadic people who originally lived in north-western China.
• They were driven westwards by another nomadic people, the Xiongnu, in the 2nd century BCE.
• They moved into Central Asia and then Bactria.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Kanishka was the greatest ruler, but not the founder.
• ✗Vima Kadphises and Huvishka were later rulers.