Pushyamitra Shunga

Topic: Post-Mauryan India: Shungas to Kushanas · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation"

Meaning

Pushyamitra Shunga was a Brahman who killed Brihadratha, the last Mauryan ruler, at a military parade in about 185 BCE. He then founded the Shunga dynasty, which ruled parts of north and central India. [2]

He matters because his rise ended the Mauryan empire. His reign also marks a revival of Vedic rituals, such as the ashvamedha. Yet in the same period Buddhism and other faiths kept growing, as the Bharhut Stupa shows.

Explanation

How he came to power

• The end of the Mauryas. By about 185 BCE the Mauryan dynasty was weak.
• Pushyamitra killed Brihadratha, the last Mauryan ruler, during a military parade. [2]

• He took the throne and founded the Shunga dynasty. [2]

• A Brahman king. Pushyamitra was a Brahman (a member of the priestly class). [2]

• A smaller empire. He ruled parts of north and central India.
• His kingdom was smaller than the Mauryan empire.
• He did not hold the distant provinces that Ashoka once ruled.

The ashvamedha yajna — claiming to be the top king

• Pushyamitra performed the ashvamedha yajna (horse sacrifice). It showed that he was the paramount ruler, the king above all other kings.
• How it worked:
• A horse was set free to wander.
• Soldiers followed it wherever it went.
• If a local ruler let the horse pass, his land counted as part of the empire.
• If a ruler stopped the horse, he was making a challenge, and that meant war.

• In the end, the horse was sacrificed in a grand ritual at the capital.

• Why it mattered:

• It was a new way of claiming kingship. The king announced his power through ritual, and not only through war or inscriptions.
• The Brahmanas who performed the yajna received gifts and status. So the ritual bound the king and the priests together.

Relations with the Greeks

• Pushyamitra fought some early military campaigns against the Indo-Greeks, who ruled the north-west.
• After that, he kept friendly relations with the Greeks.
• So his reign was not one long war. Contact with the north-west went on, and trade routes and ideas kept moving.

Results: Vedic revival, pluralism and new culture

• Vedic revival. With royal support, Vedic rituals and yajnas came back into public life.
• Other faiths kept growing. Buddhism, Jainism and other traditions did not stop.

• The best proof is the Bharhut Stupa in Madhya Pradesh. Its Buddhist railings and reliefs (carved panels) were made in this same Shunga period.

• The persecution question. Britannica says Pushyamitra "is said to have persecuted Buddhists". It also adds that Buddhism still flourished in many areas under his control. [2]

• Treat the persecution story as a disputed later tradition, not a settled fact.

• Sanskrit grows. Sanskrit became the preferred language of philosophy and literature. Earlier, Prakrit had been the main language of royal inscriptions, as in Ashoka's edicts.

• Patanjali. According to NCERT, Patanjali compiled the Yoga Sutras in this period.
• How long the dynasty lasted.
• Pushyamitra ruled for about 36 years. [2]
• Shunga rule as a whole lasted about 112 years and ended in about 73 BCE. [2]

Time, place and evidence

• Period: c. 185 BCE onwards. Pushyamitra reigned for about 36 years. The dynasty ended in c. 73 BCE. [2]
• Region: Parts of north and central India. The Indo-Greeks ruled the north-west.
• Key people:
• Brihadratha, the last Maurya, killed by Pushyamitra. [2]
• The Indo-Greek rulers of the north-west.

• Patanjali, dated by Britannica to the 2nd century BCE. Another view puts a Patanjali in the 5th century CE. [3]

• How we know:

• Written accounts of the dynasty, summarised in Britannica. These give the 185 BCE start, the 36-year reign and the 112-year span. [2]
• Bharhut Stupa in Satna district, Madhya Pradesh. [7]
  • It was probably first built of brick in Ashoka's time.
  • A stone railing with gateways facing the four directions was added in the 2nd century BCE. [4]
  • Its reliefs show Jataka stories (tales of the Buddha's earlier births) and scenes from the Buddha's life. [4][5]
• Discovery: Alexander Cunningham found the Bharhut ruins in 1873. [5] Most of the remains are now in the Indian Museum, Kolkata. [4][6]
• Texts of the age: Patanjali's Mahabhashya and the Yoga Sutras. [3]

Don't confuse with

• Chandragupta Maurya: he founded the Mauryan dynasty. Pushyamitra ended it and founded the Shunga dynasty.
• Brihadratha: he was the last Mauryan ruler and was killed by Pushyamitra. He did not found any dynasty. [2]
• Ashoka's dhamma: Ashoka spoke to his people through edicts carrying moral rules. Pushyamitra claimed supremacy through a Vedic ritual, the ashvamedha yajna.
• Panini: Panini wrote the original Sanskrit grammar. Patanjali wrote the Mahabhashya, a commentary that defends Panini against his critic Katyayana. [3]

Prelims Hooks

• Pushyamitra Shunga founded the Shunga dynasty in about 185 BCE by killing Brihadratha, the last Mauryan ruler. [2]
• Pushyamitra ruled about 36 years. The Shunga dynasty lasted about 112 years and ended in about 73 BCE. [2]
• Ashvamedha yajna: a horse was set free with soldiers following it. Land where no one stopped it joined the empire. Stopping it meant war.
• Trap: "Pushyamitra fought the Greeks all through his reign." This is wrong. After early campaigns, he kept friendly relations with them.
• Patanjali (Shunga period): the Yoga Sutras (NCERT) and the Mahabhashya, which defends Panini against Katyayana. [3]
• Bharhut Stupa (Madhya Pradesh) got its stone railing in the 2nd century BCE, in the Shunga period. It was found by Cunningham in 1873. [4][5]

Mains Points

• Ritual as proof of power. The Mauryas ruled through edicts, officials and dhamma. Pushyamitra used the ashvamedha instead.
• His empire was smaller, so he needed a cheap and visible way to show he was supreme.
• A public yajna did exactly that, and it also tied the king to the Brahmanas.

• Link this to the NCERT Class 12 theme of new ideas of kingship.

• Revival is not replacement. The Vedic revival and the Buddhist carvings at Bharhut belong to the same century.

• So religious history in this age was layered. One faith gaining did not mean another lost.

• Handle the "Shunga persecution of Buddhism" claim with care. Even the source that reports it says Buddhism still flourished under his rule. [2]

• Continuity and change after the Mauryas.

• The empire shrank, but culture kept growing.
• Sanskrit rose as the language of learning, and Patanjali's works came out of this age.
• Buddhist art at Bharhut moved from wood to stone: the stone railing was carved to copy wooden post-and-rail work. [4]
• This shows that political breakdown did not mean cultural decline.

Related concepts

• Shunga dynasty
• Agnimitra
• Patanjali
• Yoga Sutras
• Kanva dynasty

Read more

• The Shungas and the Vedic revival