Shunga dynasty

Also called: Sunga, Shungas · Topic: Post-Mauryan India: Shungas to Kushanas · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"

Meaning

The Shunga dynasty was a ruling family founded by Pushyamitra Shunga, a Brahman, about 185 BCE. He took power from the last Mauryan king. The family ruled parts of north and central India for about 112 years, until about 73 BCE. [2]

It matters because it marks the turn after the Mauryan empire. Kings began to claim power through Vedic ritual like the ashvamedha yajna, and Sanskrit became a preferred language of learning. Buddhist art such as the Bharhut Stupa railings still grew in the same period.

Explanation

How the Shungas came to power

• Pushyamitra Shunga was a Brahman who served the Mauryas.
• He killed Brihadratha, the last Mauryan ruler, at a military parade and took the throne. [2]
• This happened about 185 BCE. The Mauryan dynasty ended and the Shunga dynasty began. [2]
• Pushyamitra ruled for about 36 years. The whole dynasty lasted about 112 years and ended about 73 BCE. [2] This fits the NCERT line that the dynasty was gone about a century after him.
• His empire was smaller than the Mauryan empire.
• The Shungas did not hold the distant provinces that Ashoka once ruled.
• So they needed new ways to show they were powerful.

The ashvamedha yajna: a ritual to claim supremacy

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

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

• Why it was new:

• Kingship was now announced through ritual, not only through conquest or inscriptions.
• The Brahmanas who performed the yajna got gifts and status.
• So the ritual tied the king and the priests together.

Religion, language and relations with the Greeks

• Vedic revival: Vedic rituals and practices came back. Yajnas (fire sacrifices) returned to public life with royal support.
• Other faiths kept growing: Buddhism, Jainism and other schools of thought continued. One tradition rising did not wipe out the others. The best proof is that Buddhist art at Bharhut was carved in this same period.
• The persecution claim: Britannica says Pushyamitra "is said to have persecuted Buddhists". It also says Buddhism still flourished in many areas under his control. [2] NCERT makes no claim of persecution. Treat it as a disputed later tradition, not a settled fact.
• Relations with the Greeks: Pushyamitra fought some early military campaigns, but later he kept friendly relations with the Greeks, meaning the Indo-Greeks ruling the north-west. Trade routes and ideas kept moving.
• Sanskrit: Sanskrit became a preferred language of philosophy and literature. Earlier, Prakrit was the main language of royal inscriptions, as in Ashoka's edicts.
• Patanjali: According to NCERT, Patanjali compiled the Yoga Sutras in this period.
• Britannica dates Patanjali to the 2nd century BCE. Another view puts a Patanjali in the 5th century CE. [3]
• He is also credited with the Mahabhashya ("Great Commentary"). This work defends the grammarian Panini against his critic Katyayana. [3]
• Britannica adds that the Yoga Sutras may span several centuries. The first three books date to around the 2nd century BCE and the last book to around the 5th century CE. [3] For the exam, keep the NCERT link: Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, Shunga period.

Art of the Shunga period: the Bharhut Stupa

• Building history:
• The stupa was probably built in Ashoka's time, first of brick.
• It was enlarged in the 2nd century BCE. A stone railing with entrances at the four cardinal points (north, south, east, west) was added then. [4]

• Its carved railings and reliefs belong to the Shunga period. Bharhut sculpture is dated to the mid-2nd century BCE. [4]

• What the carvings show:

• Scenes from the Buddha's life, and Jataka stories (tales of the Buddha's earlier births). [4][5]
• Lakshmi, singers and dancers, and elephants carrying the dharma-wheel. Buddhist images and popular good-luck images sit side by side on the same monument.

• These are among the earliest examples of Buddhist art in India.

• Style and technique:

• The stone railing copies wooden post-and-rail building. Stone was carved to look like carpentry. This shows Indian building moving from wood to stone. [4]
• The railing has medallions (round panels) and lunates (half-moon panels). Most are filled with the lotus design, and some have a man's or woman's head at the centre. [4]

• Story scenes run on the railing medallions and on the coping (the long top rail). [4]

• Patrons: The railings were largely gifts from many donors, including monks, nuns, traders and townspeople.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: c. 185 BCE to c. 73 BCE, the early post-Mauryan age. [2]
• Rulers: Pushyamitra Shunga, the founder, ruled about 36 years. He replaced Brihadratha, the last Mauryan. [2]
• Region: parts of north and central India.
• Key people: Pushyamitra Shunga; Brihadratha; Patanjali; the Indo-Greeks of the north-west.
• Main site: Bharhut Stupa, in Satna district, Madhya Pradesh. [7]
• How we know:
• Texts: Patanjali's Mahabhashya and the Yoga Sutras. [3] The persecution story comes from a later tradition, not from settled evidence. [2]
• Archaeology: Major General Alexander Cunningham, the first head of the Archaeological Survey of India, found the Bharhut ruins in 1873. [5] He recovered the railings and one gateway during 1872–74 and sent them to the Indian Museum. [7]
• Museums today: Most remains, including the railings and entrance gateways, are in the Indian Museum, Kolkata, which has a Bharhut gallery. [4][6] Some pieces are abroad. The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds railing coping fragments and a yakshi (female nature spirit) railing-pillar face, both labelled Shunga. [7]

Don't confuse with

• Mauryan dynasty: the Mauryas ruled the bigger empire and spread Ashoka's dhamma through edicts. The Shungas replaced them about 185 BCE, ruled a smaller area, and claimed power through the ashvamedha ritual. [2]
• Panini: Panini was the earlier grammarian. Patanjali wrote the Mahabhashya, a commentary that defends Panini against Katyayana. [3]
• Mahabhashya vs Yoga Sutras: both are credited to Patanjali. The Mahabhashya is about grammar. The Yoga Sutras are about yoga philosophy. [3]
• Bharhut Stupa vs Indian Museum: the stupa site is in Madhya Pradesh. Its main railings and gateways are now in the Indian Museum, Kolkata. [4][6][7]

Prelims Hooks

• Pushyamitra Shunga, a Brahman, founded the dynasty about 185 BCE after killing Brihadratha, the last Mauryan ruler. [2]
• Duration: Pushyamitra ruled about 36 years. The dynasty lasted about 112 years and ended about 73 BCE. [2]
• Ashvamedha yajna: a horse was set free with soldiers following. Land where rulers let it pass joined the empire, and stopping it meant war.
• Patanjali: the Yoga Sutras (NCERT) and the Mahabhashya, which defends Panini against Katyayana. [3]
• Bharhut Stupa, Madhya Pradesh: brick stupa, probably from Ashoka's time. A stone railing imitating wooden post-and-rail work was added in the 2nd century BCE, with gateways at the four cardinal points. [4]
• Trap: Bharhut was found by Alexander Cunningham in 1873, and its main remains are in the Indian Museum, Kolkata, not at the site. [4][5][6]

Mains Points

• Ritual as a tool of legitimacy.
• The Mauryas reached their subjects through edicts, officials and dhamma. Pushyamitra used the ashvamedha instead.
• With a smaller empire, a public yajna was a cheaper and more visible way to claim supremacy. It also tied the king to the Brahmanas.

• This links to the Class 12 theme of new ideas of kingship.

• Revival did not mean replacement.

• The Vedic revival and the Buddhist carvings at Bharhut belong to the same century.
• So religious history in this age is layered, not a fight where one side wins everything.

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

• Two lasting shifts, and who paid for them.

• Building moved from wood to stone: Bharhut's stone railing copies wooden forms. [4] The language of high learning moved towards Sanskrit.
• Bharhut's railings were paid for by many donors, such as monks, nuns, traders and townspeople. Surplus from farming and trade in the towns funded the art, so the growth of art and of the economy went together.

Related concepts

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

Read more

• The Shungas and the Vedic revival