Sunga Dynasty 185 to 73 BCE

 

Sunga Dynasty (185 to 73 BCE)

 

·         The Sungas were the immediate successors of the Mauryas in North India, a Brahmin family of obscure origin. Pushyamitra Sunga laid the foundation of a new dynasty in Magadha known as the Sunga dynasty.

 

·          According to Harshacharita, Pushyamitra, a general of Mauryan king Brihadratha, assassinated the last Mauryan ruler and usurped the throne. Thus he succeeded in gaining power by slaying his master. The dynasty ruled roughly for 112 years, i.e., from about 185 to 73 BCE.

 

Pushyamitra Sunga:

 

·         Pushyamitra was the greatest king of this dynasty. He fought number of wars. He conquered the Vidarbha region (Berar) in the Northern Deccan.

·         The most important challenge to the Sunga rule was to protect against the invasions of the Bactrian Greeks from the north-west.

·         The Greeks advanced up to Pataliputra but the invasion was repulsed by Vasumitra, son of Agnimitra and grandson of Pushyamitra.

·         The Greek invader who faced defeat was either Demetrious or Menander. He also fought a campaign against Kharavela of Kalinga who invaded North India. By these conquests the Sunga dominions comprised the entire Gangetic valley and extended to the river Narmada.

·         The cities of Pataliputra, Ayodhya, and Vidisha were included in the Sunga kingdom. According to the Divyavadana and Taranath’s account, the kingdom included Jalandhara and Sakala (Sialkot) in the Punjab.Pushyamitra was a staunch follower of Brahmanism.

·          The Ayodhya stone inscription of the king Dhana refers to Pushyamitra as a performer of two Asvamedha Sacrifices. Pathanjali also mentioned Sacrifices performed by Pushyamitra. Buddhist sources referred to him as a persecutor of Buddhists and destroyer of their monasteries.

·         This however contradicted that during his reign the Buddhist monuments at Barhut and Sanchi were renovated and further improved. The stories of his persecution of Buddhists obviously betray sectarian bias.

 

 The Successors of Pushyamitra :

 

Pushyamitra was succeeded by his son Agnimitra who in turn was succeeded by his son Vasumitra. There were seven successors of Vasumitra. An interesting inscription of the Sunga period was inscribed on a Pillar at Besnagar, the site of ancient Vidisha. The inscription referred to the king Kasiputa Bhagabhadra, is identified either as the fifth king Bhadraka or the ninth king Bhagavatha. The inscription indicates that the Sungas continued the Mauryan tradition of entertaining ambassadors from the Greek courts. The inscription further recorded that Heliodorous, the Greek ambassador, described himself as a Bhagavata (Worshipper of Vasudeva) and set up this pillar in honour of the god.The last Sunga ruler was Devabhuti, assassinated by his minister Vasudeva Kanva, the founder of the Kanva dynasty.

 

Cultural Contribution of the Sungas : 

 

·         The Sungas, though ruled for a short period, played very important part in the history of 

ancient India.

 

·         The greatest political contribution of the Sungas was to check the advancing tide of the Greeks. About the achievement of Pushyamitra, E.B. Havel states : “ In driving 

away the foreign invader from the sacred soil of Aryavarta Pushyamitra Sunga played the same role as the great Mauryan Emperors, though not with the same success”.

 

·         In the cultural sphere the Sungas revived Brahmanism and horse sacrifice. They also 

Promoted the growth of Vaishnavism and Sanskrit language.

 

·         It was under the patronage of the Sunga kings that the Sanskrit scholar, Patanjali, composed his celebrated work, the Mahabhasya.

 

·         This provided a fresh stimulus to the study of Sanskrit literature. The Manusmriti, the law-book of Manu, Buddhacharita by Asvaghosha were compiled during this period. The Buddhist art of the Mauryas was survived and continued during the time of the Sungas. 

 

 

·         The Sungas successfully repelled the Greek invasions, revived Brahmanical religion, gave impetus to the birth of Bhagavatism, developed Sanskrit literature and patronised Art andArchitecture. In short, the Sunga rule was a brilliant anticipation of the Golden age of the Guptas. In other wards the period of the Guptas was the culmination of the Sunga period.