Shunga Dynasty and Kanva Dynasty: North India after the Mauryas

Overview

The Shunga dynasty ruled Magadha and parts of north and central India for about a century after the fall of the Mauryas. Its founder, Pushyamitra Shunga, was the commander-in-chief of the last Mauryan king, Brihadratha, whom he assassinated around 185 BCE. The Shungas ruled from Pataliputra, with Vidisha in central India as a second centre, and they defended the Gangetic plain against the Indo-Greeks. Their age saw a revival of Vedic sacrifice, the grammar of Patanjali, the Heliodorus pillar at Besnagar and the carved railings of Bharhut and Sanchi. About 73 BCE the last Shunga king, Devabhuti, was killed by his minister Vasudeva Kanva, whose Kanva dynasty of four kings was the last line to rule Magadha as an imperial centre before the Satavahanas ended it.

Rise of the Shunga Dynasty after the Mauryas

Pushyamitra Shunga and the Fall of Brihadratha

The Mauryan empire broke up within about half a century of Ashoka's death. Very little is known about Ashoka's successors, and the north-west lay open to invasion. Around 185 BCE the last Mauryan king, Brihadratha, was assassinated by his commander-in-chief, Pushyamitra Shunga, while he was reviewing the guard of honour of his forces. Pushyamitra took the throne and founded the Shunga dynasty. The empire ended in a palace coup by its own general rather than in a defeat in battle, and the breakup of the Mauryan empire that followed it produced many new kingdoms, several of them earlier tributaries of the Mauryas.

Pushyamitra became master of Magadha and the neighbouring lands, that is, the central part of the old Mauryan empire. NCERT dates the coup to around 185 BCE; other accounts give 187 or 184 BCE. Pushyamitra ruled for 36 years, from about 185 to about 149 BCE, and was succeeded by his son Agnimitra.

The Shungas, like the Kanvas after them, were Brahmanas. The Shastras reserved kingship for Kshatriyas, but several important ruling lineages of early India probably had other origins. Political power in this period was open to anyone who could gather support and resources, and it rarely depended on birth as a Kshatriya.

Sources for Shunga and Kanva History

Shunga and Kanva history is pieced together from texts written over several centuries and from a handful of inscriptions. The Puranas give the king lists and reign lengths. The Vishnu Purana names ten Shunga kings, from Pushyamitra to Devabhuti, and gives them 112 years. Later literature adds detail of uneven value. The Harshacharita of Banabhatta records Pushyamitra's killing of Brihadratha and the killing of Devabhuti, and Kalidasa's Malavikagnimitra, a play of the Gupta age, is set at Agnimitra's court in Vidisha.

The name "Shunga" appears only once in the inscriptions of India, in a dedication at Bharhut "during the rule of the Sugas", and even that reading is not free of doubt. Other records, such as the Heliodorus pillar, are linked to the Shungas by their date and place, not by the dynasty's name.

Table 1. Sources for the Shunga and Kanva period
Source Kind What it tells the historian
Puranas (Vishnu Purana and others) Sanskrit texts King lists of the Shungas and the Kanvas, reign lengths, the conquest of the Kanvas by the Andhras (Satavahanas)
Mahabhashya of Patanjali Sanskrit grammar Contemporary references to the Greek incursion and to Vasudeva legends
Malavikagnimitra of Kalidasa Sanskrit play Agnimitra at Vidisha, the Vidarbha war, Vasumitra's defeat of the Yavanas (Greeks)
Yuga Purana Sanskrit text in the form of a prophecy The Yavana advance on Saketa and Pataliputra
Ashokavadana (in the Divyavadana) Buddhist text The tradition that Pushyamitra persecuted monks
Ayodhya inscription of Dhanadeva Inscription Pushyamitra's two ashvamedhas; a descendant ruling at Ayodhya
Bharhut gateway inscription Inscription The gateway raised "during the rule of the Sugas"
Heliodorus pillar inscription Inscription A Greek envoy at the court of Bhagabhadra at Vidisha
Coins Copper coins Kanva issues at Vidisha and Kaushambi; independent city coinages

Extent and Capitals of the Shunga Empire

Pataliputra, Vidisha and the Shunga Domain

The Shunga empire was centred on Magadha, and Pataliputra remained its capital. Pataliputra stood at the meeting of the Ganga, the Gandak and the Son, a natural "water fort", and the Nandas, Mauryas and Shungas all ruled from it. Vidisha, in eastern Malwa on the Betwa, was the second centre. Agnimitra governed it as viceroy in his father's reign, and later kings such as Bhagabhadra held court at Besnagar, the ancient city beside modern Vidisha.

The realm was smaller than the Mauryan empire. Shunga control of Ayodhya is proved by the Ayodhya inscription of Dhanadeva. The Malavikagnimitra claims that Pushyamitra's power reached the Narmada in the south, and the Shungas may also have held Ujjain. Mathura does not seem to have been Shunga territory, since no Shunga coins or inscriptions have been found there, and the Yavanarajya inscription from near Mathura is dated by the era of Yavana rule. Kabul and much of the Punjab passed to the Indo-Greeks, and the Deccan to the Satavahanas.

The empire did not hold together for long. After Agnimitra, inscriptions and coins show much of northern and central India divided among small kingdoms and city-states, many of them issuing their own coins. The later Shungas held the area round Vidisha, and the last remnants of their power in central India were destroyed by the Satavahanas.

Map of north and central India about 150 BCE with no modern boundaries. The Ganga, Yamuna, Narmada and Indus are drawn and named. A shaded area marks the approximate Shunga core from Magadha to eastern Malwa. Shunga capitals: Pataliputra and Vidisha. Stupas: Bharhut and Sanchi. Shunga inscription: Ayodhya, recording Pushyamitra's two ashvamedhas. Under the Indo-Greeks: Mathura, Sakala and Taxila. Other cities: Ujjain and Pratishthana. The Indo-Greeks lie to the north-west, the Satavahanas in the Deccan and Kalinga on the east coast.

Shunga Rulers: Pushyamitra, Agnimitra and Their Successors

Pushyamitra's Reign and the Ashvamedha Sacrifices

Pushyamitra's reign is best remembered for the revival of the great Vedic sacrifices. He performed the ashvamedha, the horse sacrifice by which a king proclaimed himself the most powerful ruler, and the Ayodhya inscription of Dhanadeva, a local king who called himself the sixth descendant of Pushyamitra, records that he performed two of them. Ashoka had forbidden animal sacrifice, so the return of the great sacrifices was a public sign that royal patronage had moved back to Brahmanical ritual.

Pushyamitra also kept his kingdom safe from invaders, fighting the Greeks more than once. His successors were weaker, and the dynasty ended about 73 BCE, some 112 years after he founded it.

Agnimitra, the Vidarbha War and the Malavikagnimitra

Agnimitra, Pushyamitra's son, was viceroy at Vidisha during his father's reign and became the second Shunga king around 149 BCE. The Vayu Purana and Brahmanda Purana give him a reign of eight years. He is known chiefly through the Malavikagnimitra, Kalidasa's first play. It tells of Agnimitra's love for Malavika, a maid of his chief queen Dharini; Malavika turns out to be a princess.

The play has a historical background. Vidarbha had broken away from the Mauryas under Yajnasena. His cousin Madhavasena sought Agnimitra's help and was captured while crossing the border of Vidarbha. Agnimitra sent his army against Vidarbha, Yajnasena was defeated, and the kingdom was divided between the two cousins, both of whom accepted Shunga overlordship.

Kalidasa wrote in the Gupta age, centuries after these events, and he is most widely placed in the reign of Chandragupta II. The play is therefore a later literary memory of the Shunga court, valuable for its setting at Vidisha but not a record made at the time.

Later Shunga Kings: Vasumitra to Devabhuti

The Puranas name ten Shunga kings: Pushyamitra, Agnimitra, Sujyeshtha, Vasumitra, Ardraka, Pulindaka, Ghoshavasu, Vajramitra, Bhagavata and Devabhuti. Vasumitra, Pushyamitra's grandson, is the hero of the dynasty's best-known battle against the Greeks. Bhagabhadra, a later Shunga king who held court at Vidisha and is not named in the Puranic list, is known from the Heliodorus pillar, which names him "Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Saviour".

The later kings had little power. Devabhuti, the last of them, was said to be overfond of the company of women, and his minister Vasudeva Kanva had him killed about 73 BCE. The Kanvas allowed members of the Shunga family to rule in obscurity in a corner of their old lands.

Table 2. Principal rulers of the Shunga dynasty
Ruler Approximate reign Known for
Pushyamitra About 185 to 149 BCE Killed Brihadratha; two ashvamedhas; wars with the Greeks
Agnimitra About 149 to 141 BCE Viceroy at Vidisha; the Vidarbha war; hero of the Malavikagnimitra
Vasumitra Not fixed Defeated a Greek squadron while guarding the sacrificial horse
Bhagabhadra Late second century BCE Received Heliodorus, envoy of Antialcidas, at Vidisha
Devabhuti Until about 73 BCE Last Shunga king, killed by his minister Vasudeva Kanva
Timeline from 200 BCE to 1 CE. Bars: Mauryas to about 185 BCE; Shungas, 112 years in the Puranas, about 185 to 73 BCE; Kanvas, 73 to 28 BCE. Markers: About 185 BCE, Pushyamitra kills Brihadratha; about 149 BCE, Agnimitra succeeds; around 113 BCE, the Heliodorus pillar at Vidisha; about 73 BCE, Vasudeva Kanva kills Devabhuti; 28 BCE in the Puranas, the Satavahanas end the Kanvas. The Indo-Greeks held the north-west and the Satavahanas the Deccan.

Shunga Wars with the Yavanas and Neighbours

Shunga Conflict with the Indo-Greeks

War and conflict marked the Shunga age, and the Yavanas, as Indian texts call the Indo-Greeks, were the most dangerous enemy. From around 180 BCE the Greco-Bactrian ruler Demetrius conquered the Kabul valley, and the Indo-Greek king Menander is credited with joining or leading a campaign towards Pataliputra. The Yuga Purana describes the Yavanas, joined by the Panchalas and the people of Mathura, approaching Saketa and reaching Pataliputra, and adds that they did not stay long because of a civil war in Bactria. Patanjali also comments on the recent Greek incursion in his grammar.

The Malavikagnimitra records a direct clash. Vasumitra, guarding Pushyamitra's sacrificial horse with a hundred soldiers, defeated a squadron of Greek cavalry on the "Sindhu" river, after which the sacrifice was completed. The river is more probably the Sindh or the Kali Sindh in the Ganga basin than the distant Indus. The net result of these wars is uncertain, but the Greeks seem to have kept Mathura and the Punjab while the Shungas held the Ganga heartland.

War gave way to diplomacy within a few generations. Around 113 BCE the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas sent an ambassador, Heliodorus, to the court of Bhagabhadra at Vidisha.

Kalinga, Vidarbha and the Satavahanas

The Shungas also fought Indian rivals. Besides Vidarbha, they warred with the Satavahanas, and possibly with Kalinga, the Panchalas and the Mitras of Mathura. These wars show that the Shunga realm was one power among several.

Kalinga was independent under its king Kharavela. His Hathigumpha inscription claims that he subdued a king of Magadha named Bahasatimita, whom one historian identified with Pushyamitra Shunga. Others reject the identification and take Bahasatimita for a ruler of Kaushambi or a member of the Mitra line, so the clash between Kharavela and Pushyamitra remains unproven.

The Satavahanas of the Deccan were the longest-lasting rivals. They ruled large parts of the Deccan from the second century BCE, south of the Shunga realm, and the Puranas call them the Andhras. Satakarni II captured eastern Malwa from the Shungas, which gave the Satavahanas the region of Sanchi, where they are credited with the carved gateways of the Great Stupa. The same southern power later ended the Kanvas.

Religion under the Shungas: Brahmanical Revival and Buddhism

Brahmanical Revival, Sanskrit and Patanjali's Mahabhashya

The Shunga age saw a revival of Vedic ritual, and other schools of thought continued to flourish beside it. Royal patronage returned to the sacrifices, and Sanskrit emerged as one of the preferred languages for philosophical and literary works. One scholarly view holds that the Manusmriti, with its stress on orthodox order in state and society, was first compiled under Pushyamitra.

The great scholar of the age was Patanjali, whose Mahabhashya, the "Great Commentary", comments on selected rules of Panini's Sanskrit grammar, the Ashtadhyayi, together with the notes of Katyayana. Patanjali's date, the mid-second century BCE, is considered reasonably secure, and his examples refer to events of his own time, among them the Greek incursion. Panini and Katyayana came before him.

NCERT places the compilation of the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali in this period; other accounts date the Yoga Sutras anywhere from the second century BCE to the fifth century CE, and many scholars treat its author as different from the grammarian.

Pushyamitra and the Buddhists: A Debated Tradition

Buddhist texts accuse Pushyamitra of persecuting the Buddhists. The best known of them, the Ashokavadana of the fourth or fifth century CE, part of the Divyavadana, says that he set out to destroy the Kukkutarama monastery at Pataliputra, and that at Sakala, modern Sialkot, he offered a prize of 100 dinaras, Roman coins, for every monk's head. Other Buddhist texts and the Tibetan historian Taranatha, writing in the sixteenth century, repeat the story.

Many historians regard this tradition as exaggerated, for several reasons:

  • Dating: The Ashokavadana was written centuries after Pushyamitra, and it wrongly makes him a descendant of Ashoka.
  • Coins: The dinara it names did not come into general circulation in India before the first century BCE.
  • Monuments: Buddhist monuments at Bharhut and Sanchi were enlarged and decorated during the Shunga period.
  • Monasteries: Sri Lankan tradition records monasteries in Bihar, Awadh and Malwa in Pushyamitra's time, which suggests they survived his reign.
  • Archaeology: Firm archaeological evidence of a persecution is lacking.

Some damage to Buddhist sites of the second century BCE, at Taxila, Kaushambi and Sanchi, keeps the question open, and one view explains any hostility as political, since Buddhists may have favoured the Indo-Greek rivals of the Shungas. It is possible that Buddhist monasteries lost the royal patronage they had enjoyed under the Mauryas, and that this loss was later remembered as persecution.

Heliodorus Pillar and the Bhagavata Cult at Besnagar

The Heliodorus pillar at Besnagar, near Vidisha, is a key religious monument of the Shunga period. Its inscription records that the pillar is a Garuda-standard of Vasudeva, "the God of Gods", set up by Heliodorus, son of Dion, a man of Taxila. Heliodorus came as ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas to King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, and he calls himself a Bhagavata, a devotee of Vasudeva. A second inscription on the pillar praises three immortal precepts, self-restraint, charity and consciousness, that lead to heaven when practised.

The pillar is among the earliest archaeological evidence of the Bhagavata cult, the devotion to Vasudeva-Krishna that grew into Vaishnavism. Excavations showed it to be one of eight pillars of an ancient Vasudeva temple site, and Patanjali's references to plays on the slaying of Kamsa by Vasudeva show the legend was already well known. It is often called one of the earliest records of a foreigner's conversion to Vaishnavism. Another reading holds that a Greek honouring a local god was following ordinary Greek practice, and on that reading the pillar does not record a conversion.

The pillar was found by Alexander Cunningham in the 1870s, thickly coated with red paste and worshipped locally as Kham Baba. Its inscriptions were found only when the crust was cleaned, between 1909 and 1910.

Shunga Art: Bharhut, Sanchi and Early Stupa Sculpture

Bharhut Stupa Railings and Narrative Reliefs

Shunga-period art is best seen at Bharhut, a village in the Satna district of central India. Its stupa was probably first built in the time of Ashoka, but its carved stone railings and reliefs of stories from the Buddha's life were added during the Shunga period, and they are among the earliest examples of Buddhist art. A pillar of the one surviving gateway records that it was raised "during the rule of the Sugas" by Vatsiputra Dhanabhuti, who made the stone-work as a gift. King Dhanabhuti was a Buddhist donor and probably not a member of the Shunga line, perhaps a tributary of the Shungas or a ruler of a neighbouring territory.

Each Bharhut panel is labelled in Brahmi with what it shows, which makes the stupa a key to early Buddhist iconography. The narrative panels use few characters, tilted perspective and sometimes several events of one story in a single frame. The Ruru Jataka shows the Bodhisattva deer rescuing a man on its back, and in the same frame the king about to shoot the deer, with the ungrateful man pointing it out. Masons' marks in Kharosthi on the gateway suggest that some of its builders came from Gandhara, while the railings carry Indian markings. Many Bharhut sculptures are now in the Indian Museum, Kolkata.

The Bharhut railings are usually dated to about 125 to 100 BCE and the gateway to about 100 to 75 BCE. Some recent re-evaluations place the stupa in the first century CE, on the evidence of its likeness to dated Mathura sculpture.

Sanchi Stupas in the Shunga Period

The Great Stupa at Sanchi, near Vidisha, was originally commissioned by Ashoka as a hemispherical brick mound over relics of the Buddha. In the Shunga period it was enlarged with stone slabs to almost twice its original size. The dome was flattened near the top and crowned by three parasols (chhatri) inside a square railing (harmika). It stood on a raised terrace (medhi) used for circumambulation, and a stone railing (vedika) enclosed a second path at ground level. These works are dated to about 150 BCE, and the railing slabs of the Great Stupa are plain, carrying only donors' inscriptions.

The sculpture of the Shunga period at Sanchi is on Stupa No. 2 and Stupa No. 3. The medallions of Stupa No. 2 are dated to about 115 BCE. Stupa No. 3 is said to have held relics of Sariputra and Mahamoggallana, disciples of the Buddha. The great carved gateways of Sanchi belong to the Satavahana period that followed.

Most dedications at Sanchi were made by private donors and groups, not by kings. The part the Shunga kings themselves played in the work is therefore not known.

Side view of the Great Stupa at Sanchi. Labels: Chhatri, three parasols at the top; harmika, a railed box; anda, the dome; medhi, a raised terrace; vedika, the railing round the base; torana, a gateway. The pradakshinapatha are the paths for walking round the stupa. Note: Mauryan brick core; Shunga stone casing, terrace and railing; Satavahana gateways.

Folk Motifs and Buddhist Ideals in Early Stupa Art

Early stupa art at Bharhut and Sanchi joins popular belief to Buddhist teaching. Its sculptors carved tall figures of yakshas and yakshinis, the nature spirits of popular belief, and the goddess Lakshmi, along with elephants, singers, dancers and scenes of village and city life. These familiar forms drew ordinary worshippers to the monument.

The narratives carried the teaching. Jataka panels told the Buddha's earlier lives as stories of compassion and self-sacrifice, as in the Ruru Jataka. Scenes from his last life, such as Queen Maya's dream of a descending elephant, traced the path to enlightenment. The Buddha himself never appears in human form. He is shown by symbols such as his footprints, the stupa or the wheel of dharma, and the worship of the stupa is itself carved at Bharhut. The railing round the stupa marked the path of circumambulation, and the inscriptions on it record the names of the donors who paid for it.

Kanva Dynasty: The Last Imperial Line of Magadha

Vasudeva Kanva and the Four Kanva Kings

The Kanva dynasty was founded about 73 BCE by Vasudeva Kanva, the Brahmana minister of the last Shunga king, Devabhuti. Vasudeva had his master killed and took the throne; the Harshacharita says the killing was carried out with the help of a slave woman's daughter disguised as the queen. The Kanvas were Brahmanas, and the dynasty took its name from Vasudeva's gotra.

Four Kanva kings ruled in succession, for about 45 years in the Puranic reckoning. Vasudeva was followed by his son Bhumimitra, then by Bhumimitra's son Narayana, and finally by Narayana's son Susharman, the last of the line. The Puranas place the Kanvas at Pataliputra, but their coins are found mostly around Vidisha. Copper coins with the legend "Kanvasya" come from Vidisha and Kaushambi, and coins of Bhumimitra from the Panchala country.

Table 3. The Shunga and Kanva dynasties compared
Feature Shunga dynasty Kanva dynasty
Founder Pushyamitra Shunga, commander-in-chief of the last Maurya Vasudeva Kanva, minister of the last Shunga
How power was taken Assassination of Brihadratha, around 185 BCE Killing of Devabhuti, about 73 BCE
Number of kings Ten Four
Duration in the Puranas 112 years About 45 years (73 to 28 BCE)
Social origin Brahmana Brahmana
Main centres Pataliputra and Vidisha Pataliputra in the Puranas; coins mostly near Vidisha
Last ruler Devabhuti Susharman
Ended by Vasudeva Kanva The Satavahanas (Andhras)

Fall of the Kanvas and the End of Magadhan Supremacy

The Kanva dynasty was ended by the Satavahanas, by Puranic reckoning in 28 BCE. The Puranas, written as prophecy, say that the Andhra king Simuka overthrew Susharman and destroyed what remained of Shunga power. Another Puranic passage names the conqueror Balipuccha, which no coin or inscription confirms. The fighting seems to have been confined to central India.

With the fall of the Kanvas the Magadhan empire came to an end. Magadha itself did not pass to the Satavahanas. Coins and inscriptions suggest that it came under the Mitra rulers of Kaushambi from the first century BCE until the second century CE. Political leadership passed to the Satavahanas in the Deccan and to the Indo-Greeks, Sakas and Kushanas in the north-west, the powers that shaped the post-Mauryan age.

Shunga and Kanva Dynasties in the Post-Mauryan Age

Assessment of the Shunga and Kanva Rule

The Shunga and Kanva period is a bridge between the Mauryan empire and the regional kingdoms of the following centuries. Politically, the Shungas resisted the Greeks in the Ganga heartland but could not hold a large empire, and after Agnimitra their power shrank to a core round Pataliputra and Vidisha. The Kanvas were a shorter and weaker line, known mostly from Puranic lists and coins.

In religion, the period marks a turn of royal patronage back to Vedic sacrifice and to the Bhagavata cult, without the end of Buddhism. Sanskrit grew as the language of learning, and Patanjali's grammar remained its authority for more than 2,000 years. In art, the railings of Bharhut and the stone work of Sanchi began the tradition of narrative relief that the schools of Gandhara, Mathura and Amaravati carried further. The age also shows how readily foreigners entered Indian life, for a Greek envoy honoured Vasudeva at Vidisha.

Previous Year UPSC‑CSE Questions

Each Prelims question is explained option by option, and each Mains question comes with an answer outline.

  1. UPSC Prelims 2023Consider the following pairs:Site | Well known for
    1. Besnagar - Shaivite cave shrine
    2. Bhaja - Buddhist cave shrine
    3. Sittanavasal - Jain cave shrine

    How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?

    1. a Only one
    2. b Only two
    3. c All three
    4. d None
    How to approach this Prelims question

    Question type: How many are correct

    Approach: Test each site against what it is known for, then count the correct pairs.

    • Besnagar: Known for the Heliodorus pillar, a Garuda-standard of Vasudeva and early evidence of the Bhagavata cult, not for a Shaivite cave shrine; wrong.
    • Bhaja: Near Pune, it has early Buddhist rock-cut caves with an apsidal chaitya hall; correct.
    • Sittanavasal: In Tamil Nadu, it has Jaina caves with paintings on the ceilings; correct.

    Trap to watch: Students who remember a cave site near Vidisha accept the first pair, but Besnagar itself is known for the Vaishnava Heliodorus pillar, not for a Shaivite cave shrine.

    Why each option is right or wrong:

    • (a) Only one: Wrong. Both Bhaja and Sittanavasal are correctly matched, so the count is more than one.
    • (b) Only two: Correct. Bhaja (Buddhist caves) and Sittanavasal (Jaina caves) are right, and Besnagar is wrongly matched.
    • (c) All three: Wrong. Besnagar is known for the Vaishnava Heliodorus pillar, not for a Shaivite cave shrine.
    • (d) None: Wrong. Two of the three pairs are correctly matched.

    Answer: (b) Only two. Bhaja and Sittanavasal are correctly matched, while Besnagar is known for the Heliodorus pillar to Vasudeva.

  2. UPSC Prelims 2020With reference to the scholars/litterateurs of ancient India, consider the following statements:
    1. Panini is associated with Pushyamitra Shunga.
    2. Amarasimha is associated with Harshavardhana.
    3. Kalidasa is associated with Chandra Gupta – II.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    1. a 1 and 2 only
    2. b 2 and 3 only
    3. c 3 only
    4. d 1, 2 and 3
    How to approach this Prelims question

    Question type: Multiple statements

    Approach: Place each scholar in his own age and compare it with the ruler named.

    • Statement 1: Panini came before Katyayana and Patanjali, and the grammarian of Pushyamitra's age was Patanjali, who commented on Panini; wrong.
    • Statement 2: Amarasimha, author of the Amarakosha, is traditionally counted among the nine gems of the court of Vikramaditya, identified with Chandragupta II, and has no tradition linking him with Harshavardhana; wrong.
    • Statement 3: Kalidasa is most widely placed in the reign of Chandragupta II in the Gupta age; correct.

    Trap to watch: Students mix up the two grammarians and accept statement 1, but Pushyamitra's contemporary was Patanjali; Panini wrote the grammar on which Patanjali commented.

    Why each option is right or wrong:

    • (a) 1 and 2 only: Wrong. Both statements are wrong, since Panini came before Patanjali and Amarasimha is not linked with Harsha.
    • (b) 2 and 3 only: Wrong. Statement 3 is correct, but statement 2 is wrong because tradition places Amarasimha at the court of Vikramaditya.
    • (c) 3 only: Correct. Kalidasa is linked with Chandragupta II, while statements 1 and 2 pair scholars with the wrong rulers.
    • (d) 1, 2 and 3: Wrong. Statements 1 and 2 are both wrong pairings.

    Answer: (c) 3 only. Only the pairing of Kalidasa with Chandragupta II is correct, because the Shunga-age grammarian was Patanjali and Amarasimha is not linked with Harsha.

  3. UPSC Prelims 2016Which one of the following books of ancient India has the love story of the son of the founder of Sunga dynasty?
    1. a Swapnavasavadatta
    2. b Malavikagnimitra
    3. c Meghadoota
    4. d Ratnavali
    How to approach this Prelims question

    Question type: Single correct answer

    Approach: Identify the founder of the Shunga dynasty and his son, then find the work about that son. Pushyamitra founded the dynasty, and his son Agnimitra, viceroy at Vidisha, is the hero of Kalidasa's play the Malavikagnimitra, which tells of his love for Malavika. The other three works are about other heroes.

    Trap to watch: Students who link Kalidasa with every love story pick the Meghadoota, but that poem is about a yaksha's message to his wife, not about a Shunga prince.

    Why each option is right or wrong:

    • (a) Swapnavasavadatta: Wrong. This play by Bhasa is about King Udayana and Vasavadatta.
    • (b) Malavikagnimitra: Correct. Kalidasa's play tells of the love of Agnimitra, son of Pushyamitra Shunga, for Malavika.
    • (c) Meghadoota: Wrong. Kalidasa's lyric poem describes a yaksha sending a message to his wife through a cloud.
    • (d) Ratnavali: Wrong. This play, attributed to Harsha, is about King Udayana, not a Shunga prince.

    Answer: (b) Malavikagnimitra. The Malavikagnimitra is the love story of Agnimitra, son of the Shunga founder Pushyamitra.

  4. UPSC Prelims 2003Consider the following statements:
    1. The last Mauryan ruler, Brihadratha was assassinated by his commander-in-chief, Pushyamitra Sunga.
    2. The last Sunga king, Devabhuti was assassinated by his Brahmana minister Vasudeva Kanva who usurped the throne.
    3. The last ruler of the Kanva dynasty was deposed by the Andhra's.

    Which of these statements is/are correct?

    1. a 1 and 2
    2. b Only 2
    3. c Only 3
    4. d 1, 2 and 3
    How to approach this Prelims question

    Question type: Multiple statements

    Approach: Follow the chain of succession from the Mauryas to the Satavahanas and test each change of power.

    • Statement 1: Pushyamitra Shunga, commander-in-chief of the last Maurya, assassinated Brihadratha around 185 BCE; correct.
    • Statement 2: Devabhuti, the last Shunga king, was killed by his Brahmana minister Vasudeva Kanva, who took the throne about 73 BCE; correct.
    • Statement 3: The Puranas record that the Andhras, that is the Satavahanas, ended the Kanva line under Susharman; correct.

    Trap to watch: Students who know the Satavahanas only as a Deccan power doubt statement 3, but the Puranas call the Satavahanas Andhras and credit them with ending the Kanvas.

    Why each option is right or wrong:

    • (a) 1 and 2: Wrong. It leaves out statement 3, which is also correct, since the Andhras (Satavahanas) ended the Kanvas.
    • (b) Only 2: Wrong. Statements 1 and 3 are also correct, since Pushyamitra killed Brihadratha and the Andhras ended the Kanvas.
    • (c) Only 3: Wrong. It drops statements 1 and 2, both of which describe real assassinations by a commander and a minister.
    • (d) 1, 2 and 3: Correct. Each statement records a real transfer of power in the chain Maurya, Shunga, Kanva and Satavahana.

    Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3. Brihadratha fell to Pushyamitra, Devabhuti to Vasudeva Kanva, and the last Kanva to the Andhras, so all three statements are correct.

  5. UPSC Mains 2016 GS‑IEarly Buddhist Stupa-art, while depicting folk motifs and narratives successfully expounds Buddhist ideals. Elucidate.
    Answer outline

    The outline sets out what the question asks, the main arguments, relevant examples and the direction of the conclusion; it is not a full model answer.

    Directive verb: Elucidate

    Approach: Show how popular imagery and stories carried Buddhist teaching, with Bharhut and Sanchi as the examples.

    Introduction: Early stupa art, best preserved at Bharhut and Sanchi in the second and first centuries BCE, decorated the railings and gateways round a relic mound with carved panels.

    Body (sub-themes to develop):

    • Folk motifs: Tall figures of yakshas and yakshinis, Lakshmi, elephants, musicians and dancers, and scenes of village and city life drew popular devotion to the monument.
    • Narratives: Labelled Jataka panels such as the Ruru Jataka and scenes from the Buddha's life such as Queen Maya's dream told the story of compassion and enlightenment.
    • Aniconism: The Buddha is never shown in human form; footprints, the wheel of dharma and the stupa stand for him.
    • Ritual and gift: The railing marked the path of circumambulation, and inscriptions on it recorded the names of donors.

    Conclusion: Popular imagery and stories carried Buddhist teaching to ordinary worshippers, and the narrative relief begun here was carried further by the later schools of Mathura and Amaravati.

Sources

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Dates for this period are approximate. Where accounts differ, the current NCERT textbooks are followed and the other figures are noted in the text.

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