Post Mauryan north India: Shungas, Kanvas and Kharavela, 187 to 28 BCE

Literary sources

The Vayu, Vishnu and Matsya Puranas give the dynastic lists for the Shungas and the Kanvas.
The Sanskrit Buddhist Divyavadana accuses Pushyamitra of destroying monasteries and persecuting monks.
The Divyavadana is a partisan source, written to defend Buddhist institutions.
Patanjali's Mahabhashya, a commentary on Panini's Ashtadhyayi, has incidental references to society, politics and material life, a secondary but valuable source for the Shunga period.
Kalidasa's Sanskrit play Malavikagnimitram, set at Agnimitra's court, gives cultural context but is not a historical chronicle.

Inscriptions

The Hathigumpha inscription, cut into the rock of Udayagiri hill near Bhubaneswar, is written in Prakrit in the Brahmi script.
It is a prashasti, a royal eulogy recording Kharavela's deeds year by year, so it makes claims rather than keeping a chronicle.

Archaeology and monuments

At Sanchi, archaeology adds the toranas and vedika.
At Bharhut it adds the railing with its donor inscriptions.
At Bodh Gaya it adds the Vajrasana platform and railing.
The Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves are linked directly with Kharavela's patronage.
These caves and the excavated city of Sisupalgarh show Kalinga in this age.

The Shungas

The Shunga kings began with Pushyamitra the founder and his son Agnimitra.
After them came the later Vasumitra, and Devabhuti, the last.

The Kanvas

Four Kanva kings ruled over roughly 45 years.
They were Vasudeva Kanva, Bhumimitra, Narayana and Susarman.

Pushyamitra Shunga
king
Brahmana senapati of Brihadratha who killed him in 187 BCE and founded the Shunga dynasty; performed the Ashvamedha and repelled Menander.
Agnimitra
king
Son of Pushyamitra, who administered from Vidisha; subject of Kalidasa's Malavikagnimitram.
Vasumitra
king
A later Shunga said to have repelled an Indo Greek attack near the Sindhu.
Devabhuti
king
The last Shunga king, assassinated by his minister Vasudeva Kanva about 73 BCE.
Vasudeva Kanva
king
Minister who killed Devabhuti and founded the Kanva dynasty.
Bhumimitra
king
A Kanva king.
Narayana
king
A Kanva king.
Susarman
king
The last Kanva king, overthrown by the Satavahanas about 28 BCE.
Kharavela
king
King of an independent Kalinga in the first century BCE, known from the Hathigumpha inscription; a patron of Jainism.
Patanjali
grammarian
Author of the Mahabhashya, said to have officiated as priest at Pushyamitra's Ashvamedha.
Menander
king; also Milinda
Milinda, the most powerful Indo Greek king, repelled by Pushyamitra.
Kalidasa
poet
Author of the Sanskrit play Malavikagnimitram, set at Agnimitra's court.

After the Mauryas

The Mauryas fell in 187 BCE, but their fall left no sudden vacuum.
The Shungas and then the Kanvas held the Gangetic heartland for over a century and a half.

Pushyamitra Shunga

Pushyamitra Shunga was a Brahmana and the senapati of Brihadratha, the last Mauryan king, whom he killed before ruling from Pataliputra.
Vidisha was his important secondary centre, and his son Agnimitra administered from there.
Pushyamitra performed the Ashvamedha, declaring himself a sovereign of the old Vedic order.
Pushyamitra also repelled Menander, the most powerful Indo Greek king.

The later Shungas

Among the later Shungas, Vasumitra is said to have repelled an Indo Greek attack near the Sindhu.
Devabhuti, the last Shunga, was assassinated by his own minister Vasudeva Kanva about 73 BCE.

The Kanvas

Vasudeva Kanva set up the Kanva dynasty, and the Kanvas, Brahmanas, ruled a much reduced territory until the Satavahanas from the Deccan overthrew them about 28 BCE.
That ended the Magadha centred succession that had begun with the Haryanka dynasty centuries earlier.

Kalinga after Ashoka

Kalinga was conquered by Ashoka about 261 BCE and ruled as a province.
Kalinga reasserted its independence as Mauryan power weakened, and was fully independent by Kharavela's time.

Kharavela

The Hathigumpha inscription makes these claims for Kharavela, who took the title chakravartin:
- Extensive irrigation.
- Wars with the Rathikas and Bhojakas.
- An attack on Rajagriha in Magadha.
- The recovery of the Nandagartha taken by the Nandas.
- A Yavana king driven away.
- The Kalinga Jina brought back from Magadha, where a Nanda king had carried it.
Kalinga's maritime position on the Bay of Bengal founded its later seafaring prominence.

The Shungas and the Kanvas

Dynasty	Dates	Founder	Kings	End
Shungas	About 187 to 73 BCE	Pushyamitra, a Brahmana senapati	Pushyamitra, Agnimitra, Vasumitra, Devabhuti	Devabhuti killed by his minister Vasudeva Kanva
Kanvas	About 73 to 28 BCE	Vasudeva Kanva, a Brahmana	Vasudeva Kanva, Bhumimitra, Narayana, Susarman	Overthrown by the Satavahanas

Two Brahmana dynasties held Magadha after the Mauryas, the second over a much reduced territory.Source: Theme 8 handout

Post Mauryan north India

187 BCE
Pushyamitra kills Brihadratha and founds the Shunga dynasty
About 151 to 143 BCE
Agnimitra rules from Vidisha
About 73 BCE
Vasudeva Kanva kills Devabhuti and founds the Kanva dynasty
About 28 BCE
The Satavahanas overthrow the Kanvas
First century BCE
Kharavela rules an independent Kalinga

The two dynasties of the Ganga heartland, with Kharavela's century in the east.Source: Theme 8 handout

Ritual and hierarchy

Pushyamitra's Ashvamedha was not only political but a social statement about hierarchy and ritual order.
Dharmashastra literature grew in this period, laying down rules on varna duties, marriage, inheritance and women's roles.
The Manusmriti, in its earlier layers, is associated with roughly this era, though its composition was a long process.

Foreigners in the varna order

Some Brahmanical texts classed foreign rulers as vrata kshatriyas, Kshatriyas fallen from their status through neglect of proper dharmic conduct.
Greeks were called Yavanas, a term that later came to mean other foreigners too.

Donors at Bharhut and Sanchi

Monks, nuns, merchants, ivory workers, perfumers, scribes, goldsmiths and householders all appear as donors at Bharhut and Sanchi.
Buddhism was not an elite religion only: it reached deep into urban craft and mercantile society.

Trade towns

The Gangetic plain, Vidisha, Taxila and Ujjain remained active nodes of commerce, so the trade networks continued.
Vidisha, in Madhya Pradesh, was a major inland trade centre during the Shunga period.

Guilds and craftspeople

Merchants organised in shrenis, or guilds, were wealthy enough to donate whole sections of railings and gateways at major Buddhist sites.
Bharhut's inscriptions name ivory workers (dantakara), perfumers (gandhika) and other craftspeople, showing occupational specialisation and prosperity.
Women appear prominently among the donors named in these inscriptions.

The Heliodorus pillar

The Heliodorus pillar at Besnagar, Vidisha, was erected by a Greek ambassador who called himself a Bhagavata, a devotee of Vishnu or Vasudeva.
It is the earliest datable evidence of the Bhagavata or Vaishnava devotional movement outside purely Indian sources, showing how far Vaishnavism had spread.

Sanchi

At Sanchi, Ashoka built the original stupa, and the four carved toranas and the outer vedika were added in the Shunga and early Satavahana periods.
The Buddha appears nowhere in human form on these gateways, for the aniconic tradition is fully in operation.
Its symbols are the footprints (Buddhapada), the Bodhi tree, an empty throne, the wheel (dharmachakra) and the umbrella (chattra).

Bharhut, Kharavela and the Jains

The Bharhut railing is dated to the Shunga period by inscriptions naming a Shunga king.
Its sculptures are among the earliest dated narrative Buddhist art.
The shift to the iconic tradition, the Buddha in human form, came in the Kushana period with the schools of Mathura and Gandhara.
Kharavela patronised Jainism, and the Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves were excavated as rock cut residences for Jain ascetics.

Sanchi's gatewayTap to enlarge

A torana of the Great Stupa, where the Buddha is shown only by his symbols.Source: Theme 8 handout

Sanskrit

Patanjali's Mahabhashya is a commentary on Panini's Ashtadhyayi.
It represents the intellectual height of Brahmanical learning in this period.

Prakrit and Pali

Kharavela's Hathigumpha inscription is written in Prakrit, which shows Prakrit's continued use in royal communication in eastern India.
Buddhist canonical texts continued to be transmitted and composed in Pali, and the Pali canon was being consolidated.

The northern torana at Sanchi
The four carved toranas and the outer vedika of the Sanchi stupa were added in the Shunga and early Satavahana periods.
Travel Miles With Smiles, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi
The World Heritage listing of Sanchi, whose gateways show the Buddha only by symbols.
See it at UNESCO World Heritage Centre
The Bharhut railing
The Bharhut stupa railing is firmly dated to the Shunga period by inscriptions that name a Shunga king.
Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A Jataka medallion from Bharhut
Bharhut's sculptures are among the earliest dated narrative Buddhist art in India.
Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Heliodorus pillar, Besnagar
Erected by a Greek ambassador who called himself a Bhagavata, a devotee of Vishnu or Vasudeva.
Ramesh lalwani, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Vajrasana at Bodh Gaya
The diamond throne platform and railing at the site of the Buddha's enlightenment date to this period.
Christopher J. Fynn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Hathigumpha inscription
Cut into Udayagiri hill near Bhubaneswar, in Prakrit and Brahmi: a prashasti of Kharavela's deeds year by year.
Kevin Standage, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Rani Gumpha, Udayagiri
The Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves were rock cut residences for Jain ascetics, excavated under Kharavela's patronage.
Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The ramparts of Sisupalgarh
Sisupalgarh, an excavated urban site near Bhubaneswar, is possibly Kalinganagara, the capital of Kalinga.
Rohit Agarwal, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Prashasti: A royal eulogy, such as the Hathigumpha inscription recording Kharavela's deeds year by year.
Hathigumpha: Literally elephant cave: Kharavela's inscription on Udayagiri hill near Bhubaneswar.
Torana: A carved stone gateway, such as the four at Sanchi.
Vedika: A stone railing round a stupa.
Vajrasana: The diamond throne platform at Bodh Gaya, the site of the Buddha's enlightenment.
Vrata kshatriya: A Kshatriya fallen from status through neglect of proper dharmic conduct; some Brahmanical texts so classed foreign rulers.
Yavana: The word for the Greeks, which later came to mean other foreigners too.
Bhagavata: A devotee of Vishnu or Vasudeva.
Dantakara: An ivory worker, named among the donors at Bharhut.
Gandhika: A perfumer, named among the donors at Bharhut.
Chakravartin: A universal sovereign, the title Kharavela claimed.
Nandagartha: A treasure or ritual object taken from Kalinga by the Nandas, which Kharavela claimed to have recovered.
Aniconic: Showing the Buddha by symbols only, not in human form.

Did Pushyamitra persecute the Buddhists?

The Divyavadana

The Sanskrit Buddhist Divyavadana accuses Pushyamitra of destroying monasteries and persecuting monks.

The archaeology

Sanchi and Bharhut flourished under Shunga rule, which complicates any simple story of persecution.
Brahmanical favour coexisted with Buddhist patronage, and the Divyavadana was written to defend Buddhist institutions.

The Divyavadana is a partisan source, and the reality was perhaps more complex than persecution.

Prelims

Try each before opening the answer; every question is also on the Prelims PYQs pages.

2021 · Q37

Consider the following pairs: (Historical place / Well-known for)

1.Burzahom : Rock-cut shrines
2.Chandraketugarh : Terracotta art
3.Ganeshwar : Copper artefacts.

Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

(a)1 only
(b)1 and 2
(c)3 only
(d)2 and 3UPSC key

Show answer and explanation

Pair 1 is incorrectly matched and is the decisive one: Burzahom in the Kashmir valley is a Neolithic site famous for its subterranean pit dwellings, associated dog burials with human remains, and a hunting scene engraving. It has no rock-cut shrines, which belong to sites such as Ellora, Ajanta and Mahabalipuram.
Pair 2 is correctly matched: Chandraketugarh in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal is renowned for its early historic terracotta plaques and figurines.
Pair 3 is correctly matched: Ganeshwar in the Sikar district of Rajasthan, sitting near the Khetri copper belt, yielded a very large assemblage of copper objects and is understood as a supplier of copper to the Harappan world.

Hence 2 and 3, giving (d). Knowing only that Burzahom means pit dwellings eliminates (a) and (b) at once.

Moderate · Static · Ancient and Medieval History · Sources, Chronology and Historiography