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After Ashoka’s death, his successors were not able to keep the vast Mauryan kingdom intact. Provinces started declaring independence. N-W India slipped out of Mauryan control & a series of foreign invasion affected this region.
From some Puranic descriptions as well as from the famous work ‘Harsha Charita’, written by Bana several centuries later, that the last King of the Maurya Dynasty named Brihadratha was killed by his own General named Pushyamitra Sunga in about 185 or 186 B.C. the meaning of "sunga" is the fig tree in sanskrit. so sungas took their dynastic name from the fig tree.
To proclaim his sovereignty, Pushyamitra undertook the performance of "Ashvamedha" (horse sacrifice). This Vedic sacrifice was regarded as a symbol of royal power and glory. there is a reference to the performance of this sacrifice in Patanjali's "Mahabhasya".
Pushyamitra's defeats as described by Prof. Rapson are assumptions.
first thought that he lost Ujjain to the Andra monarch Satakarni I. He relied on Andra coins bearing the name Sata and identifiies Sata with Satakarni I.
The second discovery is proved erroneous. He believe dthat Sata is an abbreviation of Satavahanas and does not stand for satkarni.
The Jain traditions preserved by Merutunga counts Pushyamitra amongst the rulers and they believed he ruled for 30 years.
The Sunga empire under Pushyamitra Sunga included the central portion of the old Mauryan Empire and extended as far as Narmada and Vidarbha in the south. According to "Divyavadana" and "Taranatha" his empire extended to Jalandhar and Sakala(Sialkot) in the Punjab. The Sunga Empire included 3 important cities: Pataliputra, Ayodhya and Vidisa.
After a long and eventful reign of nearly 36 years, Pushyamitra died in or about 151 BC. The following were his successors:
Devabhuti ruled for 10 years till 72 BC. According to Bana, Devabhuti was fond ...
Devabhuti ruled for 10 years till 72 BC. According to Bana, Devabhuti was fond of women and became victim of a conspiracy hatched by his Brahmin minister, Vasudeva.
He was killed by a slave-girl who approached him in the guise of a queen.
This brought about the downfall of the Sunga dynasty. However, thought the Sungas lost Magadha, they did not altogether disappear from the stage of Indian history.