Pushyamitra Shunga

Pushyamitra Shunga
Pushyamitra Shunga
	Sunga period masculine figurine, 2nd-1st century BCE, Guimet Museum
Emperor of Magadha
Reign	c. 185 – c. 149 BCE
Predecessor	Brihadratha Maurya (as Mauryan emperor)
Successor	Agnimitra
General of Magadha
Born	c. late 3rd century BCE; Magadha, Maurya Empire (present-day Bihar, India)
Died	c. 149 BCE; Pataliputra, Shunga Empire(present-day Bihar, India)
Dynasty	Shunga
Religion	Hinduism

Pushyamitra Shunga (IAST: Puṣyamitra Śuṅga; reigned c. 185 – c. 149 BCE), also known as Pushpamitra Shunga (IAST: Puṣpamitra Śuṅga) was the founder and the first ruler of the Shunga Empire which he established to succeed the Maurya Empire.^[1] His original name was Puṣpaka or Puṣpamitra and the confusion between Puṣyamitra and Puṣpamitra arose because of the erroneous readings of 'p' and 'y' in the manuscripts.^[2]

Pushyamitra is recorded to have performed the Ashvamedha ritual to legitimize his right to rule.^[3] Inscriptions of the Shungas have been found as far as the Ayodhya (the Dhanadeva–Ayodhya inscription), and the Divyavadana mentions that his empire stretched as far as Sakala (now Sialkot) in Punjab region, now in Pakistan.

During his reign, vedic hinduism revived after dissolution of a secular maurya empire. Through Buddhist texts claim that Pushyamitra persecuted Buddhists, past and contemporary scholars have rejected these claims.^[4]^[5]

^ Mitchiner, John E. (1986). The Yuga Purāṇa (1st ed.). Kolkata: The Asiatic Society. p. 71. ISBN 978-93-81574-56-0.
^ Mitchiner, John E. (1986). The Yuga Purāṇa (1st ed.). Kolkata: The Asiatic Society. pp. 71–72. ISBN 978-93-81574-56-0.
^ Dineshchandra Sircar (1971). Studies in the Religious Life of Ancient and Medieval India. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 175. ISBN 978-81-208-2790-5.
^ Mishra, Ram Kumar (2012). "Pushyamitra Sunga and the Buddhists". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 73: 50–57. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44156189.
^ Cite error: The named reference thapar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[1] Mitchiner, John E. (1986). The Yuga Purāṇa (1st ed.). Kolkata: The Asiatic Society. p. 71. ISBN 978-93-81574-56-0.

[2] Mitchiner, John E. (1986). The Yuga Purāṇa (1st ed.). Kolkata: The Asiatic Society. pp. 71–72. ISBN 978-93-81574-56-0.

[3] Dineshchandra Sircar (1971). Studies in the Religious Life of Ancient and Medieval India. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 175. ISBN 978-81-208-2790-5.

[4] Mishra, Ram Kumar (2012). "Pushyamitra Sunga and the Buddhists". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 73: 50–57. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44156189.

[thapar-5] Cite error: The named reference thapar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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