Pushyamitra Shunga
Pushyamitra Shunga ( 185 - 149 BC ) was an Indian king and founder of the Shunga dynasty named after him .
Pushyamitra Shunga was the general of the last Maurya ruler Brihadratha . At a demonstration of soldiers around 185 BC Pushyamitra Shunga killed him and made himself ruler. Pushyamitra Shunga was a Brahmin and is said to have suppressed the promotion of Buddhism , which had gained great influence in the Maurya Empire , according to several sources ; in 180 BC For example, he had the monks ( bhikkhus ) of the Kukkutarama monastery near Pataliputra killed. Although he seems to have carried out the Vedic horse sacrifice ( ashvamedha ), Buddhist temples were also expanded under the Shunga dynasty, so that a strictly anti-Buddhist policy is rather unlikely.
Shortly after his accession to the throne he had to fight against the expanding empire of the Indo-Greeks , who managed to conquer the area in the west of his domain as far as Mathura . Another enemy was Kharavela from Kalinga , who even managed to conquer the Shunga capital of Pataliputra .
literature
- Hermann Kulke , Dietmar Rothermund : History of India. From the Indus culture to today. 2nd, updated edition of the special edition. CH Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-60414-0 , p. 91 f.
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SURNAME | Pushyamitra Shunga |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | first ruler of the Indian Shunga dynasty |
DATE OF BIRTH | 3rd century BC Chr. |
DATE OF DEATH | 2nd century BC Chr. |