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.

personal data
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.