Post Mauryan Period
Post Mauryan India
There are multiple causes for the decline of the Mauryan empire such as weak successors, the partition of the empire, and administrative abuses after Ashoka's reign. After the death of Ashoka, his successors were not able to keep the vast Mauryan Empire intact. Kalinga declared its independence and in the farther south, the Satavahanas established their independent rule.
Sunga and Kanvas
The founder of the Sunga dynasty was Pushyamitra Sunga, who was the commander-in-chief under the Mauryas. He ascended the throne of Magadha in 185 B.C. Pushyamitra was a staunch follower of Brahmanism. He performed two ashawamedh sacrifices. After the death of Pushyamitra, his son Agnimitra was a great conqueror.
He was also the hero of the play Malavikagnimitram written by Kalidasa. During their rule, there was a revival of Brahminical influence. The Bhagavata religion became important. 'Patanjali, the author of the 'Mahabhasya', was born at Gonarda in Central India.
The fine gateway railing which surrounds the Sanchi stupa, built by Ashoka, constructed during the Sunga period.
The last Sunga ruler was Devabhuti, who was murdered by his minister Vasudeva Kanva, the founder of the Kanva dynasty. The Kanva dynasty ruled for 45 years. After the fall of the Kanvas, the history of Magadha was a blank until the establishment of the Gupta dynasty.
Satavahanas
The most important of the native successors of the Mauryas in the Deccan and in central India were the Satavahanas.
The Satavahanas are considered to be identical with the Andhras who is mentioned in the Puranas.
According to some Puranas altogether the Andhras ruled for 300 years and this period is assigned to the rule of the Satavahana dynasty.
The early Satavahana kings appeared not in Andhras, but in Maharashtra where most of their early inscriptions have been found. They set up their early inscriptions have been found. They set up their power in the upper Godavari valley, which at present produces rich and diverse crops in Maharashtra. The fortunes of the family were restored by Gautamiputra Satakarni 106-130 A.D.
He called himself the only brahmana, defeated the Sakas, and destroyed many Kshatriya rulers.
He also occupied Malwa and Kathiyawar which lay under the control of the Sakas. The successors of Gautamiputra ruled till A.D. 220. The coins and inscriptions of his immediate successor Vasisthiputra Pulumavi (A.D. 130-154) are found in Andhra and show that by the middle of the second century this area had become a part of the Satavahana kingdom.
The Sakas resumed their conflict with the Satavahanas for the possession of the Konkan coast and Malwa. Yajna Sri Satakarni (A.D. 165-194), one of the later kings recovered north Konkan and Malwa from the Saka rulers.
Chedi
The information derived from the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela the greatest ruler of Kalinga of this dynasty. He constructed caves on the Udaygiri hill near Bhuvaneshwar.
Central Asian Contacts And Their Results
The Indo Greeks
A series of invasions took place from about 200 B.C. The first to cross the Hindukush were the Greeks, who ruled Bactria, lying south of the Oxus river in the area covered by north Afghanistan.
Two Greek dynasties ruled north-western India on parallel lines at one and the same time. The most famous Indo-Greek ruler was Menander (165-145 B.C.).
He had his capital at Sakala (modern Sialkot) in Punjab, and he invaded the Ganga-Yamuna doab. He was converted to Buddhism by Nagasena, who is also known as Nagarjuna.
The Indo-Bacterian rule is important in the history of India because of the large number of coins which the Greeks issued. The Indo-Greeks were the first rulers in India to issue gold coins in India, which increased in number under the Kushanas.
The Sakas
The Greeks were followed by the Sakas, who controlled a much larger part of India than the Greeks did. There were five branches of the Sakas with their seats of power in different parts of India and Afghanistan. Although the Sakas established their rule in different parts of the country, only those who ruled in western India held power for any considerable length of time, for about centuries or so. The most famous Saka ruler in India was Rudradaman-I (AD 130-150). He ruled not only over Sindh, Kutch, and Gujarat, but had also recovered from the Satavahanas Konkan, the Narmada valley, malwa, and Kathiawar. He is famous in history because of the repairs he undertook to improve the Sudarshana lake in the semi-arid zone of Kathiawar.
The Parthians
The Saka domination in north-western India was followed by that of the Parthians, and in 'many ancient' Indian Sanskrit texts the two people are together mentioned as Saka-Pahlavis.
In fact, they ruled over this country on parallel lines for some time. Originally the Parthians lived in Iran, from where they moved to India. In comparison with the Greeks and the Sakas, they occupied only a small portion of north-western India in the first century.
The most famous Parthian king was Gondophernes, in whose reign St. Thomas is said to have come to India for the propagation of Christianity.
The Kushanas
The Parthians were followed by the Kushanas, who are also called Yuechis or Tocharians. The Kushanas were one of the five clans into which the Yuechi tribe was divided.
A nomadic people from the steppes of north, Central Asia living in the neighborhood of China, the Kushanas first occupied Bactria or north Afghanistan where they displaced the Sakas. Gradually they moved to the Kabul valley and seized Gandhara by crossing the Hindukush, replacing the rule of the Greeks and Parthians in these areas.
Finally, they sit up to their authority over the lower Indus basin and the greater part of the Gangetic basin. The first dynasy was founded by a house of chiefs who were called Kadphises and who ruled 28 years from about AD 50. It had two kings. The first was Kadphises I, who issued coins south of the Hindukush. He minted coppers imitation of Roman coins.
The second king was Kadphises II, who issued a large number of Gold money to spread his kingdom east of the Indus. The house of Kadphises was succeeded by the of Kanishka. Its kings extended the Kushana power over upper India and the lower Indus basin.
The early Kushana Kings numerous gold coins with a higher gold content than is found in the Gupta coins. Although the gold coins of the Kushana are found mainly west of the Indus, their inscription is distributed not only in north-western India and Sindh but also in Mathura, Sravasti Kausambi, and Varanasi.
Kushana coins, inscriptions, sculptures, and structures found in Mathura show that it was their second capital in India, the first being Purushapara or Peshawar. The most famous Kushana Ruler was Kanishka. He started an era in AD 78, which is now known as the Saka era and is used by the Government of India.
Kanishka extended his whole-hearted patronage to Buddhism. He held a Buddhist council in Kashmir, where the doctrines of the Mahayana form of Buddhism were finalized.
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