Person

Pushyamitra Shunga

r. c. 185–149 BCE · 2nd century BCE

Pushyamitra Shunga was the founder of the Shunga dynasty of northern India. Commander of the Maurya army, he assassinated the last Maurya emperor, Brihadratha, around 185 BCE and took the throne at Pataliputra. He performed Vedic horse sacrifices, marking a revival of Brahmanical kingship, and Buddhist texts accuse him of persecution, though Buddhist art flourished in his dynasty's time.

Pushyamitra Shunga
Image: Leiden University Library / Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 profile

Maurya EmpireDecline, Summary

Mentioned in 1 state history

Shunga Empire

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Pushyamitra Shunga. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/pushyamitra-shunga
MLA
“Pushyamitra Shunga.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/pushyamitra-shunga. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Pushyamitra Shunga.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/pushyamitra-shunga.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Pushyamitra Shunga’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/pushyamitra-shunga (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻