Post Mauryas | History for UPSC 2024 (Pre & Mains) PDF Download

 Page 1


Post-Mauryas
Page 2


Post-Mauryas
Post-Mauryas
After Ashoka’s death, his successors were not able to keep the vast Mauryan Empire intact. 
The provinces started declaring their independence. 
The northwest India slipped out of the control of the Mauryas and a series of foreign invasions 
affected this region.
In around 187 BCE, the Mauryan Empire met its end. 
In this lecture, we shall discuss the political and cultural developments in the Indian subcontinent 
from the end of the Mauryas to the rise of the Guptas, i.e., from BCE 200 and 300 CE.
The disintegration of the Mauryan empire led to the rise of many regional kingdoms in different parts 
of the country.
At the same time, there were invasions by various groups of people based in Central Asia and western 
China
Page 3


Post-Mauryas
Post-Mauryas
After Ashoka’s death, his successors were not able to keep the vast Mauryan Empire intact. 
The provinces started declaring their independence. 
The northwest India slipped out of the control of the Mauryas and a series of foreign invasions 
affected this region.
In around 187 BCE, the Mauryan Empire met its end. 
In this lecture, we shall discuss the political and cultural developments in the Indian subcontinent 
from the end of the Mauryas to the rise of the Guptas, i.e., from BCE 200 and 300 CE.
The disintegration of the Mauryan empire led to the rise of many regional kingdoms in different parts 
of the country.
At the same time, there were invasions by various groups of people based in Central Asia and western 
China
Page 4


Post-Mauryas
Post-Mauryas
After Ashoka’s death, his successors were not able to keep the vast Mauryan Empire intact. 
The provinces started declaring their independence. 
The northwest India slipped out of the control of the Mauryas and a series of foreign invasions 
affected this region.
In around 187 BCE, the Mauryan Empire met its end. 
In this lecture, we shall discuss the political and cultural developments in the Indian subcontinent 
from the end of the Mauryas to the rise of the Guptas, i.e., from BCE 200 and 300 CE.
The disintegration of the Mauryan empire led to the rise of many regional kingdoms in different parts 
of the country.
At the same time, there were invasions by various groups of people based in Central Asia and western 
China
Timeline
The Sunga Dynasty (185 BCE – 71 BCE)
Kanva Dynasty (75 BCE – 30 BCE)
Satavahanas (271 BCE –onwards; ruled for ~ 400 years)
The Indo-Greeks (190 BCE – 80 BCE)
Indo-Scythians (150 BCE – 400 CE)
Indo-Parthians (20 BCE – 240 CE)
The Kushans (30 CE – 375 CE)
Guptas (3
rd
century CE – 543 CE)
Page 5


Post-Mauryas
Post-Mauryas
After Ashoka’s death, his successors were not able to keep the vast Mauryan Empire intact. 
The provinces started declaring their independence. 
The northwest India slipped out of the control of the Mauryas and a series of foreign invasions 
affected this region.
In around 187 BCE, the Mauryan Empire met its end. 
In this lecture, we shall discuss the political and cultural developments in the Indian subcontinent 
from the end of the Mauryas to the rise of the Guptas, i.e., from BCE 200 and 300 CE.
The disintegration of the Mauryan empire led to the rise of many regional kingdoms in different parts 
of the country.
At the same time, there were invasions by various groups of people based in Central Asia and western 
China
Timeline
The Sunga Dynasty (185 BCE – 71 BCE)
Kanva Dynasty (75 BCE – 30 BCE)
Satavahanas (271 BCE –onwards; ruled for ~ 400 years)
The Indo-Greeks (190 BCE – 80 BCE)
Indo-Scythians (150 BCE – 400 CE)
Indo-Parthians (20 BCE – 240 CE)
The Kushans (30 CE – 375 CE)
Guptas (3
rd
century CE – 543 CE)
The Shungas
The last Mauryan king was killed by his Commander-in-Chief, Pushyamitra Shunga, who then established his own 
dynasty in north India. 
The most important challenge to the Sunga rule was to protect north India against the invasions of the Bactrian 
Greeks from the northwest. The Greeks advanced up to Pataliputra and occupied it for sometime. However, 
Pushyamitra succeeded in regaining the lost territory.
Pushyamitra was a staunch follower of Brahmanism. But there is enough evidence to show that Pushyamitra
patronised Buddhist art. During his reign the Buddhist monuments at Bharhut and Sanchi were renovated and 
further improved. 
After the death of Pushyamitra, his son Agnimitra became the ruler.
In around the second quarter of the first century BCE, 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.
The Sungas revived Brahmanism and horse sacrifice. They also promoted the growth of Vaishnavism and the 
Sanskrit language. 
An inscription engraved on a pillar at Besnagar (present day Vidisha) refers to one Heliodorus, native of Taxila 
near Rawalpindi in Pakistan, as an envoy of an Indo-Greek ruler Antialkidas in the court of Bhagabhadra, who has 
been identified with one of the later Shunga rulers