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Art Was Raised from the Status of Handic?A?T' T"'Thfdtsty O^Hlgh of the Mauryas

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Art Was Raised from the Status of Handic?A?T' T 128 THE MAURYAN PERIOD e^act translation of a wooden by a central interior doonvay Tbf™tanL7a'ra''nt^c'^ co^eeted a barrel-vaulted roof, while the doorwav hfl =i anti-chamber has the most important of the Asokan rock-cut jambs._ But CHAPTER V Lomasha Rishi. It is similar to the Sudlnn * ^^onp is the gi-ound plan and general design the rock-cut hall lies in its facade ? \ individuality of this INDIA FROM THE SECOND CENTURY B.C. deed been copied in the stone in everyTiSe^d^f^ TO THIRD CENTURY A.D. small.juni hills The there largest are isthree the hallsSe ofpopulSfifno^^'" "n^o 4.J the Nagar- maid's cave. It has a long rectangular roof. These excavated haUs were^iP fm ^ ^avTei vaulted 1. THE SUNGAS fieent rock-cut halls of the Buddhists as magni- ' The treacherous murder of Brihadrata by Pusyamitra caused Ohats and other places. found in the Western the Mauryau empire to split up into two parts. In the east, ac The Dhauli elephant : Of ■M"mT..TTo , cording to Purauic tradition, the Sungas and the Kanvas succeed to the crowning animals already discussed^Tb^^^^®®' addition ing to a branch of the Mauryas; in the west, according to Jama attention is the Dhauli elephant. This ® ^^t deserves tradition and Greek accounts, independent republics were being animal at Sankisa in the sense that it has a (We?on^^ crowning established. Thus the political geogi-aphy of India in about 180 and has been rendered artistically To onntJ p B. C. was; in the north-west the Indo-Bactrian and Indo-Parthian deed such plastic presentation of bnlW i Brown : "In- kingdoms, in Central and Eastern India, the Sunga and the Kanva living flesh rendered with remarkablp such feeling for empires with their capital at Vidisa; in Ralinga, the kingdom of the physiognomical form of the subWt Iniowledge of Kharavela and in south India, the Satavahana Empire. dignified movement and linear rhvthrn L '''^'^' «ense of Sources : For the study of this period, we have to depend upon sculptures." The style, motive and the puranas 'which transmit genuine historical tradition.' The impresses the onlooker. dignity of this animal evidences of the Puranas are supplemented and corroborated by As to the estimate of thp Mm,,., sources of other denomiuations, epigraphic, numismatic and lite differed from Marshall and Smith scholars have rary evidences. Works like Gargi Sarahita, Patanjali's Mahabhasya, failed to make any noticeaWe and Mauryas Kaiidasa's Malvikagnimitra, the Divyavadana and Bana's Harsa- Indian art. It only helps ns in thTLT' charita are our valuable guides for the study of the period under permanent material, like stone. Mrurvrn . ■ review. highly eonsmopoUtan, urban, consciousl?^77-r the Origin : The origin of the Sungas is still shrouded in mystery. putra. It represents the individual <>« If the Divyavadana is to be trusted, Pusyamitra was a descendant art was raised from the status of handic?a?t' t"'thfdTSty o^hlgh of the Mauryas. In the drama Malvikagnimitra, Agnimitra, the second ruler of the line, is described as a scion of the Bimbika family. According to the Puranas and Harsacharita, Pusyamitra belonged to the Sunga family. The ending of their name in mitra is the basis of the remark that they were Iranians, worshippers of Mitra (the Sun). Some scholars regard them as Indian Brahmanas. The great Sanskrit grammarian, Panini connects the Sungas to the Brahmanas of the Bharadvaja Gotra. There are frequent re ferences to Sunga teachers in the Vedic texts like Asvalayana Srauta Sutra. However, the Sunga origin of Pusyamitra has been generally accepted. Pusyamitra (B.C. 187—B.C. 152) : After killing his master, Brihadrata Maurya, Pusyamitra the founder the Sunga dynasty, came to power. The reasons for this i. 129 . > '1. 130 INDIA-SECOND CENTURY B.C. TO THIRD A. D. INDIA-SECOND CENTURY B.C. TO THIRD A. D. 131 act of Pusyamitra are far to ^ accounts show that the ecouomic condition 1 I ' r Pusyamitra as a violent annihilater of the Buddha's doctrine and and the personal character of Tnl \r deteriorating one who was responsible for the destruction of monasteries and the happy. This created a feeling of disLtiS^c^^ burning of many monks. He is said to have set a price of 100 Added to tliis, the Mauryan monaiclfs among the people, dinars on the head of every monk. Such stories as this are noth of the Bactrian Greeks who had nlrp^^ri i ^ progress ing but a figment of Buddhist imagination. We have observed outskirts of Pataliputra. There w^^ elsewhere that the Buddhist account cannot be taken without a of the administrative machinerv Tt complete breakdown pinch of salt. They disliked Pusyamitra, because he revived stances, to save the country from fiircum- Brahmanism. This is attested to by the fact that he revived the Oreeks, the Sunga dynasty came into exisfe]^e° old institution of Asvamedha sacrifice. Naturally the Buddhists reacted sharply towards the policy of Pusyamitra. It is true that Pusyamitra championed the cause of Brahamanism: but there is Pusyamitra Tn'd Viceronf VidSl^^^^ Agnimitra, son of nothing to show that he did it at the cost of Buddliism. He conti and defeated its king Yajnasena' Sp ^ invaded Vidarbha nued the traditional poliny of toleration of all religions and victory of Vasumitra, the son of Agnimitrn n ^.^^^^rence to the patronised the Buddhist art of the period. The fact that the finest banks of the Sindhu. After this victory' Buddhist monuments—the Stupas of Bharhut and Sanchi—^not the celebrated asvamedha with aDoroniM f performed only belong to this period, but received private and royal support claim his paramount sovereignty. magnificence to pro- are a unique testimony to the liberal policy of Pusyamitra. Successors of Pusyamitra : After a long and eventful reign dhaKaling::L'\ll2tl.y::rTsitX by name Bahasatimita. The identlh/^ I^-'avelaof Maga- of Pusyamitra died in or about 151 B.C. Agnimitra succeeded him and means certain. K. P. Jayaswai re?rtnn ^ing is by no ruled for eight years. The next king was Vasumitra, son of Agni matie evidences lias identified Bahaa"fmita w'tT'"t mitra who led the sacrificial horse of his grandfather. Then we has sugpsted an equation of Brihaspati mtti d He have an uneventful rule of about 17 years by four kings. The next IS the Lord of PnsyanaksWaatra T„ Pusya a.s Brihaspati important king was Bhaga or Bhagavata of the Puranas who had Smith have also thought that the advei^Itt^ Dubreuil and V. A. a long reign of 32 years. In his fourteenth regnal year a pillar no other than Pusyamitra. This ident^?^. Kbaravela was dedicated to Garuda was erected at Besnagar by Heliodorous, the questioned by Allen and R. p. Chanda n " recentlv Greek ambassador. The last king was Devabhuti, 'a man of licen logmal grounds. According to them 'Th ""Pf''®PbieaI and phUo tious liabits', who lost his life in a discreditable intrigue of his m imrssible. According to Allen,' the worf Bahasatimita Brahmana minister, Vasudeva Kanva. mthwith bahu,r .Vthe certain elementsto Allen, in it the^ph wnV^ ^ question^akasatimit begins Importanoe of the Sunga Period: As Prof. Roy Choudhri points It IS very probably not a proper name at a?l fn idfta • out, "the rule of the emperors of the house of Pusyamitra marks mg of the F^cucujijgpreceding wordsworas as MagadhamMagadham'chn p1,o T - ""jested read- an important epoch in the history of India in general and Central tremelynely improbable, philologieallypliilologically as wellweP as m ex- India in particular". No doubt there was some loss in political use of the syuonyms in the case of propei T P'''''."S''^PbieaUy The unity, but it did not lead to any decadence of Culture. The period fequation Pusya-Brihaspati, must be d' absurd and the witnessed the rise of Bhagavata religion based on the teachings Therefoi^ hiiig KharavehP; activities ifW ^'-^-^ous" of Sri Krishna as embodied in the Bhagavadgita. Above all, there Pusyamitra may be reckoned as one of thp ^ against was an outburst of artistic activity as evidenced from the stupas Indian history. kn.olved ProbleSTof of Bharhut aud Sanchi, the two celebrated masterpieces of tbe Extent of the Empire : The Siin"-n p>v,v.- period. Sanskrit literature received royal patronage and Patanjali, included the iiome province of the Mauryani'and ^,"®y™itra the grammarian, is said to have been the contemporary of as Narmada and Vidarbha in the South It fncWi as far Pusyamitra and lived in his court. important cities; Pataiiputra, Ayodhva an I three and Sakaia wore also included in the Bmnir ' "'^"'^hdhara 2. THE INDO-GRBEKS AND INDO-BACTRIANS Buddiii.st iii.storiaii Tarnnatlia. It is uniiMvH,"??-''"® the The history of the Indo-Greeks is one of the most fascmating had extended to the Punjab. Even if it had ef i'" ^^'^^inty phases of Indian history. It is "a story of 200 years in whieh not have continued there in the face of the trem^d ''' ''® tvould there reigned 39 kings and 2 queens. It is the story of the rise vance. '^^inendous Greek ad- of an adventurous people to fill the vacuum created bv the ahsenee Persecution of Bnddhism ; The Buddhist traditio . of a great power; when In course of time, new peoples came^u aoitiou depicts the scene, one had to give to other. The Tavanas could not hold 132 INDIA-SECOND CENTURY B.C. TO THIRD A.D. INDIA-SECOND CENTURY B.C. TO THIRD A.D. 133 their own, and were doomed sooner or later to collapse.
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