1 Component-I (A) – Personal Details

Component-I (A) – Personal details: 1 Component-I (B) – Description of module: Subject Name Indian Culture Paper Name Outlines of Indian History Module Name/Title Sunga, Kanva and Satavahana dynasties Module Id I C/ OIH/ 10 Pre requisites Indian History / Fair understanding of history of Mauryan dynasty. Objectives To study and understand the history of the Sungas, the Kanvas and the Satavahanas Keywords Sunga/ Kanva / Satavahana E-text (Quadrant-I) 1.Introduction The political unification that was obtained by the Mauryas became Psycho-physical reality after Ashoka. The fall of the imperial Mauryas disrupted the political unity of India into its constituent fragments. The northwest India slipped out of the control of the Mauryas and a series of foreign invasions affected this region. The Greeks were the first to take this initiative. The successors of the Mauryas in the north were the Sungas followed by the Kanvas. Kalinga became a separate province and prospered under Kharavela of the Chedi dynasty. In the Deccan and in central India the Satavahanas came into power with Pratisthanapura as head, its quarters. Thus the Post-Mauryan period saw the emergence of small indigenous and foreign kingdoms and hence this period has been designated as the “Age of Small Kingdoms”. The objectives of the module are designed to discuss the following three indigenous dynasties. Topic I: The Sunga dynasty Topic II: The Kanva dynasty Topic III: The Satavahana dynasty 2. Sunga Dynasty (185 to 73 BCE) The Sungas were the immediate successors of the Mauryas in North India, a Brahmin family of obscure origin. Pushyamitra Sunga laid the foundation of a new dynasty in Magadha known as the Sunga dynasty. According to Harshacharita, Pushyamitra, a general of Mauryan king Brihadratha, assassinated the last Mauryan ruler and usurped the throne. Thus he succeeded in gaining power by slaying his master. The dynasty ruled roughly for 112 years, i.e., from about 185 to 73 BCE. 2.1Pushyamitra Sunga: Pushyamitra was the greatest king of this dynasty. He fought number of wars. He conquered the Vidarbha region (Berar) in the Northern Deccan. The most important challenge to the Sunga rule was to protect against the invasions of the Bactrian Greeks from the north-west. The Greeks advanced up to Pataliputra but the invasion was repulsed by Vasumitra, son of Agnimitra and grandson of Pushyamitra. The Greek invader who faced defeat was either Demetrious or Menander. He also fought a campaign against Kharavela of Kalinga who invaded North India. By these conquests the Sunga dominions comprised the entire Gangetic valley and extended to the river Narmada. The cities of Pataliputra, Ayodhya, and Vidisha were included in the Sunga kingdom. According to the Divyavadana 2 and Taranath’s account, the kingdom included Jalandhara and Sakala (Sialkot) in the Punjab. Pushyamitra was a staunch follower of Brahmanism. The Ayodhya stone inscription of the king Dhana refers to Pushyamitra as a performer of two Asvamedha Sacrifices. Pathanjali also mentioned Sacrifices performed by Pushyamitra. Buddhist sources referred to him as a persecutor of Buddhists and destroyer of their monasteries. This however contradicted that during his reign the Buddhist monuments at Barhut and Sanchi were renovated and further improved. The stories of his persecution of Buddhists obviously betray sectarian bias. 2.2 The Successors of Pushyamitra : Pushyamitra was succeeded by his son Agnimitra who in turn was succeeded by his son Vasumitra. There were seven successors of Vasumitra. An interesting inscription of the Sunga period was inscribed on a Pillar at Besnagar, the site of ancient Vidisha. The inscription referred to the king Kasiputa Bhagabhadra, is identified either as the fifth king Bhadraka or the ninth king Bhagavatha. The inscription indicates that the Sungas continued the Mauryan tradition of entertaining ambassadors from the Greek courts. The inscription further recorded that Heliodorous, the Greek ambassador, described himself as a Bhagavata (Worshipper of Vasudeva) and set up this pillar in honour of the god. The last Sunga ruler was Devabhuti, assassinated by his minister Vasudeva Kanva, the founder of the Kanva dynasty. 2.3 Cultural Contribution of the Sungas : The Sungas, though ruled for a short period, played very important part in the history of ancient India. The greatest political contribution of the Sungas was to check the advancing tide of the Greeks. About the achievement of Pushyamitra, E.B. Havel states : “ In driving away the foreign invader from the sacred soil of Aryavarta Pushyamitra Sunga played the same role as the great Mauryan Emperors, though not with the same success”. In the cultural sphere the Sungas revived Brahmanism and horse sacrifice. They also promoted the growth of Vaishnavism and Sanskrit language. It was under the patronage of the Sunga kings that the Sanskrit scholar, Patanjali, composed his celebrated work, the Mahabhasya. This provided a fresh stimulus to the study of Sanskrit literature. The Manusmriti, the law-book of Manu, Buddhacharita by Asvaghosha were compiled during this period. The Buddhist art of the Mauryas was survived and continued during the time of the Sungas. 2.4 Summary: The Sungas successfully repelled the Greek invasions, revived Brahmanical religion, gave impetus to the birth of Bhagavatism, developed Sanskrit literature and patronised Art and Architecture. In short, the Sunga rule was a brilliant anticipation of the Golden age of the Guptas. In other wards the period of the Guptas was the culmination of the Sunga period. 3. Kanva dynasty (73 to 28 BCE): The founder of the Kanva dynasty was Vasudeva Kanva, the minister under the last Sunga king Devabhuti. The Harshacharita narrates that Devabhuti became the victim of a conspirancy masterminded by this brahmana minister Vasudeva, who went on to found the Kanva dynasty. It is known from the Puranic evidence that four rulers of this dynasty ruled over Magadha for forty five years. They are Vasudeva, Bhumimitra, Narayana and Susarman. Their kingdom was limited to the confines of Pataliputra. It is stated in the Puranas that the Kanvas were overthrown by the Satavahanas. Thus the Kanva rule came to an end by 28 BCE. The rule of the Kanvas was a passing phase in the history of Ancient India. After the fall of the Kanvas, the history of Magadha was a blank until the establishment of the Gupta Empire. The fall of the two Brahmana dynasties was followed by the rise of the independent 3 principalities of Ayodhya, Kaushambi, Mathura and Ahichchatra. The tribal states which had earlier succumbed to the might of the Mauryas now seem to have reasserted themselves. The Arjunayanas, the Adumbaras, the Kunindas, the Trigartas, the Yaudheyas, the Agastyas were the prominent independent families of North India. 4. The Satavahana dynasty: 4.1 Introduction: In the Deccan, the Satavahanas established their independent rule after the decline of the Mauryas. The establishment of Satravahana Empire heralded the dawn of new age in the history of Deccan. As the first historical dynasty, they brought political integrity in the south and also saved it from foreign invasion. They represented the only south Indian dynasty to control entire Deccan and extended sway over Magadha for some time. Thus the Satavahanas dominated the region located between the South and North India. Hence the Satavahana kingdom has been styled by some historians as “the bridge kingdom”. This acted as a link or bridge between the two halves of India. This peculiar geographical location of the kingdom made the Satavahanas as the initial transmitters of Aryan ideals and institutions from North to South India. Further the material culture of the indo-Gangetic basin started flowing freely to South India. The communication facilities between these two regions were improved considerably. This made a salutory impact on trade & commerce of the times. Thus the Satavahanas not only opened new vistas by realizing political unification of Deccan but also contributed their might in the fields of polity, society, economy, religion, art and architecture. 4.2 Sources: The reconstruction of history of the Satavahanas is based on various sources. The Brahmanical literature, especially, the Matsya, Vayu, Vishnu, Brahmananda and Bhagavata Puranas contain considerable information about the Andhras (Satavahanas). The dynastic genealogies found in these Puranas, whose compilation may have begun during the early centuries of Christian era, throw light on the political history of the times, their value is enhanced when corroborated by the inscriptions. For the social and cultural history of the period the Gathasaptasati of Hala, Brihatkatha of Gunadhya, the Kamasutra of Vatsayana are utmost importance. The Pragnaparamita sashtra of Nagarjuna informs us the basis of Mahayanism, which was evolved in the monasteries of Andhradesa. Of the Greeco-Roman writings of the early Christian era, the most well known account ‘the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea’, written by anonymous Greek seafarer, enabled us to understand the pattern of trade between the Deccan and the western world and was also useful to reconstruct the Saka-Satavahana Chronology. The inscriptions of the dynasty found in large numbers are great historical value to understand the history of the Satavahanas as they contained the names of the reigning kings and mention regnal years. Among the inscriptions of the Satavahanas the Naneghat inscription of Naganika throw much light on the achievements of the king Satakarni-I. The Nasik inscription of Gautami Balasri, the records of Gautamiputra Satakarni at Nasik furnish a vivid account of his accomplishments and achievements. The Satavahana coins bearing the names of the rulers are of immense value for the study of political history and more important for appreciating the significance of the social and economic development. A large number and variety of Satavahana coins are found over large part of South India. Of the available Satavahana coins the number of Potin (coins of mixed character) and lead coins are more.

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