The Sunga Empire

The Sunga Empire, also spelled Shunga, ruled large parts of north and central India after the fall of the Mauryas. It lasted from about 187 BCE to about 75 BCE. The Sungas held the old Magadha heartland, fought Greek invaders from the north west, and lived in an age that gave India some of its earliest surviving stone art. This post explains how the dynasty began, who its main kings were, what happened in religion and art, and how it came to an end.

Our old post on this topic was hard to read and mixed facts with loose claims. We have rewritten it in plain English and checked the main points against standard histories.

How the Sunga Empire Began

The Maurya Empire, built by Chandragupta and expanded by Ashoka, slowly weakened in the decades after Ashoka died. Its last ruler was Brihadratha. Pushyamitra Sunga was the commander of the Maurya army. According to the Puranas and later accounts, Pushyamitra killed Brihadratha and took the throne himself. Most historians place this event around 185 BCE, give or take a few years.

Pushyamitra then ruled Magadha and nearby lands. His kingdom covered the central parts of the old Maurya state. The Dhanadeva inscription found at Ayodhya mentions him and shows that he performed the Ashvamedha, the old Vedic horse sacrifice, to show his claim to rule.

To see what the Sungas inherited, read our post on the Mauryan Empire. The Sunga state was smaller and looser, but it ruled from the same capital.

Capital, Lands and Rivals

The Sunga capital was Pataliputra, near modern Patna in Bihar. Later Sunga kings also held court at Vidisha, an important town in eastern Malwa, in Madhya Pradesh. The play Malavikagnimitra says Pushyamitra’s power reached the Narmada River in the south. The Sungas may also have controlled Ujjain.

They did not rule everything the Mauryas once held. Kabul and much of the Punjab passed to the Indo Greek kings. The Deccan came under the Satavahanas. Mathura, further west, seems to have been held by Indo Greek rulers for a long stretch, since no Sunga coins or inscriptions have been found there.

The Sungas fought many wars. Their enemies included Kalinga, the Satavahanas, the Indo Greeks and possibly some local kings around Mathura. The Satavahanas became the leading power in the Deccan in this same age, as our post on the Satavahana Empire explains.

The old heartland of the Sungas had a long past before them. Our post on the Magadha Empire tells how this region became the seat of so many Indian dynasties.

Kings of the Sunga Empire

Tradition says there were ten Sunga kings. Pushyamitra ruled for about 36 years and was followed by his son Agnimitra. Agnimitra had served as the royal governor of Vidisha. He is the hero of Malavikagnimitra, a famous Sanskrit play written centuries later by the poet Kalidasa. The play is a love story set at court, so it is a work of art, not a history book.

The Vishnu Purana gives the full list of names in order: Pushyamitra, Agnimitra, Sujyeshtha, Vasumitra, Ardraka, Pulindaka, Ghoshavasu, Vajramitra, Bhagavata and Devabhuti. It says these ten kings ruled for 112 years in all. Most of these kings are known only by name, so their reigns cannot be described in detail.

After Agnimitra, Sunga power seems to have shrunk fast. Coins and inscriptions show that much of north and central India was split into small kingdoms and city states that issued their own money. The later Sunga kings were real rulers, but they did not command a large empire.

One of the later kings, Bhagabhadra, is known from a stone pillar at Vidisha. The last Sunga king, Devabhuti, ruled until about 73 BCE. He was killed by his own minister, Vasudeva Kanva, who started the Kanva dynasty.

Wars With the Greeks

The Indo Greeks were the descendants of Greek settlers in Bactria and the north west, and Indian texts call them Yavanas. In the second century BCE their armies pushed deep into India. A text called the Yuga Purana says they reached Saketa and even Pataliputra before trouble at home in Bactria made them pull back.

The Sungas are remembered for resisting these attacks. Over time, the two sides seem to have made peace. Around 110 BCE, a Greek envoy named Heliodorus came from the court of the Indo Greek king Antialcidas to the court of Bhagabhadra at Vidisha. He set up a stone pillar topped with Garuda in honour of Vasudeva, a form of Vishnu. This Heliodorus pillar still stands near Vidisha and shows a Greek visitor taking part in Indian worship.

Religion in the Sunga Age

The Sungas followed Brahmanical traditions, as the horse sacrifice shows. Some Buddhist texts written much later say Pushyamitra persecuted Buddhists, burned monasteries and killed monks. Many historians now see these stories as exaggerated or doubtful, since other evidence shows Buddhist sites growing in this same period.

This was also a key period for Hindu learning. The grammarian Patanjali wrote his great commentary on Sanskrit grammar, the Mahabhashya, in this age. The worship of Vishnu in his Vasudeva form was clearly popular, as the Heliodorus pillar proves.

Art: Bharhut and Sanchi

Some of India’s oldest surviving stone carvings date from the Sunga period. At Bharhut in Madhya Pradesh, a Buddhist stupa was surrounded by stone railings and gateways covered in carved scenes. Each panel carries a short label in Brahmi script saying what it shows. One gateway inscription says it was set up during the rule of the Sugas. Many Bharhut carvings are now in the Indian Museum in Kolkata.

At Sanchi, the Great Stupa first built in Maurya times was enlarged and covered in stone during this age. Some scholars point out that most gifts at Sanchi came from ordinary donors, monks and guilds rather than from kings. So it is fair to call these works Sunga period art, even if the royal family did not pay for them. You can learn more about how these domed monuments developed in our post on the invention of the stupa.

Terracotta figures, small stone sculptures and early temple forms also come from this time. The Mathura style of art began to grow in the same centuries.

How the Sunga Empire Ended

By the first century BCE the Sunga state was weak and small. Around 73 BCE, Devabhuti was killed and Vasudeva Kanva took power. The Kanva dynasty ruled for a few decades, and its coins are found mostly around Vidisha. Later the Satavahanas and other powers took over the region.

Why the Sunga Empire Matters

The Sunga Empire matters for three reasons. It kept a central Indian state alive after the Maurya collapse. It met and then made peace with the Indo Greeks, which brought new cultural contacts. And its age saw lasting work in Sanskrit grammar and in Buddhist stone art at Bharhut and Sanchi.

Sources Historians Use

No Sunga court chronicle survives. Historians piece the story together from several kinds of evidence. The Puranas list the ten kings and their reign lengths. A few stone inscriptions survive at Ayodhya, Bharhut and Vidisha, along with coins and plays and texts written much later. Even the name Sunga appears in only one inscription, at Bharhut. That is why careful writers use the phrase Sunga period and give dates as rough ranges.

Greek sources add a little more. They describe Indo Greek kings who fought in India and later sent envoys, which matches the Heliodorus record at Vidisha.

Key Dates at a Glance

• About 187 to 185 BCE: Pushyamitra kills Brihadratha and founds the Sunga line.
• About 151 BCE: Agnimitra succeeds Pushyamitra.
• About 125 to 100 BCE: Bharhut stupa railings carved.
• About 110 BCE: Heliodorus pillar set up at Vidisha.
• About 73 BCE: Devabhuti killed; Kanva rule begins.

The Bharhut panels are a good place to start if you want to see early Indian stone art. Their short Brahmi labels make them one of the few ancient carvings that explain themselves.

When you read about the Sungas, remember that many dates are approximate. Different texts give slightly different reign lengths, so most histories use rounded years.

What We Changed From the Old Post

The old post used awkward reworded text that was hard to follow. We rewrote every section in plain English.

We removed the claim that the Bhagavad Gita was written under the Sungas, since its date is debated. We stopped crediting the Sungas with founding the Mathura school, and we treated the Buddhist persecution story as disputed.

We added clear sections on the Greek wars, the Heliodorus pillar, Bharhut and Sanchi, and a simple table of dates.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded the Sunga Empire?

Pushyamitra Sunga, the army commander of the last Maurya king, founded it around 185 BCE.

What was the capital of the Sungas?

Pataliputra was the main capital. Later kings also held court at Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh.

Did the Sungas persecute Buddhists?

Some later Buddhist texts say so, but many historians doubt these stories because Buddhist sites kept growing in this period.

Who came after the Sungas?

The Kanva dynasty, started by the minister Vasudeva Kanva around 73 BCE.