The Shungas and Magadh

Lesson 6 of 16 • 5 upvotes • 7:31mins

Abhyudaya Kelkar

How the Mauryan Empire got fragmented was already covered in Part-V. Now in this lesson, there will be a discussion about the successors to the Mauryans in Magadh and Central India. The last Mauryan emperor was assassinated by Pushyamitra Shunga, who founded the Shunga Dynasty. Apart from Pushyamitra, there were some rulers in this dynasty who require mention. This dynasty ruled somewhere up to the early first century BC. It was succeeded by the Kanvas. Kanvas had nothing mentionable to their credit, not even proper evidences. This genealogy has been mentioned in many Puranas. The Puranas also mention about certain ‘Andhras’ succeeding the Kanvas. Whether or not these Andhras were the same as the Satavahanas, is a matter of debate. If not, there is no evidence of these so-called ‘Andhras’. If yes, they have been separately discussed in Lesson-8.