Religion in India: A Historical Introduction

for several centuries. The immediate successor to the Mauryas in the
Gangetic basin was a brahman clan known as the S ́un.gas. Its founder
Pus.yamitra sought to repress Buddhism and restore brahmanism in
his realm. He is known to have performed at least two horse sacrifices
(as ́vamedha).^1 Upon Pus.yamitra’s death, S ́un.ga hegemony weakened and

The Urban Period 53

Map 1 As ́oka’s Empire

Reprinted from A Cultural History of India, ed. by A. L. Basham (Clarendon Press, 1975), p. 587, by
permission of Oxford University Press.