THE GREAT ANCIENT EMPIREScontradict each other. None of Ashoka’s successors produced any larger
rock edicts. Perhaps the paternal tone of these edicts and the instruction to
recite them publicly on certain days of the year had caused resentment
among the people. Buddhist texts maintain that there was evidence of the
decay of the empire even in the last days of Ashoka but this view is not
generally accepted. The more distant provinces probably attained
independence from the empire after Ashoka’s death. There is, for instance,
no evidence in the south or in Kalinga for the continuation of Maurya
domination after Ashoka. Perhaps even the central part of the empire in
the north may have been divided among Ashoka’s sons and grandsons.
One descendant, Dasaratha, succeeded Ashoka on the throne of Magadha,
and he is the only one whom we know by name because he left some
otherwise unimportant stone inscriptions with which he established some
endowment for the Ajivika sect at a place south of Pataliputra.
The last ruler of the Maurya dynasty, Brihadratha, was assassinated by
his general, Pushyamitra Shunga, during a parade of his troops in the year
185 BC. The usurper then founded the Shunga dynasty which continued
for 112 years but about which very little is known. No inscriptions of this
dynasty have ever been discovered. Pushyamitra is reported to have been a
Brahmin and it is said that his rise to power marked a Brahmin reaction to
Buddhism which had been favoured for such a long time by previous
rulers. Pushyamitra once again celebrated the Vedic horse sacrifice. This
was certainly a clear break with Ashoka’s tradition which had prohibited
animal sacrifices altogether.
There is some other evidence, too, for the inclination of Indian kings to
violate the rules established by the Mauryas and to revive old customs which
had been forbidden by them. King Kharavela stated in an inscription of the
first century BC near Bhubaneswar that he had reintroduced the musical
festivals and dances which were prohibited under the Mauryas. There were
reactions against the religious policy of the Mauryas, indeed, but this does
not necessarily imply that Buddhism was suppressed and that the Shungas
started a Brahmin counter-reformation as some Buddhist texts suggest.
Several Buddhist monasteries, for instance the one at Sanchi, were renovated
and enlarged under the Shunga rule. At Bharhut, south of Kausambi, they
even sponsored the construction of a new Buddhist stupa. The Shunga style
differed from the Maurya style, which was greatly influenced by Persian
precedent. Old elements of folk art and of the cult of the mother goddess
reappeared in the Shunga style which was ‘more Indian’ and is sometimes
regarded as the first indigenous style of Indian art.
Immediately after taking the throne, Pushyamitra had to defend his
country against the Greek invaders from Bactria who came to conquer the
Indian plains. Pushyamitra prevented their complete success but
nevertheless the whole area up to Mathura was finally lost. His son,
Agnimitra, is supposed to have been posted as viceroy at Vidisha near