# Pushyamitra ends the dynasty
**पुष्यमित्र ने मौर्य वंश का अंत किया**

- Canonical page: https://indianepics.online/event/maurya-fall/
- Chapter: [The Mauryan Empire](https://indianepics.online/chapter/maurya.md)
- Track: evidence (archaeology and documents)
- When: 185 BCE (± 5 years)
- Where: Pataliputra (Patna), Bihar (25.61, 85.14)
- Tags: political

## Summary

The general Pushyamitra kills the last Maurya, Brihadratha, at a review of the army and founds the Shunga dynasty.

सेनापति पुष्यमित्र ने सेना के निरीक्षण के दौरान अंतिम मौर्य राजा बृहद्रथ को मारकर शुंग वंश की स्थापना की।

## Account

Bana's Harshacharita, written some eight centuries later, says Pushyamitra struck down his master while parading the army before him. The Puranas give the Mauryas 137 years, which from a start around 321 BCE puts the end near 185.

Half a century after Ashoka the empire had shrunk to its Gangetic heartland. The north-west fell to the Indo-Greeks and the Deccan to the Satavahanas; that plural map is where the next chapter begins.

## Sources

- Bana, Harshacharita, ch. 6 (Pushyamitra kills his master while showing him the army)
- Puranic king lists (Vayu, Matsya) (137 years for the Mauryas, 36 for Pushyamitra)

## Image

Gajalaxmi - Medallion - 2nd Century BCE - Red Sand Stone - Bharhut Stupa Railing Pillar - Madhya Pradesh - Indian Museum - Kolkata 2012-11-16 1837 Cropped. Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGajalaxmi_-_Medallion_-_2nd_Century_BCE_-_Red_Sand_Stone_-_Bharhut_Stupa_Railing_Pillar_-_Madhya_Pradesh_-_Indian_Museum_-_Kolkata_2012-11-16_1837_Cropped.JPG

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