The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c15.4

c15.4

The first great impulse of the new movement, within the jurisdiction of the Buddhist Sangha itself, was synchronous with a considerable readjustment of political conditions in Northern India. In the year 184 b.c. the Mauryan dynasty founded by Chandragupta became extinct, and a new one, known as the Sunga, was established upon the imperial throne of Pâtaliputra. Pushyamitra, the first of the line, was not a follower of the Buddha, but celebrated his accession and a decisive victory over Menander, a Baktrian monarch who, like Seleukos, was ambitious of repeating the conquests of Alexander, by the old Vedic rite of the great horse sacrifice.