Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c16.s1.7

c16.s1.7

The origin of the usurping family is wrapped up in obscurity. According to the *Divyāvadāna* Pushyamitra was lineally descended from the Mauryas. The *Mālavikāgnimitram*, on the other hand, makes Agnimitra, son of Pushyamitra, a scion of the **Baimbika** family,¹ while the *Purāṇas*, and apparently the *Harsha-Charita*² represent these kings as Śuṅgas. One writer suggests that the Śuṅgas whose names ended in Mitra were Irāṇians, worshippers of Mithra (the Sun).¹ Others, regard them as Indian Brāhmaṇas. Curiously enough, Pāṇini² connects the Śuṅgas with the well-known Brāhmāṇa family of the Bhāradvājas. Śauṅgīputra, "son of a female descendant of Śuṅga," is the name of a teacher in the *Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upanishad*.³ Śauṅgāyani, "descendant of Śauṅga" is the name of a teacher in the *Vaṁśa Brāhmaṇa*. Macdonell and Keith point out that the Śuṅgas are known as teachers in the *Āśvalāyana Śrauta Sūtra*.⁴ In view of the conflicting statements in the *Mālavikāgnimitram*, the *Purāṇas*, etc., it is difficult to say whether Pushyamitra and his known descendants (down to Vasumitra) were Śuṅgas of the Bhāradvāja *Gotra* or Baimbikas of Kaśyapa lineage. The historic "Śuṅgas" of the time of Dhanabhūti are assigned by competent scholars to the period B.C. 100-75. This accords with the testimony of the *Harsha-charita* which, while denying this dynastic epithet to Pushyamitra, applies it to the latest kings of the Purāṇic list, the immediate predecessors of Vasudeva Kāṇva.