The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c24.s1.3

c24.s1.3

² Manuscripts usually read Pushpamitra, but Pushyamitra is the correct form (Bühler, *Ind. Ant.*, ii, 362). Pushyamitra has been shown to be a synonym of Bahasatimitra or Bahaspati of the Khāravela inscription (K. P. Jayaswal, in *J. B. & O. Res. Soc.*, Part iv, Dec. 1917, pp. 473–80); and in view of the connexion between Brihaspati and the Pushya asterism, we must accept Pushya as correct. As the name of the founder of the dynasty and some of his descendants ended in *mitra*, M. M. Haraparshād Sāstri suggests, in my opinion wrongly, that the Sungas were Persians, worshippers of the sun (Mithra). The Sungas were followers of the *Sāma Veda* which is specially concerned with animal sacrifices, and they and the Kaṇvas appear to have led a Brahmanical reaction against Buddhism (*J. & Proc. A. S. B.*, 1912, p. 287). K. P. Jayaswal (*J. B. O. Res. Soc.*, iv, Sept. 1918) holds that the Sungas were Brahmans and occupied a high position in the theological world at that early date. Pushyamitra belonged to the family of the royal chaplain (*purohit*) of the Mauryas, who though heterodox since Asoka's reign probably retained the family nominally in its old position. According to the author, the later Mauryas were degenerate and politically weak, and Pushyamitra was forced to slay Bṛihadratha in the interests of the empire, which was threatened by the Yāvanas or Bactrian Greeks under Menander. The dynastic name Śuṅga is attested by the Purāṇas, Bāṇa (p. 193), and the Barhut (Bharhut) inscription beginning with *Suga-naṁ raje*, 'during the reign of the Śuṅgas' (*Arch. S. W. I.* v, 73; *Ind. Ant.*, xiv, 138, with facsimile).