Pushyamitra Shunga: Retelling of a romance by Mativaza

A fellow scholar's note about Pushyamitra Shunga

Pushyamitra Shunga, the Brahmin king is well known for rebelling against the Buddhist king Brihadrata Maurya of the mighty Mauryan Empire and establishing the Vedic religion and Brahmanical order after destroying Buddhism in the 2nd century BC.

This piece is about that mahanubhava who re-established the Vedic religion back in the Indian subcontinent. It is not written by me. It is written by a fellow scholar, who goes by different names on Twitter (Ardaban, Mativaza, Reader Mishra and so on). I have copied it word to word here. All credits goes to him/her. The following is just the last part of the long piece he/she has written, its his way of retelling the story of the great king. I found it very interesting and thus archiving it here. I heartfully thank him for writing this.

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A/N: Finally my Savarkar-like narration of the rise of Pushyamitra. I’m simply going to assume inconsequential stuff like things he learnt or dreamt of in his childhood, where he was born etc., to make it poetic.

Putting Things together —

Pushyamitra was born somewhere around Mathura in an orthodox Brahmana family some years after the death of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, the most powerful man in the entire world during his times. Growing up, he had learnt of elaborate rituals, ceremonies and colourful festivities from his elders. The idea of a monarch conducting grand festivities and releasing a stallion to roam across all lands and punishing all those who dare step in its way fascinated a young Pushyamitra. These were all but far fetched dreams in the modern world he grew up in. Emperor Ashoka had decreed that ceremonies and rituals were useless and to perform them was prohibited — an action which cost his kin their livelihood. The Dhammamahamattas would punish whoever dared to disobey the imperial decree. Buddhism grew up to great heights during the reign of Emperor Ashoka, and the Buddha’s teachings reached all corners of the world. The Buddhists were victors of their times and the Brahmanas were reduced to a subaltern position. Growing up, Pushyamitra learnt to read and write and studied various dharmashastra and arthashastra along with the trade of swords. Like many other Brahmanas of his time who were displaced from their traditional professions — Pushyamitra decided to join the Mauryan Army, one of the greatest forces on the planet.

But times were about to change. The empire had already started falling apart after the death of Emperor Ashoka in 232 BCE. The Empire was immediately divided in two after Ashoka’s death. The western half was ruled by Kunala, an ardent Shaivite and the eastern half was ruled by Dashratha. Dasharatha was succeeded by Samprati, an ardent Jain, in the final years of whose reign — Pushyamitra joined the army.

Samprati had continued much of Ashoka’s policies. He was a brilliant strategist, determined to take the empire back to the days of glory. He was going to even conquer lands that his predecessors like Ashoka and Chandragupta himself couldn’t. In a textbook Kautilyan move, Samprati had started flooding provinces with his soldiers under the guise of jain ascetics and led two-pronged invasions in Andhra, Dravida, Maharashtra, Mysore and Saurashtra. Pushyamitra served in these conquests and proved his mettle. Since he was also capable of reading and writing and learned in treatises of war, he was quickly promoted to the rank of provincial commander at the frontiers. In the final days of Samprati, he had even conquered Tamil lands before departing from the world.

Samprati was succeeded by Shalishuka, much like his elder brother, he glorified the Jain religion and much like Emperor Ashoka, he set out for a Dhammavijaya and prohibited the sacrificial religion. He was known for being oppressive and wicked, owing to which rebellions in Saurashtra began, and he had to reconquer it and throw the realm into chaos. Times of chaos spelt opportunity for men engaged in the trade of swords and ambitious enough to seize it. As petty lords and governors across the empire declared themselves free and rebelled against the Emperor — Shalishuka needed loyal men to fight for his cause more than ever. Pushyamitra was aware that nothing good would come out of rebelling against the Maurya, these minor rebellions at such a stage would eventually be crushed and would only serve the purpose of bringing ruin to the people than replace the oppressive emperor. Pushyamitra then served Shalishuka faithfully and proved himself to be an excellent commander as one by one he went around putting petty rebels to death, much of whom were his kin. Pushyamitra gained much fame during these adventures and was eventually appointed a general in Pataliputra by the Emperor and was considered a loyal aide who had faithfully served him in times of chaos. Despite Shalishuka’s endeavours, many provinces in the south managed to break away from the empire and Samprati conquests of Tamil lands were short-lived.

Pushyamitra’s sudden rise to power would’ve meant an early death had he shown any ambition in the imperial court and acted against ettiquette. Pushyamitra would never speak until explicitly asked to, even if what was being spoken was in the court was completely incorrect. He was always polite and never dared to offend any ministers. He never asked for more rewards than what the court deemed was fit for him and prostrated whenever required. He would do favours for powerful ministers and thus befriend them in the process. He would give his guards to guildsmen for free of cost to curry fabours with them. He would purposefully lose friendly duels to rival generals — stroking their egos and maintaining that he was weak and unambitious, and not a threat to anyone in the court.

While the Indian were engaged in mindless squabbles, insidious movements began in the west. In 206 BCE, The Seleucid Emperor Antiochus III marched into Bactria to punish Euthydemids who’d dared to break away from his empire. A terrible was ensued and Antiochus was forced to retreat after being defeated by the Greco-Bactrians, on top of his already expensive adventures against the Romans. But this did not spell peace for the Euthydemids, the Emperor many return to punish them once again. So in 203 BCE, Demetrius, a young man, son of Euthydemus, was sent to Syria as an envoy to negotiate for peace with the Seleucid Emperor. Demetrius proved his mantle when he successfully negotiated for the recognition of Bactrian independence and received Anitochus’ daughter as a bride. This young man wished to conquer India, a feat even Alexander could not afford, and finally visit the end of the world lying in India’s east. To conquer India was a herculean task, it woulc not happen in an instant and would take decades of planning.

The intelligent Demetrius understood that India imported much of her silver bullion to mint coins and then plotted a grand strategy to conquer India. First of all, he shall immediately deprive the Indians of their access to silver bullion by cutting off their access to silver imports and hereby bringing ruin to their economy, an action which was going to alter coinage of India for next two centuries. Then he shall solidify his control over the Indus, Bactria and parts of Central Asia and raise a strong army along with fertile lands and prosperous cities to undertake this adventure. All that was left to do was to strike at the perfect opportunity when it arrives.

Eventually, the terrible Shalishuka died and Devavarman, a young gentleman with no knowledge of affairs of the world around him was put to the throne by the Imperial Court. Devavarman took no decisions on his own and went along with whatever the court wanted. Devavarman was aware that he was going to be replaced someday as well and decided to cultivate ministers and generals loyal to himself. He appointed the unambitious Pushyamitra as the Head of the Palace Guard to keep himself safe. Combined with Pushyamitra’s many friends in the court, Pushyamitra became very powerful during these times. He started appointing his family — the Mitras, to various provinces of the empire as important governors and generals. The Mitras now held power in Kaushambi, Vidisha, Ayodhya, Mathura and Pataliputra and soon became the second most powerful family in the empire.

Eventually, Devavarman died amidst the cruel court politics and was succeeded by Emperor Brihadratha. It was around this time when the Maurya loyalists, namely — Muladeva, Yajnasena, Nemachandra et al started paying attention to misadventures of Pushyamitra. The Mitras ruled in various parts of the empire, held favours with the court and controlled all troops in the capital city. Pushyamitra was a threat to the Emperor and now must be removed. The Mauryan Loyalists must exercise caution in dealing with Pushyamitra as the latter controlled troops in the city and could cause the empire to collapse by rebelling. To pacify Pushyamitra, Brihadratha appointed him the Chief of the Army, a ceremonial position that barely mattered apart from its honour greater in rank than a prince. Pushyamitra already commanded as many troops as he could, an honorific to the collection wouldn’t hurt. But he wouldn’t dare to rebel at least for a few years now, otherwise, he would get a bad name for being treacherous and killing his master without any reason.

While the Maurya was struggling with regular internal strifes — Demetrius in the west made his moves an conquered all the regions of Indus, Saurashtra, Bhrigukaccha and parts of central Asia. He had also conquered the country of the Sauviras and named a city after himself — “Demetrios”, known to the Indians as Dattamitra. He raised his country with prosperity and raised a ferocious veteran army on the other hand. Sometime around 195-190 BCE, Euthydemus died and Demetrius was crowned the King. Since Demetrius had followed his father on all his campaigns for decades and was famously known to the Greeks as a hero who conquered the Indians; he had little trouble during the transition and stabilized his empire within a year or two. In 190 BCE, Demetrius rallied his forces and prepared for the decisive invasion of India, daring to undertake this Herculean task and wishing to immortalize his name in the annals of history — much like Alexander the Great.

Demetrius put his half-brother Antimachus on the throne in Takshashila and went on to invade India. They divided their force into two parts; one led by Demetrius which would go from Dattamitra to Chittorgarh to Mathura and the other under his generals which would take a route through Panjab and meet with Demetrius in Mathura. The Yavanas were in high spirit and swept through the tribals republics of northwestern India, not even taking a week to storm fortresses. Demetrius OTOH conquered Chittor and marched towards Mathura — which was going to be under siege from two sides next.

When news of the ferocity of the Yavanas and their two-pronged advances in Mathura reached Pataliputra — the Imperial court was thrown into chaos. Pushyamitra was asked to lead forces against the Yavana advances now. It was a ploy by the Loyalists, the Mathura-Panchala Mitras were unlikely to survive the Yavana advances and if Pushyamitra was sent to battle them — then even if he were to defeat them, he’d suffer great losses. In such a scenario, the loyalists would sieze control of the capital once again and frame Pushyamitra with treason and kill him eventually. Pushyamitra was aware of this very well, it was certain death to fight the ferocious Yavanas regardless of the outcome of his battles against them. Pushyamitra did not wish to see his kin spill blood against an enemy which was impossible to defeat either. So he secretly ordered the Mathura-Panchala Mitras to surrender to the Yavanas after giving an easy battle for a day or two.

When news of the surrender of the Mathura-Panchala Mitras within two days of battle reached Pataliputra — Brihadratha was put in a dilemma. Pushyamitra had already formally apologized in the imperial court for the cowardice of his kin and requested to be punished for his crimes. All the ministers and generals loyal to Pushyamitra beseeched the Emperor to have mercy on Pushyamitra as well. First of all, there was simply no way through which Brihadratha could punish Pushyamitra at such a moment when the latter controlled a significant chunk of the court and most of the troops in the capital. Secondly, if by some chance — he were to kill Pushyamitra, then there was no guarantee that his partisans would let the matter settle and not kill him instead. If by some miracle he were to defeat both Pushyamitra and his partisans by bringing reinforcements from various parts of the empire — Pataliputra would’ve already been damaged beyond repair and the ferocious Yavanas who seized Mathura in a few days would sweep it in hours. Therefore, Pushyamitra was granted “mercy” by the Emperor.

As a precautionary measure, Brihadratha had started inviting all of the Mauryan loyalists to Pataliputra, waiting for decisive battle between Pushyamitra and Yavanas to take on the weaker party. In the meanwhile, the Yavanas sacked Ayodhya along with the combined forces of the Mathura-Panchala Mitras and were en route to Pataliputra, Pushyamitra was tasked with protecting the capital from the Yavana advancecs. Pushyamitra was certain that death was upon him finally there was no way he could defeat the Yavana forces even if the Mathura-Panchala Mitras were to defect to him. Even if he were to somehow defeat them, then he’d suffer great losses and the Maurya loyalists who were now arriving at Pataliputra would certainly kill him next. He could not depose Brihadratha either, that way he would end up facing the combined wrath of the Yavanas and Maurya Loyalists. He could not even invite the rest of his family as they were dealing with Yavanas and usurpers themselves. Pushyamitra could surrender to the Yavanas and depose the Mauryas together but he would once again become a dog under a new master rather than be the man he imagined himself to be as a child — one who restores the Vedic order of things in the very capital where they were prohibited. Pushyamitra had killed his own to gain rank, received humiliation in the imperial court for years, and waited patiently by laying low — all to seize opportunity one day but now he saw his dreams come to an end in front of his eyes. The war against the Yavanas went terribly for months. They raised hell in Pataliputra and were undefeatable. the only thing Pushyamitra could do now was to pray to the gods for a miracle.

And a miracle did happen.

Eucratides rebelled in Bactria against Antimachus, the brother Demetrius installed as a king in Takshashila. If Animachus were to be defeated then Demetrius would be left without the supplies from the conquered regions of the northwest aiding him. An army is a moving famine for a good reason and could live off the land. However, an army deep inside hostile territory, raided by petty rebels regularly, locked in a stalemate with one of the greatest powers of the world could not survive being stateless for long. If Demetrius were to survive, he must leave and take care of the situation in Bactria by putting down Eucratides before returning to Pataliputra. With a heavy heart, Demetrius is forced to leave Pataliputra with a significant chunk of his contingent but allows the siege to continue under other Greek Noblemen. His army slowly withdraws from Pataliputra and he maintains the illusion of still being in his camp sieging the capital. His men killed all messengers coming out of, or going inside the capital. By the time Demetrius reached Chittor, news of his departure along with the withdrawal of Yavana forces reached the Imperial Court. Demetrius was very well aware that a counter attack would begin any day now, and his dream of conquering India and surpassing even Alexander was never going to materialize. Yet, being a victim of circumstances — he was forced to return to his homeland. The contingent sieging Pataliputra was now more Mathura-Panchala Mitra than Yavana.

Finally, the long-awaited opportunity to seize t he world had arrived for Pushyamitra. No longer did he need to hide and take a defensive position against the Yavanas, the time has come to put an end to all of his enemies. Pushyamitra rallied all of his men in the capital and opened the gates, leading them into battle in an open field against the Yavanas himself. When Muladeva caught of Pushyamitra leading men so confidently into battle, he realized that the era of the Maurya has now come to an end. When the Mathura-Panchala Mitras saw Pushyamitra himself charge out of the gates of Pataliputra, they knew exactly what was supposed to be done. It soon dawned upon the Yavanas that the Mitras have betrayed their trust and shall annihilate them soon. The small Yavana contingent was now forced to face the Mathura-Panchala Mitras and Pushyamitra.

A terrible battle ensured, the Yavanas fought valiantly and perished in a one-sided slaughter rather than surrender. The victorious Mitras made a grand display with their heads on pikes and marched back inside the gate of Pataliputra. The Maurya Loyalists could do nothing but observe from a distance as the massive contingent under Pushyamitra’s command marched into the capital. If they dared to attack Pushyamitra, then not only would they be slaughtered — they’d be remembered for being treacherous for killing a valiant general out of envy. Pushyamitra was a hero now, the terrible Yavanas who’d starved the people of the capital and thrown the realm into disorder were butchered in a single decisive battle by Pushyamitra, the hero who saved the world. The capital was filled to the brim with mobs cheering Pushyamitra who’d saved them from the horrors of Yavana conquests. It has his day, the people would cheer him and even if her were to kill his mother today, and Pushyamitra was going to seize this opportunity given by the gods as well.

The hooting and cheering haunted Brihadratha, he was certain that his time has come. He was too cowardly to even commit suiside and decided to follow Pushyamitra to the capital’s center when the latter invited him under the pretext of inspecting his army and raising their morale. When Brihadratha finally appeared on stage with Pushyamitra, the latter charged him with treason — “My fellow countrymen, this man here, whom we call our king, decided to kill me and present my head to the terrible Yavanas in exchange of security for himself. This man was willing to let the barbaric hordes of Yavanas lay waste, just so that he could be spared. The Yavanas were ferocious and valiant, to defeat them was impossible — yet I’ve defeated them despite my numerically inferior strength. Do you know why? Because they gods had decreed so, and granted me strength to carry out justice for the sake of the people and so shall I. This man here wronged not me but you, so I ask you, what punishment does this wicked man deserve?” Even though Pushyamitra had falsely framed Brihadratha, the people cheered the hero-general who saved them and demanded that Brihadratha be slain. now that Pushyamitra had finally generated a just casus belli and received the mandate of the people to carry out divinely ordained acts of justice — he swung his sword and beheader Brihadratha right there. Thus came to an end, the Mauryan Empire.

Muladeva was devastated when he saw how the wicked Pushyamitra had treacherously killed his sovereign. He decided to exact revenge against the latter and sent word to rally the remnant of Loyalists troops to battle Pushyamitra. THere was nothing he could lose at this point and was willing to die even for the slightest opportunity at revenge. Thankfully, Muladeva caught Sumitra, the grandson of Pushyamitra, celebrating without a care for thr world in a tavern, away from the guarded areas and took the opportunity to assassinate him in public before fleeing.

Pushyamitra on the other hand was now going to revive a long-dead ritual, the Ashvamedha, in the very capital of the Emperor Ashoka who had prohibited it across the realm. The seer Patanjali was invited to preside over the rite, a stallion was released and his valiant grandson Vasumitra was sent to protect it and punish those who dare stand in its way.

It was time to uproot all the Maurya Loyalists and rebels across the realm, drive back the Yavanas and capture their lands. Pushyamitra first battled the wicked Muladeva who had killed his grandson through treacherous means. A terrible battle with the bulk of the Maurya Loyalists ensured outside Pataliputra and Muladeva was killed. Agnimitra was sent to deal with Yajnasena, the governor of Vidarbha. Pushyamitra went east and sacked Bengal, the lands of the Nemachandra Maurya and killed him, putting an end to that Mauryan line as well. Pushyamitra then marched westwards with his grandson Vasumitra. Ayodhya, Panchala, and Mathura were retaken from the Yavana remnants and the latter were slaughtered. Vasumitra turned southwest towards Chittor and then to Sauviras to sack the capital Dattamitra on the southern banks of Sindhu. When Agnimitra established himself in Vidisha, Vidarbha and Mekala — the rest of Saurashtra was forced to surrender to the Mitras as well. On the other hand, Pushyamitra went northwest in an attempt to punish the Yavana leaders — he conquered Punjab and settled another branch of Mitras there and then went north and sacked Sialkot and Jalandhar, recapturing them from the Yavanas. In his final conquests, Pushyamitra sacked Kashmir and sacked Kashmir and integrated it into his empire.

The Vedic rites, festivals, ceremonies were finally restored under a unified empire after decades. Temples started appearing across the lands for the first time and a lot of Hindu shastras were compiled. Pushyamitra’s reign of thirty-six years was marked by prosperity and developments in urban dwellings, art and architecture. His military conquests continue to remain one of the greatest run campaigns in the history of India.

Although the Empire was short lived and great disaster stuck them within a century, Pushyamitra’s age continue to remain as one of the greatest epochs in Hindu history.

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