The Sunga dynasty was founded after the killing of which of the following Mauryan rulers?
- A.Dasharatha
- B.Samprati
- C.Brihadratha
- D.Devabhuti
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Brihadratha. Brihadratha was the last ruler of the Mauryan dynasty. About 185 BCE his own commander-in-chief Pushyamitra Sunga killed him, according to tradition at a review of the army, and took the throne at Pataliputra. The event closes Mauryan rule and opens the post-Mauryan age, and the date about 185 BCE is worth memorising as the boundary between the two.
Option A, Dasharatha, was a grandson of Ashoka who granted the Nagarjuni caves to the Ajivikas, and he ruled well before the end of the line. Option B, Samprati, was another later Mauryan ruler linked in Jain tradition with the spread of Jainism. Option D, Devabhuti, was not a Maurya at all; he was the last Sunga ruler, killed by his minister Vasudeva who then founded the Kanva dynasty.
Read the full article: Post-Mauryan Period: Kushanas, Satavahanas and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allWhich among the following was the second capital of the Kushanas in ancient India?
- A.Patliputra
- B.Delhi
- C.Lahore
- D.Mathura
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The main Kushana capital was Purushapura, the modern Peshawar, which Kanishka I developed as his seat of power. As the empire spread into the Ganga-Yamuna plain, Mathura on the Yamuna became its second capital and the southern headquarters of the family.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following was NOT a ruler of the Kushana dynasty?
- A.Nahapana
- B.Vasishka
- C.Vasudeva
- D.Huvishka
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Nahapana belonged to the Kshaharata family of the Shakas, the Western Kshatrapas who ruled in western India, and not to the Kushanas at all.
Read the full explanation →Ashvaghosha, a poet who composed a biography of the Buddha, the Buddhacharita, lived in the court of which ruler?
- A.Ashoka
- B.Bindusara
- C.Kanishka
- D.Gautamiputra Shri Satakarni
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Ashvaghosha was a Buddhist monk and Sanskrit poet at the court of the Kushana ruler Kanishka I. He wrote the Buddhacharita, a life of the Buddha in Sanskrit verse, and the Saundarananda, and he acted as deputy to Vasumitra at the Fourth Buddhist Council held in Kashmir.
Read the full explanation →In which language was Gatha Saptasati, by the king Hala, written?
- A.Sanskrit
- B.Pali
- C.Prakrit
- D.Hindi
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The Gathasaptasati, also written as Gatha Saptasati, is an anthology of seven hundred short verses compiled by the Satavahana king Hala.
Read the full explanation →The sculpture which is known as the Submission of Nalgiri has been found at:
- A.Bharhut
- B.Amrawati
- C.Mathura
- D.Sanchi
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The panel showing the submission of the mad elephant Nalagiri, sent by Devadatta to kill the Buddha and calmed by him in the street of Rajagriha, is among the best known carvings of the Amaravati stupa on the lower Krishna in Andhra Pradesh.
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