• The period which started in about 200 B.C. did not have any large empire like that of the Mauryas.
• In eastern India, central India and the Deccan, the Mauryas were succeeded by a number of native rulers such as the Sungas, the Kanvas and the Satavahanas.
• In north-western India they were succeded by a number of ruling dynasties from Central Asia.

Shunga or Sunga Dynasty

• Four rulers of Shunga or Sunga Dynasty were PushyamitraSunga (185 BC TO 151 BC), Agnimitra (149 BC -141 BC), Bhagabhadra (114 BC -83 BC) and Devabhuti (87-73 BC)
• Pushyamitra Shunga founded the Shunga dynasty in around 185-183 BC.
•  Capital of Shunga Dynasty Was Pataliputra and its major centers were Ujjain, Mathura, Saket, Sanchi, and Kapilvastu.
• Vidisha was capital of later Shunga rulers.
• The empire included modern West Bengal and parts of Bangladesh, some parts of northern Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh .
• In South India, the contemporary of Mauryas & Shungas were Saatvahanas, Pandyas, Cheras and Cholas.
• The extent of Saatvahana was modern Andhra Pradesh, Pandyas was Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and Cheras was Kerala (Cheras derived from Keralaputra). 

 Pushyamitra Sunga (185 BC TO 151 BC):

• Pushyamitra Shunga the founder and hero of the Shunga dynasty.
• He was viceroy of the Mauryas at Ujjain and was a real war hero.
• He was not happy with his king Brihadratha, who failed in containing the Yavanas and attacks from the western sides.
•  Pushyamitra Shunga was also credited to repulse the two attacks of Greeks and also conquest over Vidarbha.
• The first of these attacks from Greeks, which were repulsed by Pushyamitra Shunga, was under Demetrius and another was under Meander.
• Pushyamitra is also known to have repelled the Kalinga’s king Kharvela conquest.
• He is also known to have performed an Ashvamedha Yagna.
• The Ayodhya Inscription of Dhandeva mentions that he performed two Ashwamedha Yagyas (Horse Sacrifices).
• As per the Puranas, Pushyamitra Shunga reigned for 36 years.
• Some evidences say that Pushyamitra Shunga destroyed many stupas of Asoka.
• But there are also evidences that Barhut Stupa was built during the Shunga Empire only.
• Pushyamitra was succeeded by his son Agnimitra.

Agnimitra : (149 BC -141 BC) :

• Agnimitra the second king of Shunga dynasty, succeeded his father Pushyamitra Shunga and reigned for a short period of 8 years.
• He is the hero of Malvikagnimitram of Kalidasa in which he has been referred to as Raja.
• By the times of Agnimitra, Vidarbha had become independent of the Maurays.
• Agnimitra was succeeded by Vasumitra around 131 BC.
• Who succeeded Vasumitra , not much details are available.
• Different accounts mention the name of different kings such as Andhraka, Pulindaka, Ghosha or Vajramitra.
• The last rulers of Shunga dynasty were Bhagabhadra and Devabhuti, about whom we have some details

Bhagabhadra (114 BC -83 BC):

• We know about the king Bhagabhadra by a Heliodorus pillar, which has been found in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh near modern Besnagar.
• Heliodorus was a Greek ambassador and he dedicated this pillar to God Vasudeva (Vishnu).
• The Heliodorus pillar has a surmounted figure of a Garuda.

Devabhuti (87-73 BC):

• Devabhuti was the last Shunga Ruler who was killed by his own minister Vasudeva Kanva in around 73 BC.
• Vasudeva Kanva thus assassinated the last ruler of Shunga Dynasty and founded the Kanva Dynasty.

Hunas

• Hunas were one of the fierce tribes from Central Asia. They have been periodically invading India since the Sunga period. They were resisted by the rulers uptil the second half of the 5th century A.D. But the weakness of Gupta empire provided them with a chance and by A.D. 485 they were able to occupy eastern Malwa and a good portion of central India.

Kanva Dynasty (72 B.C. – 27 B.C.)

• The rule of the Kanvas lasted for about 45 years. Four kings ruled during this period. Vasudeva ruled for a period of nine years and Bhumimitra for 14 years.
• Narayana held the reigns of administration for almost 12 years— Shusarma was the last of the Kanvas. During the Kanva dynasty, the Brahmanical reaction persisted.

Cheta (Chetis) Dynasty of Kalinga

• The history of Kalinga is not known with any degree of certainty till the first century B.C. The veil of obscurity is lifted by the far famed but damaged Hatigumpha (in the Udaygiri hill near Bhubaneswar) inscription.
• It records the exploits of Kharavela belonging to the Cheta or Cheti line of kings, founded by Maha Meghavahana.
• According to the testimony of the inscription of Kharavela, aged 24, ascended the throne of Kalinga probably in 25 B.C.
• After having served apprenticeship as Yuvaraja for eight years. The inscription which accounts for the 13 years of Kharavela’s rule, describes in detail the digvijaya of the Kalinga prince.

The Indo-Greeks

• The first to cross Hindukush and Invade India were Greeks or Indo Greeks or Bactrian Greeks who ruled Bactria, lying south of Oxus River area covered by north Afghanistan in 206 B.C.
• The most famous Indo-Greek ruler was Menander (165-145 B.C.) or Milinda. He had his capital at Sakala (Sialkot). he was converted to Buddhism by Nagasena.
• The question asked by Menander relating to Buddhism and the answers given by Nagasena were recorded in form of books known as Milinda-Panha or Questions of Milinda.
• The Indo-Greeks were first ruler in India to issue coins which can be definitely attributed to kings.
• The Indo-Greeks were the first to issue gold coins in India which increased in number under Kushanas.
• The Greek rule introduced features of Hellenistic art in N.W. Frontier of India giving rise to Ghandhara Art.

The Shakas

• The Greeks were followed by Shakas who controlled a much larger part of India than the Greeks.
• The first Shaka king was maves or Moga.
• The were five branchesof Sakas
• 1.   In Afghanistan.
• 2.   In Punjab with Taxila as its capital.
• 3.   In Mathura they ruled for 200 years.
• 4.   In western India where they ruled till 400 A.D.
• 5.   In upper Deccan.
• In about 58 B.C. a king of Ujjain fought and defeated Shakas and called himself Vikramadity and started an era Vikram Samvat (57 B.C.)
• The most famous Shaka ruler in India was Rudra Daman I (A.D. 130-150). He ruled over Sindh, Gujarat, Malwa, Kathiawar, Konkan and Narmada valley.
• He repaired the Sudrasan lake in Girnar. This lake has been in use for irrigation for long time and was as old as the time  of Mauryas.
• Rudradaman issued the first ever long inscription in chaste Sanskrit in Kavya style.

The parthians

• The Shaka domination in north westIndia was followed by the Parthians. Orignally the Parthians lived in Iran.
• The most famous of Parthian king was Gondopheres in whose reign St. Thomas is said to have come to India for propagation of Christianity.

The kushanas

• Their empire extended from Oxus to Ganga, from Khorasan in central Asian to Varanasi in U.P.
• There were two successive dynasties of Kushanas. The first dynasty was founded by House of Chiefs who were called Kadphises as it had two kings. The first was Kujala Khadphises who issued  coins south of Hindukush.
• The second was Vima Khadphises who issued a large number of gold coins and spread his kingdom east of Indus.
• Vima Khadphises was coverted to Saivism and proclaimed himself as Mahisvara.
• Vima was succeeded by Kaniska who adopted the title to ‘Devaputra’
• Purushpura or Peshawar was the first capital of Kushanas while Mathura was the second.
• At Puruspura Kaniska created a monastry and a huge stupa.
• He started an era in A.d. 78 which is known as Saka era.
• A fourth Buddhist council was held at Kunda Van in Kashmir during the reign of Kaniska., where the doctrines of Mahayana form of Buddhism was finalized.
• The successor of Kaniska containued to rule in N.W. India till 230 A.d. and some of them bore Typical Indian names as Vasudeva.
• The Kushan empire in Afghanistan and area west of Indus was supplanted in mid  3rd century A.d. by Sassnian power which rose in Iran.
• The Kushana kings issued numerous gold coins with higher degree of metallic purity than and found in Gupta gold coins.
• The Kushanas controlled the famous sike route which was a great source of income to them.
• At a place ccalled Topra-Kala in Khorezm a huge Kushana palace of 3red 4th century have been found which possesses administrative archives written in Aramaic script and Khorezmian language.

• The most important of native successors of Mauryas in north were Sungas followed by Kanvas.
• In Deccan and in central India the Satavahanas are considered to be identical with the Andharas who are mentioned in Puranas but the Puranas speak of Andhra rule and not the Satavahana. On the other hand the name Andhra does not appear in Satavahana inscription.
• However according to Puranas the Andharas ruled for 300 years.
• The founder of this dynasty is Simuka who destroyed the Sunga power.
• The greatest competitors of Satavahanas were the SHAKA’s who had established their power in upper Deccan and Western India.
• The greatest of the Stavahana king was Gautamiputra Satakarni A.D. (166-130). He took pride in calling himself the destroyer of Sakas, Greeks and Parthians.
• He destroyed the Kshaharata lineage to which his adversary Nahapana belonged.
• he was succeeded by Vashishthiputra Pulmayi (A.D. 130-154). He set up his capital at Paithan or Pratishthan on Godavri inn Aurangabad district.
• Rudradaman I, Shaka ruler of Saurastra, defeated the Satavahana twice but  did not destroy them on account of matrimonial relationship.
• Yajnasri Satkami was the last great king of this line and he recovered konkan and Malwa from Saka ruler. He was a lower of trade and navigation.
• Hala, a Satavahana king, wrote Gathasaptsati, a Prakrit text.
• The Satavahana were first ruler to make land grants to Brahamanas.
• There were certain military and feudal traits in administration of Satavahanas Kataka AND Skandhar Varas were military camps and settlement.
• The Satavahanas show traces of matrilineal social structure. It was customary for the king to be named after his mother.
• The two common religious construction were the Buddhist temple which were called ‘Chaitya’ and the Monastry which were called ‘Vihara’.
• The most famous Chaitya is that of Karle in western Deccan.