Brhadrata

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

Brihadrata was the last ruler of the Indian Mauryan dynasty. He ruled c.197 - 185 B.C.E.

Maurya territories, centered around the capital of Pataliputra, had shrunk considerably from the time of the great Emperor Ashoka when Brihadrata came to the throne.

He was killed in 185 BCE and power usurped by his commander-in-chief, the Brahmin general Pusyamitra Sunga, who then took over the throne and established the Sunga dynasty.

In 180 BCE, northwestern India (parts of modern day Afghanistan and Pakistan) were attacked by the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius. He established his rule in the Kabul Valley and parts of the Punjab in modern-day Pakistan. His successors would later engage in a series of wars with the Sungas.