Fall of Mauryas
Life of People in Mauryan Empire
Many people were agriculturists. They grew rice, wheat, barley, pulses, cotton and vegetables. Others were artisans. They specialised in different crafts, as in the earlier period. Textiles, wooden, and ivory objects, perfumes, jewellery from semi-precious stones, items of iron and copper and the shining black pottery described earlier, were among the things they made. Traders and merchants carried goods to far-off places by land and sea. Soldiers defended the kingdom. Ministers and officials helped the king. Philosophers and religious people wandered through the kingdom in search of the truth about life and death, and why life existed.
Sungas Dynasty
With the fall of Mauryas, India lost its political unity. Pushyamitra Sunga became the ruler of the Magadha and neighbouring territories. The north-western regions comprising Rajputana, Malwa and Punjab passed into the hands of the foreign rulers. The kingdom of Pushyamitra was extended upto Narmada in the south, and controlled Jalandhar and Sialkot in the Punjab in the north-western regions.
Pushyamitra died after ruling for 36 years (187-151 BC). He was succeeded by son Agnimitra. This prince is the hero of a famous drama by India's greatest playwright, Kalidasa. Agnimitra used to hold his court in the city of Vidisa, modern Besnagar in Eastern Malwa. The power of the Sungas gradually weakened. It is said that there were ten Sunga kings.