Question

The Sunga period saw the growth of one of the following religions. Identify.
A. Brahmanism
B. Shaivism
C. Buddhism
D. Nature worship

Answer 1

Hint: The Sunga Empire was a lineage in ancient India who ruled the areas of the central and eastern region in the Indian subcontinent. They belonged from Magadha.
Complete answer:
Pushyamitra Sunga established the Sunga dynasty. His son Agnimitra succeeded him. Kalidasa’s famous drama called Malavikagnimitra is based on him. Pushyamitra Sunga was the first Brahmin emperor and during this period the region saw a growth in the religion. He was known among historians for the persecution of the Buddhists for the growth of Brahmanism. He set fire to stupas, monasteries and killed Buddhist monks.

Sunga rulers were known to be patrons of art, literature and philosophy. The language that was massively used in the scripts was Sanskrit. The Sunga dynasty was founded after 50 years of Ashoka’s death. Pushyamitra Sunga ruled in Magadha and he maintained an army which was purposefully created to destroy the Buddist religion. He wanted to throw out the Buddhist religion from Bactria, Kashmir and Gandhara. Some ancient sources claim that Sungas had sent armies for the persecution of Buddhist monks. The capital of the Sungas was Pataliputra.

Option A is the right answer.

Note: The founder of the Sunga dynasty, Pushyamitra Sunga was a religious bigot. He set competition with Buddhism throughout his region. Although later other kings have contributed to the building of stupas. He was determined to destroy the religion that Ashoka had carefully built up. There was no scope for other religions to surface in the Sunga dynasty. The kanva dynasty succeeded the Sungas.