Brihadratha was the 9th and last Emperor of the

Mauryan Dynasty The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...

. He ruled from 187 to 185 BCE, when he was overthrown and assassinated by his

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

, Pushyamitra Shunga, who went on to establish the Shunga Empire. The Mauryan territories, centred on the capital of Pataliputra, had shrunk considerably from the time of

Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

to when Brihadratha came to the throne.

Reign

According to the

Puranas Puranas (Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature
(1995 Editio ...

, Brihadratha succeeded his father Shatadhanvan to the throne and ruled for three years.

Overthrow by Pushyamitra Shunga

Brihadratha Maurya the last Mauryan Emperor was killed in 185 BCE and power usurped by his general, Pushyamitra Shunga who then took over the throne and established the Shunga Empire. Bāṇabhaṭṭa's ''

Harshacharita The ''Harshacharita'' (, ; English: ''The deeds of Harsha'') is the biography of Indian emperor Harsha by Banabhatta, also known as Bana, who was a Sanskrit writer of seventh-century CE India. He was the ''Asthana Kavi'', meaning ''Court Poet ...

'' says that Pushyamitra, while parading the entire Mauryan Army before Brihadratha on the pretext of showing him the strength of the army, crushed his master. Pushyamitra killed the former emperor in front of his military and established himself as the new ruler.

Invasion of Demetrius I

In 185 BCE just after the assassination of Brihadratha by his army chief Pushyamitra, Greco-Bactrian king

Demetrius Demetrius is the Latinization of names, Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male name, male Greek given names, given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning "devoted to goddess Demeter". Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, ...

(Dharmamita) invaded northwestern India (parts of modern-day

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

) and occupied it. The Mauryans had diplomatic alliances with the Greeks, and they may have been considered as allies by the Greco-Bactrians. A key detail is mentioned by Sri Lankan Buddhist monks in the ''Paramparapustaka'' chronicle, pointing that Brihadratha married Demetrius' daughter, Berenice (''Suvarnnaksi'' in Pali language). The Greco-Bactrians may also have invaded India in order to protect Greek populations in the subcontinent. He established his rule in the Kabul Valley and parts of the

Punjab region Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. Soon, however, they had to leave for Bactria to fight a fierce battle (probably between Eucratides I and Demetrius).Lahiri, B. (1974). ''Indigenous States of Northern India (Circa 200 B.C. to 320 A.D.) '', Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp.22-4 The hypothesized Yavana invasion of Pataliputra is based in the ''

Yuga Purana The ''Yuga Purana'' is a Sanskrit text and the last chapter of a ''Jyotisha'' (astrology) text ''Gargiya-jyotisha, Vriddhagargiya Samhita''. It is also considered a minor text in the Puranas, Puranic literature. Contents The Yuga Purana is struc ...

.'' The scripture describes the campaign of King Dharmamita:

References

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