BPSC 70th CCE Prelims General Studies · Question 89 of 143

Correct — C, Nanda Vansh. Magadha's dynastic order is Brihadratha, then Haryanka, then Shishunaga, then NANDA, then Maurya, and this question asks for the fourth link in that chain. The Shishunagas came to power around 413 BCE when Shishunaga, an official of the Haryanka court, displaced the last of Bimbisara's line; their greatest achievement was the destruction of the Pradyota dynasty of Avanti, which removed Magadha's last serious rival in the north, and under Kalashoka the capital returned permanently to Pataliputra. That last point is worth holding as a sequence rather than a single fact: Udayin of the Haryankas founded Pataliputra and moved the capital there, Shishunaga then shifted it to Vaishali, and Kalashoka brought it back for good. Around 345 BCE Mahapadma Nanda overthrew them and founded the Nanda dynasty. The Puranas describe him in extraordinary terms — ekarat, the sole sovereign, and sarva-kshatrantaka, the destroyer of all kshatriyas — and record that he was of low birth, which makes the Nandas the first non-kshatriya imperial dynasty of the Ganga plain. Their army was the largest India had yet seen: Greek accounts of the force facing Alexander's men on the Beas in 326 BCE speak of tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry with thousands of chariots and elephants, and it was the report of that army that persuaded the Macedonians to turn back. The last Nanda, Dhana Nanda, was overthrown by Chandragupta Maurya with Chanakya's help around 322 BCE. So the Mauryas are two steps after the Shishunagas, not one — and the Sungas come later still, after the Mauryas ended in 185 BCE.

• (a)Maurya Vansh — The right sequence but the wrong step. The Mauryas do follow the Shishunagas eventually, but the Nandas intervene for roughly a quarter of a century between them — Chandragupta Maurya took the throne around 322 BCE by displacing Dhana Nanda, not a Shishunaga king. This is the option that catches a candidate who remembers only the famous dynasties and skips the one in between.
• (b)Sunga Vansh — Far out of place. The Sungas were founded around 185 BCE by Pushyamitra Sunga, who assassinated the last Mauryan ruler Brihadratha — they belong to the POST-Mauryan period, more than two centuries after the Shishunagas fell, and are separated from them by both the Nandas and the whole Mauryan empire.
• (d)More than one of the above — The question asks which dynasty came immediately after the Shishunagas, and only one dynasty can occupy that position — successors are not shared. Apply the standing test for this option: it is correct only when two of the listed items are simultaneously true, and here the Mauryas and the Sungas are each in a different place in the same single chain.

The dynastic chain of Magadha is the backbone of ancient Indian political history and needs to be held as a sequence with approximate dates and one identifying fact per dynasty. BRIHADRATHA — the epic line of Jarasandha, seated at Girivraja. HARYANKA, from about 544 BCE — Bimbisara who annexed Anga, Ajatashatru who broke Vaishali and patronised the First Buddhist Council, Udayin who moved the capital to Pataliputra. SHISHUNAGA, from about 413 BCE — Shishunaga who destroyed Avanti's Pradyota dynasty, and Kalashoka under whom the Second Buddhist Council met at Vaishali. NANDA, from about 345 BCE — Mahapadma Nanda, low-born, called the destroyer of all kshatriyas, with the vast army that deterred Alexander's troops. MAURYA, from about 322 BCE — Chandragupta, Bindusara and Ashoka, the first pan-Indian empire. Then, after 185 BCE, the post-Mauryan sequence begins: SUNGA under Pushyamitra, KANVA under Vasudeva, and the Satavahanas. Notice the recurring mechanism: in this chain power changes hands by a minister or a commander displacing his king, which is how the Shishunagas, the Nandas, the Mauryas, the Sungas and the Kanvas all began.

The reliable method is to write the chain out once, in order, and answer positional questions by counting rather than by recall of a single fact. Brihadratha, Haryanka, Shishunaga, Nanda, Maurya, then Sunga and Kanva after a gap. With that written down, 'after Shishunaga' is one step to the right and the answer is Nanda, while 'Maurya' is two steps and 'Sunga' is four. The Nanda dynasty is the one most often dropped from memory, precisely because it produced no Ashoka and left no monuments — it survives mainly through hostile Puranic notices, through Greek accounts of its army, and through the Mudrarakshasa's story of its overthrow. That very obscurity is what makes it the favourite answer to 'which dynasty came between' questions, and a candidate who prepares only the celebrated dynasties will keep losing this mark. One name to watch: Brihadratha appears twice in ancient Indian history, once as the founder of Magadha's earliest dynasty and once as the last Mauryan emperor assassinated by Pushyamitra in 185 BCE. They are different men, five centuries apart, and both turn up as options on state papers.

• Magadhan dynastic order: Brihadratha → Haryanka (from c. 544 BCE) → Shishunaga (from c. 413 BCE) → Nanda (from c. 345 BCE) → Maurya (from c. 322 BCE)
• The Shishunagas' major achievement was the destruction of the Pradyota dynasty of Avanti; under Kalashoka the Second Buddhist Council met at Vaishali
• Mahapadma Nanda, founder of the Nanda dynasty, is called ekarat and sarva-kshatrantaka in the Puranas and was of low birth
• The Nanda army — tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry with thousands of chariots and elephants — is what turned Alexander's troops back at the Beas in 326 BCE
• Dhana Nanda, the last Nanda, was overthrown by Chandragupta Maurya with Chanakya around 322 BCE; the Sungas came only in 185 BCE, when Pushyamitra killed the last Mauryan, Brihadratha

• Skipping the Nandas and jumping from Shishunaga straight to Maurya — the Nandas held Magadha for roughly a quarter of a century in between
• Placing the Sungas anywhere before the Mauryas; Pushyamitra founded them in 185 BCE by killing the last Mauryan emperor
• Confusing the two Brihadrathas — the founder of Magadha's earliest dynasty and the last Mauryan ruler are different men five centuries apart

BPSC asks ancient Bihar as position-in-sequence — which dynasty came before or after which — with 'More than one of the above' attached, so the paper rewards a written-out chain and punishes recall of famous names alone. UPSC asks the same chain by its mechanism instead: who assassinated whom, which minister usurped which throne, which dynasty was ruling when Alexander invaded. Both are answered from one list learned with dates and one identifying event per dynasty.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Mahapadma Nanda is described in the Puranas as

  • (a)Devanampiya Piyadasi
  • (b)Sarva-kshatrantaka, the destroyer of all kshatriyas
  • (c)Amitraghata, the slayer of foes
  • (d)Vikramaditya

  Answer(b) Sarva-kshatrantaka, the destroyer of all kshatriyas — also called ekarat, the sole sovereign. Devanampiya Piyadasi is Ashoka's title in his edicts and Amitraghata is applied to Bindusara.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which dynasty was ruling Magadha at the time of Alexander's invasion of north-western India in 326 BCE ?

  • (a)Shishunaga
  • (b)Nanda
  • (c)Maurya
  • (d)Sunga

  Answer(b) Nanda — Dhana Nanda held Magadha, and it was the reported size of the Nanda army that turned Alexander's troops back at the Beas; Chandragupta Maurya displaced him only around 322 BCE.