Post-Mauryan & Foreign Invasionsमौर्योत्तर काल एवं विदेशी आक्रमण

Explanation: Bactria (ancient Bahlika, centered around Balkh in northern Afghanistan) broke away from the Seleucid Empire under Diodotus around 250 BCE. In the early 2nd century BCE, its ruler Demetrius I invaded the Kabul valley, Punjab, and Sind, establishing the Indo-Greek kingdom. The most celebrated Indo-Greek ruler was Menander (Milinda, c. 165–145 BCE), who embraced Buddhism through his dialogue with monk Nagasena recorded in the Milindapanho.

Explanation: The institution of military governorship was introduced into India by the Hellenistic Greeks (Indo-Greeks). They appointed military commanders termed 'Strategos' (generals with civil and territorial governing powers) to hold newly acquired border territories. Inscriptions from Taxila and the northwestern frontier mention individuals styled 'Strategasa'. This practice of militarized provincial rule was later adopted by the Saka and Indo-Parthian rulers alongside the Kshatrapa system.

Explanation: Alexander of Macedon invaded India in 326 BCE during the reign of the Nandas. Classical Greek writers (such as Diodorus, Curtius, and Plutarch) record that Alexander was eager to cross the Ganges to attack the powerful king of the Gangaridai and Prasii (Magadha), whom they called Agrammes or Xandrames (Dhana Nanda). However, after hearing accounts of the vast Nanda army—consisting of 200,000 foot soldiers, 80,000 horsemen, 8,000 chariots, and 6,000 war elephants—Alexander's troops mutinied at the Hyphasis (Beas River) and refused to march further into the Indian heartland, forcing Alexander to retreat down the Indus.

Explanation: Historical verification of all three statements: 1. Statement 1 is correct: As recorded in the Puranas and Banabhatta's Harshacharita, Brihadratha, the 10th and last Mauryan king, was assassinated during an armed military parade around 185 BCE by his commander-in-chief Pushyamitra Sunga, who founded the Sunga dynasty. 2. Statement 2 is correct: The Harshacharita notes that the 10th and last Sunga ruler Devabhuti, who was notoriously dissolute, was murdered through a conspiracy instigated by his minister Vasudeva Kanva (using the daughter of his maidservant disguised as a queen), establishing the Kanva dynasty in 73 BCE. 3. Statement 3 is correct: The Puranic genealogies explicitly state that the last Kanva king, Susharman, was deposed and killed by the Andhra king Simuka (founder of the Satavahana dynasty) around 28 BCE. Thus, all statements 1, 2, and 3 are correct.

Explanation: The waves of foreign invaders into ancient northwestern India occurred in the following precise chronological sequence: 1. Indo-Greeks: Entered under Demetrius I around 190 BCE and ruled Punjab, Gandhara, and parts of the Gangetic plain (Menander c. 165–145 BCE). 2. Sakas (Indo-Scythians): Pushed out of the Jaxartes/Syr Darya by the nomadic Yuezhi around the mid-2nd century BCE, entering India via Bolan Pass around 90–80 BCE under Maues (Moga), establishing branches at Taxila, Mathura, Ujjain, and Saurashtra. 3. Indo-Parthians (Pahlavas): Gained prominence in the 1st century CE under Gondophares. 4. Kushanas (Yuezhi): Migrated into the subcontinent around the middle of the 1st century CE under Kujula Kadphises, culminating in the golden empire of Kanishka (78 CE).