Simuka

Simuka was an early ruler of the Shunga dynasty that followed the Mauryan Empire in ancient India. He is generally regarded as the second or third king of the Shunga line, succeeding the founder Pushyamitra Shunga. Contemporary sources are scarce, but the most reliable evidence for Simuka’s reign comes from inscriptions unearthed in the western Deccan and the Konkan region, especially a copperplate found at Bharuch that records grants to Brahmin scholars and temples. These inscriptions reveal that Simuka was intent on restoring Buddhist and Brahmanical institutions that had been weakened during the reign of the Mauryans and their immediate successors.

Historians have debated the exact dates of Simuka’s rule, placing him sometime in the mid‑second century BCE based on the style of the script and the political references in the inscriptions. Some scholars suggest that his reign was a period of consolidation rather than expansion, though he did issue decrees that extended royal control over the western coastal kingdoms. Inscriptions also describe his patronage of archaeological projects and his involvement in the construction of stupas, indicating continuity with the Mauryan tradition of public works. Despite the paucity of contemporary narrative, Simuka is recognized as a stabilizing figure who maintained the administrative structures of the Shunga dynasty in the years following the abrupt transition from Mauryan to Shunga rule.