Which ruler founded the Shunga dynasty after the Maurya Empire ended?

Pushyamitra Shunga founded the Shunga dynasty after overthrowing the Mauryan Empire.

Pushyamitra was the senānī, or commander-in-chief, of the last Mauryan ruler, Brihadratha Maurya. Historical reconstructions place the transition around 185 BCE, when Pushyamitra killed Brihadratha during a military review and took power in Magadha. He then established the Shunga ruling house, centered initially at Pataliputra.

Pushyamitra is generally considered the first Shunga ruler and is said to have reigned for roughly three decades. His son Agnimitra succeeded him and later became the central character of Kālidāsa’s Sanskrit drama Mālavikāgnimitram. The Shungas controlled parts of northern and central India, though their territorial reach changed over time.

Brihadratha was the final Mauryan emperor, not the founder of the succeeding dynasty. Vasudeva Kanva founded the later Kanva dynasty, which replaced the Shungas around the first century BCE. Agnimitra was Pushyamitra’s successor, not the dynasty’s founder. Accounts of Pushyamitra’s relations with Buddhists are debated, so they should not obscure the straightforward dynastic identification.