Kanva Dynasty - Eighth ruling dynasty of Magadha

Accession of Throne

The last Shunga king Devabhuti was very much fond of the company of his women and eventually this became the reason of his death. His murder was conspired by one of his ministers Vasudeva Kanva. The king was murdered by the hands of daughter of Devabhuti’s slave who was disguised as the Queen. All this happened in the supervision and on the orders of Vasudeva Kanva. After all this, he ascended the throne in 73 BCE. 

Some of the sources also suggest that the Kanvas were the servants of Shungas and when the Shunga princes became weak, the Kanvas took over the power and ruled as the Peshwas in the modern time. The dynasty of their masters – Shunga dynasty, was not uprooted but reduced to the nominal position. But this angle of the history has not been widely accepted as the historians like Raychaudhuri and Dr. Smith believe that Kanvas cannot be the contemporary to the Shungas. 

There has been relatively very limited information about the Kanvas that we derive from the historical sources. 

About Kanva Rule

Kanvas ruled a small part of the Indian territory of ancient India. The land on which they were ruling was even less than that of ruled by the Shungas. Punjab had been occupied by the Indo-Greeks. A huge part of the Gangetic plains was ruled by Mitra Kings. Vidisha, the capital of the Shungas was still ruled and governed by some of the unknown descendants of Shungas. It seems that they were just confined and limited to Magadha alone as most of the feudatories had declared their independent positions or were invaded by the neighbouring kingdoms. 

The controversy about the coins of the Kanva dynasty has also been there. Certain coins have been found bearing the name of the legend Bhumimitra, who was one of the Kanva rulers. But this assumption has not been accepted by the Numismatics as it regards these coins as local issues.

Issues Faced by Kanvas

The effort that the Kanvas received in inheritance from the Shungas was to protect its existence and to prevent it from the demolition. The challenges related to the disintegration of the empire were already faced by the later Shungas when the feudatories were seperating and announcing their independence. Kanvas needed a strong position if they wanted to protect the territorial integrity but did not get enough time in the administration that a stable administration with the strong army could be managed. 

Further, the challenges that Kanvas had to face was the threat from the foreign invaders as well as from the indigenous kingdom. Both of the parties were just waiting for the right opportunity to conquer the rich land of Central India. The armies of the Mitra dynasty, Satavahana Kingdom and the Indo-Greeks were ever ready to capture the land of Magadha. At the end, the Satavahana army managed to defeat and demolish the Kanva Dynasty as well as the last remains of the Shunga Empire, taking the full control of Magadha.

Rulers of Kanva Dynasty

The first ruler and the founder of the Kanva Dynasty was Vasudeva Kanva, under whose gotra the empire was named. He was succeeded by Bhumimitra, the king whose name has been found on the coins. He ruled for 14 years and was succeeded by Narayana, who ruled for 12 years. 

The last ruler of the Kanva dynasty was Susarman, who was killed by Balipuccha (founder pf the Satavahana Kingdom) after his rule of about 10 years

Aftermath

It is believed that the conquest of Magadha by Satavahanas was not the permanent one. The reason being that no coins or any of the archaeological evidence regarding the Satavahana rule has been found in archaeological sites of Magadha. Also, the has been no evidence of any of the Satavahana king claiming the lordship over Magadha.

Probably after a short period of time, Magadha was left on its own by the Satavahanas and was ruled by the neighbouring Mitra kings who had a continuous eye on the region. 

It was later during the time of Guptas that the Magadha region regained its prevalence.