The major political developments in north India after the Mauryas: 

(i) The disintegration of the Mauryan empire led to the rise of many regional kingdoms in different parts of the country. In north India the Shungas established their dynasty.

(ii) The last Mauryan king was killed by his Commander-in-Chief, Pushyamitra Shunga, who then established his own dynasty in north India. It came to be known as Shunga dynasty.

(iii) While the Shungas were ruling in north India, the Indo-Greeks also known as Yavanas, emerged in Bactria (Balkh) as an independent power and soon started extending their rule in the north-western and northern parts of India.

(iv) There are indications that Pushyamitra Shunga came in conflict with Demetrius, Bactrian Greek ruler without suffering much political damage.

(v) After the death of Alexander in 323 BC many Greeks came to settle on the north western borders of India with Bactria (area to the north-west of the Hindukush mountains in the present day north Afghanistan) as an important centre. The rulers of Bactria came to be called the Bactrian-Greeks because of their Hellenistic (Greek) ancestry. One of the rulers of the line named Demetrius as mentioned above came into conflict with Pushyamitra. Menander was the most celebrated Indo-Greek ruler. His empire appears to have included southern Afghanistan and Gandhara.

(vi) Shakas gradually came to settle in north western India around Taxila in the first century BC. Under the successive Shaka rulers their territories extended upto Mathura and Gujarat. Rudradaman was the most famous Shaka ruler. He ruled in the middle of the second century AD. His empire was spread over almost the whole of western India.

(vii) The Parthians were of Iranian origin and because of strong cultural connection with the Shakas, these groups were referred to in the Indian sources as Shaka-Pahlava. The important Inscription indicating the Parthian rule in the northwestern area of Pakistan is the famous Takht-i-Bahi inscription recovered from Mardan near Peshawar. The inscription, dated in 45 AD, refers to Gondophernes or Gondophares as a Parthian ruler. Some literary sources associate him with St. Thomas, who is said to have converted both the king and his brother to Christianity.