Pushyamitra Shunga (IAST: Puṣyamitra Śuṅga; reigned c. 185 – c. 149 BCE), also known as Pushpamitra Shunga (IAST: Puṣpamitra Śuṅga) was the founder and the first ruler of the Shunga Empire which he established to succeed the Maurya Empire. Pushyamitra is recorded to have performed the Ashvamedha ritual to legitimize his right to rule. Inscriptions of the Shungas have been found as far as the Ayodhya (the Dhanadeva–Ayodhya inscription), and the Divyavadana mentions that his empire stretched as far as Sakala (now Sialkot) in Punjab region, now in Pakistan.

Though Buddhist texts claim that Pushyamitra persecuted Buddhists, past and contemporary scholars have rejected these claims.

According to John E Mitchiner, Pushyamitra original name was Puṣpaka or Puṣpamitra and the confusion between Puṣyamitra and Puṣpamitra arose because of the erroneous readings of 'p' and 'y' in the manuscripts. His interpretation is largely inspired by the Yuga Purāṇa.

Pushyamitra Shunga founded the Shunga Empire after assassinating the last Mauryan emperor Brihadratha Maurya. Subsequently, he drove out the Greeks with the Shunga–Greek War and ruled for 36 years.

The Buddhist text Ashokavadana names Pushyamitra as the last Mauryan emperor.

Sampadin's son was Bṛhaspati who, in turn, had a son named Vṛṣasena, and Vṛṣasena had a son named Puṣyadharman, and Pusyadharman begot Pusyamitra...... With the death of Pusyamitra, the Mauryan lineage came to an end.
--Aśokāvadāna

This text appears to have confused Brihadratha with Pushyamitra.

H. C. Raychaudhuri theorized that the name "Shunga" is derived from the Sanskrit word for the fig tree.