The Mahājanapadas were sixteen kingdoms and aristocratic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE, during the second urbanisation period.Vikas Nain, "Second Urbanization in the Chronology of Indian History", International Journal of Academic Research and Development 3 (2) (March 2018), pp. 538–542 esp. 539.
History The 6th–5th centuries BCE are often regarded as a major turning point in early Indian history. During this period, India's first large cities since the demise of the Indus Valley Civilisation arose. It was also the time of the rise of śramaṇa movements (including Buddhism and Jainism), which challenged the religious orthodoxy of the Vedic period.
Two of the Mahājanapadas were most probably s (aristocratic republics), and others had forms of monarchy. Ancient Buddhist texts like the Anguttara NikayaAnguttara Nikaya I. p 213; IV. pp 252, 256, 261. make frequent reference to sixteen great kingdoms and republics that had developed and flourished in a belt stretching from Gandhara in the northwest to Anga in the east to Asmaka in the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. They included parts of the trans-Vindhyan region, and all had developed prior to the rise of Buddhism in ancient India.16 Mahajanapadas - Sixteen Mahajanapadas, 16 Maha Janapadas India, Maha Janapada Ancient India . Iloveindia.com. Retrieved on 12 July 2013.
Archaeologically, this period has been identified as corresponding in part to the Northern Black Polished Ware culture.<ref>J.M. Kenoyer (2006), "Cultures and Societies of the Indus Tradition. In Historical Roots", in the Making of 'the Aryan''', R. Thapar (ed.), pp. 21–49. New Delhi: National Book Trust.</ref>
Overview
The term "Janapada" literally means the foothold of a people. The fact that Janapada is derived from Jana points to an early stage of land-taking by the Jana people for a settled way of life. This process of settlement on land had completed its final stage prior to the times of the Buddha and Pāṇini. The Pre-Buddhist northern Indian subcontinent was divided into several Janapadas, demarcated from each other by boundaries. In Pāṇini's "Ashtadhyayi", Janapada stands for country and Janapadin for its citizenry. Each of these Janapadas was named after the Kshatriya people (or the Kshatriya Jana) who had settled therein.India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī, 1963, p 427Vasudeva Sharana Agrawala – India; India in the Time of Patañjali, 1968, p 68, Dr B. N. Puri – India;Socio-economic and Political History of Eastern India, 1977, p 9, Y. K Mishra – Bihar (India)Tribes of Ancient India, 1977, p 18 Mamata Choudhury – EthnologyTribal Coins of Ancient India, 2007, p xxiv Devendra Handa – Coins, Indic – 2007The Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, 1972, p 221 Numismatic Society of India – NumismaticsA History of Pāli Literature, 2000 Edition, p 648 B. C. LawSome Ksatriya Tribes of Ancient India, 1924, pp 230–253, Dr B. C. Law. Buddhist and other texts only incidentally refer to sixteen great nations (Solasa Mahajanapadas) that existed prior to the time of the Buddha. They do not give any connected history except in the case of Magadha. The Buddhist Anguttara Nikaya, at several places,Anguttara Nikaya: Vol I, p 213, Vol IV, pp 252, 256, 260 etc. gives a list of sixteen great states:
Anga Asmaka Avanti Chedi Gandhara Kasi Kamboja Kosala Kuru Magadha Malla Matsya (or Maccha) Panchala Surasena Vajji Vatsa (or Vamsa)
Another Buddhist text, the Digha Nikaya, mentions twelve Mahajanapadas from the above list and omits four of them (Assaka, Avanti, Gandhara, and Kamboja).Digha Nikaya, Vol II, p 200.Chulla-Niddesa, another ancient text of the Buddhist canon, adds Kalinga to the list and substitutes Yona for Gandhara, thus listing the Kamboja and the Yona as the only Mahajanapadas from Uttarapatha.Chulla-Niddesa (P.T.S.), p 37.Lord Mahāvīra and his times, 1974, p 197, Dr Kailash Chand Jain; The History and Culture of the Indian People, 1968, p lxv, Dr Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bhāratīya Itihāsa Samiti; Problems of Ancient India, 2000, p 7, K. D. Sethna.
The Vyākhyāprajñapti (or the Bhagavati Sutra), a sutra of Jainism, gives a different list of sixteen Mahajanapadas:
Anga Banga (Vanga) Magadha Malaya Malavaka Accha Vaccha Kochcha Padha Ladha (Radh or Lata) Bajji (Vajji) Moli (Malla) Kasi Kosala Avaha Sambhuttara
The author of the Bhagavati Sutra (or the Vyākhyāprajñapti) has a focus on the countries of Madhydesa and of the far east and south only. He omits the nations from Uttarapatha like the Kamboja and Gandhara. The more extended horizon of the Bhagvati and the omission of all countries from Uttarapatha "clearly shows that the Bhagvati list is of later origin and therefore less reliable."Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p. 86; History & Culture of Indian People, Age of Imperial Unity, pp. 15–16
List of Mahajanapadas Aṅga
The first reference to the Angas is found in the Atharvaveda where they find mention along with the Magadhas, Gandharis and the Mujavats, apparently as a despised people. The Jaina Prajnapana ranks Angas and Vangas in the first group of Aryan people. It mentions the principal cities of ancient India.Digha Nikaya It was also a great center of trade and commerce, and its merchants regularly sailed to distant Suvarnabhumi. Anga was annexed by Magadha in the time of Bimbisara. This was the one and only conquest of Bimbisara.
Aśmaka
The country of Assaka or the Ashmaka tribe was located in Dakshinapatha or southern India. It included areas in present-day Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra. In Gautama Buddha's time, many of the Assakas were located on the banks of the Godavari River (south of the Vindhya mountains). The capital of the Assakas was Potana or Potali, which corresponds present-day Bodhan in Telangana and Paudanya of Mahabharata. In Maharashtra its capital is located in Potali which corresponds to present day Nandura, Buldhana district. The Ashmakas are also mentioned by Pāṇini. They are placed in the north-west in the Markendeya Purana and the Brhat Samhita. The river Godavari separated the country of the Assakas from that of the Mulakas (or Alakas). The country of Assaka lay outside the pale of Madhyadesa. It was located on a southern high road, the Dakshinapatha. At one time, Assaka included Mulaka and abutted Avanti.Dr Bhandarkaar
Avanti
The country of the Avantis was an important kingdom of western India and was one of the four great monarchies in India in the post era of Mahavira and Buddha, the other three being Kosala, Vatsa and Magadha. Avanti was divided into north and south by the river Narmada. Initially, Mahishamati (Mahissati) was the capital of Southern Avanti, and Ujjaini (Sanskrit: Ujjayini) was of northern Avanti, but at the times of Mahavira and Buddha, Ujjaini was the capital of integrated Avanti. The country of Avanti roughly corresponded to modern Malwa, Nimar and adjoining parts of today's Madhya Pradesh. Both Mahishmati and Ujjaini stood on the southern high road called Dakshinapatha which extended from Rajagriha to Pratishthana (modern Paithan). Avanti was an important centre of Buddhism and some of the leading theras and theris were born and resided there. King Nandivardhana of Avanti was defeated by king Shishunaga of Magadha. Avanti later became part of the Magadhan empire.
Chedi
The Chedis, Chetis or Chetyas had two distinct settlements of which one was in the mountains of Nepal and the other in Bundelkhand near Kausambi. According to old authorities, Chedis lay near Yamuna midway between the kingdom of Kurus and Vatsas. In the mediaeval period, the southern frontiers of Chedi extended to the banks of the river Narmada. Sotthivatnagara, the Sukti or Suktimati of Mahabharata, was the capital of Chedi. The Chedis were an ancient people of India and are mentioned in the Rigveda, with their king Kashu Chaidya.
The location of the capital city, Suktimati, has not been established with certainty. Historian Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri and F. E. Pargiter believed that it was in the vicinity of Banda, Uttar Pradesh. Archaeologist Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti has proposed that Suktimati can be identified as the ruins of a large early historical city, at a place with the modern-day name Itaha, on the outskirts of Rewa, Madhya Pradesh.
Gandhāra
The wool of the Gandharis is referred to in the Rigveda. The Gandharas and their king figure prominently as strong allies of the Kurus against the Pandavas in the Mahabharata war. The Gandharas were furious people, well-trained in the art of war. According to Puranic traditions, this Janapada was founded by Gandhara, son of Aruddha, a descendant of Yayati. The princes of this country are said to have come from the line of Druhyu who was a famous king of the Rigvedic period and one of the five sons of king Yayati of lunar dynasty. The river Indus watered the lands of Gandhara. Taksashila and Pushkalavati, the two cities of this Mahajanapada, are said to have been named after Taksa and Pushkara, the two sons of Bharata, a prince of Ayodhya and younger brother of Lord Rama. According to Vayu Purana (II.36.107), the Gandharas were destroyed by Pramiti (a.k.a. Kalika) at the end of Kali Yuga. Pāṇini mentioned both the Vedic form Gandhari as well as the later form Gandhara in his Ashtadhyayi. The Gandhara kingdom sometimes also included Kashmira.Jataka No 406. Hecataeus of Miletus (549–468) refers to Kaspapyros (Kasyapura or Purushapura, i.e., modern day Peshawar) as a Gandharic city. According to Gandhara Jataka, at one time, Gandhara formed a part of the kingdom of Kashmira. The Jataka also gives another name Chandahara for Gandhara.