Empires of Bihar
Mahajanapada PeriodMagadha among the 16 great ancient kingdoms.
Haryanka DynastyEarly territorial expansion under Bimbisara and Ajatashatru.
Nanda EmpireMagadha's dominance over Northern India.
Maurya EmpirePan-Indian expansion originating from Pataliputra.
Shunga EmpirePost-Mauryan dynasty controlling central and eastern India.
Gupta EmpireThe Classical Age centered in Magadha. The History of Bihar is one of the most varied in India. Bihar consists of three distinct regions, each has its own distinct history and culture. They are Magadha, Mithila and Bhojpur. Chirand, on the northern bank of the Ganga River, in Saran district, has an archaeological record dating from the Neolithic age (c. 2500 – 1345 BC). Regions of Bihar—such as Magadha, Mithila and Anga—are mentioned in religious texts and epics of ancient India. Mithila is believed to be the centre of Indian power in the Later Vedic period (c. 1100 – 500 BC). Mithila first gained prominence after the establishment of the ancient Videha Kingdom.Michael Witzel (1989), Tracing the Vedic dialects in Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes ed. Caillat, Paris, pages 13, 17 116-124, 141-143 The kings of the Videha were called Janakas. A daughter of one of the Janaks of Mithila, Sita, is mentioned as consort of Lord Rama in the Hindu epic Ramayana.Michael Witzel (1989), Tracing the Vedic dialects in Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes ed. Caillat, Paris, pages 13, 141-143 The kingdom later became incorporated into the Vajjika League which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila.Raychaudhuri Hemchandra (1972), Political History of Ancient India, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp.85-6
Magadha was the centre of Indian power, learning and culture for about a thousand years. One of India's greatest empires, the Maurya Empire, as well as two major pacifist religions, Buddhism and Jainism, arose from the region that is now Bihar.Mishra Pankaj, The broblem, Seminar 450 - February 1997 Empires of the Magadha region, most notably the Maurya unified large parts of the Indian subcontinent under their rule. Their capital Pataliputra, adjacent to modern-day Patna, was an important political, military and economic centre of Indian civilisation during the ancient and classical periods of Indian history. Many ancient Indian texts, aside from religious epics, were written in ancient Bihar. The play Abhijñānaśākuntala being the most prominent.
The present-day region of Bihar overlaps with several pre-Mauryan kingdoms and republics, including Magadha, Anga and the Vajjika League of Mithila. The latter was one of the world's earliest known republics and had existed in the region since before the birth of Mahavira (c. 599 BC)."Licchavi", Encyclopædia Britannica Online "", Encyclopædia Britannica Online
The Pala Empire also made their capital at Pataliputra once during Devapala's rule. After the Pala period, Bihar came under the control of various kingdoms. The Karnat dynasty came into power in the Mithila region in the 11th century and they were succeeded by the Oiniwar dynasty in the 14th century. Aside from Mithila, there were other small kingdoms in medieval Bihar. The area around Bodh Gaya and much of Magadha came under the Buddhist Pithipatis of Magadha. The Khayaravala dynasty were present in the southwestern portions of the state until the 13th century. For much of the 13th and 14th centuries, parts of Western Bihar were under the control of the Jaunpur Sultanate. These kingdoms were eventually supplanted by the Delhi Sultanate who in turn were replaced by the Sur Empire. After the fall of the Suri dynasty in 1556, Bihar came under the Mughal Empire and later was the staging post for the British colonial Bengal Presidency from the 1750s and up to the war of 1857–58. On 22 March 1912, Bihar was carved out as a separate province in the British Indian Empire. Since 1947 independence, Bihar has been an original state of the Indian Union.Gopal, S. (2017). Mapping Bihar: From Medieval to Modern Times. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.
Neolithic (10,800–3300 BC)
The earliest proof of human activity in Bihar is Mesolithic habitational remains at Munger.
Prehistoric rock paintings have been discovered in the hills of Kaimur, Nawada and Jamui. It was the first time that a Neolithic settlement was discovered in the thick of the alluvium, over the bank of the Ganges at Chirand. Prehistoric era in Bihar The rock paintings depict a prehistoric lifestyle and natural environment. They depict the Sun, the Moon, stars, animals, plants, trees, and rivers, and it is speculated that they represent love for nature. The paintings also highlight the daily life of the early humans in Bihar, including activities like hunting, running, dancing and walking.http://discoverbihar.bih.nic.in/pages/art_craft.htm#Rock%20Paintings Rock painting at Kaimur The rock paintings in Bihar are not only identical to those in central and southern India but are also akin to those in Europe and Africa. The rock paintings of Spain's Alta Mira and France's Lascaux are almost identical to those found in Bihar. discovery of rock paintings
Bronze Age (3300–1300 BC)
Parallel to Indus Valley Civilization In 2017 bricks dated to the mature Harappan period was discovered from the outskirts of the ancient city of Vaishali. Any in-depth research which may establish definite links between Indus Valley Civilization and Bihar is yet to be conducted. A round seal excavated from Vaishali dated 200 BC-200 AD has three engraved letters which according to Indus Valley Civilization scholar Iravatham Mahadevan represents formulas inscribed on the Indus seals and dates it to the earliest layers of excavation i-e 1100 BC.I. Mahadevan (1999)
Rigvedic period Kikata was an ancient kingdom in what is now India, mentioned in the Vedas. Some scholars have believed that they were the forefathers of Magadhas because Kikata is used as a synonym for Magadha in the later texts. It probably lay to the south of Magadha Kingdom in a hilly landscape. A section in the Rigveda (RV 3.53.14) refers to the 's (Sanskrit:कीकट), a tribe which most scholars have placed in present-day southwestern Bihar (Magadha) such as Weber and Zimmere.g. McDonell and Keith 1912, Vedic Index; Rahurkar, V.G. 1964. The Seers of the Rgveda. University of Poona. Poona; Talageri, Shrikant. (2000) The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis while some scholars such as Oldenburg and Hillebrandt dispute that. According to Puranic literature Kikata is placed near Gaya. It is described as extending from Caran-adri to Gridharakuta (vulture peak), Rajgir. Some scholar such as A. N. Chandra places Kikata in a hilly part of the Indus Valley based on the argument that countries between Magadh and the Indus Valley are not mentioned such as Kuru, Kosala etc. Kikatas were said to be Anarya or non-vedic people who didn't practice Vedic rituals like soma, According to Sayana, Kikatas didn't perform worship, were infidels and . The leader of Kikatas has been called Pramaganda, a usurer. It is unclear whether Kikatas were already present in Magadh during the Rigvedic period or they migrated there later. Like Rigveda attributes of Kikatas, Atharvaveda also speaks about southeastern tribes like Magadhas and Angas as hostile tribe who lived on the borders of Brahmanical India. Bhagvata Purana mentions about the birth of Buddha among Kikatas.
Some scholars have placed the Kīkaṭa kingdom, mentioned in the Rigveda, in Bihar (Magadha) because Kikata is used as a synonym for Magadha in the later texts; however, according to Michael Witzel, Kīkaṭa was situated south of Kurukshetra in eastern Rajasthan or western Madhya Pradesh.M. Witzel. "Rigvedic history: poets, chieftains, and polities," in The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity. ed. G. Erdosy (Walter de Gruyer, 1995), p. 333 The placement in Bihar is also challenged by historical geographers Mithila Sharan Pandey (who argues they must have been near Western Uttar Pradesh),Mithila Sharan Pandey, The Historical Geography and Topography of Bihar (Motilal Barnarsidass, 1963), p.101 and O.P. Bharadwaj (who places them near the Sarasvati River),O.P. Bharadwaj Studies in the Historical Geography of Ancient India (Sundeep Prakashan, 1986), p.210 and historian Ram Sharan Sharma, who believes they were probably in Haryana.R.S. Sharma, Sudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order Down to Circa A.D. 600 (Motilal Banarsidass, 1990), p.12
Northern black polished ware Urbanization in the Gangetic plains began with the appearance of Northern black polished ware period and archaeologists trace the origin of this pottery in Magadh region of Bihar. The oldest dated site of NBWP is in Juafardih, Nalanda, which is carbon dated to 1200 BC.
Iron Age (1500–200 BC) Mahajanapadas The Mahajanapadas era
In the later Vedic Age, a number of small kingdoms or city-states, dominated what is now Bihar. Many of these states have been mentioned in Buddhist and Jaina literature as far back as 1000 BC. By 500 BC, sixteen monarchies and 'republics' known as the Mahajanapadas – Kasi, Kosala, Anga, Magadha, Vajji (or Vriji), Malla, Chedi, Vatsa (or Vamsa), Kuru, Panchala, Matsya (or Maccha), Surasena, Assaka, Avanti, Gandhara and Kamboja – stretched across the Indo-Gangetic plains from modern-day Afghanistan to Bengal and Maharashtra.
The Vajji covered the modern North Bihar, Magadha covered South-western Bihar while Anga covered South-eastern Bihar. Many of the sixteen kingdoms had coalesced to four major ones by 500/400 BC, that is by the time of Siddhartha Gautama. These four were Vatsa, Avanti, Kosala and Magadha. In 537 BC, Siddhartha Gautama attained the state of enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, Bihar. Many of the Buddha's chief disciples and contemporaries had their origins in modern-day Bihar including Śāriputra, Maudgalyayana and Mahākāśyapa.
Around the same time, Mahavira was born to the Nāya tribe in modern-day Bihar near Vaishali. He was the 24th Jain Tirthankara, propagated a similar theology, that was to later become Jainism.Mary Pat Fisher (1997) In: Living Religions: An Encyclopedia of the World's Faiths I. B. Tauris : London - Jainism's major teacher is the Mahavira, a contemporary of the Buddha, and who died approximately 526 BCE. Page 114 However, Jain orthodoxy believes it predates all known time. The Vedas are believed to have documented a few Jain Tirthankaras and an ascetic order similar to the sramana movement.Mary Pat Fisher (1997) In: Living Religions: An Encyclopedia of the World's Faiths I. B. Tauris : London - "The extreme antiquity of Jainism as a non-vedic, indigenous Indian religion is well documented. Ancient Hindu and Buddhist scriptures refer to Jainism as an existing tradition which began long before Mahavira." Page 115 The Buddha's teachings and Jainism had doctrines inclined toward asceticism and were preached in Prakrit, which helped them gain acceptance amongst the masses. They have profoundly influenced practices that Hinduism and Indian spiritual orders are associated with namely, vegetarianism, prohibition of animal slaughter and ahimsa (non-violence).
Vajjika league
The Vajjika League was a league of republican tribal states under the leadership of the Licchavikas centred around the city of Vesālī. The other members of the league were the Vaidehas in the Mithila region, the Nāyikas of Kuṇḍapura, and the Vajji tribe proper, who were dependencies of the Licchavikas. The Mallakas, who were organised into two separate republics, were also part of the Vajjika League, although they were not dependencies of the Licchavikas and therefore maintained their independence and sovereign rights within the confederation, hence why Jain sources considered the Licchavikas and the neighbouring Mallakas of Kusinārā and Pāvā to be the republican states of Kāsī-Kosala. Early Magadha Empire