ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE, during the second urbanisation period.[2]
History
The 6th–5th centuries BCE are often regarded as a major turning point in early
sramana movements (including Buddhism and Jainism), which challenged the religious orthodoxy of the Vedic period
.
Two of the Mahājanapadas were most probably
Anguttara Nikaya[3] 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 eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. They included parts of the trans-Vindhyan region,[4] and all had developed prior to the rise of Buddhism in India.[5]
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."[19]
ancient India.[20] 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
Main article:
Assaka
The country of Assaka or the Ashmaka tribe was located in Dakshinapatha or southern India. It included areas in present-day
Madhyadesa. It was located on a southern high road, the Dakshinapatha. At one time, Assaka included Mulaka and abutted Avanti.[23]
Avanti
Main article:
Avanti (Ancient India)
Avanti
mahajanapada (4th century BCE)
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
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.[24]
The Chedis, Chetis or Chetyas had two distinct settlements of which one was in the mountains of Nepal and the other in
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.[25]
Kashmira.[28] 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.
Gandhara Mahajanapada of
Kautiliya are the world-renowned products of Taxila University. King Pukkusati or Pushkarasarin of Gandhara in the middle of the 6th century BCE was the contemporary of king Bimbisara of Magadha. Gandhara was located on the northern high road (Uttarapatha) and was a centre of international commercial activities. According to one group of scholars, the Gandharas and Kambojas were cognate people.[29][30][31] It is also contended that the Kurus, Kambojas, Gandharas and Bahlikas were cognate people.[32] According to Dr T. L. Shah, the Gandhara and Kamboja were nothing but two provinces of one empire and were located coterminously, hence influencing each other's language.[33] Naturally, they may have once been a cognate people.[34] Gandhara was often linked politically with the neighboring regions of Kashmira and Kamboja.[35]
Kambojas are also included in the Uttarapatha. In ancient literature, the Kamboja is variously associated with the
Buddhist traditions refers to this cis-Hindukush branch of ancient Kambojas.[38]
The trans-Hindukush region including the
Parama-Kamboja country.[39] The trans-Hindukush branch of the Kambojas remained pure Iranian but a large section of the Kambojas of cis-Hindukush appears to have come under Indian cultural influence. The Kambojas are known to have had both Iranian as well as Indian affinities.[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]
The Kambojas were also a well known republican people since
Jambudvipa
.
In a struggle for supremacy that followed in the 6th/5th century BCE, the growing state of the Magadhas emerged as the predominant power in ancient India, annexing several of the Janapadas of the Majjhimadesa. A bitter line in the
Shishunaga dynasty c. 345 BCE, thus founding the Nanda Empire.)[56]
The Kambojans and Gandharans, however, never came into direct contact with the Magadhan state until
The kingdom was located in the region around its capital Varanasi, bounded by the Varuna and Asi rivers in the north and south which gave Varanasi its name. Before Buddha, Kasi was the most powerful of the sixteen Mahajanapadas. Several jataka tales bear witness to the superiority of its capital over other cities in India and speak highly of its prosperity and opulence. These stories tell of the long struggle for supremacy between Kashi and the three kingdoms of Kosala, Anga and Magadha. Although King Brihadratha of Kashi conquered Kosala, Kashi was later incorporated into Kosala by King Kansa during Buddha's time. The Kashis along with the Kosalas and Videhans find mention in Vedic texts and appear to have been a closely allied people. The Matsya Purana and Alberuni spell Kashi as Kausika and Kaushaka respectively. All other ancient texts read Kashi.[citation needed]
Silver coin of Magadha mahajanapada (c. 350 BCE)King Bimbisara of Magadha with his royal cortege issuing from the city of Rajagriha to visit the Buddha.
The Magadha was one of the most prominent and prosperous of Mahajanapadas.[59]
King Bimbisara of Magadha visits the Bamboo Garden (Venuvana) in Rajagriha; artwork from Sanchi.
The kingdom of the
First Buddhist Council was held in Rajagaha in the Vaibhara Hills. Later on, Pataliputra became the capital of Magadha.[60]
Conjectural reconstruction of the main gate of Kushinagar, city of the Mallakas, circa 500 BCE adapted from a relief at Sanchi.
City of Kushinagar in the 5th century BCE according to a 1st-century BCE frieze in Sanchi Stupa 1 Southern Gate.
The
Lord Buddha
took last meal at Pava. Buddha was taken ill at Pava and died at Kusinara. It is widely believed that Lord Gautam died at the courtyard of King Sastipal Mall of Kushinagar. Kushinagar is now the centre of the Buddhist pilgrimage circle which is being developed by the tourism development corporation of Uttar Pradesh.
The Mallakas, like the
Samgha (republican union), the members of which called themselves rajas. The Mallakas appeared to have formed an alliance with the Licchhavis for self-defense but lost their independence not long after Buddha's death and their dominions were annexed to the Magadhan empire.[citation needed
Silver coin of Surasena mahajanapada (5th century BCE).
The country of the Surasenas lay to the east of Matsya and west of
Shoorsaini formed a sangha and Vasudeva (Krishna) is described as the sangha-mukhya. Mathura, the capital of Surasena, was also known at the time of Megasthenes as the centre of Krishna worship. The Surasena kingdom had lost its independence on annexation by the Magadhan empire.[citation needed
Both the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina text Bhagavati Sutra (Saya xv Uddesa I) included Vajji in their lists of solasa (sixteen) mahājanapadas.[64] The name of this mahājanapada was derived from one of its ruling clans, the Vṛjis. The Vajji state is indicated to have been a republic. This clan is mentioned by Pāṇini, Chanakya and Xuanzang.[65]
Prayagraj).[66] Kausambi was a very prosperous city where a large number of wealthy merchants resided. It was the most important entrepôt of goods and passengers from the north-west and south. Udayana was the ruler of Vatsa in the 6th-5th century BCE. He was very powerful, warlike and fond of hunting. Initially king Udayana was opposed to Buddhism, but later became a follower of Buddha and made Buddhism the state religion. Udayana's mother, Queen Mrigavati
, is notable for being one of the earliest known female rulers in Indian history.
^Vikas Nain, "Second Urbanization in the Chronology of Indian History", International Journal of Academic Research and Development3 (2) (March 2018), pp. 538–542 esp. 539.
^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.
^India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī, 1963, p 427
^Vasudeva 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 - Ethnology
^Tribal Coins of Ancient India, 2007, p xxiv Devendra Handa - Coins, Indic - 2007
^The Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, 1972, p 221 Numismatic Society of India - Numismatics
^A History of Pāli Literature, 2000 Edition, p 648 B. C. Law
^Some Ksatriya Tribes of Ancient India, 1924, pp 230-253, Dr B. C. Law.
^Anguttara Nikaya: Vol I, p 213, Vol IV, pp 252, 256, 260 etc.
^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.
^Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p. 86; History & Culture of Indian People, Age of Imperial Unity, pp. 15–16
^Revue des etudes grecques 1973, p. 131, Ch-Em Ruelle, Association pour l'encouragement des etudes grecques en France.
^Early Indian Economic History, 1973, pp. 237, 324, Rajaram Narayan Saletore.
^Myths of the Dog-man, 199, p. 119, David Gordon White; Journal of the Oriental Institute, 1919, p 200; Journal of Indian Museums, 1973, p 2, Museums Association of India; The Pāradas: A Study in Their Coinage and History, 1972, p 52, Dr B. N. Mukherjee - Pāradas; Journal of the Department of Sanskrit, 1989, p 50, Rabindra Bharati University, Dept. of Sanskrit- Sanskrit literature; The Journal of Academy of Indian Numismatics & Sigillography, 1988, p 58, Academy of Indian Numismatics and Sigillography - Numismatics; Cf: Rivers of Life: Or Sources and Streams of the Faiths of Man in All Lands, 2002, p. 114, J. G. R. Forlong.
^Journal of the Oriental Institute, 1919, p 265, Oriental Institute (Vadodara, India) - Oriental studies; For Kuru-Kamboja connections, see Dr Chandra Chakraberty's views in: Literary history of ancient India in relation to its racial and linguistic affiliations, pp. 14,37, Vedas; The Racial History of India, 1944, p. 153, Chandra Chakraberty - Ethnology; Paradise of Gods, 1966, p 330, Qamarud Din Ahmed - Pakistan.
^Ancient India, History of India for 1000 years, four Volumes, Vol I, 1938, pp. 38, 98 by Dr T. L. Shah.
^James Fergusson observes: "In a wider sense, name Gandhara implied all the countries west of Indus as far as Candhahar" (The Tree and Serpent Worship, 2004, p. 47, James Fergusson).
^Encyclopedia Americana, 1994, p 277, Encyclopedias and Dictionaries.
^Ptolemy's Geography mentions Tambyzoi located in eastern Bactria (Ancient India as Described by Ptolemy: Being a Translation of the Chapters ... 1885, p. 268, John Watson McCrindle - Geography, Ancient; Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, History - 2000, p. 99, (editors) Richard J. A. Talbert) and Ambautai people located to south of Hindukush Mountains (Geography 6.18.3; See map in McCrindle, p. 8). Dr S. Levi has identified Tambyzoi with Kamboja (Indian Antiquary, 1923, p. 54; Pre Aryan and Pre Dravidian in India, 1993, p. 122, Dr Sylvain Lévi, Dr Jean Przyluski, Jules Bloch, Asian Educational Services) while land of Ambautai has also been identified by Dr Michael Witzel (Harvard University) with Sanskrit Kamboja Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, Vol. 5, 1999, issue 1 (September), Dr. M. Witzel; Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, 2005, p 257, Laurie L. Patton, Edwin Bryant; The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity, 1995, p. 326, George Erdosy.
^Afghanistan, its People, its Society, its Culture, Donal N. Wilber, 1962, pp. 80, 311 etc.
^Iran, 1956, p. 53, Herbert Harold Vreeland, Clifford R. Barnett.
^Geogrammatical Dictionary of Sanskrit (Vedic): 700 Complete Revisions of the Best Books..., 1953, p. 49, Dr Peggy Melcher, Dr A. A. McDonnel, Dr Surya Kanta, Dr Jacob Wackernagel, Dr V. S. Agarwala.
^Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahābhārata: Upāyana Parva, 1945, p. 33, Dr Moti Chandra - India.
^A Grammatical Dictionary of Sanskrit (Vedic): 700 Complete Reviews of the ..., 1953, p. 49, Dr Vasudeva Sharana Agrawala, Surya Kanta, Jacob Wackernagel, Arthur Anthony Macdonell, Peggy Melcher - India.
^Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times, Parts I and II., 1955, p. 52, Dr Kashi Prasad Jayaswal - Constitutional history; Prācīna Kamboja, jana aura janapada =: Ancient Kamboja, people and country, 1981, Dr Jiyālāla Kāmboja - Kamboja (Pakistan).
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![A coin of Takshashila, portrays a tree flanked by a hill surmounted by a crescent and a Nandipada above a swastika.[27]](/File:Taxila_(local_coinage)._Circa_220-185_BC.jpg)
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