Indian History: The Later Vedic Phase - Territorial States And The First Magadhan Empire (Notes)

Territorial States And The First Magadhan Empire

The Mahajanapadas
In the age of the Buddha we find 16 large states called Mahajanapadas, They were mostly situated north of the Vindhyas and extended from the north-west frontier to Bihar. Of these Magadha, Koshala, Vatsa and Avanti seem to have been considerably powerful. Beginning from the east we hear of the kingdom of Anga which covered the modern districts of Monghyr and Bhagalpur.

It had its capital at Champa, Eventually the kingdom, of Anga was swallowed by its powerful neighbour Magadha.
Magadha embraced the former districts of Patna, Gaya and parts of Shahbad, and grew to be the leading state of the time.
North of the Ganga in the division of Tirhut was the state of the Vajjis which included eight clans. But the most powerful were the Lichchhavis with their capital at Vaishali which is identical with the village of Basarh in the district of Vaishali. The Puranas push the antiquity of Vaishali to a much earlier period, but archaeologically Basarh was not settled until the sixth century B.C.

Further west we find the kingdom of Kashi with its capital at Varanasi. In the beginning Kashi appears to be the most powerful of the states, but eventually it had to submit to the power of Koshala.
Koshala embraced the area occupied by eastern Uttar Pradesh and had its capital at Shravasti, which is identical with Sahet-Mahet on the borders of Gonda and Bahraich districts in Uttar Pradesh. But we see the beginnings of a mud fort. Koshala contained an important city called Ayodhya, which is associated with the story in the Ramayana.
Koshala also included the tribal republican territory of the Shaky as of Kapilvastu. The capital of Kapilavastu has been identified with Piprahwa in Basti district. Lumbini, which lies at a distance of 15 km from Piprahwa in Nepal served as another capital of the Shakyas. In an Ashokan inscription it is called the birthplace of Gautama Buddha and it was here that he was brought up.
In the neighbourhood of Koshala lay the republican clan of the Mallas, One of the capitals of the Mallas lay at Kushinara where Gautama Buddha passed away. Kushinara is identical with Kasia in Deoria district. Further west lay the kingdom of the Vatsas, along the bank of the Yamuna, with its capital at Kaushambi near Allahabad. The Vatsas were a Kuru clan who had shifted from Hastinapur and settled down at Kaushambi.
Kaushambi was chosen because of its location near, the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna. We also hear of the older states of the Kurus and the Panchalas which were situated in western Uttar Pradesh, but they no longer enjoyed the political importance which they had attained in the later Veidc period.
In central Malwa and the adjoining parts of Madhya Pradesh lay the state of the Avantis. It was divided into two parts. The northern part had its capital at Uggain, and the southern part at Mahishamati.

Rise and Growth of the Magadha Empire
Magadha came into prominence under the leadership of Bimbisara, who belonged to the Haryanka dynasty. He was a contemporary of the Buddha. He started the policy of conquest and aggression which ended with the Kalinga war of Ashoka.
Bimbisara acquired Anga and placed it under the viceroyaity of his son Ajatashatru at Champa. He also strengthened his position by marriage alliances. He took three wives.
His first wife was the daughter of the king of Koshala and the sister of Parsenajit. His second wife Chellana was a Lichchhavi princess from Vaishali who gave birth to Ajatashatru and his third wife was the daughter of the chief of the Madra clan of Punjab.
Magadha’s most serious rival was Avanti with its capital at Ujjain. Its king Chanda Pradyota Mahasena fought Bimbisara, but ultimately the two thought it wise to become friends. Later when Pradyota was attacked by jaundice, at the Avanti king’s request Bimbisara sent the royal physician Jivaka to Ujjain.
The earliest capital of Magadha was at Rajgir, which was called Girivraja at that time.
If was surrounded by five hills, the openings in which were closed by stone-walls on all sides. This made Rajgir impregnable.
According to the Buddhist chronicles, Bimbisara ruled for 52 years. roughly from 544 B.C. to 492 B.C. He was succeeded by his son Ajatashatru (492-460 B.C.). Ajatashatru killed his father and seized the throne for himself. Throughout his reign he pursued an aggressive policy of expansion. This provoked against him a combination of Kashi and Koshala. There began a prolonged conflict between Magadha and Koshala.
Ultimately Ajatashatru got the best of the war, and the Koshalan king was compelled to purchase peace by giving his daughter in marriage to Ajatashatru and leaving him in sole possession of Kashi.
Although his mother was a Lichchhavi princess, this did not prevent him from making war against Vaishali. He created dissensions in the ranks of the Lichchhavis and finally destroyed their independence by invading their territory and by defeating them in battle. It took him full 16 years to destroy Vaishali. Eventually he succeeded in doing so because of a war engine which was used to throw stones like catapults. He also possessed a chariot to which a mace was attahced, and it facilitated mass killings. The Magadhan empire was thus enlarged with the addition of Kashi and Vaishali.
Ajatashatru faced a stronger rival in the ruler of Avanti. Avanti had defeated the Vatsas of Kaushambi and now threatened an invasion of Magadha. To meet this danger Ajatashatru began the fortification of Rajgir.
The remins of the walls can be still seen.
However, trie invasion did not materialize in his lifetime.

Ajatashatru was succeeded by Udayin (460-444 B.C.) His reign is important because he built the fort upon the confluence of the Ganga and Son at Patna. This was done because Patna lay in the centre of the Territorial States and the First Magadhan Empire.
Magadhan kingdom, which now extended from the Himalayas in the north to the hills of Chotanagpur in the south.
Udayin was succeeded by the dynasty of Shishunagas, who temporarily shifted the capital to Vaishali. Their greatest achievement was the destruction of the power of Avanti with its capital at Ujjain. This brought to an end the 100 year old rivalry between Magadha and Avanti. From now onwards
Avanti became a part of the Magadhan empire and continued to be so till the end of the Maurya rule.

The Shishunagas were succeeded by the Nandas, who proved to be the most powerful rulers of Magadha. So great was their power that Alexander, who invaded Punjab at that time, did not dare to move towards the east.
The nandas added to the Magadhan power by conquering Kalinga from where they brought an image of the Jina as a victory trophy. All this took place in the reign of Mahapadma Nanda. He claimed to be ekarat, the sole sovereign who destroyed all the other ruling princes. It seems that he acquired not only Kalinga but also Koshala which had probably rebelled against him.
The later Nandas turned out to be weak and unpopular. Their rule in Magadha was supplanted by that of the Maurya dynasty under which the Magadhan empire reached the apex of glory.