MAHAJANAPADA

Introduction
• The period c.600-300 BCE marks the beginning of the early historical
period in north India.
• It was a major landmark in Indian history which had far reaching
consequences.
• For the first time in Indian history, several territorial political entities
emerged. These were called the mahajanapadas, and they spread
over most of north India. Cities and city life, which declined after the
Harappan civilization, emerged once again along the Ganga valley and
spread to the far reaches of the northwest.
• A number of new religious groups and thoughts emerged to counter
the ritual and religious supremacy of the brahmanas. Foremost
among these movements, were Buddhism and Jainism. Cities
emerged and trade expanded. The use of metallic money, along with
the emergence of affluent classes, guilds, deluxe potteries, increase in
population, craft and specialization, reading and writing made this
period a vibrant phase. These simultaneous and interrelated changes
in the political, material and cultural life, in north India in particular
are called the ‘Second Urbanization’ in Indian history.
SOURCES: LITERARY AND
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
The period 600 BCE - 300 BCE has rich evidence from both literary and archaeological sources.

Early Buddhist literature is generally divided into canonical and non-canonical texts. Canonical texts.

The The Jatakas dealing with

canonical the stories of the
literature previous births of the
Buddha are part of the
Sutta Pitaka. The
The Sutta Pitaka contains the Buddha’s discourses
composition of the basic
This literature includes on various doctrinal issues in dialogue form. core of the Pali Tripitaka
primarily the Tripitaka is dated to between the
books (The Three The Vinaya Pitaka has rules for monks and nuns of 5th and 3rd centuries
Baskets/ Collections). the sangha (monastic order). BCE. The Buddhist canon
can be roughly situated
The Tripitakas consists geographically to the
of three books — the The Abhidhamma Pitaka is a later work, and
contains a thorough study and systemization of the middle Ganga valley, i.e.,
Sutta, Vinaya, and modern day Bihar and
Abhidhamma. teachings of the Sutta Pitaka through lists,
eastern Uttar Pradesh.
summaries, and questions and answers
 Brahmana texts
Archaeology

deal with the methods of one of the most important sources for the history of
performing Vedic rituals. Similarly, the subcontinent in the period 600 BCE to 300 BCE. Particularly
the Upanishads dealing with significant are the two types of pottery used in this period – Black-and-
philosophical problems are also Red Ware (BRW) and Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW).
considered a part
of the Vedic literature. These texts The NBPW in particular is considered a deluxe pottery and noted for
were composed from 800 BCE its technological excellence. The evidence from NBPW sites includes an
onwards. They early series of punch-marked coins, which mark the beginning of the
refer to many Janapadas and use of money in the subcontinent. Many sites mentioned in thetexts
Mahajanapadas and provide us have been excavated such as Ahichchhatra, Hastinapura, Kaushambi,
insights into the Ujjaini, Shravasti, Vaishali etc. Material evidence which is useful for this
settlement of agricultural period are house remains, objects used by the people, potteries, coins
communities etc
 Janapada
• The term janapada literally means the place where a group of people,
or a tribe/ clan (jana) place their foot (pada). The janapadas were
thus well-defined territories inhabited by people over whom ruled a
political authority. The transition from chiefships to kingdoms is linked
to two phases. First is the performance of major sacrifices, yajnas,
where the priests bestowed a divine status on the chief (raja). The
second phase is the emergence of the state in the form of janapadas
and mahajanapadas. The mahajanapadas were larger and more
powerful than janapadas, and their rulers exercised greater power
and enjoyed more prominence than the rulers of the janapadas.
• Around the sixth century BCE, several cities and states emerged in a
belt stretching from Gandhara in the north-west to Anga in eastern
India, extending into central India and the Deccan. Buddhist canonical
texts in Pali, like the Anguttaranikaya, enlist 16 powerful states, the
solasa-mahajanapadas which existed in the lifetime of the Buddha.

• Bhagavati sutra also mention list of Mahajanapada but it is different

from Anguttaranikaya and this list is considered not reliable.
 In the Middle Ganga Valley

One of the greatest cities of the sixth

century BCE, the capital city of Champa was an
important commercial center
Anga located on the trade routes of the time.

Excavations at Champa have revealed

the city being surrounded by defensive fortifications
including a moat. Travel
accounts often describe merchants as sailing
overseas from Champa to
present day Bhagalpur and Manghir districts Suvarnabhumi
of eastern Bihar. Located at the confluence of the
Ganga and Champa rivers,
its capital city of Champa is identified with modern
day Champanagara or
Champapura village near Bhagalpur.
 Magadha

This city was closely associated with the lives of the

Buddha as well as Mahavira.

later, its capital shifted to Pataliputra, often associated

with modern Patna.

Excavations at Rajagriha have revealed a number of

defense structures like stone fortification walls dating
covered the areas of modern day
to about the times of Bimbisara and Ajatashatru, i.e.
Patna and Gaya districts of Bihar. It was bound by
the 6th-5th centuries BCE
the Ganga, Son and Champa rivers on the north,
west, and east respectively and the Vindhyan
range on the south. Its first capital was Girivraja
or Rajagriha, modern Rajgir.
 Vajji/Vrijji

This means that in this confederacy the clans maintained

an equal, and independent status, thus closely preserving
their own identity even within the confederation.
While ganasanghas, especially the Vrijjis, have often
been described in Buddhist and Jaina texts as kshatriya
clans;
most prominent mahajanapadas during the this should not lead us to presume that they observed a
age of the Buddha. Magadha varna society.
under the king Bimbisara also established They retained more of the clan tradition than did the
marriage alliances with the Vrijji kingdoms. They governed through an assembly
ganasangha. Most historians consider the representing the clan, even if the assembly was restricted
Vrijjis/Vajjis as a confederacy of 232 to the heads of clans or families.
India: 6th Century BCE to 200
BCE
 Mallas

The Mallas, located further west to the Vajjis, were a confederacy of nine
clans.
There were two main political centres within this principality – Kusinara and the
capital Pava. Kusinara has been identified with Kasia,
about 77 km east of Gorakhpur. While some historians identify Pava with
modern day Pawapuri in Bihar, yet others identify it with Padaraona village
about 26 km north-east of Kasia. The Mallas were close allies of the Vajjis.
However, there were occasional conflicts between them as well..
 To their West

Kashi
One of the earliest mahajanapadas to gain political
prominence was the kingdom of Kashi. It was bound by
the Varuna river in the north and the Asi
river in the south. It is from these two rivers that its capital
city Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganga, got its name.
The Jatakas refer to a long-standing
rivalry between the kingdoms of Kashi and Kosala.
Eventually under the reign of Kosalan king Prasenajit
(Pasenadi in Pali), the feud ended with
Kashi getting absorbed into the Kosalan kingdom. Kashi
today is identified with the area adjoining Banaras in Uttar
Pradesh.
 Kosala

According to the Buddhist tradition,

Jetavana was gifted by the
lay devotee Anathapindika to the
Buddhist sangha. Saket and Ayodhya
The powerful kingdom of Kosala was bound by the Sadanira were the other two important centres
(modern day Gandak) on the east and the Gomati on the west, within the kingdom. Pasenadi (also
the Sarpika or Syandika (Sai) on the south, and the Nepal hills known as Prasenajit) was an
to the north. immensely popular ruler of Kosala,
The capital of north Kosala was Shravasti, identified with the and a contemporary of the Buddha.
modern-day twin villages of Sahet Kosala today can be identified with the
Mahet, and the capital of south Kosala was Kushavati. Maheth areas of Lucknow,
was a city and Saheth has been identified as the site of the Gonda, Faizabad, Baharaich of Uttar
ancient monastery of Jetavana. Pradesh.
 Vatsa or Vamsa was a kingdom known for its fine cotton textiles. Its capital
was situated at Kaushambi, near modern Prayagaraj.
Vatsa

Excavations here have revealed imposing defense

structures dating to about the 600 BCE. Vatsa was a powerful mahajanapada
under the leadership of the famous king Udayana. Around the same time,
king Pradyota was ruling Avanti. The rivalry between the two is the subject
of many legends. In fact king Udayana featured as the protagonist of at least
three Sanskrit dramas from later periods – the Svapna-Vasavadatta of Bhasa
and the Ratnavali and Priyadarshika of Harsha.
 West

Kuru The Jaina text, Uttaradhyayana

Sutra refers to a Kuru king named
Isukara who ruled from the town of
Isukara. The Kurus up to the time of
the Buddha were a monarchy.
Subsequently they become a
ganasangha. We also know that
they established matrimonial
According to the Buddhist tradition, the Kuru kingdom was ruled by relations with the Yadavas, Bhojas,
kings belonging to the Yuddhitthila gotta (gotra), i.e., the family and Panchalas.
of Yudhishthira,
with their capital at Imdapatta (Indraprastha). In the Epics, the Kuru
capital was located at Hastinapura till a flood led to its being shifted
to Kaushambi.
 Panchala

According to the Arthashastra,

the Panchalas were initially a
monarchical state and later switched
to a non-monarchical
The Panchala mahajanapada included the present day
form of government. The
Rohilkhand area and was divided into two parts by the
mahajanapada had important
river Ganga. The kingdom also had twocapitals – the
urban centres, such
capital of Uttara (north) Panchala was Ahichchhatra,
as Kanyakubja or Kanauj
(identifiedwith modern Ramnagar in Bareilly in Uttar
Pradesh) and thecapital of Dakshina (south) Panchala was
Kampilya, (identified with Kampil
in Farukkhabad district, UP)
 Matsya

The Matsyas were situated near the eastern parts of present day Rajasthan,
comprising of areas in and around Jaipur, Alwar and Bharatpur. Their capital
was Viratnagara (modern Vairat), named after the founder of the kingdom,
king Virata. Buddhist texts usually associate the Matsyas with Surasenas.
 North-Western
Regions Kamboja

Gandhara

Gandhara comprised modern day Peshawar and Rawalpindi Closely associated with Gandhara was
districts in Pakistan. Its capital, Takshasila or Taxila was a major the kingdom of Kamboja. Kamboja
centre oftrade and learning. included the present day area of
Excavations at Taxila have revealed three major settlements — the Rajaori, which is in the Hazara district
Bhir mound, Sirkap, and Sirsukh. The Bhir moundre presents the of
oldest city. In the earliest levels of Bhir mound, silver punch marked Pakistan. The Kambojas were a
bar coins and other coin types have been found. monarchy till about the 6th century
Around the sixth BCE,
century BCE, Gandhara was being ruled by king Pukkusati or but the later text Arthashastra refers to
Pushkarasarin,who successfully waged a war against Avanti. He also them as a ganasangha
maintained cordial relations with Magadha.
 Central and Deccan

Avanti

The mahajanapada of Avanti was located in the Malwa region of central

India. Avanti had two capitals, one at Ujjayini (near modern Ujjain in Madhya
Pradesh) and the other at Mahishmati (identified with modern day Mandhata
in the western part of Madhya Pradesh). Both the cities were important
centres on the trade routes that connected north India with the Deccan and
also with the ports on the western coast. Avanti was well known for its
famous king Pradyota, under whose reign Avanti entered into military
conflicts with Vatsa, Magadha, and Kosala
Chedi

(capital Suktimati, located in the area around present-day Jabalpur,

Madhya Pradesh). The Chedi kingdom was situated in the eastern part of
Bundelkhand in central India. Scholars have identified its capital
Sotthivatinagara with the Shuktimati or Shuktisahvaya of the Mahabharata.
The ancient cities of Tripuri in the Narmada valley near Jabalpur, and the
Airakina (Eran) near Sagar were also probably part of the Chedi kingdom.
Gana – Sanga and its features
• These lists covered two kinds of state formations, the monarchical kingdoms and the non-
monarchical polities called the gana-sanghas.
• Most of the monarchical mahajanapadas were concentrated in the fertile Ganga plains. the
gana-sanghas lay around their periphery, in the Himalayan foothills, or in north-western India,
Punjab and Sindh or central and western India.
• Their location suggests that the gana-sanghas probably pre-dated the kingdoms, since the low-
lying hills would have been easier to clear than the marshy jungles in the plains.
• It is also possible that they were established by individuals with a liberated mindset who moved
from the plains up towards the hills to establish communities with more egalitarian traditions since
they were not satisfied with the growing orthodoxy and the rigid caste system of the plains.
• In fact, teachers of the two most important heterodox sects came from these gana-sanghas:
Mahavira, associated with Jainism, belonged to the Jantrika clan, a part of the Vrijji confederacy;
and the Buddha, who was born in the Sakya clan.
• Historians have understood the gana-sanghas variously as republics or oligarchies. In the gana-
sanghas, unlike the monarchical kingdoms, power was diffused.
• The ganas were closely associated with the kshatriyas and were named after the ruling kshatriya clan;
members were linked to each other through real or claimed kinship ties. Social stratification in these
polities was limited.
• The gana-sanghas had only two strata – the kshatriya rajakula, i.e., the ruling families, and the
dasakarmakara, i.e., the slaves and labourers.
• Land was owned collectively by the clan, but was worked on by labourers and slaves, the dasa-
karmakaras.
• most of the mahajanapadas were monarchies. In contrast to the gana sanghas, the kingdoms were
ruled by a sovereign king. Power was concentrated in one ruling family, which became a dynasty.
Succession to kingship became hereditary, based generally but not always, on primogeniture.
• the most powerful monarchies of the time developed a standing army – a permanent corps of troops
recruited and maintained by the state. The emergence of these states and proto-states was a process
deeply interlocked with the process of urbanization.
 URBANIZATION
The term janapada also denoted the countryside, distinct from urban centres like pura or
nagara. It was an area rich in resources, especially agrarian. As has been mentioned before,
most of majanapadas emerged in the fertile Ganga plains. The formation of states was
dependent, amongst other things, on not just agrarian resources, but the production of an
agrarian surplus. The managing and redistribution of this surplus became the basis of power.

By the sixth century BCE, settled agrarian society had become well-established in the Indo-Ganga
divide, the upper Ganga valley and the Ganga-Yamuna doab. High rainfall, along with its fertile
alluvial soil made the region particularly well- suited for paddy cultivation. Panini’s grammar treatise
also displays in-depth agricultural knowledge. For example, the grammarian mentions that a well
ploughed land was called suhali. A vraiheya type of plot was the most suitable for cultivation of
paddy (vrihi), yavya for growing wheat (yava), and tilya for sesame (tila). All sources however
considered paddy as the principal crop, and the best kind of paddy was known as sali. Technological
advancements combined with the advantages of the fertile plains naturally aided greater production.
production would have
consuming societies have
increased collection of
higher fertility rates. Thus
agricultural taxes by the
paddy production in the
kings of the
fertile Ganga valley would
mahajanapadas. Revenue
have led to demographic
from these taxes would
growth. This increased
have been crucial
population was necessary
formaintaining the
for the emerging urban
administrative and
Thirdly, an centers. Urban centres had
agricultural
military apparatus. Thus,
surplus was more
necessary toresidents, and a
it was the foundational
sustain those higher density of
townspeople
basis of a State system.
population
who did not grow their own than the
villagesin
food. As will be discussed .
the next section, the city
was inhabited by a range
of non-agrarian
professionals such
physicians, scribes,