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The Mahajanapadas THE MAHAJANAPADAS • From the 16th century onwards, the widespread use Ware); a glossy, shining type of pottery. This of Iron in eastern U.P. and western Bihar created marked the beginning of the Second Urbanization conditions for the formation of large territorial in India. states. Haryanka Dynasty • The new agricultural tools and implements enabled The Haryanka Dynasty was originally founded the peasants to produce more and the extra produce in 566 B.C. by the grandfather of Bimbisara, but the was collected by princes to meet military and actual foundation in the true sense is credited to administrative needs. Bimbisara. • With this the ‘Janapadas’ started giving way to ‘Mahajanapadas’ and the land between the Bimbisara (544 B.C.-492 B.C.)Y Himalayas and the Narmada was divided into • A contemporary of Buddha, he conquered Anga 16 Mahajanapadas which are mentioned in the (east Bihar) to gain control over the trade routes Buddhist literature ‘Anguttar Nikaya’. with the southern states. • These are Kamboj, Gandhara, Kuru, Panchal, • His capital was Rajgir (Girivaraja) and he Chedi, Avanti, Matsya, Sursena, Koshla, Vatsa, strengthened his position by matrimonial alliances Malla, Vajjis, Anga, Magadha, Kashi, Asmaka. with the ruling families of Kosala, Vaishali and Of these, Magadha, Kosala or Avadh, Vatsa and Modra (3 wives). Avanti were more important. • The earliest capital of Magadha was at Rajgir, which • Some of these were ruled by hereditary monarch was called ‘Giriraja’ at that time. His capital was but others were republican or oligarchial states, surrounded by 5 hills, the openings of which were ruled either by representative of the people as a closed by stone walls on all sides. This made Rajgir whole or by nobility. impregnable. • Of the non-monarchial clans, the most important Ajatshatru (492 B.C.-460 B.C.) was the Vajjis confederacy of eight clans, the most • Bimbisara’s son who killed his father and seized powerful of which were the Lichchavis ruling from the throne. their capital at Vaishali. • Annexed Vaishali and Kosala (annexed Vaishali • There were matrimonial relations between the with the help of a war engine which was used rulers of Magadha, Kosala, Vatsa and Avanti, but to throw stones like catapults. Also possessed they did not prevent them from fi ghting with one a chariot to which a mace was attached, thus another for supremacy. HRONICLEfacilitating mass killings). Kosala was ruled by • Ultimately the Kingdom of Magadha emerged as Prasenjit at the time. the most powerful and succeeded in founding in empire. C Udayin (460-444 B.C.) Magadha Empire (6-4 B.C.) • He founded the new capital of Pataliputra situated • Magadha embraced the former districts of Patna, at the confl uence of the Ganga and the Son. Gaya and parts of Shahabad and grew to be the • It is said that Udayin was among the fi ve successor leading state of the time. kings who had acquired throne by patricides; • It’s success was attributed to its geographical the people of Magadha fi nally outraged by this, deposed the last of the fi ve in 413 BC and appointed position i.e. proximity to rich iron deposits which Shishunaga, a viceroy of Benaras, as king. yielded effective weaponryIAS and the benefi ts ofACADEM the fertile Ganga soil. Shishunaga Dynasty • Also elephants were fi rst used in war. • Founded by a minister Shishunaga who was • Archaeologically 6th century B.C. marks the succeeded by Kalashoka. The dynasty lasted for beginning of the NBPW (Northern Black Polished two generations only. © Chronicle IAS Academy ANCIENT 23 • Their greatest achievement was the destruction of • Herodotus, the famous Greek historian, considered the power of Avanti and its fi nal incorporation into as father of history, mentions Gandhara as the the Magadhan empire. 20th satrapy or province, counted amongst the • The most famous event was, the capital was shifted most populous and wealthy in the Achaemmenid to Vaishali. Empirre. Nanda Dynasty • The Indian provinces provided mercenaries for the Persian armies fi ghting against the Greeks in the • It is considered first of the non-Kshatriya years 486-465 B.C. dynasties. • Alexander came to India in order to reach the • It was founded by Mahapadma Nanda who added easternmost parts of Darius’s empire, to the Kalinga to his empire from where he brought an ‘problem of ocean’, the limits of each were a puzzle image of the Jina as a victory trophy. He claimed to to Greek geographers and to add this fabulous be the Ekarat – the sole sovereign who destroyed country to his list of conquests. all the other ruling princes. • Herodotus mentions about a naval expedition • That the Nandas controlled some parts of Kalinga dispatched by Darius under Skylax (517 B.C.) to (Orissa) is borne out by the Hathigumpha explore the Indus. Herodotus says: “the population Inscription of King Kharavela, assigned to the of the Indians is by far the greatest of all the middle of the fi rst century B.C. people that we know; and they paid a tribute • Alexander attacked India during the reign of Y proportionately larger than the rest”. Dhana Nanda who was called Agrammesor • Xerxes utilized his Indian provinces to secure an Xandrammems by Greek writers, in 326 B.C. Indian contingent to fi ght his battles in Greece. • The Nandas were fabulously rich and extremely • There were ‘Gandharians’ as well as ‘Indians’ in his powerful; maintaining an infantry of 2,00,000 contingent. The former bore bows of reed and short soldiers, 60,000 cavalry and 6,000 war elephants spears for fi ght at close quarters, while the latter, which supposedly checked Alexander’s army from clad in cotton also bore similar bows and arrows advancing towards Magadha. tipped with iron. These Indian troops were the fi rst • They had developed an effective taxation system, Indians to fi ght in Europe. built canals and carried out irrigation projects and • The Persian Empire set the model for Mauryas as had a strong army. far as Imperial pretensions are concerned. The • Nandas are described as the fi rst Empire builders in prevalence in the North-West of Kharosthi script India. The fi rst Nanda king is described in Puranas which is only a localized adaptation of Aramaic as the “destroyer of all Kshatriyas and a second and written from the right was perhaps a vestige Parasurama or Bhargava etc”. of Persian rule. • The Nandas were overthrown by the Maurya Dynasty under which the Magadhan empire Alexander’s Invasion reached the apex of its glory. • Alexander was the son of Philip of Macedonia Foreign Invasions and Persian (Greece) who invaded India in 326 B.C. At that time Conquests of India North-west India was split up into a number of small HRONICLEindependent states like Taxila, Punjab (kingdom of • During 6th century B.C. northwestern India Porus), Ghandara, etc. Except Porus who fought had been isolated from the developments in the famous Battle of Hydaspas (on the banks of the rest of IndiaC and closer connections with Jhelum) with Alexander, all other kings submitted Persian Civilization, being politically a part of the meekly. Ambhi (Omphis), the king of Taxila, Achaemenied Empire. submitted to Alexander in about the same time. • A little before 530 B.C., Cyrus (the Achaemenid Later, impressed by Porus, Alexander reinstated emperor of Persia) crossed the Hindukush him in power. Then Alexander captured the tribal mountains and received tributes from the tribes of republic of Glauganikai (Glachukayanaka) with Kamboja, Gandhara, and the trans-Indus region. its 37 towns. • During the lifetime of Buddha, the powerful IAS ACADEM• When Alexander reached Beas his army refused Achaemenian emperor of Persia Darius I (522-486 to go further, forcing him to retreat. To mark the B.C.) captured a portion of Punjab and Sindh. The farthest point of his advance, he erected 12 huge Behistun Inscription of 519 B.C. states that Gadara stone altars on the northern banks of the Beas. (Gandhara) was a province which sent teak. © Chronicle IAS Academy ANCIENT 24 Remaining in India for 19 months, Alexander • But the immediate effect of this expedition was fi nally died in Babylon in 323 B.C. the destruction of tribes, which had survived from • Alexander’s invasion opened up four distinct lines earlier times. of communication (3 by land and 1 by sea) thus • The earliest instance of ‘Jauhar’ in recorded history exposing India to Europe. occurred when Alexander encountered the Sibis • Due to this cultural contact, a cosmopolitan (a rude tribe clad in skins) and the Agalassoi school of art came up in Gandhara which was (Agrasrenis). The latter suffered terribly for daring characterized by sensuous art and continued till to resist the invader. The people of one town to the the Gupta Age. number of 20,000 men, women, and children set • It also paved the way for the unifi cation of north their dwellings ablaze and threw themselves into India under Chandragupta Maurya by weakening the fl ames. the small states. Y HRONICLE C IAS ACADEM © Chronicle IAS Academy ANCIENT 25.
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