History of India

HISTORY
Subject

History

Paper No.

Paper - I
History of Ancient India

Topic No. & Title

Topic - 7
Janapadas & Mahajanapadas

Lecture No. & Title

Lecture - 7
The Nanda Dynasty of Magadha

(For under graduate student)

Script
The Nanda Dynasty of Magadha
The Nanda dynasty was a formidable power in Magadha
prior to the Mauryas. They came to power by supplanting
the Saisunaga dynasty. There is no contemporary source of
information throwing light on this power. Whatever little is
known is largely from the Puranas and Jaina texts. There is
unanimity among sources in presenting the Nanda rulers as
being non-Kshatriyas and of a humble origin. The Jain work,
Parishistaparvan describes him as the son of a barber by a

History of India

courtesan. The Avasyakasutra calls him a Napitadasa(slave

of a barber). The founder of the line Mahapadma (also
known as Ugrasena) figures in the Puranas as the son of a
sudra woman. The memory of the low social origin of the
Nanda family is recorded in the accounts of Alexanders
historians who wrote about the relatively low social esteem
of the last known ruler of the house, Xandrames or
Agrammes, identified with Dhanananda of Indian sources.
The Buddhist texts regard the Nandas as persons of
unknown

lineage.

The

Harshacharita

of

Banabhatta,

describes Mahapadmananda as the killer of Kakavarna of

the Saisunaga family. Thus all traditions point to the
disreputable origin of the Nanda dynasty. The Buddhist
tradition represents the Nandas as openly conquering
Magadha by force and not by any secret conspiracy or by
cowardly assassination of the reigning king. Sudra leaders
establishing a big empire in the Ganga valley over the ruins
of

Kshatriya

kingdom

was

indeed

an

interesting

phenomenon. Curiously enough the dynastic name Nanda is

not known to any contemporary authority. It is no doubt
mentioned in Kautilyas Arthasastra, a portion of which is
traditionally assigned to the age of Chandragupta Maurya.

History of India

Among extant works, which may with some degree of

plausibility, be assigned to a period before the Ceylonese
chronicles and the Puranas, it is the Milindapanha which
refers to the royal family of Nanda.
According to Jaina tradition, the Nandas had several
ministers with Jaina leanings. Kalpaka was a minister of the
first Nanda king. He is said to have been reluctant to
assume office but once he took up the post, encouraged the
king towards an aggressive expansionist policy. Jaina texts
suggest that ministerial office was hereditary. They state
that on the death of Shakatala, a minister of the ninth
Nanda

king,

the

position

was

offered

to

his

son

Sthulabhadra, who refused it and became a Jain monk. The

post was then accepted by Sthulabhadras brother Shriyaka.
The period of the rule of the Nandas in the Puranas is set at
100 years, with an incredibly long reign of 88 years
attributed to the founder. The Buddhist tradition assigns a
more

plausible

period

of

Considering the date of

22

years

to

the

Nandas.

ascendancy of Chandragupta

Maurya, the period of their rule would be from c. 344 BCE

to 322BCE.

History of India

The

founder

of

Mahapadmananda

this
or

dynasty

was

Mahapadmapati

in

known
the

as

Puranas.

According to the Mahabodhivamsa, his name was Ugrasena.

The different authorities agree that there were nine Nanda
rulers. The Puranas take the first Nanda as the father and
the other eight as his sons. The Buddhist texts however
take all the nine Nandas as brothers. The power of Magadha
immensely increased during his reign. The Puranas describe
him as second Parasurama, the exterminator of the entire
Kshatriya race. He was the one who is described in the
Puranas as a sole ruler (ekarat) of the vast region
stretching

from the Himalayas

Kshatriya

dynasties

which

to

were

the

Godavari.

uprooted

were

The
the

Ikshvakus, Panchalas, Kasis, Haihayas, Kalingas, Asmakas,

Kurus, Maithilas, Surasenas and Vithihotras. The Ikshvakus
are generally associated with Kosala. Kuru and Panchala are
contiguous territories in the Rohilkhand and Kurukshetra
areas, the Surasena country embraced regions around
Mathura on the banks of the Jamuna, the Haihayas are
found in possession of a part of the Narmada valley with
Mahishmati as their capital and Maithila stood for north
Bihar. The subjugation of Malwa and Gujarat is quite

History of India

probable as both formed integral part of the Magadhan

empire in the days of Chandragupta towards the close of
the fourth century BCE and the way may have been
prepared

by

the

Nandas.

The

Vitihotras

are

closely

associated with the Haihayas and the Avantis in Puranic

tradition. The undoubted control that Chandragupta Maurya
exercised over Western India including the Girnar region
makes it highly probable that the way had been left clear by
his Nanda predecessors. Jain writers expressly mention the
Nandas among the successors of Palaka, the son of
Pradyota of Avanti. The Asmakas occupied a part of the
Godavari valley with the capital at Potana, Potali or Podana.
According to some scholars this detailed and specific
statement in the Puranas seems to be partially corroborated
by independent evidence. The Kathasaritsagara mentions
the camp of king Nanda in Ayodhya, thereby implying the
inclusion of Kosala in the Nanda Empire. The conquest of
Kalinga by a Nanda king has been referred to in the
Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela assignable to 1st
century BCE. It is said that in the fifth year of his reign,
Kharavela caused the canal, (commissioned by king Nanda
three hundred years back), to be brought into the capital

History of India

from Tanasuliya. The existence of the city called Nav Nand

Dehra on the Godavari has been taken by some scholars to
indicate Nanda supremacy in some parts of Deccan. In the
absence of contemporary accounts it is difficult to verify the
substance of the claims of such widespread territorial
conquests as these. Recent scholarship suggests that
possibly such accounts belonged to the later literary genre
upholding and glorifying the Puranic ideal of the conquest
of quarters or world conquests (digvijaya). If however
Mahapadma won over these adversaries in the GangaYamuna doab and the upper Ganga valley, these were
perhaps previously defeated by Magadha and challenged
the Magadhan authority during the troubled times of the
Saisunaga dynasty. It was Mahapadmananda who finally
subjugated them.
Unfortunately very little is known about this dynasty. Only
the last ruler of this dynasty is definitely known among the
successors of Mahapadmananda and he was Dhanananda.
From the accounts of Alexanders invasion of north-west
India, Dhanananda seems to have been a contemporary of
Alexander and called Agrammes. The name Agrammes is

History of India

probably derived from Sanskrit Augrasainya i.e. a son of

Ugrasena, another name of Mahapadmananda. He is also
called Xandrems. The Greek accounts report an extensive
realm to the east of the Porus kingdom; in other words to
the east of Jhelum. This kingdom is mentioned as that of
Gangaridae and Prasioi with its capital at Palibothra. While
Palibothra undoubtedly stands for Pataliputra, the term
Prasioi is probably derived from Sanskrit Prachya (east).
The word Gangaridae refers to the Gangetic country. The
realm located to the east of Jhelum in the Gangetic country
with its capital at Pataliputra cannot but refer to the
Magadhan realm. The Greek authors also mention the large
army of Gangaridae and Prasioi. Thus it appears from the
Greek sources that in the period of Alexanders invasion of
India, in the eighth decade of the 4th century BCE, there
were two nations with their realms situated at least partly
on the Ganges. The Prasioi and Gangaridae were either in a
confederacy with both the people having their kings or one
of

these

groups

of

people

dominated

the

other.

If

Xandrames or Agrammes, the ruler of both the nations,

according to Diodorus, is correctly recognized as a member
of the Nanda family of Magadha, then the Nandas controlled

History of India

them. In that case the land of the Gangaridae was within

the kingdom of the Nandas. Curtius credits Agrammes with
an army of 20,000 cavalry, 200,000 infantry, 2000 four
horsed chariots and 3,000 elephants. According to other
Greek writers the number of elephants was 4,000 or even
6,000. Though the figures might be inflated it surely speaks
of huge war machinery controlled by the Nandas. These
figures

were

also

intended

to

suggest

formidable

opposition to the Greek army under Alexander, leading to

Greek soldiers refusing to campaign further. One is not sure
whether the size of the Magadhan army was deliberately
inflated in the Greek accounts to underline the degree of
difficulty and challenge that could have stood before
Alexanders army. In view of the problems Alexander faced
in tackling the elephant corps of Porus in the battle of
Hydespas, the Macedonian army could have been concerned
about the availability of a large number of war elephants in
the Magadhan army. All these could have influenced his
decision against encountering the most powerful state in
north India in a direct battle and thus the Nandas never had
the opportunity to use their army against the Greeks since

History of India

Alexander turned back while in southern Punjab and

followed the Indus to its delta.
A factor assisting the consolidation of the Nanda kingdom
was that taxes were given importance as revenue. The
methodical

collection of

taxes by

regularly

appointed

officials became a part of the administrative system. The

treasury was doubtless kept replenished, the wealth of the
Nandas being proverbial. During the time of the Nandas the
possibility of an imperial structure based on an essentially
agrarian economy began to germinate in the Indian mind.
With all the military might and mastery of a large empire,
Dhanananda

was

not

popular

among

his

subjects.

Chandragupta Maurya who overthrew him reported to

Alexanders followers that he could easily conquer the
Nanda empire because its king was so much hated and
despised by his subjects for the wickedness of his
disposition and meanness of his origin. This report was
also confirmed by king Paurava (Porus) of the Punjab who
added that the king of the Gangaridae was a man of quite
worthless character and held in no respect as he was

History of India

10

thought to be the son of a barber. Much of his unpopularity

was also due to his avarice and love of wealth which he
accumulated at the expense of his people by means of
excessive taxation and exactions. The Kathasaritsagara
preserves the tradition of his wealth computed at 990
million gold pieces. Its Buddhist version states, The
youngest brother was called Dhananada from his addiction
to hold treasure. It is said that in a rock in the bed of the
river Ganges he caused a great excavation to be made for
the purpose of burying treasures he had acquired. Levying
taxes, along with other articles even on skins, gums trees
and stones, he amassed further riches. A Tamil poem
contains an interesting reference to the very famous
Nandas

victorious

in

war,

which

having

accumulated

treasure first in beautiful Pataliputra hid it in the waters of

the Ganges. The tradition of the fabulous wealth of Nanda
was also heard by the Chinese traveller Hsuan-Tsang in the
seventh century CE. He mentions five stupas of Pataliputra
as symbols of five treasures of king Nandas seven precious
substances. The control over the Ganga valley must have
facilitated
resources.

the

Nanda

kings

to

extract

considerable

History of India

11

We have very little information as to the way in which the

vast dominions of the Nandas were administered. If
tradition is to be believed, the founder of this line aimed at
establishing centralized control throughout his empire. The
reference to the extermination of all the kshatriyas, coupled
with the use of the term ekarat and ekachchhatra is a
pointer to this fact. Arrian notices the existence beyond the
Beas of an excellent system of internal government under
which the multitude was governed by the aristocracy, who
exercised their authority with justice and moderation. The
aristocratic government perhaps refers to the sanghas of
Kurus, Panchalas and others, mentioned in Kautilyas
Arthasastra who bore the title of raja. The flourishing
condition of the areas in question where the inhabitants
were good agriculturists, the land exceedingly fertile and
the excellent internal government is in striking contrast with
conditions prevailing in the home provinces of the king of
Prasioi where the king was detested and not held in high
esteem by the subjects.
It appears from the evidence that is available to us that
Nandas allowed a considerable amount of autonomy to the

History of India

12

people in the outlying parts of their empire e.g. the

Gangetic delta and the territories beyond Ayodhya. The
home

provinces

embracing

the

ancient

janapadas

of

Magadha, Vriji Kasi, Kosala etc. were treated very badly.

The presence of the king not only in Pataliputra, the capital
of Magadha but also in Vaisali, the capital of Vriji in North
Bihar is vouched for by tradition and we have an interesting
reference to an encampment at Ayodhya. The strong
position held by the Nandas in their core territories as
contrasted with their comparative weakness in the frontier
regions is the theme of certain interesting anecdotes that
the Buddhist writers of the Ceylonese chronicles state.
Though these are stories, there may be some truth in the
central idea.
Greek observers of the fourth century BCE allude to a
system of provincial government under officials styled
nomarchs and hyparchs. A nomarch is a local ruler or
governor of a nome or district. The word hyparch is
sometimes used to denote a satrap. Though the officials are
mentioned chiefly in connection with the Punjab region in
the days of Alexander and the Magadhan empire in the

History of India

13

Maurya period, it is permissible to conjecture that the

provincial system under the Nandas, specially in districts
under their undisputed sway, was not very different. In the
Mauryan domain we hear of administrative divisions called
ahara, vishaya, janapada etc. under functionaries styled
mahamatras,

rajukas,

pradeshikas

etc.

who

seem

to

correspond with nomarchs and hyparchs mentioned by the

Greeks.
The oppressed people soon found a leader. Plutarch and
Justin

refer

to

young

lad

named

Androkottos

or

Sandrokottus identical with the famous Chandragupta, who

visited Alexander in the Punjab and showed keen interest in
the affairs of the Prasioi. The glamour of the Nandas was
shadowed by the splendour of the succeeding Maurya
dynasty. Nevertheless if Brihatkatha has to be believed,
Pataliputra under the Nanda rule became the abode of
Saraswati as well as Lakshmi. In social matters the rise of
the Nandas may be regarded as an indication of the rise of
a low social group to the position of power. The Puranic
chroniclers represent the dynasty as harbingers of Sudra
rule and as irreligious.

History of India

14

Under the strong centralized administration of the Nandas,

trade and industry flourished. In particular, the needs of
their exceptionally wealthy court, to which later traditions
bear witness and their organized administration, must have
given a great impetus to commercial and industrial effort.
The

direct

interest

of

the

Nandas

in

commercial

development is perhaps indicated by their invention of a

new

standard

measure

referred

to

in

the

Kasika

commentary as well as their standardization of the silver

coinage.
The Nanda attempt was cut short by Chandragupta Maurya,
the young adventurer who usurped the Nanda throne in
322BCE. In the opinion of Romila Thapar It was under the
Mauryas,

therefore,

expression.

that

the

imperial

idea

found