Ajatashatru (c. 493/492 BCE - c.

462/460 BCE) was the second important king of the

Haryanka Dynasty, who came to the throne of Magadha
by deposing and executing his own father Bimbisara. The Haryanka Dynasty (c.
545/544 BCE - c. 413 BCE) came into prominence during
the rule of Bimbisara (r. 545/544 BCE - 493/492 BCE), who extended the kingdom
through conquests and marriage alliances. It was the
first important Magadhan Dynasty whose historicity can be ascertained with
verifiable facts. Before them, a mythical dynasty by the
name of Brihadratha is often talked about but does not have any archaeological or
contemporary literary evidence to back up its claim
. The Magadha Kingdom started its expansion from the time of Bimbisara, but
Ajatashatru annexed several important and powerful kingdoms
in its vicinity – Kosala and Kashi, and then Vrijji and his empire roughly covered
the present-day Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand,
Uttar Pradesh (some minor parts), West Bengal (some major parts), Odisha (some
parts) and also some parts of the neighbour countries
of Bangladesh and Nepal.