Early states

Early political organisations

 In the earlier lessons, we learned about Aryans settled down in janas or
tribes and led a semi nomadic life. By the later Vedic age,the Aryans had
moved further into Ganga valley.
 Intime, some of these janas grew in size and power, and they came to be
known as janapadas ( meaning ‘foothold of tribe’).
 Gradually,many of these janapadas evolved into larger political groups,
called mahajanapadas, by capturing more and more land.
 By 600 BCE, there were sixteen mahajanapadas (known together as
sadosamahajanapadas).
 There were 4 prominent monarchies—Kosala, Vatsa, Avanti and Magadha.
 Magadha emerged as the most powerful on among them.
Republics and Monarchies
 There are two types of political systems prevailed in the mahajanapadas. They
were either republics or monarchies. A republican mahajanapada was ruled by
a group of people elected by the people of that tribe.
 There was no hereditary ruler. Decisions were taken on the basis of majority
consent.
 This was a kind of a democratic system where the people of the tribe had a say
in their political system.
 The king Sakya mahajanapada was an important republic .
 Most of the mahajanapadas had a monarchical system.
 After the king’s death, his son succeeded to the throne.
 Magadha was a monarchy
 Alexander ‘s invasion

 Let us look at some of the parallel developments in Persian and Greek history.
 These developments have an intrinsic connection with history of Magadha.
 By the second half of the 6th century BCE,Cyrus had established a large empire in Persia
 He was successful in capturing all the land between the Indus and Kabul rivers.
 One of his successors, Darius I, however, annexed Gandhara and the Indus Valley.
 The Indus Valley or India as they called it was the 20th satrapy and paid a tribute of
gold to the Persian Empire.
 During the rule of Mahapadma Nanda, India was invaded by the Greek ruler ,
Alexander, the son of king Philip of Macedonia.
 Alexander set out to conquer the world. Alexander defeated the Persian ruler.
 After achieving his feat, he marched on forward to India , attracted by its riches and
wealth.
 Continuation
 Alexanderhad a strongly curious nature and he wanted to explore other
geographical territories.
 After conquering Kabul,Alexander reached India through the Khyber Pass
in 326 BCE.
 Among these rulers,Ambhi, the prince of Taxila and King Porus ,whose
kingdom lay between Jhelum and Chenab, were quiet well-known and had
the potential to check the andvance of Alexander.
 Their
failure to unite and fight him together made them susceptible to
defeat.
 Bythe time Alexander reached Magadha, his army had become very tired
due to constant fighting .
 Alexander was not very keen to take on Mahapadma Nanda ‘s huge
army.
 Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BCE.
 MagaDha
 Magadha emerged as the most powerful.
 From 600-400 BCE, Magadha comprised the area of present-day Bihar and Jharkhand.
 The kingdom rose to prominence in 600 BCE and rapidly extended its frontiers.
 It wa situated in close proximatey to rich deposits of iron ore in the area, which was used to make more effective
tools and weapons.
 Rivers like the Ganga and Bhagirathi provided ample water for irrigation and made the soil fertile.
 These rivers also acted as means of transportation for armies and equipment.
 The dense forest cover of the area provided elephants, which were trained for use by the army.
 Magadha had thriving trade relations with other regions, including the South.
 Rulers of Magadha

The Buddhist chronicles of Sri Lanka, the

Puranas, and various Buddhist and Jain
chronicles are our sources for the history
of Magadha.
They shed light on its rulers and their
policies
 Bimbisara
 Bimbisara was the first prominent ruler of Magadha and founder of the Haryanka
dynasty.
 He was contempery of Lord Buddha and was greatly influenced by him.
 Under his reign,Magadha rose to great heights.
 His capital was at Rajagriha.
 Bimbisara used marriage alliances, military conquests and diplomatic relations to
strengthen his position.
 He married a princess from Kosala, who brought Kashi (modern Varanasi ) as part of
her dowry.
 He also married princesses from Vaishali and Madra, thus forming friendly alliances
with those states.
 Bismbisara conquered Anga and the river port of Champa.
 He used diplomatic relations to secure the cooperation of the rulers of Avanti and
Gandhara.
 Ajatashatru
 Bimbisara was succeeded by his Ajatashatru. He is known to have been
a cruel king, who tried to suppress the rise of Buddhism and Jainism.
 He shifted his capital to Pataliputra, situated at the junction of the Rivers
Ganga, Sarayu and Sone, to facilitate his wars of conquests.
 Jain texts mention that Ajatashatru used two new weapons in wars—a
catapult and a covered and a covered chariot,with a swinging mace.
 The rulers who succeeded Ajatashatru were weak.
 The Nanda dynasty was the last prominent dynasty of Magadha
before Chandragupta Maurya conquered Magadha and established the
Mauryan dynasty.
 Nanda Empire
 Nanda were an important dynasty who came to power after the
Shishunagas.
 They were extremely powerful rulers who extended Magadhan power by
conquering Kalinga but Kosala as well, which had probably rebelled against
him.
 The Nandas were very powerful and extremely rich, so much so that it is said
that they maintained an army with 200,000 infantry, 60,000 cavalry and 3000 to
6000 war elephants.
 It should be noted that in order to have such a huge army they must had a
very efficient taxation system and administration.
 These consideration prevented Alexander from advancing against the
Nandas.
 Chandragupta Maurya
 Chandragupta Mauryas ‘s rise to power is shrouded with mystery.
 There were the threat of Greek invasions from the North-west as Alexander the Great ,
had reached the borders of India.
 It is believed that a brahmin named Chanakya (also known as Kautilya or Vishnugupta)
wanted to unite all Indian kingdoms to resist the Greek attack.
 He made the young and courageous Chandragupta his pupil.
 With Chanakya’s aid and advice, Chandragupta was able to overthrow the ruling Nanda
dynasty at Magadha.
 He established the Mauryan Empire in 321 BCE and made Chanakya his Prime minister.
 The great Emperor Asoka, who is renowned all over the world for his turn towards non-
violence and great administration belonged to the same dynasty.