Mahajanapads Time Period

 

Lecture 6 Mahajanapads

Rise of Mahajanapadas 

From 600 BC onwards, people started living a more settled life. Their attitude changed. They become loyal to Janapada(territory) instead of jana(tribe). And this resulted in the rise of mahajanapada. 

The mahajanapada period was dominated by northern balck polished ware- NBPW Pottery.

Reason for more settled life:

Agriculture surplus because of use of iron in agriculture and better agriculture techniques like Shali(Rice transplantation term in pali, prakrit and sanskrit).

Agriculture work was mainly done by slaves and Kammakara(pali term for landless labour). And the land was measured in Karisa, Nivartan and Kulyavapa units.

Enough agricultural produce paves the way for other merchant activities. This resulted in merchant guild/Shreni(sanskrit term for guild) and Ayatana.

High economic activity led to a good taxation system and this resulted in the rise of Mahajanapadas.

 

Rise of Mahajanapadas Shreni/Guild

Shreni was headed by pammuka/pravara/jyestha.

Shrenis had their own armed guards(Shrenibala) and their own courts(Shreninyayalya).

Shrenis were bound by their own laws or regulations called Shrenidharma.

They circulated their own seals for trade purposes. 

Traders used to move in caravans called Sartha and the carrier of sarths was known as Sarthavaha.

Rise of Mahajanapadas Tax system

Bhaga was the 1/6 of the agricultural produce and collected by Balisadhakas with the help of Bhojak(village headman).

A craftsperson had to pay taxes in the form of free labour for the king(one day every month).

A herder used to pay taxes in the form of animals and animal produce.

Hunters and gatherers used to pay in the form of forest produce.

Traders used to pay custom duty on sales of product

Toll tax was collected by officers known as shaulkika or shulkadhyaksha.

The Collected tax was stored under the guidance of Bhandagarika(Treasurer).

First Indian punched mark coins- Puranas, Karshapana/Pana(silver coin)

karshapana is mention in Ashtadhyayi of Panini

The word Karsapana, first appears in Samvidhan Brahmana(samveda)

 

16 Mahajanapadas Anguttara Nikaya

Out of 16

14 mahajanapadas- Monarchy system

2 mahajanapadas(Malla and Vajji)- Republic system

In the Monarchy system, the decision was taken by the king with the help of mantriparishad.

While in the Republic system, The decision was taken by a voting system. For voting, Salakas(wooden blocks) were used. These Salaks were collected by Salaka-Gahapaka for counting of votes. The voting hall is known as Santhagara.

1. Malla

Republican state with Gana Sanghas(Confederation) of nine territories. Two important are Kushinara(Buddha died) and Pava(Mahavira died).

2. Vajji

Republican state with Gana Sanghas(Confederation) of territories. The most powerful clan was Licchavi of Vaishali. Other important clans are Shakya of Kapilvastu(Buddha) and Jantrikas of Kundalgrama(Mahavira).

3. Kamboja

The mahajanapada was on both sides of hindukush with the capital at Poonacha. In Arthashastra and Ashoka edict 13 Kamboja is mentioned as republican mahajanapada. But as per panini Kamboja was a monarchical state.

4. Gandhara

Capital at Taxila. This mahajanapada was famous for taxila university. Panini, a 5th century BC scholar of Taxila university wrote Ashtadhyayi(Sanskrit grammar book).

Achaemenian ruler of Iran, Cyrus attacked and took control of Kamboja and gandhara. 

In 516 BC, Darius1(grandson of Cyrus) captured sindh province(20th satrap of iran out of 28th). Xerxes, successor of Darius1 employed Indians in war against greek. These two mahajanapadas continued to be part of the iranian empire till its invasion by Alexander. 

In this 200 year rule of iran on gandhara, indo iran trade got a boost. Start of the use of Kharosthi script in NW india.

Some historians say punched mark coins in India were introduced under the influence of Iran, but many historians rejected this. (The largest hoard of coin was found at UP and Bihar).

5. Avanti

It is divided into north and south by the river Narmada. The capital of northern avanti was Ujjain and the capital of southern avanti was Mahishmati. Iron mines in eastern MP gave cutting edge to avanti. Forging and smelting of iron ore was done at ujjain to make good quality weapons. 

Avanti king Chandra pradyota mahasen fought an unsuccessful war with gandharas. He also fought with bimbisar(Magadh), but eventually they decided to make up. Later, when chandra pradyota mahasen suffered from jaundice, bimbisar sent royal physician jivika to ujjain.

Avanti became part of magdha, when Shishunaga defeated the king Nandivardhan. 

6. Assaka/Ashmaka

Assaka mahajanapada was located on the banks of godavari river with capital Potana/Potali.

7. Panchala

East of Kuru kingdom(east of ganga river) with capital Adichhatra/Chhatravati. Panchal were close allies of kuru.

8. Kuru

Kuru ruled over the present eastern UP and Delhi region with its capital at Indraprasth on the bank of Yamuna river.

9. Matsya

Its territory lies south of Kuru kingdom and west of Yamuna river with its capital at Viratnagar.

10. Surasena

Its territory lies east of Matsya kingdom and west of Yamuna river with its capital at Mathura.

11. Vatsa

Vatsa were the branch of the Kuru tribe who settled around the Allahabad region with the capital at Kaushambi. Udayain king of vatsa endorsed buddhism. 

12. Chedi

Kingdom south of river Yamuna along the river ken with capital at Suktimati. Shisupala was the ruler of chedi kingdom at the time of lord krishna.

13. Kosala

This kingdom is associated with lord Rama. At the time of Buddha, this kingdom was ruled by king Prasenajit. His sister was married to Bimbisar(Magada) and kashi the dowry in this marriage alliance. Kosala was annexed by Ajatsatru(Magada) at the time of king Vidudabha(son of Prasenajit).

14. Kashi

Kashi was annexed into the Kosala kingdom by King Kamsa(before the birth of buddha).

15. Anga

Anga was separated from Magadha by the Champa river. And it was the first kingdom to be annexed by magada(Bimbisar).

16. Magadha

Reason for rise of magadha

• Ambitious rulers like bimbisar, ajatshatru and mahapadma nanda.
• Availability of rich iron ore in kingdom(manufacturing of high quality weapons and agriculture tools)
• Capital rajgir was fortified with hills and patliputra was fortified with rivers(ganga, gandak, son and ghaghar).
• The river system around patliputra facilitated easy transportation and communication.
• Abundance of timber in nearby regions(for boat and other wood construction).
• Environmental factors supported agriculture production.
• First mahajanapada to use elephants on large scale in war. 

The founder of magadha was Jarasandha and brihadratha. But the rise of magadha started under the haryanks. Magadha was inhabited by the kirtas and magadhas. Later they get mixed with vedic people.

Dynasties of Magadha

Magdha Haryanka dynasty

Bimbisar(546-499 BC)- Contemporary of Buddha, Founder of haryanka dynasty

Fought two wars- one with Anga and another one with Ujjain. Annexed Anga and put it under the governorship of his son Ajatsatru.

Made marriage alliances with Khosla, Licchavi princess(Vaishali) and Madra clan of Punjab region.

Received embassy and letter from Gandhara.

Sent royal physician jivika to ujjain on the request of king chandra pradyota mahasen.

Ajatsatru(492-460 BC)- Son of Licchavi princess

Killed his father to become king. Organised first buddhist council under chairmanship of Mahakashyapa at rajgir.

Aggressive and expansionist policy resulted in war with khosla. After Khosla he attacked on vaishali. 

Won war because of the use of catapults and chariot with mace attached on it.

Udayin(460-444 BC) 

Founder of patliputra city and shifted capital from Rajgir to newly founded city Patliputra.

Nagadasaka the last haryanka ruler was killed by his minister Shisunaga. 

Magdha Shishunaga dynasty

Shishunaga 

Minister of the Haryanka dynasty who killed the last haryanka ruler to become king. He was the founder of the Shisunaga Dynasty.

He shifted the capital from Pataliputra to Vaishali.

Ended the 100 year war with Avanti(Ujjain). Later Avanti was merged into Magadha empire.

Kalashoka 

Organised 2nd buddhist council under chairmanship of Sabhakami at vaishali.

Shifted capital from Vaishali to Patliputra.

Magdha Nanda dynasty

Mahapadma Nanda(Destroyer of Kshatriya) 

Founder Of Nanda dynasty. He attacked kalinga and brought Jinna image from Kalinga as war victory(Hathigumpha inscription of 100 BC by King Kharavela). He was also known as ekarat(sole sovereign of large territory). 

Dhanananda

During the rule of Dhananada, Alexander invaded north western india. Alexander crossed Khyber pass in 327 BC. Dhananada is referred to as Agrammes/Xandrames by Greek Historian Diodorus.

In 326 BC, Ambi the ruler of Taxila surrendered to Alexander. In the same year Porus, the king who ruled the region between Jhelum and Chenab Fought bravely with Alexander in battle of hydaspes(326 BC). Although he lost the war, Alexander reinstated him after getting impressed with his bravery. After this Alexander marched up to beas river, but his army refused to go beyond beas river.

Alexander founded two cities in India on Hydaspes(Jhelum) river- Nikaia and Bucephala

Sati system and sale of girls were mentioned by Greek writers.

 

Magdha Sunga and Kanva dynasty

Sunga 

Pusyamitra Sunga, Brahman commander in chief of mauryan ruler, assassinated the last mauryan ruler Brihadratha. And he founded the sung ruler. He was succeeded by his son Agnimitra. Later sung rulers were weak. 

Patanjali, Author of Mahabhashya, helped Pusyamitra Sunga in performing two ashvamedha yajan. 

During Sung reign, magadha was attacked by Sathavahana, kalinga and indo greek. Meander 1 marched up to patliputra but sunga managed to reclaim it under Vasumitra(Grandson of Pusyamitra). 

Devabhuti, last sunga ruler was killed by his own minister Vasudeva Kanva. 

The 1st century BC Yavanrajya/Maghera inscription(Sanskrit) of mathura shows that at that time mathura was ruled by indo greek. 

As the Sunga was a Brahmical dynasty, some rulers of the dynasty persecuted Buddhist monks.

Kanva 

Founded by Vasudeva Kanva(Brahman). This dynasty was brought to an end by the satavahana in 28 BC.

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

Periplus of the Erythrean sea(Greek) 

Periplus= sailing around

Erythrean sea= Red sea

A book written in 1 century AD in greek language by some unknown egyptian writer gives description of trading port of india in ancient times.

             Image Source: Wikipedia

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