:Magadha

The territory of the Magadha kingdom proper before its expansion was bounded to the north, west, and east respectively by the Gaṅgā, Son, and Campā rivers, and the eastern spurs of the Vindhya mountains formed its southern border. The territory of the initial Magadha kingdom thus corresponded to the modern-day Patna and Gaya districts of the Indian state of Bihar.{{cite book |last=Raychaudhuri |first=Hemchandra |author-link=Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri |date=1953 |title=Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of Gupta Dynasty |pages=110–118 |publisher=University of Calcutta }}

The region of Greater Magadha also included neighbouring regions in the eastern Gangetic plains and had a distinct culture and belief.

{{Main|Vedic period}}

In the Atharvaveda (5.22) (ca. 1200-900 BCE) the Magadhas are listed along with the Angas, Gandharis and Mujavats as non-Vedic tribes located outside of the Kuru-Panchala cultural sphere.Michael Witzel (1987), "On the localisation of Vedic texts and schools (Materials on Vedic Śākhās, 7)" in G. Pollet (ed.), India and the Ancient world. History, Trade and Culture before A.D. 650

{{Main|Kikata kingdom}}

Some scholars have identified the Kīkaṭa tribe—mentioned in the Rigveda (3.53.14) with their ruler Pramaganda—as the forefathers of Magadhas because Kikata is used as synonym for Magadha in the later texts.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6TVLlPvuMAC&pg=PA159|title=Vedic Index of Names and Subjects|last1=Macdonell|first1=Arthur Anthony|last2=Keith|first2=Arthur Berriedale|date=1995|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|isbn=9788120813328|language=en}} Like the Magadhas in the Atharvaveda, the Rigveda speaks of the Kikatas as a hostile tribe, living on the borders of Brahmanical India, who did not perform Vedic rituals, but Witzel argues that it is "misplaced" to locate the Kikatas within Magadha, as in the Rigveda "their [Kikata] territory is clearly described as being to the south of Kurukshetra, in eastern Rajasthan or western Madhya Pradesh, and Magadha is beyond the geographical horizon of the Rigveda".M. Witzel. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=OZ0gAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA333 Rigvedic history: poets, chieftains, and polities]," in The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity. ed. G. Erdosy (Walter de Gruyer, 1995), p. 333

{{Main|Brihadratha dynasty}}

According to the Puranas, the legendary{{cite book | last=Chakrabarty | first=D.K. | title=The Geopolitical Orbits of Ancient India: The Geographical Frames of the Ancient Indian Dynasties | publisher=OUP India | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-19-908832-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIAyDwAAQBAJ&dq=legendary&pg=PT24}} Brihadratha dynasty was the first ruling dynasty of Magadha.

File:Cyclopian wall, Rajgir. (5457385482) (cropped).jpg which encircled the former capital of Magadha, Rajgir. Among the oldest pieces of cyclopean masonry in the world]]

Much of the Second Urbanisation took place in Greater Magadha from {{Circa|500 BCE}} onwards, and it was here that Jainism and Buddhism arose.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2007|loc=p.4: Bronkhorst "It is also in this area that a number of religious and spiritual movements arose, most famous among them Buddhism and Jainism."}}

{{main|Haryanka dynasty}}

There is little certain information available on the early rulers of Magadha. The most important sources are the Buddhist Pāli Canon, the Jain Agamas and the Hindu Puranas. The ancient kingdom of Magadha is also mentioned in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata. Based on Jain and Buddhist sources, it appears that Magadha was ruled by the Haryanka dynasty for some 130 years, c. 543 to 413 BCE,{{cite journal |last1=Chandra |first1=Jnan |title=Some Unknown Facts About Bimbisāra |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |date=1958 |volume=21 |pages=215–217 |jstor=44145194}} although dates are uncertain, and could be significantly later.

Two notable Haryanka dynasty rulers of Magadha were Bimbisara (also known as Shrenika) and his son Ajatashatru (also known as Kunika), who are mentioned in Buddhist and Jain literature as contemporaries of the Buddha and Mahavira. Later, the throne of Magadha was usurped by Mahapadma Nanda, the founder of the Nanda Dynasty ({{Circa|345|322 BCE}}), which conquered much of north India. The Nanda dynasty was overthrown by Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire ({{Circa|322}}–185 BCE).

There is much uncertainty about the succession of kings and the precise chronology of Magadha prior to Mahapadma Nanda; the accounts of various ancient texts (all of which were written many centuries later than the era in question) contradict each other on many points. Furthermore, there is a "Long Chronology" and a contrasting "Short Chronology" preferred by some scholars, an issue that is inextricably linked to the uncertain chronology of the Buddha and Mahavira.{{cite book|last=Bechert|first=Heinz|author-link=Heinz Bechert|title=When Did the Buddha Live?: The Controversy on the Dating of the Historical Buddha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ImnYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA129|year=1995|publisher=Sri Satguru Publications|isbn=978-81-7030-469-2|page=129}}

According to historian K. T. S. Sarao, a proponent of the Short Chronology wherein the Buddha's lifespan was c.477–397 BCE, it can be estimated that Bimbisara was reigning c.457–405 BCE, and Ajatashatru was reigning c.405–373 BCE.{{citation |last=Sarao |first=K. T. S. |title= The Ācariyaparamparā and Date of the Buddha. |journal=Indian Historical Review |volume=30 |issue=1–2 |year=2003 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1177/037698360303000201 |s2cid=141897826 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/037698360303000201}}

According to historian John Keay, a proponent of the "Long Chronology," Bimbisara must have been reigning in the late 5th century BCE,{{cite book|last=Keay|first=John|title=India: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0IquM4BrJ4YC&pg=PT141|year=2011|publisher=Open Road + Grove/Atlantic|isbn=978-0-8021-9550-0|page=141}} and Ajatashatru in the early 4th century BCE.{{cite book|last=Keay|first=John|title=India: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0IquM4BrJ4YC&pg=PT149|year=2011|publisher=Open Road + Grove/Atlantic|isbn=978-0-8021-9550-0|page=149}} Keay states that there is great uncertainty about the royal succession after Ajatashatru's death, probably because there was a period of "court intrigues and murders," during which "evidently the throne changed hands frequently, perhaps with more than one incumbent claiming to occupy it at the same time" until Mahapadma Nanda was able to secure the throne.

The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganges; its first capital was Rajagriha (modern day Rajgir), then Pataliputra (modern Patna).Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (1977). Ancient India. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. {{ISBN|81-208-0436-8}}. Rajagriha was initially known as 'Girivrijja' and later came to be known as so during the reign of Ajatashatru. Magadha expanded to include most of Bihar and Bengal with the conquest of Vajjika League and Anga, respectively.Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (1977). Ancient India. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. {{ISBN|81-208-0436-8}}.

File:Magadha Expansion (6th-4th centuries BCE).png

{{Main|Shaishunaga dynasty}}

{{Main|Nanda dynasty}}

{{Main|Maurya Empire}}

{{Main|Shunga Empire}}

{{Main|Kanva dynasty}}

{{Main|Mitra dynasty (Kosambi)}}

{{Main|Mahameghavahana dynasty}}

{{Main|Gupta Empire}}

{{Main|Later Guptas}}

{{Main|Pithipatis of Bodh Gaya}}

From the 11th century until the late 13th century, a group of Buddhist kings known as the Pithipatis ruled parts of the Magadha region. These kings referred to themselves as Magadhādipati which translates to "Lords of Magadha".{{cite journal |last1=Sircar |first1=D. C. |title=Bodhgayā Inscription of Pithipati Ācārya Buddhasena |journal=Senarat Paranavitana Commemoration Volume |date=1978 |pages=255–256 |doi=10.1163/9789004646476_033 |isbn=978-90-04-64647-6 |url=https://brill.com/edcollchap/book/9789004646476/B9789004646476_s033.xml}}

Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, lived much of his life in the kingdom of Magadha. He attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath and the first Buddhist council was held in Rajgriha.{{cite web |url=http://www.lumbinitrust.org/articles/view/214 |title=Lumbini Development Trust: Restoring the Lumbini Garden |access-date=6 January 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306041858/http://www.lumbinitrust.org/articles/view/214 |archive-date=6 March 2014 }}

Several Śramaṇic movements had existed before the 6th century BCE, and these influenced both the āstika and nāstika traditions of Indian philosophy.{{cite book |first=Reginald |last=Ray |year=1999 |title=Buddhist Saints in India |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0195134834 |pages=237–240, 247–249 }} The Śramaṇa movement gave rise to diverse range of heterodox beliefs, ranging from accepting or denying the concept of soul, atomism, antinomian ethics, materialism, atheism, agnosticism, fatalism to free will, idealisation of extreme asceticism to that of family life, strict ahimsa (non-violence) and vegetarianism to the permissibility of violence and meat-eating.{{cite book |first=Padmanabh S. |last=Jaini |year=2001 |title=Collected papers on Buddhist Studies |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-8120817760 |pages=57–77 }} Magadha kingdom was the nerve centre of this revolution.

Jainism was revived and re-established after Mahavira, the last and the 24th Tirthankara, who synthesised and revived the philosophies and promulgations of the ancient Śramaṇic traditions laid down by the first Jain tirthankara Rishabhanatha millions of years ago.{{cite book|last=Patel|first=Haresh|title=Thoughts from the Cosmic Field in the Life of a Thinking Insect [A Latter-Day Saint]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SXgEfiNY46sC&pg=PA271|year=2009|publisher=Strategic Book Publishing|isbn=978-1-60693-846-1|page=271}} Buddha founded Buddhism which received royal patronage in the kingdom.

File:Magadha kingdom Circa 430-320s BC AR Karshapana.jpg

File:Magadha kingdom coin Circa 350 BC AR Karshapana.jpg

File:Mauryan Empire. Circa late 4th-2nd century BC.jpg, circa 315-310 B.C.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=335378|title=Auction 396. INDIA, Mauryan Empire , Karshapana (14mm, 3.32 g). circa 315-310 BC|website=www.cngcoins.com|access-date=24 April 2024}}]]

According to Indologist Johannes Bronkhorst, the culture of Magadha was in fundamental ways different from the Vedic kingdoms of the Indo-Aryans. According to Bronkhorst, the śramana culture arose in "Greater Magadha," which was Indo-Aryan, but not Vedic. In this culture, Kshatriyas were placed higher than Brahmins, and it rejected Vedic authority and rituals.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2007|p={{page needed|date=April 2022}}}}{{Cite book |last=Long |first=Jeffery D. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/608555139 |title=Jainism : an introduction |date=2009 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-4416-3839-7 |location=London |oclc=608555139}} He argues for a cultural area termed "Greater Magadha", defined as roughly the geographical area in which the Buddha and Mahavira lived and taught.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2007|p={{page needed|date=April 2022}}}} {{cite journal |last=Witzel |first=Michael |title=Macrocosm, Mesocosm, and Microcosm: The Persistent Nature of 'Hindu' Beliefs and Symbolic Forms |journal=International Journal of Hindu Studies |volume=1 |issue=3 |year=1997 |pages=501–539 |doi=10.1007/s11407-997-0021-x |jstor=20106493 |s2cid=144673508 }}

With regard to the Buddha, this area stretched by and large from Śrāvastī, the capital of Kosala, in the north-west to Rājagṛha, the capital of Magadha, in the south-east".{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2007 |pp=xi, 4}} According to Bronkhorst, "there was indeed a culture of Greater Magadha which remained recognizably distinct from Vedic culture until the time of the grammarian Patañjali (ca. 150 BCE) and beyond".{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2007|p=265}} The Buddhologist Alexander Wynne writes that there is an "overwhelming amount of evidence" to suggest that this rival culture to the Vedic Aryans dominated the eastern Gangetic plain during the early Buddhist period. Orthodox Vedic Brahmins were, therefore, a minority in Magadha during this early period.{{Cite web |url=https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=31537|title=Review of Bronkhorst, Johannes, Greater Magadha: Studies in the Culture of Early India|last=Wynne|first=Alexander|date=2011|website=H-Buddhism|access-date=25 August 2019}}

The Magadhan religions are termed the sramana traditions and include Jainism, Buddhism and Ājīvika. Buddhism and Jainism were the religions promoted by the early Magadhan kings, such as Srenika, Bimbisara and Ajatashatru, and the Nanda Dynasty (345–321 BCE) that followed was mostly Jain. These Sramana religions did not worship the Vedic deities, instead of practising some form of asceticism and meditation (jhana) and tending to construct round burial mounds (called stupas in Buddhism).{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2007|p=265}} These religions also sought some type of liberation from the cyclic rounds of rebirth and karmic retribution through spiritual knowledge.

File:Bodh gaya before restoration.jpg at Bodh Gaya prior to its restoration]]

Among the Buddhist sites currently found in the Magadha region include two UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya{{cite book|author=K.T.S. Sarao|title=The History of Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5n9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA66|date=16 September 2020|publisher=Springer Nature|isbn=9789811580673|pages=66–}} and the Nalanda monastery.{{cite book|author=Pintu Kumar|title=Buddhist Learning in South Asia: Education, Religion, and Culture at the Ancient Sri Nalanda Mahavihara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wlZWDwAAQBAJ|date=7 May 2018|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-1-4985-5493-0}} The Mahabodhi temple is one of the most important places of pilgrimage in the Buddhist world and is said to mark the site where the Buddha attained enlightenment.{{cite book|author1=David Geary|author2=Matthew R. Sayers|author3=Abhishek Singh Amar|title=Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on a Contested Buddhist Site: Bodh Gaya Jataka|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=izcenGMBfsoC|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-68452-1|pages=18–21}}

{{Main|Magadhi Prakrit}}

{{See also|Ardhamagadhi Prakrit}}

Beginning in the Theravada commentaries, the Pali language has been identified with Magadhi, the language of the kingdom of Magadha, and this was taken to also be the language that the Buddha used during his life. In the 19th century, the British Orientalist Robert Caesar Childers argued that the true or geographical name of the Pali language was Magadhi Prakrit, and that because pāḷi means "line, row, series", the early Buddhists extended the meaning of the term to mean "a series of books", so pāḷibhāsā means "language of the texts".A Dictionary of the Pali Language By Robert Cæsar Childers Nonetheless, Pali does retain some eastern features that have been referred to as Māgadhisms.{{cite book|author=Rupert Gethin|title=Sayings of the Buddha: New Translations from the Pali Nikayas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AvogpRk9-5wC|date=9 October 2008|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-283925-1|pages=xxiv }}

Magadhi Prakrit was one of the three dramatic prakrits to emerge following the decline of Sanskrit. It was spoken in Magadha and neighbouring regions and later evolved into modern eastern Indo-Aryan languages like Magahi, Maithili and Bhojpuri.{{Cite book|last=Beames|first=John|url=http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ref/id/CBO9781139208871|title=Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India: To Wit, Hindi, Panjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, and Bangali|date=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-20887-1|location=Cambridge|doi=10.1017/cbo9781139208871.003}}

File:Mahavir.jpg, who was born in Magadha to a royal family ]]

Important people from the region of Magadha include:

• Śāriputra — born to a wealthy Brahmin in a village located near Rājagaha in Magadha. He is considered the first of the Buddha's two chief male disciples, together with Maudgalyāyana.{{cite journal |last1=Prasad |first1=Chandra Shekhar |title=Nalanda vis-à-vis the Birthplace of Śāriputra |journal=East and West |year=1988 |volume=38 |issue=1/4 |pages=175–188 |jstor=29756860 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29756860}}
• Maudgalyāyana — born in the village of Kolita in Magadha. He was one of the Buddha's two main disciples. In his youth, he was a spiritual wanderer before meeting the Buddha.{{cite book|author=Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekera|title=Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Au_lIP1ZnQC&pg=PA403|year=2007|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|isbn=978-81-208-3022-6|pages=403–404}}
• Mahavira — the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism. Born into a royal kshatriya family in what is now Vaishali district of Bihar. He abandoned all worldly possessions at the age of 30 and became an ascetic. He is considered a slightly older contemporary of the Buddha.{{cite book|author=Romesh Chunder Dutt|title=A History of Civilisation in Ancient India: Based on Sanscrit Literature: Volume I|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udv7AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA382|date=5 November 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-38189-8|pages=382–383}}

• Greater Magadha
• History of India
• Magadha–Vajji war
• Magadha–Anga war
• Avanti–Magadhan War
• List of Indian monarchs
• Timeline of Indian history
• Magahi culture
• Magahi language

{{reflist}}

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• {{cite book |last=Bronkhorst |first=Johannes |title=Greater Magadha: studies in the culture of early India |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden; Boston |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-04-15719-4 |oclc=608455986 |url= http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Greater%20Magadha%20Studies%20in%20the%20Culture%20of%20Early%20India_Bronkhorst.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150911082421/http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Greater%20Magadha%20Studies%20in%20the%20Culture%20of%20Early%20India_Bronkhorst.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= 11 September 2015 |series=Handbook of oriental studies. Section two, India |volume=19 |issn=0169-9377}}
• {{citation |last=Singh |first=Upinder |author-link=Upinder Singh |title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pq2iCwAAQBAJ |publisher=Pearson |year=2016 |isbn=978-81-317-1677-9 |ref={{sfnref|Upinder Singh|2016}} }}

{{refend}}

{{Tribes and kingdoms of the Mahabharata}}

{{Empires}}

{{Mahajanapada}}

{{Middle kingdoms of India}}

{{Magadh Division topics}}

{{coord missing|Bihar}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Historical regions of North India|state=expanded}}

Category:6th-century disestablishments in India

Category:Buddhist dynasties of India

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Category:Iron Age cultures of South Asia

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Category:Kingdoms in the Mahabharata

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Category:Magahi language

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