History (Ancient India History :- Mahajanapadas & Rise Of Magadha)

Ancient India History :- Mahajanapadas & Rise Of MagadhaMahajanapadas- Budhhist literature Angutara Nikaya gives a list of 16 great kingdoms or Mahajanapadas in the begining of 6th century B.C- Major reason of the formation of Janapadas was use of Iron tools for agricultural & military purposes- In course of time small or weak kingdoms either submitted to stronger rulers or got eliminated. Finally in 6th century BC only 4 major kingdoms survived: *Vatsa  *Avanti  *Magadha  *KosalaVatsa *Shifted kuru clan with capital Kaushambi *Most powerful ruler was Udayana *After his death Vatsa was annexed to AvantiAvanti *Most important ruler was Pradyota  *Patronized Buddhism  *Finally was annexed to MagadhaKosala *Most famous ruler was Prasenjit whose sister was married to Bimbisara  *Prasenjit gave Kasi as dowry to Magadha  *After his death Kosala became part of MagadhaMagadha *Most powerful kingdom of north India & founded by Jarasangha *Famous rulers were *Bimbisara, Ajatashatru →(Haryankas)  *Shishunaga  *NandasMahajanapadas :- CapitalKamboja :- RajpuraGandhar :- TaxilaSurasena :- MathuraMatsya :- ViratVatsa :- KaushambiChedis :- ShuktimatiKasi :- VaranasiAvanti     Ujjain & MahismatiKuru :- Hatinapur & IndraprasthaPanchala :- Kampilya & AhichattraKosala :- Ayodhya & SravastiMallas :- Pava & KusinagarVajjis :- VaishaliAnga :- ChampaMagadha :- RajgirAsmaka :- PotanaRise of MagadhaShishunagas *Temporary shifted the capital to Vaishali  *Defeated Avanti & bought end to 100 year old rivalry *Transferred capital from Vaishali to PatliputraMahapadmananda *Known as Ekarat (sole king who destroy others)  *Conquered Kalinga & bought image of Jina as trophy *Hathigumpha inscription of kharavela King (Kalinga) refers to conquest of Kalinga by NandasDhanananda *Last ruler of Nanda dynasty  *During his reign, Alexander invaded India but did not move ahead to east (Nanda’s Power)  *Chandragupta Maurya & Kautilya overthrew him as oppressive way of tax collection was already resented by peopleCause of Magadha’s Success *Advantageous geographical position & rich iron ores of Rajgir  *Capitals: Rajgir (Surrounded by 5 hills) + Patliputra (Surrounded by Ganga, Gandhak, Son & Ghagra river → True Jaladurga) *Magadha → 1st used elephants in war against enemies