Ajatashatru

Also called: Ajatasattu · Topic: Janapadas, Mahajanapadas and the Second Urbanisation · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 5 "The Rise of Empires"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"

Meaning

Ajatashatru (Prakrit: Ajatasattu) was a king of Magadha in the 5th century BCE. He belonged to the Haryanka dynasty and was the son of Bimbisara. He seized the throne by killing his father. He then strengthened Rajagriha and built a small fort at Pataligrama on the Ganga, which later grew into Pataliputra. [2][4]

• Why he matters: early Buddhist and Jaina writers name him as one of the "ruthlessly ambitious kings" who made Magadha the strongest of the sixteen mahajanapadas.
• Why his fort matters: the fort at Pataligrama became the seed of Pataliputra, the later capital of the Mauryas and the Guptas.

Explanation

Background: the kingdom he took over

• Magadha (present-day Bihar) became the most powerful of the sixteen mahajanapadas (large early states) between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.
• His father Bimbisara ruled c. 543–491 BCE. [3]
• Bimbisara conquered Anga, the land east of Magadha.
• This opened the way to the Ganga delta and its sea trade.

• He also built up the city of Rajagriha. [3]

• So Ajatashatru took over a kingdom that was already growing. It had rich farmland, iron ore from nearby Jharkhand, war elephants from the forests, and the Ganga for cheap transport.

How he came to power

• Patricide. Ajatashatru took the throne by killing his father, Bimbisara. Patricide means killing one's own father. [2][4]
• Buddhist and Jaina writers use this story to show how ruthless Magadha's kings were in their drive for power.

What he did as king

• Finished his father's plans. In about 30 years of rule he carried out what Bimbisara had planned. [2][4]
• Made the old capital stronger. He strengthened the defences of Rajagriha, the hill-ringed first capital. [2][4]
• Built a fort at Pataligrama. He built a small fort on the Ganga at Pataligrama, a village on the river. [2][4]
• A fort on the river let Magadha control boats, trade and troop movement along the Ganga.

• Buddhist texts say the fort was built to face the Vajjis. The Vajjis were a group of clans, led by the Licchavis of Vaishali, who lived across the river.

• Wars with neighbours. According to Buddhist and Jaina traditions, he fought Koshala (Kosala) and the Vajji confederacy (a union of clans) and pushed Magadha's power further.

• Ministers mattered too. The early texts praise kings and their ministers. Buddhist tradition names his minister Vassakara among those who carried out his policy against the Vajjis.

Results

• The capital moved. His son Udayin (Udaya) is said to have made the Pataligrama site the capital. It grew into Pataliputra, present-day Patna. [7]
• A platform for empire. After the Haryanka kings (Bimbisara, Ajatashatru) came the Shaishunaga kings and then the Nanda kings, and all of them ruled from Magadha. The Mauryas later built India's first empire on this base. [2][6]
• Link with Buddhism. He was a king of the Buddha's time. The Sutta Pitaka records him visiting the Buddha and describing what other teachers had told him. Tradition says the First Buddhist Council met at Rajagriha in his reign, soon after the Buddha died.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: 5th century BCE. He ruled for about 30 years, but the exact years are not certain. [2][4]
• Dynasty: Haryanka. The order is Bimbisara → Ajatashatru → Udayin. [2][6]
• Region: Magadha, in what is now west-central Bihar. [2]
• Key sites:
• Rajagaha / Rajagriha (present-day Rajgir, Bihar). This was the first capital, a fortified city ringed by hills. The name means "house of the king".
• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) protects the walls of old and new Rajgriha, which are two separate ancient walled cities. Rajgir is about 110 km south-east of Patna. [5][8]

• Pataligrama grew into Pataliputra (present-day Patna). Ajatashatru's fort stood here. [4][7]

• Key people: Bimbisara (his father), Udayin (his son), the Buddha, and the minister Vassakara (in Buddhist tradition).

• How we know:
• Buddhist texts. The Sutta Pitaka records his talk with the Buddha about other teachers, such as Makkhali Gosala and Ajita Kesakambalin.
• Jaina texts, which also describe him as a powerful, ambitious Magadhan king.

• Archaeology: the protected walls of old and new Rajgriha. [8]

• Dating caution: NCERT dates the shift of capital to Pataliputra to the fourth century BCE. Britannica places the fort at Pataligrama in the 5th century BCE and the capital there by about 475 BCE. [6][7] Use the NCERT date in the exam.

Don't confuse with

• Bimbisara was Ajatashatru's father. He conquered Anga and built up Rajagriha. [3] Ajatashatru strengthened Rajagriha and built the Pataligrama fort.
• Udayin (Udaya) was Ajatashatru's son. He is credited with making Pataliputra the capital. [7] Ajatashatru only built the fort there.
• Mahapadma Nanda was also named by Buddhist and Jaina writers as an ambitious Magadhan king. However, he belonged to the later Nanda dynasty, not the Haryanka dynasty.
• Ajatashatru of Kashi is a philosopher-king who appears in the Upanishads. He is a different person from the Magadhan king with the same name.

Prelims Hooks

• Ajatashatru was the son of Bimbisara. He came to the throne by killing his father. [2][4]
• Ajatashatru built a small fort on the Ganga at Pataligrama. This later became Pataliputra (Patna). [2][4]
• Order of succession: Bimbisara → Ajatashatru → Udayin, all of the Haryanka dynasty. Udayin made Pataliputra the capital. [7]
• The three kings named by early Buddhist and Jaina writers are Bimbisara, Ajatasattu and Mahapadma Nanda.
• Ajatashatru strengthened the defences of Rajagriha (Rajgir). The ASI protects the walls of old and new Rajgriha. [4][8]
• Trap: Ajatashatru built the fort at Pataligrama, but it was his son Udayin who made it the capital. [7]

Mains Points

• Agency in Magadha's rise. Modern historians explain Magadha's rise by resources: farm surplus, iron, elephants and the Ganga. Buddhist and Jaina writers explain it by kings like Ajatashatru and their ministers. A good answer uses both: resources gave Magadha the chance, and ambitious kings used it.
• From defence to expansion. Ajatashatru did two things that point in different directions:
• He strengthened Rajagriha, a defensive capital protected by hills.
• He built the Pataligrama fort, a river base that faced outward, towards the Ganga and the Vajjis.

• Together these mark the start of Magadha's shift from guarding itself to spreading its power. That shift led to Pataliputra and finally to the Mauryan empire. [2][4][6]

• Kings and religion. The Sutta Pitaka shows Ajatashatru asking the Buddha about other teachers. This shows that the new kings of the Second Urbanisation (the second growth of cities in India) patronised and argued with new religious teachers. These sramana groups (wandering teachers outside the Vedic tradition), such as Buddhists and Jainas, also wrote much of the history we have of these kings.

Related concepts

• Rise of Magadha
• Magadha
• Haryanka dynasty
• Bimbisara
• Udayin
• Rajagaha
• Cyclopean wall of Rajgir
• Pataliputra
• Shishunaga dynasty
• Mahapadma Nanda

Read more

• First amongst the sixteen: the rise of Magadha