Ashmaka

Also called: Assaka · Topic: Janapadas, Mahajanapadas and the Second Urbanisation · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 4 "New Beginnings: Cities and States"

Meaning

Ashmaka (also called Assaka) was one of the sixteen mahajanapadas, the large states of c. 600 BCE. It lay on the river Godavari, south of the Vindhya hills. That made it the southernmost of the sixteen states. Exam questions use it to mark the southern limit of the mahajanapada world. The Gandhara state in the northwest and Anga in the east mark the other limits.

Example

Early Buddhist texts place Assaka on the Godavari, with its capital at Potana (also written Podana), in c. 6th century BCE. It is the only one of the sixteen states that lay south of the Vindhyas.

Don't confuse with

• Avanti: Avanti was also in central India, but it lay north of the Vindhyas, in Malwa (Madhya Pradesh), with Ujjayini as its capital. Ashmaka lay further south, on the Godavari.

Related concepts

• Mahajanapada
• Gandhara
• Kuru
• Kosala
• Prasenajit
• Vatsa
• Udayana of Vatsa
• Kaushambi
• Avanti
• Pradyota of Avanti

Read more

• The sixteen mahajanapadas