Mahajanapada

Also called: Sixteen mahajanapadas · Topic: Janapadas, Mahajanapadas and the Second Urbanisation · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 4 "New Beginnings: Cities and States"; Class 7, Ch 5 "The Rise of Empires"; Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"

Meaning

A mahajanapada ("great janapada") was one of the large states of north India, c. 6th century BCE. Each one grew when smaller janapadas joined together or conquered their neighbours. Early Buddhist and Jaina texts say there were sixteen, but their lists do not match. Names that come up again and again are Vajji, Magadha, Koshala, Kuru, Panchala, Gandhara and Avanti. Most of them had a walled capital.

This is where large states began in India. Here kings and councils of chiefs first collected taxes, paid armies and built walled cities. In the end one of these states, Magadha, grew into an empire.

Explanation

From janapada to mahajanapada: background and causes

• A janapada was the land where a jana (a people or clan) settled.
• By the 8th–7th centuries BCE, some janapadas grew into larger units, in two ways:
• Some joined together.

• Others swallowed their neighbours.

• Why the Ganga plains? Most mahajanapadas grew here, for three reasons:

• Fertile land and more farming, so more food and more people.
• Iron ore in the nearby hills, for tools and weapons.

• New trade routes that linked the settlements.

• "Sixteen" comes from the texts. It is not a real count.

• Buddhist and Jaina lists name different states.
• There were probably a few more states.
• Many small janapadas carried on beside the big ones.

Main features: two forms of rule

• Monarchies (rule by one king): Magadha, Kosala, Avanti, Vatsa.
• Gana-sanghas (rule by a group of chiefs who decided together, not by one king): Vajji, Malla.

• This was rule by a body of chiefs. It did not mean that all the people took part.

• Fortified capitals. Most capitals were large walled cities, with three standard features:

• A fortification wall round the city.
• A moat (a wide ditch, often filled with water) outside the wall.
• Deliberately narrow gateways, so guards could check every person and cart going in or out.

The states one by one

• Magadha: a monarchy in part of today's Bihar. Its first capital was Rajagaha (Rajgir). The capital later moved to Pataliputra.

• Magadha lay in west-central Bihar. Between the 6th century BCE and the 8th century CE it was the core of several bigger kingdoms and empires [3].

• Kosala: a monarchy in part of today's Uttar Pradesh.

• Avanti: a monarchy in part of today's Madhya Pradesh. Its capital Ujjayini (Ujjain) lay on the land trade routes.
• Vatsa: a monarchy with its capital at Kaushambi, near present-day Prayagraj.
• Vajji (centre at Vaishali) and Malla: gana-sanghas.
• Outer edges of the mahajanapada world:
• Gandhara in the north-west.
• Anga in the east.
• Ashmaka in central India, near the Godavari river.

How they worked: the cost of statehood

• Walls, armies and officials all cost money.
• Running a walled city needed a steady flow of resources.

• So did paying incipient armies and bureaucracies (armies and officials that were only just taking shape).

• The Dharmasutras. From about the 6th century BCE, Brahmanas wrote these Sanskrit rule books. They laid down norms for rulers:

• Rulers should ideally be Kshatriyas.
• Taxes and tribute should be collected from cultivators, traders and artisans. We do not know whether herders and forest peoples also paid.

• Raids on neighbouring states were accepted as a proper way to get wealth.

• Two kinds of army:

• Some states kept standing armies (soldiers on permanent duty and pay) and regular bureaucracies.

• Others used a militia recruited from the peasantry (farmers called up only when war came).

• Result: many of these capitals are still living cities, such as Rajgir, Ujjain and Vaishali. Some Indian cities are about 2,500 years old.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: formed in the 8th–7th centuries BCE. They are best known from the 6th century BCE. The wider age of the second urbanisation runs from c. 1000 to 300 BCE.
• Region: mostly the Ganga plains, from Gandhara in the north-west to Anga in the east and Ashmaka near the Godavari in the south.
• Key rulers (Magadha):
• Bimbisara (c. 520–491 BCE) is linked to "New Rajagriha". Its remains lie north of the Rajgir valley [2].

• His successor Ajatashatru made the defences of Rajagriha stronger [4].

• Texts:

• Early Buddhist and Jaina texts give the list of sixteen. The Buddhist Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina Bhagavati Sutra are the usual examples.

• The Brahmanical Dharmasutras set out how rulers should rule and tax.

• Archaeology:

• Rajagriha (Rajgir), Bihar. It lies about 70 km south-east of Patna. Its outer walls can still be traced along the hilltops for over 40 km. They are about 5 m thick, made of huge undressed stones laid without mortar (no lime or cement binding them). They are usually dated to the 6th century BCE, though people lived there for centuries before that [2].
• Vaishali, Bihar. It was dug by the Archaeological Survey of India in 1950 and by the K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute in 1957–61. The layers cover roughly 500 BCE to 500 CE and show three phases of defence works. The first rampart was built of burnt brick. It rests on the layer with NBP ware (Northern Black Polished ware, a fine, shiny black pottery of this age). Later the rampart was raised with earth and ringed by a moat [7].
• Caution on Vaishali: the ASI dates the brick rampart to the Sunga period and the moat to the Kushana period. Both are later than the mahajanapada age. So the brickwork we can see today comes from a later rebuild [7].
• Kaushambi, near Prayagraj. Tradition says the capital moved from Hastinapura to Kaushambi after a great flood destroyed Hastinapura. Excavation dates that flood to about the 9th century BCE [5]. Kaushambi was excavated in 1949–50, and the Government of India has published the report [6].

Don't confuse with

• Janapada: the land where one jana (clan) settled. A mahajanapada was a bigger state formed when janapadas merged or were conquered.
• Gana-sangha vs monarchy: Vajji and Malla were ruled by a group of chiefs. Magadha, Kosala, Avanti and Vatsa each had one king. Exam questions often slip Vajji into a "monarchies" list.
• Rajagaha vs Pataliputra: Rajagaha (Rajgir) was Magadha's first capital. Pataliputra came later.
• Hastinapura vs Kaushambi: tradition says the capital moved from Hastinapura to Kaushambi, after a flood in about the 9th century BCE [5]. Kaushambi was the capital of Vatsa. Do not mix it up with Ujjayini, the capital of Avanti.

Prelims Hooks

• The sixteen mahajanapadas are named in early Buddhist and Jaina texts, and the lists differ from one another.
• Outer limits: Gandhara (north-west), Anga (east), Ashmaka (near the Godavari).
• Vajji and Malla were gana-sanghas. Magadha, Kosala, Avanti and Vatsa were monarchies.
• Capital pairs: Vatsa–Kaushambi (near Prayagraj), Avanti–Ujjayini, Magadha–Rajagaha, later Pataliputra.
• Rajgir's outer walls run over 40 km, are about 5 m thick, are made of undressed stone without mortar, and date to the 6th century BCE [2].
• Vaishali was excavated by the ASI (1950) and the K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute (1957–61). Its earliest rampart is burnt brick over the NBP ware layer [7].

Mains Points

• States need a material base.
• Fertile Ganga soil, iron from nearby hills and new trade routes produced extra food and wealth.
• That surplus paid for walls, standing armies and officials.

• Link the economic cause to the political result. Do not just list the sixteen names.

• Two political forms existed side by side.

• Monarchies (Magadha, Kosala, Avanti, Vatsa) and gana-sanghas (Vajji, Malla) grew at the same time.

• This is useful for questions on early collective decision-making in India. But note that the gana-sanghas were rule by a body of chiefs, not by all the people.

• Texts and the spade together.

• The Dharmasutras appeared just as states needed taxes and legitimacy (the right to rule). They said who should rule (Kshatriyas), who should pay (cultivators, traders, artisans), and that raiding neighbours was acceptable.
• Archaeology shows walls, moats and NBP ware at Rajgir, Vaishali and Kaushambi [2][6][7].
• Some rampart layers belong to later periods. This shows the capitals were rebuilt many times, which is also why so many are still living cities.

Related concepts

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

Read more

• The sixteen mahajanapadas