Udayin
Also called: Udayabhadra · Topic: Janapadas, Mahajanapadas and the Second Urbanisation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Udayin, also called Udayabhadra, was a king of Magadha and the son of Ajatashatru. According to tradition, he built a fort at the village of Pataligrama, where the Ganga and Son rivers meet. Tradition says he also made it the capital of Magadha. Pataligrama grew into Pataliputra, present-day Patna. The site mattered because it controlled the routes along the Ganga. Note: Class 12 NCERT places the move of the capital from Rajagaha to Pataliputra in the fourth century BCE, so the link to Udayin is tradition, not proven fact.
Example
Under the Nandas and later the Mauryas, Pataliputra became the centre of India's first empire. Tradition traces the city's start back to Udayin's fort.
Don't confuse with
- Udayana: a king of Vatsa, whose capital was Kaushambi, near present-day Prayagraj. He ruled a different mahajanapada and was not a king of Magadha.
Related concepts
- Rise of Magadha
- Magadha
- Haryanka dynasty
- Bimbisara
- Ajatashatru
- Rajagaha
- Cyclopean wall of Rajgir
- Pataliputra
- Shishunaga dynasty
- Mahapadma Nanda