page_title: Mahajanapadas
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Mahajanapadas / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: This artefact resides at the Government Museum, (hi: Rashtriya Sangrahalaya) formerly The Curzon Museum of Archaeology, Museum Road or Murari Lal Rajpal road, Dampier Nagar, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India. This museum is administrating by the State Government of Uttar Pradesh of India. Camera location27°&#160;29′&#160;43.97″&#160;N, 77°&#160;40′&#160;45.24″&#160;E&#160;View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap - Google Earth
context_page_description: The Mahājanapadas were sixteen kingdoms or oligarchic republics that existed in Northern ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE during the second urbanisation period.
  The 6th–5th centuries BCE is often regarded as a major turning point in early Indian history; during this period India's first large cities arose after the demise of the Indus Valley Civilization. It was also the time of the rise of sramana movements, which challenged the religious orthodoxy of the Vedic Period.
  Two of the Mahājanapadas were most probably ganatantras and others had forms of monarchy. Ancient Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya make frequent reference to sixteen great kingdoms and republics which had developed and flourished in a belt stretching from Gandhara in the northwest to Anga in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. They included parts of the trans-Vindhyan region, and all had developed prior to the rise of Buddhism in India.
  Archaeologically, this period has been identified as corresponding in part to the Northern Black Polished Ware culture.
context_section_description: The term "Janapada" literally means the foothold of a people. The fact that Janapada is derived from Jana points to an early stage of land-taking by the Jana people for a settled way of life. This process of settlement on land had completed its final stage prior to the times of the Buddha and Pāṇini. The Pre-Buddhist north-west region of the Indian sub-continent was divided into several Janapadas, demarcated from each other by boundaries. In Pāṇini's "Ashtadhyayi", Janapada stands for country and Janapadin for its citizenry. Each of these Janapadas was named after the Kshatriya people (or the Kshatriya Jana) who had settled therein. Buddhist and other texts only incidentally refer to sixteen great nations (Solasa Mahajanapadas) that existed prior to the time of the Buddha. They do not give any connected history except in the case of Magadha. The Buddhist Anguttara Nikaya, at several places, gives a list of sixteen great nations:
  Anga
  Assaka (or Asmaka)
  Avanti
  Chedi
  Gandhara
  Kashi
  Kamboja
  Kosala
  Kuru
  Magadha
  Malla
  Machcha (or Matsya)
  Panchala
  Surasena
  Vriji
  Vatsa (or Vamsa)
  Another Buddhist text, the Digha Nikaya, mentions twelve Mahajanapadas from the above list and omits four of them (Assaka, Avanti, Gandhara, and Kamboja).
  Chulla-Niddesa, another ancient text of the Buddhist canon, adds Kalinga to the list and substitutes Yona for Gandhara, thus listing the Kamboja and the Yona as the only Mahajanapadas from Uttarapatha.
  The Vyākhyāprajñapti (or the Bhagavati Sutra), a sutra of Jainism, gives a different list of sixteen Mahajanapadas:
  Anga
  Banga (Vanga)
  Magadha
  Malaya
  Malavaka
  Accha
  Vaccha
  Kochcha
  Padha
  Ladha (Lata)
  Bajji (Vajji)
  Moli (Malla)
  Kasi
  Kosala
  Avaha
  Sambhuttara
  The author of the Bhagavati Sutra (or the Vyākhyāprajñapti) has a focus on the countries of Madhydesa and of the far east and south only. He omits the nations from Uttarapatha like the Kamboja and Gandhara. The more extended horizon of the Bhagvati and the omission of all countries from Uttarapatha "clearly shows that the Bhagvati list is of later origin and therefore less reliable."
caption: Pottery of the Northern Black Polished Ware culture (c. 500-200 BCE)
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