page_title: Mahajanapadas
hierarchical_section_title: Mahajanapadas
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of places mentioned in ancient Buddhist Texts (like Anguttara Nikaya), Ramayana and Mahabharata. Sources: (2005) The Hindu Equilibrium: India C.1500 B.C. - 2000 A.D., Oxford University Press, p.&#160;xxxviii ISBN&#58; 978-0-19-927579-3.&#32; Approximate boundaries are described by H.C. Raychaudhuri (p. 96-150), and https://books.google.com/books?id=8qvY8pxVxcwC&amp;pg=PA386 Habib, Irfan, and Habib, Faiz (1995). "A Map of India 600-320 B.C." in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 56, pp. 95–104. www.jstor.org/stable/44158590 Kenoyer, J. M. (1995), “Interaction Systems, Specialised Crafts and Culture Change: The Indus Valley Tradition and the Indo-Gangetic Tradition in South Asia”, in G. Erdosy, The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture, and Ethnicity, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, ISBN&#160;9783110144475 Raychaudhuri, H.C. (1972), Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty, Calcutta: University of Calcutta. Schwartzberg, J. E. (1992), A Historical Atlas of South Asia: University of Oxford Press Singh, U. (2009), A History of Ancient and Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, Delhi: Longman, ISBN&#160;978-81-317-1677-9 Background from http://www2.demis.nl/mapserver/mapper.asp Made with GIMP
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 Mahājanapadas (Sanskrit: महाजनपद, lit. 'great realm', from maha, "great", and janapada "foothold of a people") 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 (including Buddhism and Jainism), which challenged the religious orthodoxy of the Vedic Period.
  Two of the Mahājanapadas were most probably ganatantras (oligarchic republics) 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.
caption: Map of the 16 Mahājanapadas.[1]
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