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29-591: The Janapadas ( lit.   ' Foothold of the people ' ) ( pronounced [dʑɐnɐpɐdɐ] ) (c. 1100–600 BCE) were the realms , republics (ganapada) and kingdoms (sāmarājya) of the Vedic period in the Indian subcontinent . The Vedic period reaches from the late Bronze Age into the Iron Age : from about 1500 BCE to the 6th century BCE. With the rise of sixteen Mahajanapadas ("great janapadas"), most of

58-443: A battle, lasting for a day. The defeated king would acknowledge the supremacy of the victorious king. The defeated king might sometimes be asked to give a tribute to the victorious king. Such tribute would be collected only once, not on a periodic basis. The defeated king, in most cases, would be free to rule his own kingdom, without maintaining any contact with the victorious king. There was no annexation of one kingdom by another. Often

87-674: A body or organization involved in the promotion of fine arts such as Carnatic music , Bharatanatyam , Drama among numerous other arts. These Sabhas are concentrated mostly in and around Mylapore in Chennai and are instrumental in ensuring that connoisseurs (known as Rasikaas ) from all parts of the world are treated with variety during the Music and Dance Season of Maargazhi (December / January mostly). The term Sabha has also given rise to modern terms of Parliament of India , such as Lok Sabha (Lower House) and Rajya Sabha (Upper House), and

116-571: A double meaning of "realm, territory" and "subject population" (cf. Hittite pedan , "place"). Linguist George Dunkel compares the Greek andrapodon "slave", to PIE *pédom "fetters" (i.e. "what is attached to the feet"). Sanskrit padám , usually taken to mean "footprint, trail", diverges in accent from the PIE reconstruction. For the sense of "population of the land", padasya janas , the inverted padajana would be expected. A primary meaning of "place of

145-529: A generation. The Kuru clan of Kings was very successful in governing throughout North India with their numerous kingdoms, which were formed after each successive generation. Similarly, the Yadava clan of kings formed numerous kingdoms in Central India. Parts of western India were dominated by tribes who had a slightly different culture, considered non-Vedic by the mainstream Vedic culture prevailing in

174-424: A military general ( senapati ) conducted these campaigns on behalf of his king. A military campaign and tribute collection was often associated with a great sacrifice (like Rajasuya or Ashvamedha ) conducted in the kingdom of the campaigning king. The defeated king also was invited to attend these sacrifice ceremonies, as a friend and ally. New kingdoms were formed when a major clan produced more than one king in

203-557: Is pre-eminent or dominant, e.g., "Shakespeare's realm was English drama," or "A lion's realm is the jungle". Sabh%C4%81 A sabhā or sabhaa in Ancient India was an assembly, congregation, or council. Personified as a deity, Sabhā is a daughter of Prajapati in the Atharvaveda . In Epic Sanskrit , the term refers also to an assembly hall or council-chamber, and to a hostel, eating-house, or gambling-house. While

232-705: The Kuru and Panchala kingdoms. Similarly, there were some tribes in the eastern regions of India considered to be in this category. Tribes with non-Vedic culture — especially those of barbaric nature — were collectively termed as Mleccha . Very little was mentioned in the ancient Indian literature about the kingdoms to the North, beyond the Himalayas . China was mentioned as a kingdom known as Cina , often grouped with Mleccha kingdoms. The Vedas mention five sub-divisions of ancient India: The Vedic literature mentions

261-533: The Vedic samhitas , the term jana denotes a tribe, whose members believed in a shared ancestry. The janas were headed by a king ( raja ). The council (s amiti) was a common assembly of the jana members, and had the power to elect or dethrone the king. The s abha was a smaller assembly of wise elders, who advised the king. The janas were originally semi-nomadic pastoral communities, but gradually came to be associated with specific territories as they became less mobile. Various kula s (clans) developed within

290-554: The Latin verb regere , which means ' to rule ' . Thus the literal meaning of the word realm is ' the territory of a ruler ' , traditionally a monarch (emperor, king, grand duke, prince, etc.). "Realm" is particularly used for those states whose name includes the word kingdom (for example, the United Kingdom ), as elegant variation , to avoid clumsy repetition of the word in a sentence (for example, "The King's realm,

319-530: The United Kingdom..."). It is also useful to describe those countries whose monarchs are called something other than "king" or "queen"; for example, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a realm but not a kingdom , since its monarch holds the title Grand Duke rather than King. The term may commonly be used to describe any of the " Commonwealth realms ", which are kingdoms in their own right and share

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348-465: The capital of Pandava's kingdom was Indraprastha and the Kaurava's kingdom was Hastinapura . Ahichatra was the capital of Northern Panchala whereas Kampilya was the capital of Southern Panchala. Kosala had its capital at Ayodhya . Apart from the main city or capital, where the palace of the ruling king was situated, there were small towns and villages spread throughout the kingdom, from which tax

377-402: The classification of certain janapadas as southern or northern. The Buddhist canonical texts - Anguttara Nikaya , Digha Nikaya , Chulla-Niddesa , although with some differences between them, primarily refer to the following 16 mahajanapadas ("great janapadas"): The Jain text Vyākhyāprajñapti or Bhagavati Sutra also mentions 16 important janapadas, but many names differ from

406-521: The contemporary society was divided into the four varnas (besides the avarna or outcastes), and the Kshatriya ruling class had all the political rights. Not all the citizens in a janapada had political rights. Based on Gautama's Dharmasutra , Jayaswal theorized that the low-caste shudras could be members of the Paura assembly. According to A. S. Altekar , this theory is based on a misunderstanding of

435-742: The following jana s or janapada s: The Puranas mention seven sub-divisions of ancient India: According to research by political scientist Sudama Misra, the Puranic texts mention the following janapada s: The Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata mentions around 230 janapadas, while the Ramayana mentions only a few of these. Unlike the Puranas, the Mahabharata does not specify any geographical divisions of ancient India, but does support

464-472: The following assemblies in addition to the king: Some historians have also theorized that there was a common assembly called the "Paura-Janapada", but others such as Ram Sharan Sharma disagree with this theory. The existence of Paura and Janapada itself is a controversial matter. Indian nationalist historians such as K. P. Jayaswal have argued that the existence of such assemblies is evidence of prevalence of democracy in ancient India. V. B. Misra notes that

493-410: The jana, each with its own chief. Gradually, the necessities of defence and warfare prompted the janas to form military groupings headed by janapadin s ( Kshatriya warriors). This model ultimately evolved into the establishment of political units known as the janapadas. While some of the janas evolved into their own janapadas, others appear to have mixed together to form a common Janapada. According to

522-416: The literary evidence. For example, Jayaswal has wrongly translated the word "amantra" in a Ramayana verse as "to offer advice"; it actually means "to bid farewell" in proper context. There was no border security for a kingdom and border disputes were very rare. One king might conduct a military campaign (often designated as Digvijaya meaning conquest of the four directions ) and defeat another king in

551-522: The ones mentioned in the Buddhist texts. Realms The Old French word reaume , modern French royaume , was the word first adopted in English; the fixed modern spelling does not appear until the beginning of the 17th century. The word supposedly derives from medieval Latin regalimen , from regalis , of or belonging to a rex ' king ' . The word rex itself is derived from

580-459: The people", janasya padam , would not explain why the compound is of masculine gender. An original dvandva "land and people" is conceivable, but a dual inflection would be expected. Literary evidence suggests that the janapadas flourished between 1100 BCE and 500 BCE. The earliest mention of the term "janapada" occurs in the Aitareya (8.14.4) and Shatapatha (13.4.2.17) Brahmana texts. In

609-489: The political scientist Sudama Misra, the name of the Panchala janapada suggests that it was a fusion of five ( pancha ) janas. Some janas (such as Aja and Mutiba) mentioned in the earliest texts do not find a mention in the later texts. Misra theorizes that these smaller janas were conquered by and assimilated into the larger janas. Janapadas were gradually dissolved around 500 BCE. Their disestablishment can be attributed to

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638-571: The rise of imperial powers (such as Magadha ) in Northern India, as well as foreign invasions (such as those by the Persians and the Greeks ) in the north-western South Asia. The Janapada were highest political unit in Northern India during this period; these polities were usually monarchical (though some followed a form of republicanism) and succession was hereditary. The head of a kingdom

667-604: The same person as monarch, though they are fully independent of each other. More broadly, a "realm" may encompass territories that are subject to a monarch, yet are not a physical part of his or her "kingdom"; for example, the Cook Islands and Niue are considered parts of the Realm of New Zealand , although they are not part of New Zealand proper. Realm may also be used metaphorically to refer to an area of knowledge, expertise or habitat within which an individual or denizen

696-403: The states were annexed by more powerful neighbours, although some remained independent. The Sanskrit term janapada is a tatpurusha compound term, composed of two words: jana and padna . Jana means "go" or "do your business" (cf. Latin cognate genus , English cognate kin ). The word pada means "foot" (cf. Latin cognate pedis ); from its earliest attestation, the word has had

725-538: The term Jansabha refers to large public gathering. The Mahabharata , Book 2, has a Sabha Parva or Sabha episode, which describes the sabha under King Yudhishthira . Monier-Williams compares the word to Old English sibb "clan" (Old High German sippa ), in Modern English surviving in the term gossip (from god-sib ). A sabhā in south India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, popularly refers to

754-476: The text: the term "Paura" in the relevant portion of the Dharmasutra refers to a resident of the city, not a member of the city assembly. Jayaswal also argued that the members of the supposed Paura-Janapada assembly acted as counselors to the king, and made other important decisions such as imposing taxes in times of emergency. Once again, Altekar argued that these conclusions are based on misinterpretations of

783-510: The western ( Pandava 's kingdom) and eastern ( Kaurava 's kingdom) Kuru . Sometimes, large forests, which were larger than the kingdoms themselves, formed their boundaries as was the case of Naimisha Forest , the Naimisha Aranyam between Panchala and Kosala kingdoms. Mountain ranges like Himalaya , Vindhyachal and Sahyadri also formed their boundaries. Some kingdoms possessed a main city that served as its capital. For example,

812-415: Was a king ( raja ). A chief priest ( purohita ) and a commander of the army ( senani ) who would assist the king. There were also two other political bodies: the ( samiti ), thought to be a council of elders and the sabhā , a general assembly of the entire people. Often rivers formed the boundaries of two neighboring kingdoms, as was the case between the northern and southern Panchala and between

841-461: Was collected by officers appointed by the king. What the king offered in return was protection from attack by other kings and bandit tribes, as well as from invading foreign nomadic tribes. The king also enforced law and order in his kingdom by punishing the guilty. The Janapadas had Kshatriya rulers. Based on literary references, historians have theorized that the Janapadas were administered by

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