49-725: The Later Gupta dynasty , also known as the Later Guptas of Magadha , were the rulers of Magadha and Malwa from the 6th to 8th centuries CE. The Later Guptas emerged after the disintegration of the Imperial Guptas as the rulers of Magadha and Malwa however, there is no evidence to connect the two dynasties and the Later Guptas may have adopted the -gupta suffix to link themselves the Imperial Guptas. There are several important sources of information regarding
98-562: A cultural area termed " Greater Magadha ", defined as roughly the geographical area in which the Buddha and Mahavira lived and taught. With regard to the Buddha, this area stretched by and large from Śrāvastī , the capital of Kosala , in the north-west to Rājagṛha , the capital of Magadha, in the south-east". According to Bronkhorst "there was indeed a culture of Greater Magadha which remained recognizably distinct from Vedic culture until
147-495: Is inextricably linked to the uncertain chronology of the Buddha and Mahavira . According to historian K. T. S. Sarao , a proponent of the Short Chronology wherein the Buddha's lifespan was c.477–397 BCE, it can be estimated that Bimbisara was reigning c.457–405 BCE, and Ajatashatru was reigning c.405–373 BCE. According to historian John Keay , a proponent of the "Long Chronology," Bimbisara must have been reigning in
196-580: Is very vast, it can be divided into many periods as: There is much uncertainty about the succession of kings and the precise chronology of Magadha prior to Mahapadma Nanda; the accounts of various ancient texts (all of which were written many centuries later than the era in question) contradict each other on many points. Two notable rulers of Magadha were Bimbisara (also known as Shrenika ) and his son Ajatashatru (also known as Kunika ), who are mentioned in Buddhist and Jain literature as contemporaries of
245-727: The Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena , Krishnagupta's grandson Jivitagupta carried out military expeditions in the Himalayan region and southwestern Bengal . During the reign of Jivitagupta's son Kumaragupta, the dynasty developed a rivalry with the Maukharis for control of the Ganges valley . Kumaragupta defeated the Maukhari king Ishanavarman in 554 CE, and extended his territory to Prayaga . His son Damodaragupta suffered reverses against
294-523: The British Raj period, speculated on possible rulers of Kannauj during the period between Harsha and Yashovarman but there is little evidence to support his claims. Little is known of Yashovarman or his family, with most information being derived from the Gaudavaho ( Slaying of the king of Gauda ), a Prakrit-language poem written by Vakpati . Yashovarman was a supporter of culture and Vakpati
343-463: The Ganges ; its first capital was Rajagriha (modern day Rajgir ), then Pataliputra (modern Patna ). Rajagriha was initially known as 'Girivrijja' and later came to be known as so during the reign of Ajatashatru . Magadha expanded to include most of Bihar and Bengal with the conquest of Vajjika League and Anga , respectively. The kingdom of Magadha eventually came to encompass Bihar , Jharkhand, Orissa , West Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh , and
392-586: The Gaudavaho that "These exploits read more like fiction than sober history". Other early sources are the Prabhavakacarita , Prabandha Kosha and Bappabhattisuricarita , which are Jain documents. Although R. C. Majumdar is among those who are wary of the ancient accounts of conquests, he believes that Yashovarman was "unquestionably the most powerful king [in the region] about this time." He believes that diplomatic relations existed between
441-886: The Kingdom of Magadha or the Magadha Empire , was a kingdom and empire , and one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas during the Second Urbanization period, based in southern Bihar in the eastern Ganges Plain , in Ancient India . Magadha was ruled by the Brihadratha dynasty (1700-682 BCE), the Haryanka dynasty (544–413 BCE), the Shaishunaga dynasty (413–345 BCE), the Nanda dynasty (345–322 BCE),
490-756: The Mauryan dynasty (322–184 BCE), the Shunga dynasty (184–73 BCE), the Kanva dynasty (73–28 BCE), the Gupta dynasty (240-550 CE) and the Later Gupta dynasty (490–700). Kanva dynasty lost much of its territory after being defeated by the Satavahanas of Deccan in 28 BCE and was reduced to a small principality around Pataliputra . However, with the rule of Gupta Empire (240-550 CE), The Gupta Empire regained
539-523: The Nanda Empire ( c. 345 – c. 322 BCE ), Maurya Empire ( c. 322 –185 BCE), Shunga Empire ( c. 185 –78 BCE) and Gupta Empire ( c. 240 –550 CE). The Pala Empire also ruled over Magadha and maintained a royal camp in Pataliputra . The Pithipatis of Bodh Gaya referred to themselves as Magadhādipati and ruled in parts of Magadha until
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#1732775467939588-605: The Pithipatis of Bodh Gaya ruled as tributaries to Pala Empire. Several Śramaṇic movements had existed before the 6th century BCE, and these influenced both the āstika and nāstika traditions of Indian philosophy. The Śramaṇa movement gave rise to diverse range of heterodox beliefs, ranging from accepting or denying the concept of soul, atomism, antinomian ethics, materialism, atheism, agnosticism, fatalism to free will, idealization of extreme asceticism to that of family life, strict ahimsa (non-violence) and vegetarianism to
637-694: The sramana traditions and include Jainism , Buddhism and Ājīvika . Buddhism and Jainism were the religions promoted by the early Magadhan kings, such as Srenika, Bimbisara and Ajatashatru , and the Nanda Dynasty (345–321 BCE) that followed was mostly Jain. These Sramana religions did not worship the Vedic deities , practised some form of asceticism and meditation ( jhana ) and tended to construct round burial mounds (called stupas in Buddhism). These religions also sought some type of liberation from
686-642: The "Lord of Magadha". They were likely originally feudatories under the Imperial Guptas and came into possession of large territories in Magadha following the fall of the Empire. After the decline of the Gupta Empire , the Later Guptas succeeded them as the rulers of Magadha . The daughter of the dynasty's founder Krishnagupta is said to have married prince Adityavarman of the Maukhari dynasty. According to
735-496: The "archer type" and the "swordsman type". The known Later Gupta rulers include: A small kingdom that ruled the area around Lakhisarai district during the 11th and 12th centuries bore the name Gupta and have subsequently been linked as a surviving line of the Later Guptas. Evidence of their rule comes from the Panchob copper-plate inscription which was discovered in 1919. Magadha (Mahajanapada) Magadha , also called
784-627: The 13th century. The territory of the Magadha kingdom proper before its expansion was bounded to the north, west, and east respectively by the Gaṅgā , Son , and Campā rivers, and the eastern spurs of the Vindhya mountains formed its southern border. The territory of the initial Magadha kingdom thus corresponded to the modern-day Patna and Gaya districts of the Indian state of Bihar . The region of Greater Magadha also included neighbouring regions in
833-516: The Buddha and Mahavira. Later, the throne of Magadha was usurped by Mahapadma Nanda , the founder of the Nanda Dynasty ( c. 345 – c. 322 BCE ), which conquered much of north India. The Nanda dynasty was overthrown by Chandragupta Maurya , the founder of the Maurya Empire ( c. 322 –185 BCE). Furthermore, there is a "Long Chronology" and a contrasting "Short Chronology" preferred by some scholars, an issue that
882-671: The Chinese court and that in Kannuaj, evidenced by Yashovarman sending a minister to China in 731, and that he was for a time in alliance with Muktapida, with the two rulers defeating the Tibetans. These two diplomatic events may be connected because China was at that time at war with Tibet but it is also possible that the Chinese relationship grew from a shared concern about the growth of Arab power. The alliance with Muktapida collapsed around 740, according to Majumdar because of jealousy felt by
931-561: The Glory of Magadh. Under the Mauryas , Magadha became a pan-Indian empire, covering large swaths of the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan . The Magadh under the Gupta Empire emerged as the most prosperous kingdom in the history of Ancient India. Magadha played an important role in the development of Jainism and Buddhism . It was the core of four of northern India's greatest empires,
980-630: The Kashi province. Accounts differ slightly as to the cause of King Ajatashatru's war with the Licchavi , a powerful tribe north of the river Ganges . It appears that Ajatashatru sent a minister to the area who worked for three years to undermine the unity of the Licchavis. To launch his attack across the Ganges River, Ajatashatru built a fort at the town of Pataliputra . Torn by disagreements,
1029-467: The Kashmiri king. While Majumdar says that Lalitaditya then defeated Yashovarman and annexed his lands, Tripathi believes that Kalhana's account of what happened is inconsistent and that Yashovarman may have been allowed to remain on his throne after a "nominal acknowledgement of supremacy" to Lalitaditya. Little physical evidence exists of Yashovarman's reign, although he is reputed to have constructed
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#17327754679391078-717: The Later Gupta ruler Adityasena became the sovereign ruler of a large kingdom extending from the Ganges in the north to the Chhota Nagpur in the south; and from Gomati River in the west to the Bay of Bengal in the east. However, he was defeated by the Chalukyas . Jivitagupta II, the last known ruler of the dynasty, appears to have been defeated by Yashovarman of the Varman dynasty of Kannauj circa 750 CE. Coinage from
1127-488: The Later Guptas including two epigraphs, the Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena , which sets out the genealogy of the ruling family from Kṛṣṇagupta to Ādityasena, and the Deo Baranark inscription of Jīvitagupta II. The Harshacharita of Bāṇabhaṭṭa is also an important source of information as are the records of the Chinese pilgrims Xuanzang and Yijing which also mentions them. The Gaudavaho of Vākpatirāja refers to
1176-519: The Licchavis fought with Ajatashatru . It took fifteen years for Ajatashatru to defeat them. Jain texts tell how Ajatashatru used two new weapons: a catapult, and a covered chariot with swinging mace that has been compared to a modern tank. Pataliputra began to grow as a centre of commerce and became the capital of Magadha after Ajatashatru's death. The Haryanka dynasty was overthrown by the Shishunaga dynasty . The last Shishunaga ruler, Mahanandin ,
1225-614: The Maukharis and was pushed back into Magadha. Damodaragupta's son Mahasenagupta allied with the Pushyabhuti dynasty . His sister married the ruler Adityavardhana . He invaded Kamarupa and defeated Susthita Varman . But he subsequently faced three invaders: the Maukhari king Sharvavarman , the Kamarupa king Supratishthita-varman , and the Tibetan king Songtsen . His vassal Shashanka also abandoned him (and later established
1274-671: The Theravada commentaries, the Pali language has been identified with Magahi , the language of the kingdom of Magadha, and this was taken to also be the language that the Buddha used during his life. In the 19th century, the British Orientalist Robert Caesar Childers argued that the true or geographical name of the Pali language was Magadhi Prakrit , and that because pāḷi means "line, row, series",
1323-867: The areas that are today the nations of Bangladesh and Nepal . The ancient kingdom of Magadha is heavily mentioned in Jain and Buddhist texts . It is also mentioned in the Ramayana , the Mahabharata and the Puranas . There is little certain information available on the early rulers of Magadha. The most important sources are the Buddhist Pāli Canon , the Jain Agamas and the Hindu Puranas . Based on these sources, it appears that Magadha
1372-553: The cyclic rounds of rebirth and karmic retribution through spiritual knowledge. Among the Buddhist sites currently found in the Magadha region include two UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya and the Nalanda monastery. The Mahabodhi temple is one of the most important places of pilgrimage in the Buddhist world and is said to mark the site where the Buddha attained enlightenment. Beginning in
1421-513: The early Buddhists extended the meaning of the term to mean "a series of books", so pāḷibhāsā means "language of the texts". Nonetheless, Pali does retain some eastern features that have been referred to as Māgadhisms . Magadhi Prakrit was one of the three dramatic prakrits to emerge following the decline of Sanskrit. It was spoken in Magadha and neighbouring regions and later evolved into modern eastern Indo-Aryan languages like Magahi , Maithili and Bhojpuri . The history of Magadha region
1470-577: The eastern Gangetic plains and had a distinct culture and belief. Much of the Second Urbanisation took place here from ( c. 500 BCE ) onwards and it was here that Jainism and Buddhism arose. Some scholars have identified the Kīkaṭa tribe—mentioned in the Rigveda (3.53.14) with their ruler Pramaganda—as the forefathers of Magadhas because Kikata is used as synonym for Magadha in
1519-602: The independent Gauda Kingdom ). The Maukhari king Sharvavarman is thought to have defeated Damodaragupta, invading Magadha circa 575 CE, which made him ruler of the entire Uttar Pradesh . Under these circumstances, Mahasenagupta was forced to flee Magadha, and take shelter in Malwa . Subsequently, the Pushyabhuti emperor Harsha (ruled c. 606 – c. 647 CE ) restored the Later Gupta rule in Magadha, and they ruled as Harsha's vassals. After Harsha's death,
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1568-520: The kingdom. According to Indologist Johannes Bronkhorst , the culture of Magadha was in fundamental ways different from the Vedic kingdoms of the Indo-Aryans . According to Bronkhorst, the śramana culture arose in " Greater Magadha ," which was Indo-Aryan, but not Vedic . In this culture, Kshatriyas were placed higher than Brahmins , and it rejected Vedic authority and rituals. He argues for
1617-401: The late 5th century BCE, and Ajatashatru in the early 4th century BCE. Keay states that there is great uncertainty about the royal succession after Ajatashatru's death, probably because there was a period of "court intrigues and murders," during which "evidently the throne changed hands frequently, perhaps with more than one incumbent claiming to occupy it at the same time" until Mahapadma Nanda
1666-735: The later texts; Like the Magadhas in the Atharvaveda, the Rigveda speaks of the Kikatas as a hostile tribe, living on the borders of Brahmanical India, who did not perform Vedic rituals. The earliest reference to the Magadha people occurs in the Atharvaveda , where they are found listed along with the Angas , Gandharis and Mujavats. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of
1715-658: The meeting with his officer Coenus , was persuaded that it was better to return and turned south, conquering his way down the Indus to the Ocean. Around 321 BCE, the Nanda Dynasty ended with the defeat of Dhana Nanda at the hands of Chandragupta Maurya who became the first king of the Mauryan Empire with the help of his mentor Chanakya . The Empire later extended over most of India under King Ashoka The Great , who
1764-445: The permissibility of violence and meat-eating. Magadha kingdom was the nerve centre of this revolution. Jainism was revived and re-established after Mahavira , the last and the 24th Tirthankara , who synthesised and revived the philosophies and promulgations of the ancient Śramaṇic traditions laid down by the first Jain tirthankara Rishabhanatha millions of years ago. Buddha founded Buddhism which received royal patronage in
1813-438: The reign of the Later Gupta kings has been relatively scarce. So far the only coins discovered are from the period of Mahasenagupta who ruled from 562-601 CE. The numismatic evidence makes it clear that the Later Guptas were devout Shaivites with depictions of Nandi replacing the depictions of Garuda that were present in the coinage of the imperial Guptas. Two types of coinage from Mahasenagupta's reign have been discovered,
1862-473: The temple at Harischandranagari (present-day Ayodhya ). An inscription has been found at Nalanda , and some coins elsewhere, that may relate to him but there is no certainty. According to the Jain chronicles, Yashovarman had a son named Āma , who succeeded him as the king of Kannauj during 749-753 CE. Historian Shyam Manohar Mishra believes this claim to be historically true, as it is not contradicted by any historical evidence. C. V. Vaidya theorized that
1911-469: The time of the grammarian Patañjali (ca. 150 BCE) and beyond". The Buddhologist Alexander Wynne writes that there is an "overwhelming amount of evidence" to suggest that this rival culture to the Vedic Aryans dominated the eastern Gangetic plain during the early Buddhist period. Orthodox Vedic Brahmins were, therefore, a minority in Magadha during this early period. The Magadhan religions are termed
1960-586: The victory of King Yashovarman of the Varman dynasty against the king of Magadha, with the scholarly consensus being that this is a reference to Jīvitagupta II. The general consensus among researchers of the period is that the Later Guptas emerged from the Magadha region of what is now Bihar in India . The reasoning behind this is that all inscriptions relating to the dynasty have been found in this region. A Nepalese inscription also refers to King Ādityasena as
2009-474: The western Deccan , Indus Valley and Kashmir — before returning in triumph to Kannauj. However, Kalhana , a Kashmiri court chronicler who lived around the 12th century CE, gives a very different story in his Rajatarangini , depicting Yashovarman as a ruler who was among those defeated by Lalitaditya Muktapida , a ruler of Kashmir. The variant claims of stupendous conquests given by both of these courtiers are improbable, with Tripathi saying of those in
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2058-517: Was able to secure the throne. The following "Long Chronology" is according to the Buddhist Mahavamsa : The Hindu Literature mostly Puranas give a different sequence: A shorter list appears in the Jain tradition, which simply lists Shrenika (Bimbisara), Kunika (Ajatashatru), Udayin, followed by the Nanda dynasty. Important people from the region of Magadha include: Indo-Scythians Indo-Parthians References Sources Yashovarman Yashovarman ( IAST : Yaśovarman )
2107-409: Was among his courtiers: the extent to which the poem can be relied upon for statements of fact is impossible to determine. Vakpati's work has been variously said to describe Yashovarman as either a divine incarnation of Vishnu or a kshatriya of the Lunar dynasty ; Cunningham considered him likely to be related to the Maukharis , who had ruled Kannauj prior to Harsa, and some Jain works say that he
2156-447: Was assassinated by Mahapadma Nanda in 345 BCE, the first of the so-called "Nine Nandas", i. e. Mahapadma and his eight sons, last being Dhana Nanda . In 326 BCE, the army of Alexander approached the western boundaries of Magadha. The army, exhausted and frightened at the prospect of facing another giant Indian army at the Ganges, mutinied at the Hyphasis (the modern Beas River ) and refused to march further east. Alexander, after
2205-406: Was at first known as 'Ashoka the Cruel' but later became a disciple of Buddhism and became known as ' Dharma Ashoka'. Later, the Mauryan Empire ended, as did the Shunga and Khārabēḷa empires, to be replaced by the Gupta Empire . The capital of the Gupta Empire remained Pataliputra in Magadha. During the Pala-period in Magadha from the 11th to 13th century CE, a local Buddhist dynasty known as
2254-423: Was killed by his minister Pulika, who established his son Pradyota as the new king. Pradyota dynasty was succeeded by Haryanka dynasty founded by Bimbisara . Bimbisara led an active and expansive policy, conquering the kingdom of Anga in what is now West Bengal . King Bimbisara was killed by his son, Ajatashatru . Pasenadi , king of neighbouring Kosala and brother-in-law of Bimbisara, promptly reconquered
2303-451: Was related to the Chandraguptas who ruled the Mauryan empire . The dates of his reign are also obscure, with assertions including c. 728–745 ( Vincent A. Smith ), around the late-seventh century/early eighth-century ( Sankara Panduranga Pandit ) and, according to the calculations of Ramashandra Tripathi, probably 725–752. The Gaudavaho depicts Yashovarman as conquering large swathes of northern India — including Bihar , Bengal ,
2352-428: Was ruled by the Haryanka dynasty for some 200 years, c. 543 to 413 BCE. Gautama Buddha , the founder of Buddhism , lived much of his life in the kingdom of Magadha. He attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya , gave his first sermon in Sarnath and the first Buddhist council was held in Rajgriha . The Hindu Mahabharata calls Brihadratha the first ruler of Magadha. Ripunjaya, last king of Brihadratha dynasty,
2401-408: Was the ruler of the Kingdom of Kannauj and first king of the Varman dynasty . Yashovarman was king of Kannauj in the early part of the eighth century. The city (then known as Kanyakubja) had previously been ruled by Harsha , who died without an heir and thus created a power vacuum. This lasted for around a century before Yashovarman emerged as its ruler. Alexander Cunningham , an archaeologist of
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