16 Mahajanapadas and Capital|GK Lokam|Ancient India History

 

16 Mahajanapadas  and Capital

Emergence of Kingdoms or Mahajanapadas

• From the sixth century bc, the widespread use of iron in eastern Uttar Pradesh and

Western Bihar facilitated the formation of large territorial states.

• Buddhist texts list the following 16 Mahajanapadas or major-janapadas as having been

in existence in the sixth century bc.

16 Mahajanapadas  →                    (C) Capital

1. Magadha Kingdom (South Bihar) (C) Pataliputra

2. Anga and Vanga Kingdoms (East Bihar) (C) Champa

3. Malla Kingdom (Gorakhpur region) (C) Kushinagar

4. Chedi Kingdom (Yamuna and Narmada belt) (C) Tisvathirati

5. Vatsa Kingdom (Allahabad) (C) Kausambi

6. Kashi Kingdom (Banaras) (C) Varanasi

7. Kosala Kingdom (Ayodhya)—important town in Kosala

8. Vajji Kingdom (North Bihar) (C) Vajji; (R)

9. Kuru (Thaneswar, Meerut and present day Delhi) (C) Indraprastha; (R)

10. Panchala Kingdom (Uttar Pradesh) (C) Kampila; (R)

11. Matsya Kingdom (Jaipur) (C) Viratanagar; (R)

12. Surasena Kingdom (Mathura) (C) Mathura; (R)

13. Assaka Kingdom (Godavari) (C) Potali; (R)

14. Gandharva Kingdom (Peshawar and Rawalpindi) (C) Taxila; (R)

15. Kamboj Kingdom (North-east Kashmir) (C) Rajapure; (R)

1 6. Awanti Kingdom (Malwa) (C) Ujjain-north, Mahismati-south; (R)