The Magadhan Era

Home to several conglomerations of kingdoms and the origin of the earliest non-Abrahamic empires on the Indian subcontinent, the Magadhan Empire was a contiguous confederation of several kingdoms. Although the state of Magadha was centred around today's Bihar, its influence at one point in time stretched from the Punjab river basin to as far as Bengal. The reason why the entire stretch is referred to as Magadhan Empires as it could be compared to the Roman Empire spread across the three continents but having its capital at Rome, similarly the Magadhan Empire centred around Magadha and having its capital majorly at Pataliputra or Pataligramma, the modern-day Patna, hence the name 'Magadhan Empire'. From Haryanka dynasty (544 - 413 BC) to the Shishunaga dynasty (413 - 395 BC); from the Nanda dynasty (4th century BC) to the Mauryan Empire (322 - 184 BC); from Emperor Ashoka (268 - 232 BC) to the Shunga dynasty (184 - 75 BC), all were known as the Magadhan Empires. 

The empire also consisted of various ruling clans that ruled respective regions. The clans are mentioned as follows: 

• The Vajji Confederacy (वज्जि गणसंघ)
• Bhargas
• Pauravas
• Iksvakus 
• Moriyas or Mauryas (later expanded into the Mauryan Empire)
• Mallas
• Sakyas (the clan of Gautama Buddha)
• Panchalas
• Kurus
• Matsyas
• Usinaras
• Pradyotas
• Surasenas

The earliest era of Bimbisara was contemporary to Prince Siddhartha (lived between 5th and 6th centuries  BC) who later got enlightened and became Gautama Buddha. Outside the subcontinent, the single-most largest empire that existed during this period was that of the Achaemenid Empire that stretched from the Balkan coast to the boundaries of modern-day Pakistan; from the Central Asian plains to the Nile River valley in Egypt. Civilisation in Europe was mostly restricted to Greek city-states that were spread across the southern coast of Italy, the French island of Corsica and small parts of France and Spain. The remaining mainland Europe was clustered with tribes such as the Gauls, the Celts, the Germanic people, the Britons etc. In Asia, apart from the Indian kingdoms, civilisation existed in the Yellow River basin - the Zhou dynasty. It is strange to compare that when Europe had almost nil civilization, the Indian subcontinent was booming with the earliest republics, known as the Mahajanpadas. 

The neighbouring kingdoms to mainland Magadha would be Anga in the east, Kosala in the northwest, Vatsa and Kashi in the west and Videha in the north. One of the several fascinating inventions during this period was in the area of warfare. On one hand, where the Chinese had invented the trebuchet catapults, the Magadhans had their own weaponry of the large catapult (महाशिलाकंटक) and a chariot fitted with a mace that caused terrific destruction (रथमुसल). 

Another major event that happened during this period was the invasion of Alexander the Great during the reign of the Nanda dynasty. The epic Battle of Hydaspes (modern-day Jhelum) took place in 326 BC between Alexander and King Porus. But internally, Magadha's crucial rival was the Pradyotas clan ruling in Avanti, modern-day Malwa with its capital at Ujjayini or Ujjain. Avanti had also defeated the Vatsas clan of Kaushambi and was a major threat to the Magadha. But over the period of time, the rivalry didn't lead to the perishment of Magadha or caused any major war threat to the Magadha. Rather, the Haryanka king Udayin or Udayabhadra captured Avanti and annexed it to the Magadha Empire till the end of the Mauryan dynasty. 

Talking about the capital of Magadha, the ancient city of Pataliputra has a record of being a headquarter of the largest number of pre-Islamic empires of the subcontinent. Nevertheless, as history records, the capital of Magadha shifted from Girivraja (Rajagriha) to Vaishali (temporarily). Some of the other major cities during this period are listed below with their modern names/locations: 

• Kampilya (Kampil, Farukkhabad district, Uttar Pradesh)
• Ahicchatra (near Ramnagar, Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh)
• Kanyakubja (Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh)
• Erakachha (Erich, Jhansi district, Uttar Pradesh)
• Suktimati (around Banda district, Uttar Pradesh)
• Kaushambi
• Prayaga (Prayagraj or Allahabad)
• Varanasi
• Sumsumaragiri 
• Kusinara (Kushinagar)
• Pava (around Kushinagar)
• Mithila
• Champa (Champapuri, Bhagalpur district, Bihar)
• Mathura
• Indraprastha (Delhi) 
• Rohitaka (Rohtak)
• Viratanagara (Bairat, Jaipur) etc. 

Magadha is also credited to have one of the earliest currency systems in mainland India. Puranas or Karshapanas or simply Panas were the coinage system used during the Magadha era. 

The traces of Magadha can be found today in the popular Magahi / Magadhi language, a dialect of Hindi spoken in Bihar and Jharkhand states. Concluding, here's a map of the great Magadhan Empire era (pre-Mauryan) that existed on the northern Indo-Gangetic plain and sung glories of such kings.