Magadha

Magadha was a northeastern Indian Kingdom of the 6th and 5th century BC.

It was one of 16 major tribal shrines (called Mahajanapadas ) and comprised roughly the area of present-day Indian state of Bihar. Capital of Magadha was Rajagriha ( later Capital: Pataliputra, the modern Patna ). From the Kingdom of Magadha unfolded in the 3rd century BC, the kingdom of Maurya dynasty, the first Indian empire. Its most outstanding ruler was Emperor Ashoka, under the Magadha not only its greatest extent, but also a cultural flourished.

Magadha is also the area of ​​origin of Buddhism. Are also the ancient Buddhist centers, such as Bodh Gaya and Nalanda, from which the new religion after the third Buddhist council spread to other parts of India in it.

Kings

There are few validated information on the early rulers of Magadha. The main sources are Buddhist chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Puranas and various Buddhist and Jain holy texts.

Based on these sources, it looks as if Magadha was ruled by the Shishunaga Dynasty about 200 years ( about 550-350 BC)

The list of kings looks like the chronicles of Sri Lanka as follows:

The Puranas give another list with longer reigns ( the Sisunaga dynasty lasted 321 years hence ):

The Shishunaga dynasty was overthrown by Mahapadma, the first of the nine so-called Nanda ( Nanda or Navananda Dynasty ). His eight sons followed him. The Sri Lankan chronicles, according to the Nanda dynasty lasted only 22 years, while the Puranas say that Mahapadma reigned 28 years and his sons 12 years. The Nanda dynasty was probably destroyed by Chandragupta Maurya, the first king of the great Mauryan Dynasty.

Previously conjectured that the spoken language in Magadha, the Magadhi, with the Pali of the Buddhist canon is identical. This assumption is now considered refuted.