The Janapadas () (c. 1500–600 BCE) were the

realms A realm is a community or territory over which a sovereign rules. The term is commonly used to describe a monarchical or dynastic state. A realm may also be a subdivision within an empire, if it has its own monarch, e.g. the German Empire. Ety ...

, republics (ganapada) and kingdoms (saamarajya) of the

Vedic period The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betwe ...

on the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...

. The Vedic period reaches from the late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

into the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

: from about 1500 BCE to the 6th century BCE. With the rise of sixteen ''

Mahajanapadas The Mahājanapadas ( sa, great realm, from ''maha'', "great", and ''janapada'' "foothold of a people") were sixteen kingdoms or oligarchic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE during the second urba ...

'' ("great janapadas"), most of the states were

annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

by more powerful neighbours, although some remained independent.

Etymology

The

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

term ''janapada'' is a tatpurusha compound term, composed of two words: ''janas'' and ''pada''. ''Jana'' means "people" or "subject" (cf.

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...

''genus'',

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

cognate ''kin''). The word ''pada'' means "foot" (cf. Latin cognate ''pedis''); from its earliest attestation, the word has had a double meaning of "realm, territory" and "subject population" (cf. Hittite ''pedan'', "place"). Linguist George Dunkel compares the Greek ''andrapodon'' "slave", to

PIE A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts (pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), sweete ...

"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 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.

Evolution

Literary evidence suggests that the janapadas flourished between 1500 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 The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within ...

texts. In the

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

samhita Saṃhitā literally means "put together, joined, union", a "collection", and "a methodically, rule-based combination of text or verses".jana'' denotes a tribe, whose members believed in a shared ancestry. The janas were headed by a king. The ''samiti'' was a common assembly of the jana members, and had the power to elect or dethrone the king. The ''sabha'' was a smaller assembly of wise elders, who advised the king. The janas were originally semi-nomadic

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depict ...

communities, but gradually came to be associated with specific territories as they became less mobile. Various ''kula''s (clans) developed within 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 Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the co ...

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 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 the rise of imperial powers (such as

Magadha Magadha was a region and one of the sixteen sa, script=Latn, Mahajanapadas, label=none, lit=Great Kingdoms of the Second Urbanization (600–200 BCE) in what is now south Bihar (before expansion) at the eastern Ganges Plain. Magadha was rul ...

) in Northern India, as well as foreign invasions (such as those by the

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

and the

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, ot ...

) in the north-western South Asia.

Nature

The Janapada were highest political unit in Northern India during this period; these polities were usually monarchical (though some followed a form republicanism) and succession was hereditary. The head of a kingdom was called a (rajan) or king. A chief (purohita) or priest and a (senani) or commander of the army who would assist the king. There were also two other political bodies: the (sabha), thought to be a council of elders and the (samiti), a general assembly of the entire people.

The boundaries of the kingdoms

Often rivers formed the boundaries of two neighboring kingdoms, as was the case between the northern and southern Panchala and between the western (

Pandava The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledge ...

's Kingdom) and eastern (

Kaurava ''Kaurava'' is a Sanskrit term which refers to descendants of Kuru, a legendary king of India who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the epic ''Mahabharata''. Usually, the term is used for the 100 sons of King Dhritarashtra and his wi ...

's Kingdom)

Kuru Kuru may refer to: Anthropology and history * Kuru (disease), a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy associated with the cannibalistic funeral practices of the Fore people * Kuru (mythology), part of Meithei mythology * Kuru Kingdom, ...

. Sometimes, large forests, which were larger than the kingdoms themselves, formed their boundaries as was the case of Naimisha Forest, the NaimishaAranyam between Panchala and

Kosala The Kingdom of Kosala (Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indian kingdom with a rich culture, corresponding to the area within the region of Awadh in present-day Uttar Pradesh to Western Odisha. It emerged as a small state during the late Vedic peri ...

kingdoms. Mountain ranges like Himalaya,

Vindhyachal Vindhyachal is a city in Mirzapur district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city is a Hindu pilgrimage site having the temple of Vindhyavasini, who according to Markandeya Purana had incarnated to kill the demon Mahishasura. The det ...

and Sahyadri also formed their boundaries.

The cities and villages

Some kingdoms possessed a main city that served as its capital. For example, the capital of Pandava's Kingdom was Indraprastha and the Kaurava's Kingdom was

Hastinapura Hastinapur is a city in the Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ''Hastinapura'', described in Hindu texts such as the ''Mahabharata'' and the Puranas as the capital of the Kuru Kingdom, is also mentioned in ancient Jain text ...

Ahichatra Ahichchhatra ( sa, अहिच्छत्र, translit=Ahicchatra) or Ahikshetra ( sa, अहिक्षेत्र, translit=Ahikṣetra), near the modern Ramnagar village in Aonla tehsil, Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh, India, was th ...

was the capital of Northern Panchala whereas Kampilya was the capital of Southern Panchala.

Kosala Kingdom Kosala Proper or simply Kosala is the kingdom of the celebrated personality of Treta Yuga, Raghava Rama. Ayodhya was its capital, presently in Ayodhya district, Uttar Pradesh. Rama's sons Lava (Ramayana) and Kusha inherited parts of this ...

had its capital at

Ayodhya Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya, also known as Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and setting of the great epic Ramayana. Ayodhy ...

. 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 was collected by officers appointed by the king. What the king offered in return was protection from attack by other kings and robber tribes, as well as from invading foreign nomadic tribes. The king also enforced law and order in his kingdom by punishing the guilty.

Administration

The Janapadas had

rulers. Based on literary references, historians have theorized that the Janapadas were administered by the following assemblies in addition to the king: ; Sabha (Council) : An assembly more akin to a council of qualified members or elders (mostly men) who advised the king and performed judicial functions. In the ''gana''s or republican Janapadas called Gana-Rajya with no kings, the council of elders also handled administration. ; Paura Sabha (Executive Council) : The Paura Sabha was the assembly of the capital city (''pura''), and handled municipal administration. ; Samiti (General Assembly) : A samiti generally consisted of all adults of the republic or the city-state. A samiti was congregated when a matter of importance had to be communicated to the entire city-state. A samiti was also held at the time of festivals to plan, raise revenue and conduct the celebrations. ; Janapada : The Janapada assembly represented the rest of the Janapada, possibly the villages, which were administered by a ''Gramini''. 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 the contemporary society was divided into the four varnas (besides the 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 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 the literary evidence. For example, Jayaswal has wrongly translated the word "amantra" in a ''

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...

'' verse as "to offer advice"; it actually means "to bid farewell" in proper context.

Interactions between kingdoms

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 ''victory over all the directions'') and defeat another king in 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 a military general conducted these campaigns on behalf of his king. A military campaign and tribute collection was often associated with a great sacrifice (like

Rajasuya Rajasuya () is a Śrauta ritual of the Vedic religion. It is ceremony that marks a consecration of a king. According to the Puranas, it refers to a great sacrifice performed by a Chakravarti - universal monarch, in which the tributary princes ma ...

Ashvamedha The Ashvamedha ( sa, अश्वमेध, aśvamedha, translit-std=IAST) was a horse sacrifice ritual followed by the Śrauta tradition of Vedic religion. It was used by ancient Indian kings to prove their imperial sovereignty: a horse accom ...

) 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

New kingdoms were formed when a major clan produced more than one King in a generation. The

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 The Yadava (literally, descended from Yadu) were an ancient Indian people who believed to be descended from Yadu, a legendary king of Chandravamsha lineage. The community was formed of various clans, being the Abhira, Andhaka, Vrishni, and ...

clan of kings formed numerous kingdoms in Central India.

Cultural differences

King Yudhisthira Performs the Rajasuya Sacrifice

Parts of western India were dominated by tribes who had a slightly different culture, considered non-Vedic by the mainstream

Vedic culture upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

prevailing in the

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

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n literature about the kingdoms to the North, beyond the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

was mentioned as a kingdom known as Cina, often grouped with ''Mleccha'' kingdoms.

List of Janapadas

Vedic literature

The

Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

mention five sub-divisions of ancient India: * '' Udichya'' (Northern region) * '' Prachya'' (Eastern region) * '' Dakshina'' (Southern region) * '' Pratichya'' (Western region) * '' Madhya-desha'' (Central region) The Vedic literature mentions the following ''jana''s or ''janapada''s:

Puranic literature

The

Puranas Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

mention seven sub-divisions of ancient India: * ''Udichya'' (Northern region) * ''Prachya'' (Eastern region) * '' Dakshinapatha'' (Southern region) * '' Aparanta'' (Western region) * ''Madhya-desha'' (Central region) * ''Parvata-shrayin'' ( Himalayan region) * ''Vindhya-prashtha'' ( Vindhyan region) According to research by political scientist Sudama Misra, the Puranic texts mention the following ''janapada''s:

Sanskrit epics

The ''

Bhishma Parva The Bhishma Parva ( sa, भीष्म पर्व), or ''the Book of Bhishma,'' is the sixth of eighteen books of the Indian epic ''Mahabharata''. It is the only Parva in Mahabharata where the main hero is not Arjuna but is rather Bhishma and ...

'' of the ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the K ...

'' mentions around 230 janapadas, while the ''

'' mentions only a few of these. Unlike the Puranas, the ''Mahabharata'' does not specify any geographical divisions of ancient India, but does support the classification of certain janapadas as southern or northern.

Buddhist canon

The Buddhist canonical texts - '' Anguttara Nikaya'', ''

Digha Nikaya Digha is a seaside resort town in the state of West Bengal, India. It lies in Purba Medinipur district and at the northern end of the Bay of Bengal. It has a low gradient with a shallow sand beach. It is a popular sea resort in West Bengal. Hi ...

'', '' Chulla-Niddesa'', although with some differences between them, primarily refer to the following 16 mahajanapadas ("great janapadas"):

Jain text

The Jain text '' Vyākhyāprajñapti'' or ''

Bhagavati Sutra Bhagavatī (Devanagari: भगवती, IAST: Bhagavatī), is a Hindu epithet of Sanskrit origin, used as an honorific title for female deities in Hinduism. It is primarily used to address one of the Tridevi: Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Parvati. ...

'' also mentions 16 important janapadas, but many names differ from the ones mentioned in the Buddhist texts. # Accha #

Anga Anga (Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of eastern South Asia whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The members of the Aṅga tribe were called the Āṅgeyas. Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts ...

# Avaha #

Bajji A bhaji is a type of fritter originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is made from spicy hot vegetables, commonly onion, and has several variants. It is a popular snack food in India, it is also very popular in Pakistan, and Trinidad and ...

(Vajji or Vrijji) # Banga (Vanga) #

Kasi KASI (1430 AM, "News Talk 1430") is a radio station licensed to serve Ames, Iowa. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and licensed to iHM Licenses, LLC. It airs a News/Talk radio format. The station was assigned the KASI call letters by ...

(Kashi) # Kochcha #

# Ladha (Lata) #

# Malavaka # Malaya # Moli (Malla) # Padha # Sambhuttara # Vaccha (

Vatsa Vatsa or Vamsa (Pali and Ardhamagadhi: , literally "calf") was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas (great kingdoms) of Uttarapatha of ancient India mentioned in the Aṅguttara Nikāya. Location The territory of Vatsa was located to the south of ...

)

References

Bibliography

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