Indian History · Chronicle III of XI
The Sixteen Great States
The sixteen kingdoms, the Buddha and Mahavira, the rise of Magadha and Alexander's invasion.
The Sixteen KingdomsPolitical
Across northern India sixteen great states, the Mahajanapadas, contend for power, some kingdoms and some republics.
The plains from the Indus to the Ganges were divided among sixteen powerful realms. Some, like Magadha and Kosala, were monarchies; others, like the Vajji confederacy, were governed by assemblies of clan elders — an early experiment in republican rule. Trade, coinage and walled cities flourished amid their rivalries.
The TeachersReligious
Mahavira teaches a path of radical non-violence and renunciation, giving shape to the Jain religion.
Renouncing his princely life, Mahavira, the twenty-fourth and last tirthankara, taught that the soul could win liberation through strict non-violence, truth and self-denial. His followers, the Jains, carried ahimsa — harming no living thing — to its furthest extreme, an ethic that would leave a deep mark on Indian civilisation.
The TeachersReligious
Siddhartha Gautama attains enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree and begins to teach the path to end suffering.
A prince of the Shakya clan, Siddhartha left his palace to seek an end to suffering, and after long searching awoke as the Buddha, the "enlightened one." His teaching — the Four Noble Truths and the Middle Way to nirvana — offered release to all, regardless of caste. From the Ganges it would spread across Asia to become a world religion.
The Rise of MagadhaMilitary
Under Bimbisara and Ajatashatru, the kingdom of Magadha overpowers its rivals to dominate the Ganges.
Rich in iron, elephants and fertile land, Magadha rose above its neighbours. Its ambitious kings Bimbisara and his son Ajatashatru expanded by war and diplomacy, subduing Kosala and the Vajji republic and fortifying a new stronghold at Pataliputra. Magadha became the nucleus around which the first Indian empire would grow.
The Nanda EmpirePolitical
The Nanda dynasty forges a vast, wealthy empire across northern India, feared for its enormous army.
Rising from humble origins, the Nandas built the largest empire India had yet seen and amassed legendary wealth through heavy taxation. Their army of infantry, cavalry, chariots and thousands of war-elephants was so formidable that, rather than face it, Alexander's weary Greek soldiers would refuse to march further east.
Alexander at the IndusMilitary
Alexander the Great defeats King Porus at the Hydaspes but, at the edge of the Ganges plain, his army turns back.
Crossing the Indus, Alexander won a hard-fought victory over the elephants of King Porus in a monsoon storm, and admired his brave foe enough to restore his kingdom. But at the Beas his soldiers, exhausted and dreading the Nanda armies beyond, refused to go on. Alexander turned south and west, leaving India — but opening lasting contact between the Greek and Indian worlds.
