Early states, new ideas, the first empire, and contacts with distant lands

What this heading covers

What happened after the cities: people organised into states, argued about how to live, were brought under one empire, and traded with the world. Four headings, one story.

How we know about the past, the earliest societies, the first farmers and the first cities come before this and have a lesson of their own.

How this unit is actually asked

The same seven forms as the rest of the history section, and in this unit three of them do most of the damage:

Form	In this unit it means
Match the following	Kingdom and capital; ruler and dynasty; text and author; site and find
Multi-statement	Four claims about the Vajjis, the Mauryas or the Tamil chiefs; pick the true set
Single fact	A year, a person, or the modern state a place is in
Negative	"Which statement about the Tamil region is wrong" — a real question, and the wrong one was a detail of number

So the tables below are built as pairs, and the counts — sixteen mahajanapadas, four noble truths, three chiefdoms, two centres each — are given as counts, because that is how they are tested.

In one line — in this unit the counts are the question: sixteen mahajanapadas, four noble truths, three chiefdoms, two centres each, one-sixth in tax.

Early states: janapadas and mahajanapadas

A janapada is the land where a jana — a people — settled. By about the sixth century BCE some had grown large and powerful enough to be called mahajanapadas, "great" janapadas, and the Buddhist texts count sixteen.

The sixteen, with their capitals

Mahajanapada	Capital
Magadha	Rajgriha (Rajgir), later Pataliputra
Vajji	Vaishali
Kosala	Shravasti
Kasi	Varanasi
Anga	Champa
Malla	Kushinara and Pava
Chedi	Suktimati
Vatsa	Kaushambi
Kuru	Indraprastha
Panchala	Ahichchhatra and Kampilya
Matsya	Viratnagar
Surasena	Mathura
Assaka	Potali
Avanti	Ujjayini (Ujjain) and Mahishmati
Gandhara	Taxila
Kamboja	Rajapura

The four in bold are the four a past paper actually set as a matching question — Magadha with Rajgriha, Vajji with Vaishali, Avanti with Ujjain, Gandhara with Taxila. Learn those four first; the rest follow.

What made a mahajanapada different

• A fortified capital — walls of wood, brick or stone, which cost labour and so imply a ruler who could command it.
• A standing army, paid and kept, rather than men called up when needed.
• Officials paid from taxes rather than from gifts.

The taxes themselves are asked by name:

Tax	On whom
Bhaga	Farmers — one-sixth of the produce, the usual rate
Bali	A tribute, often older and voluntary in origin
Taxes on craftspersons	Often paid as labour, a day a month
Taxes on herders	Paid in animals and their produce
Taxes on traders	On goods bought and sold
On hunters and gatherers	In forest produce

Magadha, and why it won

Magadha became the most powerful of the sixteen, and the reasons are a standard multi-statement question:

• Fertile land along the Ganga, and the river itself for transport and for carrying goods to trade.
• Iron ore nearby — for weapons and for the tools that cleared forest and ploughed heavy soil.
• Elephants, from the forests, used in war.
• Ambitious rulers — Bimbisara, Ajatashatru and later Mahapadma Nanda.
• Capital first at Rajgriha, a city ringed by hills, later moved to Pataliputra (modern Patna), on the Ganga.

Vajji: the gana or sangha

Not every mahajanapada was a kingdom. Vajji, with its capital at Vaishali, was a gana or sangha — governed not by one king but by an assembly of many rulers, each called a raja, who met, discussed and decided together.

This is the standard example whenever a question asks about early non-monarchical government, and a past paper has set the Buddha's own advice to the Vajjis. He told them they would prosper so long as they:

• held frequent public assemblies,
• met and acted together,
• followed their established rules,
• and respected and protected the women among them.

All four are correct, and the question is built to tempt you into rejecting the fourth.

Two further things a question uses: women, dasas and kammakaras (landless labourers) could not take part in the assemblies, so a gana was not a democracy in the modern sense; and the ganas survived longest in the foothills of the Himalayas, where kingdoms found it hardest to reach them.

In one line — a mahajanapada is a janapada that could afford walls, a standing army and paid officials, and the tax of one-sixth is what paid for them.

New ideas

The same centuries — around the sixth century BCE — saw intense questioning about life, death and what a person should do. The context matters and is asked: cities were growing, trade was spreading, iron tools were changing farming, and the old sacrificial religion served some people and not others.

The Upanishads

Discussions, often between teacher and pupil, about the atman (the self) and the brahman (the universal), and about rebirth. They are part of the later Vedic literature, composed in Sanskrit, and the famous Satyameva Jayate — "truth alone triumphs" — comes from the Mundaka Upanishad.

Buddhism

Founder	Siddhartha Gautama, later the Buddha, "the enlightened one"
Born	Lumbini, in present-day Nepal
Enlightenment	Under a pipal tree at Bodh Gaya, Bihar
First sermon	Sarnath, near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh — called the Dhammachakkapavattana, the turning of the wheel of dhamma
Died	Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh — the mahaparinirvana
Taught in	Prakrit, the ordinary people's language, not Sanskrit

The Four Noble Truths: there is suffering (dukkha); suffering has a cause, which is craving; suffering can be ended; and there is a path to ending it.

The Eightfold Path is that path — right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. It is also called the middle path, between indulgence and extreme self-denial.

Other things asked: the sangha was the order of monks and later nuns, who lived by rules and on alms; the texts are the Tripitaka — Vinaya, Sutta and Abhidhamma Pitaka — in Pali; and the religion later divided into Hinayana and Mahayana.

Buddhist council	Where	Under
First	Rajgriha	Ajatashatru
Second	Vaishali	Kalashoka
Third	Pataliputra	Ashoka
Fourth	Kashmir	Kanishka

Jainism

Best-known teacher	Mahavira (Vardhamana), the twenty-fourth and last tirthankara
Born	Kundagrama, near Vaishali, Bihar
Died	Pavapuri, Bihar
The twenty-third tirthankara	Parshvanatha, who came before him
Taught in	Prakrit

The central teaching is ahimsa, non-violence, carried further than in any other tradition, together with severe self-discipline. The five vows are ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (not stealing), aparigraha (non-possession) and brahmacharya (celibacy) — the fifth added by Mahavira to the four that Parshvanatha had taught.

Jainism later divided into Digambara and Svetambara, and its texts, the Agamas, were finally written down at a council at Valabhi in Gujarat.

What the two had in common

Both rejected the authority of birth, both admitted people of many backgrounds, and both taught in the language people actually spoke — which is a large part of why they spread, and is the expected answer when a question asks why. Both also accepted karma and rebirth, and both were supported by traders and craftspeople in the growing cities.

Two others belong to the same ferment and appear as options: the Ajivikas, associated with Makkhali Gosala, who held that everything is fixed by fate; and the Charvaka or Lokayata school, which denied rebirth and accepted only what can be perceived.

In one line — both new teachings rejected the authority of birth and taught in the language people actually spoke, which is why the traders and craftspeople of the new cities took them up.

The first empire: the Mauryas

Ruler	Roughly	What is asked
Chandragupta Maurya	from about 321 BCE	Founded the empire; advised by Chanakya (Kautilya), to whom the Arthashastra is attributed; defeated Seleucus Nikator
Bindusara	—	His son; the empire held and extended
Ashoka	about 268–232 BCE	The ruler the paper asks about

Megasthenes was the ambassador sent by Seleucus to Chandragupta's court, and his account, the Indica, survives only in quotations by later writers — which makes it a good example for a source question.

Ashoka

The Kalinga war, about 261 BCE, is the hinge. By his own account, appalled by its suffering, Ashoka gave up war and promoted dhamma — not a religion but a code of conduct: respect for elders, kindness to servants and animals, truthfulness, generosity, and tolerance between sects.

• He had his messages inscribed on rocks and pillars across the empire, mostly in Prakrit and in the Brahmi script, so that people could read them — in the north-west also in Kharosthi, and in Afghanistan in Greek and Aramaic.
• He appointed dhamma mahamatta, officers whose work was to spread and supervise dhamma.
• He sent missions abroad, including his son Mahinda and daughter Sanghamitta to Sri Lanka.
• The empire ran from Pataliputra, with provinces under governors at Taxila, Ujjain, Suvarnagiri and Tosali.

How the edicts came to be readable

The Brahmi script was forgotten for centuries. James Prinsep deciphered it in 1837, and only then could the edicts be read and the king who called himself Devanampiya Piyadassi — "beloved of the gods, of pleasing appearance" — be identified as Ashoka.

Mauryan art, and the emblem

• The Lion Capital at Sarnath was adopted as the national emblem of India, and the wheel on it, the Ashoka Chakra, stands at the centre of the national flag.
• The Rampurva bull, a finely polished sandstone capital of the Mauryan period, was found in Bihar — a past-paper question asked for exactly that state.
• The high polish on Mauryan pillars is itself a standard identifying detail.

In one line — Chandragupta built the empire and Ashoka changed what it was for, and nobody could read a word he had written until Prinsep deciphered Brahmi in 1837.

Contacts with distant lands

The syllabus heading reaches further than the Mauryas, and past papers have used it for later centuries as well — so both are here.

By land: the Silk Route

Goods, people and ideas moved overland between China, Central Asia, India and the Mediterranean. The Kushanas, whose best-known ruler is Kanishka, controlled the routes through the north-west from their centres at Purushapura (Peshawar) and Mathura, and the trade paid for the Gandhara and Mathura schools of sculpture. Buddhism travelled along these routes into Central Asia and China, which is the point the question usually wants.

Chinese pilgrims came the other way: Faxian in the fifth century and Xuanzang in the seventh, whose accounts are major sources.

By sea: Rome, and the south

• Hoards of Roman gold coins have been found in south India, and they are the plainest evidence of the trade.
• Exports were spices — above all pepper, called "black gold" — cotton textiles, ivory, precious stones and fine muslin.
• Arikamedu, near Puducherry, has Roman pottery and amphorae; Muziris on the Kerala coast is named in Roman sources; the Greek handbook the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes the ports and the monsoon winds that made the crossing possible.

The Sangam chiefdoms

The far south was ruled by three chiefdoms, described in the Sangam poems in Tamil:

Chiefdom	Centres
Chola	Uraiyur inland, Puhar / Kaveripattinam on the coast
Chera	Vanji inland, Muziris on the coast
Pandya	Madurai inland, Korkai on the coast

Each of the three had two centres of power, not three — one inland and one on the coast. A past paper set precisely this as a "which statement is wrong" question, with the wrong statement giving each chief three centres. It is a reminder that in this unit a number is often the thing being tested.

The Sangam works most often named are the Tolkappiyam (grammar), the Silappadikaram by Ilango Adigal, and the Manimekalai by Sattanar — the authorship of the last two has been asked directly.

The Europeans, and the later sea trade

Past papers have asked about these under the same heading, so they belong here:

• Vasco da Gama reached India in 1498, landing at Kappad near Calicut — in present-day Kerala. The question asks for the state.
• Masulipatnam (Machilipatnam), in present-day Andhra Pradesh, was a great port of the Golconda kingdom, and in the seventeenth century both the Dutch and the English East India Companies tried to control it — which is what the paper asked.

In one line — goods went west to Rome and Buddhism went north along the Silk Route, and this heading reaches as far forward as Vasco da Gama and the Dutch at Masulipatnam.

Questions of the kind the paper sets

Match the following.

A. Magadha — i. Vaishali B. Vajji — ii. Rajgriha C. Avanti — iii. Taxila D. Gandhara — iv. Ujjain A–ii, B–i, C–iv, D–iii.

Multi-statement.

The Buddha told the Vajjis that they would continue to prosper as long as — A. they held frequent public assemblies B. they met and acted together C. they followed their established rules D. the women among them were respected and protected All four are correct.

Which of these helped Magadha become the most powerful mahajanapada? A. Fertile land along the Ganga B. Iron ore nearby C. Elephants from the forests D. An assembly of many rajas instead of a king A, B and C. D describes Vajji, not Magadha.

Negative.

Which statement about the Tamil region is wrong? (a) The Sangam poems were composed in Tamil (b) Each of the three chiefs had three centres of power (c) Roman gold coins have been found in the south (d) Muziris is named in Roman sources

Single fact.

The Tamil epic Manimekalai was composed by — (a) Ilango Adigal (b) Sattanar (c) Tolkappiyar (d) Kalhana

In which state would you find the coast where Vasco da Gama first landed? (a) Goa (b) Gujarat (c) Kerala (d) Tamil Nadu

Brahmi was deciphered in 1837 by — (a) Alexander Cunningham (b) James Prinsep (c) John Marshall (d) R. D. Banerji

The usual land tax in the mahajanapadas, called bhaga, was — (a) one-fourth (b) one-sixth (c) one-tenth (d) one-half

Assertion and Reason.

Assertion (A): Buddhism and Jainism spread quickly among traders and craftspeople. Reason (R): Both rejected the authority of birth and taught in the language people spoke. Both true, and R explains A. The option to avoid is the one making R false because the Buddha "taught in Sanskrit" — he taught in Prakrit, and that is the whole point.

Sequence.

Earliest first: the Kalinga war; the sixteen mahajanapadas; the deciphering of Brahmi; Chandragupta founds the empire. Mahajanapadas (6th c. BCE) → Chandragupta (321 BCE) → Kalinga (261 BCE) → Brahmi deciphered (1837).

Mistakes that cost marks here

• Calling every mahajanapada a kingdom. Vajji was a gana or sangha, governed by an assembly.
• Treating a gana as a democracy. Women, dasas and labourers had no part in it.
• Swapping Rajgriha and Vaishali, or Ujjain and Taxila, in the matching question.
• Giving bhaga as any share other than one-sixth.
• Saying the Buddha taught in Sanskrit. He taught in Prakrit.
• Confusing the Buddha's places: born Lumbini, enlightened Bodh Gaya, first sermon Sarnath, died Kushinagar.
• Making Mahavira the founder of Jainism. He is the twenty-fourth tirthankara; Parshvanatha was the twenty-third.
• Attributing the Arthashastra to Ashoka rather than to Chanakya, or placing Megasthenes at Ashoka's court rather than Chandragupta's.
• Treating dhamma as a religion. It was a code of conduct, and it included tolerance between sects.
• Giving the third Buddhist council to Kanishka — it was Ashoka's; the fourth was Kanishka's.
• Saying each Sangam chief had three centres of power. Each had two.
• Crediting the deciphering of Brahmi to Cunningham or Marshall instead of Prinsep.

In one line

Sixteen mahajanapadas with fortified capitals, standing armies and a tax of one-sixth; Magadha winning on land, iron, elephants and the Ganga; a century of new ideas in which two teachers rejected birth and spoke the people's language; one empire whose king replaced war with dhamma and wrote it on rock; and a subcontinent already trading with Rome and China long before anyone sailed round Africa to reach it.

For the classroom

Put the sixteen mahajanapadas on a blank outline map and let the class place Magadha, work out where the Ganga runs and argue about why that kingdom and not another. The reasons for Magadha's rise are visible on a map and almost invisible in a list, and a class that has found them will not need to memorise them.

For the edicts, give the children Ashoka's own words in translation and ask the two questions a historian asks: what is he telling people to do, and why would a king want this written on a rock where everyone can see it? The second question is the history.