Meaning of Mahajanapada | Babel Free

Definitions

One of 16 prominent ancient Indian realms extant from around 600 BCE to 345 BCE.

Equivalents

Examples

“We know that there were sixteen mahajanapadas in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE but there were more than one hundred janapadas, some of which were independent and some others were included in the bigger mahajanapadas.”

“Among the 16 mahajanapadas the monarchical states of Kosala, Vatsa, Avanti, and Magadha, along with the non‐monarchical mahajanapada of the Vrijis or Vajjis, attained political prominence by eclipsing other contemporary powers. However, it was the mahajanapada of Magadha which ultimately rose to prominence.”

“Pataliputra was founded by Udayin while Rajgriha was founded by Bimbisar. Vajji was the ancient name of north Bihar. The territory of the Vajji Mahajanapada was located on the north of the Ganges river and extended up to the Terai region of Nepal.”

CEFR level