The Janapadas are the major realms or kingdoms of Vedic (Iron Age) India, by the 6th century BC evolving into the sixteen classical Mahajanapadas . The Vedic civilisation is the Indo-Aryan culture associated with the Vedas, the earliest known records of Indian history. ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... (7th century BC - 6th century BCE - 5th century BCE - other centuries) (600s BCE - 590s BCE - 580s BCE - 570s BCE - 560s BCE - 550s BCE - 540s BCE - 530s BCE - 520s BCE - 510s BCE - 500s BCE - other decades) (2nd millennium BCE - 1st millennium BCE - 1st millennium) The 5th and 6th centuries BCE were... Buddhist texts like Anguttara Nikaya and Culla-Niddesa frequently mention sixteen great nations (solasa Mahajanapadas), which existed before the time of the Buddha. ...

Origins

The political process among the ancient Indo-Aryans appears to have originally started with semi-nomadic tribal units called Jana (Latin gens). Early Vedic texts attest several Janas or tribes of the Aryans, living in semi-nomadic tribal state, fighting among themselves and with other Non-Aryan tribes for cows, sheeps and green pastures. These early Rigvedic Janas in the course of the early Indian Iron Age coalesced into the geographiaclly fixed Janapadas. Roma family in Smyrne, Turkey, photographed in 1904. ... Viewed historically or developmentally, a tribe consists of a social formation existing before the development of, or outside of, states. ... Latin is an Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The Vedic civilisation is the Indo-Aryan culture associated with the Vedas, the earliest known records of Indian history. ... The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit ṛc praise + veda knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ...

The term janapadá is a tatpurusha, composed of jana "tribe" and pada "foot". From its earliest attestation, the word has a double meaning of "realm, territory" and "subject population". A janapadin is the ruler of a janapada. Dunkel (2002) compares Greek andrapodon "slave", compares PIE *pédom "fetters" (i.e. "what is attached to the feet"). Sanskrit padám usually taken mean "footpring, trail" diverges in accent from the 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 does not explain why the compound is of masculine gender. An original dvandva "land and people" is conceivable, but a dual inflection would be expected. A Tatpurusha is a type of compound in Sanskrit grammar. ... A slice of strawberry-rhubarb pie à la mode A pie is a baked dish, with a baked shell usually made of pastry that covers or completely contains a filling of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, cheeses, creams, chocolate, custards, nuts, or other sweet or savoury ingredient. ... A dvandva or copulative or coordinative compound refers to two or more objects that could be connected in sense by the conjunction and. Dvandvas are common in some languages such as Sanskrit, where the term originates, and Japanese, but less common in English (The term is not often found in...

Lists

Ancient Sanskrit texts like Ashtadhyayi (IV.4.168-175), Ramayana (IV/41-43), Mahabharata (VII/11/16-17; VIII/8/18-20)) and numerous Puranas (Bhuvanakosa list of countries) refer to many Janapadas of ancient times.

Panini's Ashtadhyayi furnishes a list of fifteen Kshatriya monarchical Janapadas viz Salveya, Gandhari, Magadha, Kalinga, Surasena, Kosala, Ajada, Kuru, Salva, Pratyagratha, Kalakuta, Ashmaka, Kamboja, Avanti and Kunti. Besides, there were those following the republican constitutions. Panini can refer to: Pāṇini, the 5th century BC Sanskrit grammarian Panini (sandwich), a type of Italian sandwich Panini (stickers), a brand of collectible stickers Giovanni Paolo Panini, an Italian artist This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Ashtadhyayi (Ạṣtādhyāyī, meaning eight chapters) is the earliest known grammar of Sanskrit, and one of the first works on descriptive linguistics, generative linguistics, or linguistics altogether. ... A monarchy, (from the Greek monos, one, and archein, to rule) is a form of government that has a monarch as Head of State. ... In a broad definition a republic is a state whose political organization rests on the principle that the citizens or electorate constitute the ultimate root of legitimacy and sovereignty. ...

In context of Krsna digvijay, the Mahabharata furnishes a key list of twenty-five ancient Janapadas viz: Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Magadha, Kasi, Kosala, Vatsa, Garga, Karusha, Pundra, Avanti, Dakshinatya, Parvartaka, Dasherka, Kashmira, Ursa, Pishacha, Mudgala, Kamboja, Vatadhana, Chola, Pandya, Trigarta, Malava, and Darada (MBH 7/11/15-17). Besdides, there were Janapadas of Kurus and Panchalas also. The Mahabharata (Devanagari: महाभारत, phonetically Mahābhārata - see note), sometimes just called Bharata, is one of the two major ancient Sanskrit epics of India, the other being the Ramayana. ... Earliest reference to Angas occurs in Atharava Veda (V.22. ... Genera Calicalicus Schetba Vanga Falculea Artamella Leptopterus Cyanolanius Oriolia Euryceros Tylas Hypositta Xenopirostris The vangas are a group of little-known small to medium sized passerine birds restricted to Madagascar. ... This article is about the Philippine province. ... Magadha was an ancient kingdom of India, mentioned in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. ... Benares (also known as Banaras, Kashi, Kasi and Varanasi (वाराणसी)) is a Hindu holy city on the banks of the river Ganga or Ganges in the modern north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Kosala was an ancient Indian kingdom, corresponding roughly in area with the region of Oudh. ... The name may refer to one of the following. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Look up Kamboja in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Cholas were the most famous of the three dynasties that ruled ancient Tamil Nadu. ... The Pandyan kingdom was an ancient state at the tip of South India, founded around the 6th century BCE. It was part of the Dravidian cultural area, which also comprised other kingdoms such as that of the Pallava, the Chera, the Chola, the Chalukya and the Vijayanagara. ... Kuru can mean: Kuru, a disease, related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), affecting cannibals. ... The position of the Panchala kingdom in Iron Age Vedic India. ...

Ramayana (a later list) includes Janapadas of Andhras, Pundras, Cholas, Pandyas, Keralas, Mekhalas, Utkalas, Dasharnas, Abravantis, Avantis, Vidarbhas, Mlecchas, Pulindas, Surasenas, Prasthalas, Bharatas, Kurus, Madrakas, Kambojas, Daradas, Kiratas, Tangana, Yavanas, Sakas (from Saka-dvipa) Chinas, Maha-Chinas, Niharas etc. The Ramayana (Sanskrit: march or journey (ayana) of Rama) is part of the Hindu smriti, written by Valmiki. ...

The Bhuvanakosa Section of numerous Puranas divides ancient Indian subcontinent into (1) the Dakshinapatha (Southern India), (2) the Madhyadesa (Mid India), (3) the Prachya (Eastrn India), (4) the Aparanta (Western India), (5) the Udichya or north/north-west division, (6) the Vindyavasins, and (7) the Parvatashrayins, and in the detailed list of countries, it refers many Janapadas of ancient times (See: Kirfel's list of the countries of Bhuvanakosha) The Puranas (Sanskrit पुराण, purāṇá ancient, since they focus on ancient history of the universe) are part of Hindu Smriti; these religious scriptures discuss varied topics like devotion to God in his various aspects, traditional sciences like Ayurveda, Jyotish, cosmology, concepts like dharma, karma, reincarnation and many others. ... Subcontinent - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Ancient Buddhist and Brahmanical texts reveal that expression Dakshinpatha, in general was used as a name both for the southern high road as also for the region lying south of Majjhimdesa or Mid India. ...

By circa sixth century BCE, many of these Janapadas further evolved into larger political entities by the process of merger and land-grabbing which eventually led to the formation of bigger kingdoms known in Buddhist texts as the Mahajanapadas or the great nations (a karmadharaya ofmaha "great" and janapada). In politics, a country (or in some cases, a group of countries) over which a king or queen reigns, is a kingdom, see: monarchy. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... The political process among the ancient Aryans appears to have originally started with semi-nomadic tribal units called Jana (meaning tribe). ... A Karmadharaya is a type of compound in Sanskrit grammar, a subtype of the tatpurusha type (nominative-tatpurushas). The relation of the first member to the last is appositional, attributive or adverbial; this entails that if the members are dissolved, they will stand in the same case (meaning that there... maha is the Arabic for oryx. ...

See also

• Mahajanapadas

The political process among the ancient Aryans appears to have originally started with semi-nomadic tribal units called Jana (meaning tribe). ...

References

• George Dunkel, Vedic janapada and Ionic andrapodon; with notes on Vedic drupadam and IE pedom "place" and "fetter", Indo-European Perspectives (ed. M. R. V. Southern), JIES Monograph No. 43 (2002).