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Kingdoms of ancient India From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about the ancient Indian kingdoms as reflected in Sanskrit literature. See History of India for a historical overview, in particular Mahajanapadas and Middle kingdoms of India for historical kingdoms ca. 700 BCE–1200 CE.

This article tries to compile and classify all the kingdoms of ancient India mentioned in the Sanskrit/Vedic literature. This literature includes the two Indian epics viz. the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the Puranas and the Vedas with their supplement texts. The exact dates on which these kingdoms existed, is controversial. The focus of this article is not on the dating of these kingdoms, but on the classification of these kingdoms based on their geographical location in the Indian subcontinent, as well as based on the ancient Indian tribes that ruled these kingdoms.

Ancient or epic India as described in the itihasas is divided into a large number of independent kingdoms, spanning the whole of the Indian subcontinent. "Map of ancient Indian kingdoms during epic periods" "Map of ancient Indian kingdoms during epic periods" History of South Asia and History of India

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* 1 Introduction * 2 The kingdoms o 2.1 The boundaries of the kingdoms o 2.2 The cities and villages o 2.3 Interactions between kingdoms o 2.4 New kingdoms o 2.5 Cultural differences in the kingdoms o 2.6 Main kingdoms of Northern and North-Central India o 2.7 Main kingdoms of North-Central India o 2.8 Kingdoms of Western and West-Central India o 2.9 North-Northwestern (Fishermen's) kingdoms o 2.10 Western kingdoms o 2.11 Northwestern kingdoms o 2.12 Northern kingdoms o 2.13 Eastern kingdoms o 2.14 Kingdoms South of the Vindhya Range o 2.15 Kingdoms in the extreme South o 2.16 Saraswati Valley kingdoms o 2.17 Himalayan kingdoms o 2.18 See also o 2.19 References and External Links

[edit] Introduction

Much of the political and geographical mosaic of ancient India can be derived from the epic Mahabharata. The other great Indian epic Ramayana is yet another source. From the Vedas, notably Rig Veda, we get geo-political information about ancient India that predates the Mahabharata period. The Puranas forms a window to the geo-political situation of ancient India during the post-Mahabharata period.

The time coordinates in which these kingdoms existed is not exactly known. The classical "Golden Age" of ancient India spans the 1st millennia BCE and CE. Historical kingdoms arose from ca. 700 BCE with the Mahajanapadas. Glimpses of prehistoric political entities may be glimpsed from the early Vedic texts, in particular the Rigveda (dated to from around 2500 BCE). The earliest parts of the epic Ramayana date to around 7560 BCE and Mahabharata around 3008 BCE. These early kingdoms lasted until the rise of the Maurya Empire in 321 BCE, from which period the term middle kingdoms of India may be used. All these dates however are fixed according to the highly debatable and now increasingly untenable Aryan Invasion Theory. The timescale given by the western scholars also assume that the Sandrakottos mentioned in writings of the Greek historian Megasthanese is the same as Chandragupta Maurya. However this is highly doubtful since the Greek makes no mention of Chanakya in his writings. It is more likely that he visited India during the reign of Chandragupta Gupta.

[edit] The kingdoms

[edit] The boundaries of the kingdoms

The kingdoms mentioned below existed when territorial boundaries were less important, due to the limited human population and sparse human settlements. Often rivers formed the boundaries of two neighbouring kingdoms, as was the case between northern and southern Panchala and the western (Pandava's Kingdom) and eastern (Kaurava's Kingdom) Kuru. Sometimes, large forests, which were larger than the kingdoms themselves, formed their boundaries as was the case of the Naimisha Forest between Panchala and Kosala kingdoms. Mountain ranges like Himalaya, Vindhya and Sahya also formed their boundaries.

[edit] 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. Ahichatra was the capital of Northern Panchala where as Kampilya was the capital of Southern Panchala. Kosala Kingdom had its capital as Ayodhya. Apart from the main city or capital, where the palace of the ruling king was situated, there were small towns and villages spread in a kingdom. Tax was collected by the officers appointed by the king from these villages and towns. What the king offered in return to these villages and towns was protection from the attack of other kings and robber tribes, as well as from invading foreign nomadic tribes. The king also enforced code and order in his kingdom by punishing the guilty.

[edit] Interactions between kingdoms

There were no border security for a kingdom and border disputes were very rare. One king may 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 some times be asked to give a tribute to the victorious king. Tribute will be collected only once, not in a periodic basis. The defeated king, in most cases, is free to rule his own kingdom, without maintaining any contact with the victorious king. There was no annexation of one kingdom by another kingdom. Often a military general makes these campaigns on behalf of his king. A military-campaign and tribute collection is often associated with a great sacrifice (like Rajasuya or Aswamedha) conducted in the kingdom of the campaigner king. The defeated king also was invited to attend these sacrifice ceremonies, as a friend and ally.

[edit] New kingdoms

New kingdoms were formed when a major clan produces more than one kings in a generation. The Kuru clan of kings and Ikshwaku clan of kings were very successful in spreading all over north India with their numerous kingdoms, formed after each successive generation. Similarly the Yadava clan of kings spread numerous kingdoms in the central India.

[edit] Cultural differences in the kingdoms

Main article Bahlika Culture

Western parts of India were dominated by tribes who had a slightly different culture that was considered as non-vedic by the mainstream Vedic culture prevailed in the Kuru and Panchala kingdoms. Probably these were due to the influence of Iranian cultures. Similarly tribes ruling south India were also considered as non-Vedic by the Kuru, Panchalas, though the differences were not so significant. This may be due to the Dravidian nature of these tribes. Similarly there were some tribes in the eastern regions of India, considered to be in this category. Tribes with a different culture was collectively termed by the Vedic tribes by the name Mlechha. Very little was mentioned in the ancient Indian literature, about the kingdoms to the north, beyond Himalayas. China was mentioned as a kingdom known as Chin, some times grouped with Mlechcha kingdoms.

[edit] Main kingdoms of Northern and North-Central India Kuru Kingdom 	Panchala Kingdom 	Vatsa Kingdom

[edit] Main kingdoms of North-Central India Kosala Kingdom 	Kasi Kingdom 	Videha Kingdom 	Dakshina Kosala Kingdom 	Malla Kingdom

[edit] Kingdoms of Western and West-Central India Surasena Kingdom 	Dwaraka Kingdom 	Anarta Kingdom 	Saurashtra Kingdom 	Heheya Kingdom Nishadha Kingdom 	Gurjara Kingdom 	Karusha Kingdom 	Chedi Kingdom 	Dasarna Kingdom Kunti Kingdom 	Avanti Kingdom 	Malava Kingdom

[edit] North-Northwestern (Fishermen's) kingdoms Matsya Kingdom

[edit] Western kingdoms Trigarta Kingdom 	Salwa Kingdom 	Madra Kingdom 	Sindhu Kingdom 	Sauvira Kingdom Sivi Kingdom 	Kekeya Kingdom 	Gandhara Kingdom 	Youdheya Kingdom 	Pahlava Kingdom

[edit] Northwestern kingdoms Bahlika Kingdom 	Parama Kamboja Kingdom 	Uttara Madra Kingdom 	Uttara Kuru Kingdom Yavana Kingdom 	Khasa Kingdom 	Saka Kingdom

[edit] Northern kingdoms Kasmira Kingdom 	Kamboja Kingdom 	Darada Kingdom 	Parada Kingdom 	Parasika Kingdom Tushara Kingdom 	Huna Kingdom 	Hara Huna Kingdom 	Rishika Kingdom 	China Kingdom Parama China Kingdom

[edit] Eastern kingdoms Magadha Kingdom 	Kikata Kingdom 	Anga Kingdom 	Pragjyotisha Kingdom 	Sonita Kingdom Lauhitya Kingdom 	Pundra Kingdom 	Suhma Kingdom 	Vanga Kingdom 	Odra Kingdom Utkala Kingdom

[edit] Kingdoms South of the Vindhya Range Vidarbha Kingdom 	Anupa Kingdom 	Surparaka Kingdom 	Nasikya Kingdom Konkana Kingdom 	Asmaka Kingdom 	Danda Kingdom 	Kalinga Kingdom

[edit] Kingdoms in the extreme South Telinga Kingdom 	Andhra Kingdom 	Kishkindha Kingdom 	Gomanta Kingdom 	Karnata Kingdom Kanchi Kingdom 	Chola Kingdom 	Pandya Kingdom 	Tulu Kingdom 	Mushika Kingdom Satyaputra Kingdom 	Chera Kingdom 	Sinhala Kingdom

[edit] Saraswati Valley kingdoms Saraswata Kingdom 	Abhira Kingdom 	Sudra Kingdom 	Nishada Kingdom

[edit] Himalayan kingdoms

The table lands and valleys of the great Himalayan Mountain Ranges, which were almost inaccessible to the people settled in the Ganga, Saraswati and Sindhu river valleys, were inhabited by tribes who had very little interactions with the rest of the world. The Vedic people of the plains considered these tribes to be super-human and in later periods considered them even as natural-spirits. The domains of these exotic tribes are listed below:

To know about the mythological aspects of these exotic tribes see Hindu mythology. To know about the historical significance of these tribes see the Exotic tribes of ancient India. Kimpurusha Kingdom 	Pisacha Kingdom 	Naga Kingdom 	Kinnara Kingdom 	Yaksha Kingdom Gandharva Kingdom 	Kirata Kingdom 	Himalaya Kingdom 	Parvata Kingdom 	Nepa Kingdom

[edit] See also

* Mahabharata * Ramayana * Exotic tribes of ancient India * Historic figures of ancient India * Iron Age India

[edit] References and External Links

* Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa (English translation is available at http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/index.htm)

* Ramayana of Valmiki(English translation is available at http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm)

* Rig Veda, (English translation by R.Grifith is available at http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm)

* The Genographic Project, IBM and National Geographic Society http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1114_051114_india.html

* ISRO-IRS-Satellite Imagery of the dry bed of river Saraswati **http://www.gisdevelopment.net/application/archaeology/site/archs0001.htm o http://www.gisdevelopment.net/application/archaeology/site/archs0001a.htm

* Oceanographic Studies along the Gujarat coast by Indian Archeological Survey, The Discovery of the sub-merged city, Dwaraka http://www.nio.org/past_events/archaeology/keynote_address.jsp

* Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), IRS-Satellite Imagery of the ancient cities, Ahichatra, Kapilavasthu, Sravasti, and Kausambi http://geoweb.cslm.hu/vhost/geoinfo/events/sat/cd/pdf/Abstract/Navalgund.pdf

* National Geography, News on Genographic Project: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/genographic.html * SacradText.Com: Site to get the English translation of the most of the ancient Indian text http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm * More on Dwaraka and oceanographic studies at http://nio.org/annual_reports/1992-93_150.pdf

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